5 Lessons from Reese’s Christmas Tree

Jenna WinslowToday I have a guest post from Jenna Winslow.

Jenna Winslow is a recent graduate from the University of Southern Indiana with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing.  Jenna interned at Signarama Evansville during her senior year and is currently the Digital Marketing Intern at Ten Adams Marketing.

5 Lessons from Reese’s Christmas Tree

Social media is not only a fun place to interact with friends, family, and businesses; but is also quickly becoming one of the leading marketing platforms. Social media offers the ability to reach consumers and to connect with them unlike ever before.  And in our rapidly evolving technological world, social media can either make or break a company.

Unhappy customers often go straight to social media to complain about a product or recent negative experience with a company.  And if they are able to express their rage in less than 140 characters, they typically tag the company’s social media account directly in the post.  All eyes then turn to see how, or if, the company responds.

There have been various cringe-worthy social media fails over the years: companies responding inappropriately to complaints – or just flat out ignoring them.  There are plenty of lessons that can be learned from these mistakes; however, just as many, if not more lessons, can be learned from social media wins – when a company nails their response to public customer complaints, settling the issue.

Reese’s had a social media win of their own after releasing their annual Reese’s Christmas Tree last November.  Social media savvy customers headed to Twitter to express their thoughts regarding Reese’s Christmas Trees – or more like the lack of resemblance to a tree.

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Despite being put in a difficult situation for the entire world of social media to see, Reese’s was not fazed by the complaints and used them as an opportunity.  Their response is what I would call the biggest social media win of 2015.

Reese’s created a Twitter campaign exclusively focused on the ugly, misshapen trees, making it official with the hashtag #AllTreesAreBeautiful.

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Reese’s did not simply apologize to their customers, although they did apologize. Reese’s took their response one step further by admitting the Christmas Trees are not perfect, and fully embracing that fact.  “It’s not what it looks like, it’s what it tastes like.”

Here are 5 lessons we can take away from Reese’s Christmas Tree win:

  1. Your customers are on social media, and you should be, too; build connections and reach customers you otherwise may not have been able to.
  2. Monitor what people are saying; turn complaints or bad reviews into an opportunity to gain feedback and learn from your customers.
  3. Never ignore a complaint on social media; not only does this reflect poorly on you, it could also be a missed opportunity.
  4. Engage with your customers on social media; whether a comment or post is about a great experience or a complaint, it requires a prompt response.
  5. Use social media to improve customer service; this can be as simple as responding to a complaint, and shows customers you value them.

Connecting with customers is easy thanks to social media, creating the opportunity to provide exceptional customer service.  Your next response to customer feedback on social media doesn’t have to become an entire Twitter campaign – but it could!

How Do You Treat Your Champions?

What is a Brand Champion?Cheer

Brand Champions are some of the most valuable assets a business can have. You know the people that love love love you, tell all their friends and family, maybe they write a blog post, tweet, or share photos of your brand or product on social channels.

And that – that is HUGE. A digital Brand Champion who is willing to stand on the digital rooftops and share about you are is more influential than all your paid advertising.  See, as consumers, when we are look at new things to buy, we trust the recommendations of our friends more than the paid advertising spots.

Do you even know who your Brand Champions are?

If you haven’t already, look at who is opening, sharing, and forwarding your email newsletters. Keep a list. Look at who is tweeting, @mentioning you, and sharing your posts. Keep a list. Look at who is sending you referrals on a regular basis. Keep a list.

How do you treat them?

Do you say thank you? Do you retweet, repost, or @mention them on occasion? Do you offer them specials or VIP access to things? Maybe send them some swag? You should. They are fan-freaking-tastic. The influence they have on your potential new customers is priceless.

Want more Brand Champions?

See above. The point is, if you cultivate relationships with the people that are your biggest brand advocates, they will keep doing it. Passion is contagious. Ever notice on Facebook the one thing that 16 people shared? One person was passionate about something enough to share it. That passion compelled another person, and so on and so forth. So, in the big picture of things, if you cultivate the relationship of a few Brand Champions, you can exponentially increase your reach to many.

What went wrong?

If you’re thinking – “People used to love my company. What went wrong?” I ask you,  how did you treat your Brand Champions?  What did you do when your biggest brand advocate had an issue or a problem? Did you go out of your way to make it right? Or, are your britches so big that you said – “Eh, so what? It’s one account, one sale. So what if you go to my competitor?”

I had this happen to me twice in one day! Two separate companies (that don’t pay me or give me anything, yet I regularly give them digital love) both said “Nope that’s the rule, I won’t budge.” I was shocked.
Here’s the thing – if a client is willing to give you a chance to make it right, take it. Most will just leave. If you do make it right, the love they have for you will increase. If you don’t work with them to make them happy, you’re not losing a just a customer. You’ve lost a Champion. Think about that. If they go to a competitor and your competitor is good to them, your competitor didn’t just get a new customer. They probably got your Champion to root for them now.

H Schultz quote

Businesses: Overcome Your Personality Disorder

Guest Post today by Jeremy Secrest

“Wah, wah, wah.” – all the grownups in the Charlie Brown shows.

Is that what your potential customers are hearing when you talk? Are they not connecting with your message?

Maybe your personality (or lack of one) is getting in the way.

Personality can seem like a fluffy term for business. It can come across like a trust fall or some of the more odd team-building exercises.

Yet, your customer has a personality.

And so do you.

 

Your customer is a person. And so are you.

And unless you’re selling to robots, people connect with people.

People who need people.

 

People have personalities.

 

Discovering and defining your brand’s personality is key to understanding how to best connect with your customer.

Not in a smarmy, leisure suit kind of way.

In a people kind of way.

The way you communicate through your emails, sales messages, advertising and social media needs to match who you are. It needs to resonate.

Just like a bookish introvert looks awkward trying to be the life of the party (so I’ve heard), you’ll look awkward if your messaging doesn’t fit who you are. Or sounds like a robot.

You’re not talking with robots.

You’re talking with people who have a desire that you’re working to help them achieve.

To connect with them, the way you communicate needs to be really clear. Which helps them understand how you can help them find what they’re looking for.

Personality helps clarify your message and connect the dots to connecting with your customers.BrandTellShare_Square

How do you discover your brand’s personality?

Check out #brandtellshare, a workshop on messaging, media and marketing April 12 with Dana Nelson, Damon Hancock, and Erin Bemis at Fat Head Media. One day. $99. Learn more and register at brandtellshare.com

Not ready for that, but still want to learn more? Get a free branding starter guide at mybrandstory.co.

Jeremy Secrest is Director of Marketing & Development at the Evansville Christian Life Center and founder of Mybrandstory.co.