Comet Branding - Branding | PR | Social Media

Using Brand Personality in Social Media

On Wednesday, April 29th, Sara Meaney and I will host a Biz Seminar at the BizTech Conference. Below is a preview and some support information for that presentation. Every day in companies across the world, executives are trying to figure out ways to connect better with customers. In most cases these executives are making life harder than it needs to be.

*On Wednesday, April 29th, Al Krueger and Sara Meaney did a full presentation on “Using Brand Personality in Social Media,” at the BizTimes Magazine’s BizTech event. That presentation – a expansion of this article – can be found HERE.

If, as a business, you want to connect better with your customers, then do it. The answer is pretty simple. People like people. And because of this, people like brands with personalities that treat customers like real people.

A very bright guy named Rohit Bhargava wrote a great book entitled, “Personality not included: Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity – And How Great Brands Get it Back.” Yes, it’s a long title, but that’s not my point. In his book, Bhargava makes several interesting points about where businesses go wrong.

“…whatever the reason, most companies are adept at removing any sense of individuality or human connection from how they communicate. We commonly describe these companies as faceless.”

As consumers, each of us know that being a faceless or robotic company doesn’t work – we hate being shepherded through automated, push-button call processes and so forth. But, as a business it can be harder to drop the facelessness – because process maximization reduces costs and liability – but does it also limit sales and profits by frustrating customers?

Bhargava continues, “Personality is the key element behind your brand and what it stands for, and the story that your products tell to your customers. Every element of your business, from your interactions with your customers to the packaging of your products is an element of your brand personality, and these are elements that inspire delight or indifference among your customers. In short, personality matters.”

To make sure we all know the definition of personality, he provides a nice one, “Personality is the unique, authentic, and talkable soul of your brand that people can get passionate about.”

Beyond in-person interaction, phone conversation and other exchanges, the rapidly evolving space of social media is a great channel for connecting with customers and allowing personality to live in your brand.

Social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs and photo- and video-sharing sites are great ways to show the “unique, authentic and talkable soul of your brand.”

To get started in social media here are some steps that you can take and some things to consider.

1. Determine what you want to accomplish (objectives) in social media and consider what some of your brand’s opportunities and challenges could be.
2. Search out brand advocates and critics in social media and create a plan for how to respond to positive and negative commentary and how changes can be deployed within the business to correct issues.
3. Create compelling, relevant and engaging stories to establish a defined foundation for your brand in social media.
4. Define a compelling, relevant and engaging social media personality and tone that will be the personification of your brand and will help tell your stories.
5. Research and select the appropriate social media channels to utilize for sharing and dramatizing your brand’s personality and its stories.
6. Create a plan for setting up, maintaining and ensuring ongoing execution of your social media tactics. It takes dedicated time, support and focus to build a credible and engaging social media presence.
7. Make sure to develop a set of tracking parameters that will help you determine if your brand’s activities in social media are paying off.

As a business today, there are many tools and opportunities to connect with customers and build loyalty. Whether you dive in and play in social media or not, remember to drop the faceless shenanigans and show the “unique, authentic, and talkable soul of your brand that people can get passionate about.”

Tags: Branding in Social Media, Personality, PR 2.0, social media, Storytelling