by Martin Bishop
Director, Brand Strategy, Landor
The brands generally acknowledged as social media stars—Starbucks, Nike, Zappos, and the like—have something most CPG brands don’t: deep and engaging relationships with consumers.
This allows them to take advantage of social media opportunities: creating strong communities, setting up Facebook pages people will “like,” and having content generated by an avid tribe of followers. When a brand reaches a certain level of consumer engagement, it can spend its time nurturing supporters, nudging and channeling their social media activity.
Though every CPG brand might wish to be loved so intensely, few reach the top of the relationship ladder. When you come right down to it, who wants a relationship with a bar of soap? Or as one commenter put it, responding to a blog post on the death of branding: “They buy something to drink because they’re thirsty. Not because they f****ng LOVE Coke!”
Simply mimicking the behavior of brands that have highly engaged audiences doesn’t work; social media applications have to be aligned with the strength of a brand’s consumer relationships. There are too many examples right now of brands assuming that their customers care about them when the reality is that most customers couldn’t care less. Read Martin's full article...
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