Post on 19-Oct-2014
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BE YOUR BRAND
August 2, 2009
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA:
How to strengthen your brand through employee and customer engagement
WHO WE ARE
OUR LATEST ADDITION
Brand strategies and execution that bring your entire online presence into
alignment with your brand.
WHO WE WORK WITH
4
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
• The threat and the opportunity• The role of social media in your brand
strategy • The advantages of using social media for
employee engagement and the bottom line
• Practical how-to’s for creating and executing your own social media brand strategy
YOUR BRAND IS UNDER THREAT
• The number and velocity of marketing messages has increased exponentially
• Central authority figures are no longer authoritative
• Brand relationships are based more on cultural phenomena than quality or reliability
GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES ARE A CONTRIBUTOR
Social influences Characteristics
Greatest generation Direct me
Great Depression Recovery through public works World War II and Korean War Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima
Loyal Patriotic Faith in institutions
Baby boomersEngage me
Economic prosperity Vietnam War Civil rights movementSexual revolution Protest marches and sit-ins
IdealisticCompetitive Question authority Workaholic
Gen Xers Educate me
Watergate Corporate raiders Fall of the Berlin WallGulf War/high tech warfare PC boomEnvironmentalism
Self-reliant Skeptical/distrust institutions Adaptive
MillennialsConnect with me
Terrorist attacks (Oklahoma City, 9/11, Columbine)Internet boomWorld without boundaries
Tolerant Cyber-literate SocialConfident
“Decoding Generational Differences: Fact, Fiction or Should we Just go Back to Work?” Deloitte Development 2008
THE MODEL FOR BRAND IS SHIFTING
OLD BRAND MODEL
brand messaging
• Rather than a monologue to the masses, it’s engagement among managers, employees and customers
• That seeks to build sustainable relationships with all brand stakeholders in part by energizing employees
THE NEW BRAND MODEL
• Deeper brand-based relationships • Based on connected and shared
employee/customer experiences
TODAY’S BRANDS ARE COMMUNITIES
BRAND COMMUNITY MODEL
Management
Staff
Customers
Branded events
Branded social
media
Bra
nded
web
site
Branded
product
experience
Branded customer service
Bra
nded
ad
vert
isin
g
1. Defining your brand promise2. Developing company-wide
strategies that deliver on that promise
3. Integrating brand-driven messages into all communications
BUILDING YOUR BRAND
ONE TOOL FOR CREATING A BRAND COMMUNITY
Management
Staff
Customers
Branded events Branded so
cial
media
Bra
nded
web
site
Branded
product
experience
Branded customer service
Bra
nded
ad
vert
isin
g
THE MORE YOU ENGAGE, THE STRONGER YOUR BRAND
• Companies that were deeply and broadly engaged in social media last year recognized an 18% growth in revenue
• Those who sat by the sidelines saw a 6% decline –Engagement db’s
ranking of the top 100 Global Brands, July 2009
IN THIS NEW MODEL AUTHENTICITY IS KEY
• Direct • Instant• Expressive • Democratic/equalizes individual
voices • Easy • Dialogue based • Occurs throughout our lives,
anywhere, anytime
WHAT MAKES SOCIAL MEDIA AN IDEAL TOOL?
Social media has seeped into the broader culture, not just with tweens and not just with consumers
EVEN MARTHA’S DOING IT
AND SO IS EVERYONE ELSE
• 60% of Americans use social media
• 85% of users believe a company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media
• 56% of users feel they have a stronger connection with and are better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment
93% of social media users believe a company should have a presence in social media
The 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study
ADVANTAGES OF BRAND-BASED SOCIAL MEDIA
EMPOWERS WORKFORCE
BREAKS DOWN SILOS
FACILITATES INNOVATION
BUILDS COMPANY CULTURE
INCREASES STAFF PRODUCTIVITY
Non-Millenials Millenials
Intranet 65% 72%
Text messaging 25% 38%
Instant messaging 46% 48%
Social network sites
13% 20%
Blogs 8% 13%
Use of social media to do one’s job
Aon Consulting Web 2.0 and Employee Communications Survey March 2009
CREATES CHAMPIONS
DEVELOPING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA BRAND STRATEGY
•Track
•Listen
•Change
YOUR PLAN TAKES TLC
• Work with departments like marketing, product development, account management to determine shared company goals
• Prioritize goals for those most easily achieved through the medium
• Work with senior leadership to ensure goals reinforce strategic objectives
• Include goals around building community, communicating your message and getting feedback from customers
To track, you must first identify your goals
Community
Communication
Feedback
• What are you currently using to engage customers and employees?
