The Engaging Brand

Want a social power charger?

Knowledge is power - a belief of far too many of my ex colleagues !

Sharing of knowledge is power - better!

However there is another aspect which is happening. As we move through the knowledge economy to a digital, experience or 'whatever you want to call it' economy!

Knowledge is no longer a premium product....it is being commoditised.

If you can access a computer than knowledge is freely available...but once something is freely available then there is a need to...

1. Be as transparent as you can - because you will be found out.
2. Cut down on the noise....share value not data for the sake of it.
3. Move from using social media to provide general knowledge, to using social media to provide knowledge about what that means to the individual... specifically. People can access knowledge, but they don't always know how to use it or what it means to them.
4. See language on the web as not words, not visuals but as a social bond between the provider and the reader. For centuries we have used language to socialise, to learn, to survive....language is not just communication, it is a socialising bond.

Universal knowledge is changing the power dynamic...just look at the Arab spring for proof. But lets not see this as just changing political structures, it is changing business structures. 

Knowledge is transforming how to use that power to retain that power. Knowledge is seeing that we don't want status power, we need social power to thrive - social media is the social power charger!

The Paradoxical World Of Todays Consumer

Understanding the world can be so complex. The world seems full of paradoxes, the consumer seems paradoxical! Think about just these 3 social media ideas

1. Just as the world became globalised and bigger the power of the individual is rising and the reach becomes more personal
2. Just as we became interconnected and we want individised products and services
3. Just as the world desires and fights for universal freedom, we seem to be universally more dependent than ever. (e.g banking crash)

On the face of it it seems complex. Then you look closer and to my mind it becomes simple.

Human beings constantly want what they can't have, as the grass always appears greener on the other side.

In all the above they combine the extremes, extremes don't and can't work. We need to give

• The concept of speaking personally to global citizens
• To use the interconnectedness to increase the power and value of the individual
• To use the freedom to reject concepts that don't benefit society as a whole.

It is not that we can deliver all of these...but to my mind, the brands that create the perception of increasing these social values will grow....No matter the terminology the answer must surely lay with brands who

Embrace the paradoxes

Create financial value through increasing social value

Closer relationship and increased sense of interconnectedness between business and society, between power and responsibilty...

 

5 Steps to Brand 'Gossipability'

Question...

How many people do you see standing around the water cooler asking how many terrabytes of information the company has....compared with people standing around discussing who did what, to whom and why?

Now I may be generalising but I suspect that the latter has a greater number and that is important....it is important for leaders and brands to realise...why?

...because it is important to realise people are nosey, people are natural tellers of stories, people are social networkers of information. If that information has value to them - value in terms of social capital, they will want to create that social value

So this simply means that

1. If brands create content that has 'gossipablity', people will share it
2. If it is entertaining, informational or educational ....it has the potential to have the gossipability factor
3. To understand what defines (2) for your brand means you need to know who you are and who your target customers are REALLY well!
4. To start gossip...you need to connect with people. Social media is the tool that gives your brand 'gossipability'
5. Remember no one will trust gossip in the future if it ends up being wrong....so create content that consistently delivers the value you promise

Why standing out does not mean not conforming

Do you spend your time conforming and feeling in some way unfulfilled?

It can often be the case and I don't believe conforming means giving up all you believe in...

What makes you feel uncomfortable, what makes you not fit in...can actually be the very thing that can make you stand out!

The key is

• Not using it to isolate, but using it to add to your group
• Looking for ways to explain or show your ideas in their language....'relative to their world'
• Be strong enough to stand out, but be flexible to listen to others concerns.

This week don't be afraid to stand out, you can stand out and still conform to the group....through respect of the way you stand out, the way that you show and embrace the values..

Show 361 - Thinking About Digital Legacy

Show 361 of The Engaging Brand leadership and marketing podcast is ready just for you. To subscribe or listen for free, you don't need to download anything and all explained at the end of the post. 

Richard Banks of Microsoft Research joins Anna Farmery to talk about The Future of Looking Back. A really fascinating read about digital legacies,how sentiment and memories are evolving and how 3D printing and software changes the way we can leave our digital legacies. We discuss

• The nature and differences of keeping 'physical things' and saving 'digital things'
• How the ability to save everything digitally is removing the need for filtering of memories, of items you want to keep in your life.
• How do you save the sentiment attached to the items - do we need to find a way of digitally saving sentiment?
• The idea of the backup box - to capture your life as an ongoing project.
• Don't underestimate the value of a tweet, the value of a mundane diary entry....in the future, looking back. 
• The ethical and moral aspects of backing up our digital lives.
• How research shows how we are changing our ideas about what we own in the digital world
• How the digital world is now incorporating 3D models and even senses. Does this mean that our physical and virtual worlds are merging
• The moral dilemma of 3D printing of deceased people - in the future!
• Can we trust the internet with our memories and our digital files - when companies come and go?

If you have feedback for me on the show or topics that you would like me to cover then e-mail me at anna@theengagingbrand.com or join me on twitter, leave a message at The Engaging Brand Fan Page or join me on to discuss it on Google+  where we may get some of the authors involved!

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Trade Shows: The Right Marketing Approach

As someone heavily involved in putting together a couple of marketing events for 2012, I have been interested in branding at events.

The way a business represents itself at a tradeshow can greatly affect its reputation amongst its target audience. Tradeshows are the time for big announcements and making a business known in their preferred industry. 

Below are some pointers for representing a brand effectively at these key events from Dane Cross of Search Laboratories

• Banner Stands

Not only are advertising graphics such as banner stands often convenient and easy to transport, they are also much more flexible when it comes to creating a display at a tradeshow. With the more flexible types of stand such as pop up banners, it can be very easy to set a display into different floor arrangements, as well as organize it to create some positive contrast between the business and its competitors.

