You are a brand that wants its audience to find it online and think of it positively. How do you achieve that? With a user-friendly website, engaging copy and optimisation that helps the site appear in search engines at the right moment, perhaps supported by advertising. Check. Your audience also uses social media, so you are there too, providing a steady stream of entertaining and informative content guided by a considered strategy. Where appropriate, you mix regular content with sharp or funny responses to current events. Check. You monitor online conversations about your brand and sector and contribute when needed, through customer service or a thoughtful response. Customers increasingly use these platforms to complain, offer compliments, request service or seek advice. Transparent online customer care is essential. Check. Your audience now knows where to find you and starts conversations. Their networks see these exchanges, your community grows and you understand what matters to it. Check. There you have the ideal picture most brands are aiming for.
Amid my daily overload of online content and contact with businesses, I notice that brands which have already ticked all those boxes are expanding their target audience. They are focusing on their own kind: other brands that actively engage their audiences with enjoyable social content. Donald Duck provides a fine example. A tweet about his famous nephews in the supermarket caught Albert Heijn’s attention. The supermarket joined in enthusiastically and even managed to mention one of its products.
Another recent example is the entertaining exchange between HEMA, Coolblue and MediaMarkt about their very similar Dutch Budget Day posts. The mood remained positive because they did not try to outdo one another, but playfully pointed out the similarities. Their audiences responded positively in turn.
At Progress Communications, we work every day to deliver the right client message to the intended audience at the right moment, using the right online and offline PR tools. Where possible, social platforms are an integral part of that strategy. Identifying and continually understanding the target audience is one of the most important elements. We keep a close eye on it to maximise the results of our work. Increasingly, an audience profile should also identify other brands relevant to that audience. Once the foundations are in place, those brands can become part of the content strategy. It is a useful way to increase each other’s reach and build positive sentiment together. Working towards a shared goal: that is something we believe in.
Trevor
More news ›