Two Twelve Direct

Is Social Media Turning Corporate America Into a Service Industry?

2012-05-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

Brain Solis recently posted the transcript from an interview he did with Capital Magazine on his blog about the rise of Generation-C, or “Generation-Connected”. Brain explains how the rise of this new generation has changed the way we craft our media strategies, and how businesses must decide when and where to use social vs traditional media. (Check out the interview here)

This new generation of connected users is unbound by demographics and exists in a constantly evolving digital world. Relying heavily on mobile and tablet platforms as their window to the world, Generation-C is shaping the way that businesses interact with, and most importantly, treat their customers online. In short, these online customers demand the same treatment online as off. Creating customer-centric social strategies that deliver an engaging interactive experience, beginning to end, is necessary to developing meaningful Generation-C relationships that garner support and loyalty; ultimately, leading to sales.

All of a sudden, companies who’ve never had to deal with answering their customer’s dissatisfactions directly are being called out via social media. They’ve been forced to join in on the social conversation and treat their customers with the respect and attention they deserve, or be left behind. It no longer matters if your product is tangible because Social Media visibility has become a benchmark for brand legitimacy. One user left a comment on Brain’s interview that I feel describes the Generation-C perspective perfectly: “If there are no reviews, no FB page, and no Twitter account, I am less likely to trust the product and company. It's as if they are hiding.” No Trust, no purchase.

Social media has equaled the playing field by taking a large portion of brand perception out of the marketers control; delivering your marketing message is no longer a one-way street. In order to regain control over that message, marketers must now create genuine interactions between the consumer and the brand. Starting to sound like a service industry isn’t it. Every company from small diner to large corporation can be publicly criticized or praised on the Internet. And unlike conversation between friends, once something is on the Internet…it’s there for good. Word of mouth marketing will always be one of the most powerful forms of marketing, and for Generation-C, social media is just an extension of WOM into the digital sphere of their lives.

Social media matters, it’s a great way to communicate with customers and monitor the conversation around your brand; but it is not replacing traditional media. Your new job, based on how your customers consume different types of media, is deciding how to balance the two and create an effective strategy. This can be difficult, so in our next blog, we’ll go into detail about the differences between different social media channels how you should utilize them.

Cheers!

LEVARAGING YOUR BRAND FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

2010-03-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

Watching television, going to various films and reading all the various newspapers, magazines and internet website and blogs, there is a clear and pervasive culture of doom that underlies much of what is printed, aired or spread across the internet today. From anthropogenic global warming, to deadly strains of viruses, to ancient Mayan prophecies, the angst of impending doom is big business in the world today. Perhaps the dread of doom has always been an underlying force in market principles, and like all things market related is cyclical, and doom will be in greater demand at some periods than it is at others. Conversely, there is hope. Hope is also a driving force in market principles and just as surely as the dread of doom can crash a stock market, faith in hope can drive those very same markets to record breaking highs. I do have faith that big business is also driving GREAT things, even cultural and environmental change.

In many ways we can, as individual, businesses and brands, affect the present in a way that brings a positive outcome in the future. Henry Ford affected the future tremendously by building an automobile affordable to most people, and in doing so built a brand name that became powerful enough to use brand leveraging to, among other things, launch new lines and other products. His vision of massive consumption of the automobile dramatically affected the future, and while some may argue that his piston engine has done much damage, his facilitation of travel and mobility has no doubt marked the upward surge of humanity. The Ford Motor Company today has used its brand name to also develop the The Ford Foundation, a philanthropic organization started by Henry’s son Edsel Ford, dedicated to the advancement of human welfare. While this foundation has seen its critics from many sides, it is a strong and vibrant organization that intends to build better tomorrows. And does it's part to affect positive cultural and social change. Of course, we’re not all Ford’s or Bill Gates, and while their grand efforts at building better tomorrow’s can be awe inspiring, we need not be Bill Gates to accomplish our own successful outcomes that have a positive impact on the future.

In business, if you are selling a product or service, it is good to have a brand name, and if you do all ready, are fortunate enough to have the power of brand leveraging. Consider how the efforts of Dove in their advertising campaign to launch a new product, broke with conventional wisdom, and used non professional models in all shapes and sizes, dressed only in their underwear. Conventional wisdom dictated that there is a standard of beauty that seemingly involves improbably thin women as models. Dove did not market to that culture and chose the more rational one, where women are regarded as beautiful, not because of some fabricated standard, but quite simply because they are. Dove marketed their product to a culture far more inclined to embrace hope than dread, and in doing so, caught many people's attention. It showed a cynical advertising field that beauty is not as limited as was thought to be, and in doing so, affected a positive outcome & perhaps a move toward a much needed cultural shift. All of this, while ultimately meeting their primary goal of selling product.

So consider making that extra 212 effort, reach for that extra degree and find some way to incorporate into your brand name, the history of a positive impact in the advancement of humanity. Consider the power you have as a brand or future brand on the rise, to impact positive outcomes. Be selfish. Flourish and prosper, definitely! But use your brand as leverage for something greater. I believe it leads to exponential success prosperity. After all, with the right amount of fulcrum and leverage, you can move mountains! So what if your being asked to move mountains. Is that really too much to ask?

Determination

2010-02-26T15:03:00.000-08:00

The 2010 Winter Olympics has had me riveted. Of course it is exciting to watch and evokes incredible pride in our nation. But what really mesmerizes me is the athlete's impenetrable will and ability to push their limits. There is evidence of this in the razor thin margin of victory between winning an Olympic gold medal and no medal at all. Think about it; the difference between a medal and no medal in the Luge competition could be a hundredth of a second. Now THAT is thrilling.

It is this determination that sets these athletes apart. Like Vince Lombardi said "Inches make a champion." If only we could incorporate just a portion of that extra will in our everyday lives.

The common denominator in all successful outcomes is effort. And in most cases the extra effort or just taking it to the next degree. I'll put it in scientific terms for you. At 211 degrees water is simply hot, but at 212 degrees it begins to boil. It's only one degree but clearly a property changing and powerful difference.

I am really excited about my first blog post and the launch of my new website. Take a look & enjoy. I hope you will be encouraged to take your product marketing, project or life just one degree further.