How to Use Social Norms to Build a Strong Brand

This article describes the constraints of social norms and market norms on brand development, puts forward the method of coordinating the relationship between social norms, market norms and economic benefits, and how to use social norms to build a strong brand on social media.
In recent years, people are suffering from more and more complicated information overload, so it is necessary for businesses to change the way they promote themselves to consumers.
 
In 1945, just after World War II, the United States spent about $28 billion a year on advertising (about $36.8 billion adjusted for inflation). By 2013, that figure had reached $140 billion. And this is only media advertising expenditures, excluding other types of charges, such as search, social, mail, supermarket exhibitions, direct mail, etc. In addition to the increase in media spend, the sheer volume of the product itself is also growing, most likely due to improving technology in sales, inventory, delivery, and more. This means that sales strategies such as "buy some advertisements and sell a profit" are far from enough. You will lose yourself in all kinds of noise. How to make a brand retain customers, and create an atmosphere where everyone gets more benefits, by using social psychology and interpersonal relationships to build a brand?
 
Imagine you're at home for Thanksgiving, and your mother pulls out all the stops to craft the most delicious, complex meal. You and your family spend a wonderful afternoon eating snacks and watching football. But soon the time of parting came. You say goodbye to your parents, then take out your wallet and ask, "How much is the love and time I owe you this afternoon? I'll give you 100 yuan for the meal, and 50 yuan to thank you for your hospitality." !” How will your mother react? At least it would make my mother very angry. Another example: You go to a restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner. This is the best dinner you will ever have, the service is so attentive and makes you feel at home. At the end of the meal, you give the restaurateur a hug and thank her for the delicious meal before parting. She is likely to call the police, accuse you of eating bully meals, and arrest you. This is the difference between social norms and market norms.
 
The Thanksgiving dinner example is taken from Dan Ariely's book Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. Ariely discusses two approaches to human interaction: social norms and market norms. As Ariely explains, social norms reside in our social nature and the demands we place on our community. They are usually warm and fuzzy and don't demand an immediate payoff. For example: helping friends move, taking care of grandchildren, and treating parents to dinner. There is a level of implicit reciprocity to this norm, which is not instantaneous or repayable in money. Friends and family is that kind of interaction.
 
In contrast, the market norm is the exchange of resources, especially money. Examples of this include any type of business transaction. Exchange of goods or services for money, such as wages, prices, rents, interest, costs and benefits. These relationships and interactions are all about business.

Once money is involved, market norms come into play. Ariely gave an example: AARP asked some lawyers if they would pay $30 an hour to provide legal services to retirees in need. They turned it down, because the reward was greatly reduced. From the perspective of market norms, this transaction does not make any sense. Later, the same lawyers were asked if they would consider giving their time to serve retirees in need for free. The vast majority of lawyers give an affirmative answer. The difference is that when no money is involved, the transaction is sublimated from a low-value market exchange to an altruistic, high-value social exchange. It's a strange psychological quirk that "once market norms come into our consideration, social norms leave."
 
When social and market norms collide
 
In a book titled Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Al Ries and Jack Trout describe the 1950s as the "Product Age" of advertising. This era advocates "concentrating advertising on product features and customer benefits", which is the unique selling proposition (USP). The next phase of the advertising age they describe (1960s and 1970s) as the "image age", pioneered by David Ogilvy. During this period, a successful publicity strategy is to sell the reputation, the "image" of a brand or product, rather than the product itself. David Ogilvy said: "Every advertisement is a long-term investment in brand image". Such examples include Hathaway shirts and Rolls Royce. But as more and more brands emulate these successful strategies, the space becomes more crowded and consumers become fatigued. This technique also gradually fails.
   
When the advertising world entered the 1980s, Ries and Trout called this period the "positioning era". As they describe, "To succeed in an information-inundated society, a company must seek to position itself in the minds of potential customers, involving not only the company's own strengths and weaknesses, but also that of its competitors."
 
Although advertising strategies were in constant evolution during the 20th century, all the different approaches arose from market norms. The "product era" sells you product features and benefits in exchange for money; the "image era" sells you product images and lifestyles in exchange for money; the "positioning era" pursues specific services that provide demand, and the purpose is still money.
 
Social Norms and Loyalty
 
When does cheap not win? when it comes to social norms. Social norms are about relationships, community, and loyalty. If your sister is getting married, you don't need to do a cost-benefit analysis to decide whether to attend the wedding, or whether it would be more cost-effective to go to the neighbor's barbecue. Some people go to a friend's wedding with lavish gifts and go into debt because of it. Of course, this is not a decision made from a monetary point of view.
 
