How to be a more human company online
Pretty soon we'll all lose our jobs to robots -- and they'll not only be smarter and more productive, but have stronger moral underpinnings than humans, à la Isaac Asimov (rambling essay on the topic: here).
Anyway, in the context of now and social media, we ourselves have become too robotic, less human.
Our digital strategies tend to focus on broadcasting commercial messages and advertising, while the social media platforms and apps we strive to create are centered on developing and improving relationships. Time to get realigned.
Consider adopting these three aims for your app/platform:
1) reduce costs/increase customers’ willingness to pay (by showing value),
2) help people establish or strengthen relationships,
3) generate a value-proposition wherein the customer does work on the firm’s behalf (to the benefit of both).
Source: “Social Strategies that Work”, HBR
4) Finally, develop a method of communication that is sustained and meaningful in people’s lives. Here's how some big brands did it:
Source: “Use of Social Media by Companies to Reach their Customers”, SIES Journal of Management, March 2012
