by By: Kristle Saneewong
Just like it’s important to pay attention in class, it’s also important that you (and brands) are listening on social media. Social media platforms are the hub of ideas, users, and conversations. This means that all sorts of brands—from airlines to toilet paper—can gain insight that will increase their following and boost their reputation among audiences. While some brands are still getting their feet wet with producing relevant content (looking at you, Netflix), others are head deep in how to be authentic and relatable to conversations their audiences are already having.
Twitter remains to be the easiest way to post different ideas and content in real-time. Brands of all shapes and sizes are especially killing it because Twitter allows them to communicate with their consumers. Some do it better than others.
The first brand mentioned in that article was JetBlue, a favorite of one of our classmates.
— JetBlue Airways (@JetBlue) January 24, 2018
JetBlue is timely in its response, and it’s not afraid to get creative. As its Manager of Consumer Commitment says, “We’re all about people, and being on social media is just a natural extension of that.” Thinking of social media like any other part of a commercial airline ensures that the customers feel heard and attended to.
Another brand on the list is Charmin—the toilet paper brand that advertises with the lovable bears. This is a brand that knows what’s up with its audience, so it created a hashtag that later won a Shorty Award: #TweetFromTheSeat. Charmin thought outside of the box to use data and social listening: “40% of young adults admit to using social media in the bathroom (and those are just the people who admit to it).”
Take a note from these brands: treat your social media followers like you’d want to be treated. In other words, don’t forget to stop and listen—even from the bathroom.
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Kristle,
I completely agree with you that “all sorts of brands—from airlines to toilet paper—can gain insight that will increase their following and boost their reputation among audiences.” I actually did my case study assignment on Orangetheory fitness’ “#TransformationTuesday” campaign, which was one of the most successful Instagram campaigns of 2017 due to the brand’s ability to engage with their customers/followers, thereby building trust and giving the brand credibility (https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-campaigns/). It seems to me that the brands that make the effort to relate to and interact with their customers will have an edge over their competitors.
Yes! Brands need to be listening. And they should a looking for more obscure content and comments. It is easy enough to search “#campbells”, but companies should also be actively seeking out the people who are against their brand by using hashtags that include “ban”, “delete”, and the like. #cancampbells #deleteuber are some examples.
Listen! Listen! Listen! I totally agree that in today’s social media and online driven market place the ability to effectively listen has become more important than ever. With the immense amount of data we have available to us, as well as the ability to easily start mass dialogue about a product, the skill of listening has become one of the most important tools in a advertising/public relations professional toolbox.
Kristle, I love this article because brand personalities on social media are something “brand” new. They are either known for their comical remarks or great customer service, which gives the audience an idea of how to interact with them. It’s easy to forget that there’s a person or team behind a brand’s account that seems to be so personal. Listening to their audience is how they can make those accounts come off as authentic and real.
I love this article! You’ve done a great job of conveying the importance of knowing your audience and keeping up with the times. I agree that I tend to respect brands I see doing a good job of this a lot more. Even when I see some brands I’ve never heard of jump in on conversations in a fun way, I tend to go out of my way to look into their product. Definitely effective!
This is a great article! Through social media brands are now able to create personalities to help connect with their audiences. Social media is a tool that brands can use to their advantage. But if they do not listen to whats going on around them and create two-way symmetrical communication they may not get everything they want out of their social media interactions.
I personally love it when I tweet at a company and they respond. I tweeted at Alaska Airlines once after a long day of travel and their tweet back to me made me feel like a valued customer. I think that social media is a great platform for brands to connect with their consumer because it’s fast, easy and it makes them look good as well. I think also having an idea of what’s going on in the online world as a brand is beneficial because it can open up opportunities for the brand to further connect with an audience.
I think it’s really great when brands involve themselves in a good response time or a response at all to consumer’s questions, comments, and complaints over social media. I think one of my favorite brands that does this so well would have to be Starbucks. They are a very well known brand but also with that they are able to utilize that and bring some character to the brand through social media. I know it’s a team that makes it happen but it’s really cool to see responses that are sometimes more playful than serious when saying something about a brand when you’re not even tagging them. All of what goes into paying attention to conversations as a brand and understanding when and when not to engage and how best to do so.
Well said, Kristle. In a hypothetical world where brands blindly market their products to consumers, there would be no room left for quality assurance; it is absolutely imperative to a brand that their social media account-management team is constantly analyzing and listening to their feed and the conversations around their market.