Brand Marketing In Social Media: Friends With Benefits?

“Engagement for engagement’s sake” is good. I think we’ve established that pretty credibly in the last few years. But, is that enough for the friend/fan? Is it enough for the brand?

Certainly I am not going to tell a brand manager that it is unimportant to collect hordes of Facebook Friends, Fans and “Likes,” nor that they shouldn’t try to amass thousands of followers on Twitter, nor that they shouldn’t vie for big numbers of views on their YouTube channel. Audience collection can be a vital part of the communications mix. Do a good job of gathering and engaging your fans and you may be able to activate them for Word Of Mouth success, and/or to rally them to your defense when things go bad.

But beyond satisfying the consumer’s voracious need for compelling content, what else can be gained from the relationship, for both parties?

In a sobering Forrester report recently issued by the estimable Augie Ray, titled, “2011: Now Social Media Marketing Gets Tough (Saturation, Stagnation, and Privacy Concerns Challenge Social Media Marketers),” it’s noted that TRUST is the coin of the realm.

“The brands that will enjoy the greatest efficiency and create the most affinity and advocacy per social media dollar spent will be those that focus on earning trust.”

Trust is not built with funny videos. Trust is not built by Facebook polls. Trust is not built by monitoring for brand mentions on Twitter.

When it comes to brand marketing, trust is built via positive transactions.

When interacting with a brand, consumers want a deal, or they want a problem solved, or they want to have a meaningful impact on the product/service (the “transaction” in this latter case would involve communicating how/when/why consumer feedback was captured and acted upon).

Consumers are not looking to share a beer or to ask the brand representatives’ opinion about restaurants and movies.

And on the other side of the table, the brand is not truly interested in friendship, either. While there may be many tangible and intangible ancillary benefits to Social Media Marketing, ultimately, the brand wants to sell more stuff. “Engagement” is a means to an end. We can be honest about that, right?

Knowing this, it is the marketers responsibility to ponder and plan: “What are the concrete things that a consumer will gain from following/friending the brand in Social Media, that they cannot get anywhere else, and which will thus motivate more loyalty, and, increase sales?”

Well, the short-sighted answer is “let’s give ‘em compelling content.” And yes, content creation is critical to gain attention and traction, but, taking the longer view: the relationship between brand and consumer has historically been based on transactions; that is where the value will continue to lie.

Brands who forsake the creation and cultivation of positive transactions in favor of developing an endless stream of branded “infotainment” likely do so at their peril. Ensuring a positive experience for the user, across any and all touchpoints, every single time there’s a chance of a transaction occuring (for information, service, product, etc.), is the wisest investment a marketer will make.

When great content subsequently drives consumers to any of the brand’s outposts, they should be delighted by what they find; they should share and happily recommend the brand across their own social graph; they should pull out their wallets.

Continue reading here: Blogger Relations: Good Intentions, Bad Execution, Lessons Learned

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