Brands and Social Media

When MTV was first broadcast in 1981, Video Killed the Radio Star was the first clip to hit the airwaves. We now know that the song’s title and those behind MTV’s concept turned out to be right. Today, more than 30 years later, the Buggles would be forced to call a contemporary remake of their song Internet Killed the TV Star to remain on the same groundbreaking path upon which they embarked in those early years of the eighties.

The fact that the Internet is well on its way to overtaking television has become obvious ever since the US election campaign in 2008. In the hours before George W. Bush was to hold his last State of the Union address, the then-Senator Barack Obama was already preparing his response – but his campaign managers weren’t planning any press conferences or news appearances. What they were doing was filming the democratic presidential candidate and uploading the videos to the Internet on the only Web site that can compete for viewer popularity during prime time TV: YouTube.

With over 81 million visitors per day and 13 hours of video material uploaded every single minute at that time, the video sharing site purchased by Google became an indispensible portal for political clips during the campaign of 2008, with candidates creating their own YouTube channels for uploading their official video campaigns.

In the Internet’s infancy, users mainly collected information and passively consumed material provided by webmasters hidden behind homepages. That all changed a few years ago when Web 2.0 allowed users to interact with the content of a homepage and contact other users for the first time. Web 2.0 transformed people from consumers into creators of new, individualized content. Social media could be referred to as the entirety of all Web-based platforms with dialogue functions and as the core of the Web 2.0 phenomena with brands such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, and Twitter.

Numerous studies substantiate the rapid development of this phenomenon. Although not all of these studies come up with the same numbers, they all have one thing in common: they prove that at least half of all people surveyed are part of an online social network, that three of four Internet users read blogs, and that nearly all Internet users watch Web videos. According to a recent survey, the latter is the most popular social media activity and highlights YouTube’s immense relevance.

Yet not only the right platform is decisive for the positioning of a brand or a presidential candidate. The final two candidates both used YouTube as a communication medium, and both had a the same goal: to win over as many voters as possible and to give those voters the feeling that they, the candidates, were genuinely interested in them and their concerns.

According to Michael Hirschorn, contributing editor to Atlantic Monthly, relatability is the key to success. Relatability is a person’s ability to speak in the vernacular of the moment and thus transport authenticity, improvisation, and the personality quirks that make an individual real and unique. Personality is always something created by individuals – or brands. Whether these conveyed values are real or just feigned has little relevance. All that counts is credibility.

One of Barack Obama’s best gambits was to admit that he had tried marihuana as a teenager, a confession that portrayed him as a flawed human, just like the rest of us. At the same time, his statement ultimately made him untouchable on questions of honesty because he already admitted to something no candidate has ever admitted to before. Bill Clinton responded to the same question by responding, “I did not inhale.”

Clinton’s response means everything and nothing. Identity, the absolute prerequisite for a personality, must be accompanied by an avowal, clear definitions, and boundaries. A person can’t be some of this and some of that; he or she has to be something definite. No one can, or would want to, identify with everything and nothing at the same time. And it’s not about being liked – it’s about making a decision. Identity and personality involve the courage to decide on a direction, and people can be liked for that later on.

The same rule goes for companies and products, too, and is yet another reason why Obama‘s strategic confession should be placed on a pedestal. There’s nothing to hide when someone or something seemingly reveals everything in a sophisticated manner. The resulting proximity to and confidence in someone give the other person the sense of a direct connection. It works the same way with brands.

That’s also the reason why the major social media networks are still generating daily growth even though several of them have been around for years. In recent years, Web 2.0’s collaborative and social nature has allowed it to attain increasing popularity: wikis, MySpace, blogs, Facebook, and other social networking concepts all lure individuals to their computer screens as if they were tapping into a new lingua franca, a language used by speakers of different linguistic communities as a vehicle for communication.

American companies such as Target, American Eagle, and Walmart – or even the Swiss supermarket chain Migros – are all fluent in this language and have established profiles on MySpace or Facebook. All of these sites involve a user joining a Web site and reating an account that allows for the creation of a personal profile. The next step is that users of the resulting online community can contact one another, add each other as friends, and exchange information: pictures on Flickr and Snapfish, primarily music on MySpace, and contacting old and new friends as well as sharing mutual interests on Facebook.

Companies, brands, or celebrities can also create a profile that allows its customers and fans to become friends at the click of a button and to leave feedback and comments on their profiles. The result is a virtual network of connections that is continually expanding and remains alive through daily updates and input. There is no – or at least no foreseeable – point at which the project Internet will be completed. It is and remains a work in progress, which is exactly what makes it so active and appealing. The retailers‘ hope in all of this is that the young customers who can be found in amazingly high numbers on social networking Web sites will generate word-of-mouth propaganda. At this stage in the game, it is difficult to estimate the actual customer attracting potential of these platforms.

What is certain is that integrated and interactive concepts considerably increase the marketing effect and lead to authentic, lasting brand and product communication through integration and by addressing specific target groups.

In most forms of media, advertising isn’t welcomed with open arms. That’s not the case with Facebook. Young people welcome the opportunity to leave comments about the products they buy and to “talk” to their favorite brands. According to an American survey, one third of respondents indicated that they like surfing the retailer profiles in their network – which makes sense based on the fact that it is done voluntarily. Users aren’t inconvenienced by advertising; instead, they choose it themselves.

For companies and those offering products, the trick is to awaken a customer’s desire to search for a certain brand using the right means of communication. Brands need only heed a basic rule of social media: Web 2.0 isn’t about the customer finding the brands, but about the brand finding the customers. No false promises should be made; openness and proximity to the customer create authenticity and transparency that help the brand message gain popularity on all relevant online communication platforms.

