Pay Attention to How Branding Fuels Social Media
Ask yourself what the following brands all have in common: Apple, Virgin, Facebook, Google, Sony, Nintendo, Coca-Cola, Ford, Kulula, Nandos …
They push the boundaries of creative genius, stir emotive reactions from their customers, pay copious amount of attention on quality, and are very in tune with their customers’ needs - all for the sake of creating products and brands that people fall in love with, and in turn talk about, both on- and offline.
That’s real viral marketing.
To play the social media game doesn’t always need to be about launching a blog, or advertising on Facebook, or creating a Second Life presence. Sure, that is part of it but first and foremost, it needs an understanding of what people like and why they speak about and engage with brands. Online marketing - not just social media - needs to understand the basics which make companies successful. As McKinsey puts it, “On the world wide web, the brand is the experience and the experience is the brand.”
I was asked the other day whether I could work with a brand that is very traditionally focused. My answer was simple: bring it on. Why? Because if a company is prepared to break the traditional barrier while remaining strategically creative and pioneering with everything they do offline - everything from packaging, to advertising, to product - then creating buzz aka word of mouth & ROI - something that social media marketing strives for in the online landscape - will naturally follow. It makes penetrating the social media ecosystem so much more effective, because people want to engage with (i.e talk about and with) great brands (and of course, the people behind them).
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[...] into this human need in a cost effective manner to extend a company’s traditional voice and branding efforts. It’s nothing special. Just cost effective, measurable, and when thought out carefully, very [...]