Is social media like marriage?

While browsing Youtube videos, I stumbled across a video by @Garyvee which caught my attention. Before I share the video with you, here are some of the key points which I found out from the video.

In the video, Gary talked about how businesses today handle social media and one of the things Gary noticed was that businesses are like brides, they spend more time and effort planning the wedding than they do once they are married. He also mentioned that businesses today don’t think lifetime value can be achieved from social media.

Here is the video:

httpv://youtu.be/afJueusgoqk

I love the analogy that Gary drew. It got me thinking, social media is not merely about business, it is about establishing a lifetime relationship or creating a lifetime value with your customers.

Social media is indeed like a marriage between brands and customers 

And this is why:

1. Commitment in Social Media

Similar to a wedding, social media requires a commitment to your customers. It is about creating brand loyalty with your customers and one of the ways to create brand loyalty is to get your hands dirty and really work on it to maintain that relationships.

2. Listening in Social Media

One way to create brand loyalty or to commit yourself to your customers is to start listening. I remember watching a video at iStrategy by Microsoft, which was a parody about advertisers and consumers. It shows how advertisers don’t listen to consumers. In the video, the woman left the men because he didn’t listen, similar to what we’re discussing here today. Start listening! Bear in mind that social media is like a marriage. It is a two-way communication, stop talking to yourself, and listen to your spouse! In this case, listen to your customers and not out of tune.

httpv://youtu.be/heSudg-tfIk

RespondWhat is the point of listening if you don’t respond? Imagine a husband or wife listens to their life partner all the time but they don’t respond. Of course the partner will be cross. They would keep repeating till the other responds. Respond to both negative and positive comments. Don’t be afraid to say “I’m sorry” to something bad or say “thank you” when it’s necessary.

Surprise and delightRecently, Dave Kerpen from LikeableMedia talked about surprise and delight on Watch Me Wednesday on Youtube.

I agree with Dave that surprise and delight are always an important principle in business, like in a marriage. We all love surprises and I love to surprise my girlfriend who I have been together with for more than four years. I want to share something personal here, although it has nothing to do with social media, it is relatively related in a way.

A few days ago, I flew to Kuala Lumpur from Singapore to surprise my girlfriend. To my surprise, she posted it on her Facebook wall and received more than 10 comments and had 33 likes. In the same way, what if you surprise your customers and go all the way for them? A small surprise would suffice. Do note that some of the people you surprise on social media might have thousands of friends who are connected with them.

3. Social Media is Long term 

At the end of the day, getting married to your lifetime partner is a long term commitment. Similar to social media, it is about creating a long term value with your customers. Don’t forget, whenever you help them on social media, it’s going to come back in good way for you. Whenever you delete their comment or ignore them, they will come back and bite you. Think long term! After all the customers will come back to you if they like you!

What do you think?

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