Everyday we work and shape strategies based on our very own objectives and perceptions. How much do we spend in understanding our environment? We cannot ignore it, our brands live online in tons of environment, most of them are user-generated.Think about Flickr pictures, YouTube videos, product reviews, blog postings, Tweets, Wikipedia pages… On top of that there’s all the online presence we’re igniting: online banners, facebook fan pages, paid search, email marketing, online promotions, contests, eCommerce site, online retailers….

But… think about it twice. Isn’t the same message that should circulate? Shouldn’t you try to convey seamless messages to get heard?

We believe, your digital branding strategy shouldn’t remain in isolation, we shouldn’t target at serving only people visiting your website. Because the online purchase process goes far beyond the communications you ignite. It probably starts from a search engine or a social networking site where you are mentioned, where your product are rated. Obviously we cannot control the messages out here but listening to it might help you save some time and money. By leveraging existing assets you can craft a better online reputation and stronger messaging.

Why not engaging people where they are instead of investing money in trying to make them shift towards your website. When ultimately the sale might happen in-store anyway. Online is part of an overall communication-branding strategy it shouldn’t be perceived as a media only and a sub-line in your budget.

Managing and investing on the web as an overall touch point with your customers can help better understanding of your brand values/message/uniqueness. Because it’s a media where people look for you, where they want to listen to you, it’s the interactive media.

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These days, tons of postings and blog articles are presented about social media. Some are interesting, other sounds more like a big bubble about to explode. Social media are an evolution of web 2.0, and is nothing more than a reflection of our “analog” social lives. But technology and the fact that Internet is now accessible to a bigger number of persons, those behaviors are now valuable for many companies. On top of the trend and buzz worsds below are some of the thinking we’re working on, your comments are more than welcomed!

Social media are first and foremost social environments… Where people showcase who they are. They need resources to demonstrate their uniqueness. If you’re brand doesn’t feed them as individuals, she might not be able to get closer to them

There’s a seduction play… You need to build relationship, to lure, you cannot get everything at once. Adopting and standing for a brand in front of your friends takes time. It takes time to get to know each other.

Think first, decide on technology at last. Facebook isn’t the answer, it’s just a technical environment that has allowed, enhanced online communications. But what happens on FB happened online before FB it was simply splitted. FB is the first context to gather different online communications features at one place. FB made online communications easier but it didn’t make them happen.

Play. Our lives our so made of routine, buying products is more and more pure commodity. If you want to create a brand that shines and that inspires, you want to take a chance to entertain your consumers’ and make their lives better. You’ll probably get rewarded by assuming that this is simply life, and you’re simply a product that tries to make it better (like Vitamin Water for example).

In social media, people are the media… Reach and frequency notions still exist but they are made possible only if you have something to say and something they can say about you. They will claim it more than once if front of others but only if you provide them with content.

People spread stuff that are meaningful. They’re standing in front of their peer, if what you say is commodity, nobody will share it and stand for for it.

Your brand needs to act as a human being. Those days are over, you can no longer be one of those big brands that are all over the city shouting at consumers, if you want to be part of their tribes you need to be one of the boys. Your brand should think, react, comment the news, makes joke, know the past you have together. We’re no longer building still stories, we’re building conversations that should go on and on.

Whatever you decide to join it or not, the conversation is going on. Creating an account on every single social media site isn’t the answer; you might only want to listen to what’s being said about your brand. Whatever you decide or not to join the conversation, reality is that conversation is going on. And your competitors might embrace it sooner than later.

I invite you to watch that video that really highlights the phenomenon but also the fact that this challenge is more an overall communication challenge than a media/tech issue.

Social Media Revolution

1 commentlatest by andres, Sep 23rd at 16H11

Those days we talk more and more about building ecosystems around brands. Especially online where we have to adapt our brand attitude, messages, interactions based on the medium we use. Think of your own example, you’re not the same on Twitter as you’re on Facebook as you’re on your personal blog. We all adapt those presences based on the social network, people interacting with it. So we build our own little media everywhere…

With the social networks being now part of the web journey for all our users, we can no longer ignore that our brands have to face it and integrate it.

How do we do that? It is for sure by understanding the various environments, their codes and audiences, the way they’re used and then by defining your brand positioning/voice for each of them.

Today’s web ecosystem means that you can no longer plan the web as an isolated website, but more that an “alive” presence. Our brands will have to be humanized to be able to interact and be credible in such environments.

For example, a web plan today should integrate various tactics:
- think on how you can export your site content, can people share it easily? not only via en email sent to friends but surely by building pieces that are made to be shared and use tools to facilitate a large spread (ie. Addthis).
- what’s your voice on Twitter? on Facebook? On your blog? On others’ blogs?
- what’s your voice on your mobile site?
- what’s your voice in your newsletters?
- what’s your presence on FlickR? YouTube?

All these can be planned and tailored to deliver better results based on clear marketing objectives because at the end they can save you tons of media spends and build an efficient awareness. Like Seth Godin said last week in a conference here in Montreal “Stop advertising and start socializing”.

I truly believe that the web is more than a media, another way of connecting with consumers, the web is a living environment. It has demonstrated in the past years that it can create “virals, and like in real life, if you want things to grow fast, you just need to set up the perfect conditions for it.

Have a nice week-end all :)

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