One Candle
March 16, 2009
Image by luc legay via Flickr
Everyone that touches a brand influences the reputation and perceptions of that brand to the people around them – employees, customers, vendors, etc. - essentially the branding side of word-of-mouth. It has really always been this way. It has just been constricted by natural communication speed bumps – the size of the echo chamber, message control, media-driven perceptions, and more.
Today, there are two factors that have rapidly accelerated the influence of individuals:
- The rise of peer influence; where we trust someone like us more than the “expert” in the advertising. We don’t really care that 5 out of 6 dentists choose a toothpaste. 2 or 3 friends that swear by a product are much more influential.
- The impact of social media. This has created a state of hyper-connectivity; where news is driven by eye-witnesses and companies are transparent whether they like it or not. Social media has also dramatically increased the size of an individual’s influence – from just a hand-full of friends to potentially 1000s around the world.
What does this mean for the people in charge of marketing/communication/sales? It means that you are no longer buying mind share through advertising; you are “buying” influence through relationships. In essence, corporate brander/marketers need to learn how to treat each person that touches the brand as an influencer – similar to how PR works with the media.
This requires a change of thinking across the board; essentially moving from broadcasting messages to having conversations. However, the biggest change of thinking is how you deal with the faces of your brand – you and your employees. Considering the two factors mentioned above, employees have far greater influence on your brand than any other source; often even more than your customers. In essence, the collective candlepower of your employees is brighter and more sustainable than any advertising campaign. This thinking starts at the ownership/executive level. It continues on to every person in an organization, especially for those that are the daily “face” of the brand – salespeople, customer service, front-line employees, etc.
Outside of creating a culture of transparency and unity, the greatest tactical impact may be on how you implement and use social media. This is one of the reasons we believe that social media is ultimately a personal branding tool – especially the use of the hottest tools: Twitter and Facebook. Don’t believe us? Try these experiments:
- Set up a Facebook page for your company (using the new Facebook protocol for business pages). Set up a personal page for yourself and encourage your employees to use Facebook. See how many “friends” your corporate page receives vs. the personal pages. Further, compare new business opportunities and meaningful conversations between the two.
- Do the same for Twitter.
We are not recommending an “either/or” approach. We think you need a corporate and personal presence in social media. Our point is to just watch which one will be more effective. This exercise should show the necessity of investing more in your personal brand – and in the individual brands of your employees.
Now go talk to your IT department about allowing firewall access to Facebook and Twitter.
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