A brand's fate is in the hands of their customers, and 90% trust peer recommendations over what brands say. We spoke to Katy Keim, CMO at Lithium, to discuss how brands can engage with their audience effectively in a world that is continuously changing and evolving digitally.
TechRadar Pro: Consumers make purchasing decisions based on their peers – how can online brands take advantage of this?
Katy Keim: Communities are vital for online brands, enabling brands to establish themselves, evolve and create real relationships with their consumers. These communities also provide the platform for consumers to connect – not only with a brand but also with each other.
Peer-to-peer recommendation fuels the majority of online transactions, an example being that 75% of all new GiffGaff subscribers were driven by word-of-mouth. In order to become involved in their community, brands need to build strong relationships with their audience. This means:
- Investing time – this will show your audience that you care about them, and make them feel valued
- Building an emotional connection – make your consumers feel a part of the business and not a commodity
- Earn trust through transparent communication channels – and never take it for granted
- Remember it's a two-way conversation – become a part of the conversation instead of trying to drive it
TRP: How can you turn a consumer into a brand ambassador?
KK: Turning a consumer into a brand ambassador is dependent on the relationship you build and maintain with your audience. The key for brands is to convert awareness amongst influencers into advocates, who take action and play a real part in your business, by generating interest and desire.
Once you've built a strong following, show your appreciation. Reward your most loyal and socially influential followers; make them feel part of the brand rather than just another consumer. If you do, then your brand will be rewarded.
TRP: How can brands find underground influencers who play a vital role in their brand's reputation?
KK: Quite often many brands struggle to identify their key audience, and finding underground influencers is even harder. Underground influencers hold enormous potential to make or break a brand, and the most successful way to reach out to them is to escape from the comfort of your desk.
Many underground influencers won't be easily directed or swayed by the herd. They excel at being the first to discover a new brand or product, and it's this uniqueness that makes them a valuable asset to your brand.
If you want to engage with them, then your brand needs to stand out, and make it appealing to them in a different way. This may mean avoiding traditional marketing tools, as this may put off this audience. Think outside of your brand's 'box'.
TRP: Have you seen examples of brands trying to rebuild their reputation after a social disaster?
KK: The key to recovering is to address the program shortcomings or outright fail honestly, openly, and with an emotional tone appropriate to the gaffe or mistake. It may also mean not only mass apologies or retractions but also personal responses to individuals who are offended or upset.
For example in 2014, the New York Police Department launched a social media campaign entitled #MyNYPD. The aim of this campaign was to encourage members of the public to tweet images with their local NYPD officer, with the hope of demonstrating a friendly personal side to the force.
However, Twitter users hijacked the campaign to show the brutality of the NYPD. In just a few hours #MyNYPD received more than 10,000 uses, many of them negative, with users sharing images of physical violence and sharing personal stories. This campaign, which was intended to convey a positive image of the NYPD, did the exact opposite.
Brands absolutely can recover from a social disaster – but they cannot do so if they retreat into themselves and hide behind "no comment" or play like nothing happened. Being extra engaged, especially sensitive, and keyed into the social sentiment is critical.
Sometimes a simple heartfelt apology is enough – sometimes a sustained campaign to rebuild community bridges may be required: one size definitely does not fit all when we're talking about recovery.
TRP: Can a brand's social strategy be as simple as using a hashtag to engage consumers?
KK: It's never as simple as using a hashtag. Technology has evolved at a dramatic pace, and is continuing to advance rapidly. Social media has evolved alongside technology – we may remember a time before mobile phones, but some younger generations can't remember a time before social media. The way to engage with them is not to adopt trends or jump on the bandwagon, but to actually engage with them.
The key is creating appealing content, which your audience wants to interact with and share, rather than hoping that a simple hashtag will suffice. Don't underestimate your audience! Digital natives have born and grown up with digital technology – they are more comfortable with a smart device than they are with a pen and paper. Therefore they will see through lazy marketing ploys and lose trust in your brand instantly.
TRP: We all have a digital persona, but do we run the risk of typecasting rather than looking at individual needs?
KK: It's easy for brands to categorise a group of people and presume characteristics, and by doing so brands are able to target people within these groups more specifically and offer a personalised service.
Falling into the trap of stereotyping, and failing to identify patterns within these groups is where brands go wrong. By not correctly positioning your brand to your key demographic and building relationships with these communities, you are leaving yourself open to failure. If you want your brand to look at the individual needs of your audience, then create a society around your brand and invest in these individuals.
TRP: Technology is already being used by online brands to find and target consumers, but what does the future hold? To what extent will algorithms determine the success/failure of a company?
KK: The future of technology will be less about targeting consumers and more about understanding consumer behaviour. Many brands are already starting to understand the importance of offering a personalised service, but this will take a leap forward. Technology will be used more to appeal and react to consumer demands, evaluating trends and the thoughts of particular audiences.
Algorithms, when used correctly, can be a tool to help drive consumer relationships, and in the future technology will be used more frequently to facilitate interaction with an audience. The future of brand success will be about gathering consumer data more effectively, and responding to that data in a genuine manner.
TRP: What are your top three tips for engaging an audience online?
KK: Firstly, invest real time in your consumers and make them feel part of your brand. Secondly, remember to listen to your audience and use what you hear to improve your brand experience. And finally, never take the relationships with your consumers for granted – trust and loyalty are difficult to build and easy to lose.
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