iMediaWorksConnect by @iMediaMichelle

Making The Social 100, Part 2 - got Community?

In last week’s post I gave a run down by industry of the Top 100 Social Brands ranked by Virtue, which were based on the average share of voice in social networks.  Although “social media” is becoming main stream, many brands and individuals alike have yet to understand what being “social” online truly means.  Words like visibility, popularity, transparency, honesty, efficacy, social good are useful indicators, but I believe marketers must extend beyond these traits if they want to their brands to really become social.

So, what is the common thread that drives a brand’s social rank?  The top social brands in their category within Vitrue’s list all share a common element: community.  Each of these brands from Ford, Starbucks, Apple, to CNN, Target, Best Buy and JetBlue; use social media tools as part of a larger effort to engage consumers and build community with them.  Sounds easy enough, or is it?

In their recent HBR article, “Getting Brand Communities Right”, Boston University professor Susan Fournier and strategist Lara Lee discuss common myths and realities facing brands as they plunge into social media in hopes of creating their perfect brand community.  Some of the hard truths the authors share are:

• Brand community is a business—not a marketing—strategy.
• Brand communities exist to serve their members’ needs—not your business.
• Strong brands arise from the right community structure—not vice versa.
• Brand communities thrive on conflict and contrast—not love.
• Communities are strongest when all members—not just opinion leaders—have roles.
• Online social networks are only a tool—not your community strategy.

What I think marketers are starting to realize, is that brand communities take commitment, trust and organization in order to come alive.  Many are finding out that having a Facebook Fan Page, Group or Twitter account in and of themselves is not enough.  There must be substance and heart from within the participants in order for culture to form and conversation to stick.  Developing and living in a thriving community also takes patience, understanding and most of all humility at the heart and soul in order to be successful in the long-term.  Brands who focus on community will discover the true power of social.

Making The Social 100

For decades the business community has followed the rising and falling of the top 500-1,000 U.S. and global brands on the annual list compiled and published by Fortune Magazine.  Well as they say, there is a new sheriff in town - brand marketers take notice.

Recently, the folks at Vitrue compiled the first-ever ranking of the top social brands from 2008.  Using their daily analysis of 2,000 plus popular brands, the list reveals the most talked about brands based on their average share of voice on the social web (including a variety of social networking, blogging, micro-blogging, photo and video-sharing sites).

 

An industry break-down of the rankings reveals the following:

AUTOMOTIVE  # of Social Brands ranked = 20

Top 3 Social Brands: Ford, Honda and Lincoln

CPG / RESTAURANTS  #of Social Brands ranked = 12 brands

Top 3 Social Brands: Starbucks, Coke and Pepsi

ELECTRONICS / COMPUTERS  # of Social Brands ranked = 21 brands

Top 3 Social Brands: iPhone, Apple and Xbox

ENERGY  # of Social Brands ranked = 1

Top Social Brand: BP (British Petroleum)

ENTERTAINMENT / PUBLISHING  #of Social Brands ranked = 17 brands

Top 3 Social Brands: CNN, Disney and MTV

FINANCIAL  # of Social Brands ranked = 1

Top Social Brand: Capital One

RETAIL/ WHOLESALE  # of Social Brands ranked = 17 brands

 Top 3 Social Brands: Target, Best Buy and eBay

SPORTS  # of Social Brands ranked = 4 brands

 Top 3 Social Brands: NBA, NFL and NASCAR

TELECOMMUNICATIONS:  # of Social Brands ranked = 3 brands

Top 3 Social Brands: T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T

TRAVEL / HOSPITALITY  # of Social Brands ranked = 4 brands

Top 3 Social Brands: Disney, Hyatt and JetBlue

While I think the Top 100 Social list is a helpful benchmark for brands to watch, I think additional criteria is needed in order to make it truly reflective as a measure of social success within the industry:

• Share of voice user-generated / brand-generated ratio
• Share of voice positive / negative sentiment ratio
• # of followers/following affinity ratio (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs links)

What others do you think should be added?

