MORE AND MORE companies have loyalty programs $--$ and for good reason. A recent industry report showed that loyalty program members spend more on remaining customers and are more likely to spread positive word of mouth. This helps explain why many programs pop up across sectors like cosmetics$,$ fast food, and hotels. Target, for example, launched their Target Circle loyalty program ahead of this year's holiday shopping period after extensive test marketing showed increased spending for program members compared with those who were not enrolled.

Given that loyalty program members tend to be a brand's most valuable customers $--$ and are already several steps into their journey with a brand $--$ companies need to consider how they communicate with them across different channels. Our research $($in progress$)$ shows that social media can make loyalty programs more effective in driving sales, but only if done right.

We analyzed social media messages and the impact on loyalty$-$program and non$-$loyalty$-$program online sales for a European operator of snow tourism resorts. We first scored $3,500$ of the company's Facebook posts using the five brand experience dimensions. Each post was rated by social media experts on each of the dimensions. Relational posts connect beyond the recipient, for instance, encouraging the use of a product with others or as part of a tribe of interested consumers. Intellectual posts prod the recipient to engage in conscious mental processing, perhaps through humour, problem$-$solving, or creativity. Behavioural posts include activity or interaction with the product or service. Sensory posts stimulate the senses and could involve breathtaking images or shocking multimedia content. Finally, emotional posts attempt to generate moods or feelings in the recipient. Once the posts were scored, we analyzed each dimension's efficacy in driving sales to loyalty$-$program and non$-$loyalty$-$program customers.

Which Dimensions of Social Media Experience Were More Effective?

We found that relational and intellectual posts were most effective in driving sales for loyalty$-$program customers, whereas behavioural posts drove more sales from non$-$loyalty$-$program customers. Interestingly, sensory and emotional posts weren't effective with either group in our study.

Relational messages connect the recipient to a larger community around the product or service, strengthening a feeling of belonging$-$ness. Posts rated high on the relational dimension tend to illustrate inclusiveness or the connections between people. Because loyalty$-$program customers have an ongoing relationship with the brand, they appear to be more open to relational themes, whereas non$-$loyalty$-$program customers may be less drawn to relational messages from brands they are not already strongly connected with. One particularly effective post from the resort we studied promoted family$-$focused resort activities with imagery of cross$-$generational connections. Loyalty program sales associated with this post were $210\%$ more than expected based on the resort's typical ratio of loyalty program to non$-$loyalty program sales.

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A key theme from the article is that social media marketing can always make loyalty programs work better.

Question $7$ options:

True

False