You'll Disappoint 8 Out of 10 Consumers if Your Brand Doesn't do This on Social Media

Photo: Ivan Samkov/Pexels

Expectations could either be a big time advantage for a brand—or a huge hindrance to its success. As a business owner, as outlandish as some may be—people will always have certain expectations when it comes to your company. 

What’s important is knowing that your target customers will always have positive expectations of your company. And as a business owner, the onus is ultimately on you to consistently deliver on those positive expectations. 

As far as negative expectations are concerned, overcoming them is often a tremendous task for a company to triumph. Which is why it is paramount that your target customers have more positive expectations of your brand—than negative.

And while some expectations are more difficult to deliver on than others, one particular expectation that the vast majority of consumers have of your brand is extremely easy to deliver on. 

One thing consumers expect of your startup

Don’t you just love an interesting consumer survey? So do I! As marketing professionals, in-depth consumer surveys provide data that helps us better understand consumers’ habits, interests, likes, and dislikes. Consumer surveys also help reveal consumers’ expectations. 

Many of which we had often overlooked while focusing on more macro issues. 

As you may know all too well, having an active presence on social media is pivotal to brands and companies reaching consumers where they are today—which is mostly online. 

So it should come as no surprise that not only do today's consumers expect your business to be present and actively post on social media, according to a consumer survey conducted by Sprout Social, 80% of consumers expect brands and companies with a social media presence to interact with their customers in meaningful ways.

How your business could live up to this expectation 

If the success of the most popular social media platforms has shown us anything, it’s that people yearn to be seen, heard, and understood. Whether it’s being heard by their peers, family members, or by brands they support and follow on social media; all human beings inherently yearn for attention. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. 

Knowing that 80% of consumers have an expectation of your brand to interact with them on social media in meaningful ways, the way to live up to this expectation is obvious—simply ensure that your brand interacts with its audience in a meaningful way on social media. 

That interaction could consist of: 

• Replying to relevant posts. 

• Liking your followers and supporters’ posts. 

• Following your followers back on social media. 

• Providing insight to consumers’ inquiries.

• Asking your audience purposeful questions. 

By engaging with your audience in a meaningful way on social media, consumers will feel more emotionally connected to your brand, which could give your brand an edge over its competitors.

That’s because despite 80% of consumers now having an expectation for it, most brands disappoint consumers by not interacting with them online in a meaningful way. Which may suck for those brands, but will be to your brand’s benefit; because yours will overdeliver on their expectations by interacting with them meaningfully, right? Great! So let's get to it! 

Closing thoughts 

Seth Godin may have put it best when he said that, “Brands are just a set of expectations.” Now that you know what’s expected of your brand on social media by the vast majority of consumers, all that’s left to do is deliver on those expectations…expeditiously. 

Need a marketing firm to devise a sound social media strategy for your startup? Schedule a complimentary client consultation with us today and let’s get your startup’s social media game poppin’!