Brand humanisation is something to be passionate about. We understand that humanisation is about being in step with communities. But it’s about more than just understanding the nuances of cultures and sub cultures of any given group. It’s also about living them too.
What is humanisation?
Brands are becoming more sociable, and are investing more in social media. A survey recently published by AdAge shows that almost four in ten (38%) advertisers set aside £30 out of every £100 for social marketing. Furthermore, the majority of advertisers say that they expect to spend more on social media in the year to come. However, being present on a social media site is just one part of being social; the rest is about being socialised and more importantly as human as possible.
Socialisation is a technique usually reserved for people and animals. It’s the process of learning how to become an effective member of a social group. As brands go social by becoming more human, it’s never been more important to understand the culture of the online groups that they curate and engage with. It’s also important for them to know their place within those communities.
Rules of engagement
We mustn’t forget one very important thing however. Brands aren’t people, and real people on social media know this. Real people also know that brands stand to gain far more from being on social media than they stand to gain in return. Therefore for brands to inspire meaningful engagement, they need to know their place in the online community. This means participating in conversations (not always having to lead them) but doing so in a meaningful and human way.
In the wild, animals know their place. Elephants have a matriarch, bees select their queen, and similarly brands need to know their place within the habitat of social media. It would be arrogance to assume that merely setting up a social media page or feed, puts the brand in charge of that community. After all, there is no community without people. Brands need to respect the online community etiquette if they are to gain acceptance and grow within it.
What do buffalos have to do with anything?
If understanding your customer better leads to more sales, then humanisation on social media does indeed make commercial sense for brands. It begs the question then, why do people engage with brands? It’s most certainly not to be led by them. After all the community, not the brands are in charge. Ultimately, it is the community that will decide if something is a success or a failure and therefore conversations with brands on social media sites need to be authentic and as human as possible.
Going back to our wildlife analogy for a moment, it has been said that buffalos only move as fast as the slowest one in the herd. This mentality can teach brands a lot about their ranking in the hierarchy of online communities, and it is not as leader. Brands need to be one of the herd. This is what will lead to meaningful long-term engagement and relationships within online communities. Simply put, brands on social media need to be more buffalo if they are to be more human.
By Alexandra Curley, Insights Director at Spinnaker.
PrivSec Conferences will bring together leading speakers and experts from privacy and security to deliver compelling content via solo presentations, panel discussions, debates, roundtables and workshops.
For more information on upcoming events, visit the website.
comments powered by Disqus