Marketers tend to think of their customers only as those people who purchase their brands – and to distinguish them from people who don’t buy any more or who haven’t bought yet. However, in a world where all manner of consumers are connected, it’s important to pay attention to a number of other groups that have influence but may not necessarily be in the aisles.
The endorsement of supporters
Let’s start with the unsung heroes. Supporters add critical mass to tacit approval rather than the bottom line. While they may not have their wallets out, they sanction (or at the very least don’t disapprove) of your presence in the market and what your brand represents. Perhaps they visit your site and/or subscribe to your blog. Maybe they read articles about you in the press. They’re out there nodding and agreeing with others who are supportive of your brand. They may come to your defence in the comments section when someone has a go at you … and for the most part, they’re untraceable.
So often I hear marketers talk about a wish to raise awareness but they then look to relate it directly to conversion to sales. It’s tempting to forget that conversion for supporters will not manifest itself that way (at least not yet – and maybe not ever). However, their positive opinion adds to a brand’s overall market credibility and reputation. Supporters bring good-standing that adds authority and respect for your brand. Corporate advertising, sponsorships, philanthropic initiatives and community support are excellent ways to stay in front of these people and to remind them that you remain worthy of their approval.
Three types of opinion holders
The second group are less predictable – a foil in many ways to supporters (and a strong reason to have a supportive community on your side). Opinion holders break down into three sub-groups: criticisers; reviewers; and influencers. Criticisers are out to bring you down. Whatever their beef, their determination is to point out your shortfalls at every opportunity. They matter because they spread a lot of negative energy, and while not engaging provides them with free reign, engaging with them the wrong way can easily see you painted as a corporate bully. Reviewers are important because the experiences they share can be so influential, particularly to prospects. Peer-to-peer trust is a rising trend online, with this report indicating that more and more consumers are relying on these sites not just for reviews of goods but even professional services.
Social platforms are the make-or-break channels to communicate with these groups using messages that are fast, clear and specific. I’ve identified several layers of response.
- Publicly thank those people who are positive about you through social media and use their comments to invite others to experience the brand. This provides endorsers with recognition and puts their good word to work for your brand.
- Actively moderate comments on your own real estate to filter out trollers, spammers and haters because of the influence that their comments can have and because it makes no sense to provide a platform for unreasonable people to make unreasonable statements. To me, it’s a respect thing and nothing to do with freedom of speech.
- If someone does criticise your brand, either on your site or elsewhere, I like this advice from the Future Simple blog on when to respond:
• There was a misunderstanding or error that you can correct;
• You owe someone an apology – in which case, make it public;
• You can help someone else (even a competitor) who is being unfairly targeted (and hope that they’ll do the same for you);
• You can use humour to defuse a situation, share a joke or poke the borax back at someone trying to mock you.
Monitoring and responding to criticisers and reviewers on social channels is not about conversion. It’s about protecting your wider reputation by engaging in honest interaction.
Don’t judge an influencer by a score
Influencers are the word of mouth channel-du-jour because of the sway they are seen to hold over large social communities but in a thought-provoking article about the 4Ms of influence marketing, Danny Brown argues that we should be rethinking how influencers are identified and viewed. We have tended, he suggests, to see influencers as a filter through which decisions pass in a linear manner. We have judged their importance essentially on their influencer scores. In point of fact, brands should be assessing who the customer speaks to, when and what happens as a result. In other words, influencers should be identified on the basis of what happens, and that is not about what takes place in large forums but rather the much more specific conversations that take place between more immediate social circles.
The approach of targeting influencers is all wrong, Brown concludes. “Public scores and amplified messages may present one way to look at influence; but without action being taken that goes beyond blog posts and social shares … is it really influence or simply a hit and hope tactic?”
If Brown is right, then the influencers that you should be most concerned about are the ones your customers pay attention to rather than those that attract the greatest followings. By finding out what customers are talking to these people about, you may well be able to adjust your buyer-focused communications to make important points directly as well.
The often overlooked audience. Investors.
The third audience are investors. Many marketers, particularly of consumer goods, don’t think to engage with the people who’ve invested in their stock. They miss out on what Mike Tisdall refers to as a great opportunity to “bond [investors] with the brand”. I think they’re an important audience for two reasons. First of all, their reactions, or anticipated reactions etc can heavily influence the inclinations of executives. Secondly, they are often an untapped buying audience because of course they have a natural motivation for purchasing from the company they have shares in.
My recommendation? Sprinkle consumer messages alongside investor messages to give investors a wider context for retaining shares – for example, include highlights of your latest campaign on the investor website, make them investor-only offers on Facebook, offer them special deals or provide exclusive events at shareholder meetings. The objective here is to widen the halo; to pass some of what makes you competitive as a brand on to the people who fund you to compete.
Extended conversations
With the proliferation of channels, there’s no reason to think that the need for interaction will abate. The critical reminder point is that brands must make the effort to hold extended conversations as part of their demand generation strategies – because the conversations they don’t have will, in all likelihood, have a significant effect not just on sales but on reputation and inclination. It’s a key reason why I think marketing, communications, sales and systems also need to group themselves, and perform, as integrated relationship teams (to a range of parties) rather than separate functions.
