Here’s a short summary to accompany the slides. The session focussed specifically on place branding although a lot of this applies to any brand in the online space …
Digital channels have grown up. Push has become pull. Consumers are becoming increasingly empowered and turned off by one way communication.
What consumers are saying is shaping your brand. Branding online has become more about reputation management. It has become more social.
Brands face four key challenges – content, socialisation, integration and measurement.
Content. Your community of content producers and consumers can help fuel your content hungry web presence – on and off your own website. Smart brands offer something for them to line up against and support.
Socialisation. Brands need to learn how to live within a new conversation culture – the norms, values and attitudes that it brings. You can’t buy success in the earned media space – you still have to earn it.
Integration. Online and offline support each other. From awareness to advocacy many of the same rules apply but the journey just got messier. An integrated strategy and a multichannel approach still rules.
Measurement. Different ways of doing things require different measurement. The quality of your content network is all important. The sentiment of the conversations across it is one of the more difficult but important things you have to measure.
Brands must listen. Before you do anything keep your ear to the ground. Take account of context, history and the specific challenges you face as a brand.
We used to pay particular attention to things like tone of voice, style and design. In our new world we need to pay attention to things like our point of view and the way we behave as brands.
In the absence of a ‘set piece’ solution great story telling supported by creative and technical convergence goes a long way to help successfully manage your brand’s reputation.
For place brands and travel destinations the challenge is further complicated by the sheer number and variety of individuals and organisations involved in shaping the brand. Online stakeholder communities and brand platforms might go some way to helping pull it all together but their success still depends on the same things that help build any community – online or offline. To name just a few;
Make it easy to join, share and be open.
Provide leadership but share responsibility.
Make sure the incentives work for all involved.
Like most things digital it is all about people rather than just technology!
My friend and much valued colleague Bryn always tells me to blog about non-work related stuff. Today is Saturday. I love Saturdays. It’s the one day of the week when I try to do absolutely nothing work related. Today I went flying.
So why flying, or more accurately paragliding? Amongst other things I think it is the simplicity and self sufficiency of it all that makes it such a good antidote to work and our day to day lives. You really are pulling the strings. You can’t jump off, take a break or rely on anyone else. You have to deal with what is thrown at you. Right there. Right then.
So why the blog title? A long time ago I worked with the guys at Wings and Waves in New Zealand. We had this printed on our t-shirts. Most of the time not. But some of the time yes. You don’t always get to the hill and find it flyable. You can spend a lot of time and effort getting to that point. Sometimes things can and do go wrong.
The book Here Comes Everyone by Clay Shirky (a very smart fella) considers the way digital social arrangements develop. Here’s a précis of his four steps.
Sharing
When we were kids learning to be a ‘good sharer’ was important. Initially we didn’t much like it but over time sharing made life much better in lots of ways. We interacted, we made friends, we played with those friends, we learnt from them and we felt bonded to them. Online we are creating and sharing lots of stuff – images, video, status updates and bookmarks to name but a few. Sharing is the starting point for cooperation.
Cooperation
We do stuff that makes it easier for the community to use the things we’ve made. We tag content with categories, labels and keywords. We do it because it makes life easier for everyone. It also strengthens the power and output of the community. Take Digg and Reditt as examples – their top stories can influence what we consume as much as any newspaper.
Collaboration
“Serious collaborators put in far more energy than they could ever get in return. This is why the sum out performs the parts”
Simply put I suppose collaboration is a more organised form of cooperation. It had baffled me for a long time why thousands of people would write code for open source software projects. Why do they invest their time and energy? The answer is a whole bunch of things; altruism, recognition from their peers, status, reputation, enjoyment, learning and satisfaction.
Collectivism
This is the thicker end of the stick. How are these communities held together in the long term? Who decides what the priorities are? How do they balance direction between the leaders and the rest of the community? While millions of people contribute to Wikipedia, where would it be without the circa 2,000 editors keeping it in check?
I tend to agree with Mr Shirky;
“In the past, constructing an organisation that exploited hierarchy yet maximised collectivism was nearly impossible. Now digital networking provides the necessary infrastructure. The internet empowers product focused organisations to function collectively while keeping hierarchy from taking over”.
Interesting. I think this is a useful framework for working with groups and organisations in the offline world;
Are we making life easier for each other?
What are we getting out of the work we do?
Are the people in charge mindful of the community?
We work across a wide range of sectors – from Dingo Hire Melbourne to Water Resistant Jeans in terms of what people might be searching for on Google. Our smallest client is an activity holiday business is Portugal. Well, actually not so small – the sister business supplies vegetables to the likes of Marks and Spencer and turf to Real Madrid. I am not saying that the other business is any less interesting but travel and tourism is a great platform for user generated content. Have a look at this and if you like it forward it to those you follow and look up to. Produced and directed by a bunch of Canadians while on holiday with Alentejo Adventures. Brilliant.
Good timing too. At the same time we were discussing the Alentejo Brand and what the essence of that might be. We reckon the video encapsulates it perfectly – let the good times roll! Alentejo Adventures might not be our most profitable account and it might not be as big as some of the other things we work on but sometimes it’s more than enough to work with nice people doing nice stuff. What’s more the holidays are great too and I would recommend them to anybody.
