Getting engaged isn’t just about marriage anymore. You’ve heard us talk about engaging customers and users time and time again. We’ve mostly talked about consistency, being polite, prompt, and of course, how important it is in general. This time we’re talking about branding.

Say It in Style

You need to be responsive to your customers and potential customers. But you should be responsive in a way that further established your brand. Now more than ever, with social media and social networking, you can stylize your communications.

Here are some models for you to see what we means and help you figure out your own engagement style:

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Of course, you’re not going to give anyone a million dollars, but this customer engagement model hinges on contests, giveaways and freebies. Take a look at Virgin Atlantic’s Twitter for examples.

Remember, the giveaway engagement works best when you’ve established a trustworthy relationship with your audience; otherwise you can seem like one of the multiple marketing scammers out there. So alternate your contests with substantive tweets or useful information.

Customer-Centric
This customer engagement model is pretty standard. It fits folks who are using social networking and social media sites to monitor customer satisfaction and answer any questions. This is more of a response style than a statement. Staples’ Twitter is a good example of this style.

Remember, if you’re going this route, answering all (real) tweets, pings, comments and questions is essential. The responses should feel personal, so skip the cut and paste. Be prepared to handle bad reviews and complaints diplomatically and publically, which means being polite and professional. This style is all about diplomacy and personability.

Social-izer
This customer engagement model hinges on thinking of your customers and contacts as like-minded people who need a place or a way to connect. That’s where you come in.
The idea is to engage your audience by talking about something you and your audience cares about and establishing a link to your company’s brand by doing so. Timberland’s Earthkeepers is a good example of this style. Going with the outdoorsy aspect of their audience, they focus on environmentalism and establish a connection between sustainability and positive environmental action and their brand.

Remember, with this style, it’s not about you per se; it’s about the issue generating the community sentiment. That means the content from your should inspire a response, be valuable, and thoughtful.

These are just three styles to get you thinking. What customer engagement styles do you notice? What are some favorites? Tell us in the comments below,