Social Media: Ideal for Branding and Not Sales?

An interesting post flowed through my Google Alerts email this morning from Digital Response Media. The post was entitled: Social media ‘ideal for branding.’ The point of the post was to explain how the digital marketing manager of British Airways, Chris Davies, uses social media to raise the profile of his brand online. Basically, he finds extreme value in user generated content on the web.

There was an interesting quote in the piece from Mr. Davies:

Most UGC site users are wary of big brands coming into what they conside to be ‘their space’…. But if you are giving them something that helps then, some sort of social currency, then they’ll likely thank you for it.”

I found it interesting that Mr. Davies thought of a social media strategy as a COMPANY enterting into a space of individuals. I find that branding/communication strategies in a social media environment obtain more useful information and build BETTER brand value when personality is added to the mix. A good example of this would be Comcast. Whether or not you agree that Comcast is an excellent services (sometimes they are far from it) they have done a great job at using twitter for customer service. You can connect to Comcast on twitter @comcastcares.

Comcast did it right. They entered a space where individuals were sharing information and they added content themselves. When I ‘tweet’ @comcastcares I do not think of it as messaging a company but messaging an individual.

A brand can no longer enter a space as a ‘sponsor’ throwing up their adds all over the page in an attempt to gain recognition. We can see this through Myspace and Facebook. Does it work? You might get some click throughs. You might even sell something!

When it comes down to it you are not really building a lasting brand image.

You are building a weak wall that will crumble and fall.

The post ended with a quote stating that 27 percent of companies use social media as part of their communications strategy. I find that hard to believe.

Duct Tape Marketing Missed: Part 2

Okay. So.

Blogging can sometimes be a humbling experience. I wrote a post yesterday about John Janstch post, If You’re Not Participating in Social Media. I am not going to link to my post.. just scroll down. Long story short, I went off on John for throwing out numbers instead of talking about writing authenticity and using a corporate blog as a communication tool rather than a social tool. John commented on the post:

A couple points of clarification – selling to “older” employees are your words, not mine – I simply said to folks who were not convinced social media made sense for an organization. Second, I agree with your point completely and have written about it often – so, in that context what I was saying was use the data to convince people that it’s worth developing a strategy around.

Okay, I will be honest. I felt a little bad. I decided to go back and research the Duct Tape Marketing Blog,to find examples of where John talks about being authentic in the social media/blogging world.

He has many posts talking about authenticity, “humanness”, and the importance of strategy/clear objectives in blogging.

Here are the excerpts:

Engagement Without Volume Is A Lot of Work

John: What matters always, always is the completion of meaningful long term strategic objectives. So, the discussion of who’s blog readers are more engaged or if 500 hyper engaged readers is better than 50,000 kinda engaged readers somehow starts sounding a bit like the discussion of the best college football team every year. Until there’s a playoff, and everyone has the same goal, the discussion is silly.

The Ultimate Social Marketing Question

John: When planning your social marketing strategies, tools and tactics the ultimate question you must ask is this – “What do I want the relationship with my customer to look and feel like?”

7 Ways To Get More Blog Comments

John: Show some humanness – No matter what your blog topic is readers like to know that the author is a human being. It’s okay to let that show and to add personal thoughts. Only you can determine how far to go with this, but I know that your readers will connect the more they know your story.

John caters more toward the small business market when it comes to blogging and online marketing ideas but his ideas can still resonate at the corporate level. Believe me, they resonate.

Duct Tape Marketing Misses On Corporate Blogging

I read the Duct Tape Marketing blog every once in awhile. It resides in my Google Reader, updating ever so often, giving me small tidbits of information. I usually get some good pointers from John Jantsch. Today he wrote about a new Universal McCann Wave3 research into social media citing it as a great example to help employees sell social media to their “older” (John did not say that. It was me) employers.

Here are the points of reference:

• 73% of online users read a blog
• 57% join a social network
• 45% have started a blog
• 83% have viewed a video online
• 39% subscribe to RSS Feeds
• 36% think more positively about companies that have blog

John uses the research to give advocates of social media key points to throw out at corporate board meetings. “I don’t think we should be doing the whole blogging thing.” “Well, check out these stats from Universal McCann Wave3! We should do it.”

In my humble opinion this is completely the wrong approach. There is a reason why 73% of people read blogs. They want authentic information from individuals and companies. Can you truly create authentic communication when the only reason a corporate culture decides to blog is because of a stat?

“OMG. People are reading blogs and joining social media? We should be a part of that social media stuff! Wait. Bright shiny object. Where?”

Strategy. Strategy. Strategy. Don’t do something because it is the new best thing! Do it because you have a planned approach. Do it because you want to communicate in a REAL way with your clients. Do it because it is a part of a communication PLAN.

If you jump into social media with a fractured plan, you will get a fractured response. Everyone needs to be on board, from top to bottom. It need to be from the mail room student to the CEO.

Socially Creative Corporate? When is the Right Time?

(major hat tip to my blogging mentor Douglas Karr for his post: When Should a Company Dive into Social Media?)

There is a massive argumentative and substantially humorous conversation circling the steel and glass of corporate culture.

1. When should we jump into social media? Loaded question.

2. Should the CEO have a blog? Should upper management have a blog? Maybe even the peons? Yes. Yes. Yes.

3. Should the blog be Internal or External or BOTH!? This is all dependent on your strategy.

4. How do we combine a work tool with a social tool? I would read up on Best Buy’s Blue Shirt Nation.

5. Should Sharepoint be used as a social media tool? HELL NO. Do you have a paper towel? I just threw up on myself.

6. How do we manage and protect proprietary information on social media platforms? You can’t. Unless you control the social media platform (refer to question 4).

There are, of course, hundreds of questions that follow the simple ones listed above. The biggest problem corporate America has with Social Media is not necessarily managing and building of the platform (up for debate if IT gets a hold of it) it is the beginning. How do we get into Social Media? What is the best way to enter the information flow? should it be a corporate strategy or a marketing strategy?

Doulgas Karr does a great job at answering this question in his post:

I advise that social media and blogging are not a marketing strategy, they’re a corporate strategy. It’s not simply putting yourself out on the market to jump on the latest band wagon and consumers will flock to you. Social media takes time, a strategy and the right resources (both tools and people).

As one of the leading GENIUSES behind Corporate Social Media, Douglas knows what he is talking about. Both Douglas and I have written extensively about being Authentic when writing a blog or getting involved in a social media community.

From Doug: You must involve all the leaders in your company – those who own the strategy of the corporation.

Strategy and Marketing should go hand-in-hand when debating whether to enter the social media world. This message is not only catered to corporations it should also be the focus for small businesses. Do not throw yourself into social media (whether blogging or networking) if you do not have a sound strategy. Without a social media plan/goals your productivity will plummet! You will be inundated with thousands of pieces of information and overwhelmed.

Strategy. Content. Participation. Authenticity.

Social media can be a fragile world, an extremely narrow path, proceed with care.

Most of all, HAVE FUN! This isn’t a corporate board meeting with Fiji water bottles. This is the information highway BABY! Take your time, hit it hard, and reap the benefits of open-communication!