In today’s fast paced world of “e” everything, people are publically connecting and interacting with everyone and anything from friends, to friends of friends, to companies and even to follow celebrities in their everyday life. But is all this interactivity and connection good? Or does it come at a price?
In a perfect world, e-marketing would be the end-all to organizations for reaping the rewards in the form of more customers, more revenues, greater brand awareness, higher degrees of brand loyalty all leading to greater brand image and equity. But does all this public interaction really offer those rewards? Or can public interactivity tarnish something like brand image, ultimately eating up your brand equity? After all, Brand image is nothing more than the organization’s character; the overall impressions and associations bundled together in the minds of consumers which lead to greater brand equity or “Value” for the organization. Brand Equity, what’s that? According to Business Definition, “Brand Equity is a brand’s power derived from the goodwill and name recognition that it has earned over time, which translates into higher sales volume and higher profit margins against competing brands”.
Marketers know that online interactions with customers and potential customers can greatly advance their product or service, even to the point of going viral, thus creating awareness where there possibly might not be any awareness. This is wonderful, if all those interactions or “word of mouth” are positive. In a perfect world this may be. Is this a perfect world? No!
So what happens when public interactions are not flattering to the company? Or interactions are just plain negative or gripes? Or even worse, sabotage from competitors. After all, companies spends thousands sometimes millions of dollars and countless hours building their brand image and brand equity. They don’t want their images unraveled and damaged in just a few hours. Image a single post, tweet or YouTube video can cross the world and can severely damage brand image and wipe out brand equity. Such as the case with United Airlines and the damaged guitar video that has almost 13 million views and counting, damaging their reputation and brand, all day, every day…….forever!
But social media is here to stay, at least for now. Therefore, companies need to listen and act! If there is something people are saying that is negative, research it. If you find that it’s true and accurate, and then face the facts. Apologize, really apologize and mean it. Then rectify the problem- fix it. Fix it and let it be known you are fixing it, even if it means doing something unprecedented or changing policy. It’s worth doing; it’s your brand image and equity you are protecting. You have already invested thousands, if not millions and countless hours building your brand. So as Shakespeare surmised “Mind your speech a little lest you should mar your fortunes”.
Today, one bad experience might cost you a hundred, maybe a thousand customers. Because of this, social media has irrevocably shifted the role of customer service from an easily outsourced, back-office function to one of an organization’s most important tactical assets.
~Oliver Blanchard, Author of Social Media ROI
Eva Prada (Formally Berbrick)
http://www.managementstudyguide.com/brand-image.htm
http://socialmediatoday.com/eric-harr-resonate-social-media/440114/brand-protection-5-simple-steps
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/brand-equity.html#ixzz2J90lfhnx
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