Digital Consumer Engagement

Before technological advancements ushered in the digital era, traditional media dominated the marketing landscape, focusing only on one way communication. Brands broadcasted their messages to their consumers, but they lacked quantifiable insights.

With the advent of newer ways of communication, brands are now tuning to online platforms for marketing their products and services. Since they intend to be ranked higher by their customers, brands are using various social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., for creating a buzz about their offerings, gaining visibility, and getting meaningful insights about visitors, no. of likes/ followers etc.

However, this is hardly enough and brands need to evaluate their marketing strategies to make their presence felt. For this, they need to answer the following questions:

1. Are they establishing strong relationships with consumers by engaging with them regularly, without making them feel overwhelmed with superfluous information?
   • Do they involve consumers when building any product?
   • Do they take feedback from their customers about their products/services?
   • Do they use this feedback to their advantage and inform consumers about the same to make them feel valued?
   • Do they know when consumers start ignoring their messages, fed up of receiving unnecessary information?
   • Do they know the extent to which they should engage with consumers?

   Brands should use channels that can help them have two-way communication with consumers, so that they can interact and have meaningful conversations with them rather than just broadcasting messages.

2. Are they using channels that can maximize “Brand Influence”?

   There are two things that determine brand influence:

   • Intensity, which signifies how involved the audience is when it interacts with the brand.
   • Proximity, which signifies how much consumers trust the channel through which they receive brand messages.

   Brands can use different channels to reach out to their customers, like blogs, videos, magazine ads, mailers etc. Research suggests that customers are influenced more when they feel involved and trust the channel that conveys brand messages.

   So, when consumers participate in house parties sponsored by brands, receive free product samples, or get feedback from friends/peers about the brand, they get more influenced by the brand. Thus, if brands intend to have a stronger influence, they should engage with consumers using these channels rather than using just traditional media ads.

3. Are they identifying and rewarding brand advocates and influencers to make them feel valued?
   Every brand has a community of loyal customers who would vouch for it if something negative is told about it in the market. However, most brands do not have means to identify and reach out to such brand advocates.But brands can identify influencers by keeping a tab on customers’ friends/ followers, reach, and number of interactions on social networking platforms. Influencers can help brands create social chatter, which often has a short-term impact.

   While influencers are motivated to do various activities by rewards, brand advocates are highly satisfied customers who are likely to recommend it to others and promote it even without incentives because they genuinely like the brand.

   Brands must try and identify such brand advocates, so they can use them as a sustainable extended marketing arm.

Brands need to rethink the way they market themselves, and the best way to get started is by answering these questions in the affirmative.

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