Customer Experience

Social media is a loud, busy medium. Users choose what they see, and choose not to engage with blatant advertisement. With so much noise and user control, how can a brand get recognized?

Consistent and relevant posts can grow a community of loyal fans. The subject matter will differ by brand, but creating a discussion and maintaining a positive relationship with followers is the goal. They want real reasons to use, buy, and view the product, instead of just being told to.

In an interview with Jonathan Anastas, Vice-President of Digital and Social Marketing at Activision, he explained their approach to making relevant posts, and how they decide what is, in fact, relevant to their fans. First, he laid out the purpose of their social media pages: Activision uses social as both a marketing and a customer service hub. They aim for a 100% response rate to the questions they’re asked on social media. As far as relevant goes, there can be nothing more relevant than answering a fan’s question.

Beyond that, their content creators and influencers are a great sources of relevant topics. Content creators are advocates for the brand. In Activision’s case, a content creator would be someone who pulled off a difficult stunt in Call of Duty and put it on YouTube. They are satisfied customers engaging with the brand out of choice. With less interactive products, your content may need to be more outside-the-box, but the definition remains the same.

Influencers are bloggers, professional YouTubers, experts in a field, or analysts. In other words, they are trusted members of certain media whose opinion carries weight. This is where a steady hand is key. Influencers are influential because of what they do, not what a brand tells them to do. They tend to keep a neutral position on the product, otherwise their fans will write it off as a sell-out or a commercial.

But what is the difference between an engaging post and spam? First and foremost: Intent. Putting something out and hoping it’s received as genuine will get nowhere. Posting something people will want to talk about is a great start, and after growing a follower base and posting regularly, use your analytics tools to understand what is well received and what is not.

As for what is posted directly from the brand itself, persistence and tone are both important factors. Don’t sell the product to them, offer up a discussion. If the discussion is positive, your brand markets itself. Persistence is a balancing act. Post as frequently as the audience is interested. If engagement drops, chances are that it’s either not interesting enough or posts are too frequent. Different brands have different engagement rates. Someone may talk much more about movies or video games than they will about paper towels, but that’s okay, less posts doesn’t mean less useful.

When asked about social media marketing as a whole, Anastas said that, “There’s really no one set of answers [...] Platform usage is shifting.” It takes a thoughtfully planned approach and demands more attention than just throwing out words when somebody has time. Social media does, however, have one definite quality: it is, as Anastas puts it, “Practically unmatched as far as data received.” It will tell you far more accurately how many people know and enjoy your product than any other form of media or advertising out there.