 |
Branding Strategies for the Social Web
September 2011 | Volume 9 Issue 9
The rise of the social Web has brought many new and unique opportunities for brands to communicate their messages. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter allow brands to communicate directly with their consumers, and the low cost of entry to many of these networks allow small business brands to compete on a global scale. In this issue of CW Bulletin, our experts examine some of the challenges brands face when communicating in the social Web, and offer tips for how brands can engage with their online audience while remaining authentic to their brand’s values.
Natasha Nicholson
Executive Editor
Amanda Aiello Beck
Managing Editor |
Features
TELLING YOUR BRAND'S STORY
by Jonathan Opp
Brand communicators today have a unique opportunity: We can get our messages into the marketplace at a cost and speed that would have never been possible a few short years ago. However, we are also not alone anymore. Today everyone is in advertising and PR. Social media has allowed everyone to have their own megaphone.
Today's brand communicators face the challenge of not just how to get their brand's story out through social media, but also how to get it heard and retold.
ONLINE BRANDS
by Chris Freek, ABC
If you're lucky enough to work with thoughtfully constructed brands like Disney, Apple or Coke, social media is very attractive. Customers recognize your product's strong association with specific and desirable values, attitudes or lifestyles. But for the rest of us who work at less emotionally resonant organizations, how we assert our brand in social media requires a lot more work. Here are some tips to follow to ensure your brand can compete with the brand giants in social media.
BUILDING AN ONLINE CAMPAIGN
A Q&A with Diane Gage Lofgren
Diane Gage Lofgren is the senior vice president of brand strategy, communications and public relations for Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. She spoke with CW Bulletin Managing Editor Amanda Aiello Beck about the challenges she faces in communicating the Kaiser Permanente brand to online audiences and offered her tips for how a brand can be successful on the social Web.
BRAND JOURNALISM
by Tom Martin
Social media networks and platforms are giving brands an unprecedented opportunity to talk directly to consumers, thus bypassing media mouthpieces and the PR agencies hired to talk to those mouthpieces. Does this mark the beginnings of a not-so-distant future when brands are the media and digitally fluent agencies are their reporters? And if so, what is today’s public relations or communication professional to do to ensure their brand survives and thrives in the digital world?
Columns
The Difference Between Leading and Managing
by Thomas J. Lee
Editor's note: This is the first installment in a three-part series that looks at the skills needed for effective leadership.
Many companies and other organizations are well managed. They meet the needs of the present just fine. But they are not necessarily well led.
Managing and leading are two different things, and so are alignment and engagement. Both are important. Both are necessary. They’re just different. Quite dramatically different at that.
Options Make the Difference Between Google+ and Twitter
by Laura Thomas, ABC
It’s good to have options. Where to go to school. Who to date. Where to work. Sushi or sashimi. Car or train. Paper or plastic.
The recent launch of Google+ just gave us another option in social networks, and as is usually the case, much has been said about the effect it might have on other platforms.
- "Building an Online Community for E-retailer mimovrste=) Using Social Media," mimovrste d.o.o.
- "25th Anniversary Microsite," Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Weber Shandwick
- "Using Next-Generation Thinking to Attract Next-Generation Talent," PKF Texas
- "GM Shows the World What's Next," Weber Shandwick with Jack Morton and McCann Worldgroup
Communication in the News
Related Resources provides additional articles and resources for understanding this month's topic of branding strategies for the social Web. You can also find some of these links alongside each corresponding feature article for quick reference. Links include:
- "The Right Way to Use Social Media to Extend Your Brand," by Michael Woodward
- "The Great Brand Dilution," by Brian Solis
|
Featured Resource 