Case Study - Monday, May 18, 2009 12:22 - 0 Comments

Nobody Cares About My Brand.

Sure it’s easy to get social media traction for your brand when you are a media darling like Harley Davidson, Apple Computers or Grey Goose Vodka. You have a passionate group of followers built in to your brands who are already loyal to a point that some even tattoo your brand on their butt (Harley more so than Apple although I work with some art design people so I’m not so sure). So what if no one really cares that deeply for your brand? Is social media out as an option?
Not at all, you will just have to get more creative about your social media application. You have to dig in your customer’s heads and figure out what they are passionate about. Why do they buy your product, how does it enrich their lives or what problems does your product solve?
I found great case studies on blog written by Groundswell…In summary social media applications that talk about customers passions or problems create “borrowed relevance,” since you generate talk they care about, and then make yourself a part of it. American Express (credit cards are boring, face it) created the Members’ Project, a contest to choose deserving charities. They figured, correctly, charity would generate more passion than credit cards. Perhaps the best case study, Procter & Gamble knew teen girls would be uncomfortable talking about tampons, but would talk about music, cliques, and school, so it created beinggirl.com as a vehicle to deliver the occasional feminine care products information.
Bottom line is your customers are consuming social media at a record pace. So whether your brand is sexy or boring, developing the right strategy will pay tremendous sales dividends.