Guide to Transparency in Marketing

This presentation was delivered as an introduction to a panel on "Open Brands" at the Twitter 140 conference in Mountain View, CA. Representatives from Dominos, JetBlue, Ebay, and Intuit sat on the panel and provided great insights in their corporate use of Twitter. Also, thanks to all the great people who voted for the Open Brand 'unconference' session to make this happen.

Presentation Description: Twitter is pushing radical transparency on brand management. Check out recent corporate case studies in Twitter use, and learn key strategies/practices in Social Media. If you've heard me speak before, I added some new content in this presentation specific for the Twitter audience: Twitter-specific case studies and reorganized/focused slides on the key Twitter concepts. Hope you enjoy it!

The Sustainable Enterprise Conference is a day long learning and networking conference dedicated to helping San Francisco North Bay businesses transition to economic, environmental and social sustainability.

Joey Shepp, spoke at the The fourth annual conference on May 8, 2009 at Sonoma Mountain Village in Rohnert Park, CA.

Speaking Abstract

The Open Brand: Beyond Green Washing
Sustainability Marketing in a World of Radical Transparency

Social media technology is driving the shift towards a more open culture, a more open government, and most notably, a more open way of marketing. People are Twittering about your brand right now and the way you respond today will determine the future of brand management.

At the same time, corporate sustainability marketing initiatives are getting labeled as green washing because they lack transparency that is foundational to building authentic brand trust.

In this talk, you will learn how to leverage social media technology to be an Open Brand leader, transcending green washing and building trusted relationship with your customers. See current case studies of corporate green initiatives that have succeeded and failed. Learn how to show your green, authentically.

 

Clay Sherky explains why companies should not be afraid of total transparency.  

Thanks Big Think for this Video!

Warren Sukernek, of Radian6, recently shared an interesting presentation called, "Become a Twitter Ninja." The presentation starts by building a business case for Twitter with some key statistics, then goes into case studies, best practices and some "how to." Very relevant if you are a brand manager or business owner.

 

The Seven Rules:

1. Listen and converse (and converge)
2. Atomize your brand
3. Activate your customers
4. Think and act like a media company
5. Give more than you take
6. Be the change
7. Be yourself

At Open Brands, we are delivering to you a vehicle for discovery. What do I mean? We intend for you to use this site like an interactive TV channel (if you will). Browse around and you will find interesting brands, people, and resources, and as I have found, not all brands are all that interesting, rather it's the people talking about the brands that make the channel interesting.

You don't have to be a Twitter user, or Twitter savvy to use our site.

There's no logging in on Open Brands. It's as simple as searching a brand you like or discovering one in our directory. As you check out our brand channels, look for interesting links, they are often contain news stories, pictures, and videos, but you never know what you might get.

For more about the logic of discovery, enjoy:

Here's a nice video on Marketing 2.0, great for beginners, but also has value for the seasoned veterans. If you're new to the conversation watch this video!

Marketing 2.0 Explained from Roland Smart on Vimeo.

 

It's been itching at me for a while now, "What is a brand?" I mean I know what a brand is. When I hear the word, I associate it with attitudes and experiences I've had with different products and services, but what about the core meaning of the word "brand?"

According to ancient scripture, it means "bran" as is the outer layer of grain, and the word "and" combined to mean 'to enjoy bran with.' Okay, I made that up, but the idea of a brand does go back as far as humans have understood ownership and marking ownership on their property.  Granted, the way humans have evolved over time, the word and function has been used in many ways. I think this last century has really brought brand consciousness to the forefront of popular culture.

As industrial society started producing more products, companies feeling pressure to compete started placing more and more emphasis on brand identification. Insert the advent of mass media, like radio and television, and you have a vehicle capable of distribution for brand image/message.

So here we are today, immersed in media, social sharing and relationships across boundaries. Word of mouth is more important then ever, and distribution rules the land. Before the new era brands controlled the message, the jingle, and the image. People are increasing their stake of ownership in brands. How brands respond to this will largely depend on the character of the brand itself. Are they willing to embrace the conversation?

It's a phenomenon, and like it or not, people are grabbing up usernames like they're domains of the 90's.

I'm noticing that even though brands should protect their identity, it's not the end of days if someone grabbed your username on Twitter, or YouTube. In fact I see a lot of company's on Twitter, opting in for the personal touch. For example, the recent launch of ExecTweets shows there are many executives representing themselves and their prospective brands. The executive has a certain degree of privacy, as they are a bit more difficult to find through Twitter, yet what they present is a more personal representation of the brand then tweeting through a brand seal.

YOUR-NAME-HERE_at_YOUR-COMPANY-HERE.

The personal touch also allows you to create a larger breadth of communication, as you may have several people tweeting for a brand. In a recent article from Mashable.com, they laid out the 40 Best Twitter Brands, and while many of them are real brands like the famous @JetBlue and @TheHomeDepot, some were personal accounts such as Chevrolet's @AdamDenison and @Alicia_at_Honda. I like the personal touch, because I like hearing the inside scoop and making personal connections, but I also follow a lot a name brands, because they do create a lot of value through their Tweets.

What's your best bet as a business?

In the words of Ice Cube, "You'd better check yourself before you wreck yourself." And it is in that spirit that I invite you to checkout your brands username availability and see if other people are out there representing you.

 

Amazing growth in Twitter over the last year makes it the fastest growing online community according to Nielsen's Wire Blog:

"Unique visitors to Twitter increased 1,382 percent year-over-year, from 475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009, making it the fastest growing site in the Member Communities category for the month."

Also interesting is their note about using social media in an unstable economy:

"It will be interesting to watch the evolution of Twitter as it continues to gain momentum. In an unstable economy, it might prove to be an economical and important part of an employer’s marketing strategy that helps to keep consumers aware of and connected to their brand."

 

The NY Times just released a story about phony celebrity twitter accounts titled, When Stars Twitter, a Ghost May Be Lurking. The article calls out the fact that there are brand managers controlling many celebrity's identity on twitter. Excuse me, What? You mean that really isn't @50cent sending me all those links to thisis50? Okay, so if you use twitter then you probably know that there are fakes out there, but when you use that identity for shady pursposes beware the community will sniff you out!

In the words of @the_real_shaq: “It’s 140 characters. It’s so few characters. If you need a ghostwriter for that, I feel sorry for you.”

Shaq has embraced the twitter and uses it in interesting ways that fit his personality and lifestyle. One of my favorite examples for Shaq is the tweet, "RT @The_Real_Shaq I'm n the mia on the beach whoever touches me gets 2 ticket (update: between 15th and 1st)." Bravo Shaq!

 

Need a name for a new product or service? Here's my advise, be unique. It a world where Target can be interpretated in 31 ways you need to make your product stand out differently. The days of brands being called Method, Dove, or Apple are limited, so differentiate yourself and go by #64332J, no please don't. We'll settle for Patagonia or Bic.