Insights

Two-Way Conversations in Social Media Marketing

Social Media is a very effective tool for marketing your business online. Since its inception there has been a growing need to execute the accounts with clear intention and vetted content. Ideally your social media accounts should aim to engage your followers to give the perception they are interacting with a real person rather than a faceless business. Sometimes this fine line is blurred and the result can be quite detrimental to your brand identity. Whilst there are some inherent dangers that come with using social media there are also some well-established advantages.

What is a two-way conversation in Social Media?

A two-way conversation is the prescribed way of using social media to create brand affiliation. It is a new online marketing buzzword that refers to how a brand dominates post content to exude human quality that is conversant rather than simply broadcasting. Consumers need innovation and a fresh perspective to information in a saturated market of data. Conversing on social media which encourages followers to share and interact personalises their experience and increases their positive association with your brand.

Blunders of two-way conversations can be seen in a number of big-business social media mishaps.  Equally so they can also become customer triumphs. A guitarist whose guitar was mangled by United Airlines created a video that when viral on YouTube when they refused to pay for it. It was a tough public relations lesson that resulted in the guitarist not only becoming a world-wide hit, but the airline coughing up the cost of the guitar along with a revamp of their social media awareness. Social media blunders are bound to keep happening and just some food for thought here are some epic fails:

Social Media fails

  • McDonald’s promoted a #mcdstories hashtag on twitter to elicit conversation about their business which resulted in people using it to post horror stories of their experience at the fast food chain
  • A quick-thinking social media manager at Celeb Boutique saw that #Aurora was trending on Twitter and believed it was linked to their ‘Aurora dress’ worn by Kim.K rather than checking it was as a result of a shooting in Aurora, Colorado
  • American Apparel used Hurricane Sandy as impetus for states affected by the natural disaster to be awarded a 20% discount in case they were ‘bored’ and needed to shop online during the storm

Despite two-way conversations eliciting some unexpected and well-deserved backlashes there are some businesses using the concept to their full advantage. The more successful examples include information or ideas to share or impact positively on people’s days. It is the power of positive thinking.

Here are some successful examples

  • Oreo encourages followers to share stories of eating Oreos and creates a positive sounding-board environment for followers willing to share
  • Taco Bell encouraged their followers to join them on a chat platform where they would reveal an interesting secret
  • JetBlue Airways thanked a follower for posting a positive comment about their business and invited them back

No matter what type of business you have you can benefit from successful social media engagement. Social media that shows your customer base interacting/liking/Tweeting/engaging with you is a positive power that can drive your business goals further. iFactory offers digital retainer contracts that manage your blog, social media accounts and follower engagement to ensure that your business is as professional, personal and powerful as possible. Contact us to find out about how we can do this for you.

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