The Quisenblog

Tang was a horrible product. It was an awful-tasting, expensive, nutrient-deficient powdery “drink substance” developed by General Foods as an alternative morning beverage back in the late 1950s that suffered from poor sales for the first several years after its launch.

Then something interesting happened. In 1965, General Foods somehow convinced NASA to include Tang on its manned Gemini space flights. Overnight, Tang was no longer a weird-tasting breakfast drink. It was what the astronauts drank.

And kids couldn’t get enough of it. They literally begged their moms to purchase the stuff. And proudly paraded it out of their lunchboxes.

You see, back in 1965, every kid wanted to be an astronaut. And if she couldn’t be in the Gemini capsule there at Cape Canaveral, at least she could have the ‘astro beverage’ in her Yogi Bear lunchbox!

This is just one example of how a simple story can create a whole mythology for a brand. It is the narrative of the brand that people connect with, that makes the purchase more “personal” and says something about them. This narrative is what helps people define a brand for themselves, and whether or not it belongs as part of their “personal brand.”

What does it take to make a compelling story for a brand? The first rule is to be authentic. If your cookies really aren’t made by elves in trees, then don’t try to convince us that they are. If your product was created by a bunch of guys in white coats in a chemistry lab, don’t try to have us buy a story that the recipe was handed down from some Italian grandma’s kitchen.

Take an inventory of what part of your “story” is different enough to make people notice. Then ask if it can be extrapolated to be associated with some sort of benefit. Even a seemingly irrelevant detail of your brand’s history or early beginnings could be the rough material to build a story from.

The most compelling stories are those that are both simple and timeless. In the early ‘70s, when automakers were falling all over one another claiming to get the best gas mileage, Volvo built a brand story around safety. While many outerwear manufacturers were focused on cutting costs by shipping production overseas, Timberland proudly crafted a story of how their products were built by generations of real craftsmen here in the U.S. The Body Shop used only natural ingredients with no animal testing in its beauty products. Suddenly the product is not just something to wear, or drive, or eat. it is a status symbol of sorts. A way to express your own personal values.

In the end, that’s exactly what brands are: the stories and experiences consumers associate with them.

Posted by Mickey

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Mickey On Clients, Ramblings brand narrative, Gemini space flights, General Foods, NASA, personal brand, Tang, The Body Shop, Timberland, Volvo

This week’s social media blog posts:
Monday: The Social Media Manifesto.
Tuesday: Social Media and business.
Wednesday: Your Social Media strategy: What are you hoping to achieve?
Thursday: Social Marketing turns the Media Funnel upside down.
Friday: Action steps for getting your business started in Social Media—today.

(This is the fifth in our series of Social Media posts for the month of October. We look forward to your feedback on this series.)

Trying to simplify the act of developing a Social Media strategy into a bite-sized blog post is sort of like trying to explain the Declaration of Independence in a 140 character Tweet. Something’s going to get left out.

So rather than attempt to be a comprehensive “how-to” post about Social Media strategy, we intend this as more of a “view from the mountain top” of things to consider when developing a Social Marketing strategy.

In a basic sense, developing a strategy for Social Media is much like developing a strategy for any other marketing endeavor. The intent is to create a “road map” you can follow that encompasses goals, audience definition, budget, tactics and content. And then, defining the metrics by which you’ll be able to discern whether or not your program was a success.

Let’s be clear here that Social Media by itself is not a strategy. Social Media amplifies your strategy. It provides a more natural, non-intrusive, organic way to demonstrate your core values to your audience, and allow them to share ownership of the brand.

Here are seven basic questions you’ll want to consider when developing a Social Media strategy:

1. What you are hoping to achieve? Are you hoping to find new customers? Re-activate inactive customers? Get customers you already have to try something new or change behavior? Use it for customer service? For feedback? To evaluate new product ideas or concepts? Then decide on metrics: How will you know if the program has been successful?
2. What level of involvement do you (the brand) intend to have? Will you employ a passive model of “listening” to gather intelligence? Or are you willing to adopt a more aggressive “hub and spoke” model where there is active interchange between followers and between you and followers?
3. Which platforms meet the goals you have set and the involvement level you have determined? If all you want to do is listen, you may be able to get by with using Google Alerts, Technorati (to see what people are bookmarking) and RSS feeds (to subscribe to blogs/newsletter from thought leaders and influencers). For customer service, you may wish to integrate a real-time platform like Twitter. For community building, you may wish to use a social networking site like Facebook, LinkedIn or Ning. And if you want to build your own platform, you may wish to build your own microsite(s) and drive traffic with Search Engine Optimization, paid search (key words) and perhaps even banner ads. The key is to set your goal first, then decide on which platforms will help you get there.
4. What is the narrative, or “story” you wish to convey? What do you want your audience to think after having engaged with you? How do you want them to describe the organization? Make sure the content you develop is consistent with that. Just like a good 30-second TV spot, every 140-character Twitter post, YouTube video or Facebook blurb contributes to the overall brand narrative.
5. How will you build an audience or community? Effective communities are started with passionate users/customers. Who are your influencers? How will you find them, and what will it take to involve them? (Some of our posts to come may give you some ideas.)
6. What will keep your audience engaged? The key is to stay relevant. Emailing a 10% off coupon may attract a lot of attention the first time you do it, but it is important to recognize this act as a conversation-starter. What are you going to do to follow that up?
7. What’s next? Monitor and adjust. The beauty of Social Media is that you can see reaction in real time. So if you’re not getting the information feedback you’re looking for, try something new. If you find one platform is outperforming others by a wide margin, put your emphasis and attention there. Try to understand what content drives engagement, and focus on what that next layer of content might look like.

At its best, Social Media can help you identify your most passionate users and engage them in meaningful discussion. Social Media strategies can be simple or complicated. It all depends on the goals you have and the level of involvement you feel comfortable with.

The important thing is to have a strategy.

As always, we look forward to your feedback on this series. If you’re not currently receiving the Quisenblog, you can subscribe here.

Posted by Mickey

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Mickey Social Media audience engagement, brand involvement, brand narrative, social media platforms, successful campaign, user involvement