Attention Brands: Sounding Human Makes You More Likeable

by Mack Collier

JeepTweetSo this week a few high-profile brands apparently had their Twitter accounts hacked, including Burger King and Jeep.  Burger King tweeted to Jeep that they were glad they were back, and Jeep tweeted the above.

And everyone goes apeshit saying they love it and how awesome it is that the brands are showing a sense of humor and sounding human.

Jeep2TweetPeople relate more to brands that speak in a voice they recognize: Their own.  We are all vulnerable, we all make mistakes.  The brands that win are the ones that speak in the same voice as their customers with the same flaws and human imperfections.

People buy from brands that they can relate to and relating becomes easier when brands show their human side.  Hopefully exchanges like the above will become the norm so we can stop gushing about them when they happen.

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

Judith February 20, 2013 at 2:06 pm

Love this post andhave RT/FB to my followers. Branding is critical. Having a sense of humor has far more miles in it than a grumble.

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Mack Collier February 20, 2013 at 2:22 pm

Thank you Judith ;) And I guess in a way, examples like this show that brands are training themselves to learn what ‘works’ when interacting with customers online. You can look at Jeep’s tweets and see they typically get a fraction of the RTs that this tweet to BK got.

Hopefully brands will begin to realize that talking less like a catalog, and more like a human actually works. I just wish they’d figure it out a bit faster sometimes ;)

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Randi Busse February 20, 2013 at 8:46 pm

Customers relate to people. And when brands act “real”, that appeals to customers.

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Milos February 20, 2013 at 10:57 pm

Any creative response can make a difference in brand increase by impressing people. Big companies and people on high positions know that, but they rarely use that approach, as the bad joke can sometimes backfire. This one here is a great example on how it’s done properly.

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