Continuing with our series of posts on how to measure the virality of an online buzz, we’d like to present you with a second type of brand profile on social media:
The functional brand
There are certain brands that while we are willing to share about them on the social web and tell whether we loved them or hated them, do not necessarily generate loads of conversation.
They are the basic hotel chains, certain cell phone providers, delivery services. You just want them to work.
Case in point:
You want your delivery on time, your hotel room clean, the service to be acceptable, and not necessarily anything more.
For brands like these, for which customers don’t necessarily write pages and pages about their feelings about the brands and their offerings, it can be difficult to tease out what it is that brands can offer beyond what they already are. If customers just want something to work and aren’t asking for anything beyond on-time delivery, say, it’s not obvious to want to try to go above and beyond a customer’s expectations, right? After all, the law of diminishing returns ensuers that even if you were to spend more and more and more, they may not even notice. So my mail shows up in a shiny red car instead of an ugly brown car? Why do I care?
But if we look at brands that have gone the extra step, it’s easy to see the returns they’ve received.
Who hasn’t heard rave reviews of Zappos customer service or Best Buy’s Twelpforce?
By providing above-and-beyond… CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE
