Archive for the ‘Branding’ Category

Measuring Social Media Influence Versus Popularity

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Am I looking for popularity or influence?  It’s almost a quality vs. quantity.  Do companies or individuals actually understand the difference?

Marketers have been conditioned to grow brands by popularity over the years.  Show enough TV spots and billboards, add a catchy tagline and consumers will recall your brand when they are in stores.  This has worked well for many consumer goods products for decades.  Until now!  In the world of push marketing where consumers had no choice but to trust what you were saying (it was your brand why would you lie?), popularity worked.  If more consumers knew your name, the more you came up in general conversation, the check-out line and in your home.

The world is different now though.  The web and all things digital have changed the game on us.  Influence is quickly becoming the currency of choice on the web.  So what changed?  Now there is the expectation of a conversation not just a press release or a slogan.  Some of the most popular brands in the world have been smeared in the social dust (think Nestle, United Airlines, & Dominoes Pizza).  But these are all the most popular brands in their respective markets, right?

Let’s look at this issue from the perspective of individuals not businesses.  Everyone is in a rush to get the most followers on Twitter, the most friends on Facebook and the most viral views on Youtube.  That would equal popularity for most people.  Yet according to a recent study by ForeSee Results, Facebook ranks at the bottom for customer satisfaction.  What?  500m people and no one likes them?  That, my friends, says very clearly that you do not need popularity to have influence.

Or another example from the Bureau of Labor Statistics cites that in 2010 the most popular job (by volume) is that of a shop clerk.  The $20+k job has more than 4.2m people doing it, yet some of the least popular jobs (actors 40k and athletes 14k) carry the most influence.  When is the last time you saw a shop clerk with a Nike contract?

Whether an individual or a brand, what is it you should aspire to online, Popularity or Influence?  To help us with this discussion is Chuck HemannChuck is a social media director at WeissComm Partners and has been in the space for many years.    He is going to lead the conversation for the 75th #socialmedia event this Tuesday.  The topic and questions are as follows:

Topic: Measuring Social Media Influence Versus Popularity

Q1:  How do you define influence and popularity?

Q2:  What metrics can help define influence or popularity?

Q3:  Which (popularity or influence) is more important?

Join us for this event Tuesday 8/31 at noon eastern by following #sm75 from your favorite Twitter client.

Building Your Reputation Using Social Media

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

The three most important components of who you are: reputation, reputation, reputation.

The social media industry spends a lot of time talking about the brand.  Whether it’s your corporate brand or your personal brand everyone has an opinion of how to market yourself.  That’s what it is afterall is marketing.  The branding police come in and say the product will conjure images of…..”being a kid again” or “going to the county fair” or (you get the pictures).  What happens after you buy the product and decide the packaging is hard to open or that it really doesn’t perform as advertised?  Well, they make television shows for that (PitchMen).   The same goes for your personal brand.  how many times have you “heard” about the accomplishments of someone then when you actually work with them only images of SnakeOil come to mind.  Once you “out” the product or the person, you will not use them again no matter how good the markting message is for them.

I have a hard time with spending so much time on your “Brand” for that reason.  All of it is glossy brochure-ware unless you can actually do something.  My preference is to push people and/or client’s brands to focus on their reputation.  Autos are a good example of what I mean, you don’t buy a Lamborghini for comfort and you don’t buy a Lexus to go fast.  Both are remarkable cars in their own right however the Lambo’s reputation is built around speed and the lexus around comfort.  That’s what you get when you buy them irrespective of whatever kind of marketing stuff they put in front of you. 

I pulled a couple of thoughts on personal reputation from the website Brand-Yourself (horrible name, I know).  They defined your reputation as this:

It’s the iconic who, what, why and how principle.
It’s developing, celebrating and using that internal and external persona, that is already there and a part of our DNA!

Who are you?
What do you stand for?
Why should you serve?
How can you better the community that supports you and the world you live in?

