Social Media can be used for many different tasks. Many
people use it stay in contact with friends and families, but social media is
being used more and more to connect with different companies and brands around
the world. This has impacted the way many companies interact with their
customers through social media. Social media opens up a new channel for these
interactions that can go beyond just one-way communication. Companies now have
the opportunity to not only listen to their consumers, but they are able to
engage with them in real time. This is a great opportunity for companies, but
they must engage correctly to obtain the biggest impact.
Many companies have been using social media to push their
products in front of customers. They believe if they can get their products in
front of people they will eventually buy it. Contrary to what companies
thought, this tactic was not what we as consumers wanted. We did not want to be
pestered with more advertisements pushing products in our faces. Social media
allows us to engage with products we are interested in, and we do not want to have
these products pushed onto us. Consumers are looking to engage with the brands
and build a relationship with them. Consumers who are connected with a brand or
company due to a strong relationship will become loyal customers that will keep
coming back and spreading positive word of mouth.
Very few companies that use social media are truly using
this tool to get the most out of their customers. This tool enables companies
to engage and cater to the individual needs of their customers almost
instantaneously in the channel where their customers are already spending time.
Here are two examples of companies that are doing a great
job engaging their customers by building relationships with them.
L.L. Bean
L.L. Bean is fully engaging in the social channel through
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. They currently have Twitter accounts for
different aspects of their business: outlets, stores, and PR to name a few.
These accounts target different needs of the consumer. Through each account, it
contributes different content that its followers would like. They provide how
to videos, blog posts, giveaways, and responding to customer complaints or questions.
These aspects allow the customer to engage with the brand and discover more
about the company. It also enables the company to provide relevant content to
its consumers.
One major success L.L. Bean has had with their social media
campaigns came early this year when Steve Gadecki submitted a letter to L.L.
Bean about his 15 years worth of adventures with his L.L. Bean bookbag. L.L.
Bean responded to his letter and has asked Steve to be a part of its new
campaign Discover Something. Part of this campaign is a program that brings in
18 fans that have been engaged with L.L. Bean to be product testers. This
program shows the company’s commitment to its customers, and their desire to
build a relationship with them. L.L. Bean is going beyond the strictly promotion
based strategy toward an engaging relationship focused strategy. L.L. Bean
meets its clients across many different channels where they know their
customers will be and provides content that is relevant to a wide variety of
their customers through these channels. If more companies could start to focus
on the relationship component like this company has, they would be able to see
more success in customer engagement.
San Francisco Giants
The Giants franchise is dependant upon the satisfaction and
consumption of its fans. Baseball fans love the ability to engage with their
favorite team and players in any and every way possible. The Giants have done a
great job of providing several platforms for their fans to engage with each
other, the franchise, and the players. AT&T Park has quickly become one of
the most photographed places on Instagram. It ranked 5th on the
global list of photographed places. The Giants have taken notice of this and
want to engage the customers even more by encouraging them to not only follow
them on twitter and Facebook, but also to check-in to get deals on everything
from food to apparel.
The Giants are on a wide range of social media channels
including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pintrest, Google+, and Tumblr. All of
these platforms have allowed the Giants to engage their fans in a variety of
fashions listening to their concerns and praises and using that to better the
fan experience. The Giants have created a medium for their fans to communicate
with each other and the brand itself. These mediums also allow the fans to
follow or pin the areas about the Giants, which they enjoy, the most. By
facilitating these interactions and giving away new and interesting content,
the Giants are building up their relationship with the fans. These aspects have
helped this franchise create one of the most loyal customer bases in the
nation, and they will only see this grow as they develop and expand on the
interactions with their fans.
These two companies have done a great job engaging their
customers and building relationships with them. These interactions create content that customers want, as well as build trust between the company or brand and the customer. We want to learn more and more
about these companies and interact with them in new and improved ways. This is
the way companies need to build both their customer base and loyalty.
