Social Marketing - thoughts, rants & observations!

Well, its been a little while since my last post so i thought that it was about time that I shared some thoughts around  what I've been mulling over lately.

It will certainly not come as any surprise to the people who know me that I am passionate about behavioural economics and am driven by a self fulfilling crusade to develop a deeper level of behavioural insight into the underlying psychology influencing the decisions that people make. So, there I was the other day watching a video stream of Jonah Lehrer, author of The Decisive Moment: How the brain makes up its mind (which I am currently reading and strongly recommend), speaking at Cannes Lions about the science of creativity and how moments of insight and inspiration tend to come when you are not so focussed or trying so hard to "find inspiration" or a creative idea. I then started thinking (a seemingly unrelated train of thought, so as to illustrate Lehrer's point precisely) about companies and brands that overlook some quite fundamental issues when it comes to marketing their brand and associated products or services within the social landscape. 

Now, what I am about to say here isn't particularly new and has all been said before to varying degrees. However, marketing departments seem remarkably complacent in their attitude toward social marketing and so therefore i don't think it does any harm to keep this debate alive - again, people that know me will also tell you that i am not averse to voicing my thoughts............opinions even!

My observation is that all too often marketeers approach social media with the same attitude and mindset as they take with regards to traditional marketing through broadcast media. The fundamental mistake here is that social media by definition is more personal and de-centralised in nature and whilst there are varying degrees of personal interaction / investment, dependent on the environment, it is important to understand that a fundamentally different approach is needed. Companies that have been able to integrate behavioural insight into a cohesive social marketing strategy designed to communicate and engage (social) with their customers, as opposed to "shouting" at them (broadcast), are reaping the benefits.

I've listed some general points of (ahem) advice here to any marketeers who may be in the process of defining a social media strategy or that may be actively engaging (or not as the case may be) in social marketing, whether it be for the purposes of selling products or fostering brand loyalty and awareness.

1) Don't try the direct sell. People tend to interact with each other in a social space out of a need to feel valued, wanted and part of something. Running Twitter feeds or Facebook posts that just pour out an endless stream of product latest offers are more likely to meet resistance (and almost certainly a potential backlash from your customers) rather than a fostering a deeper sense of brand loyalty and uptake. 
Starbucks’ “MyStarbucks Idea” campaign is a case in point......The great thing about their campaign isn’t just that they acquired (and continue to acquire) a huge amount of business ideas for free, but that they’re also generating brand awareness and customer engagement as a bi-product. The point here is that the customer engagement and brand awareness is a bi-product - something that happens as a result of other seemingly unrelated sales focussed activity. 

2) Communicate more information about things of interest and what is going on within your company on a day to day basis - open up and let people see who YOU are..........this will have the effect of "humanizing" your company/brand and as a result your customers will feel naturally more inclined to buy your products if they can in some way identify or relate with you on a more "intimate" and personal level. Tone of voice and pitch is absolutely key here - seek out people within your organisation that are passionate about your brand, work, products and services and leverage their enthusiasm to communicate on your behalf.........as an ambassador of your brand! 


3) Carry out a risk assessment. One of the things that I have observed over the years is how ill prepared organisations are for negative comments being posted about them or their products and services within social media environments. The decentralised nature of social media lends itself to open and frank dialogue and it is therefore essential that a strategy is in place for dealing with such instances of "negative" feedback. It is important to remember that within social media that any negative comment or post by one of your customers provides your brand with an opportunity to engage with them in a positive way!

4) Use social media to address your customers concerns directly and provide a more personalised and effective level of customer service and engagement.  Social media provides an ideal opportunity to offer a more fluid and personal degree of customer care. The more your customers feel that you "care" about THEM individually ultimately makes them feel good and as a result your company gains more what I call "social value". This positive “experience” will likely have a far greater psychological impact within the customers decision making process than anything that you as a brand can say about how wonderful your product is or how much of a discount is on offer. Liberty842 (http://www.liberty842.com/), a social media consultancy who i have worked closely with manage the social media engagement of a lot of mainstream comedians and celebrities. They also worked closely with a large housing association in London to define a strategy that would enable them to engage with their tenants about issues that affect them in relation to their tenancy. This very practical use of social media does wonders to foster a sense of loyalty about a brand / organisation.

5) Keep it real and speak your customers language. The point is not that you are Nike, Starbucks, Adidas or Next etc but that your someONE from that brand - keeping this front of mind when developing a social marketing strategy is important and ensures a more congruent message.


The fundamental principles involved in developing any effective social media strategy are not too dissimilar from the inherent principles involved in any good design. It's about developing a “feel” and a deep understanding for your audience. This insight, together with a sense for the kinds of issues, concerns or questions they may have and then communicating information that addresses, resonates or resolves their issue in some way will create a positive experience for your customer which can only be good for your brand. Furthermore, customers who have had a positive experience in their interaction with your brand are more likely to tell others, post a status update or tweet about it.

To summarize all of this i guess the central point of what i am saying here is around the importance of brands understanding the REAL value of social media as a context within which more targeted, personal and subtle forms of communication are possible. It is important that they understand a key guiding principle which is that people WILL buy your products if they FEEL good about you as a brand. Social media by its nature provides a fantastic opportunity to open up and let your customers experience the essence and the personality at the heart of your brand.