‘Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait to hear the answer.’
Can the same be said of online friends? And can brands be friends?
Here’s what blogger Patrick Glinski recently posted about brands that hang out in the same places where he connects with his friends. “These companies are not my friends in any sense of the word - they don’t call me, they don’t go out for beers with me, and they definitely weren’t at my last birthday party. They have no legitimate connection to me whatsoever. It’s scary to think that when I connect to a company through social media, I may have just given a psychopath access to my life.”
The psychopath reference is a bit much and borrowed from the documentary The Corporation. However, we can’t dismiss his take on
‘friending brands’: “The reality is, a “brand friend” is really more of an
acquaintance. If they start
spamming your twitter feed, you’re probably going to block them. If they start
messaging erratically, you tune them out. If they post in erratic voices you
will be concerned about them, and if they lie to your face, you’ll be ticked
off at them. It’s dangerous that more companies don’t evaluate what kind of
friend they’re being.”
The firm Brand Amplitude heard similar views in two focus groups it conducted last March with Millenials about friending on Twitter and Facebook:
“Brands that show up on facebook often look like your parents when they (unsuccessfully) try to act cool.”
“Seeing a brand on facebook makes me just think is spam mail or a scam.”
“Yeah I don’t really pay attention to the ads on the side of facebook. A lot of them aren’t even accurate.”
“I’ve never clicked on the ads on the side on fbook or gmail – not out of principle, but they’ve just never grabbed me.”
“I mean, I think people use it as a user-to-user network. I mean, you call your connections “friends.” I don’t think I’ve ever joined a brand’s FB group — unless you count maybe a sports teams, though those are usually fan generated …There’s something really off-putting about a big brand sending you a facebook group invite. I’d never accept it.”
“I think there is a sniff test people give brands when they use such tactics. And I’m not sure what the formula is for passing it”
“I really enjoy being able to “friend” indie rock bands for their music, but I don’t really friend any product company, or brand. I always feel like most brands are scamming you in some way when they want to be your friend.”
The good news
Millennials do want to connect with brands as long as the connections are genuine and of value. One study even suggested Millennials would welcome a separate channel for ‘friending’ brands. Research by Pace University indicates 51% of Gen Y respondents saying they’d “join a separate social network dedicated to managing brand interactions.
Some of the more positive verbatim comments from the same focus groups:
“They need to surprise me with their content or genuine nature or candor.”
“I think a possibility forTwitter posts and Facebook pages for companies would be to have actual people doing them – to have entertaining personalities or something.”
“One cool use of Twitter is with Starbucks where they have a person at corporate who will communicate back to you.”
“Yeah Comcast has their customer service reps on twitter actually helping people.”
“Yeah exclusive deals are always good, makes you feel special, get you more engaged.”
“Make me feel smart for buying your shit.”
You can read more on this post titled Why Brands Make Poor ‘Friends’.
Here’s another interesting report on the subject written up in Brandweek, this time with data from an online survey of 1,000 US women conducted last month.
- Although 52 percent of female users have "friended" a brand, feelings of neutrality (64 percent) and negativity (19 percent) were the most common reactions when women encountered brands online. Only 17 percent said the experience was positive.
- Only 10 percent of women said that participating in brand-related activities, such as finding information (8.7 percent) and writing reviews (1 percent), was their most common social media activity.
Friending brands in Québec
Brands that befriend Quebeckers the right way might find it's worth the extra effort.
According to PMB 2009 data, Quebeckers are more likely than Canadians in the ROC to agree with the statements:
- When I find a new product I like, I typically recommend it.
- I find I'm easily swayed by other people's views.
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