Is Your Brand a People Person?

Remember the scene from the 1999 movie Office Space when the two consultants interview employees at the fictional software firm Initech ahead of companywide layoffs?

“What would ya say you do here?” asks one of the consultants.

“I have people skills. I am good at dealing with people! Can’t you understand that?!” replies an emotional Tom Smykowski. Poor Tom. He’s got a wife and kids at home. You can hardly blame the guy for losing his cool. The writing is on the wall. 

The consultants don’t say a word. Something tells you they’ve seen this before. They let Tom have his moment. He eventually leaves to clean out his office—that first step in his inevitable march toward unemployment.

It’s Not Business, It’s Personal

To the consultants, the employees at Initech are a series of numbers to be reconciled on a balance sheet, an exercise in financial efficiency deemed necessary for the profit of the almighty “product,” not the names and faces behind it.

It’s that same thinking that caused so many Americans to pull their hair out during the latest economic bust. It’s also the reason I smile a little bit every time a client comes to me befuddled by their inability to meaningfully connect with customers online through social media.

“I don’t get it,” somebody slams down a hand. “We’ve got the best product. We’ve got great content. Yet, we don’t have any friends on Facebook. What gives?”

The answer, more often than not, is in the approach.

A recent survey from online marketing firm Get Satisfaction and Incyte Group, a market data consultancy, found that only about 12 percent of Facebook users log on to Facebook to interact with brands. The majority—more than 70 percent—use Facebook to interact socially. When it comes to consumer choices—learning about a company, deciding what product to purchase, et cetera—89 percent of respondents said they first visited the company’s web page. Just 21 percent said they used a social network.

Brands are many things. But they are not people. In the realm of social media, this is an important distinction. Social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, for example, were created for a social purpose—for people to share photos of their pets or rail about politics or the heat or complain incessantly about their jobs.

Given the rising popularity of the social scene, it was only a matter of time before brands made their move. But to expect people to count companies amongst their friends? Products are bought. Friendship is earned. If brands want to break into their customers’ social circle, they have to do so earnestly. They need people who are good at dealing with people. They need more Tom Smykowskis.

Get Real, Be Real

In addition to your Facebook or Twitter account, consider playing up the personalities and people behind your product.

Do you have a stable of respected voices—people who are considered thought leaders within their industry? Encourage them to create their own social media accounts subtly aligned with your brand.

Several media firms do this well. HGTV, the cable network that produces popular home-improvement shows Property Brothers  and Holmes Inspection, among other popular do-it-yourself programs, actively promotes the Facebook and Twitter accounts of its on-air personalities during commercial breaks. Shows have their own Facebook pages and their own Twitter accounts on which celebrity hosts respond in person to questions and comments from viewers.

The Huffington Post recently published, “50 People in Media to Follow.” Want ideas about how to play up the personalities and people behind your brand? Check out this list.

Lose the Brandcuffs

Message control is a hallmark of companies and associations alike. Taglines and mission statements are vetted and focused-grouped and tweaked to perfection. No communication leaves the insular walls of the corporation before it crosses the desks of at least five people—and that’s considered fast.

Message control is important. Companies and associations must be careful not to offend or upend their customers and members. So much of loyalty is dependent upon reputation. Just look at the uproar created by Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy’s recent comments on gay marriage.

At the same time, succeeding in social requires brands to take certain risks. If you want to accumulate social goodwill, you’ve got to be prepared to lose, or at very least, to loosen, the “brandcuffs.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean allowing employees to post whatever they want. But it does mean being limber enough to offer personal responses to customer comments, contributing to conversations with thoughtful analysis, and helping your audience find and use information that matters to them, even if it comes from an outside source. Come across a blog post that you know your audience would find interesting? Don’t be afraid to share it (with proper attribution and credit, of course).

Your brand is good at what it does. It wouldn’t have a following otherwise. But that doesn’t mean it’s the only voice worth listening to. If you want to succeed in the social space, be a good friend and inform the conversation.

Don’t try to own it.

[Image: YouTube]