Online Consumer Kingdom: Species brands need to be aware of

In today’s socially advanced age, all brands are striving hard to engage with their stakeholders. Therefore, it becomes highly important to know what your stakeholders are speaking about, in order to further develop the product/brand and improve the customer experience. On the flipside  though even the stakeholders are aware, that a brand can go to any and every extent, in order to keep them happy Given below is a fun take on the set of consumers I have come across, while conducting research for various brands at Germin8:

The Silver Tongue 

These set of consumers love expressing themselves! Be it their favourite hangout place, cuisine, product they like/dislike, opinion on eminent personalities, films or a random philosophical thought- they always have an opinion and they love speaking it aloud. What is on their mind is on Social media. These set of consumers are extremely helpful when it comes to:

  • Conducting Category Research
  • Product/Service quality feedback
  • Identifying Brand Perception
  • Branding/Rebranding
  • Online Consumer Behavioural Studies

Contest Lovers

These consumers love online contests. They will go to any extent to win a contest/hamper/gift. They might not have used a brand’s product or service, however, they religiously follow/like multiple brands on social media to get updates about latest contests and participate in them.

How can a brand leverage their enthusiasm?

  • Boost the contest, resulting in high engagement numbers for the brand
  • The contest lover may not be customer, but he can definitely create visibility for your brand and bring in actual customers on board.

The Last Resort Consumers

These consumers have serious issues with brand’s product/service. After having used other mediums in attempt to reach out to the brand for complain resolution, their final resort is to pin up their issue on social media by tagging the brand’s official handle/page

If treated with utmost care:

  • These stakeholders will remain content, if not highly satisfied and will not add to further negative mentions about the brand
  • Will restore their faith in the brand’s customer care service
  • Positive word of mouth (if highly satisfied)

The Blackmailers

These group of consumers believe they can hold the brand for a ransom in exchange for its reputation. They do not care if the fault is on the part of the retailer, distributor, family member or even if there is no mistake at all! All they care about, is that their demands be met:

  • The brand, first and foremost, must be able to identify these blackmailing stakeholders
  • Be prepared with a response for this group, such that they are content, while at the same time the brand doesn’t have to give in, to too many of their demands

The Loyalist

These set of stakeholder follow every move of the brand on social media. They are passionate about the brand, and are highly influenced by the brand’s decisions and activities online. It’s important for brands to identify these loyalists and make sure there is constant engagement with these stakeholders at a regular interval.

  • Great for marketing activities, they act as channels to reach out to newer audience
  • Can act as advocates for the brand during crisis
  • Great for word of mouth for the brand

Content Driven Consumers

These set of stakeholders are scanners. They scroll down pages for hours, in search of interesting content. Their activities will be restricted to liking, sharing and commenting on these platforms. Majority of online users fall under this group:

  • Helps increase the virality of the brand’s videos and other marketing collaterals
  • The content, has to be interesting and should create instant connect
  • Specially relevant for B2B brands

The online consumer may not be limited to one of these categories, they may change roles from time to time. It is extremely critical for a brand to understand these consumer behaviours and keep them happy. After all, as the age old adage goes, Customer is the KING.