OpenMagazine

Have you ever yearned for specific products or consumables that just bring back certain tastes of childhood memories? Well, you are not the only one. In recent years, as technology becomes more advanced and a robotic future where flying cars seem to be realistically achievable, more and more people seem to crave a hint of old taste and trends from the past. And marketers realize this phenomenon. 

Introducing Nostalgia Marketing – a marketing technique that incorporates past trends to invoke a nostalgic emotion in consumers by ‘bringing them to the past.’

How does Nostalgia Marketing actually work? 

Well, with the use of social media, marketers can easily pinpoint certain keywords or feelings that consumers are constantly talking about. Social media is also used as a thermometer, which marketers can easily determine the exact moment when something switches from dated to retro. (Nostalgia Marketing: What is it, Social Media Today)

Marketing campaigns are incorporated with past elements and trends that are familiar to the target audience. For example, #Throwback is a very popular trend on Twitter and Instagram, where consumers share incidents from the past in videos and images. Brands do utilise this hashtag to engage with followers and consumers as well as coming up with themed campaigns inspired by this hashtag, like Funky 80s and Glorious 90s.

Why does Nostalgia Marketing garner so much attention?

1. Authenticity and Originality 

Nostalgic content is naturally more down-to-earth and authentic when it comes to personal appeal. Positive receptions of these types of campaigns are also higher as the content relates to the past memories of consumers, hence good memories and positive influence are often associated with the campaigns.

2. Millennial Influence 

With the target audience for most brands mainly consisting of millennials, you can’t deny that incorporating 90s throwback content won’t garner the attention of millennials. Having to see ads or marketing content that resembles iconic trends from the 90s are a major soft spot for millennials who grow up during that era. Hence, this causes consumers to willingly open up to brands that they have never even heard of before. 

3. Establishing Personal Connections

With plenty of digital content today, being catered to the general public, many ads and marketing campaigns do not resonate much with consumers, but a hint of nostalgia may invoke positive personal memories of a consumer. Thus, because of this, consumers feel a more personal connection to the brand that implements nostalgia in their marketing plans. 

Social media has become a public platform for customers to speak their minds and one of the places to do so is in the comment section. Since public comments are viewable by both existing and potential customers, they are often the best way to catch a brands’ attention. This also means that negative comments have a huge impact on your brand image. As a brand manager or business-owner, it may be tempting to delete negative comments and resolve the issue in private to minimise the damage, but this may actually end up doing more harm than good. Why?

Deleting comments ruins trust.

If a customer posts a negative comment, deleting their comment would be the worst way to regain their trust, even if you contact them privately. The act of hiding their opinion makes it seem as if you have no faith in your own service or product. This also holds true even if a customer does not have a bad experience but notices the deletion of negative comments made by others. The best course of action would be to reply publicly, even if the issue is ultimately resolved in private. This way, you can appease the dissatisfied customer while displaying your professionalism to others. 

To illustrate the harm that deleting a comment might cause, here are two potential scenarios:

Customer A comments that they haven’t received their product.

Scenario 1:
You delete their comment and contact them directly. However, before checking their personal messages, they check their comment for a reply and realise it’s gone. They feel slighted and cheated. Not only do you lose a customer, they may resort to leaving negative comments on a platform beyond the brand’s control, like a public forum or a review site. 

OR

Scenario 2: 

You reply to the comment and apologise before directing them to their personal messages. The issue is resolved privately and Customer A is satisfied. Some time later, Customer B sees the comment and asks how the situation unfolded. Customer A responds positively that they’ve received their product. Both Customer A and Customer B are left with good impressions of the brand.

So while there are instances where comments should be deleted for your brand and your customers’ safety, like spam or inappropriate content, any other negative comment, be it criticism or a negative review, should be responded to appropriately rather than deleted. Use it as an opportunity to improve and build customer trust.

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