Aviation Marketers should view their brand through their customer’s eyes to determine its social identity.

Facebook commissioned Forrester research to evaluate how marketers are building brands in the connected world. The research revealed that most marketers believed that social media was important to brand building, however their current strategies were out of sync with how customers prefer to interact with their offerings.

My interpretation of the study is that there are some aspects that hold particular interest for aviation marketing and should be investigated. 

Traditional marketing strategy is based on a “one-to-many” concept not taking into account the rise of social media and the influence it has on the purchasing cycle.

People-to-people marketing is based on connecting with your brand through powerful personal technology, inbound and outbound marketing. Through these channels the customer decides when, where, and how they want to interact with your brand.

Aviation marketers need to readjust their point-of-view in the connected world.

• The brand story must be described from the customer’s point of view, not the marketer’s
• Earning customer loyalty is not a linear journey; it is a continuous process of learning and exploration
• The loyalty journey is not isolated to one person at a time – the connected world influences it

Here are 6 steps for building a connected brand:

1. Articulate – Define the brand social identity. Why do people engage with your brand and talk about it with friends in the real world?
2. Connect – What social media platforms and channels do your best and most likely customers frequent? Give them a reason to connect.
3. Engage – Interact with people by making your content more relevant and participative. Do you respond to your community?
4. Influence – Inspire people with your brand story. Do you encourage customers to share their experiences with your brand?
5. Integrate – Integrate inbound with outbound marketing efforts. Make the brand experience social from the beginning.
6. Rejuvenate – Social media is ripe with insight. Listen and learn to what is being said to innovate current product offering. Develop a process for sharing insights throughout the organization.

Connected aviation brands have the vision and expert hearing that lead to a competitive advantage.  Meaningful insight is gained by listening to the whispers of the digital community.

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