I was just reading an interesting post on Socialmedia Today called The Engagement Marketing Disconnect Between Consumers and Brands Rages On and found an interesting nugget with regards to consumer engagement and brand’s lack of understanding of online consumer behavior. The article’s author, Steve Olenski, made an interesting case based on findings from Forbes Insights and Turn called “The New Rules of Engagement: Measuring the Power of Social Currency” but there was one graph that stood out for me:
A rather large 67% of consumers say that it’s the funny posts that get their attention but only 14% of marketers look to craft social posts that are humorous or irreverent. There seems to be a very large disconnect here.
More brands are starting to do a better job of measuring consumer’s engagement with their brand however they’re still not able or willing to put out content that will best boost that consumer’s willingness to share content. While humor is certainly subjective, there needs to be a willingness of brands to be bold and inject a little levity into their posts. It’s this human element that companies have to address if they ever want to truly connect with their customers.
