How to React When Fans Speak for Your Brand

[Editor’s Note: This weekly feature asks communicators to spot trends and discuss their reactions to them. In this edition we hear from Kira Clayborne, senior manager, digital media, Church’s Chicken.]

 

The Trend:Recently, Church’s Chicken has discovered a behavior among our social media fans. In short, they’re managing the community for the brand—particularly on Facebook, where our guests will step in and help answer questions. These brand advocates have begun to speak with and for us in a positive format; this word of mouth has helped support our message deeply among our communities and through grassroots and organic means. Guests like these demonstrate meaningfully how our message is making inroads into communities in meaningful ways.

These examples of the results of creating loyalty through one-to-one communication illustrate what it now means to be a brand on social media. It’s no longer as much about funny tweets and witty comments as it is about connecting with these guests, their particular communities and their experiences.

Our Reaction: Keeping authentic and genuine communications between our guests and us requires insight into what we mean, as a brand, to our communities. How do we help support them? How can we better understand them?

We started by ensuring that all of our digital vehicles were interconnected. This allows our communities to have an immersive brand experience from one platform to the next, and has increased loyalty and support of the brand among users. If you can drive guests to the right places for the right information at the right time, you’ve created an experience that is unparalleled.

Adapting to the way people want to communicate and hearing their narrative will open us as a brand to a deeper connection with these communities. The result will be more quality followers.

As a brand in the digital space, we create technologies, participate in conversations and deliver content to make our communities feel connected. Whether as a distraction or true emotional connection, we want to provide for our guests and their families. Connecting through these common platforms seems like step one.

As a brand, you must take the time to build communities and relationships so they develop into offline or “in-restaurant” experiences for your guests. With that relationship, brands genuinely can provide targeted and meaningful messaging to customers, which we think should be a brand’s purpose on digital.