• by Jennifer Fisher , Columnist, January 16, 2018

In the gilded age of small batch, local, authenticity, and transparency, big corporations often get cast, unfairly, as the villain. While no company is perfect, most large entities get a bit of a bad rap. So, how do establishments stop acting like The Man, and regain the respect of the people?

If you’re still using “Likes” as a form of analytical measurement in 2018, you might as well be using an abacus to calculate the tip for dinner. Likes are a thing of the past, but likability is the key to the future of brand perception, and likability is measured in engagement.

Marketers can flip the script on negative brand perception to create trust and likability with consumers. It’s possible for big brands to lift engagement metrics and solve likability issues by evolving with audience insights, offering a truly unique consumer experience, investing in media support, and ensuring all efforts ladder up to business objectives.

Becoming a likable brand means letting go of your ego and traditional approach to marketing (read: it's all about me). It's about listening to consumers' wants, needs and pains as it relates to your product or service. It’s about taking those consumer insights and putting action against them to improve your relationship with them and, therefore, increasing traditional brand metrics such as — you got it — “likes.”

Be A Human

Don’t pick a message that solely serves the brand and jam it down every channel you’ve got. It’s a common misconception that social is a megaphone to shout your agenda into the feed. If you actually treat it more like a listening device to understand your consumers and how they engage in conversation with like-minded people, you’ll have a more appropriate message –– and know how, where, and when to push it. Listening before you speak will earn you the right to have a conversation with your consumers.

Give Them Something They Can’t Get Anywhere Else

Social channels are an easy and great way to offer unique value adds to the brand. Whether it’s platform-specific coupons, deals, or even just content, leverage native platform behavior to show consumers a different side of the brand to which they want to hitch themselves. Special discount to Facebook fans? Quirky, unexpected videos in Stories? Finding new, interesting ways to keep consumers delighted and, thusly, engaged doesn’t have to be a grand gesture.

Invest

Here comes the difficult pill to swallow: you need to invest real budget into social. While organic reach still provides brands with value, its impact has dramatically changed and you can’t ignore that fact. Investing dollars in social is  a non-negotiable for 2018.  All too often I have seen clients use social as a low budget testing ground, but the only way you’re really going to win is with an intentional content strategy, juiced with paid media. In addition to securing views, investing in a strong media mix will give better inform you on the sales made from social.

Bottom line: Ask not what you can do for yourself, but what you can do for your consumers, like really do for them –– and back it up with dollars.