Reaching the Rich on Social Media Platforms Top 7 Strategies Using HR

Digital Marketing

Social Media is a phrase that everyone knows or has heard, and it’s certainly being thrown around by seemingly everyone with a heartbeat and pulse these days, and yet it’s sometimes hard to answer the question about social networks. If Facebook, MySpace and Wikipedia are social networking sites, what are social networks? Perhaps the best way to define social media is to break it up. The media are an instrument used for communication, such as radio, a newspaper and television, and social networks would be a social instrument of communication.

In Web 2.0 terms, you receive information as that information interacts with you. Engagement can be any number of things, from comments to rating a product or articles, and thus the beauty of social media: It’s a two-way street that gives you an opportunity to communicate while you’re engaged on that site. There was a time when it was commonly held that no one could sell big ticket items online, or anything else of real value, but that time has come and gone. More than three-quarters of US online adults made a purchase over the Web.

Nearly 4 in 10 online shoppers have made a travel purchase and more than a third have managed their bank or credit accounts online. The American Express Publishing and Harrison Group report “The Second Annual Survey of Affluence and Wealth in the United States” found that 70% of surveyed US consumers with more than $100,000 in discretionary income prefer shopping online to the in-store experience. The same number (70%) also go online to research products, compare prices and make purchases.

This penchant for online shopping could very well be a case of time equals money. More specifically, the retail experience has changed in character. For example, the introduction of online retail has significantly changed the overall shopping experience. The term e-tail encompasses many different experiences such as grocery e-tail, auction e-tail or specialty e-tail and many others. But now there is a new experience on the rise and has been added to online shopping, which is the rise of online electronic luxury.

So what has caused this sudden growth in online luxury? This new growth is due in large part to the fact that most wealthy Internet users in the United States are optimistic about the progress of the economy according to Ipsos Mendelsohn and their online spending has historically been higher than average. That should make everyone happy and present an attraction for retailers, who have increased their attention to social media to attract customers. But does this mean that the wealthy will be as receptive to social marketing as other Web users? The answer to that question depends on who you ask. According to a study conducted by Unity Marketing, the picture is mixed. But as confidence among the wealthy about the economy grows, the wealthy will boost online spending. Believe it or not, the rich are leading the way in e-commerce recovery, and that leads to another interesting point I’d like to mention.

In the past, the communications teams of most corporations were responsible for protecting and preserving the reputation of the corporation. However, with the enormous popularity of social media, all departments in your company can play a very important role in branding, monitoring and protecting the corporate image and reputation, starting with the Human Resources department. One of the biggest challenges for Human Resources executives is breaking down the walls that some corporations put up simply because there is a belief or policy of allowing only their communication departments to represent the company and its brand identity. In some companies the wall is big. But there is a way to take it down, if one has the right tools. Except in a few cases, most companies offer largely undifferentiated products and services; airlines, for example, fly their planes over and over again, while serving the same food, and retail stores offer the same merchandise.

In many ways, your brand strategy is simply your business strategy. Frankly speaking, a brand is a promise to consumers to provide a specific level of service, value, and quality that can be expected and received. Think of a brand as a compact between a company and its customers. Brand expert Martin Lindstrom said it best when he said, “Big brands and religions have something in common: the idea of ​​defeating a shared enemy.”

Today’s media approach to branding a company’s message to the consumer has gotten much better, with all the social media platforms out there today, one thing is for sure: if the promise isn’t delivered, customers they will run away and go elsewhere. A classic example is Eastern Airlines, which vowed to “earn its wings every day” through superior customer service while canceling flights, losing luggage, and serving passengers horrible food. As a direct result, trust between customers and the airline was irrevocably broken, passengers were boycotted, and eventually Eastern Airlines went out of business and destroyed the brand forever.

What went wrong? Eastern Airlines failed to align their employees’ behavior with the brand promise, and that brings me to my first tip for anyone building a brand; understand that your ad copy does not deliver on your brand promise, nor is it your product; Your brand promise is fulfilled by your people.

Herein lies the opportunity for HR to break down the walls and get into the branding game, helping to ensure that all the actions big and small that people in the company take every day, across the organization, are in line with brand strategy.

Finally, use these seven tips to further enhance your position and share in the company’s brand identity, ensuring that your company and brand will last for years and be in business for years to come.

HR Department’s Top 7 Strategies and Tips for Getting Involved with Company Branding to Reach the Wealthy:

  1. Conduct interviews as if you were using a crystal ball. Look deeper and ask questions that lead to future answers.
  2. During interviews, start thinking about the big picture: Convey how corporate reputation affects all aspects of the company’s business, including the hiring and firing process.
  3. Create a company policy focused on conduct and disclosure, and offer it to the communications department for implementation outside of your office and department.
  4. Understand how fast information moves online and be prepared to respond quickly if a problem arises online.
  5. Check social networking sites before conducting an interview and learn about the social behavior of the job seeker at the company before you hire them.
  6. Keep your temper in check and never badmouth anyone who uses social media and see if the potential new hire has done the same. Remember that your bad comments will overcome your temper.
  7. Think about the future. Try to predict how announcements, policy changes, ad campaigns, and world events may affect your organization, as you step in to lead a reputation crisis.

Keeping these helpful tips and strategies in mind will go a long way in the process of engaging and supporting a HR executive with branding strategies. Ten years ago it would not have been possible for this type of intelligent departmental interaction to be feasible.

As an HR executive, you can take advantage of this opportunity to reach the affluent consumer by incorporating social media and monitoring into your communication plans today.

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