Would your consumers become campaigners for you?
This year we have seen a number of companies ask their customers to campaign on their behalf, either explicitly or through establishing community groups. One example was Uber sending a template email for its customers to forward to the mayor of London to fight against what it felt was unfair bureaucracy. Another has been Airbnb actively encouraging groups of people who rent property through the platform to get together at events and share their experiences, including frustrations with local planning regulations.
What’s interesting from a communications standpoint is that the companies are using tactics more commonly associated with political or charitable causes, taking advantage of social media and the networks they have created to act like NGOs or campaigning groups. In the two examples above, large corporations are aiming to position themselves as the champion of the little guy, and mobilise an army of their users to help push their agenda.
Usually when the public bands together to support a business, it tends to be cases such as a local independent fighting a multinational giant ‘muscling in on their turf’, or a long established neighbourhood store being forced out by rent increases. By flying the flag of being ‘disrupters’ major companies have been able to convince large groups of people to rally to their cause, despite them being the dominant player in the market.
What is also striking is how quickly they have been able to turn consumers into campaigners. As in many areas, social media has increased the speed with which consumers have built relationships with brands. The brands in turn have been able to use the same channels to harness these relationships. Of course, with today’s connectivity it takes little effort to share, forward or retweet a message and so the connections may have shallower roots than may first appear.
But brand owners should ask themselves the question – do I have relationships with my customers that would lead them to campaign on my behalf? And if they wouldn’t, how much value do they place on whatever it is I am offering them?
Written by Brandon Stockwell, Director