Social Media Redefines The Brand Experience
08/29/2010
Random thoughts on a late summer afternoon. How do you define a "brand
experience?"
It seems to me .. the traditional "brand experience" is evolving into what it might be more appropriate to call .. the "human experience." It seems to me .. brand experience goes beyond the customer use of the product/service, ad messaging, PR spins or slick logos that are all wrapped up in a beautiful bow of consistency across all communication channels.
It seems to me .. that while those elements may be important to build the structure of a brand promise, they become part of the new brand equation. Add to that a not so minor detail of peer-to-peer influence.
Example: What makes Zappos a great brand? It's not so much its offering of a zillion different shoe options or even the free return policy. It's the commitment to customer care which begins with its trust in its own employees. Employees are encouraged to take good care of its customers, as well as, to build people-to-people not brand-to-people, relationships from call center exchanges to tweets.
How odd it seems in 2010, to build a relationship with an inanimate object when people (employees & customers), who are really the heart of a brand, are out from the shadows.
Your thoughts?
Learn more about social media and branding in Chapter 7 of my free eBook Social Media Marketing GPS. Listen to an expanded conversation with my guest interviewees Beth Harte and Dana VanDen Heuvel on the AMA sponsored podcast series ~ Social Media GPS A Road Map To Social Media Success.
