Dialogue on Social Media

Social Media

An Open Letter to Brands

Dear Brand Manager,

Social media can be a scary, fragmented experience, I get it.  The Social Media ecosystem is already alive and well, and whether you like it or not, social media is already “happening” to your brand.  People are Tweeting about your product, adding Facebook statuses about your services, and generally talking about you to their friends.  It’s our job to figure out what the general energy of that dialogue is (positive, or negative) and help you become a part of the conversation. Let it fly!

I recommend something earth shattering: Join them!

Engage with them, and hear what they have to say. My hope is that you won’t be “precious”, and you’ll come along for the ride. Let down your guard. Don’t take your brand too seriously. The reality is that your brand is what your brand advocates say it is, not what you tell them it is.

Who knows, you may learn something new about your brand?  You may define a new niche. You may reach a new segment of users.  Instead of following a linear progression:

  • Initiator
  • Influencer
  • Decider
  • Buyer
  • User

You can touch each of those stages in the sales funnel and influence your brand advocates to engage their community of friends and family in your favor at any stage.

Let go and fly.

Best,

Chris Dessi

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  • http://TwitterProfessor.com Chris S. Cornell

    You are hitting on some excellent topic with this blog lately. Your articles have caused me to visit some of the social media sites being “managed” by various companies and organizations to see how their activities stack up with what you’ve been saying.

    I’m curious about what kind of advice you would have for a company like McDonald’s, which appears to be giving social media a legitimate shot with their Facebook page. What do you do when a customer makes a comment like this one from Chяistopher Blatty on July 29 at 12:47 a.m. — “I HATE MCDONALDS YOUR FOOD TASTES LIKE BUTT CHEEKS!”?

    McDonald’s has elected to leave that comment on their page for the past five days. Other comments they have elected to leave include “Burger King is better” (Jeremy Wagner, July 30, 7:12 p.m.) and “seriously, this is nasty” (Adam Killingsworth (August 4).

    There are also personnel questions that have nothing to do with what a typical customer would be interested in, and complaints about service at specific restaurants.

    McDonald’s would not tolerate a customer who came into one of their restaurants and started shouting some of those things in the main lobby. What’s the point of simply handing over the bullhorn indiscriminately to each of your 2.6 million “fans”? It’s one thing to “engage”, but how would you advise an organization to inject order and relevance into the conversation?

  • http://www.driveactiondigital.com Chris Dessi

    Thanks for the comment Chris – expect a post in reply soon!