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A few days ago, Mack Collier asked the million-dollar question: Do you "Get" Social Media? Well, call me ambitious, I'd like to ask an even bigger question – how is social media appropriate for your brand? That's what you want to know before you take action.
When it comes to using social media for your brand, you are navigating in uncharted territory. Social media does not outright solve many problems your brand, or your business for that matter, may have. The answer to those resides in branding realignment or the discovery of a whole new business model. That is an internal issue that will guide first who – your brand promise as rooted in a viable business model – then what – the perception the brand will have in the marketplace.
Our organizations are filled with skilled managers who can solve problems. They were trained to do so in prestigious schools and through years of experience. They can run research and measure results from campaigns with the precision of surgeons. All without a thought to participation by the market itself.
Alas, what you face today in the world where your brand lives, are not just problems that can be solved neatly with the stuff you have. Your customers' context has changed to include what I've come to call dilemmas – something that cannot be solved with either/or thinking, questions that you need to hold in your head and learn to navigate through with flexibility. This is why social media has become such a big part of the conversation.
The disconnect between having all these wonderful tools (i.e., social media) and the ability, your company's ability, to make good use of them stems from this misunderstanding of problem thinking vs. a context filled with dilemmas. What is deemed "good"? How do you measure it in tangible results? At what point can you say you moved the needle in your favor?
The Context and Your Brand Story
In Get There Early, Bob Johansen of The Institute of the Future (IFTF) outlines several directions for change he foresees in the next decade.
1. Everyday awareness of vulnerability and risk – in both the developed and developing worlds.
2. An hourglass population distribution where old age is the new frontier, but the kids will be heard.
3. Bottom-up everything, where people interact with the products and services they consume.
4. Continuous connectivity where network connections are always on.
5. A booming health economy in which health is an important filter for many purchasing decisions – and health risks are on everyone's mind.
6. Mainstream business strategy that includes environmental stewardship combined with profitability – doing good while doing well.
These are directions we're moving towards at the moment, not sure things.
To consume means to destroy; yet consumers are not just there to destroy and receive the messages you have for them passively. Today, consumers are individuals who empower themselves with the tools they are learning to use. Do you want to know what is the number one network security risk inside organizations? Personal technology devices and tools that employees bring in – self –customization.
It goes hand in hand with self-agency – acting on your own behalf, which magnifies individual decisions. While we do that, we also hold close ties with a network, which may influence those decisions.
The third direction consumers are moving into is self-organization. I wrote about it in my last post here at the Daily Fix – this is where everyone can be a seller, and everyone can be a buyer. Social networks are disrupting everything you know about business. Where your business model and your brand fit in should be your first question.
As new age was put forth as a panacea for a society seeking spiritual roots, now social media is being thrust upon the fabric of business. Ask yourself: when was the last time you talked about new age? In five years can you still imagine yourself talking about social media as something layered on top of your core marketing?
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Comments
"Well, call me ambitious, I'd like to ask an even bigger question – how is social media appropriate for your brand? That's what you want to know before you take action."
I think social media is like social networking for marketers: if they are going to use these tools, they have to use them as we do, and for the same reasons. Taking a tool that's being used to create and share content and build communities, and trying to use it as a selling tool, isn't going to work.
But as is human nature, we want to put our best interests first. Sometimes that can backfire.
Posted by: Mack Collier | 10.04.07
I'm a fan of social media. But I think you have a point here.
Social media is a bottom-up deal: It came about organically, as the tools became available, and works well when you've got something valuable to propagate.
That doesn't mean social media can be forced into place by everyone. If you're selling a commodity, for instance, social media may not be for you -- unless you've found a particularly clever or entertaining way to engage people.
Social media is in danger of becoming a mantra. It reminds me of the heady days of Total Quality Management. Everyone wrote a TQM book. Perfectly workable management structures, evolved over many years, were upended to accommodate new TQM programs. People who hardly understood business positioned themselves as new-style management experts.
Whatever happened to TQM? Its better features worked their way into the mainstream. And that's what will happen with social media.
Posted by: Brandwise | 10.04.07
Mack:
That is what we talked about today at DMAW (Direct Marketing Association of Washington, DC) with a great group of smart marketers. It's really hard to explain what it feels like to blog. It's best understood when you do it.
I gave away one copy of The Age of Conversation to illustrate the point. It's like winning a free something, except for to get the full benefit, you need to read it/get involved.
The other point you make is right on target -- everyone is rushing to make a buck before building value. Someone very smart told me recently that marketers should not be out there selling, that's what sales teams are for...
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | 10.04.07
Brandwise:
I still remember my TQM training. That was quite a few years ago! That is an astute observation and something that comes up quite a bit in conversations with people who have been blogging for a long time. It's a way to communicate and share information, not a program.
The biggest outcome of this new crop of tools I hope will be an increased awareness that listening is good. I put forth the concept of ROI = return on involvement. All of us who have been blogging see it... as for measuring it in traditional ways. I'd be curious to hear from other marketers.
Have you found a way to present a compelling measurement?
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | 10.04.07
You ask a good question here Valeria. I agree with Brandwise above. I also think social media is exciting and fascinating, full of unexplored possibilities for marketers and for business in general. But jumping into it should be done for the right reasons, and in the right way.
Posted by: David Reich | 10.06.07
Good to read your take, David. I think joining should be done with care and in the manner that works for the business. A model that works for someone else very well, may backfire for you.
Anyone found out the painful way?
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | 10.07.07
I loved this statement: Social media does not outright solve many problems your brand, or your business for that matter, may have.
I think some people forget that social web isn't some miracle solution. All marketing efforts begin with the brand.
When it comes to your brand, you have to think of the bigger picture. Social web is a symptom of a bigger movement. We're coming into a time where interaction and transparency are key. Exchanging and sharing are the only types of communication people are interested in. If your brand doesn't "get it," if it isn't about these things, it'll be impossible to use social web effectively.
Posted by: Tanya | 10.07.07
Hello Tanya,
Welcome to the conversation and thank you for the input and kind words. The photograph you picked for your blog is eye-catching!
Being able to navigate interactions has always been the hallmark of great communicators. Now we have the tools to make that very fast, quasi-instant.
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | 10.07.07
While social media can definitely help market a product if used correctly, I think something else it can help with is Personal Brand.
Take the username I typed in for example, ses5909. If you google it, you will come up with about 20k results, all tied to me. I didn't set out to brand myself but it happened. With social media, in order to really see the benefits of it, you need to give of yourself first and eventually the rewards will come in.
More and more companies are looking to hire Social Media Experts to help promote their product. It is a tricky to get into and if you don't know what you're doing it could backfire on you (Sony experienced this a bit with their fake bloggers).
Another thing that may be worth mentioning is that Social media is not a science and it can take a while to see the results.
Sorry my thoughts are a bit disjointed, I enjoyed reading the post!
Posted by: ses5909 | 10.16.07