Social Intelligence

Sprout Social is a helpful marketing tool that brands and agencies have flocked to in recent years for their user-friendly tech and their helpful knowledge. In Q2 of 2017, Sprout Social published a survey among social media users regarding how they prefer a company to act on social media.

How to Act

The most desirable trait of a brand’s personality was honesty, which is something that brands should be striving to achieve on and off social media. The perception of honesty builds a foundation of trust with consumers. Once you have earned trust, it is much easier to convert a user into a loyal customer. Perceived honesty also makes customers more forgiving of your brand, making it easier to regain trust if they have had any kind of negative experience with your brand.

It was also discovered that being friendly on social media was very important to users. Genuine care should be put into all interactions that play out in the public sphere. For example, if a person provides a positive review on your business you should thank them for their kind words and let them know that you appreciate that they have chosen you. If possible, you can go even further and mention a specific detail about the visit to show that you have paid attention. This adds a level of humility to your brand personality online, which will never backfire on you.

Humour, although important to consumers, can be difficult to achieve. Brands have found themselves in many a scandal from accidentally crossing a line, so ensure you are choosing the right moments to be funny. If you’re at all unsure if the post could be taken poorly, run it past a friend or co-worker first. Tasteful, witty humour should always be the goal.

Many social media users interact with brands online because they need assistance or want help resolving an issue. Negative reviews or inquiries should never go unacknowledged, as this will give readers the impression that your brand does not care about its customers. Helpfulness is a very important trait to display on social media. Take each interaction (positive or negative) as an opportunity to improve your dialogue with customers and show them what you stand for.

Traits to Avoid

When it comes to social media, knowing what to do is equally as important as knowing what not to do. Surprisingly, being trendy is relatively unimportant to consumers as compared to the traits mentioned above. Using slang and posting memes is not the route to take. Also surprisingly, most users aren’t interested in the political correctness of the brands they follow.

The least valued trait in a brand on social media as voted by users is being snarky, which can mean a few things. To avoid being perceived as snarky, stay away from posting commentary that is negative in nature, puts down your competitors, or comes off as ungrateful. Since text- and image-based social posts lack context, sarcasm and satire can often be misconstrued for closed-mindedness and disrespect.

Keep in mind that while snarky and controversial posts might get the knee-jerk reactions on social, they are not worth it. Playing the long game is more rewarding. Brand building requires maturity, transparency, and just the right amount of tasteful humour.