In reviewing these 2008 rankings, I became curious at what the drivers might have been for these particular brands and industry categories to make the list.  In the coming weeks, I’ll explore a few theories of my own regarding these rankings along with those of my peers.  Stay tuned.

What We Can Learn from Robots: Humanizing the Brand

Humans have a love affair with technology.  Since our most primitive days, we constantly are at work creating new tools to help us with our work, communications and personal lives.  As a child of NASA parents, I have a particular fondness for aerospace technology and all the possibilities it creates.  Yet, with all the exciting and life-changing technological advancements we’ve achieved, I wonder whether it’s becoming too easy for us as humans to solely rely on the tools at the expense of cultivating and maintaining the “real” relationship with one another.  For individuals, the answer will most likely depend upon the intentions driving one’s use of tools such as Facebook, Friend Feed and Twitter.  But for brands, there may be a much greater temptation to let these tools be the focus instead of the real customer relationship they can help create.

During a recent interview by Francois Gossieaux of Beeline Labs (@fgossieaux), Porter Gale, CMO of Virgin America (@porterVA), was asked what steps the airline had or was taking to “humanize the brand.”  In her response, Ms. Gale talked about turning the airline category upside down, and shared a number of examples along the customer experience –state of the art aircraft with free wi-fi that guests can truly relax in, seamless check-in procedures and highly personable staff.  She went on to discuss how Virgin America uses digital to connect and help their customers improve their lives – stressing respect and connection as integral components along with innovation.  I think Ms. Gale nailed it – brands need to “humanize themselves” by seeing digital as a means to help their human customers live their lives.  

According to Random House Dictionary (via Dictionary.com), the act of “humanizing” is to “make human, kind or gentle” and “to become human or humane”; actions that are characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy.  All of us want to be treated in a humane way.  So of course, we expect that humane treatment to be conveyed in our use and interactions with technology.  We see this desire played out through “humanized” robot characters from popular science fiction television and movies  – Data from Star Trek, Rosie Robot Maid from the Jetsons, Dot Matrix from Spaceballs, C3-PO from Star Wars and K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider to name a few.  Besides being quite entertaining – I think there are some valuable lessons that brands and the rest of us can take away from our robot friends when considering how to use digital channels to create and nurture real relationships:

Rosie the Robot Maid from the Jetsons

The Jetson’s housekeeper – Rosie always demonstrated respect for all members of the Jetson Family.  She maintained a quality focus on the housekeeping tasks at hand, but not at the expense of inquiring on the more personal concerns and needs of her human family.

Lesson for Brands – ask thoughtful questions and be a good listener while delivering your product or service

Dot Matrix from Spaceballs

Princess Vespa's droid-of-honor, dedicated to keeping her safe from political as well as overly amorous threats.  Dot Matrix was part best friend, part mom and routinely shared her own experiences in order to get Princess Vespa to open up and share her dreams, fears and desires.

Lesson for Brands – focus on making consumers comfortable and they’ll invite you in to play an important role in their lives

C3-PO from Star Wars

C3-PO was the protocol droid designed to serve Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.  While C3-PO is full of information and other useful technical skills, he at times takes his opinions too far and offends his companions.  He learns quickly that the only way to maintain his friendships is to apologize quickly and earnestly.

Lesson for Brands – you’re not perfect; own up to your mistakes and proactively make amends

K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider

K.I.T.T. was the mobile robotic crime-solving sidekick of Michael Knight.  K.I.T.T was a truly functional part of Michael’s life – as transportation and information provider and in many cases life-saver for all too many sticky situations.  K.I.T.T. always anticipated and responded to his partner’s most critical needs.

Lesson for Brands – relationships are a responsibility; you need to be there for your consumers in the small moments as well as in the big ones.

Data from Star Trek

Lt. Commander Data was one of Captain Piccard’s top execs and beloved shipmate on the Starship Enterprise.  Throughout his tenure, Data experienced ongoing difficulties understanding various aspects of human behavior and was unable to feel emotions or understand certain human idiosyncrasies.  This often caused conflict with his peers and others who did not know him well.

Lesson for Brands – the mechanics of life are not enough – it’s the abstract substance that makes or breaks successful communication with others.

