Does your audience think about you as much as you think about them?

We all want our customers to be loyal to (read: obsessed with) our brand, checking in on the regular and stalking our socials — in bed at night, while waiting for the shower to warm up, on extended lunch breaks. That level of devotion is why top brands stand apart from the rest.

How do we encourage this long-term commitment?

Just like in human-to-human connections, it all comes down to building relationships. And relationships come down to time and effort.

If your friend or significant other ignored you, refused to get to know you, and never delivered what you needed from them, you wouldn't stay around very long.

It’s the same with brands: If a brand talks at us rather than to us, neglects to spend time getting to know us, or fails to meet our needs, we usually walk away.

But the ones that seem to understand exactly what we want without asking, always show up with the solutions we didn’t know we needed, and engage in real conversations with us? They’re the keepers.

How does a brand — a non-human entity — listen and respond like a best friend?

Fortunately, it’s easier today than it ever has been.

Social listening

Thanks to social media, you can listen to the conversations happening among your existing and potential customers. And not just when they’re talking to you. You’re the digital fly on the wall.

Now is the time to redirect your focus from the comments on your posts to the conversations happening in the comments of people who are relevant to your brand. They’re influencers and content creators, but they’re also dialogue-starters, and they’re offering a trove of valuable insights and ideas. Tap into them.

Ask them directly

Who doesn’t love a good soapbox moment?

The modern survey gets a bad rap, but they’re near invaluable for the elevation and engagement of your brand. They’re also multipurpose, accomplishing two goals with one set of questions: First and most obvious, they offer some insight and data about the people who are most engaged (positively or otherwise). But they also signal to your customers that you want to know them, you care about their opinions — and you’re listening.

Observe them where they are

This is the best time to expand your social media horizons. While Facebook and Instagram still lead the pack, the social landscape continues to evolve. Platforms like Reddit, TikTok, and Bluesky are seeing increases in activity and engagement and, in many cases, offer more space for thought-sharing and conversation.

Even if your brand isn’t ready to explore these new platforms, familiarizing yourself with their functions and the conversations happening across them is certainly worth its weight in gold.

Use a human voice when interacting

Think of your own digital life. Your inbox is full. Your social feed is long. Your browser tabs are infinite.

And in the middle of the deluge, our brains will immediately pass over anything that sounds salesy, reeks of corporate-speak, or lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. We’re primed to pay attention to voices that feel authentically human. So engage like you mean it.

Keep trying

Strong relationships take time. You and your ride-or-die weren’t finishing each other’s sentences from the jump. Likewise, your brand and your customers will have a getting-to-know-you period. And that’s part of the fun, if you let it be.

Work we wish we’d done

As the ones who most often have to present the slides, we’re all in.

Aside from being genuinely clever and funny, Cadbury Dairy Milk’s new packaging checks just about every box when it comes to building relationships with its customers.

Each package design speaks to a real, relatable human situation. To get those right took some serious listening, even if only to the other humans in the brainstorming room. The content is perfectly human (‘cheers all!’) and immediately get-able. And with a variety of packages to choose from, they’ll learn from which ones people choose most often.