Utilising display stands will also provide the opportunity to make a business stand out physically as well as visually. A much more three-dimensional display can be created with a pop-up banner as opposed to a more traditional stand.

• Outreach Campaign

Even with the greatest exhibition stand in the world, it needs to have the visual appeal to attract tradeshow attendees from a distance. This is known as an ‘outreach campaign’. It is important for a business to use a slightly different strategy to their competitors, who often deploy foot soldiers to flyer indiscriminately in the hallways. In order for a business to distinguish itself and stand out, it can branch out and use less recognised strategies such as multimedia.

Due to technological advancements, it is now easier than ever for a business to reach its audience with mobile phone applications and downloads. These are inexpensive giveaways - although the upfront cost might be a little more than promotional products such as key rings, they are there to be given away indefinitely. Specific people who might be more willing to make a purchase can also be targeted with these applications, rather than purchasing bulk promotional items that could be picked up by disinterested customers.

• Presence

The overall company presence will also make a huge difference to tradeshow performance. For the purposes of this argument, we can define "overall presence" as the time spent around other tradeshow participants that doesn’t involve a hard sell opportunity. That is, during speakers, lunch and other extracurricular events, a business ought to be interacting with people on a personal level without selling to them at all.

If there is any other time that people remember more than the hard sell set up, it is the time in which a business representative can prove themselves to be sociable and interactive with the community that they wish to appeal to. This can give an edge when it comes to attendees remembering a brand; regardless of the technology and banner stand set ups, business is still a highly personal affair.

With an appropriate and visually appealing banner stand, an effective and unique outreach campaign, and to simply be present at the event, tradeshows can deliver the desired results of attracting new business without resorting to hard sell tactics. 

 

Are you as human as you can be?

2011 has been a year of revolution and protests from New York to Cairo.

The protests have many dimensions but for me there is a dimension which is inspired by how social media has changed the perception of the value of your own voice.

The long term outcome of people coming together to revolt or campaign will need to be watched closely but there is one thing that I think will develop....the theme of humanity and fairness.

Different parties will define that in their own ways...but there is one thing that strikes me as so important at the individual level

We need to be as human as we can be.....

Companies need to be as human as they can be...

Governments need to be as human as they can be..

Leaders need to be as human as they can be....

The strange thing is that technology actually can help us be more human! People say content is king, people talk about joining the conversation...all wonderful phrases, however for me social media is simple.....be human, be consistently human, be consistently, imperfectly human!

It can reduce distance, reduce cost of connection, increase power of networking etc

So question for the day...as a company, as a brand, as a person...are you making your own difference by

"Each day trying to be as human as you can be"

Have you thought about your digital legacy?

Just recorded an interview with Richard Banks of Microsoft Research who has written about The Future of Looking Back for The Engaging Brand podcast.

Ahead of the interview I wanted to share some notes that I made whilst reading this book, as it is an area which is becoming more important but do we think enough about our digital memories or digital life? The conversation may also have influenced the direction of my PhD!

• Do we need to be much more aware of ethical or moral issues of what happens when something happens to us? Do we need to think about the impact of others of our digital legacy?
• Is sentiment capable of being digitised? As a society are we losing the value of sentamentality or are we evolving a new kind?
• Richard makes a great point about filtering our lives. When we stored everything physically we had to make choices on what we kept, digitally we can keep everything...what effect will that have on history?
• How 3D printing is making it possible to archive our real life, our real artifacts in a way that no other genereation could think possible?
• Where I used to think of my life online as different place, with the new technology are we merging our digital and physical lifes?
• There are real business opportunities for companies who can design sentiment or design memories into digital products or services.
• How we evolve through our lives in terms of thinking about our legacy and also the weight we give to memories.
• If the possibility of replacing someone with a 3D image exists, do we understand the moral, psychological impacts of this technology?

Fascinating stuff from Richard, the interview will go live on Friday so watch out for some answers or some thoughts on the above....

Why the CIA rules the world

The CIA I am talking about is not the intelligence agency but the way human beings think and feel.

Social media is a wonderful tool in developing these 3 aspects of human life

Conversation

Interaction

Affection

These may sound woolly but what I mean is this humans need more than Google searches, need more than the typed word. Humans need humans. That is why social media is such a great tool in developing human relationships.

It is not about selling as they say....it is simply about being human!

Top 50 Business Thinkers

The Top50 Business Thinkers were released this month and here are the people who have been on The Engaging Brand podcast and who made the list - the funny thing is that some of these are going back 4-5 years and hearing how the show has changed is so funny!

Enjoy!

1. At No 6 Roger Martin - Engaging Brand interview here on Fixing the Bubble
2. At No7 Marshall Goldsmith - Engaging Brand interview here on Influencing Upwards
3. At No 17 Seth Godin -Engaging Brand interview here on Employment Branding
4. At No 21 Richard D'Aventi - Engaging Brand interview here on Beating the Commodity Trap
5. At No 23 David Ulrich - Engaging Brand interview here on The Why of Work
6. At No 26 Nurmalya Kumar - Engaging Brand interview here on Growing Dominance of India
7. At No 29 Daniel Pink - Engaging Brand interview here on A Whole New Mind
8. At No 33 Tamara Erickson - Engaging Brand interview here and here on Engaging the Different Generations
9. At No 34 John Kotter Engaging Brand interview here on creating urgency
10. At No 49 Umair Haque - Engaging Brand interview on Do we need a new capitalist model