Fans Are For Everyone
Monday, June 15, 2009
Every brand should be using the web to attract and connect with their most ardent fans. And they should do it by cultivating a distinct personality.
UPDATE: Changes have been made from the original post to better reflect Alan's feedback.
Alan Wolk likes to use the term "Prom King Brands" to refer to brands like Apple and Nike that people wear as a badge without irony.And if you're not one of these brands that already has an established fan base, then you should think twice about how you talk And you should acknowledge that you may not be as well-loved as these brands, yet, before you start talking to people in places like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
I disagree. I believe any brand that makes a great product has fans out there waiting to be identified and collected. That's what all these social tools offer.You don't need to be a famous brand or a revolutionary product in order to have fans. It's not the fact that Acco makes staplers that's preventing them from having fans (although they probably do), it's the fact that they don't have any personality.
In order for a brand to earn fans, you just need to know how the way you see the world is different than the way other people see it, and be willing to tell people about it in everything you do.
Case in point, British-based Innocent Fruit Smoothies.
A recent blog entry about Wombat poo, posted to their brand blog:
Talking about having cake for lunch on Twitter:
It's personality like that, that enables a brand to have fans like these:
Innocent didn't see the fact that they just made fruit smoothies as an excuse to get out of making friends on the web. Rather the opposite happened, they used their product as an excuse to bring people together.
I don't think it matters whether you make fruit smoothies or staplers or iPhones, every brand deserves fans. You just have to be willing to earn them.
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How do you think brands should behave online? Do you think Facebook fans, Twitter followers, and YouTube subscribers are for everybody? Comments welcome.
UPDATE: Changes have been made from the original post to better reflect Alan's feedback.
Alan Wolk likes to use the term "Prom King Brands" to refer to brands like Apple and Nike that people wear as a badge without irony.
Few things frustrate me more than the very false notion promulgated by many working in the social media space, that all brands are Prom King Brands. By that I mean the countless calls to “engage your hardcore fans” and “energize your base.” As if all brands actually had hardcore fans. Or any fans, for that matter. I mean seriously, do you think that Acco staplers (it’s the brand on my desk right now) has “hardcore fans”?
I disagree. I believe any brand that makes a great product has fans out there waiting to be identified and collected. That's what all these social tools offer.
In order for a brand to earn fans, you just need to know how the way you see the world is different than the way other people see it, and be willing to tell people about it in everything you do.
Case in point, British-based Innocent Fruit Smoothies.
A recent blog entry about Wombat poo, posted to their brand blog:
Talking about having cake for lunch on Twitter:
It's personality like that, that enables a brand to have fans like these:
Innocent didn't see the fact that they just made fruit smoothies as an excuse to get out of making friends on the web. Rather the opposite happened, they used their product as an excuse to bring people together.
I don't think it matters whether you make fruit smoothies or staplers or iPhones, every brand deserves fans. You just have to be willing to earn them.
How do you think brands should behave online? Do you think Facebook fans, Twitter followers, and YouTube subscribers are for everybody? Comments welcome.
3 Comments:
It's not that you disagree Mike.
If anything, you reaffirm the theory.
What you've done here is provide a solution for, as you put it, "any brand that makes a great product"
But that's just it: most brands DON'T make a really great product. They make anywhere from a fairly decent one to a pretty mediocre one.
Of course "great products" will get fans. As I mentioned in the Personal Prom King post, even something like ThorLo socks will have evangelists (me) because they make a great product. But they're the exception, not the rule. Few sock companies make a great product.
And all too often mediocre brands (or more exactly the brand managers of mediocre brands) fully expect thousands of people to actively engage with them in social media and it's an awkward conversation b/w the agency and the client that basically hews to the same script as telling someone their daughter's not all that pretty.
This all maps back to a bigger issue: for years, companies put out products in the belief that what I like to call "magic advertising words"-- the bullshit that ad agencies came up with-- would help sell the product to the public. And in the Mad Med days, it did.
But in this 2.0 world, "magic advertising words" have lost their mojo. They don't mean anything in the face of actual consumer feedback and reviews.
The result is that the product creation process which once was driven by "here's what we came up with, now sell it" is going to have to turn into "here's what the people want, now build it."
But that's a whole other story. For brands that have a "great product" your suggestion of developing a quirky personality is certainly a fine way to get more users engaging with them.
But for most brands, the "making a great product" part is the first hurdle they need to cross.
You're right, Alan. Most brands DON'T make a great products.
And if that's the case, your brand should just pack up and go home.
But, even if you do have a great product, you don't automatically start collecting fans.
You still need to bring them together and give them something to do. That's where personality and a distinct point of view come in. Which so many brands make the mistake of watering down, in their effort to appeal to the masses.
And your brand's personality doesn't have to be "quirky", it should be authentic to what you're about, but it does have to be unique.
definitely with you, mike. iconic brands in sexy categories will always get a vip pass. but little guys need love, too. two examples.
fiskars was seeing market share erosion for their high end craft tools against cheap imports. they turned to social media (note this was back in 2006!) and with branding agency brains on fire, created the fiskateers site (http://www.fiskateers.com/) dedicated to scrapbookers and featuring a group of real life practioners. the program's success was ratified last year with a forrester groundswell award.
the next example might be one that alan would call marketing bullshit. a small credit union in rural alberta, canada was concerned about its aging customer demographic. they turned to social media to appeal to an entirely new target market. they worked with currency marketing to create the young & free alberta program.
the program featured a pretty standard new account offer for customers between 17 and 25. what made the program unique was the marketing platform that drove it. first the credit union promoted a contest to select a spokesperson for the program. the winner created content, including video, for a dedicated website. the program exceeded its target growth in accounts by 50% in its first year - and that was measuring current, not lifetime value, for the valuable new depositors. the young & free program was also selected for a groundswell award. (http://www.youngfreealberta.com/)
mad men be damned. great ideas still have the power to drive great brands and to make good brands great (with the fanbase to match!)
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