I recently went to Ad:Tech NYC with a fresh stat in my head. According to TNS The Digital Life, 60% of people do not want to engage with brands via social media. As my colleague @peteschnupp states so eloquently, “Yikes!” Pretty scary stuff for a guy who makes his living in digital marketing! As I sat there in our Ad:Tech sessions listening to the different speakers on social media, it hit me – brands and marketers become obsessed with “the Like.”
“How many Likes does your brand have?”
“Ooh, sorry to hear that. Only that many?”
“Gosh. My brand has over a million.”
When exactly did Facebook Likes become the end all be all? And when did we stop treating people like people? Was it when Facebook went away from “fans” and replaced us with “Likes”? We know that fans are people but, what the heck is a Like? I think the REAL reason Facebook is coming back with Stories and Timeline is an attempt to make all the marketing human again. Our consumers are people, after all.
I admit it. Brands and marketers, including myself, have gotten obsessed with wanting people to Like us. Like us for a coupon. Like us to enter this promotion. Like us for the awesome content that you need to have. We ask consumers to be loyal to us and think the “Like” is at least an initial sign of that loyalty. Loyalty, especially in the digital space, doesn’t just happen. It has to be cultivated, carefully.
2010 – 2011 were the years of “The Great Fan Grab.” We think 2012 needs to be the year of “The Great Fan Experience.”
Well, you can’t have engagement without any fans. The “Like” button is certainly a necessary step. It’s a means to an end. We feel strongly that it’s not about the Likes, it’s about engagement. That’s the true ROI. If you invest in your consumers, they will invest in you.
So what is life after Like?
We have a responsibility to treat our fan-base of “Likes” as communicating human beings. We should invest in our buyers by being a conduit for storytelling. Give them a reason to want to talk with the brand and the means to do it. CPG brands need to create an emotional connection with their consumers by placing them at the center of the experience – to make them feel like they are, literally, part of the brand (as much as the brand is part of their lives). Comments are good, but stories are better. Stories are human. If they can feel like they are part of the brand story, you’ve won.
Migrate from this:
To this:
Place them at the center of your storyline. Give your consumers the power and the credit and they will reward you with loyalty. Not only will they pass along the story in the form of a “Like” or “share”, they will become more meaningfully ingrained as a long-term consumer. They are literally part of the brand story, and it part of them. They have become invested… emotionally.
There are lots of ways to do it. From a simple post to a large budget – here are a few great examples so you get what I’m talking about.
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Which Drumstick Are You?
Which flavor Drumstick cone is your favorite to eat with your friends? Tag yourself in this pic to show us. If the picture is all “tagged out,” tell us your pick below!
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Mini Countryman
Mini launches new campaign for their new Mini Countryman. They set out to create MINI evangelists.
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Desigual – Half Naked
Be one of the first 100 to arrive out our stores. Strip down to your underwear and shop! Try on some new clothes and when you find something you like you don’t pay a penny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G9Mmn6jz_M
http://summersales.desigual.com/en/instagram.html
Brian M
Posted on: November 28, 2011
4:44 pm
It’s funny because right after I posted this, I found out MINI is doing the GETAWAY campaign again…in TOKYO. The map will be 32 times larger! They’ll also have an Android app as well as an iPhone one. Check out the video here > http://creativity-online.com/work/mini-mini-getaway-tokyo/25368