As brands get closer to consumers, participatory marketing and community management can come together to create real engagement.
When brands get closer to consumers, participatory marketing associated with community management brings new creativity. For the community manager, it is this rate of engagement of Internet users that is to be sought through the operations carried out.
It is thanks to the participative marketing and community management provided by the community manager that a rapprochement between the brand and the consumers is possible. The goal is that it is beneficial for the brand and that the product and the service respond to a real need identified.
How to attract the user who navigates on social networks?
When we observe the behaviour of Internet users, within social networks in general, and through fan pages or communities, all find themselves in the middle of a flow of information more or less constant.
To exist or be seen, there are a plethora of strategies to develop to increase its visibility, and not be absorbed by the information superhighway; the phenomenon of infobesity can be raised here. It would be appropriate to enter into a vision of what will happen tomorrow’s marketing.
We will, therefore, understand that commitment remains a central point of our actions to maximize visibility and allow better relay campaigns. Among the marketing levers, participatory marketing allows a rapprochement between brands and consumers to decide in collaborative mode, the future of a product or service.
It is not necessarily a question of rethinking a product as a whole, but more specifically its image, it’s packaging which attracted the consumer to the content. One can nevertheless imagine a concept open in the coming years, which is still a marketing approach to master not to lose control of his product.
Attracting the user is not an easy task; it is a goal at the centre of the marketing strategy of the brand, and work on which the community manager will take over. For this, you have to be visionary, observant, understand the buying behaviour and especially the way the user uses social networks.
It is on this last support that many brands are concentrated at the moment. You have to be creative while limiting the intrusive side, lessen the advertising side by focusing on a strong message that leads to the brand and not the other way around. Here are the ingredients that will be in the hands of the community manager, to relay campaigns on social networks and increase the commitment of his community.
Bridging the gap between brand and consumer via participatory marketing
To do this, we must learn as an Internet user, to reason about his own needs, his desires in relation to the brand that attracts us, or the one we dream of achieving even if only through a simple exchange.
In sum! Let’s put ourselves in the place of our favourite brand and ask what we expect from her and vice versa. Brands and consumers are getting closer and closer through fan implications, but also because brands aim for their strategies, exchange and collaboration.
Participating in the creation of an element of a brand like its packaging contributes significantly to create among others commitment and by extension, a more anchored link to the brand. Let us understand the roles of the community manager in this relationship, they are fundamental to the extent that he contributes by establishing a dialogue for the brand he represents marketing and community management, so here is teamwork.
Marketing and community management teamwork for brands!
Participatory or “collaborative” marketing aims to involve the consumer, the user, in the design of a product or service. It is about creating a connection between the brand and the consumer so that it can intervene in its vision of the product.
Often these operations are aimed at packaging, because this is what is seen “externally” that attracts first, but they exist in many other areas. We can thus lift the five senses that come into contact with a product or service and play on them. And beyond to navigate the memory, the memories, the emotions etc
The simple example of a very flash packaging in fluorescent colours would suffice to understand the interest of working on the form. The purpose of this maneuver is also to seek out creativity, to create a bridge between the brand and the consumer, and finally to encourage the act of purchase on a product that is no longer exclusively thought by internal but participative marketing.
Participatory marketing of Tic-Tac in 2013
This operation is relatively old, but it is more the collaborative aspect and the rapprochement between the brand and its community that interests us. Participatory marketing was central to the operation. Many operations go in this direction, especially in the Food environment where the community can create a dish, a beer for other brands etc
This operation was complete and could generate a commitment over a long period, as we will see below.
Tic Tac: Design your pack
Tic Tac launched this operation between April and May 2013. It aimed to submit the design of a new packaging to Internet users, where it was possible to be guided in its creation or to have complete freedom of movement.
Several votes have taken place on the part of Internet users to decide between the contenders for the new design. The final 12 finalists took part in an exhibition dedicated to the world of Tic-Tac. A final vote declared the winner. (It was a woman who had won the competition)
This example showed us how important it was to stay close to your audience, fans and consumers. The commitment that this provides makes it possible to comfortably put the brands in their image if the operation is well exploited, and well brought to the public.
It is not a question of deviating in the criticism on the substance, as the most recurrent one which aims to denounce the brand which offers itself a work of reflection at a lower cost! We must raise the connection, the community that is listened to and the creation of this link created between it and the brand.
Participatory marketing of Tic-Tac in 2013
The community manager, therefore, has a significant role to play in seeking commitment. Actions around upstream participatory marketing will provide an entry point to the CM. There will be several phases to analyze to understand how responsibility must be sought and exploited.
This is to attract and retain new fans while making participants those acquired to the brand. First, we have a competition that is launched by the brand.
1. The contest
In the case of Tic-Tac, it was to invite users to participate in the design of the famous Tic-Tac box. The contest period varies between 1 and 2 months, the time to involve the world in operation and to establish a dialogue around. It’s about recruiting fans for the community manager.
2. The votes
In a second time, there is the voting session, where again it involves the user to vote on the most beautiful design! During the designation of the winner, we will support a retrospective of the contest, the most beautiful elaborated designs and a portrait of the winner who can intervene in the dialogue with the fans of the page.
3. The commitment over time
If the operation can spread over 3/4 months, it allows us to live a community on a single milestone, and thus establish the reputation of the brand. It is, therefore, necessary to keep this commitment for the duration of the operation and at the end of the competition.
This example again, even if it is old, shows a mechanics that can easily be duplicated in different universes. We will try to come back to similar campaigns in the coming weeks.
In conclusion
There are many possible actions with participatory marketing to achieve a winning trio: Reputation / Commitment / Increased sales. When marketing departments and community management come together to achieve the same vision, we have a winning strategy that becomes an example to follow.
I chose Tic-Tac because the campaign was excellent, and she drew my attention to the participative effect. This is not the first or the last action in this innovative and promising participatory marketing. Still, the success of the operation, the relay by the media and the community management of the brand, had helped anchor Tic-Tac again in consumer thinking.
Participatory marketing still has beautiful things to make us discover, and in a period of commitment to notoriety etc. it must be recognized that creativity stands out clearly to stand out from the competition. It’s not a budget issue at first, but it’s a creative mind that comes with a brand.
