Deal with People and Build Your Brand

By:Maria Elena Duron

In today’s technologically advanced world, building your brand has never been so easy and yet so complicated. There are so many platforms you can utilize, and one platform that has marketers standing up and taking notice is social media.

There really is no better time for brands to take advantage of what social media has to offer than today. But of course, it’s important that you plan your strategy before jumping in, as you may very well crash and burn if you don’t utilize social media properly in your branding campaign.

Managing channels

Because this is where most people are, social networking sites have become the place for people to talk, discuss and air out their concerns about your brand. This is why both business and personal brands need to ensure that they’re managing their social media channels well – otherwise, it may develop out of their control, which is not a position anyone wants to be.

The key here is to ensure that the channels for communication between the people and your brand are always open. Though you may offer customer support on your website, not all of your customers or clients will always follow proper procedure when it comes to their concerns. They want a response fast, which is why you will see them posting in your Facebook page, in a community forum, in your blog. So it’s very important that you make sure that their concerns are quickly addressed.

Customers like knowing that they are valued, and this means that any concerns they have should always be responded to and not ignored. Though you wish that they would always use the proper channels when airing out their problems, they may not know about this channel, or it may mean that their problem hasn’t been addressed yet or hasn’t been addressed well, which is why they are using other channels to get their message across.

You should actually consider this a good thing, because it means that they really want you to address the problem. Rather than making bad reviews or complaining in other media, they are posting their concerns in your social media accounts so that you can respond to it. Think of it this way – a customer that complains is a gift. Without social media, the complaint may be routed in more harmful ways, and could result in crippling your brand.

That’s what great about social media – it’s incredibly viral and fast. This is also what’s bad about social media. This is the reason why it’s essential for brands to make sure to monitor their social media accounts well so that they can easily respond to any concerns or problems.

You should look at it this way – social media is an excellent channel for communicating with your audience. Nowadays, it’s not enough for you to communicate with people via advertisements or marketing campaigns. You have to deal with people personally to build your brand. People want to interact with you – they want to know who they’re conversing with.

This is why you can’t tell your customers or clients to do it the right way and use the proper channels. You should be happy that they’re airing out their concerns in channels that you have access to, rather than outside channels that you cannot address.

In building your brand, you always have to deal with people, and you should make sure to treat them with respect. Don’t ignore or turn away their concerns just because they weren’t routed in the proper channels. Make sure that you monitor all your accounts so that you can address any problems quickly and efficiently.

Author:

Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog and is also the CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks.com – a word of mouth marketing firm. She helps create connection, credibility, community and cha-ching through mobile marketing and social commerce around your brand. She is co-founder of #brandchat - a weekly twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding.