A hierarchy of identities on social media

• Personal versus business– Do I use a personal identity or a business identity in creating my social

media presence?

• Parent versus sub-brand– Do I align my social media identity parent brand, or with a sub-brand

(e.g, a company brand or a product brand)?

• National versus local– Do I focus on the national attributes of my brand organization or the

local attributes?

Defining the engagement factor of your brand relationship

• One-to-one– A personal connection that includes diverse & familiar communication between yourself and your contact.

• Example: A customer or work colleague who has become a close friend

• One-to-a-few– A knowledgeable connection, where you are intentionally communicating to a group of connections who

have like interests and generally will benefit equally from interaction and information• Example: A group of customers or prospects who you communicate with at the same time about common

things, e.g., an e-mail group you send promotional information to.

• A few to a few– A group of individuals with common interests who communicate freely and with knowledge of each other.

• Example: A group of your business partners or customers who are able to meet and share experiences and idea, e.g., an association meeting.

• One-to-many– A broadcast paradigm, where you are communicating information (either general or specific) to a broad

group of individuals• Example: A traditional media or marketing paradigm including advertising or information distribution

• Many-to-many– A broad social network where people with limited knowledge of each other share information around

similar interests and pursuits.• Example: A group of people who exchange information based on common interests, such as Yelp or Yahoo

Answers or fan groups on MySpace.

Organizing your social media identity

Personal identity• Categories

– One-to-one– One to a few– A few to a few

• Uses– Customer & prospect marketing– Customer service – Customer retention– Professional relationship

• NCI example– Engaging with potential prospects and clients is a

personal interaction.– Your brand is a service you provide to your

customers to help them be successful in their business

– You embody the brand to the customer or prospect

• Implementation– Twitter: @myname– Facebook: My name

Brand identity

• Categories– One to many– Many to many

• Uses– Customer acquisition– Customer referrals– Information distribution

• NCI example– Local distribution of brand content

• Twitter announcements• Facebook fan pages

• Implementation– Twitter: @mylocalbrand– Facebook: My Local Brand fan page

Consideration: Good social marketing is fresh & active. Assess the amount of time & energy you want to commit to each identity.

Managing brand hierarchies

• National– @TREB

• Consumer focus– The Real Estate Book Facebook fan page

• Consumer & real estate agent focus

• Local– @TREBLocalMarket

• Consumer focus in local market– Local TREB Facebook fan pages

• Consumer and real estate agent focus in local market

• Personal– @rchandler

• Personal twitter account• Focus on distributing information to personal followers and gather information from

sources of note– Rebecca Chandler on Facebook

• Connections that merge business and personal interests

Some obvious questions…

• How will we make the hierarchies work?– Project Massive Network will include new processes for creating and

distributing marketing and consumer-focused brand content across social networks and into local markets

• How much time should I spend?– The work is in creating the networks– Another element of prospect-focused distribution

• What if I don’t want to do this?– Local participation is an election.– National brand activities will have some impact on your local market

regardless of involvement.