A Guide to Consumer-Brand Relationship Statuses | Social Joey

There’s no doubt that social media is a powerful platform. It’s changed much more than just how we connect with friends; it’s also altered how we connect with colleagues, brands, and strangers all over the world.

In fact, even the most personal details of a person’s life have been influenced by social media. The ability to define your relationship was one of Facebook’s first features and changed the way friends display the more intimate details of their lives.

But how does this relate to brand strategy? At Social Joey, we think that connecting with consumers on social is much more than just swapping “likes”—in fact, there are a lot of similarities between the consumer-brand relationship and traditional relationship statuses you’d find on Facebook profiles.

You want your brand to win over new followers, work to keep the relationship strong, and fix things when they go wrong—which is exactly what we’re here to help you do! Here’s our breakdown of the relationship statuses consumers go through with brands, and how you can create a content strategy that’s the apple of their (newsfeed’s) eye. 😉

Single: So the consumers aren’t seeing you right now—no sweat! With the right content and posting strategy, you’ll be winning them over in no time.

When it comes to romantic relationships, 39% of people meet their significant other through friends, and social media relationships are just the same. That means that the main goal in this stage is to increase exposure, impressions, and engagement amongst your current audience. The more you can get your current followers talking with you and about you, the more likely you are to come across a potential new follower’s feed.

So how do you do all this? Creating content that gets people talking is the best place to start. Post relatable updates that encourage followers to tag their friends, mixed in with interesting information and articles that people are likely to share. If you want to really turn up the heat, hosting a contest where followers tag a friend to enter is sure to get people talking—meaning you’re all the more likely to have that special someone enter into your “likes.”

Seeing Each Other: You’ve gotten their attention and things are going places, but you still aren’t sure how to capture the “like” or “follow.”

There are a lot of reasons why people might not elect to follow a brand. Maybe they’ve checked out your page a few times but they’re selective with who they want on their newsfeed, or they aren’t sure how the content that you’re sharing can enhance their lives. This is where you get to win them over and prove that you share content worth taking up a spot on their timeline!

How do you know what your target consumer wants? Think about the type of consumers you want to win over, and consider what content is relevant to their lives. Using your platform’s analytics tools, look back at what’s resonated well with your audience in the past. Posts that have gotten more likes, comments, and shares than average are likely a good indication of what direction you should point your content towards in the future. Your fans might want to see career advice, info about their city, humorous content, or a blend of all three—being their go-to source for whatever information they’re looking for is key to winning them over.

In A Relationship: You’ve gotten the follow; congratulations! The nerve-wracking part of the dating stage is over, and it’s just smooth sailing from here on out…right?

Actually, relationships, both romantic and social, are really hard work. Especially in an era where consumers are trying to cut down on their social media clutter and brands are always vying for their attention, keeping someone from clicking “unsubscribe” is almost as difficult as getting them to subscribe in the first place. Remember to keep a close eye on your analytics and what your audience is enjoying the most at this stage—posting more content along those lines is the best way to keep them around! This is the stage that you want to remain in, and listening to your partner (in this case, your followers) is the best way to keep everyone happy.

It’s Complicated: As previously stated, relationships aren’t easy. If you’re worried that the audience is slipping away, don’t give up hope!

An audience that’s close to falling out of “like” with you isn’t beyond saving, you just have to know how to rekindle that original flame. Now might be a good time to do a content assessment and determine what trends you’ve been seeing on your platforms. Common reasons that drive people to click that “unfollow” button include seeing too many promotions, not feeling a sense of personality from the brand, and not getting a response to their message.

Take a look back at the past month or two of posts—has your brand fallen into one of these content traps? Thankfully, the fixes for this are easy! Simple things like making sure to respond to every comment (even if it’s just with an emoji!), toning back the promotional messaging and sharing more of what makes your brand unique will do wonders in getting people interested again!

It’s Over: Despite what all the 80’s ballads might have you think, getting dumped is not the end of the world. In the age of social media, it’s just as easy to re-follow someone as it is to unfollow them, so don’t lose faith!

Finding your voice in the internet sphere is what social media is all about, which is why you shouldn’t be afraid to do a social rebrand if something isn’t working. The brands we consider synonymous with brilliant social strategies haven’t been that way forever; they were able to achieve their loyal following through trial, error, and a whole lot of learning!

While you should never put anything on social media that you don’t want consumers to see, remember that newsfeeds move at quite a fast pace—meaning experimenting is okay, and even encouraged, while you’re learning what people want! Maybe you’ve had a sales-centric newsfeed in the past, but you’ve never tried sharing articles that your customers might have interest in. Or maybe your social has been a little less than vibrant—spend some time thinking about what makes your brand special and how you can infuse that into your messaging. These simple switches might be the exact boost your follower count needs, and will keep your social relationships happy for many seasons to come!

Tip: Are you unsure how to add more fun to your social strategy? We’ve got a guide for that!

If you’re ready to be “in a relationship” with all your followers, Social Joey can help! We love matchmaking brands with what their consumers want to see—we hope yours will be next. 💜