Let’s Talk About Image Problems

Talk about two groups of people who could use an image makeover! The first group is the modern family. First there was Tiger Woods, then Sandra Bullock. This is such a hot topic that the tabloids are bringing up “B” rate actors and celebrities and exposing their marriage issues. I have to admit that I was interested at first. Now, it is just sad.

The second group is Toyota. Like celebrity marriages, Toyota has gotten nothing but bad press lately. Faulty brakes, gas pedals and computers issues have led to recalls and damage to a solid reputation and company identity that stood for quality.

Enter the “Swagger Wagon” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4). This is the latest entry into their series of viral Siena Minivan ads. It is full of sarcasm and that is a big part of why I like it so much. That sarcasm seems to be lost on many people, but I love the spot (http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/app/blogs/news/?p=1294). It features two parents who are shown to share parenting responsibilities of two cute kids. You will recognize the actors from other commercial and TV spots. The commercial is a music video format featuring a hilarious rap. The focus of their Mommy Daddy Rap is their love for their Toyota Siena Minivan. The ad is peppered with images of baby support gear like monitors, pacifiers, baby bottles, costumes, cupcakes and of course their vehicle. Honestly, no matter how hard you try you can not make a minivan cool. That is where the sarcasm comes in. I am a 40ish husband and a father of two and honest about the fact that my hip and cool days are behind me. The satire in the commercial focuses on this and resonates with many parents. Don’t ask me about the quality of the vehicle. I know nothing about it or other Toyota cars or trucks, but I like the commercial.

Toyota is relying mainly on viral tactics to distribute the ad. We are seeing this type of an approach more and more. Most of these ads can only be found on YouTube. Toyota is relying heavily on the viral nature of YouTube and other social networking/media sites to get their message out. Not that long ago, you would only see this approach from small company. It is interesting to see this type of approach from large companies like Toyota.

A Social Media Strategy is Like Your Love Life

I was recently having a conversation with a coworker about developing a social media strategy. He was unfamiliar with the medium, so I was more than happy to share my knowledge and experience. I can not tell you how many of these conversations I have had over the years. I have found them much more interesting when the person or people I am talking to are active and ask a lot of questions. That describes this conversation. Tim is a General Manager at a large hotel and has over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry; however he will tell you that his knowledge of social media will fit in a thimble.



Through the first part of the conversation, he kept trying to come up with an analogy. We went through cars, old dogs, putting together puzzles, making a large dinner and many more before I had an epiphany. I said, “Let’s try this. Developing a social media strategy is like your love life.” It seemed to fit, so I went with it. As you read through this entry, think of the object or your desires and social media as two in the same.

That First Date
You are scared, but you finally work up the courage to ask the new out. You are so nervous that you nearly wet your pants. To your surprise, she says yes. The big day comes and the two of you hit the town. At first, the conversation is kind of awkward. Let’s be honest, there is not much conversation at all. Almost all of it is coming from you. You throw out your best one liners and stories, but your date is slow to respond. You go through the entire first date with very little conversation. Based the limited conversation, you would think you would give up. However, there is something very intriguing about this one and you want to try to go out again. You go out a couple more times and now the conversation is much better. Not great, but at least you are not having to do all of the talking.

Your Lesson: Don’t get discouraged when you are getting started. Continue to post and monitor. This is not a, “If you build it, they will come” scenario. You will need to get the word out about your efforts.

Playing the Field
You are really enjoying each other’s company, but you are not sold that she is the one for you. You decide to play the field a little bit and your attention wonders. You get so focused on other things that you almost loose her. She tries to communicate with you, but you don’t respond. She is upset with you and you have to make up for neglecting her. You respond to all of her questions and help her through some challenging issues. She is feeling better now, but you still have work to do.

Your Lesson: Don’t neglect your customers who find you and take the time to reach out to you. If you do not respond within a very short amount of time, you run the risk of creating a bad customer experience. Think of it as a customer calling you and you put them on hold for two days. In addition, it is advisable to keep you focus on one channel. Especially at first. Don’t spread yourself too thin and make sure you have the bandwidth.

You Find “The One”
You take that big step and decide to become serious. You quickly move past the “getting to know one another” stage of your relationship. At first, you don’t want to share you inner most secrets. In time, you learn that it is not all about you. Your two-way relationship involves listening, meeting more of your partner’s acquaintances and participating in the broader community of people. It is not easy, but you are learning.

Your Lesson: Don’t “talk at” people who are part of your network. Talk to them with the understanding and expectation that they will talk back. If all you do is sell your products, your community will become bored and leave. Find a way to give back and keep them engaged. Be open and honest. You may feel “exposed” at times and you may feel like you are giving up a little control of your brand. If you are not upfront with your community, you can bet that they will be with you. They will either expose you publicly or just leave your community for good. Address the challenges openly and honestly and you will be much better off.

Long Term Relationship
You are in for the long hall at this point. You are on cloud 9 and things are getting better every day. You have gotten to know one another very well at this point. Surprisingly, you learn a lot about yourself because of what your partner is telling you about yourself. You learn to be sincere with your communications. You know you are not perfect and now you are comfortable letting your partner know it. Let’s be honest, you always knew you were not perfect and your partner did too. Now, your partner loves and respects you even more now that you are able to be transparent and admit your flaws.

