Make Your Brand Stand Out with Social Media Pro-activity

Social Media has gradually become one of the primary customer service channel for brands. Brands are investing in dedicated social media teams to ensure that they are constantly interacting with their consumers, acknowledging their compliments for the brand by liking or retweeting, or finding solutions as fast as possible to respond to customers who have had a bad experience with the brand. However this reactive approach to customer satisfaction has become very common and many brands have already got it right. So what's next?

I feel there is a huge opportunity of surprising and delighting your customers through proactivity on social media. Some local Singapore brands,  international brands and even celebrities are already doing it which is making them stand out!

A very recent example is Taylor Swift, who is at the heart of almost everyone. She has been following her fans very closely and recently gave a lifetime memory to a bride. 

HubSpot wrote an interesting analysis for this. 

Another good example is StarHub. Since long it has a beautiful mission which they call #OperationHappy. It very well resonates with their brand and as part of this program they proactively ensure that customers are happy!

I believe that Social Media Proactivity can give you two types of ROI depending on your objective and mechanics. Here's a quick glance at it-

1) Implicit ROI (Delight factor > Surprise factor)

In this  method you are proactively listening on social media to find out - 

a) On which platforms your target audience is hanging out?

b) What kind of content is working for your potential customers? Is it more photos or only videos?

c) What kind of ads are they clicking on?

d) What keywords are they using when searching for your products/services or your competitors?

This helps you when you are launching a new campaign or a new product/service altogether for a kind of audience you haven't reached out to before. e.g.  brands who have always been doing B2C and are now trying to expand in B2B would benefit a lot from this proactive strategy because the insights and recommendations from such an exercise helps you to prepare personalized content on the right channel with the right keywords which your targeted audience will notice, appreciate and share. Ultimately it gives you a higher leads acquisition.

2. Explicit ROI (Surprise factor > Delight factor)

Here you are directly following their conversations on social media to understand how you can add value for them or fulfill their wishes by surprising them. Here is a relevant example of KLM Surprise. Watch their video case study. 

Thus by balancing your proactive and reactive social media strategy, you will definitely give your brand a chance to stand out from your competitor's on social media with new and happy customers. 

 Are you as a marketing decision maker thinking along this line? Or share more examples that you have come across as a consumer which has changed your perspective towards a brand because of their effort in delighting you.

I am eager to hear your comments and questions.

 I also tweet at @A_Kanika91.