taking your brand to social spaces
DESCRIPTION
In this time of change, companies are questioning almost everything about how they find and reach customers. As they shift their marketing plan, budget, and priorities towards social media, however, they often overlook the most critical element of all: the brand itself. Why are so few companies and brands remarkable? What does it mean to have a truly social brand?TRANSCRIPT
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Taking Your Brand to Social Spaces
San Francisco ● Washington, DC ● Seattlewww.arlingtonmillgroup.com
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Social Networks
45.4%
Digital Infrastructure
44.5%
Search 27.0%
Mobile 26.8%
Source: “2010 Digital Marketing Report”, Society of Digital Agencies
Social dominates brand executives’ 2010 “top priorities”
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BrandThe overlooked aspect of
social persuasion
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Do brands
still matter?
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Brands are artificial constructs we use to understand a complex world.“Ben KunzMediaassociates.com
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• Customers form enduring associations with a company or product• Those associations guide
consumer purchase decisions
1955Burleigh Gardner and Sidney Levy:“The Product and the Brand”
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Then
brand marketing
Marketer’s goal: sell the brand
• Find the customer• Tell them your story• Repeat over time
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Now
brand
Marketer’s goal: influence and encourage
• Enable customer to find you• Encourage interaction and comment
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• They struggle to be heard.
• They aren’t remarkable or useful.
• They offer the wrong things.
Why are so few brands social?
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• They struggle to be heard.
• They aren’t remarkable or useful.
• They offer the wrong things.
Why are so few brands social?
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Traditional Brand Content
Social + Data Feeds are over 500x larger
Brand-generated content is dwarfed by
Source: http://oedb.org/library/college-basics/invisible-web; Jon Samsel, “Mastering Your Online Marketing Strategy”
conversationsand
data feeds
about your
brand
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Brand
Marketer
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• They struggle to be heard.
• They aren’t remarkable or useful.
• They offer the wrong things.
Why are so few brands social?
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Social media is a cocktail party.“
David Meerman ScottAuthor, “The New Rules of Marketing and PR”
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Is your brand:
a)Accessible?b)Interesting?c) Useful?
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• They struggle to be heard.
• They aren’t remarkable or useful.
• They offer the wrong things.
Why are so few brands social?
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Thesedo notmake your
brand
logos trademarkstaglines PR Q&Abrand guidelinesmission statementcompany boilerplatemessaging frameworknaming conventionsusage restrictionsvisual brand elementscorporate websitemarketing templatesexecutive talking pointsproduct positioningcorporate statements
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Thesedo
make your
brand
peoplecultureideascontributionsproductsserviceinnovationsmotivationscauses
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The goal is not to create a brand
It is to uncover and enable your true brand… and express it to the world
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Get In the Conversation1Show Your Personality 2
Build Trust3React and Improve4
How do you enable a social brand?
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Get in the conversation
1
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Get In the Conversation
• Start with audiences that already care – then build outward
• Target the social tools and spaces that fit your audience and your brand
Target wisely
• Product-focused conversations are ok… if that’s what your customers want
• Listen more than you talk
Enter core-brand conversations
• Move into conversations related to your brand – only if you have something to add
• Maintain brand relevance
Enter brand-adjacent conversations
1
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Show Your Personality
2
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• One that works for your customers and brand
• Boring is not a “style”
Set your tone
• Recruit compelling voices from across your company
• Let them contribute in their own voice
Find your stars
• Eliminate canned communication and messages
• Don’t be afraid to apologize
Be human
2Show Your Personality
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2Show Your Personality
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Build Trust
3
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• Don’t try to control your users – link freely
• Share and attribute the good ideas of others
Share
• Offer information and insight• Focus on substance, not polish
Contribute
• Be transparent • Honor your commitments
Be Honest
3Build Trust
30Copyright © 2010 Arlington Mill Group, LLC Images: Scott Ableman – http://www.flickr.com/photos/ableman/
3Build Trust
“3M Carjacks the Post-It Note Jaguar”“3M’s Post It Note
Car: How Not to
Do Viral
Marketing”“ Learning from the 3M Post-It Note Debacle: Social Media Ethics Defined”
Some not-so-great responses from the online blog community:
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React and Improve
4
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• Intervene when needed – don’t wait for a crisis
• Don’t focus just on the loudest 5% of your users
Respond
• Track and measure brand reactions regularly…
• But don’t overreact to short-term trends
Track
• Measure digital marketing performance• Benchmark yourself against others
Optimize
4React and Improve
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4React and Improve
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4React and Improve
• Heardable.com is a good tool for scoring your brand’s online performance
• Rates your brand on 40 brand variables, in 6 categories, in real time
• Useful for benchmarking and comparing your brand to others
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4React and Improve
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Discussion
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Krim Stephenson
www.blindedbymarketing.comblogwww.arlingtonmillgroup.comwebsite
@arlingtonmilltwitter