Why is Social Media Important to a Brand?

Social media should be part of a brand strategy for 5 main reasons

1. A brand succeeds when it bridges a gap inside the consumers mindset of where they are now and where they want to be....social media can help build that bridge - it can work with the consumers on answering their fears, their questions....lead them from their reality to achieving their visions (being slim, educated, healthy, green, successful etc)
2. Brands need advocates to spread the word - nothing better than social media for recommendations, shareability etc
3. Brands need to communicate at all levels and to all emotions
4. Brands need to listen, not for the sake of it...but too evolve.
5. Brands need to be consistent and constant in their consumers lives. RSS allows that opt in approach from the consumer which stops forcing the brand into the consumer's life.

Comments

[Vijay Rayapati]

Good post and nice thoughts.

[Dave]

I agree 100%. We are increasing our social media efforts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to promote a new program we have called ResumeGPS™ at http://www.resumegps.com.

We have some interesting branding challenges ahead :) Our company name is OptimalResume.com, but we offer so much more than resumes! Feels like turning an ocean liner!

Thanks for you interesting posts on branding. I appreciate it!

Dave

[Craig Wilson]

What a nice and clear explanation of how social media works for brands. Excellent.

[Imee]

I have a part time business, and I use social media to promote it online. Doing the business in person is good, but marketing it online makes for even better profit.

[Anna Farmery]

I totally agree...as a business owner financial constraints remain but one thing I have to invest is my time....also I save time with many of the activities...so I do more meetings online with gotomeeting.com/podcasts for instance....the time I save, I invest in social media....

[Jeremy Gregg]

Am grateful to have been included with you in this month's Nonprofit Blog carnival. I especially appreciated your second point: social media is a fantastic way to turn donors into advocates/fundraisers for your organization.

Jeremy Gregg, Editor
The Raiser's Razor
http://theraiser.blogspot.com/

[Executives in Action]

FYI, I cross-posted this here:
http://theraiser.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-is-social-media-important-to-brand.html

Thanks for all that you do!

Jeremy

[Anna Farmery]

Glad that the post helped...I think often organisations concentrate too much on the media and not enough on the social, when the social is the key....not because of the tools but because of the principle.

Thanks for stopping by

[Account Deleted]

Great comments. What I got out of watching the video more than anything else is the fact that anyone who has a fairly successful business needs to pay close attention to SM. I've wanted to pretend it's not so important...because its a lot of work....but this video will hopefully get me off my ass this week to get better at SM. Being a consultative sales company, the statement that meant the most to me was "successful companies will act more as party planners, aggregators and content providers than traditional advertisers". So true....but I'm already stressing out about how much work I have in the cue to do the right thing for my business.. http://www.cd.gen.tr

[Branding Tips]

I was so keen to learn about social media & branding together, lately I had an argument with one of my friend on this subject. Your blog post concluded a lot of my doubts. Thanks for writing this, it helped a lot.

[Staci Burruel]

Using social media for marketing allows you to develop your online visibility for a fraction of the cost. All you need is an internet connection and you can update, alter, and discuss information in a way that is completely unknown to traditional media. Indeed, opportunities are unlimited when it comes to using social media as your business' marketing strategy.