Tag Archives: branding

Jan 04 2012
Leave a comment
Social Media

Here’s Your Social Strategy for 2012

 

Need a place to start while you create your ‘social media’ strategy for 2012? I have it for you. You see, it’s relatively simple if you think about it and Matt Briton has given us a baseline to go by – and it applies to any brand at any point in their social journey. Matt gives us the five “need states” that brands need to address and I’m going to elaborate here with my thoughts & opinions:

  • Utility: Matt said that “Utility means creating something the Millennial Generation needs”. I think this applies to a broader audience then just the Millennials, but lets think about that. Giving your consumers something they need (whether they know they need it or not). In the case of consumer technology – something they need could be a focused around an app (Briton gives the example of Intel’s ‘Museum of me’ app which allows teens to connect a Facebook app to their profile to create a museum of their lives). For anyone else this can be: tutorials, tips, tricks – basically anything the consumer needs that will allow them to use your product better, or allows them to utilize something new you have created to make their (online) lives better in some way.
  • Entertainment: “Entertainment used to be as simple as dialing up a celebrity as a spokesperson or sponsor but that now, celebrity could be a YouTube sensation like Kelly, picked up by Marshalls for a promotion”. The key to consumers hearts has always lived in entertainment. I mean you can’t even see a Proactive commercial without Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, or the like in it. Now it’s just easier, cheaper, to get at these people – and to get them to speak on behalf of your brand. Now, if you don’t have the massive budgets to get celebrities – there is a simple place to start. Your people. Your people could be your customers, your employees – or anyone else in your arsenal. Sure, they may not be famous, but it’s a way of entertaining your audience. Whether they follow these people through events, posts, or any of the like – they are a simple and easy way to create an entertaining persona for people to pay attention to. I mean, if Coca-cola can make the nobodies who started their Facebook page entertainment, and Axe can entertain through their ‘Danwithaxe’-like persona’s, there are easier ways to create entertainment out of existing (non-famous) people.
  • Information: “It’s not always about product or service, but about the customer”. We live and breathe vanity in this day and age. Everything from Facebook profile pictures to Klout scores scream LOOK AT ME! We want to be catered to, and sometimes it’s as easy as information. Think not about your products (for once) and think about bigger thought categories. If you sell vacuum cleaners, give information about cleaning or maybe information about what happens before you even start cleaning (NYE parties, anyone?). If you sell deodorant, give information about activity (partying, sports, dating etc.) that requires you to smell good. If you sell software, think about the computer or devices and interest categories that are used before someone even opens your software. Think about a wider scope than your own niche category.
  • Rewards: “Brands often try to reward for acquisition, but now brands realize they have to reward for loyalty. Doing that brings organic growth” I remember hearing while I was selling cars that the most important time for a customer and for a business is not at the point of purchase, but between transactions. I cannot think of an instance that this is not true. It is cheaper to keep an existing customer than it is to go out and find a new one – so why does this go unnoticed? You must know yourself that when you’re loyal to a brand or service – you (to a certain degree) expect to be rewarded for it. It’s like when you sign with a particular insurance company – you expect that if you’re with that same company for 5 years you should get some kind of loyalty discount on your premium, right? This kind of program has become easier to facilitate with social. You can have a fan-only contest, exclusive perks once someone is a ‘member’ and ongoing discounts and promotions. Of course, there are hundreds of thousands of variations of loyalty programs but they don’t have to be huge or expensive, they just have to be right.
  • Recognition: “It’s looking at what consumers care about and fitting in that framework”. All recognition means is spotlighting consumers involvement in brand equity. Recognition can be as simple as engagement on posts, tweets, videos, what have you – all the way to going above and beyond to recognize your best customers. Matt gives the example of Wheat Thins showing up unannounced at the houses of one of the brand’s social media ambassadors with a pallet of the crackers and filming their response. It’s the little things we will do to recognize the few special people who are nice to us and treat us like we (almost always) don’t deserve to be treated.

So that’s that. I know this isn’t a strategy all lined up per se, but if you cater to the 5 basic needs, I assume that you will be successful in social.