You think you are done? Not even close. This only marks the end of the honeymoon. Earlier, you neglected your partner and almost lost her. You were able to recover and get things back on track because it was early in your relationship. Now you have history and a much more involved relationship. Neglect your partner now and it will be much harder to recover. You are very comfortable together, but you don’t want to get overly comfortable. Peeing with the bathroom door open or letting one rip at dinner will set the relationship back several steps. You are yourself, but maintain control.

Your Lesson: Open up. Everyone knows you are not perfect including yourself. Don’t be afraid to expose your flaws. Keep the community engaged. You must keep looking for new content and new information that your community finds interesting and continues to put your company in a good light. Up to this point I have talked about “letting go”. As you community expands, you must also maintain a bit of control. Make sure content is relevant to your company and community. Control rants and social commentary the best you can. Keep in mind that anyone who posts or maintains your social media sites is an ambassador of your brand. It is easy to get too caught up in the “social” aspect of the medium. Maintain professionalism.

Babies!
Now it is time to grow your little family. It is not long before you hear the pitter pat of little feet. Or, maybe the tweeting of little voices. You are firm in your ideals and know who you are. This knowledge and experience is passed down to your offspring and they now share your message.

Your Lesson: As mentioned earlier, it is a good idea to focus on one of social media channels when you are getting started. This will help with quality control as well as help you develop and learn as you go as opposed to jumping in head first. Once you get that channel established, expand your social media strategy to include other vehicles. You will find that the same content can be shared across all channels.

Social media is a great way to build your customer base, but more importantly it also is a great way to retain your customers and keep them engaged. It is more work and more expensive to get that first customer than it is to keep them. Think about the dating scenario, playing the field can be expensive and exhausting. Wooing potential partners with nice dinners is tough on the pocket book! Once you have that first interaction with the customer, you have to work to keep them. Building a lasting relationship with the customer builds trust and loyalty. Social media, when engaged properly, can be a hugely successful tool when trying to keep your customers engaged. Make the commitment to social media and you will likely find a similar commitment from your customers to your company and your products.

“Is Your Mother a Prostitute?”

In April of 2010 Jeff Ireland, the General Manager of the Miami Dolphins, asks Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant if his mother was a prostitute in a pre draft interview. How the 6’ 2”, 224 lb college standout kept from reaching across the table and administering one hell of a beating on Ireland we may never know. Sports talk radio had a field day with this one. Just about anyone who offered their opinion was outraged. Mike Ditka chimed in on the topic, "I think the individual who asked that question, somebody ought to whack him in the head. You don't ask that question." Most people, celebrity or not, shared Ditka’s sentiments.

Jeff Ireland holds one of the top positions within the Dolphin organization. An organization that, in general, has a very good reputation. What does this say about the organization? Is this considered acceptable behavior? The Miami Dolphins is a brand and, like it or not, because of his positions Mr. Ireland is an ambassador of that brand. Actually, it has nothing to do with his position. Everyone who has access to customers is a brand ambassador. Can this kind of behavior change the public’s opinion of the brand? Absolutely.

Let me give a personal example of how one employee can define a brand in a customer’s eyes. In 1988 I had a bad experience with the service manager at Greenspoint Dodge in Houston, Texas. He had no concept of customer service and insulted me and my mother. This brand ambassador for the Chrysler Corporation left me with such a bad taste in my mouth that I sold the car as soon as I could and have yet to own another one of their products and likely never will. I have been into their dealerships when I was in the market for a new car, but could never bring myself to seriously consider their products as an option because of this one bad experience with this one individual.

I would guess that you have had a bad experience that has led to you not going to a certain restaurant, grocery store, shopping mall or other establishment. All because of an interaction with one individual who represented a brand.

Let’s consider social media. Get out and read articles on developing a social media strategy and you will come across multiple opinion and approaches. You will also find several common themes. One common theme is the idea of turning your employees into brand ambassadors through social media. I could not agree more. Think about what Best Buy is doing. Instead of relying on traditional marketing and communication methods, hundreds of Best Buy employees are on Twitter to assist in technology advice. That’s right, hundreds of brand ambassadors.

Do you think Jeff Ireland would be a good brand ambassador for the Dolphins organization? How about the service manager at Greenspoint Dodge? Obviously not. Or at least not without some serious training. I don’t know for sure, but I would guess that Best Buy has an extensive training program for the people who are communicating with customers through Twitter.

Companies who have an extensive social media strategy in place are evolving and changing their approaches regularly. It is the nature of the beast. You must remain nimble. In addition, social media is still a new concept to many companies. I still hear stories of miss guided executives and channel managers jumping into social media without developing a strategy. The most common story is that they hear about Facebook, Twitter and others and ask a young team member to create profiles. The end result is, more often than not, that the young person who was asked to create the profile is pulled onto other projects and the profile/account sits with no activity from the company. Customers and potential customers may even be active on these pages posting questions, making comments or even complaints.

So, what should companies know before diving in head first?

• Develop your strategy. What is the goal of your Facebook page? What do you hope to accomplish with your Twitter account? How will you get the word out about your strategy?
  
• Make the commitment. It is not enough to created profiles, accounts and pages. You must have people maintain them and check them every day if not several times a day.
  
• Turn you employees into brand ambassadors. But first, train them. Make sure they know your brand and have enough knowledge to be THE voice of your company. Make sure they know when to escalate issues and can respond to customers in a way that will build your brand and your customers’ confidence in your product.