Organizing Your Brand in Social Media
November 2nd, 2011 by Tim
Being successful in social media requires us marketers to think differently. There’s no forcing consumers to love our brands on the terms we want them to – it’s their decision to engage with the brand, and we have to respect and nurture that toward mutually beneficial ends.
An often-overlooked decision in marketing brands in social media is the determination of when products get their own, standalone presences and when they should be rolled up under a single masterbrand umbrella.
Factors stemming from the ways brands bring products to market and the ways consumers perceive bands require us to give great care and thought to these decisions.
- Brand-Oriented Considerations. An honest truth in marketing is that decisions are always made with an eye on costs, so budgets and human resources must play a role in dictating brands’ plans. Separately presenting portfolio items might be a “nice to have” but the realities of available budgetary and human resources to provide for production and long-term community management must be addressed.
- Consumer-Oriented Considerations. The disconnect between marketing organizations’ internal structure and consumers’ external views of the cohesiveness of brand portfolios can easily blind marketers to the fact that regular people don’t care that two products might fit nicely together on an org chart.
To aid in this decision, we present the following thought starters:
- Feats of strength. Is the masterbrand or the product’s brand stronger? How do your consumers typically relate to your brand – through the core positioning or through the line extensions? If Brand X makes chainsaws and lawnmowers, do the consumers love the individual product, or do they love how Brand X solves all of their yardcare needs?
- Play nice in the sandbox. Do the consumers who orient themselves around the brand’s individual products blend well together? If Brand Y is a truck manufacturer who has just stepped into the minivan business, will its long-standing advocates blend well with the new minivan fans?
- Chocolate and Peanut Butter, or Chocolate and Salsa? Do the products make sense living together? Are they complementary enough to build a stronger community by having a combined presence? If Brand Z makes women’s deodorant and body wash, is there any reason they shouldn’t be together?
Regardless of the decisions yielded through these processes, one thing is clear – brands must present themselves in a way that naturally strengthens their consumer relationships.
Tags: brand architecture, social media, strategy
Categories: M80 Intelligence, Social Media Brand Management, Social Media Strategy