You can read the original article here .

Happy New Year!

 

-m.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Aug 10 2011
Leave a comment
Branding, Education, Social Media

Brand Advocates and Brand Voice in Social Media

What is a brand advocate in Social Media?

This is something we as marketers find ourselves asking a lot. According to Webopedia, a brand advocate is a person, or customer who talks favorably about a brand or product, and then passes on positive word-of-mouth messages about the brand to other people.

So what’s the problem, you ask? Where are the mis-steps happening that we can’t disipher a positive mention from a brand advocate? Where are we failing to ignite these brand advocates? Let me explain a quick cycle to you:

1. Brand determines ‘brand voice’ (how their customers should be spoken to, and how all outbound communication should sound. A standard, you could say.)

2. Brand uses said ‘voice’ in marketing, public relations, customer service, sales etc. for outbound communications.

3. Customer complaint arises on Facebook page, customer is very upset about a problem they are having with their product.

4. Brand ignores said complaint, as replying would not comply with ‘Brand Voice’ (Say kind & fun are your brand drivers)

5. Customer never buys a product from said brand ever again.

The perfect example of this cycle is Netflix. With the recent hike in subscription costs, customers were expressing their anger through venues such as Facebook and Twitter. Netflix was not expecting such an uptake of negative comments, and decided to go about business as usual – Ignoring Facebook posts/Twitter mentions, and posting their regularly scheduled posts. People got angrier, more vocal, as time surpassed – mainly because Netflix was, in fact, ignoring them.

Why didn’t they respond?

I can bet that they didn’t want to deal with all the flack they were receiving and thought it was better for the brand to hide the user comments on Facebook then risk pissing off people more than they already had. They know people are talking about them. The worst part in all this, is that they are losing their brand advocates. If you read through some of the comments, you can see people saying things like this:

This guy is begging Netflix to give him a reason to stay. He obviously likes the promise of the service, and is literally giving them a chance to salvage their relationship. Chances are, they will not respond, this guy will cancel his membership, and it’s a done deal. Way to go.

The main problem that we, as marketers have, is that we don’t know the difference between a positive mention, and a true brand advocate. Someone can like your brand, but they will stay silent about it. Not telling anyone that they secretly use your product 12 hours a day. These people can turn on you really quickly, as soon as they find something wrong with your offering or product and thus become a detractor. You can bet they’ll tell people when they don’t like you, though. A brand advocate is not always someone who posts something nice on your Facebook page, because their sharing their love with you, but not with their social network. A brand advocate could possibly be the person who doesn’t even follow you on Twitter – but mentions your product in their tweets every day. If someone was saying “I Love Netflix!” and praising the features and selection that they have in their Facebook status – that is a true brand advocate. They’re telling their friends about you, which might in turn equal a purchase from someone in their network. Your employees are also brand advocates (If they’re not, you have a hiring problem) so empowering them is just as important as empowering the people who buy your product. If your employees don’t believe in your brand, your customers won’t either.

Now, back to my issue with ‘Brand Voice’. We, as marketers, are programmed to develop “marketing personas” and decide how we would position our products and branding to these imaginary people. Stop it. It’s not 1996 anymore – we now have the most powerful market research tool at our disposal – that being social media. My problem with this voice in social media, is that it makes you as a brand look cold. You’re audiences are all different – get used to it. They are different ages, different genders, and will not necessarily own your products and won’t always be a brand ambassador. Social media is about much more than outbound communication – it’s about 2 way communication, which is HUMAN communication. Therefore, it cannot be standardized, shoot. point. game.

I don’t have a problem with consistency, it’s good to be consistent – But be real. Human interaction cannot be standardized and we are disappointing our brand advocates by treating them the same way that we treat people who just mention us positively once in their lifetime. My thinking is that we should change the term Brand Voice – to Point of Difference. Why would someone WANT to talk to you, what makes your style of communication with your brand advocates and customers and potential customers unique?

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Jun 17 2011
3 Comments
Social Media

What I learned from… Jared?

