The concept of branding has splintered into various sub categories. Before we had corporate branding and that was it. Now, thanks to social media, the concept of “Personal Branding” has become a buzz word. Personal branding really started to take shape in early 2009 when individual people started to think about how they appear on various social sites.
There’s also Internal Branding where a company projects its brand principals inward to affect the company culture. There’s Audible Branding which is along the lines of “word of mouth“. Social media is all about conversation—the tools to monitor conversation such as Twitter search, OneRiot or Bing allow conversations, or the audible brand to be monitored. For example, if Starbucks is mentioned in more conversations than it gets hits on its website, that’s a pretty strong argument for an audible brand.
Social Branding is the idea where a brand, whether Personal, Corporate or Audible are created or managed specifically for social media. A personal brand will follow certain rules across different social portals. A corporate brand may not follow “personal branding” rules, but will apply some of the same “social branding” rules to benefit from social media. And because personal brands and corporate brands are both a part of conversations online, they can be monitored and analyzed like an audible brand.
Here’s an example: Gary Vaynerchuck is a well known wine personality who established his personal brand in social media. @Garyvee has a brand that’s so strong it’s spilled over into traditional media such as print and television. Gary followed specific rules for his personal brand to grow in social media. On the other hand, Murphy-Goode winery launched a campaign called A Really Goode Job where candidates upload a 60-second video to a website and people vote on the videos. Ultimately, Murphy-Goode wants to use this viral campaign to hire a Lifestyle Correspondent. The campaign has been a smash hit generating a huge amount of buzz and free PR. Various news agencies have covered the story.
The point being, Gary Vaynerchuk and Murphy-Goode are both in the wine business, and both found success in social media. But one is a personal brand and the other is a corporate brand. They both Socially Branded themselves. Before socially branding itself, Murphy-Goode winery was not nearly as well known as it is now. It was just another winery, or corporate brand. They grew their brand in the social space. Gary Vaynerchuk’s personal brand is now growing outside of social media.
Social Branding is just getting started. A new future has emerged and social media is here to stay. Personal brands, corporate brands, audible brand and internal brands can all exist in social media, but the rules for them to suceed will require them to socially brand themselves. Corporate brands are finding out this is a new way of thinking.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=400e72bc-6db5-4d16-9f6d-89fe1f2e7a73)
{ 8 comments }
Great post. Easy to digest Social Branding 101.
Branding is not the right word in the social networking context. It is about "PRESENCE." With respect to a certain product or service, if you have a "presence" across multiple social networks, you can achieve some branding/marketing success. The difference between branding and presence is all about credibility. Those with a presence, who are viewed as the expert consistently providing good information, who people view as essentially being "in the room" on these topics, they win.
David, I think you missed the key sentence, "Social Branding is just getting started." Perhaps that's why you are not correctly aware of it. I totally disagree with you, although I do not necessarily think this was the article it could have been. The Personal Social Brand is here and in a very big way. The Corporate Social Brand is simply an aspect of the entire branding effort. Hence, just one more "presence" for the brand. Because of this, the Social Branding/Presence subject can get confusing. But don't be fooled nor confused. The ability to personally brand oneself has not existed in such an available and enormously reaching way as Social Media has made possible. Presence is not about credibility, presence is about branding. And, it's not about who provides "good" or "expert" information, it's about the size of your audience.
Thank you for adding a comment to this post. You were spot on when you mentioned that article was not all it could of been. I should learn to write these posts during the day and not late at night. I'd appreciate your feedback and would like to hear what this article or subject was missing. It'll be an ongoing subject and would like as much feedback as possible.
I think I am correctly aware of it, since I am in the midst of doing it for my own business. Many companies use social networking as just another elaborate billboard, that is not how social networking media works. It is about an ongoing conversation with many people in the room. If in that room (my particular topic is information security and privacy law) you have established a "presence", then people listen to you and want your services. The more you build that presence the more people come to you as the company/person who is the most well-versed on that topic/conversation.
Now, to be successful, you need to establish this presence across multiple social networking platforms. I do it on FB and Twitter obviously, through my blog, but also older platforms such as list-serves, bulletin boards and email newsletters. People "know" me there. The "branding" process is about people walking into that particular room (whatever topic, and the room being the universe of places where social interaction occurs) and looking to, and even expecting, you or your company to be holding court/providing input.
Let me say this as well. The more it is viewed as a "corporate" exercise rather than "personal" interaction, the less effective. This turns traditional corporate branding on its head.
David,
Can you elaborate more? If you don't have presence, wouldn't that be poor branding?
No, Rick, you should continue to write when the urge is there and the words are busting out all over, be it morning, noon or late at night.
David, from what you describe you ARE branding yourself, in fact it seems that you are not a presence but a brand. If however you think that "brand" sounds too corporate, or is only reserved for the corporate world then certainly call yourself a presence. If however you want the "people in the room" to continue listening to you then maybe you should give in and speak the language that has grown out of Social Media.
Both David and Rick can refer to http://www.asmp.org/strictlybusiness/ for the article "“Word of Mouth” in the 21st Century". Not that it is a better article, but it does defend Rick's idea of Social Media as a branding tool. "… Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin or blogging. All of these social sites are about branding – whether for your business or yourself personally. So the first question to ask yourself is how you can “build your brand” utilizing social media. In order to do this – you need to have a clear vision of what your brand is and to be consistent when building brand equity across the board."
I am wondering if you have considered this statement with regard to social media/corporate and personal branding. What is the purpose or goal of this effort?
In the case of Gary V., developing his personal brand has 1) initially helped him sell more wine 2) developed his 'personality' into an engaging personal speaker and 3) allowed him to spring board his 'personal brand' into a future role in advising others through his new company vaynermedia. In the case of Murphy Goode, yes, they did get awareness for their brand – but as a clever social media campaign to hire an employee – not necessarily as anything related to their core objective using brand awareness to introduce their wine to people nationwide. Yes, the contest got a lot of entries and publicity but I have been unable to verify whether wine sales have improved during the time of the contest or whether they have continued to increase.
So a successful social media campaign may not, in fact, serve the purpose of enhancing the image or awareness of the brand.
Your thoughts?