Social media marketing evolves to social business strategy

By Robert Wheatley

We’re standing at the edge of an entirely new business model born of the Internet age. For generations brands have made plans to target their consumers and move messages at them through various paid and non-paid media vehicles. A sort of “push button” model that would appropriate spending down different pipes of communication aimed at informing and persuading.

The Internet and social media have helped activate consumer control over brand relationships and interactions. This requires a seismic shift in thinking from command and control to mining paths of relevance and value to the consumer’s lifestyle.

Underneath the theories behind word-of-mouth marketing and social media platforms and communities is a simple but profound truth: we trust people more than we trust organizations and institutions. And trust is critical to building any kind of lasting bond between a brand and its user.

The next great leap will be the humanization of brands…

In the days of mass marketing, brands were more about their predictability and reliability. Now what matters more is uniqueness and craft. These two points alone favor giving brands a face. Literally.

Our challenge now is to humanize the interactions, communications and experiences people have with brands. This kind of intimacy breeds rapport and leads to trust. So the question we should be asking ourselves is this: how can we put a human face on the brands we guide?

First and foremost, by focusing on the people behind the brand and business. Employees, customer service reps, brand stewards, product development experts, senior management and others behind the great corporate wall should come out to participate openly in the communications process.

Why bother? A humanized brand can more meaningfully and effectively connect with consumers. What better example of this idea than agencies themselves. Sure agencies may attempt to position themselves along the lines of proprietary planning models and other methods that portend a form of “secret sauce” in the creation of effective communication. But in the end, agencies are defined by their people and the qualities, expertise and know-how these individuals bring to the table.

So too, its time for organizations to think about putting real faces in front of consumers to engage with. New media such as blogs and Twitter enable this kind of interaction. So its time now for brands to go LIVE. This approach recommends the development of social business strategy as a method of formalizing the concept and adapting the organization to this kind of change.

What do you think?