Brand love in the times of social media

“I love that brand!”

It’s the holy grail of marketers, but what actually is ‘brand love’?

Lets first look at what is ‘love’

Love is a profoundly powerful psychological system which produces attraction, commitment, a willingness to make sacrifices, a reluctance to believe negative information, and often a desire to talk positively about the person or thing we love.

and ‘brand love’ is

wherein consumers have a strong desire to purchase or use the brand, a high brand loyalty, willingness to pay price premiums, a resistance to competitors’ claims, and a tendency to publicly sing the praises of the loved brand. 

We all know of brands that have managed from loyalty to love.. brands such as

Brand love progress

As the brand moves from an indifferent stage to the “love” stage, the emotional involvement of the consumer greatly increases making him/her as not just a loyal customer but an outspoken fan

So the challenge for the marketers is how to convert the “Like” onto “LOVE”

For this we need to understand the nature of brand love. The 3 pillars on which the brand loves stand upon are

1. Functional :
   Functional conversations which are factual & educational & help the customers make decisions regarding the brand. This creates a desire to spend time and energy on using the brand & making it fit one’s needs
2. Social :
   Social signaling occurs anytime a consumer attaches themselves to a brand. By associating themselves with a brand, consumers are saying that they’re like the brand, and that brand is like them.

   Get people to talk about themselves through the brands they use/buy.

3. Emotional :
   What happens when people are extremely happy? They talk on social. Same thing occurs when they’re extremely frustrated.

   But when people are indifferent, they don’t feel the need to tell anybody.

   That’s why, create love, brand need to get their customers to feel an emotion, whether it’s happiness, sadness, empathy, or the just a giggle.

So what how do these translate into brand love ?

So as a brand marketer what should i do to create an opportunity for my brand to be loved on Social ?

You need to tell stories….

Tell stories which creates WoM conversations

Tell stories which creates a love emotion

Tell stories which build upon the love

Stories which may not be directly related to product offering but impacts the consumers life.