Therefore, if ordinary brands want to get out of the vicious cycle of undermining competitors to gain business, they need to start focusing on relationship and communication building to slowly increase sales points, rather than blindly "super affordable, super low prices!" Recent advertising success There are a lot of latest trends behind the case. Prerequisites for marketing: email marketing, personalization, SMS marketing, good social media marketing, and more.
 
The most popular brands nowadays can always find the perfect balance between the following two. Friendly, warm relationships with customers and potential customers, including the perception and need for a "brand personality". This type of interaction often gives customers unexpected and immediate rewards.
 
A strong product, it's affordable and has market advantages like free returns and exchanges. In this regard, John Lewis shopping malls have a good customer service policy in terms of returns and exchanges, but also provide customers with free extra perks, such as nursing mothers can relax in the nursery. Many new mothers like to shop here because of this service. Even when their children grow up in the future, they are still willing to continue shopping here because they want to repay the mall for helping them in the past. In this way, John Lewis was gradually circled into the social field.
 
Another thing John Lewis does for its fans is the annual Christmas advertisement, which has become something that many consumers look forward to every year. For them, this is not an ordinary gardening store advertisement, but a warm and touching story. The 2012 John Lewis Christmas ad has more than 4.5 million hits on Youtube.
 
Typically, a brand is classified as a "social" interaction when it does something for which there is no monetary benefit. The most classic example is Sainsbury's letter to a little girl in which she talks about "tiger bread". Other examples of brand social interaction include: Red Bull giving free love packages to Twitter users who stay up late; JetBlue offering Starbucks coffee to a passenger on the plane.
 
However, care must be taken to align social and market norms and draw lines. Using a bank as an example, Ariely illustrates the dangers of social norms when business relationships are laced: What happens if a customer asks to bounce a check? Based on market norms, banks have to charge a certain fee, although customers are not willing. Business is business, and the fees are annoying, but acceptable nonetheless. In social relationships, high fees are not only a relationship terminator, but also a sharp sword that hurts people. Bank customers may retaliate. They will leave angrily, complaining to their friends about the black heart of the bank.
 
Social Media and Brands: Act Like a Human
 
Internet users aged 18-64 in the United States spend 2-3 hours a day on social media. However, relying solely on this strategy to build relationships and interact with customers is clearly not enough. On the contrary, in the new "relationship era" in the advertising industry, only by establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with customers can a brand gain a foothold in the market. Of course, social media is what the masses want, and it's what brands want. Otherwise, it is difficult to surpass big brands such as Facebook and Twitter.
 
Social Norms and Authenticity: Why You Need to Care
 
Another way brands relate to social norms is through their brand equity. Havas Media is trying to do an interesting job around the "Brand Value Index (MBI)" in an attempt to measure the value of a brand. The index is based on the differences in the meaning a brand carries in consumers' daily lives, both individually and collectively. Whether you like their approach or not, they have some interesting stats: Apparently only 20% of brands are seen globally as "meaningful, positively impacting people's lives". Brands with high MBI rankings tend to have a significant advantage over other brands.
 
Speaking of which, there might be a "relationship vs causation" discussion. Whether you like MBI as a metric or not, countless case studies have shown that it can mean a lot to brands.
 
When it comes to brand value selection, there are two basic rules:
 
1. It has to be relevant to what you do. If a game site runs an environmental movement, it's too much, and it's obviously impossible to resonate with the audience. Also, watch out for unexpected irony. For example, McDonald's and Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the Olympics always attracts a lot of complaints because they serve unhealthy food and drinks. In contrast, Nike's "Find Your Greatness" campaign is a good example of demonstrating values ​​that match the product.
 
2. It can't be too closely related to what you do, otherwise it seems to be seeking personal gain. NatWest Bank, for example, claimed it could turn people into homeowners, but its veracity was ultimately questioned.
 
Most importantly, when it comes to brand values, it's easy to get cynical. Havas did a survey and found that only 32% of people believe that brands deliver real messages and promises. So choose a brand you feel reliable, even if it means alienating some people.
 
So, what are the principles for breaking away from social norms and market norms? If you want to build a brand based on social connections, there are three things to keep in mind:
 
1. In addition to low prices, your brand should actually offer something useful. In order to create a social relationship with your customers, your brand needs to have a personality and a voice. Also do good things for your customers and don't expect immediate rewards.
 
2. At every stage of the customer cycle, social and market norms must be taken into account. Don't scare off loyal customers with high costs, and don't offer new customers significantly better benefits. You may gain some money in the short term, but if the customer feels cheated, you will lose more in the long run. Instead, maintain some transparency and fairness, and respond to customer questions in a timely manner.
 
3. Your brand value should be suitable for your brand, and it should be the value you firmly believe in. Don't deviate from the core values ​​of the company, nor can it have obvious self-service values. Of course, avoid the accidental irony and don't make the same mistakes as McDonald's.