Consider this: How did you buy a car 6 or 7 years ago ? You would methodically pare down the available choices until he arrived at the one that best met his criteria. A dealer would reel him in and make the sale. The buyer’s relationship with both the dealer and the manufacturer would typically dissipate after the purchase.
But today, you would connect with myriad brands—through new media channels beyond the manufacturer’s and the retailer’s control or even knowledge—and evaluate a shifting array of them, often expanding the pool before narrowing it.
After a purchase you may remain aggressively engaged to the brand , publicly promoting or assailing the products you’ve bought, collaborating in the brands’ development, and challenging and shaping their meaning.
Now think, what is the most important influencing factor that made you decide on a single brand of that car that you are going to buy ? the answer is simple :- The review(s), Feedback(s) that you receive while in the “Evaluation” phase is perhaps the most powerful stimuli in your Buying decision .
Social Media gives you this platform where you can have this One to One, Human interaction and turn these consumers into “Brand Advocates”. When consumers are pleased with a purchase, they’ll advocate for it by word of mouth or here via Social Media, when you provide them with the platform,, creating fodder for the evaluations of others and invigorating a brand’s potential.
Of course, if a consumer is disappointed by the brand, He/she may sever ties with it—or worse. But if the bond becomes strong enough, He/ she’ll enter an enjoy-advocate- buy loop that skips they consider and evaluate stages entirely.
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