11 Engagement Marketing for Brand Affinity (Harnessing the Power of Mobile Apps, Social CRM and Gamification)
The sales cycle focuses on aware and act ratio that eventually leads to act and advocacy ratio. To further amplify results Brand Affinity should be developed well. In order to increase engagements, Three (3) techniques should be mastered. First is to leverage on Apps. Second, amplify Customer Relationship Management or CRM. Lastly is the Gamification which to drive the right customer behaviour. All three combined will yield the best result.
1. Enhancing Digital Experiences with Mobile Apps
According to research, mobile users will rise by 70% by 2020. Everyone owns a smartphone. This has become the best channels to engage customer because of its mobility and people are heavily attached to their smart phones. It has become an important avenue for marketers to tap the mobile apps channel. It is not necessary for the report to have a mobile app just for the sake of being trendy. The resort can maximise the use of Google maps, Waze and other locators as of the moment. Resort App is not applicable because our resort is a camping site with strict check in time and we don’t serve food where Apps can be helpful.
2. Providing Solutions with Social CRM
Customer Relation Management build brand interaction and long term relationship. In the resorts Facebook page, we engage potential guest with enticing content and at the same time make sure that we have 95-100% because positive reviews and comments needs to be maintained. Those who have an actual positive experience can turned to advocates and this is one of the target goals of the brand. Positive engagement can be amplified by addressing the LOVE for customers and attending to the needs of the guests. Valuing their inputs and insight and making them feel that we listen to their comments, sentiments and suggestions are the key to a long lasting positive relationship.
Communications our one of our core competencies and we need to keep on improving in this area s the trend in digital interaction evolves. The resort office ours is open 6 times a week between 8-6pm and we can further leverage customer care by incorporating chat bots when there are no office staff available.
Communication is also between brand and the communities that we engage in, the groups related to travel that we join, the avid campers group, the outdoor adventurers, the beach lovers, the camp and bike club etc. The online community page that we are about to set up will discuss tips and tricks in camping, the dos and don’ts and also showcase the love for the environment.
Social media need not to be focused only on Facebook but we are also visible in Instagram (pictures of sunset), Tweeter (News about the weather), YouTube (How to’s), Blogs (Experience) and VBlogs (Video experiences). All these channels needs to be interconnected. Channel integration is an important factor to consider for them to complement each other.
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Integration |
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The resort do not suggest separate account @supportcasaastillero to filter the sentiments of the guests and be able to isolate issues without damaging the brands reputation mainly because we have a short list of products as of the moment and it is not practical to have a separate account yet. However this can be considered in the future. Maximizing twitter capabilities of receiving feedback is also overlooked. To be able to promote better understanding of consumer sentiments, the brand should build Sense-and-Respond Capabilities, tools like Social Mention can help in achieving better communication of consumer and the management. Upon establishing a structure then the brand should Develop and Empower Social CRM Agents who can represent the brand with high level of empathy. Sticking to the brand core values and strong product knowledge can empower not just the employees but the brand itself. The culture that should be practiced within the resorts is a culture that cultivates empowerment and collaboration. A participative leadership should be done in order to serve the guest better. The definition of a customer in this sense is the person beside you. The empowered CRM can also drive brand love within the whole team. Leveraging Community Involvement is a way to keep a good brand reputation, having build a solid community who can actually aid in answering the questions, reactions and violent feedback is also an ultimate goal. Fostering a community that can positively speak about the brand is a challenge. For the resort the online community website can be used as a way to nourish people thorough gamification and rewards system, it can be an online community for avid campers who can “assist” others in coming up with the best camping experience, this can also be a listening tool to learn more about your market and ideas on how to further improve your brand. Though building and online community as a strategy can be a separate website, these loyal advocates still can become critics, joiners and creators or even lurkers who can defend your brand in other forums, groups and over the entire internet world.
3. Driving Desired Behavior with Gamification
Gamification can build customer communities, the resorts loyalty program is focused on the guests who actually experienced the resort, they send a picture and it is being rewarded. Then they are given incentives and VIP ticket to the resort, prioritization in reservation especially in peak season. Point system can also be implemented and as they increase points, they also increase brand loyalty, feel like home and this is the mission of the resort, to make them feel like a family member. Generating Vbolgs and Blogs can also be a game that the guest can join, with “exciting” mechanics could engage customer to love the brand and join the online community that was created.
“CalataganBeachCamp.org”
Online community badges
1. Visitors
2. Newbie
3. Creators
4. Leaders
5. Elders
MEMBER ROUTINE for Online Community
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Visitors must fill up the application form, Read terms and conditions and house rules of the Community. They should read about the community history and must recognize the goals objectives of the community and its history |
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Newbie must be able to interact and contribute to regular articles, participate in discussions and will need to share 20 articles, be online for not less than 3X a week, must be actively participating |
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Create initiation rituals, conversation starters, must be able to contribute and share at least 70 articles in 1 year time. Give regular insights to make community interesting, recommend topics for discussion. They must be active in the community for 5 years. |
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Leaders must share interesting experiences to newbies and members. Impose policies and regulations; check on activities that members can engage in outside the virtual community. Encourage members to share their side of the story. |
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Elders foster sustainability for the online community. The will aid in promoting camaraderie among members. Impart their knowledge and expertise in topics. Reminds and Imparts community objectives. Implement protocols. |
4. Summary: Mobile Apps, Social CRM and Gamification
Mobile Apps is used to increase guest’s engagement.
Social CRM aims to build a camaraderie between guests and even employees. It promotes a better communication and communication of human capital is the key success factor of all organizations.
Gamification can build guest loyalty because of the reward system and it is human nature that people are motivated by rewards, it builds stronger affinity, since privileges are attached to this, the strategy aims to touch the desire of people to achieve higher goals and rewards. Moreover, gamification can collect data and guest information that can be used in big data analytics.
A. How can mobile apps, social CRM, and gamification help you engage your customers?
Mobile apps help in locating the resort, Social CRM builds better guest relations and a tool in achieving better communication (examples are stated above). While, gamification is a tool to increase customer base and give the sense of reward to loyal advocates and a bigger community that can help in promoting the brand.
B. What are the challenges of executing customer engagement programs in your business?
The gap lies on the building a more enticing protocol for the loyalty program, the resort can further push more enticing content, further improve speed, efficiency in answering calls and emails and other avenues where we receive inquiries. Employees should be fast and should have adept product knowledge to sound convincing and trustworthy. People wants value for their money and not just an excellent communicator but someone with love for the brand. It starts within so the culture should be revisited from time to time.