The Engaging Brand

The Web of Intrigue

The web intrigues me. It intrigues me because although people see it as a way of providing solutions...I think it is best when it provides the framework of a web - for you to fill in the gaps.  I tend to think that....

Engagement on the web is not about finding a solution but providing a web of discover

If you take Facebook for example...it is not an answer per se, it is an intriguing question which asks you to solve for yourself. What happened to, who do I know, who have I lost touch with....

The web for me is not about a solution because...rarely is there a generic solution which fits all. It is about providing enough of the answer balanced with enough intrigue to make the person want to know more...

I am sat tonight reading about strokes and what happens to the brain to try and understand what is happening to Nana...when I visit sites which are all about solutions, often they are too generic to be of interest to me - I want to understand Nana's stroke, not any old stroke! The sites which engage...provide the generic framework then intrigue me to follow paths of discovery. 

When you think of successful web 2.0 companies - Amazon, Facebook, Google......they all provide a two part engagement strategy

1. The generic solution - eg the book that I am searching for...
2. The intrigue - eg what other purchasers of that book also bought

The money is in simplicity not complexity

On my other blog, Buzz Networker, I was writing about Twitter and how I just didn't get it in the early days. It made me think how as humans that we can struggle to deal with simplicity! 

I remember Dad saying " The money is in simplicity not complexity", he sure was right...maybe I should be glad that I am simple!

If something is simple we can almost look for the complexity - just think about Twitter! We seem hard wired to look for complexity when often it is just that simple.

What is it about humans that want complexity? Especially as complexity can be...well, complex!

I feel this strongly with social media. For all the hype, all the books....isn't it just simple? They are conversational tools. Full stop. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you want or like conversations - use them. If you prefer to stay quiet, or hidden behind your company logo...then don't!

Simple.

If you want to have a conversation then just like in real life it needs

• to be relevant to me!
• to be something I want to talk about
• to involve both listening and commenting

Simple. It is only human beings who want to make it more complex.

Tomorrow...be simple :)

Context is the Defining Factor for Brands

Brands need to stand for (or against) something...we understand this principle. However, that is not the end of the brand story, it is the start of the brand journey.

It is how what the brand stands for, relates to the world of the consumer. The world revolves around connections....and brands revolve around connections.

Brands which can stand for - or against - something and ensure that they can relate that to the context of the consumer's world succeed....for as long as they deliver that brand value and for as long as they stay relevant to the consumers world.

More and more in the work I do, I find there is one word that constantly springs to mind......CONTEXT.

I used to think content is king in social media and sure it remains a necessary

component of social media but in some ways that is now a given  - much like quality is in the retail world.

Now I think "context is the defining factor once you have reached the expected minimum of quality content".....

Technology will not replace talent

Social media flattens the playing field for brand engagement in many ways however,technology can never replace talent.

The technology is the new shop window, technology is the new brochure, technology may give opportunity to all but....

....talent will differentiate the winners from the losers.

(And not the technology)

Why Free Creates Long Term Value

The concept of FREE on the web is one which seems to put fear into people...I don't know why because I believe 'free actually is the seed for long term profitable growth'. Free creates the commodity from which premium products can flower from...

Free is a mechanism which has moved the web to the masses....if we had paid for Twitter, Facebook, File Sharing, Skype to Skype etc then the online market would not be as large as it is now. Free for me is about creating the market place.

So free is good news....it is good news for me as I get a huge benefit from all the free services and it also allows me to attract customers, consumers, contact, business relationships....at a cost of time rather than money.

BUT MORE THAN THAT...

I love free because people follow the crowd then get sick of being one of the crowd!

It always fascinates me how despite being the same species, we have this inner urge to be different or to personalize our lives. But this desire means that when the mass has occurred, when the crowd has formed....the brightest brands then create value by individualizing the experience, the service, by allowing people to personalize their piece of the web.

I say don't fear free...see free as creating the commodity from which you can build the value model. See free as attracting the market and creating the desire for the premium model.

