More than a like, give an experience

Building an experience I’d want for my customers

“You’re not looking for just any experience, you’re looking for the experience.” – Brian Solis, Founder Altimeter Group

JOSHUA GODSEY – When you login to your favorite social site, what are you expecting? What motivates you to check in, day after day? I’d argue that it’s your expectation of a potentially great experience that drives you to keep checking in. The building block of the digital revolution is the person who likes, follows, pins, shares, reviews, etc. the things or people they love. Then, as their desires have bring them closer to those things, the speed and ease of digital interactivity naturally brings them to a deeper connection. Consumers are looking for an experience, something more, something deeper – to become a resources themselves. With the rise of social-branding, transparency on the part of companies large and small, has brought the feeling that consumers can take part in the development of their favorite brands. They feel that liking, sharing, retweeting and reviewing will help form the digital housing of the resources themselves. The truth is, if businesses are smart, they’ll do just that.

Learning to give experiences

As much as it is tempting to think integrating social media into your marketing strategy will be the silver bullet that ignites your brand good fortune, it’s typically not going to happen. Digital affluence will never happen unless you form experiences for your followers you yourself crave. Building an attractive experience delivered through customer-service social media strategy will guarantee growth in the digital sphere. If you aren’t careful, all digital efforts will become just another sales pitch, whispering noise in concert-level volume. And that’s the last thing people want.

Why experiences?

The net result of the explosion of online content is a more mature audience. The digital “like” button isn’t so easily earned anymore. More important still, the kind of social-influential consumer you’re looking for as a brand is the kind that’s looking for a more-developed sharing experience to usher them into brand loyalty and connectivity. Consumers are looking for a deeper and more meaningful connection to their interests, and ultimately, to new and better ways to spend their time and  their money. If you’re smart, you’ll begin proactively forming customized experiences that cater to what your followers want.

The best way to form experiences

It takes listening on your part, from the top executives, to the lower echelon, to create real consumer experiences. Aligning your values, interests, goals and upcoming productions to your core audience will give the experience consumers crave. First, listen, then respond and create. Building experiences starts at the core of your brand and makes its way out to the consumer. It’s impossible to form customer experiences if the staff isn’t on similar value-grounds. For example, CSR’s (Customer Service Representatives) must be trained and resourced so they’re coherent and able to customize their services toward the needs of the customer, building strategy and responses to fit the needs of the following. This means preparation and creative formation. It’s far more expensive to react to customer needs, than it is to proactively form what they need beforehand. The experience you build must mean something – something more than the perpetual noise around the consumer, in order for an experience to make a real impact.