Is Your Brand a Gatsby Brand?
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Many brands have a nasty habit of throwing lavish online parties without ever getting to meet any of the attendees.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the eponymous host is famous for throwing fabulous parties at his mansion on East Egg, Long Island. Gatsby has created a mystique for himself because the parties are always full of strangers. They're incredibly fun and exciting, the food, the music, the drinks, the scenery, the people; none of the guests, however, ever get to meet Gatsby. No one even knows who Gatsby is.
This reminds me a lot of how many brands operate on the web. Create an incredible micro-site, tons of people visit it and have a great time. ...And then they go away and never come back. The same goes for stunts in social spaces like Facebook or MySpace. Do a big promotion, get lots of fans, and then disappear without ever actually meeting anyone.
This used to be ok. When your only measures of success were site visits (a one-time-only count) and the amount of time each visitor spends on your site, then all you need to do is make a big splash. You get your numbers and you start saving up for the next big marketing event.
But, if you're still measuring success on these terms you're going to wake up a year from now wondering what happened to your business.
Brands need to shift their focus from impressions to relationships. Every experience a brand creates should leave the brand with a larger community of supporters/fans than they had going in.
And I mean real relationships. Relationships that require true dialogue with a real live human being on the brand side. Relationships that are inspired by a feeling that we taking part in something bigger than ourselves, and more important than the brand (OMG!). Relationships that are fostered by sharing something of value with the community consistently over a long period of time.
Your business won't change overnight. But, the brands who embrace this way of thinking are going to be in the lead when we come out of this economic hairpin turn.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the eponymous host is famous for throwing fabulous parties at his mansion on East Egg, Long Island. Gatsby has created a mystique for himself because the parties are always full of strangers. They're incredibly fun and exciting, the food, the music, the drinks, the scenery, the people; none of the guests, however, ever get to meet Gatsby. No one even knows who Gatsby is.
This reminds me a lot of how many brands operate on the web. Create an incredible micro-site, tons of people visit it and have a great time. ...And then they go away and never come back. The same goes for stunts in social spaces like Facebook or MySpace. Do a big promotion, get lots of fans, and then disappear without ever actually meeting anyone.
This used to be ok. When your only measures of success were site visits (a one-time-only count) and the amount of time each visitor spends on your site, then all you need to do is make a big splash. You get your numbers and you start saving up for the next big marketing event.
But, if you're still measuring success on these terms you're going to wake up a year from now wondering what happened to your business.
Brands need to shift their focus from impressions to relationships. Every experience a brand creates should leave the brand with a larger community of supporters/fans than they had going in.
And I mean real relationships. Relationships that require true dialogue with a real live human being on the brand side. Relationships that are inspired by a feeling that we taking part in something bigger than ourselves, and more important than the brand (OMG!). Relationships that are fostered by sharing something of value with the community consistently over a long period of time.
Your business won't change overnight. But, the brands who embrace this way of thinking are going to be in the lead when we come out of this economic hairpin turn.
6 Comments:
I completely agree with the importance of a real live human being on the brand side. A lot of companies have created web presences that ignore the best part of the web - the way it allows everyone to communicate with each other across boundaries. We should be embracing this, not rejecting it!
hello mate
indeed - i agree with you but - the question becomes - what kind of relationship?
http://farisyakob.typepad.com/blog/2008/10/regressive-expressions-or-please-dont-use-twitter-like-a-billboard.html
and what's the dunbar number for brand relationships i wonder...
Any idea what a strong KPI for relationships would be?
I hate measuring success by visits and time on site, but business people like looking at numbers, particularly numbers that, when graphed, go up over time.
I've thought about viral referrals or email/contact opt-in...
That's a great question, matt. right now i'm thinking that repeat activity or mentions from the same source or individual is a key performance indicator for relationships. And if you've got anything for them to subscribe to, blog, newsletter, Youtube channel, then that number's a great performance indicator, too.
Faris, the idea of a Dunbar number for brands is intriguing, definitely going to think on that one.
And I think that the best brands can hope to have "relationships" (and i'm realizing now that that word is becoming as empty as "brands") with their consumers on the level of a Seth Godin. Someone who has a small army of believers.
Repeat Activity: If a user isn't regularly returning to a site, it does not mean that you have not built a relationship. Plus, with the advent to RSS/widgets, this is much more difficult to quantify.
Viral: Not everyone blogs or does referrals.
Subscriptions: I'm liking this metric. You've definitely hooked someone if they have subscribed to your content.
I'd like to hear more about the characteristics of your ideal customer relationship. Perhaps then it will be easier to quantify certain behavior.
I really like this post! I love the idea of a "Gatsby brand." You inspired me to get writing - http://strategytreehouse.blogspot.com/2009/01/true-friends-are-hard-to-find.html.
Best,
Katie
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