It’s all about loyalty. You know it! I know it! But no one ever talks about it. If a brand grabs our commitment, there is a slim chance we would turn our cheeks and purchase from somewhere else. Are you loyal to a particular brand? What grabs your attention? Many overlook user engagements as a key to growth within a brand’s community. In 2015, a group of Chinese researchers led by Xiabing Zheng shined a light on user engagement focusing on the effects it has on an online community. Their findings, published in Information Technology & People, supporting that user engagement influences brand loyalty both directly and indirectly. The consumers focus is on the benefits of a brand rather than the cost of a product.
But …What the Hell is Engagement?
Academic studies will tell you that engagement is very vague. There are so many different platforms to engage with a customer. Engagement is mostly concerned with customers who are interacting or can engage with the brand. Customer engagement is a formation of loyalty and is seen as behavioral manifestation. This research study brings up the idea of brands engaging with their consumers. It’s not just about customer engagement; it is based on a framework the points out five main motivational groups of user participation. They are focus-related utility, consumption utility, approval utility, moderator-related utility, and homeostasis utility. Each motivator gives shrinks a consumer cognitive dissonance. For example, when we go shopping and by something, we “want” but claim we need it, the logic of buying is connected with our emotions. Our minds play into this game of wants and needs, but in the end, we focus on our desires that are disguised as needs leading to more engagement with brands.
Examining this concept more is a study published in The Journal of Business Research led by Paul Harrigan. The study, Customer engagement, and the relationship between involvement, engagement, self-brand connection, and brand usage intent, highlights consumer behavior based on the loyalty the brand gives back to its consumers. The brand engagement reflects the brand’s performance and can result in excellent outcomes; brand referrals, sales growth, customer co-creation, and, most importantly, profit.
Is a Brand Community the Secret?
You may believe that the secret to gaining brand loyalty to create a community, but the truth is the foundation of a community. A community is built on engagement. According to Harrigan, a consumer who engages social media brand communities show a high level of trust, commitment, satisfaction, a bond, and loyalty to a brand. This does not come overnight. Consumer brand engagement (CBE) can be seen as a spider web with three primary connector cognitive processing, affection, and activation.
The ability to connect to the consumer relies on these three categories. Most of the time, it can be achieved by giving the consumers something to connect with. Storytelling is seen to be a great way to do this. In 2019, an article about meaningful storytelling was published in the International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, Rania Farouk Abdel Azim Nakhil discusses the effect of storytelling and the impact it has on the relationship between the brand and the consumer. The discovery was most definitely an experience we all could have to relate to—an advertisement playing on our emotions, pulling us into the brand’s values. Meaningful storytelling allows CBE to come to life. The colors of consumer engagement are the whole rainbow; it will enable your brand to continue to flourish.
Will you Engage with Me?
Don’t have your social media following feel like they do not mean anything. Recently, I have discussed how Apple Music takes their followers for granted but there are other brands that build their online communities with communication. Studies show that social media relations with consumers can influence purchase behavior and brand loyalty.
Social Media Today, discusses a survey that was completed by the Manifest in order to highlight the key findings of heavy influence to purchase behavior. Some of these findings are
- Using Social Media to connect with your Consumer. (DUH!)
- Interact with the Consumer. (WHAT HAVE A BEEN SAYING)
- Don’t base your strategy on generalization. (Your audience is a bag of skittles.)
- Social Media is a tool of Two-Way Communication (Utilize it, Please!)
- People want to buy from brands who they follow. (THIS IS YOUR COMMUNITY)
As you read this post, I hope I was able reinforce the idea of how engagement is the secret of opening a door to brand loyalty. What are your thoughts? Are you loyal to brands that “ghost” you?
Leave your comments below, I would love to engage with you!
The Gabber 