How Social Media Drives Brand Concept & Development (+Tips)

This is a follow up post to what I’ve recently read: a case study of a stupendous PR agency – Shift about message development for one of their client – pre-paid mobile company. The challenge was to change the common perception and behaviour of U.S. market towards pre-paid mobile phones, which were seen as the province of drug dealers and cheating hubbies.
Shift team came up with an excellent idea to use social media to analyse what people are really thinking about pre-paid mobiles in current economic climate. Rather than spending huge budget on enforcing brand with tailored advertising, they decided to address on-going concerns and deliver message with positive image of pre-paid phones:

Beyond the customary chatter about the latest-and-greatest smartphones, consumers were talking about losing their jobs in the Recession and sweating about onerous cellphone contracts.  They were talking about the pros/cons of buying cellphones for their ‘tweenage children.  They were talking about weird phone-stalking exploits by ex-boyfriend/girlfriends.

Examine the marketing messages of the major mobile companies.  What do they talk about?  Network speed.  Cool phones.  Pricing plans.  That’s about it.  Now compare it to what we discovered people were actually talking about, in the context of their cellphones.  They were talking about human issues, not technology issues.  Given that we needed to be scrappy to make a dent in this noisy market, we eschewed the proactive “cool phone at a great price” messages (and the defensive “not just for drug dealers” line) and favored funkier, more humanistic messages…

What needs to be understood from the case above is importance of listening. Since Social Media dominated Internet in all its aspects, companies need to notice distinct difference between an “image problem.”  and  “listening problem”.

How Can You Drive Brand Concept & Development

Great IT lean start-ups became that great not because of technology reason but because they enabled community being involved in shaping solutions from the very beginning of company’s existence. Today’s pull-marketing requires the brand to listen to the customer via multiple social media platforms. So what should you do to get the most of your social media efforts? Here are some tips:

1. Engage in already lasting community discussion about issues you want to address. Do not try to sell your product! This will put the people of and  you will loose people’s trust instead of gaining attention.
2. Social Media is great with conducting focus group surveys etc. Use Facebook to develop quick questions and then use Facebook Insight to analyse demographics, behaviour etc. of your focus group. Alternatively, you can conduct survey via your website and then use Google Analytics to do the same.
3. Do not allow your employees to be a closed community! Brainstorming drives innovation and the more transparent your company is, the more benefit you will get. Involve your employees in blogging about issues related to your industry (and not only), allow your talented employees to be seen and heard. This will enforce trust of your potential and existing customers.
4. Consult on social media any future plans you’ve got for your brand. Do not be afraid of competitors. Your customers will see you “got that first” and will help you adjust your plans to their needs and expectations.
5. Listen and praise any negative comments and complains you get from the community. They will allow you to localise and address the problem quickly and your customers will be even more committed to your brand knowing that you listen to what they say.
6. Seek any opportunity to engage. In social media we are here to engage and build relationships with other people. Hearing their conversation allows us to be able to jump in and engage in a non-intrustive way.

Do you listen to your customers and stockholders when developing your brand? Which communication channels do you use? You are more than welcome to share your comments below.

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