Brand engagement

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In marketing, brand management is the application of a range of efforts seeking to increase a product/service's perceived value to the customer and thereby increase brand franchise and brand equity. Much of this reputation is maintained in the minds of the consumers.

Brand Engagement is a term loosely used to describe the process of forming an attachment (emotional and rational) between a person and a brand. What makes the topic complex is that brand engagement is partly created by institutions and organisations, but is equally created by the perceptions, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of those with whom these instutions and organisations are communicating or engaging with.

As a relatively new addition to the marketing and communication mix, brand engagement sits in the space between marketing, advertising, media communication, social media, organisational development, internal communications and human resource management.

There is still lack of clarity and debate about whether this is a “soft” or hard measure, and whether it can be linked to any consumer or employee behavior change – e.g. sales activity, trial, or recommendation.

External Brand Engagement

Needs development

[edit] Internal ("close stakeholder") brand engagement

From an internal organisational perspective, brand engagement is about making sure the employees (and close stakeholders, such as franchise staff, call centres or intermediaries) of an organisation completely understand the organisation's brand, and what it stands for -- and to make sure that their activities on a day to day basis are contributing to expressing that brand through the customer experience.

In general, this requires an ongoing effort on the part of the organisation to ensure that its employees and close stakeholders understand what the brand is promising to its customers, and to help all employees clearly understand how their actions and behaviours, on a day to day basis, either support or undermine the effort.

This often raises the issue of the value of investment in "brand engagement." It is a discretionary expense of the part of the organisation. Proponents of brand engagement would argue that this is an investment -- that is, the benefits to the organisation outweigh the cost of the programme.

Within any organisation there is competition for resource, so there is a significant need to demonstrate Return on Investmnet in employee engagement/internal communications. While it is generally accepted that it is important for internal communication professionals to demonstrate the value this function delivers to the organization, it is difficult to place a discrete figure on this contribution.

Best practice in internal communications generally adheres to certain principles:

• Understanding the stakeholder (audiences)
• Knowing what messages and information is appropriate for each audience
• Ensuring that there is a feedback mechanism in place so communication is a dialogue
• Measuring effectiveness
• Enhancing participation and collaboration.

[edit] The Measurement Angle

Much internal communication and employee engagement practice is based on measurement of effectiveness or business contribution. The key elements in creating a model of employee engagement is the measurement of "engagement drivers" -- that is, what are the factors or combinations of factors which have an impact on productivity and commitemtn and can be monitored and addressed through people, process or technology changes?

Many of the “engagement drivers” currently in use internally are HR focused, and in many cases do not delve deeply into the employee’s role in delivering the brand/customer experience as a distinct element.

[edit] Example

Probably the most compelling example of this is the service-profit chain. The first real case study of this appeared in "The Service Profit Chain" (the so-called Sears Model, Harvard Business Review, 1997). This statistical model tracks increases in employee “engagement drivers” to correlated increases in customer satisfaction and loyalty, and then correlates this to increases in Total Shareholder Return (TSR), revenue and other financial performance measures.

Since the service-profit chain emerged, it’s been developed, and criticized, but the general consensus is that employee engagement can contribute roughly 20% to an organization’s TSR (various Vivaldi, Watson Wyatt, Towers Perrin studies 2004, 2005, 2006).

[edit] Collaboration and Connectivity vs. Content Management

While some organisations are realising the benefits of collaboration and workflow online, there appears to be significant focus on publishing and managing content, generally via Content Management Systems.

There is an emerging school of thought that organisational perspectives on technology are frequently misaligned with the actual requirements and desires of the users of the technology. That is,the nature (or intention) of a technology may not always determine the nature of its use – the telephone, for example, was originally intended as a broadcast medium. Its designers were focussed on delivering content, while its users sought – and still value – connectivity(1).

The social media phenomenon presents emerging evidence that this quest for connectivity is rapidly becoming a core focus of communication technology within organisations. This potentially creates a disconnect with more traditional content-driven models of internal communication -- delivering (or making easily available) the right content at the right time to the right people using the right media.

Therefore, there could be a great deal of potential within organisations, using their existing technologies, to derive cultural and performance benefits from re-thinking how they communicate, make decisions and work virtually.

[edit] NOTES

1. Understanding the psychology of online behaviour: From content to community, a presentation by Dr. Adam Joinson Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, 2002. 2. Self-disclosure in computer-mediated communication: The role of self-awareness and visual anonymity Adam N. Joinson Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University 3. In the European Union, Employee Consultation is a legal requirement. 4. See Owen,Harrison. Open Space Technology: A User’s Guide. Berrett-Koelher Publishers, San Francisco, 1997 and Bunker, Barbara and Alban, Billie, Large Group Interventions, John Wiley & Sons, San Francisco, 1997. 5. M Lynne Markus, Brook Manville and Carole E Agres What makes a virtual organization work? Sloan Management Review Cambridge Fall 2000 6. Surowiecki, James. The Wisdom of Crowds. Little, Brown; London: 2004. 7. An Initial Examination of Observed Verbal Immediacy and Participants’ Opinions of Communication Effectiveness in Online Group Interaction, Paul L. Witt Texas Christian University. 8. Joinson, A.N. (in press) Internet Behaviour and the design of virtual methods. In C. Hine (Ed.). Virtual Methods: issues in social research on the Internet. Oxford: Berg. 9. Kiesler, S., Siegal, J. and McGuire, T. W. (1984). Social psychological aspects of computer mediated communication. American Psychologist, 39, 1123-1134.

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