Social Brand Identity
A few weeks ago I went to a jewelry party, it was a nice group of dozen or so of ladies, some of whom I knew and a few were new faces.
I spent about 45 minutes seeing jewelry of all colors, shapes and forms. All the descriptions were appropriate I thought. After the show was over I thought what’s missing here?..
Why I don’t care about any of it, even though I wear jewelry all the time.
I compared this to another occasion when I went to a street fair and bought a necklace that was made by women from a village in Africa, it was made of recycled paper, each with a unique design. The seller smartly placed shots of the village and pictures of happy faces of the women who made them. I have to confess, I’m a sucker for female issues, that’s how that element drew my attention, forms emotional connection and makes me decide to buy or not.
Every time I wear that necklace I get compliments on it, and guess what, I tell everyone about it, I became a broadcaster for this village in Africa. “Word of mouth” comes to mind, doesn’t it.
Business owners and professionals, we’re on the verge of a major rethinking of advertising’s fundamental premises. Word of mouth—peer opinion—has consistently been rated the most credible source of information.
Traditionally there’s been a limit as to how widely you could distribute a friend’s point of view. Here’s what’s really happening to what some call the “Holy Grail of ads: Social Media”. Picture this: I’m interviewing or talking about any subject and wearing that necklace for a shot or video clip and broadcast, live stream to “followers” through the vast social media toolbox, Facebook/YouTube, just to name a couple. Does viral marketing comes to mind?
Here’s what eMarketer stats reveal:
* The US female internet population is 79 million
* More than half (53%) participate in social media at least once a week
* Of that 53%, 3/4ths are into social networking and 55% are into blogs
This is what I call “social brand identity”, the concept rests in two premises, the influence-r (you) and the impact (what you do with it), once you become a broadcaster.
Be mindful that if you focus on the numbers of readers or friends or followers you might be missing the more important point of the need for influence-rs to build relationships and turn all of that valuable asset into social change. What happens is if we concentrate on our influence, we forget the purpose, the impact.
Other aspects of building “social brand identity”. What would happen if you build SBI combined with a solid social media presence? Well, let’s see….You will learn what your customers/community like and are currently doing, where are they doing it and find out their needs. Don’t we all need this data ? So, can we agree on giving Mr. Customer Survey a deserved vacation or maybe an early retirement?.
Jacy Lopez, Founder/President [CCWN]
