A major concern that marketers express to me about social media is “I can’t control my brand on social media.”
That statement is true, you cannot completely control your brand on social media, but you certainly can influence it. And if you take a step back, you may recognize that ‘influence’ is all you can do with any marketing medium, whether it’s traditional online, email, TV, or print. Obviously, there’s more acute risk on social media for a variety of off-brand comments, but it’s important to recognize this risk in the context of the overall risk/reward of social media. The reward could be that your brand receives positive comments, and could be shared amongst a circle of friends. The reward could be that you attract a new audience, and make your brand more relevant to the audience you already have.
With regards to the goal of influence on social media, here are some things to consider:
1. Generally, comments on social media assets are topical. Your creative and copy will start the conversation and thus will steer it. Think about how your copy will be perceived and how it could be potentially twisted. For example, if you are a car manufacturer, and your featured model just recently became safer (after years of negative ratings and public scrutiny), now probably isn’t the time to discuss your brand in the context of ‘safety.’ Even if the latest safety ratings are good, you’ll be inviting negative comments from those who remember the older models.
2. Social should be a 2-way dialogue. When you go social, you are deliberately starting a conversation that will take place between friends who like and share your content, and fans/non-fans who will demand customer service from you. Customer service can range from troubleshooting a product complaint to responding with appreciation to a positive remark. Social media is 'human face' of your product, it has to be a 2-way street, and you should not think about social as simply a 1-way distribution network as you would email marketing.
3. Social monitoring software. Socially-astute brands are investing in social monitoring software to automate their social infrastructure. There is social software that can measure your brand’s degree of social affinity. There is software that can alert you when your brand receives profane or off-label remarks so that you can measure and mitigate brand degradation risk.
4. Zyrtec is a brand that I love on social media. The conversation they start is not clinical (high brand risk). Instead, it influences the dialogue with social-friendly variables:
It’s funny (people like to share funny stories in ‘real life’ – the same applies on social media)
2-way communication (Zyrtec thanks its audience for 1st 50K ‘likes’)
Empathetic (Zyrtec provides stats of how people rate how allergies impact their life. The stats are short, compelling, and Zytec uses infographics well)
Short (no one has time anymore, regardless of platform!)
Interesting (no one ‘likes’ people who are dull and boring so don't make your brand's 'human face' boring. Just being on social, or 'showing up', isn't enough.)
After careful consideration of the cost/benefit of social, think influence, not control as you craft your social media strategy.
Good luck!
Brian Stanga
