Esteban, “I just don’t think that too many marketers, despite their claims to the contrary are actually even thinking of a brand that can reflect equally on both (or even in multiple online or multiple offline) channels.”

do you think marketeers should focus on having a brand equally developed/perceived across all channels?

surely they should focus on those channels that give the brand the most traction?

Extremely interesting post and one that makes sense in the ‘sea of froth’ that Social Media is becoming. It’s a bit like the Wild West at the moment.

An area that I’m looking into is the transformation of traditional Call Centres – where customers literally have to call the company to ask for support – to support where contacting the company is only necessary for the minority of enquiries. And then where the company guides you to their support teams. All the other support will be readily available wherever out customers are. Makes sense to anyone comfortable with Social Media and SCRM but very difficult to explain to traditional Call Centre directors.

Thanks for this post. it’s helped me think some things through. It’s such an exciting time to be involved in the area. Keep it coming, guys.

Now we have an interesting question to debate…

Can brands act online and offline equally?

Expected answer: sure, they should (or rather – must) or they would not be brands that are worth much…

Real answer: they can’t. they never did take the time to plan and implement cross-channel, or even multi-channel, branding parameters so jumping online or offline will cause a very different brand to show. Airlines, Banks (and their relative credit cards), Insurance (healthcare, payer side), government and that is just naming what comes to mind!

I just don’t think that too many marketers, despite their claims to the contrary are actually even thinking of a brand that can reflect equally on both (or even in multiple online or multiple offline) channels. I would even go as far as to proclaim heresy: Apple got lucky. Sure, the design and operations of the Apple Store continue the easy methods of the iTunes store (supposedly – or viceversa) — but what if people hated it? after all, it is not common for people to just walk around an open space and be checked out with a handheld with an emailed receipt…

what if they hated that? would you still say that they successfully managed to bridge online and offline? did they plan it that way? or did they get lucky?

Very interesting questions to debate… let me see who I can find to send over here to read, comment, and start some trouble…

In the mean time, I really like Brian’s question: Is it possible to maintain brand consistency while leveraging social media? My first thought is that Yes, it’s possible, but only by expending a lot of effort. My second thought is that if the community (over time) really defines your brand, it’s going to be really hard to maintain consistency in terms of personality and performance (awareness, association etc).

What do you think? Are there brands you can think of which “act” the same across all online and offline channels? Maybe Apple?

- Allen

Thank you for two things:

1. Writing such a wonderful post. Its pretty profound that the communities might end up defining our brand! But I can see that happening. I guess its only a matter of time before it becomes mainstream.
2. For writing something on Esteban’s blog that people can’t argue much about! Am glad we are not leaving this blog in tatters.

Allen, you have allayed my fears that the real social marketing doctors might not emerge in the sea of the witch doctors practicing social media marketing. I am sending this across to our MarComm team thats beginning to test waters with social marketing, but are largely sifting through the works of social media marketing, which do provide some good tips & practices but fall short of providing strategic insight.
.-= Prem Kumar Aparanji´s last blog ..All roads lead to Social CRM; But "Hanoz Dilli Dur Ast"? =-.

Great post. It’s encouraging to see that we are moving from dreamy expectations into tangible guidelines for leveraging Social Media.

I think Rule #1 is far and away the most important. I don’t think there is any argument that “social media is arguably the ultimate discussion starter.”

Rule #2 brings up an interesting point. IS IT POSSIBLE to maintain brand consistency across channels while leveraging Social Media? I’m still thinking on this one, but I am not sure that I fully agree that “brand consistency goes out the window”.

Finally, I would add some iteration of the following:

“Start with the end in mind”.

You describe a number of characteristics of the power of Social Media marketing, but we have already seen some pretty significant failures (see http://bit.ly/YiXgZ and http://bit.ly/86Ts4 ) from lack of clear strategy.

In the end, social media is just a tool and requires its own set of goals in mind. The media, network, or method that an organization chooses to participate in, is largely dictated by the end goal(s) in mind. Blogs and Micro-Blogging might be most effective for some organizations while Facebook might be best in other situations. I believe that some organizations will fail because they try to force community where there is none, or might try and create fan pages when they don’t have any fans, or try and distort reality by running from transparency (deleting blog comments, creating fake endorsements, etc).

Sorry, but this actually brings up another point. In order to fully harness the power of social media in marketing or otherwise, a significant shift in culture will likely be required for most established organizations. If the culture is not prepared for turning its doors into windows and transforming their marketers from shouters into listeners, things could go bad quickly, turn viral, and could potentially do irreparable damage to the brand.

My advice: Clearly align social media with organizational goals. Listen. Learn. Define target outcomes and methods by which you hope to achieve them. And as the participation gets louder, and the conversation gets richer, adjust accordingly as participants color in the lines of your initial framework.
.-= Brian Vellmure´s last blog ..So how big is this Social CRM thing going to be? =-.

John
.-= John Moore´s last blog ..Social CRM is a decade away, can your business wait that long? =-.