Who you are is the combination of your external appearance or image and your internal essence.
Whenever you are out professionally, make sure you are dressed appropriately and groomed. People do notice the fine points and that can say a lot about you. Ask any professional etiquette coach about how important style, flair and appropriateness is in making a first impression!

What you stand for is about your values, attitudes, demeanor and how you express your unique qualities.
Show people that and they will make a connection with you because we all look for those commonalities in our relationships with others. Kindness, sense of humor, integrity, generosity, creativity, caring all speak volumes about you to others.

Why you serve is how you want to be remembered.
Whatever causes or social leadership you are passionate about will not only drive and motivate you naturally but draw people to you. Step up, volunteer, join a cause, initiate an action, support one that needs some help.

So what does all this mean?  It means that it doesn’t matter if you have 3,ooo followers or 300,000 if you can’t articulate your strategy for a client.  It means, if you can’t legitimately help a client then refer them to someone who can.  It’s substance over talk, results over industry stats.  Our moderator this week knows alot about reputation as she has one of the best in the public relations industry.  Kami Watson Husye is the president and COO of Zoetica Media.  Kami is well respected for her work and her missions and will lead our discussion around managing your reputation.  The topic and questions this week are:

Topic: Building Your Reputation Using Social Media

Q1:  Is reputation more important than a “personal brand” in #socialmedia?

Q2:  Be it a personal or professional crisis, what is your plan for handling a negative backlash in #socialmedia?

Q3:  How do you scale online success for an organization or individual as your reputation grows?

This chat will take place on Tuesday August 24, 2010 at 12 noon eastern.  Follow #sm74 from any Twitter client or simply go to our LIVE page at www.hashtagsocialmedia.com/live.  The event will start at noon with the first question and Kami will move to the next question every 20 minutes for an hour. 

Social and the New Model For Market Segmentation

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

So you know by now that we attempt to shake things up a bit and challenge people to think differently about topics and their impact on business.  Our topic this week is no exception and with the skills of our moderator, we are going to test those limits.  This week’s discussion is around market segmentation and how social can change how we approach it.

Market segmentation is more than what markers do with homogeneous products before deciding which actress to use in the commercial to best reach a desired consumer group.  Market segmentation is defined by Wikipedia as:

“A market segment is a sub-set of a market made up of people or organizations sharing one or more characteristics that cause them to demand similar product and/or services based on qualities of those products such as price or function.”

This is a good start as a definition, however this does not even begin to scratch the surface.  How do we take this to the next level?  To explore ways by which to re-imagine consumer grouping, we must get past the traditional segmenting like demographics, geographics, income, even behavioral.  For many marketers, they look at data models that break out behavioral with layers of demo and geographics mashed in.  This modeling then determines a budgeted ad spend for a period in time like 3 or 6 months where the messaging is developed, pricing assigned and commercial created.  The problem is that by the time the ads hit, the data models have shifted and the intended groups have moved on.  Now with peer reviews and endless product content the real-time web is heavily influencing consumer preferences  that continue to change with increased velocity.

Savvy marketers have been using insights for more than just marketing also.  Saavy marketers use segmentation for product development, pricing, marketing channel, and even customer retention.  Using the last example, customer retention, the segmenting considers factors like profitability, strategic fit, product version and longevity.  Can you service your customers differently with better targeting for profitability or would you be more proactive with customers who were ripe for renewal or upgrades?  Now consider going beyond your internal gates and imagine the results if you combined internal factors along with external or social listening capabilities.  Maybe that customer who is really loud socially is a drain on your profitability.   

