Being Social

Many brands and companies have attempted to enter the Internet’s multiple social spaces, but few have enjoyed anything approaching resounding success—at least, not if measured against past campaigns in traditional, mass media. The social factor that trips up people is that they persist in thinking of online social venues as “media”—something they can manage and control, in which they can continue to dictate the outcome of their efforts.

But social venues were created to enable social interactions, not brand transactions. Until companies understand this and adapt their own interactions to fit the venue, they will continue to find only haphazard success, and a reluctant welcome in social networks and other social “media.”

Companies tend to launch into social conversations with their old sales-oriented lingo: “Hi there, I’m Joe Smith of ABC Products, and I have a product you’ll love.” That’s an intro that will garner digital rotten tomatoes and an invitation to show yourself to the door. Instead, marketers must learn to enter the conversation as participants, speaking only when they have something valuable to say, and conversing rather than selling. This is a change that company personnel often find difficult. Many companies are now developing staffers who are personally well versed in social media into spokespeople who can guide the company into social venues by “talking the social talk.”

Another impediment to brand success in social venues is that people who flock to social networks tend to deeply distrust brand-managed pages. The most successful brand fan pages are those created by individual users, not brand parent companies. Coca-Cola now sponsors the most popular fan-created Coke page in Facebook; Pringle’s consolidated their three most popular fan-created pages under one umbrella page to merge the voices of 2.8 million fans; Nutella, the hazelnut-flavored spread, has a huge user-generated fan page, with 3.1 million fans.

Even Budweiser’s Bud Light fan page, “Drinkability,” garnered only 1,743 after 6 months online despite promotional efforts including cross-channel ad promotion and NCAA March Madness tie-ins. Smaller companies may find Facebook even less effective because their brands may not generate user fan pages, and attracting users to a company-managed fan page may be difficult.

B2B companies are finding it more effective to: join conversations where their customers and prospects already “live”; monitor those conversations to learn more about their brand’s strongest advocates; and listen to conversations as part of the larger pattern of online “buzz.” Companies that participate rather than manage are growing in authority and brand acceptance in the social media space. Becoming strong listeners rather than trying to dominate the conversation is the new goal for companies exploring social networking as a business tactic.

Social networking can be a portal into many areas of corporate interest, including recruiting, improved customer feedback, one-to-one CRM, and lead development. But social is not the right place for selling… unless the fans are doing the selling for you.

It is time for companies to stop thinking of social networks as channels or tactics, and simply become “fans” themselves. Be a member of the community, rather than trying to be its dictator. Develop the “common touch.”