Nick: brand and social media

Rebecca, now you are moving into territory I am interested in! A lot of IMC academics such as Chris Fill (2009, one of our readings) talk about brand as the creation of personality to establish a point of difference between like products and I think on the face of it there is potential for companies to use Facebook as one avenue for creating this brand personality because it offers the opportunity to begin a dialogue with potential customers. However, I will assume my favourite role of devil's advocate and argue there are some major question marks over whether this will be done well by most companies.

The first question comes back to the lack of control you mentioned and although I agree companies can certainly gain mileage by tackling problems head on and taking an honest approach in managing their reputation, most marketing and communications professionals HATE doing so. In another one of our readings Kotler says "The company must strive to deliver a consistent and positive message to the market." This sums up what most practitioners believe it is that we do. They believe in control. I couldn't tell you the number of times I have developed communications messages and ideas for companies that I am confident will engage the target audience (because I have done the research to uncover an insight that is going to really mean something to them) that have been vetoed by a marketing or communications person within the company. So many are simply not prepared to take the 'risk' of tackling a perception problem head on. You are right in suggesting that you could be a better communications practitioner for learning how to manage your reputation via Facebook but it is disappointing how few practitioners will be prepared to relinquish control in order to take full advantage of the opportunities I imagine Facebook could present to companies.

The second major question is reach and engagement. It is all well and good to have a Facebook page but I would imagine just like a website there has to be a reason or hook for people to visit it which is exactly the same problem marketers face with any other medium so how does Facebook provide anything revolutionary? Doesn't it simply create the same old dilemma in a different medium? Have you guys seen any truly engaging communications/advertising/ campaign ideas come through Facebook? Rebecca, in some ways your friend's company seems like a good cause not just a money spinner which may well be why it does so well - people are happy and comfortable to refer it and to be associated with it.

The third question comes down to imagination. What tends to happen with the emergence of the 'latest thing' in new media is that someone will have a great idea that creates a frenzy as everyone else tries to cash in but they are not sure what to do (probably because they are of the risk averse variety of practitioner we mentioned above) so in the interest of doing something quickly in order not to miss out they copy exactly what everyone else is doing. When you look at most corporate websites for example there is a formula. You have to have an 'about us' page and a 'what we do page' etc. the majority of them copy each other because it is easier and/or all they know... The 'consistency' that Kotler speaks of is also a problem for imagination as hard line brand managers won't let different (left field) ideas develop because of fears that it might dilute the brand.

The fourth question is the term 'friend' itself. If we are going to be honest a company is only interested in your friendship really because they want to take something from you - your hard earned cash. There is something quite predatory about the idea of companies looking to become people's friends. As you guys have already suggested you are very wary of company approaches unless they are personally recommended by a friend etc.

That is probably enough from me for now but I will have a think about Facebook and the latest branding fad of creating "brand relationships" because you would think 'friendships' and 'relationships' go hand in hand...

Nick