Social Media Marketing Lessons: Personalize It

Is it me or does Twitter seem to be more and more a world of “me me me me me” and less a place of cultivating relationships? For brand marketers, it’s important to remind ourselves the value in, when we have the time, taking the extra few seconds and making out customer touch a bit more personal. I was reminded of this during the Fourth of July holiday week after a visit to the local IKEA. A Foursquare check in prompted the following response. “Thanks for stopping in today! Hope you have a fab visit. (And happy belated Canada Day, eh?)”

The “Thanks for stopping today! Hope you have a fab visit” was pleasant enough but the aside that followed regarding Canada Day (Canada’s National Holiday on July1) was what literally floored me. Why? Because a massive brand took the time to see who was engaging with the brand and to personalize a response. One quick glance at my profile and the IKEA community manager connected the dots.

All it took was a personal touch and IKEA built even more brand equity with me.

How about you? Other than personalizing it, how else can brands fully use Twitter to build equity?

p.s. Happy Belated Canada Day and Fourth of July to y’all :)

A version of this post originally appeared on Ryan’s Marketing and Communications Blog.