Social Media is Like Lego

Each Friday night we used to visit Nana and she had a wonderful Lego set.....oh the days!

Why I mention it, is that Lego when in a box is boring, it is not even useful. But when you start to play, build and create those blocks suddenly they become something else...an expression of your thoughts, a creation.It is your creation, it is your expression.

Social media is just like lego....in itself it is not that interesting. It is what you create, build and express which can engage other human beings.

Blogging, podcasting, social networking are all 'lego-like tools'....it is not enough to own the tools. They only come alive if you allow your mind to express itself through them....

Online Criticism - Just Free Market Research

Gosh, it must be something in the web water as I was asked to be part of a social media conversation over at The Marketing Blog. Here is part of the conversation around feedback something I get asked a lot about....

Today, if somebody abuses my brand online I am not sure how do I handle it? Do we have a so-called best practices book about how to handle online criticism?

The important thing to realise is that criticism happens whether you are part of the community or whether you decide not to engage. The only way to have any degree of control, is to be part of that conversation so that you can turn the negative perception into a positive awareness. Criticism is happening and now is amplified to a global audience – so the question to me is why wouldn’t you want to be part of that discussion about your brand?

Couple of things to remember

a) Monitor the conversations so that you are aware of what people are saying.
b) Respond to the conversations  – however, remember it is important to have coached people how to respond.
c) Remember feedback whether positive or negative is great feedback. Be careful that you don’t read it as pure negativity instead see it as free market research!

Bridging Old Media with New Media

Long time listeners to The Engaging Brand podcast will remember my discussion with CB Whittemore on Creating a Customer Experience.Through the power of social media an interview turned into an online friendship and meeting in real life which was a joy.

CB runs a great blog Flooring the Customer and turned the tables on me by asking me various questions about social media. You can read the interview which not only covers my thoughts on social media but also how I became involved and how social media has helped grow my business. Here is an excerpt

What 5 suggestions do you have for companies to implement so they can more effectively bridge old media with new media and connect with end users?

Anna:
a) For me it is not a choice between old and new. It is about what do you stand for, who do you want to connect with and therefore which are the best tools for delivering against those aims.

b) I liken social media to building a town. Twitter are the conversations which happen in the street, blogs are your community newspapers, podcasts are your radio stations, flickr your art gallery, coffee shops are your social networking sites, etc. You cannot force community in a town, you can only build places which encourage community.

c) Think not about what you want to say but what problems are creating the search. Be the consumer, think like the consumer, and talk like the consumer. Then create content which answers the problems rather than selling your products.

d) Always remember the saying...Be you as everyone else is taken.

e) I always say at the end of each podcast "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel." This is a quote from Dr Maya Angelou and I think that should be the mantra of all business people.

What is your return on emotion?

The web, or more precisely social media, has changed the way consumers interact with brands whether we like it or not....

We know that in our busy lives we love brands who make our lives simpler, easier and bring value to our personal or business lives.

We know that emotion plays a huge part of the way human beings live..we know that there is an inner need to be valued, loved etc

We know that if we can use social media to bring these two factors together  - emotionally appealing and value adding then we are on the way to connecting with our consumers

So one thing I work on with clients is to think about your return on emotion? We need to measure all the hard work we put in to our social media strategy and I find part of the measurement has to be return on emotion.

I see return on emotion as how does your bottom line benefit from personalising your brand.....we sell on emotion, we buy on emotion therefore it is worth thinking for your business how emotionally engaging is your brand ?

 

Thoughts on Social Connections

Whilst reading Connection Generation I came across this quote by Craig Newmark from Craigslist. It reminded me of an earlier post I did about how connections are the new currency

"The internet is about people connecting to people, whether for business, politics, or socializing, That's something we've all been doing since long before the internet existed. The real accomplishment is to make those connections so versatile and different that they create a social network that not only reflects your life but expands it"

I love the idea of not only reflecting your life but expanding it. When you look at your social connections, are they expanding your life?