Will you be my … brand?

Social media is about bringing people and communities together, whether it be companies and their prospective market or simply people to people. One of those people that I came across, and now engage with on a regular basis is Marta Majewska. We immediately clicked and have forged a strong working and personal relationship. I consider her someone I can talk to professionally and a friend.

Nothing pleases me more than to have her a a guest blogger. Here’s her post.

Will You be my….brand?

Before I start, I just want to say that I am a BIG fan of Chris and adore his blog so I couldn’t have been more honoured when he asked me to write a guest blog post here.

During my recent trip to California, I went shopping in San Diego (before you start wondering why I would talk to you about my shopping, don’t worry, I do realize that nor Chris nor his readers want to hear all about my new dresses and shoes but I promise this is going somewhere One of the shops I visited was a boutique chain where I bought a gorgeous white dress. Not only was the service truly amazing, I also got a great gift as I was leaving the shop.

I felt so happy when I walked out of there that I caught myself thinking ‘Oh I really do hope they have a Twitter account so I can tell them all about my great experience and thank them for the gift’.  I couldn’t believe how excited I was just thinking about connecting with them. I felt in love. Yes, IN LOVE. And I was thinking to myself – I really want to have a relationship with this brand.

So when I was back, I went online to check their website and was thrilled to see the Twitter icon on there. I followed them and sent them a tweet. I was excitedly awaiting the reply but, to my disappointment, nothing happened. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that brands don’t have time to answer all tweets directed to them but as I said before I was in love and I’m sure you all know the feeling of meeting a new person you really like and checking your phone every 3 seconds in hope to see a new message on there.

I went back to their Twitter account and I was relieved to see that ‘IT WASN’T ME’. No. This brand didn’t want to have a relationship with anyone. How do I know? Because although they do encourage people to send them tweets in their Twitter bio, I haven’t seen a single @reply sent from their account. Not a single one. It turns out they use Twitter to broadcast information. Not to communicate. Not to create relationships. Since as I always say, a relationship is a two way street so if communication comes from one side only, it will never last. Not in real life…not on social media.

Relationships are all about a dialogue, NOT a monologue. So are social media. And the boutique shop I so eagerly wanted to have a relationship with is not the only one having problems understanding this new approach. Looking around the Internet, I can see a lot of companies struggling with the new world where they no longer control mass messaging and where the one-way broadcast was replaced by a two-way communication.

The world where consumers want to have a one-to-one relationship with brands and expect a certain level or honesty and ATTENTION from them.  Yes, attention – that’s all I wanted from that boutique store. Attention is what many consumers want when they communicate their satisfaction or dissatisfaction towards a company – we don’t necessarily want them to change their entire product because we suggested so on Twitter. No. Just like in any relationship, sometimes we just want to be listened to. And acknowledged.

So dear brands, as much as I understand that your business was not built to have trusted friends and loyal followers – please try to adapt to the new reality and I promise you will win a lot of hearts.

What are your experiences with brands online and through social media? Do you want them to talk to you or are you happy that they stay at a distance?