Social media has shifted the power to consumers and given them a platform for their voices to be heard in real-time. Not only has social media created this opportunity for consumers to voice their complaints and concerns around products and brands, it has also created an environment of transparency. Consumer Packaged Goods brands (CPG) must now work harder than ever before to manage their reputation, and find new and innovative ways to harness the power of social media to connect with their consumer base.
Here are a few ways CPG brands can use Social Intelligence to keep up, and keep their brand and products front of mind:
Share compelling and relevant content
Become a credible source on everything to do with your product and industry. Show your thought leadership by sharing helpful content and thoughtful (non-salesy and non-advertorial) interesting information. By listening to your community, you’ll find out what they’re talking about and what they’re interested in learning about, and you can use this to make your social media platforms an informational hub that will act as a one-stop-shop for them to get all the latest news, trends and information that they want. Sharing useful industry information will put you and your products front of mind and build your brand’s equity and credibility within your industry and beyond.
Manage consumer relationships with care
Social Intelligence platforms help online customer service teams not only discover brand mentions and customer issues in real-time, but also provide a platform for routing product issues to the appropriate department to have the problems fixed quickly.
Listening to social media can help you learn more about consumers’ preferences, behaviors, perceptions about your brand and trends in products and shopping. Monitoring and analyzing social media sentiment can help you understand the market reaction to product launches and measure the success of your promotional campaigns. By geo-targeting your search, you can even focus on what’s important in that region, analyze the effects of your marketing campaign in specific areas and seek out new potential consumers to engage with.
Build advocacy around your brand
Passionate fans are hardly a novelty to customer experience professionals, but in this age of individual empowerment they are a customer type whose value can’t be overstated. Who wouldn’t want an army of unpaid advocates evangelizing their brand, re-tweeting content, singing their praises on blogs and forums and endorsing their products and services on social media sites?
Brand advocacy goes beyond relationship building; brands must continue to nurture their relationships with consumers and key communities to maintain long-lasting, two-way relationships with their advocates. However, not all advocates are created equal; some will naturally rise to the status of “influencer,” thought leaders in a specific industry or topic. These thought leaders, who typically command large followings and traffic loads, can influence public opinion and sway sentiment.
By using a Social Intelligence platform with influencer ranking capabilities, you can drill down into your data and discover the most influential social media users around your industry or brand.
