It has been a little while since my last blog post but I have a good reason – I recently got engaged to my girlfriend of 3+ years. The last several weeks have been filled with sneaking around, driving across three different states, lots of research and tons of stress.
But it was all worth it when I saw the look on my girlfriend’s face when I got down on one knee and proposed. However, this monumental decision in my life got me thinking about how buying an engagement ring is a lot like forming a social media strategy.
- Listen and Research – I have known for a while that my girlfriend was the one I wanted to marry one day but I was waiting for a good time to set out on the process of purchasing a ring. When I knew the time had come to start seriously looking into buying a ring, I started paying close attention to whenever she talked about engagement rings or commented on rings of her recently engaged friends. Brands need to listen and see what people are saying about them before jumping into social media. Just like getting engaged, you never want to rush into starting social media. Researching the 4′s C’s of diamonds was a crucial part of my process and I learned a great deal about engagement rings. After finding where customers are talking about your brand and listening to what is being said, researching what social channels and tools can best be leveraged to obtain your social media objectives is key.
- Commitment – After you have listened to what type of engagement ring your girlfriend wants and done all your research and then some, it is time to commit to a ring and put down some money. Buying an engagement ring was the biggest purchase of my life thus far and a lot of thinking went into it. The same is true with social media. Brands can’t half ass interacting with customers on social networks or it will clearly show. You need a thought out social media strategy and then need to commit the proper time, resources and money into carrying it out. The days of letting the intern set up your Facebook page or having the PR team just tweet out press releases are long over.
- Think Long Term – I was ready to buy an engagement ring because when I thought about my future, I knew I didn’t want it to be without my girlfriend. I wanted the most beautiful ring I could afford and one that I knew she would love forever. When choosing to get started in social media, brands need to not just think about short term goals or get caught up in day-to-day tactics. Make sure you have a long term strategy in place that is not just acquire as many Fans as possible or drive sales to your website. Think about ways that you can continually provide value to users that have followed and engaged with your brand so you can turn them into loyal evangelists.
In the end after countless hours and lots of stressful thinking, I was very satisfied with my ring selection and I think my girlfriend would say the same. The most crucial part of the entire process was definitely listening and research because in my mind I only had one chance to get this right. Just like I would never take back my engagement ring and ask for a second chance to propose, brands can’t just delete their social media efforts or hope all the customer questions and comments magically disappear. Take your time and do things right the first time. And just in case there was any doubt after reading this, my girlfriend said yes when I asked her to marry me and is now my fiancé. Calling her my fiancé with take some getting use to…
