Originally appeared on Coleman Center blog on 8.3.09
In this 3rd and final installment of Lessons from BrandSmart 2009, I’d like to turn to a topic everyone is talking, er tweeting about: social media. You can’t have a conversation about marketing or branding today without discussing the prevalence of social networks and their ability to create, solidify and catapult brands to stardom. At BrandSmart 2009, we were educated and entertained by a panel of social media experts (these guys are the real deal) who had successfully used social networks like Facebook and Twitter to create economic value for their companies. The panelists were: Chandler Arnold of First Book, Mark Hodes of The Coaches Center (and formerly of Threadless), and Ted Souder of Google. The panel was moderated by Andy Sernovitz of GasPedal.
Dialog@Work
Chandler Arnold shared First Book’s “What Book Got You Hooked” campaign and how First Book was able to use “borrowed armies” to raise awareness and inspire readers to connect and vote (read more about the campaign by clicking on the link above.) “Borrowed armies” are other groups or organizations that can help spread your message. Mr. Arnold advised us to create and take advantage of partnerships with similar organizations or those that speak to a similar audience in order to exponentially increase the number of recipients listening to our message. First Book also utilized celebrities to create “buzz” around the campaign by asking celebrities to share “what book got them hooked.” Mr. Arnold also reminded us to not talk at people; to make social media a two-way conversation by asking questions of our audience and responding positively to answers and feedback.
Mark Hodes, formerly with Threadless, shared their strategy of “crowd-sourcing,” allowing the online community to create and vote on what products are produced and sold. This gives voters the feeling of increased ownership over the brand. Mr. Hodes also shared what four actions Threadless wanted to see from its online community: Blog, Submit, Vote and Buy. Can you identify what exactly you want your audience to do? If so, tell them, and if not, you may want to flush that out before engaging in an online conversation. Your audience wants direction on how best to interact with your brand; give it to them, but also make sure they’re getting something in return. Mr. Hodes also advised us to be adaptive and flexible, because when you give power to an online community, you no longer have total control over what is said about your brand in the marketplace.
In closing, Andy Sernovitz reminded us that most of the talk about our brand isn’t done by us, the marketers; it’s done by you, the users. In other words, talk by marketers is cheap; it’s not what we say about our brand, it’s what we do. And in this newly created marketplace of green, sustainable, socially and environmentally conscious consumers, “doing good” and “making money” are no longer mutually exclusive prospects. Brands should take advantage of the opportunity to start a dialog using social media to talk about what they’re doing, not simply talk at people about what they’re saying.
How is your business using these and other social media tools to start a dialog with your customer? The Coleman Center has quite a few clients and members, like Busy Beaver Button Co. and Lakeshore Branding who have truly embraced social media and are seeing significant results. I’d love to hear your success (and failure) stories related to engaging your audience online. Feel free to comment below.
Thank you to everyone who read and commented on my Lessons from BrandSmart 2009 series. I’ve been a member of the AMA Chicago Chapter for quite a while and believe they help drive the advancement of the marketing discipline in Chicago. I would love to see them concentrate more on small businesses, but I was again impressed by the caliber of speakers, knowledge sharing and passion for marketing at BrandSmart 2009. Thanks for the opportunity to attend and keep up the good work!
I'm an idealist... and a marketer. 