Having worked with major brands over the years I can tell you that I know that some “Just don’t get it”.
Engagement doesn’t happen when you push out messages. It is also tough when the customer doesn’t know you or have a relationship with you. I often tell my clients that people like to do business with those “They know, like and trust”. Sorry to say, but this doesn’t happen over night.
Recently I met James Clarke who is the Digital Marketing Manager at Maple Leaf Foods because his company was one of our conference sponsors. As part of the sponsorship package I made a point of monitoring sponsor tweets and retweeting when appropriate.
I have to admit that I was impressed by the relationships that I observed with the tweets James put out and received (is this twitter stalking???) .
From what I could see James has developed relationships with bloggers and business owners – his tweets were an interesting mix of foodie tweets, recipes and restaurant recommendations and a lot of fun banter mixed in. What I also noted was that his fellow tweeters went out of their way to retweet his messages when he needed help “spreading the word”. He now seems to be apart of a big supportive twitter family. I am sure it didn’t happen over night but it is clear to me from all the retweets that he is moving in the right direction.
The position James has at Maple Leaf Foods has will no doubt become more popular with other companies looking to develop an authentic voice in a crowd market space.
Now that is food for thought!
About Leigh Mitchell
Leigh Mitchell is the founder & president of Women in Biz Network. Leigh specializes in professional development for women through skill building events, conferences, memberships, webinars and marketing services. Leigh is passionate about connecting women online across North America and in person throughout Canada and is considered to be Canada's leading small business ambassador. Her goal is to create happy and inspired entrepreneurs that feel empowered with greater productivity. Leigh has successfully assisted many leading brands to engage with the WIBN community. Brands include: GM Canada, Microsoft Canada, Telus, Johnson & Johnson, Maple Leaf Foods, TD Canada Trust, Staples Canada and Random House. These organizations believe in power, influence and value professional women bring to the economy. Leigh has been featured on CBC Radio, the Toronto Star, the Globe & Mail and in other media and has been a featured speaker at Blissdom Canada.
I remember first meeting James last October. Within a short time, I too noticed he had quickly and effectively forged relationships with many of the bloggers and tweeps I follow. I agree, he’s definitely heading int the right direction. Good job, James!
I have had the pleasure of speaking with James at ShesConnected in 2010. He really does seem like a genuine person and I’m glad he’s part of my twitter stream. Maple Leaf seems to have a pretty good handle on the social media space.