Download - Taking Your Brand to Social Spaces

1Copyright © 2010 Arlington Mill Group, LLC

Taking Your Brand to Social Spaces

San Francisco ● Washington, DC ● Seattlewww.arlingtonmillgroup.com


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”


BrandThe overlooked aspect of

social persuasion


Do brands

still matter?


Brands are artificial constructs we use to understand a complex world.“Ben KunzMediaassociates.com


• 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”


Then

brand marketing

Marketer’s goal: sell the brand

• Find the customer• Tell them your story• Repeat over time


Now

brand

Marketer’s goal: influence and encourage

• Enable customer to find you• Encourage interaction and comment


• They struggle to be heard.

• They aren’t remarkable or useful.

• They offer the wrong things.

Why are so few brands social?


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

http://oedb.org/library/college-basics/invisible-web


Brand

Marketer


Social media is a cocktail party.“

David Meerman ScottAuthor, “The New Rules of Marketing and PR”


Is your brand:

a)Accessible?b)Interesting?c) Useful?


Thesedo notmake your

brand

logos trademarkstaglines PR Q&Abrand guidelinesmission statementcompany boilerplatemessaging frameworknaming conventionsusage restrictionsvisual brand elementscorporate websitemarketing templatesexecutive talking pointsproduct positioningcorporate statements


Thesedo

make your

brand

peoplecultureideascontributionsproductsserviceinnovationsmotivationscauses


The goal is not to create a brand

It is to uncover and enable your true brand… and express it to the world


Get In the Conversation1Show Your Personality 2

Build Trust3React and Improve4

How do you enable a social brand?


Get in the conversation

1


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


Get In the Conversation1

…

http://www.nokiausa.com/


Show Your Personality

2


• 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


2Show Your Personality

http://www.southwest.com/?int=GNAVHOMELOGO_HP


Build Trust

3


• 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:


React and Improve

4


• 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


4React and Improve


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


4React and Improve


Discussion


Krim Stephenson

[email protected]

www.blindedbymarketing.comblogwww.arlingtonmillgroup.comwebsite

@arlingtonmilltwitter