A friend shared a great article with me the other day, published at (unfortunately registration is required, although it is free).
The article discusses “social brands”. Part of the definition of a social brand relates to the use of technology to communicate with stakeholders (blogs, Facebook, wikis, email newsletters, forums, Twitter, etc). However, as you can see from the table below, it is much more than just about the use of online tools. The core of social branding is about making a substantially deeper connection with your key stakeholders (ie. your clients and your staff).
It is primarily technology companies that are leading this revolution given their deeper understanding of the tools involved, and is helped by people like Seth Godin. Seth, marketing thought leader and author of several books that have helped shape people's thinking on social branding including The Purple Cow, All Marketers are Liars, and Tribes, has following him in several online places including , , and .
The article includes the following table that I think almost any company can learn from. In fact, because it is still primarily the technology companies that are benefiting from this trend, the opportunity for the fastest movers to take the lead in almost every other industry is huge.
How many companies in your industry are making deep connections with their customers and their staff using the following ways of thinking (my guess is not many), and could your business benefit from being one of the first?
| Brands | Social Brands |
|---|---|
| Solicit customers | Make friends |
| Sell to cold prospects | Network with happy customers to meet prospects |
| Seek satisfaction | Strive for passion |
| Talk about themselves | Listen more than talk |
| Retain customers | Engage fans |
| Incentivize frequent purchase | Reward engagement |
| All business, all the time | Make time for play time |
| Do well | Do good |
| Advertise | Invite |
| Send mass email | Message friends and fans |
| Target demos | Seek shared interests |
| 9-5 | Leave the front porch light on |
The MediaPost article ends with a paragraph written to help you visualise what your brand will look like if it makes the move to being a social brand:
A look down the road
Imagine the state in which your brand moves from the periphery of a social network and into the middle of your own brand network. Your Social Ads recruit Fans to your Pages, Groups and apps. Those Fans seamlessly migrate into a community where they share their opinions, grab tools to evangelize on your brand's behalf and receive recognition for their engagement. Each activity is broadcasted to friends through tools like Facebook Connect. Open Social has enabled your Fans to follow your applications between multiple social networks and mobile devices. Your blog posts and tweets get synched with messages to that same, constantly growing, ever-green network of friends and fans announcing the arrival of your Social Brand.The destination is in sight. Check the map. Get on the road, make friends and enjoy the ride.
And finally, a couple of tips from Seth on the management of your tribe:
It starts with permission, the understanding that the real asset most organizations can build isn't an amorphous brand but is in fact the privilege of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who want to get them.
It adds to that the fact that what people really want is the ability to connect to each other, not to companies. So the permission is used to build a tribe, to build people who want to hear from the company because it helps them connect, it helps them find each other, it gives them a story to tell and something to talk about.
And of course, since this is so important, product development and manufacturing and the CFO work for the tribal manager. Everything the organization does is to feed and grow and satisfy the tribe.
