For brands, social networks are key elements in their communication strategies due to their capacity to generate affective and lasting links with their consumers and potential customers, members of their digital community.
These virtual communities are made up of a group of individuals who follow a brand on its social profiles, view its content and, depending on their level of involvement, interact with them, to a greater or lesser extent, either with likes, comments, shares or even creating their own content.
A great example, and one that is considered to be the first to create its community, was Harley Davidson And how do you achieve this? By building links.
For brands to create lasting relationships with their audiences they need to building bonds based on emotion and affection. So much so that the ones that are most highly valued by consumers are those that exploit their emotional dimension more than their functional or utilitarian one.
From this differentiation comes the term created by Kevin Roberts, lovemarksThe brand is defined as a brand that generates satisfaction in the consumer by achieving an emotional and passionate attachment and is positioned both in the mind and in the heart of the customer. This bond is created under a love for the brand, a love that is circumscribed to a more personal and intimate level by generating a positive emotion on the part of the consumer towards the brand.
In this case, digital communication, and specifically that which is carried out through social networks, is of great use to companies for a simple reason: they are environments that are more susceptible to emotional communication and the user is more sensitive to the language of brands. This channel is ideal for arousing emotions due to its own idiosyncrasies.
The business objective of creating this love for brands is based on the certainty, proven by studies, that companies with brands that are loved by consumers have an advantageous and stronger position in the marketplace.
Since social networks are a fundamental tool for achieving the desired link, the actions developed by the company must be aimed at making users follow the brand and, moreover, and with emphasis on this, they must identify with it and generate positive feelings provoked by it. For this reason, actions in social half have to be much more than promotions and competitions.The only thing they achieve is to increase the number of followers and interaction for a short period of time, and to consider other actions that generate more followers and interaction. engagement with the user and are maintained. Involving the user in key brand decisions through surveys or allowing the publication of comments or posts on product pages for users to express their opinion are two great examples of actions that have to be contemplated in the strategies of a lovemark.
In other words, you have to understand it for what it is and not pursue business objectives, but brand objectives, as social media is about creating links, empathising with users and reinforcing the brand's personality. From the perspective of a lovemarkThe objective of any communication strategy will be defined on the basis of the emotions it intends to provoke in its consumer. In this context, the KPIs in social halfIn the medium in question, they should be qualitative, based on conversations and not on the number of followers.
For all these reasons, companies need to listen to their consumers and followersThe aim of the project is to take into account the opinions, needs and/or demands of those who are in the network as well as those who are not, in order to build conversations, under the premise of a relationship of equals, that favour emotional bonding.
Going forward, companies will have to continue to strive to maintain the link with their consumers in order to value their position and continue to build their relationship based on (brand) love.
Marta Gallardo
Consultant at Proa Comunicación