A recipe for social success

Oreo’s implacably timed tactical ad during the blackout in last year’s Super Bowl is not the future of successful social media, success is measured in the micro daily interactions, according to one content marketing specialist.

Oreo’s “You can still dunk in the dark” quip quickly went viral, but it is at a level many smaller brands cannot achieve. Instead, true connected brands are not focused on the big hit but on continually interacting.

Trevor Young, author of the Micro Domination and the PR Warrior blog, said at Porter Novelli’s Digital Distillation breakfast in Melbourne yesterday that connected brands approach social with strategic intent.

“They look at social and approach social from a totally different respect,” Young, who is also the founder of social media and content marketing consultancy Expermedia, said.

“Yes, they want to sell a product. Yes, they are happy to promote their brand.

“But, ultimately, they are there to build a community of fans, followers, advocates, supporters and enthusiasts for what it is they do and what they stand for.”

Young believes marketers need to remember, especially on social, that “the people are not passive receptacles for your advertising messages”.

Pushing a call-to-action before a rapport has been established is a mistake. Instead, Young says smart connected brands build relationships with those who matter most to their business or cause.

“They contribute to their lives in ways that are respectful, they cultivate the relationships they have with the fans, advocates and friends that already like them.

“How many brands spend so much time trying to get new likes, new followers, new sales? Yet they totally and utterly disregard and disrespect the people who already like what they do.”

Connected brands build relationships with their followers by humanising the brands. Young said if you are not using social media to “take them behind the velvet rope” then you are not using social anywhere near its capability.

Socially connected brands also tell stories, but they actively interact in conversations as well.

“People do business with the people they know, like and trust. So we need to use social to get more people to like us, know us and trust us.”

“Humanising our brand, getting people out of the shadow of the boardrooms is where it is at. Connected brands understand that from the CEO and right down.”

For more from Porter Novelli’s Digital Distillation breakfast see their 10 commandments for 2014 here.

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