Your Brand is in Our Conversation

Our conversation makes up your brand. We talk about our experiences with your product, your services, your customer service reps, your employees… We talk about you. Your brand is our conversation! Our perceptions of your company affect how we talk about you, how we influence other people, and how we open our wallets. We put our money where our mouths are!

Branding & Reputation Management

A brand is what someone associates with something else.

• What do people associate with you? Is it positive?
• What is your company trying to project?
• Who are you in the minds of your audience?

I just attended an online seminar, a Twebinar titled, “Who Owns Your Brand?” This was the second of a Summer Series on Social Media by Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan on Twitter).

Below are my top four nuggets from the Twebinar and my “take” on the importance of branding and reputation management.

Nugget 1: Social Media is like the Gutenberg Press for the Bible.

The Bible was once owned by the church. The people didn’t have access. Reading and interpretation of the Bible was controlled. The Gutenberg Press put the Bible into the hands of the people. It became cheap enough for them to have their own Bibles. Social Media and blogging have paralleled the power of information. Companies used to own and control their message. The Internet and blogging has redistributed control. We, the people, now have access - a voice.

The voice is growing. A large number of blogs are opinion-based. Companies don’t have to push into the conversation. Customers do it for them. When companies push too hard, we get our feathers ruffled and share our opinions. The printing presses for consumer sentiment have been opened!

Blogging is more powerful than the water cooler!

Nugget 2: No one really owns their brand!

A component of every company’s brand is created by us, the people, the marketplace. No company in particular owns it. Maggie Fox (@maggiefox) of Social Media Group used the term, “co-creation.” If a company doesn’t create their brand, they can’t own it. Companies create the logo, tagline and own the trademark. Consumers, however, carry the brand forward.

We buy into your brand. When we are sold out, we spend money on you and tell others how great you are. When you disappoint us, when we close our wallets and tell others about our poor experiences.

Mike Manuel of Voce (@mmanuel on Twitter) talked about emotions a brand delivers. Brand is very much defined as the emotion it elicits. Recent emerging companies share their brand with customers. Association with a brand is often based on feeling. One example given in the Twebinar was Starbucks.

“If they don’t feel that feeling, then they are not going to buy $4 cup of coffee.”

Chris Heuer of the Social Media Club (@chrisheurer on Twitter) explained that brand is “a mythical concept.” No one really owns the brand, but they can destroy the brand experience. Companies need to make decisions and ensure people are hired that understand the company’s values. He went on to explain that “brands with the best storytellers win.” Individual conversations carry the brand forward. The brand lives where people are talking.

The following is a tweet from a viewer who captured sentiment by Richard Binhammer of Dell, Inc.

@heidimiller: Nugget from @richardatdell: “what we own is our actions based on what we hear from [consumers]” #tweb2

Mr. Binhammer went on to explain that ultimately we will be judged on our actions. Consumers own the corporate reputation.

Nugget 3: Walk your talk. We are going to talk…and possibly walk, away.

Walk the talk! You never own a brand, you loose it.

@sallyfalkow summarized this nugget so well:

“I create the brand from what I experience, it’s collaborative. You have to perform and I experience it. But I”m going to spread the word, good or bad. Human nature is to spread more bad than good. The person across the street might have a blog, and Lord knows where it goes from there.”

Negative publicity can be a theater. Poor experiences become the topics of scenes in a drama. The consumer becomes a scriptwriter. They post blog comments and YouTube videos. Remember hearing about and watching the couch-sleeping Comcast technician?

Twebinar discussion covered best practices for publishing a brand and use of Social Media. Best practices? Honestly, I’m surprised at how many people don’t even bother with common courtesy or decency.

• We watch what you say on social networking sites.
• We make judgments about your company when key employees drop the fbomb on FaceBook or Twitter.
• We judge your company, and walk away.

I currently pay for an annual service I will not renew because of employee conduct. Is the service poor? Not at all! I don’t want to put my money into the payroll of employees who are lewd, demonstrate blatant disregard for others, with management who thinks their rants are “humorous.”

Personal actions affect a company’s brand. You are accountable. If you don’t walk your talk, we’ll walk.

Nugget 4: Set up your ego alerts!

Listen, monitor, and join the conversation. Are you internally monitoring conversations? What is being said about you? Your ego and your brand are on the line!

Brand management involves listening to what is being said about your company. We now have the tools to figure out what is being said. You have no excuse for not knowing online sentiment. Here are two easy ways to monitor what’s being said about you on Twitter:

1. Setup TweetBeep for your name and company brand.
2. Search Twitter’s search engine (previously known as Summize):

Engaging others is push and pull. Communication is two-way. Listening to what is being said is the first step in reputation management. Gauge the input. Determine if criticism is legitimate. Respond accordingly.

Rohit Bhargava (@rohitbhargava on Twitter) encouraged companies to be part of the conversation and share control. It doesn’t mean you are giving up control. He said, “It’s not a defeatist attitude.”

The Formula for a Successful Brand

Too often, brand engagement becomes a customer service issue. Amazon calls Customer Service Reps “Wish Granters.” Developing a successful brand doesn’t involve waving a magic wand, and it’s not rocket science. The formula for a successful brand is simple:

Brand = Identity + Experience + Reputation

Companies who don’t have a positive identity, customer experience or reputation should heed the call. Maybe they should pick up their Bible and say a little prayer!

Tap into Social Media. It’s a powerful outlet that can light the world on fire or turn out the lights for your brand.

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Follow me on Twitter, @danalookadoo, if you want to tweet about branding and Social Media.

Tags: Brand, Chris Brogan, Reputation Management, Social Media, Twebinar, Twitter, Viral Marketing