Posted by Sheila Shayon on January 3, 2011 05:00 PM
In surveying trending topics, predictions, and social media resolutions for 2011, for which there is an endless amount of thought-provoking verbiage in recent days, it's clear that brands have to think about their business goals, of course ... but also about the individual, the planet, their corporate reputation, and think local and global.
It's a tough balancing act, to be sure, but with consumers more social media aware (and weary) than ever, authenticity and multitasking are key.
With that in mind, we pulled together some smart thinking from the frontlines of brands and social marketing.
In the words of Seth Godin: “How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?”
Bloomberg Businessweek columnist Steve McKee addresses the issue of accountability while offering these nuggets of advice:
• Be original: Plagiarism has spiked on the web, particularly on Facebook and Twitter posts. Give credit where/when it's due.
• Don’t auto-anything (auto-follow, auto-DM, auto-tweet) unless you're driving. Shortcuts depersonalize the already impersonal nature of social media.
• Unfollow: There’s a ‘blowback’ in social media interaction due to overwhelming friending and the faux relationships it generates.
• Resist being a narcissist: Constant tweeting and online posting about self is as offensive as its real-world counterpart, for brands and people.
• Remember the Golden Rule: “Post and tweet only what you would say to someone's face in polite company. If you can't do that, zip it.”
• Stretch and explore: Don’t settle in to a small and familiar digital footprint, or settle for a set suite of SM tools and resources.
Judy Shapiro’s recent piece for Ad Age emphasizes other goals:
• Crowd management: To make your brand a social brand, cross the chasm from "one to many" marketing to "many to many" marketing.
• Find your audience: Commerce happens in communities of interest — not social networks.
• Small is good: The "right sizing" of the internet means great content will be hyper-personalized and real-time, and engagement thrive in aggregated communities of interest (which trump quantity of impressions delivered in one humungous "social network").
• Manage expectations: Social media will remain hard for companies to execute because it goes against the very nature of a corporation. The disconnect starts at the philosophical level, because social networks are about individual connections, and companies were created to detach the "business" from individuals.
And some other smart thinking for brand marketers from TrendWatching.com:
• Random acts of kindness by brands will create a digital echo-chamber of engagement: “Consumers' cravings for realness, for the human touch, ensure that everything from brands randomly picking up the tab to sending a surprise gift will be one of the most effective ways to connect with (potential) customers in 2011.”
• Shopping is a collective act: “Two billion consumers now online can exercise their collective buying power. The old 'club' format (think: Costco) has been given a new lease on life online, where niche communities thrive…brands are able to shift excess inventory quickly.”
• Consumers want to be wellthy: “An estimated 500 million people worldwide are expected to be using mobile healthcare applications by 2015; there were nearly 17,000 health apps available in major app stores in November 2010, with 57% of them being aimed at consumers rather than health care professionals.”
• Contribute, share, participate: Brands and wealthy individuals are expected to “give, donate, care and sympathize, as opposed to just sell and take. 86% of global consumers believe that business needs to place at least equal weight on society's interests as on business' interests.”
• Think Eco-Superior: ‘Green consumption' and ‘eco-superior’ products on the rise, but it's assumed.
Derek Gordon, a partner in the Re: Imagine Group, also sees the rise of “we-commerce” where “crowd brand is king. Group-think, herd mentality, wisdom-of-the-crowds and other psycho-social variables often drive we-commerce activity.” Gordon cites the Tea Party and its affiliates as a notable 2010 brand that drove economic, business and political activity.
Let us know your thoughts for brands as we head into the new year and ponder social marketing, version 2011.0.
It's a tough balancing act, to be sure, but with consumers more social media aware (and weary) than ever, authenticity and multitasking are key.
With that in mind, we pulled together some smart thinking from the frontlines of brands and social marketing.
In the words of Seth Godin: “How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?”
Bloomberg Businessweek columnist Steve McKee addresses the issue of accountability while offering these nuggets of advice:
• Be original: Plagiarism has spiked on the web, particularly on Facebook and Twitter posts. Give credit where/when it's due.
• Don’t auto-anything (auto-follow, auto-DM, auto-tweet) unless you're driving. Shortcuts depersonalize the already impersonal nature of social media.
• Unfollow: There’s a ‘blowback’ in social media interaction due to overwhelming friending and the faux relationships it generates.
• Resist being a narcissist: Constant tweeting and online posting about self is as offensive as its real-world counterpart, for brands and people.
• Remember the Golden Rule: “Post and tweet only what you would say to someone's face in polite company. If you can't do that, zip it.”
• Stretch and explore: Don’t settle in to a small and familiar digital footprint, or settle for a set suite of SM tools and resources.
Judy Shapiro’s recent piece for Ad Age emphasizes other goals:
• Crowd management: To make your brand a social brand, cross the chasm from "one to many" marketing to "many to many" marketing.
• Find your audience: Commerce happens in communities of interest — not social networks.
• Small is good: The "right sizing" of the internet means great content will be hyper-personalized and real-time, and engagement thrive in aggregated communities of interest (which trump quantity of impressions delivered in one humungous "social network").
• Manage expectations: Social media will remain hard for companies to execute because it goes against the very nature of a corporation. The disconnect starts at the philosophical level, because social networks are about individual connections, and companies were created to detach the "business" from individuals.
And some other smart thinking for brand marketers from TrendWatching.com:
• Random acts of kindness by brands will create a digital echo-chamber of engagement: “Consumers' cravings for realness, for the human touch, ensure that everything from brands randomly picking up the tab to sending a surprise gift will be one of the most effective ways to connect with (potential) customers in 2011.”
• Shopping is a collective act: “Two billion consumers now online can exercise their collective buying power. The old 'club' format (think: Costco) has been given a new lease on life online, where niche communities thrive…brands are able to shift excess inventory quickly.”
• Consumers want to be wellthy: “An estimated 500 million people worldwide are expected to be using mobile healthcare applications by 2015; there were nearly 17,000 health apps available in major app stores in November 2010, with 57% of them being aimed at consumers rather than health care professionals.”
• Contribute, share, participate: Brands and wealthy individuals are expected to “give, donate, care and sympathize, as opposed to just sell and take. 86% of global consumers believe that business needs to place at least equal weight on society's interests as on business' interests.”
• Think Eco-Superior: ‘Green consumption' and ‘eco-superior’ products on the rise, but it's assumed.
Derek Gordon, a partner in the Re: Imagine Group, also sees the rise of “we-commerce” where “crowd brand is king. Group-think, herd mentality, wisdom-of-the-crowds and other psycho-social variables often drive we-commerce activity.” Gordon cites the Tea Party and its affiliates as a notable 2010 brand that drove economic, business and political activity.
Let us know your thoughts for brands as we head into the new year and ponder social marketing, version 2011.0.
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