Maybe they don’t really want a relationship with you
Building a social media presence/online community for your credit union can be a lot like dating. You dress up nice and are friendly to the world, but don’t always get the attention you deserve. Well, according to various studies by the IBM Institute for Business Value, what you are experiencing could simply be one of several perception gaps between businesses and consumers when it comes to social media interaction:
Maybe they just don’t have time for you.
For the majority of consumers, social media is about family and friends, and entertainment. More than half of those surveyed won’t even consider interacting with businesses on a social site.
Maybe they don’t really want a relationship with you.
60-65% of business leaders believe that “consumers follow their brands on social media sites because they want to be a part of a community.” However, only 25-30% of consumers agree with that statement. The top reason they say they follow a brand? To get discounts.
Maybe they have to like you first.
If you believe that participating in social media will increase advocacy for your brand (70% of businesses did), you might be surprised that only 38 percent of consumers agree. And over 60 percent of consumers believe that it takes a pre-existing passion for a brand before there is any social media engagement. In other words, the people who do engage probably already like you.
Maybe you just aren’t their type.
The IBM group also found four distinct online personalities, that are separated more by attitude, online access and interaction with content, rather than age. Here is how they classified 3,800 consumers of online media and entertainment from China, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.:
• “Efficiency Experts” (41 percent) sees the “adoption of digital devices and services as a way to make life easier.”
• “Content Kings” (9 percent) includes “dedicated gamers, newshounds, movie buffs, music lovers and TV fans.”
• “Social Butterflies” at 15 percent, “cannot imagine not being able to instantly access any of their friends.”
• “Connected Maestros” (35 percent) seems be be a mix of Content Kings and Social Butterflies “with even more sophisticated behaviors.”
Maybe you just have the wrong strategy.
Perhaps you are talking at, not with your customers? In years past, a company would use traditional CRM techniques in order to get “optimum value from the customer during the lifetime of the relationship.” These solutions were focused on channels such as corporate web sites, call centers, and brick and mortar. Now that the consumer is in control, you need a strategy that manages the dialogue, not the consumer.
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