Читать книгу Social Media - Carolyn Boyes - Страница 11

Most of social media is free so commitment to a brand isn’t shown with money but with attention or inattention. To get that attention you need to offer a promise to people.

What difference do you want to make? What impact do you want to make? All great brands promise us something. Take a brand like Coca-Cola or Pepsi. Many drinks quench your thirst, so why buy a branded drink which costs more? Simply because the brand seems to promise more.

Some brands last for generations even though the products are very different. What do Disney, McDonald’s, Twinings and Burberry really promise you that keeps you loyal to them? We will all pay more if someone or something makes us feel better. That’s why advertisers show us adverts populated with people we want to aspire to be like. For some of us, that means buying a product associated with the perfect home and family; for others it means a link with being young and fashionable or being different and anti-establishment.

Sometimes the brand promise is obvious and sometimes it takes time to think through. Start by considering what makes your business stand out from its competitors. By knowing what makes you different you can work out what you are really promising to give people when they connect with your brand.

“Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business” Steve Forbes

Take a political information company, for example. What makes them different? Information is available from dozens of sites on the web. For one company it may be their humorous presentation of the news, for another the fact they are always first with the news or they have politicians rather than journalists working for them, so they are the first to learn about what really goes on in the corridors of power.

Perhaps you run a bakery. Isn’t selling cakes and bread and buns just about feeding people? Not necessarily. Perhaps it’s the way your posts of cakes in retro fifties’ settings make people feel as if they are living the domestic goddess dream. You promise the lifestyle with every product you sell.

Think about what makes you different and what your brand can promise its customers.