Beyond - a digital engagement consultancy - london, new york, san francisco

Over the last two years online, there has been a noted decline in trustworthiness for “a person like myself,” according to the recently released 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer. However, consumer trust in company-employed technical experts and CEOs increased in this same period.

It doesn’t seem like it, but it’s only been in the last six years that we’ve really committed to this crescendoed social media zealotry of WOM! Referrals! Tribes! Friend Circles! Likes! SmallTownMentality2.0!!

We’ve been tossing around questions like, “What’s the ROR — return on relationship?” and asking each other to redefine ”engagement,” as if it really means anything other than what it’s always meant — “not boring.”

And now, ironically, we’re hearing about a burgeoning era of “Friend Fatigue.” (No, I didn’t make that up.)

People have too many so-called friends, and they fill a variety of increasingly specific roles. Some of them aren’t even really friends – just acquaintances or familiars that got mixed into our social networks. We add them, and then we filter them, hide them or block them out of our update feeds.

Our platonic ideal of “Friend” has become so broad that when breaking it down, we find even grainer classifications: High School friends (good for memories), College friends (good for comparisons), Professional friends (good for networking).

Yet despite all the friend-filtering, your company is now, more than ever, being told by marketers, PR teams and digital strategists like myself that you have to be a better “friend” to your consumers.

You have to hang out (social networks and micro-communities), work on your relationship (customized content and voice), listen and respond (open community management and commenting), support and compliment (social incentives and favors for influencers), and even play games with them.

Well, it’s true. The Internet is one giant real-time playground where the popular kids still rule the school. And if you’re not friends with those kids, prepare to eat your lunch alone.

But back to the Edelman report, and here’s what I hope inspires:  These “friends” you’re making are ready to get more serious about their relationship with you.

Chances are, if you’re doing a good job with your digital strategy and social media engagement, your friends already “Like” you. They follow your tweets, they give you feedback and they show loyalty to your products.

What this report is telling us, though, is that they’re ready to make an even deeper commitment. They want to know your CEO and who your top talent is. They want to hear your opinions on a variety of areas, and not just insights specific to your own products. They want to know more than just your financial quarterly reports, but what you’re passionate about, what innovation you hope to achieve and how you’re planning on getting there.

So how do you become “more than friends” with your consumers?

It’s all about content, and lots of it.

Your brand needs to own and amplify as much and as varied content as it possibly can. Not just about your products and where they can be purchased, but why. Why do you even produce those products? Who are the individuals working on making those products better and why are so many different skill sets needed? What does your CEO do when she isn’t working on those products? What is your passion?

All of these deep questions are just the type of intimate things people want to know about each other, and your brand in a serious, committed relationship is no different. People want to read your thoughts, watch your videos, play your games, and share all of those things of their own with you.

By creating a content-rich, multi-faceted brand experience online, you are opening up yourself to having a real relationship with your customers – giving them new information, making room for them in your narrative, showing passion for them, and, let’s be real, keeping them engaged.

(Remember? Not boring.)

Like with all committed relationships, getting serious isn’t easy and takes a lot of time, energy, patience and compromise. You’ll have to take a good look where you’re spending your marketing, advertising and PR dollars, and really ask yourself – is all of this buying me my best relationship behavior? Kind of like asking yourself, “Would I date me?”

So… would you?