THE ENGAGEMENT IS NOT THE ANSWER THAT IS ACHIEVED WITH TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING AS THE CONVERSATIONS OF THE NEW ERA OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CONSUMERS AND COMPANIES
One of the buzzwords of recent times is engagement. The engagement has become the term used to talk about what matters in social networks and what should be measured (compared to numbers). It has also become the key to explaining why one thing becomes viral and another does not. And it has also become the key to understanding why there are companies that manage to establish solid relationships with their customers, when others do not achieve it as much.
But getting that engagement is not so easy. The brands and companies expect consumers to respond to what they are doing and to connect with them, but sometimes they make big mistakes in their marketing strategy at all levels that makes that response not occur. From the outset, they forget one of the key points to understand how this engagement works. To achieve this, marketing does not matter as much as knowing how to create solid and lasting relationships. Engagement is not so much the response that is achieved with traditional advertising as the conversations of the new era of relations between consumers and companies.
They are only selling, when they should be giving
Brands and companies expect a ultra-responsive response from consumers and seek that they are able to create high-quality relationships with them. They want them to respond to what they are doing, forgetting many times that this response is very marked by what is done and said. There is more to think about the conversations we have with other people in our day to day. Are we the same talking to everyone? Do we respond equally to everything they tell us?
As they point out in the analysis, to understand where the failure of brands is, you just have to open the email inbox and analyze the mails that the brands have sent us. Possibly, most of them just try to sell us something. This type of content is not really what generates engagement or what makes it always work. To achieve this, we have to go a step further and offer added value. It is not only about selling, but also about giving.
The product is enough (and it is not)
Another of the big mistakes that weigh on the relationships between brands and their consumers is in what one expects from the others and what they offer. Companies tend to think that what the consumer is looking for is their product or service and that is more than enough. However, what they should be seeing is the photo as a whole and reality as a much more complex element. Consumers not only want to get hold of that product at that time, but they also expect a deal that covers all stages and that is always positive and good. A study recently pointed out that 81% of consumers find their dealings with the company frustrating, which is a very serious problem.
Actually, brands and companies are not trying
At this point, the analysis points to a very interesting element and one that invites companies to examine their conscience. Are you really trying to position yourself and get that engagement so talked about and analyzed or are you just getting carried away by the market itself? As they point out in the analysis, if you analyze what brands and companies are doing you can conclude that, in general, they are doing things simply well enough. They are in the middle. But the average does not seem enough (only 22% of consumers consider themselves loyal to a brand).
This is a problem. Brands and companies capture the consumer when he makes a purchase, but then do not work to maintain that relationship, so that it becomes solid and durable and can therefore provide benefits in the future.
They abuse their privileges
Possibly every consumer who has had to face a telecommunications company at some point in their life will feel very close to this point. There are companies that simply use their dominant position as a lever to connect with consumers and that may work in the moment, but it does not help to create solid and sustainable relationships with the passage of time.
In social networks, for example, the question is how the brand faces the different content dynamics. Publishing offers and product information over and over again, for example, does not help to create engagement, but rather makes the situation a bit annoying. The company becomes one that is filling the timeline of the social network with very little relevant information. The important thing is not so much how and how much is published, but rather to do it with what the consumer needs and when he needs it.
They are highly secret
Or what is the same: everything is secret and everything is confidential information. Nothing to show how you can do anything in your house and nothing to explain what the keys to the product are. The idea of the secret formula has been one of the recurring elements in brand strategy and in the positioning of companies over decades and centuries. For many companies it continues to work, but for others it will not do so much. Above all, we must bear in mind that the market has changed and that things have done with it. Consumers are increasingly reticent at closed doors and want more and more transparency. The challenge for companies today is to balance the mystery with that need to create trusting relationships based on transparency.
