Engagement; A Lost Art

We speak of Engagement with the customer today as if that is something new, but it really is just a Lost Art. I grew up in a small rural farming community in mid state Ohio. My father was a home builder. We lived on a small farm that my grandfather and father sort of farmed.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

The closet town was a few miles away. Way before 24/7 grocery stores, the ones that used to close by 6:00 PM and just sold groceries, AND they bagged AND carried your groceries to the trunk of your car. The owner of the store was also the head butcher. Whenever we would go to the grocery store my folks were always greeted by first name, seemingly by everyone in the store. But the piece I remember the most was that the store owner “Knew” our family, all of us, and knew lot’s of things about us, including exactly how my dad liked his cut of meat.

The biggest takeaway from all of this was the Experience, in a time when creating that happened as a part of the business exchange, and not a targeted strategy.

Are Those Days Gone

Certainly lots 0f Brands are working hard to create and execute a Customer Experience. Will the days of the grocer knowing the cut of meat ever return, well, maybe.

Think about Amazon, Netflix, iTunes, they all know me pretty well, and they know individually other of our family members, at least based on our preferences. They have enacted a different form of Engagement, and I can even reciprocate with comments and reviews.

We Are Connecting Again
We returning to those old days of Engagement, albeit it may not look exactly the same. Think about blogs, (we do that here at Digital Sherpa you know, LOL) Blogs allow a two way conversation, and a rich interaction with the followers and commentators, and Your Customers, and Your Competitors Customers.

And there is another thing, a pretty important one too, the Internet allows like minded folks to connect and organize at hyper speed, literally with a single click. It does that by scanning for “keywords and phrases”, henceforth that whole world of SEO (Search Engine Optimaxzation) has unfolded.

The Internet, allows your Company Blog to be a super charged Outreach Machine. Provide some great and value driven content on your Blog, and guess what Shows Up, Engagement!

Social Media Campaigns Build Strong Community Preference

Consumers are engaging with businesses and brands they follow through social networks and media platforms. A recent study by Razorfish entitled “FEED: Digital Brand Experience Survey” polled users that were active “friending” businesses as summarized in a recent report.

The research showed a dramatic increase in awareness or inclination to consider the brand when in the market to buy, and then to ultimately purchase or recommend the businesses’ service or products for consumers following those businesses through their online social communities. Here are some of the highlight results:

DigitalSherpa programs allows companies and brands to integrate social media into their marketing plans by simplifying the process and doing all the heavy lifting at an extremely affordable monthly cost. Just email us at ajapko@nci.com and let us help you put the social web to work for your business.