From a brand communications perspective it’s a given that every brand needs its own voice, because you need a little individuality to stand out from the crowd. But this week we challenged ourselves to think differently. We want to know what brands who just ‘get it right’ with an engaging online presence have in common.
So we asked some of our friends on Twitter: Who’s your favourite brand using social media, and why?
The ‘human element’ is something that crops up time and time again, but what does that really mean? And how can other brands apply it to their digital strategy?
Personality
Turns out, a little bit of individuality is one of the things that engaging brands have in common! Having a quirky bio, like London Midland, is a way to instantly convey to your customers that you’re more than a corporate Twitter account. Innocent Drinks, a favourite of Elygra Marketing, are a great example of this. Their bio is short and snappy, and the lack of capitalisation and punctuation is very deliberate (They’re not a faceless corporate giant! They’re
rebels; they don’t even follow grammatical rules!)
Conversation
Here’s a simple concept that lots of businesses using social media don’t understand: conversation is a two way street. If you stopped to chat to someone face-to-face, and they didn’t reply, you would probably be justified thinking that they were a bit rude. Well, social media isn’t that different. If someone tweets you directly to say something nice about your brand and you don’t reply, that might be one customer that you’ve disenfranchised forever. Is it worth the risk?
The two most popular answers when I asked who people’s favourite brand on Twitter was were London Midlands and Innocent Drinks. Both of them replied to say thank you, which is no coincidence. It’s part of their communications strategy to be part of the conversation, not shouting over the top of it.
So far, we know that brands with the most engaging online presences are polite but embrace their individuality. Anything else we should bear in mind?
Crisis Comms
Every business is going to suffer through a crisis every now and then. In this digital age, even something that begins as a minor issue can be ‘front page news’ on Twitter and Facebook in a matter of minutes. So what’s the best plan of attack when it all goes wrong?
Obviously, this one is pretty dependant on the situation. We can say at least one thing for sure though: if you have done something wrong, say sorry. More often than not, all an angry customer is looking for is the acknowledgement that they should have been treated better than they were.
If your online presence doesn’t truly reflect your business and you need help with how to stand out online and be recognised for all of the right reasons then get in touch, we’d love to help.
(Also, @londonmidland really do have an ace bio. Check it out).