On MySpace, Adidas offers free background images or screensavers featuring pictures of famous soccer players like David Beckham. JanSport, a well-known brand for outdoor clothing and accessories, increased its fan base on Facebook by giving away high-quality backpacks to its new fans. H&M uses Facebook to introduce new collections, offer giveaways, and inform its fans of new store openings close to them or of promotional events.

The most successful retailers keep running lists of events and promotions. As soon as a new product or event is added to the list, an update is sent to everyone linked to their page. This setup benefits both sides: consumers and fans feel important because they get new information before anyone else; retailers get an inexpensive form of advertising.

The direct feedback that retailers and companies receive from their customers is unique. A traditional advertisement is one-sided and speaks to the customer. By contrast, social networking is two-sided, giving customers the opportunity to respond immediately; with just one click, they can leave feedback that will likely be read. Of course, the company also runs the risk of being faced with negative feedback. And for many companies, that risk is reason enough not to join the ranks of social media users.

The majority of Facebook users are young, but according to Facebook’s own statistics,* more than two thirds are over 15. Each user has an average of 120 friends in his or her network and manages the majority of his or her private social contacts through such platforms, thereby decreasing the importance of e-mails and expensive mobile phone communication. MySpace and Facebook are free to private users, but can cost up to $100,000 per month (including advertising, design, ongoing profile updating by a specialist, etc.) for companies. These kinds of facts make it clear that ignoring these tools means risking losing touch.

The Internet has become a key medium for buying decisions. For market research, social media has become an attractive instrument for locating groups that would otherwise be difficult to reach and for communicating with them directly. Between August and September 2008, the “Brands in Social Media 2008–2009”* study looked at over a million opinions on new consumer-generated media communication platforms: blogs, forums, microblogging services, social networks, and video platforms were screened for a so-called “buzz analysis.”

And indeed, the study is about the buzz – as an expression of energy and enthusiasm – that a brand can trigger both online and offline and how much it can influence a product’s future sales figures or interest in a company. The so-called “buzz factor” can thus be a valuable instrument for predicting product sales and a brand’s general image.

The study classified authentic user statements on 550 brands from ten different branches. The number of times a brand was mentioned on each respective platform was counted as well as how much the respective brand communication differs across the communication channels for the consumer-generated media. The results of the study show that social media sites provide a central marketplace for brand recommendations. With regard to the quantity of brand mentioning, online forums are one of the most popular communication channels for German Internet users. This large number of statements collected across all industries suggests an above-average level of brand awareness in consumer-generated media.

The results of this analysis clearly demonstrate how important social media has become for brand management and customer relationship management (CRM). An average of 43% of all brand-related discussions are relevant for the formation of buyer preferences, meaning it will become increasingly important for brand communication to be present in these online channels.

Companies profit from the use of digital word-of-mouth propaganda in order to generate discussions about new products, topics or brands, and thus increase product sales via recommendations. The key is maintaining contact to the relevant target group. Social media has proven itself to be an extremely important instrument for targeting young groups – so-called “early adopters” and “brand ambassadors” – whose phone numbers or e-mail addresses are not registered in any directory or telephone book.

Blogs, which are becoming increasingly popular, are yet another element highly relevant for branding. According to a 2008 Universal McCann study, 34% of blog authors regularly post their experiences with brands and products in their blogs. The reason why word-of-mouth propaganda generated in blogs is a safe value for market research is that the information source is often a familiar one: the opinion about a product comes from a friend, family member, or a well-known role model whose blog is read frequently.

Not everyone necessarily has the time to spend hours going through social networking Web sites, keeping profiles updated, uploading photos, authoring comments, and posting status updates – a fact not lost on the founders of Twitter, the inventors of micro-blogging. At the heart of Twitter is the opportunity to follow people or companies by registering as a follower. Users receive their updates either on their own Twitter profile or via SMS. Social interaction on Twitter is limited to 140 characters of text. And Twitter only asks one question: what are you doing?

That may sound absurd, and the question of who actually wants to know is right on its heels. By now, the most impressive response to this question comes from Lady Gaga. She set a new record by breaking the barrier of 20 million Twitter followers. The singer was also the first user to reach the milestones of 10 and 15 million followers, Business Insider reports. In August 2010, she usurped the title of most-followed person on Twitter from fellow pop star Britney Spears. Gaga’s latest Twitter surge likely comes from the recent launch of her Born This Way Foundation and the launch of her own social network, Little Monsters.

But Twitter is also of interest as a market research tool. The platform offers brand managers and market researchers the chance to monitor teenagers for a certain period of time, for example. Twitter users have developed a language and style all of their own for their messages, and it offers far deeper and transparent insights into the day-to-day life of the youth generation than any standardized, ready-made multiple choice questionnaire ever could.

All of these studies and current trends show that most companies that are already taking advantage of social media platforms strongly incorporate them into their company Web sites. Yet they in no way meet consumer needs. Brand managers must learn to relinquish some of the brand control they have to the consumer. Finding the right balance between active brand management and discovering the courage to let consumers steer the brand presents a major challenge.

Brands that make the most of the true potential of social media and that create a recognizable, differentiated profile for themselves are the real beneficiaries of the new trend. If we look at social media as a dialectal enhancement of group communication that has been going on for thousands of years on a worldwide scale, it becomes apparent that this global level has never been so accessible as it is now.

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