Join or Die
Everything has a Facebook page. Everyone has a twitter feed. Everything asks us (consumers) to join the "movement". Unfortunately, we're not buying it. Authenticity and acts of good will truly rule our day.
I'm a fan of Zappos because they've messed up my order a few times but went over and beyond fixing it. I enjoy my neighborhood restaurant Six Feet Under because they know my name and once getting my order wrong they comped my entire meal.
I'm not a fan of faux friend requests, linked-in invitations, or shallow conversations, and I'm not alone. Our culture today demands grit, realness, and relationships. We don't expect perfection, and when it's presented to us we feel uncomfortable in it's shadow.
Marketers shouldn't be asking "How do we get people to join?" rather they should be asking "How can we better people's lives?". If you can answer that then the follows, likes, pokes, tags, retweets, and requests will take care of themselves.
What about you, how do you feel about the "join" movement by brands in our culture?
3 Comments
"this totally relates to trust issues between user and (company). for example facebook lost six million US users due to the neglect of user privacy (facebook peeps lost trust with facebook).
http://www.good.is/post/unfriended-six-million-americans-fled-facebook-last-month/"
- Alana
"Great thought Alana. Trust is something that is hard to earn and easy to loose. It is also a key to consumer purchasing behaviors. It is a perception that is reinforced over time with action."
- Blake Howard
"This is another good post, and I think the question is more about WHY should people join? The benefit should not be for the brand, but for the customer. If you are providing them with something of value they will want to support you and follow/like/join you."
- Steven Ritchie