• What tools are out there that might improve upon these methods?
• What problem have you always wanted to solve that you haven’t been able to so far?
TRACKING IS ALSO ABOUT INVENTORY
• Identify, if you can, who in your company is already using social media
• What are they saying?• What are your customers saying?• What are your competitor’s customers
saying?
THEN, LISTEN
TO CHANGE, LET YOUR BRAND BE YOUR GUIDE
• Use your brand promise • Identify the cultural
norms and other aspects of your brand that will either inhibit or promote your objectives
• Ask yourself, “how does a company who promises x communicate with employees and customers?
BUILDING THEIR BRAND COMMUNITY
TIPS FOR CHANGE
1. Start small and focused2. Act with purpose 3. Be transparent 4. Let the community moderate itself first5. Monitor heavily 6. Leverage your Gen X and Millennial employees
EXERCISE
TAKE 15 MINUTES TO IDENTIFY YOUR SOCIAL
MEDIA GOALS
EXECUTING A SOCIAL MEDIA BRAND PRESENCE
Brand-based social-media strategy use is in its infancy. One of the best examples out there is Zappos.com whose primary strategy is:
Training employees on and using Twitter to demonstrate transparency, happiness and passion for customer service. (Bethsblog)
CREATE BRAND-BASED SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES
1. Will you allow employees to be socially online at work?
2. Will you let them speak on behalf of the company?
3. Will you train them?4. Will you establish guidelines? At what level?5. Will you make clear what are career
damaging actions?
ESTABLISH BASIC POLICIES
Don’t: Use objectionable language; demonstrate a disrespect of an employee, employee group
or customer; or threaten violence--Best Buy intranet guidelines
EMPOWERING GUIDELINES ARE SIMPLE
• We don’t believe there is a conflict between authenticity, employee expression and brand guidelines
• The idea that culture should only grow from the bottom up ignores the importance of leadership and management—brand is both bottom up and top down
• A little brand leavening is a very good thing—because employees are your core brand champions whether online or out in the world
BRAND IS OFTEN MISSING IN SOCIAL MEDIA
“Zappos has a customer obsession which is so easy for me to admire. It is the starting point for Zappos. It is the place where Zappos begins and ends. And that is a very
key factor for me. I get all weak-kneed when I see a customer-obsessed company, and Zappos certainly is
that. Zappos also has a totally unique culture. I’ve seen a lot of companies, and I have never seen a company with a culture like Zappos’. And I think that kind of unique culture
is a very significant asset.”--Mashable’s Ben Parr
“Here’s Why Amazon Bought Zappos,” 7/22/09
AND YET BUILDING YOUR BRAND IS THE ULTIMATE GOAL
“Create some excitement. As a business and as a corporate citizen, Intel is making important
contributions to the world, to the future of technology, and to public dialogue on a broad range of issues. Our business activities are increasingly focused on high-value innovation. Let's share with the world the exciting things we're learning and doing—and open
up the channels to learn from others.”--Intel corporate blog guidelines
INTEL ENCOURAGES BRAND DISCUSSION
“One of IBMers' core values is ‘trust and personal responsibility in all relationships.’ As a company, IBM
trusts—and expects—IBMers to exercise personal responsibility whenever they participate in social media. This includes not violating the trust of those with whom they are
engaging. IBMers should not use these media for covert marketing or public relations. What does an IBMer's personal responsibility mean in online social media activities? Online
social media enables individuals to share their insights, express their opinions and share information within the
context of a globally distributed conversation.”--IBM corporate social media guidelines
AN IBM GUIDELINE
What will you do to encourage brand-based social media?
???
Take 15 minutes and create a strategy or strategies that would help
employees, customers or other audiences through social media
Extra credit: Build brand into your existing social media policies
EXERCISE