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Taking Your Brand to Social Spaces

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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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Get In the Conversation1

…

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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

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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

kstephenson@arlingtonmillgroup.com

www.blindedbymarketing.comblogwww.arlingtonmillgroup.comwebsite

@arlingtonmilltwitter