Getting Real About Integrating Your Brand with Social Media

There have been way too many articles written with way too many points of view about how to leverage Social Media. So in considering this entry, I thought what would be the risk for one more?

For all of the studies I have seen, and all the opinions that are out there, not too many have figured it out.

And what's with the term "Social Media" aka Social Marketing, Social Influence, Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Viral Marketing? And let's not forget that it falls into the big ambiguous bucket known as Web 2.0...or are we up to 3.0 now?

Yikes.

No wonder everyone is confused. We can't even decide what to call it.

Perhaps most importantly, what about creating an ROI model that will sustain its existence? Solving for many of these hurdles requires a scalable framework and a monumental shift in the way companies conduct business today.

One thing's for sure, people are talking.

"Word-of Mouth Marketing" is the oldest form of marketing, right?

There really is nothing new about Social Media, except that now we have technology on our side. Through technology, and consumers shifting more of their time online, you not only can listen, but also measure, enable, and participate in those conversations between your fans and critics like never before.

From my experience, most organizations look at each Social Media opportunity in a vacuum - a Facebook page, a viral marketing video, a corporate blog, online PR outreach to bloggers, or customer forums on a Web site - they are not integrated with more traditional channels, leaving a lot of opportunity on the table.

Additionally, campaigns and initiatives are planned much like "traditional digital" and traditional marketing have been done for a gazillion years. There is a lot of time spent planning against eyeballs rather than the overall influence that those fans and critics have on your brand.

So what's a brand?

First - what it's not:

It's not your logo
It's not your corporate identity
It's not your tag line
It's not marketing

IT IS the perception that a customer has of your product / service and company - and the value that you deliver to that customer's inherent need.

For internal teams it's strategic, cultural, and operational.

Strategic, because it requires a deep understanding of your customer and how your offering impacts their unmet need.

Cultural, because EVERYONE in your organization must buy in, live the values, and embrace the execution by which you will achieve your desired brand perception.

Operational, because there must be process and role clarity for each department and individual stakeholders to achieve brand objectives.

Think about it.

What is the impact on your brand of having an item in stock that your customer is trying to buy when they are ready?

Think of those employees that interact directly with customers. What if they are aloof or uncaring? What if they are helpful, knowledgeable, and provide great service?

One positive or negative experience can shift consumer perception in an instant.

Your brand is the totality of EVERY aspect of your organization and the ability to deliver and meet or exceed the customer expectation. Social Media should be viewed as a powerful ingredient that enables the connection of every department within your company with each other and then directly to your customer.

Social Media has the opportunity to be the ultimate petri dish to gain insight into customers' needs in ways that have not been done before and create actionable steps to impact business across entire enterprises.

That's where the ROI comes from.

Social Media should be viewed as part of a larger effort and gets rolled in to a broader ROI model, made possible by having information to make better decisions and guide thinking.

This seems really hard.

Building brands is hard. The strategic, cultural, and operational challenges are enormous. But as consumer behavior evolves, it is imperative that businesses respond as if their survival depends upon it.

Now if there were only a better name for Social Media...

What do you think?
Have a different point of view?

Post a comment and share your thoughts.

-Todd

The Blistering Pace of Media

Remember not that long ago, when getting up to date about your hometown news or world events was an appointment with your morning cup of coffee and the newspaper?

Or when you would tune into the evening news at 6pm or 11pm to get caught up?

And then do you remember when news channels launched on cable, and you could catch a breaking story live within minutes of when it was happening?

And now, news, the definition of news, and the way news is delivered to us has completely changed.

News Defined
For the purpose of this post, we'll define 'News' as any communication about any event that takes place. This could be a hard news item, such as the tragic events that took place at Virginia Tech last year. This could be about feature-based news such as a story about how your company is helping to improve the lives of those in your community.

Or it could be a moment in time, defined and created by your customers as an experience with your product or service. In any of these types of news, the pace in which news gets created, reported, and distributed can now be measured in seconds rather than minutes.

"...the pace in which news gets created, reported,
and distributed can now be measured
in seconds rather than minutes."

Distribution
Everyone that has a cell phone today is a potential news reporter. They can shoot video and have it distributed on CNN, like that of Jamal Albarghouti, the graduate student at Virginia Tech who captured the frightening sounds of gunfire on April 16, 2007 during the massacre at Virginia Tech.

"Everyone that has a cell phone
today is a potential news reporter."

In a different scenario, a customer can interact with your brand, and if connected to social tools such as blogs, Twitter, or plain old SMS text messages, can distribute to potentially thousands of people within seconds, a commentary on their experience – and chances are the followers of that individual have an audience following them, redistributing the message to thousands more in an instant.

This type of word-of-mouth can be incredibly valuable or extremely destructive if not managed and acted upon correctly.

"Twitter in Plain English"
Courtesy: Common Craft

PR Firms and Marketers Take Note
For most of you, I am hoping, this is not going to be anything new. But I know of a number of very solid PR firms and individuals that are still doing business the old way. That communication is still managed by doing releases, making pitches, getting clips, doing media tours, working contacts, blah, blah, blah.

For those of you not converted, pay attention.

Cell phones, the Internet, and YouTube (check out CNN on YouTube) are changing the game completely. People are 'reporting' about companies in a whole new way, at a whole new pace.

While I was preparing this post, a former Circuit City colleague, Doug Meacham, sent me one of his latest blog posts where he calls out the ‘Top 10 Reasons for Monitoring Brands in Social Media’.

Perfect timing for the conclusion of this article.

So what do you have to say? Can you keep up?

What are you doing to keep up with the blistering pace of media?

Leave us all a comment.

-Todd

Socially Fatigued?

There is a lot of talk about marketing within social networks these days and is one area that I have playing around in since I joined LinkedIn in 2004. For the past several months, there have been signs that perhaps there is some exhaustion occurring. That anyone that is already well connected is not interested in forming new networks - even as those networks may offer interesting value propositions for anyone willing to invest some of their social capital in starting a new network on another site.

In an article from the UK's The Register, they talk about social 'fatigue' - the notion that people are tired of social networking sites and that the Facebooks and MySpaces of the world are on the decline in engagement numbers such as pages viewed and time spent. That folks are just plain "bored" with these sites.

While I do not completely agree with the article, I do believe there is some shifting occurring as users of social media look for value in the technology they are using to connect with each other.

In my attempt to keep up with new technology, and after being flooded with requests to join one of the newest sites, Naymz.com, I decided to take the leap and join. During the setup, I imported my LI contacts and blasted everyone in my network by accident. Ahh yes, usability - or lack thereof.

While there are some bugs that need to be worked out, I like their concept of using the network to build your reputation, but how many networks can one manage?

While a decent portion of my contacts joined me on Naymz, I did get some mail from some of my contacts who declined, saying:

"What are you seeing here that Linkedin isn’t doing? Just debating the need for “one more” social networking site."

And another:"Just wanted to say thanks for the invite to Naymz, but I'm going to stick with Linkedin ... So ... PLEASE don't think I'm blowing you off ... never would. Just sticking to the Linkedin for now."

The referenced article above and e-mail from some of my colleagues is indicative of how much time it takes to invest in building a network, and the value that network returns. I also believe that it is up to networking sites to keep up with consumer demand for better tools and capabilities - giving people a reason to stay beyond the novelty.

Marketers can rejoice, while some of the sites are seeing a decline, there are ways to learn from how people are using social networks and interacting online. That the oldest form of marketing, word-of-mouth, is being enabled by the latest in technology. If you can figure out what's a fad vs. what has true value, harnessing socially connected individuals can be a powerful, very efficient, retention and acquisition tool.

What do you think? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.