So what this means is that the social web is having a profound affect on preferences, therefore insights that are not derived in near-real time are simply missing the mark.  If we open our research and insights departments to the social web, how can they can they use these tools that have never been considered before?  Every company will find different value in different social instances, however there are some great new possibilities that are emerging:

  • What if you titled the buckets of your listening tools with Underserved, Disenfranchised and Contemplators.  Could you use that insight to build better products or price more according to near real-time inputs? 
  • What if you targeted people who played Mafia Wars on Facebook or joined relevant fan pages.  Could you use those applications for consumers to self segment themselves and find commonalities?
  • What if you targeted people who used certain hashtags (#) on Twitter or similar platforms.  Could you infer commonalities from everyone who tweeted #farm, #beer or #sweets?

 Understanding and using social segmentation is challenging.  The pace at which social moves and the pace by which people flutter around digitally are simply exhausting.  Marketers like General Mills and Coke are early adopters of social segmentation and blazing a trail for others to follow.    This week’s moderator Ken Burbary is going to help us sort out this topic.  Ken manages the social media duties for Ernst & Young where he develops these types of solutions for their respective clients.  The topic this week is:

TOPIC: Social and the New Model For Market Segmentation

Q1) Is traditional market segmentation still relevant?

Q2) What should be more important for Brands: social segmentation or engagement?

Q3) How are you segmenting your customers with Social Media?

Please join us Tuesday 2/23 at noon EST by using #sm48 on Twitter or follow our LIVE page

The Future of Advertising & the Role of the Agency

Monday, December 7th, 2009

The Answer: Railroads, Newspapers and Advertising AgenciesDog Chasing Tail

The Question: What industries have / will decline because they did not understand what business they were in?

To take a skit from the great Johnny Carson, this could easily come true.  Much like railroads never adapted to other forms of travel and newspapers can’t shake their dependency on selling ads only on pulp products, the traditional advertising agency model is evolving.  For many years now, the advertising model has been morphing and traditional agencies seem stuck in their old ways.  They have left such an opening that new cottage industries are popping up all over to take on what’s being dropped beyond the old model of creative storytelling.  These new players are coming under the guise of digital shops, interactive shops, social media marketing shops and even traditional public relations (PR) firms are getting into the mix by creating their own digital practices. 

If that’s not enough, now you even have independents and consumers now coming up with extremely creative concepts and execution.  For $12 and change you can now create a super bowl commercial, build an entire Brand out of yourself or even take on the entire multi-billion dollar industry to develop creative for a multi-national brand.  A little imagination and a video recorder have altered the way consumers think of their involvement with a brand and completely re-structured how the corporate world must react to consumers ever changing interests, power and influence.  More importantly (and this is where the agencies are not effective) companies need to do more than just react to this new consumer, they must involve and engage the consumer in ways that are not even imagined yet. 

So how do agencies compete with all of the boutique industries popping up and the unique competition from near free crowdsourcing?  We’ve spoke here about the need to transition from campaigns to conversations and crowdsourcing is the equivalent of guerilla warfare as no one knows who the creatives are or where the production is coming from.  In fact, the media industry has struggled with managing the quality of crowdsourcing for years now and are even further away today from capitalizing on it than they were 4 years ago.  Traditional agencies seem well positioned to handle both of those challenges yet many are in denial and still calling crowdsoursing a “fad”.  Those are only some of the reasons there are dozens of these new age companies starting up to solve specific areas of untapped needs in the new agency model.

While the agency world is busy chasing it’s tale, Brands are still required to sell more product to new markets.  As a result, companies (and here) are gearing up their own resources to meet the challenge.  They are creating great products and product experiences then inspiring their consumers to tell their story for them.  So that begs the question if Agencies are even relavant anymore?  I certainly believe they are but now in their current form.  I always go back to an analogy I’ve been using for a couple of years: Just because you can go to the market, buy a chicken and some spices does not mean you can cook like Emeril LaGasse.  And the same holds true in this industry.

