Defining the Social Media Relationship

By Ashley DeForest

Altitude Branding published a great post a few days back about defining the kind of relationship your company/organization is seeking to build with social media tools. Amber warns that the term relationship has become a catch-all phrase to represent the concept of “something bigger and deeper than merely a purchase or transaction.” But there are so many variations of relationships that this generic definition is meaningless.

The inherent danger in not defining relationship building more narrowly is that your company/organization may wind up alienating the very people you’re trying to connect with because your customers can’t decipher what’s wanted from them.

So what’s the solution?

Amber suggests companies specifically define their meaning of relationship and then integrate it into their overall marketing goals and objectives. I couldn’t agree more. This is an exercise I go through with my clients in the very early stages to ascertain what the right online communication strategy will be. I often find that organizations will define the term broadly and then use different social media platforms to achieve the various components of their strategy.

To get the process going, here’s a list of six different meanings for relationship. Your company/organization may be seeking to accomplish any or all of them. The important thing is understanding what your core motivations are and aligning your social media strategy accordingly.

• Understanding customer motivations for doing business with your company
• Getting to know customer interests on a personal level, and to what depth
• Supporting customers’ ongoing needs and questions, as needed, with a friendly, human touch
• Connecting with customers individually
• Having permission to contact customers in some manner or form (or multiple) for promotional purposes
• Building trust with customers in order to seek out info and insider knowledge

Do you have any other meanings of relationship you’d like to share?