Well, brand loyalty is more important than
ever in a social media enabled world. But
loyalty isn't enough. What brands really need
to strive for is advocacy. That’s where
consumers are actually spreading the message
on behalf of the brand. Easier said than done,
because consumers quite often go to the dark
side where they're moving against brands.
And I would argue that most brands really
need to focus on the negative sides of social
media before they really try to hype up the
positive. But one thing we know is clear:
nurturing loyalty is more important than ever
because it has a much bigger impacts in a
social media-enabled world. One of the best
case studies out there is Zappos.com, one
of the top retailers. And they really treat
word-of-mouth as the number one marketing
tool.
And one thing that’s interesting about that
experience is that they really invite consumers
to provide feedback, even to complain in English
or Spanish vis-à-vis the phone or vis-à-vis
the chat. Just about any tool. And they know
that that is the way you really nurture an
emotional connection. You dignify their voice
by allowing them to speak out. And that emotional
connection is what really builds up the advocacy.
And this is a very important point. Because
nurturing advocacy is really hard. I mean
to some extent you have to take everything
you used to do well before and do it even
better, because the mistakes tend to be amplified
in this environment.