To bring some relvance to this dialogue, we have recruited on of the best thought leaders of the “New Agency World”.  Edward Boches is the Chief Creative officer and leads the Social Media practice at Mullen, a full service modern agency.  His insight is not only transforming the way Mullen does business, but also the way much of the industry is beginning to think about their businesses.  The topic and questions are as follows:

Topic: The Future of Advertising & the Role of the Agency

Q1:  What is the model of the ideal agency?

Q2:  What skills and talents are needed?

Q3:  How much should brands do in-house vs. outsource to agencies?

In keeping with our end of the year theme, this week’s focus on the future of advertising is sure to broaden your ideas of what advertising is and where it belongs with your company large or small.  The format will stay consistent with the first question at noon EST and following questions every 20 minutes.  To manage the conversation we will use #sm37 for the event.  Be sure to join us this Tuesday December 8 at noon EST as you will not want to miss an opportunity to interact with one of the industry’s most progressive minds.

Stop Campaigning and Start Conversing The New Marketing Paradigm

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

conversationBuild a relationship, garner trust and a customer will never leave.  Sounds pretty easy!?  In fact we have been talking about it since the dawn of time (social media time anyway) with the Cluetrain Manifesto that started in 1999 and identified that the Internet has forced marketing to be more about conversations than messages.  Since then we have Valeria Maltoni the Conversation Agent (a past moderator here), a great book called Naked Conversations written by Shel Israel (an upcoming moderator) and Robert Scoble and countless other examples.  So why is it that companies still market via campaigns and agencies still win business with this approach?

A classic example of movement for the sake of motion? Possibly.  Consider all the money and effort that goes into concept, strategy, creative, execution of marketing campaigns.  Brands spend all that time creating a pitch to consumers, introducing themselves time and time again, selling stuff to unwilling customers then when it’s done, they see how much product was sold, cut off the pitch to those customers and prospects then rinse and repeat the whole daunting process all over.  So where is the conversation part of this we have been talking about now for at least 10 years?  Not the cordial, “wave to each other at a cocktail party” conversation but the relationship conversation that lasts for months, years or longer?  The conversation where you find out what each other needs and wants (notice I said both), you know, a real relationship not a manufactured one.

So what does that look like and how do marketers break out of the campaign mentality?  Think about the impact of this scenario: A company with multiple brands has a consolidated marketing department focused on customer relationships.  They are in charge of courting the consumer and understanding how they live, work and play.  From that relationship, the company understands what products (Brands) can help that customer and how they add value to that consumer’s life.  Then the Brands become stewards for helping those customers buy the things they need (considering people like to buy things yet do not like to be sold).  The company pours their monies into acquiring a customer once then facilitating their purchases across the various products.  This is very different than what happens today as each Brand pays to acquire the same customers over and over across all brands independently.  This may be some utopian dream to many but the speed of communicating and the ubiquity of access to communicate is forever changing the old norms and customers have left that station.  Companies need to figure out how to adapt and soon.

We are very happy to have Tom Martin moderating this topic on tuesday.  Tom spends a lot of time in this space covering all aspects of branding, marketing and social media and brings a creative approach to his work.  He will help us work through this topic and facilitate a great learning opportunity for all of us.  The topic and questions will be:

Stop Campaigning and Start Conversing – The New Marketing Paradigm

1) What is the difference between a marketing campaign and a customer conversation?

2) How do agencies have to change in order to create conversations instead of campaigns?

3) What are some examples of brands or agencies that have succeeded in making the jump from campaign to conversation?

The chat will take place Tuesday 11/24 at noon EST.  We will use the #sm35 for the event.

Twankers, Rock Stars & Gurus – Authenticity In A World of Exploding Egos

Monday, November 16th, 2009

 The term “Authenticity” get played out a lot.  I mean – ALOT!  It gets used to discuss personal branding issues like what kind of avatar should you use and how to disclose if you get paid to communicate a product or experience.  Authenticity is used to discuss ethics in business including can you outsource moderation of your community or what if corp communications manages the CEO’s blog?  Most of the discussion comes down to the distaste for people trying to be posers online.  The fact is whether online or off, people are going to stretch the truth (or outright lie).   It happens.

