The “Royal Emotional Mirror” technique is when a brand refers to it in the second person plural while reflecting back the emotional state of the customer on social media.
- Royal: think the “royal we”. A distant familiarity.
- Emotional: focused on emotional states (happy, sad, etc.)rather than facts
- Mirror: generally repeats the emotion of the person interacting with the brand rather than reacting to it.
It’s related to empathetic listening just adapted for organizational use (or “abuse” depending on your stance.
This should, at a minimum, be an entry point into also solving the customer’s problems, but is often merely the only agency that customer service reps have at their disposal until kicking it to another tier of rep. It’s a gentle way to complete a connection with a user, show that they’re recognized and valued, and/or complete the social loop of a “conversation”.
“Me, a representative who is speaking on behalf of the company, understand where you are coming from and now that you and I have connected and are aligned we can solve the problem while feeling good.”
Once you see this pattern it’s hard to not see it.
Oculus provides a great example of this in a basic form:
Customer: “I want one. Loved the concept”
Brand: “We’re pretty excited too, [Person’s Name].”
https://twitter.com/oculus/status/918235457917370368
Starbucks gets points for hashtags
Customer: “Oh yay!!!! Love it!! My Favorite coffee #NationalCoffeeDay #CoffeeLoveCups “
Brand: “Happy #NationalCoffeeDay! What do you love most about coffee? #CoffeeLoveCups”
https://twitter.com/Starbucks/status/913742272784605184
Samsung loves it
Customer: “Can’t wait to get my #galaxynote8 from @tmobile”
Brand: “We’re doing a happy dance in anticipation.”
https://twitter.com/SamsungMobileUS/status/918511007911350273
Customer: “Dope”
Brand “Our thoughts exactly.”
https://twitter.com/Deandre_Turrey/status/917800649257095170
I’d actually love to hear a statement by the president of Samsung in which he agrees that describing their flagship phone with a word that also has–let’s call them–drug connotations is representative of the company. It’s important to not overthink these things.
Anything by Slack
Slack is the best at this, just go read through their twitter stream:
McDonald’s would like you to come visit it more
Customer: “yum”
Brand: “We think it would be cool to see you in our drive-thru, Darry! Better yet, come on in.”