For a full recap of Porter Gale's and other CMO interviews, check out CMO 2.0 Conversations.

Why I Want to Attend the 140 Character Conference and so should YOU

The digital landscape continues to morph and change at light-speed.  We've come a long way since the days of Mozilla and the early Webosphere with flaming logos to a truly social web made up of comments, diggs, rants, posts, blogtalk and yes, Tweets.  With the continued evolution of the media, it becomes increasingly vital that we engage as a community to share lessons, but also work collectively to shape the tools that will help make the experience all the better - not only for us, but for generations to come.

Through Twitter, we all have an amazing opportunity to learn and grow from the conversation - hopefully not just to be better marketers, political leaders or entertainment providers - but become better people all around.  Thanks to @jeffpulver - a collection of diverse and colorful "Characters" will be facilitating the discussion on the effects of Twitter on media, advertising, celebrity and a whole lot more in NYC from June 16-17th at the 140 Character Conference. 

Attend because you want to see how Twitter is affecting @troy_murphy jump shot and @natalie_gulbis goal to open up a Boys and Girls Club; or how its affecting how brands engage with consumers on the purchase, use, and evolution of products with @JeffreyHayzlett and Tony Hsieh of @zappos .  Or maybe you really, really just want to meet some of the women from the cast of Mad Men @bettydraper and @peggyolson.

Here is my 140 count rationale:     

#140conf Scholarship b/c want 2 c how others use Twitter 2 further passion + sharing = community; also how it can b used 4 social good.

Okay, I'll admit the opportunity for a Pool 3.0 match with @AaronStrout and @pfasano wouldn't be bad either.  So Jeff, please pick me for the scholarship :)

It Isn’t Easy Being Green

Last month marked the 39^th anniversary of Earth Day and at long last it appears that the environment is starting to creep into major consumer purchase decisions and their overall perceptions of brands.  According to a study from the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Deloitte, “54% of grocery shoppers say they "actively consider" a brand's sustainability characteristics before tossing them in the basket”.  The report goes on to highlight that “overall, 57% of green purchasers surveyed say they intentionally bought more sustainable products, and 78% of these intentional buyers actually switched to the green product because of its green characteristics”.  This is a win for Mother Nature and brands continue to take notice. 

But while education about green issues and products continues to rise amongst consumers, most particularly with Millenials, there are still obstacles for many who desire to live greener lives.  An article by the Center for Media Research about a recent survey by Generation Insight noted, “Millenials found it confusing as to why products that are better for the environment are more expensive.  In particular, the extra cost (without consistent explanation) discourages the majority of shoppers from embracing and contributing to the green movement".  In the famous words of one of my all-time favorite Muppets characters from long-ago, “being green” isn’t always easy, much less understood.  One of the earliest pioneers for the environment, Kermit the Frog, sang a heartwarming song that I believe captures the struggle.

Where do we go from here?  It has been suggested that “companies must create an online life/friends for their green brand” by hosting online contests, providing coupons on social networks like Facebook and Twitter and sponsoring environmental or cause-related events in target geographic markets.  Yet, I think if brands use the same generic communication strategies and tactics to broadcast their “greenness” then they will continue to struggle in their attempt to connect and persuade consumers, regardless of trying to link to them online.  Skepticism is high and it will take a lot more than fancy gimmicks to convince Generation Y and Millenials to pay attention and buy-in.

I think the most important thing brands can do when entering the green conversation online is to focus on LISTENING – really understand the specific issues and environmental concerns facing their audience.  Once consumers have been heard, then the brand can take steps to introduce contextual thought leadership to help address green issues or better yet act as a catalyst to help passionate folks take positive action in their everyday lives.  This type of strategy should play out steadily across all communication channels from website, e-mail, search to blogs, social network presences (Facebook and Twitter) and message boards.  But by far the best way to demonstrate the brand’s commitment to “green living” is to incorporate it as part of the purchase process.  Instead of sending a coupon that needs to be printed – make the promotion/offer truly paperless by loading credit on a shopper loyalty card that scans in the discount at checkout.  Now that would truly be something to sing about.