This week, we wanted to change up the conversation a bit and look at it from a personal perspective.  Authenticity is a way of being and not something that can be attained by following some corporate policies.  While there many people who start out being truly authentic it’s interesting what happens when some get a few wins under their belts.  Somewhere they begin believing everything they hear and their ego gets in the way of what was once rational thinking.  Kind of a “forgetting your roots” scenario.

Then we have the people who stay true to their character despite success or sometimes fame.  Our moderator this week certainly fits the latter description.  Rohit Bhargava is a SVP at Ogilvy 360 Digital  Influence (which he was a founding member) and is the author of the award winning book Personality not Included.  Despite his success, he remains truly authentic at every level.  How does he do it? We”ll find out this Tuesday at noon EST.

Something a bit different this week as we will start out with everyone sharing their thoughts on who, today, exemplifies authenticity whether famous or not.  Then as everyone joins we will start with Q1 that asks an interesting question.  For businesses looking to get established in social media, do you need to task someone who has already built up their own personal brand or can you be successful in building a corporate brand even though your personal brand is not established?  The next question should be a hot one.  Let’s say you have social media success in the consumer packaged goods industry, are you qualified to lead a team from the healthcare industry?  In other words, is social media the same across industries or do you have to specialize.   Then Rohit will tackle a question that centers around the idea that some contend extensive personal branding can detract from a company’s branding efforts.  This week’s topic and questions:

Topic:  Twankers, Rock Stars & Gurus – Authenticity In A World of Exploding Ego

Pre Q1: Who do you feel lives up to being authentic in the digital world?

Q1:  Do you have to ROCK your personal brand in SocMed before you try to ROCK your company’s?

Q2:  Does Social Media expertise transcend industries?

Q3:  Does personal branding compete with or add-to your Company’s market influence?

With Rohit, we are in for a fun chat that is sure the raise the bar for all of us.  Plan on joining us Tuesday at noon EST by following the #sm34.l

Ford's Fusion 41 Challenge – What Are We Missing?

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Sit down and buckle in (literally), this week we are taking the #SocialMedia discussion in a very different direction.  Instead of learning during these chats, we have been asked by Ford Motor Company’s Scott Monty to helpford-logo-big teach.  If you are not aware, Scott is on a tear of late with the tremendous success of the Ford Fiesta Movement, he is now going for the equivalent of an encore with the Fusion 41 challenge.  Their newest challenge asks for:

  • Current 2010 model Ford Fusion owners/leasees to apply for the challenge
  • Eight (8) teams (to include the owner and four (4) team members each) will be selected
  • Ford will provide a 2010 Fusion model to each team to compete with
  • Teams will perform a series of challenges taking place over a 3 week period.
  • To coincide with the Fusion Hybrid’s 41 mpg rating, the challenges will take place every 41 hours
  • Team members will complete a task and “hand-off” like a baton to the next member
  • All the while, team members are required to post content and updates across their social networks online

The winning team’s leader will get their new 2010 Fusion paid off and the team members will get free gas for a year.  If you want all the rules check here.

So how can all of us help Scott Monty and Ford Motor?  Well, hang on a second and we’ll get to that.  First, it’s important that you understand where they have come from and where they are going.  This deck from Scott’s recent keynote at OMMA Global 2009 provides a good overview and some insight into Ford Motor’s social media marketing strategy.

View more presentations from Scott Monty.

If you notice, the last content slide lists “Listening to our community for suggestions”  and that, my friends, is why we are all here.  Scott has asked for input regarding Ford Motor’s latest social media marketing project, the Fusion 41 challenge.  The format will be similar to prior weeks with 3 questions, a new question every 20 minutes.  The difference is the questions.  Scott will be providing insight into the planning of the campaign and we will be providing recommendations in how to think differently and possibly add a new dimension to the initiative.

Yes that’s right, for an hour we will all be honorary social marketing consultants for one of the hottest social media brands out there.  Please note: any suggestions made by you during this one hour +/- event are provided for Ford Motor and Ford Motor may use your suggestions at will.

Topic: Ford’s Fusion 41 Challenge – What Are We Missing?

Q1: Evaluate the WOM/Influence strategy

Q2: Evaluate the online marketing strategy

Q3: What are we missing to make this truly exceptional?

Disclosure & It’s Effect on the Brand Marketing Ecosystem

Monday, October 19th, 2009

disclosureWe have all heard a lot about the Federal Trade Comissions’ (FTC) latest policy on the expectation for full disclosure on endorsements and paid reviews or testimonials.  But, how much do we really know about it and how will it affect all of us who are in the business?  That is the focus of this week’s #socialmedia event moderated by C.C. Chapman

To start, you can review the document for yourself and develop your own interpretation of it (it’s actually an update to it’s guides, not a law, and therefore open to some interpretations) as it was announced earlier this month.  Next the rules will be enacted on December 1st so anything being done now is not covered in this under the new guides.  More, while we have all read about the $11,000+ fine, this fine is only enacted after several warnings and for serious offenses as noted in this interview with the FTC from the LATimes:

When a LA Times reporter asked about Restaraunt Reviews, the answer was, “Technically, you’re supposed to disclose all comped meals. But if you don’t, the FTC’s not likely to do anything about it.”My initial reaction to that scenario [comped meals] is that disclosure would be required,” says Rich Cleland of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Our primary concern relates to the fact that you received something of value and it’s for the exchange of writing about the product.”

So is this a conspiracy theory that gives ”big brother” yet another way to find out what my top ten social media blunders post is all about?….probably not as they really don’t care.  What it does do is provide a vehicle for them to be able to pursue the really bad people out there and have some teeth in the punishment.  Read their take on this issue of monitoring (from the same LATimes article),

“But the FTC has a limited interest — and ability — in monitoring blog traffic. According to Cleland, the FTC is far more interested in pursuing advertisers, especially those who violate the rules after repeated warnings, than they are in dunning individual bloggers. Unless the FTC receives numerous complaints about a specific blog, it’s unlikely to investigate. It’s a matter of enforcement priorities.”

And how does the FTC decide who to go after?  It looks like it will be more of an “opt-in list” meaning they already get inquiries from citizens on publishers (bloggers) who are possibly scamming.  they will still filter for the more detrimental publishers and go specifically after them.  In their words:

“If we received complaints,” Cleland says, “we’d look at how serious the representations are. Are there other possible violations? What kind of blog is it? We might be more concerned about a blogger who was writing a review of a medical device that’s used for a serious disease than we would be about someone who’s writing a restaurant review.”

So if the new FTC guidelines are really just meant for the true scumbags out there then what’s all the hub-bub about?  This goes deeper into the expectations that consumers have where honesty and disclosure are now a ”need-to-have” and no longer a “nice-to-have” for reviews, promotions and endorsements.  These new guides begin to shine a light on all marketing relationships and will have serious affects for Brands who try to fool their consumers.  While some may say this officially shifts the responsibility of disclosure from the advertisers to the publishers, what is really does is says that everyone is accountable – the advertisers and the publishers.  Not longer can we stand around like school-children and point fingers at each other saying “she did it”!  We are all responsible and accountable. 

With this expectation being more clearly defined thanks to the FTC, how will companies react? How should they react?  Is this business as usual or do Brand marketers need to re-imagine their word-of-mouth practices, affiliate marketing, product testers, viral campaigns and more?  Helping us out this week is C.C. Chapman, Creative Director and partner at Campfire, a marketing firm offering full-service creative development and production management.  This week on Tuesday 10/20/09, C.C. will moderate the following topic and questions starting at 12 noon EST:

Topic:  Disclosure & It’s Effect on the Brand Marketing Ecosystem

Q1:  What is affected by the new FTC disclosure policy?

Q2:  How does the FTC disclosure policy change Brand marketing

Q3:  How does disclosure affect branding communities / bloggers / WOM networks?

Feel free to join us by following along on Twitter, TweetChat(recommended) by following #socialmedia or simply go to our LIVE  page (highly recommended).

Aligning the Brand Personality with the Personality of the Individual Representing the Brand

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

The new rules of PR 2.0, something this week’s moderator Brian Solis spends a lot of time with.  Public Relations pros have built their careers being the voice BEHIND the Brand.  Then comes the sociPR20al web.  With the social web, a new age of public relations “faces” are appearing from all over within companies.  Starting their own blogs, taking to Twitter to streamline customer help issues or using Facebook to sell product, these social pioneers are re-defining “Public Relations” in its traditional sense.  They are coming from customer service, product management, research, operations and even the cleaning crew.  This new age of PR pros are taking a different approach from their brethren of past, they are now out in FRONT of the Brand. 

Being in front of the Brand is changing the dynamics of what PR is and does.  Think about this:

  • When you are pushing your message to the public, it creates a sense of trust.  “I don’t have any reason not to believe your soup is now lower in sodium and therefore better for my health, Right?” 
  • It’s not until you engage with that consumer and create a cycle of communication that you begin to get a sense of ownership. “Hey girlfriends, Joe from Soup Co tweeted me with about a new recipe and asked if they should use grilled chicken or roasted for their New & Improved soup coming out next month. We all need to try it”

The difference between old PR and marketing and the new age of PR is significant.  It’s taking the broad messaging back to micro-messaging looking to build their following one happy customer at a time.  So what’s the downside to the new rules of PR 2.0?  Do you gain trust if Susie from marketing is talking to you about the recent drug interactions of your new Pharmaceutical instead of the research PR messaging?  It probably depends where the message is coming from and the sincerity of it that helps to align your feelings of the Brand and where you trust that Brand in the perspective of your family.

So that’s the topic this week, aligning the personalities of your brand and your new breed of “PR” pros.  Carrying the discussion this week is Brian Solis who has been at the head of this discussion since the mid 1990′s.  He is one of the leading voices in this field and will certainly add his share of nuggets into this conversation. 

Aligning the Brand Personality with the Personality of the Individual Representing the Brand

Q1: Who do you trust more? How do you know when the brand is talking or when the person behind the brand is?

Q2:  What happens when the personal Brands become larger than the Brand they represent? How does that affect your loyalty in the brand?

Q3:  Are you more apt to engage in a relationship with the brand, based on the person behind the brand? If that person leaves, do you leave to?

Be sure to join us this Tuesday 9/29 at 12 noon EST for the last #socialmedia event of September.  Either follow #socialmedia on your favorite Twitter client or follow our Live page for a filtered feed of the conversation.

Social Media Fame-Does anyone outside the bubble even care?

Monday, July 13th, 2009

spotlightWe’ve talked so much over the past few months about personal brands versus corporate brands and what is more important to a company. We railed on who is the social media expert, who is the snake oil salesman, who is a star and who is a must follow on Twitter etc etc… But what does it all really mean? Are we the only one’s that actually care about this? Are we all just living and operating in such a closed, cloistered bubble that we just have no clue? Does the outside world or corporate America, even know or care about what we are doing in our circles that surround the periphery that is social media?

Join our host this week, Jennifer Leggio from ZDNet as we dig into what social media fame really translates into with the following 3 questions. Hopefully one hour will be sufficient, but with such a hot topic we doubt it.

Fame in social media:

1) What’s SM fame worth to you or your company? Is there ROI? Do you care?

2) What do you see the value of having a recognizable personal brand is? Does THAT translate into $?

3) What drives you? visibility or accomplishment?