When talking about social media programs to clients I tell them “be interested in what your customers are interested in.” Of course, these interests have to align with their brand strategy (1 claim, 3 planks). Yesterday I was looking at some Instagram photos of Love Grace cold pressed juices and admired how they pointed to a blogger sharing a number of yoga poses. I haven’t written a brand strat for Love Grace, but feel what they are doing. And I’m sensing the neighborhood they’re living in.
When a company owns a space, owns an idea in the customer’s mind, and they choose to not always sell product, customers relax around them. This constant need to sell reminds me of going to a party and talking to a car salesman who is always “on.”
I’ve been trying to get close to PC Richard and Sons, a huge retailer in NY, who knows a thing about selling. They have a marketing dept. and a dedicated social media group. They’ve even hired a social media agency, I suspect. But they don’t have a visible brand strategy they follow when it comes to social. Their’s is a tactics-palooza plan. Unlike Love Grace, PC Richards & Sons talks about promo, price and service. That’s not a plan. That’s the category.
If you understand what your customers care about and use social media to prove you also care about those things – and if those things put deposits in your brand bank, you are using social the correct way. Peace.