Comments on: AdweekMedia Connect Report: Social media still poses challenges, fears, and questions for brands

By: Gerardo Ritchey

Gerardo Ritchey — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:13:39 +0000

Does creativity, originality, being inventive matter in social media?

Absolutely. With social media, brands need now, more than ever, to start telling a story about their product. Humans have this need to connect, relate to, and care about things. I think that a lot of brands out there, are making a huge mistake in not diving into social media, and using it as a conversational platform.

The brands that are figuring out exactly how to connect with those three basic social human necessities, are the ones that are going to have the greatest impact and success in the coming years. The social networking sites have already done it. If the commerce folks figure out a way of doing it, and some have, are going to be absolutely unstoppable.

By: Connie Bensen

Connie Bensen — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:54:12 +0000

Hi Edward,
You mentioned the two key points fear and relationships. Communication is the key to overcoming fear and building the latter. That will take time.

As I help our customers explore biz dev’t options with Techrigy SM2 it becomes quickly apparent that having the tool is really helpful in efficiently identifying trends and locations to engage in social media efforts. CMO’s need that information to make educated decisions and to provide them with the benchmarks and metrics for their engagements. And yes I agree that they should start with small steps and build on success (as well as learn from failures).

some great discussion, thanks!
Connie
Chief Community Officer, Techrigy
@cbensen

By: edward boches

edward boches — Sat, 23 May 2009 17:16:07 +0000

The loss of control argument holds no water. Whether a brand is there or not, it’s the subject of conversation: positive, neutral, negative. I think that brands that are there, Comcast, for example, realize they are better off addressing the negative and attempting to stimulate the positive. More importantly, they get a sense of what matters so they can adjust behavior. Resistance, when there is any, comes because brands look at social media as “marketing and/or communications” — where they have typically had control over the message, its timing and its distribution — rather than an ongoing conversations with its customers.

By: Leo Bottary

Leo Bottary — Sat, 23 May 2009 16:20:40 +0000

Great conversation Edward! Let me ask you this: What do you think about the loss of control argument? I personally think it operates from a false premise. You can't lose what you never had! If you really think about it, when we were ever in control? We CAN control our words and actions. It's the same today as it ever was, but we CANNOT control what people think of us - never did and never will. I believe that when clients raise this concern, we should respectfully challenge the premise and not give in to this red herring. What do you and others think about this? Leo Bottary’s last blog post..Focus On Commmunicating

By: edward boches

edward boches — Sat, 23 May 2009 12:48:26 +0000

Deanna:
We all start out as sponges, and if we’re smart we stay absorbent forever. The only way to learn. Your comments are all good, and the fact that you are thinking about this stuff and learning to express your opinions articulately will serve you well.

By: Deanna

Deanna — Sat, 23 May 2009 06:30:54 +0000

As a self-professed social media sponge, I have found the discussions here to be very insightful. Thanks for sharing

To answer your questions:

1. Is it possible for brands and marketers to actually integrate to amplify?

Why not. Marketers have integrated television, radio and print for decades. Web sites and online campaigns have provided additional fire to the flames in more recent times. And now – we meet the challenge of social media. I not only think it is “possible” to integrate efforts across all of these platforms, I believe it is crucial to success. It comes down to defining a brand’s image — a voice, a personality, a take on the world — and communicating in that voice across ALL creative platforms and consumer interactions with the brand.

2. Does creativity, originality, being inventive matter in social media?

Yes. And those who are the most creative, original and inventive probably already dominate the social media playing field.

Having a sense of humor doesn’t hurt either. And companies who aren’t afraid to let go know that — like JetBlue (see below).

Meghano writes: I want to make love to the @jetblue terminal.

JetBlue: @meaghano Goodness… I hope you at least buy the terminal dinner first!

3. How important is it for marketers and agency types to build their personal brand and social media presence?

Crucial. Like you said, you have to “use it to get it.” Establishing your own social media presence will provide insight into how to grow your clients’ presence and provide them with more value.

Plus, when it comes down to it — people want to engage in conversation with people. They might want to follow a company profile for product updates and sale alerts, and maybe *crossing fingers* to contribute positive content to your sites. But if they love the brand — they are going to want to talk about it. With PEOPLE. And who knows a brand more than the people who are selling it. (At least let’s hope so!)

But I’m just a sponge, so what do I know

Deanna Lazzaroni
Aspiring Matchmaker,
Specializing in Brand+Consumer Relationships

http://deannalazzaroni.com
Follow me on twitter @guiltyofcraving

By: edward boches

edward boches — Sat, 23 May 2009 00:41:23 +0000

It’s the different agencies (or disciplines) not working together that make it almost impossible for CMOs to achieve ultimate effectiveness. Just one reason they never last more than a year in their job.

By: Stuart Foster

Stuart Foster — Sat, 23 May 2009 00:34:20 +0000

Never even thought of the different agencies angle...that's extremely interesting (and kind of surprising in some respects) that companies would choose to not be exclusive. Then again, hedging your bets and pinching pennies probably go hand in hand. Stuart Foster’s last blog post..Conferences 101: Brand Defense for Start-ups

By: edward boches

edward boches — Sat, 23 May 2009 00:09:00 +0000

Stuart,
Your comments are thoughtful as always. I know they were sort of leading questions. I agree that all efforts should work in harmony, but way easier said than done. In some cases clients have many different agencies working on respective disciplines and they don’t even talk to each other. Or if they do it’s with one hand extended and the other holding a knife behind their back. I personally believe the creative thing matters and will matter more. SEO can elevate your organic search, but if it’s not interesting content to begin with it won’t get RTd, read, clicked on and eventually it won’t come up on page one anymore. And finally, the individual brand thing comes down to who does anyone want to do business with? A company? Or a person? If the latter, then every agency (and every company that sells something, product or service) would be wise to push more of its individuals to the forefront.

By: edward boches

edward boches — Sat, 23 May 2009 00:03:18 +0000

Amber,
Appreciate your stopping by. Radian6 is a great tool for tracking conversation and many of the metrics that are measurable and that let a brand know where it stands and to what degree its efforts at content generation and distribution are working. But as you know, we’re all still working to help clients figure out exactly what they might expect to get back from their investment in social media. There are many things we can measure, but it’s still hard to predict outcomes. I have no doubt that you will be among those who do figure it out.