In light of this whole blog thing. I might as well share some learning’s from two of my most favorite teachers; Amber Naslund & Radian 6. On Tuesday, I was in a webinar with my colleague Lucas. I’m not usually excited about webinars partly because I have the attention span of a three year-old in a sandbox. This webinar was different though – Amber has been a hero of mine ever since I read this. I took some really great things away from it, things that I have since shared with colleagues in meetings and discussions; and that I would now like to share with you.

I posted the summary of my live-tweeting that you can see here.

First point: You have to have a social media policy, don’t just wing it.

I could not agree more with her here. I work in a large organization, and the need for roles and responsibilities are vital. People can’t function without them. Employees  People need to know what they can and can’t do, where do the limitations lie? If you don’t have a policy in place, people will wind up getting upset and/or too comfortable with what they are allowed/not allowed to do. Like any other element of your company, there needs to be a certain element of structure and rules. Moving on…

Point number two: Businesses need talent they can trust

This point is something that often goes unthought in many companies and organizations. Did you ever think about why you are not allowed to say something on the good ol’ world wide web on behalf of the company you work for? Well, simple. You can’t be trusted to represent the brand. An excellent point that Amber made here, is that this is not a social media problem, this is a hiring problem. In the world of social media – anyone can have an opinion, even your employees. Companies should be empowering ALL of their employees, not just marketing & public relations folk. As a business you really need to step back and think to yourself: why can’t my customer service representative be trusted to talk to people on Twitter? I trust them to talk to customers on the phone… so what’s the difference if they speak on behalf of my brand in Twitterland?

This leads to the third point: We worry about people complaining about our brands. It’s going to happen, don’t use it as a reason NOT to engage.

Another thought that has made me ponder since my humble beginnings in social media. What’s so bad about people complaining? I complain about stuff all the time. Sometimes I hate my Blackberry. Sometimes it freezes, and it never seems as cool as the notorious iPhone. So I may say via Twitter that my Blackberry sucks. This does not mean that I’m never going to use my phone again. This also does not mean that the next phone I buy won’t be a Blackberry. So what would be so wrong with @Blackberry giving me a tip on how to stop the freezing, or a recommendation of a cool app to download, no matter how profane  my twittertalk comes across? I think it would be kind of cool, actually.

Up next… The power of listening.

At work, I use Radian6 everyday. If you don’t know what it is, than I suggest you find out. It basically is the “big brother” of social media. For brands like us, we can listen to the conversations people are having about us even if they are not talking to us. As Amber pointed out, we can now eavesdrop on the conversations about us and be better informed about what’s working and what’s not. It is the best, and most personal, research panel I have ever seen. We no longer need the infamous Marketing Persona’s. We now have real people. I think I’ve made my point here.

And the most important takeaway from this webinar: Tell stories. Humans connect with stories about other HUMANS.

This is probably my favorite point during the webinar. No longer are the days of “Marketing videos” that feature scripts and voice overs. Maybe a nice dancing graphic & you’re good to go. Flashy. Wait a second… what about what the consumers want? They have a choice now you know, and more than ever… they yearn for that human relationship. How you facilitate these stories is limitless. Most of the time, they tell the stories for you… does no one else see the value in this? Harvest & spread stories about you, your customers, your employees, your history. Sharing stories leads to creating human conversations.

To end this, I will give an example of the above point that Amber used (which also opened up my eyes). Remember Jared? The Subway dude that lost a lot of weight by eating a lot of Subway sandwiches? Ya him. Now remember the ’6 under 6′ (this may not be entirely correct naming, sorry!) Subway campaign? Anyway, the point was that they had sandwiches that were 6 inches long, & had 6 grams of fat. This meant that they were a healthy choice, and you could potentially lose weight by eating them. Well these are the same campaign. Think about it. Exactly the same, but which one are you more likely to recall? Jared, right? That’s because Jared is a person. A real, live, breathing, human being. And I am more likely to relate to Jared’s story than Subway’s sandwich.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,478 other followers

%d bloggers like this: