Brandthony

I’ve been working on social media projects for a while. I started a videogame publication in 2001 which has relied solely on word of mouth in all its marketing efforts. I developed strategies for over a dozen brands at the startup social media agency, Conversation. I also worked on social strategy and was community manager for a handful of brands at StrawberryFrog. I even helped do a substantial amount of research for the just released book microMARKETING.

My hands-on experience has led to a lot of interesting opinions, most of which I voice here on this blog.

Then today I saw a post on PSFK called Does Your Brand Really Need To Be ‘Social’? and got to thinking. Out of those thoughts comes three questions:

1) What is your definition of social? Do you define it as a viral spread of a message or as a relationship-building process?

The vast majority of social media strategists say it’s all about “having organic conversations with consumers that engenders loyalty” and then cite examples like Dell on Twitter making $3 million. I laugh when that happens, because the Dell example is a terrible “relationship building” one. Dell made $3 million off @DellOutlet which periodically tweeted about really great sales on products when they had surplus inventory. It was all about deal alerts, not relationships.

That’s not to say that brands – or rather, people representing brands – can’t truly develop relationships that leads to sales. Ramon De Leon, a Domino’s franchisee in Chicago, used Twitter so effectively to build relationships that his stores were the only ones posting revenue gains over a year stretch. But he spoke to people as himself, not the brand. Same with tons of other examples like Coffee Groundz, NAKED Pizza, etc etc

And what about just really great ideas that tend to take off THROUGH social media but aren’t necessarily social? The Best Job in the World campaign where people could submit a video application to work a dream job on Hamilton Island in Australia generated over $150 million in media coverage and raised bookings to the island by 82%, but it didn’t build relationships… and it was all started by newspaper classified ads. It was simply a great idea that was shared through social media.

2) Can CPG brands use social as well as retailers?

Retailers have control over the selling environment and people walk into THEIR stores with THEIR brand name where people can buy THEIR products from THEIR associates. They’re constantly interacting with the brand, and you can do loyalty stuff – even super locational – because you have total control over every touch point. Because the process of building social relationships is through conversation and service, retailers can easily leverage social media channels since it aligns so well with their everyday business. You can even measure what percentage of sales comes from social connections much easier, too.

What about CPG brands though? What happens when your product is simply on the aisle next to a competitor who’s on sale? What happens when you build great relationships online but those people can’t find your product on store shelves because you have low distribution?

3) When you talk about social and the necessity of social in order to raise conversations about your brand and add it to everyday dialogue of consumers, how do you explain the Paradox of Apple?

They have only one Facebook and one Twitter page that does nothing but advertise the latest releases on the iTunes Store, but it’s the 4th most talked about brand online and its sales have continued to double (triple, quadruple, etc) year after year without any “TRUE” social presence by the definition given by social media marketers. Hell they’re notoriously silent and controlling. They’re the living, breathing opposite of all that is social and “open,” yet they’ve been performing incredibly well over the past decade.

Related posts:

1. Is Social Media Marketing Similar to Door-to-Door Sales?
2. 7 Keys to Measuring Your Social Media ROI