I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the “proper” use of social media. Having recently graduated from college, I’m used to social media being used in its true sense… socially. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and blogs are not part of a “brand management” campaign in the eyes of the average college student.
In my experience, a blog or social feed (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) will only be followed or “liked” if the brand, content or cause is something that the follower would want to broadcast to their whole network. For example, when I started working at Prosek Partners, I immediately updated my LinkedIn page so that my entire network could find out about the great company I was working for. The brand of Prosek reflected something that I was proud of sharing with my LinkedIn connections. However, as I have further deepened my understanding and interaction with social media from a business perspective over the last few months I’ve repeatedly seen companies trying to create a “social media brand” that is unique from its core business brand. This doesn’t seem to make much sense. At the end of the day, no matter how much I love my Knockaround sunglasses, I’m not going to like them on Facebook because I don’t feel compelled to broadcast my preferred eyewear in the same way I did my excitement for joining Prosek.
My brother-in-law recently sent me this article from Inc. magazine that finally addressed this issue of social media brand disconnect. Jeff Haden did a bit of research on the subject and ended up interviewing Shama Kabani, author of The Zen of Social Media Marketing. Kabani’s point is relatively simple: social media is not as much about connecting with other people as it is about explaining and building your own personal image. So while I’m not likely to promote a brand for brand’s sake, I might join a group or discussion that allows me to be part of a culture or conversation that I feel will further develop my personal brand. Kabani argues that if companies think about their consumers and what kind of image they want to project, they can more easily engage with them on all social media platforms.
What do you think is the best way to promote a brand’s image on social media sites? Where do you draw the line on your “likes” on Facebook? Share away within the comments. 
My older brother started a company called meetmeme.com which was a social media trading card. The idea was, instead of handing out your business card at an event, you would give someone your trading card which had your twitter handle, facebook page, tumblr (etc etc) connections as well as a few interesting facts about you “My Name is Casey. If i had a super power it would be having the ability to make people laugh at ALL of my jokes witty comments. My favorite color is bacon.” What was kind of amazing is that some really BIG companies were interested in purchasing them for their customer service representatives, which I thought was really interesting. But, kind of had the same thought as you, Lauren, as far as drawing the line. Will I ever look at the tumblr of the person who sold me my computer? Probably not. In fact, I think it’d be kind of weird to look them up on facebook. But, receiving a signed trading card of their interests makes them seem like a real person, not just a voice on the other end of the phone, and definitely defined the company’s PERSONAL brand. Which is kind of cool.
07.26.12 at 3:56 pm
I couldn’t agree more with your point, Lauren. Jeff Haden is a great writer, and I enjoy (and can relate to in some way) reading almost all of his articles. Thought provoking stuff.
Your post made me think about the concept of people who read certain blogs or news websites purely for the comments on the articles. To those people, the comment section is their “group or discussion that allows [them] to be part of a culture or conversation that [they] feel will further develop [their] personal brand.” If not directly, then indirectly as they can gain fodder for developing their personal brand from the like-minded other commenters.
07.27.12 at 12:21 pm