The face was familiar. I’ve seen that smile many times over the years at the check-out register. She’s always polite, efficient and makes me feel like a valued customer. That’s a big reason why I shop there.
It was the weekend. She wasn’t wearing that same familiar branded polo shirt, but I knew it was her. I smiled, waved, and started to say hello.
And then it happened.
She walked right past me, looking straight ahead without the slightest glimmer of recognition.
I was stunned. It’s not the money I’ve spent in her employer’s store. It’s not the fact I’ve been a loyal customer for five years now. It’s not even the fact I’ve seen her on a weekly basis that bothers me. What eats at me is that behavior is not even human.
There are few things in the world as cold as being ignored. Yet it happens every day.
This story is not true. It’s an analogy for the social behavior of companies online. Silence. Nothing. In fact one recent study suggests 16 percent of brands never acknowledge posts. It’s like walking right past someone waving hello.
Ever Tweet at a company without response? Ever post a compliment on a brand’s Facebook Page that goes ignored? Ever post a blog comment that goes unanswered? The one and only lonely comment and yet it’s left without a response. That’s called “fire and forget.” That’s not engagement.
Why? Why not respond? Responses turn loyal fans into fanatics. I work in the marketing field and yet I still get a bit excited when a brand acknowledges me. If a compliment is the most underutilized tool in leadership, then the simple act of acknowledgement is surely the most underutilized in relationship building online.
Clearly there are limitations — we can’t respond to everyone — but we sure as heck can try our hearts out. My marketing wing-woman and I make a good faith effort to respond to as many as we can; often it’s the first thing I do every morning, or the last thing I do at night.
Sixteen-percent of brands don’t even make an effort, which causes me to wonder: why are they even online?
Acknowledgement: it’s a simple way to turn fans into fanatics.
Photo credit: Flickr via Creative Commons; CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
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Frank,
Came by your blog on recommendation from Arik Hanson and also read your post on blog comments. Consider this MY acknowledgement.
I appreciate the simplicity of the topic in the post yet it has such greater implications as you have stated. The big, bad brands walk around with what sometimes seems like an elitist attitude all the while they tout their ability to engage in and even initiate social trends, news and media. Ironic.
Some of the greatest concerts I’ve been to sat a room of fifty with an artist with less in his or her wallet. Were they not just singing to me? Sometimes less is more, right? Name of the game, Engage (B Solis), and unfortunately the Bigs get wrapped in the masses and miss the appeal of a genuine, intimate…hello.
@mediameck Thanks for the kind words Matt. That’s a pretty solid analogy about artists; I heard an interview the other day on the radio where the artist said something very similar. I cannot remember who it was, but it was a member of an A-List band. I remember thinking: that’s pretty cool. Thanks for stopping by!
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