Socialism is the New World Order – How Will Marketers Survive?

The New World Order is Socialism: I mean the digital world! Successful brands of tomorrow will be the ones that are comfortable letting go of so called “control” and work with the customers in creating the brand image.

According to Dunkin’ Donuts Brand Marketing Officer Frances Allen: “Customers will decide what our brand is about. And there is nothing we can do about it. And that is a very liberating thing. In the end, you can’t control it. And that’s the beauty of social media. And that means marketers have to let go – a little”

Listening to some of the panelists at the recently concluded OMMA Global, I realized that some of the brands get it. Companies like Ford, NY Times and Dunkin’ Donuts have leveraged the power of Social Media to build brand awareness, customer loyalty and increase sales.

Martin Nisenholtz, SVP Digital Operations at the New York Times Company says the Times loves Twitter. Twitter has become extremely important distribution feeder for the NY Times. Times has over 200 Twitter feeds and adding 15,000 followers a week. And talking about ROI, Twitter now drives 10% of NYT digital distribution, up from 0 a year ago.

From Facebook pages, to blogging and Twitter accounts, Ford has gone crazy for social networking. And there are no limits, according to Scott Monty (Twitter @ScottMonty), Global Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager at Ford Motor Company. Ford is presently in its eighth month of its Fiesta Movement social-media program to promote the eponymous car from Europe by letting 100 young social-media-savvy Americans drive the vehicles for several months. Each month, Ford has been assigning tasks to the “Agents” involving lots of driving and just as much blogging, Twittering, YouTubing and Flickring. “People are finding out about the Fiesta from people like them,” said Scott.

So what do companies and marketers do to adapt to a world where

• there are plenty more choices available to the consumer
• media is fragmented
• attention span has reduced dramatically
• audience is not listening anymore

What do they need to do different in order to survive and grow?

Marketers have to move away from the ‘broadcast” mode where they would just create information and then do a mass publish to the consumers. Marketers need to establish trust and authenticity. Marketers need to LIE in order to be successful.

L: LISTEN: Trust is built by understanding and acting upon the needs of the customer. To understand the needs, you need to listen in. Grow Bigger Ears. You need to make yourself accessible via Twitter, email, phone, whatever tool you use to answer a question, provide information. People trust people like themselves. Again, to cite @ScottMonty at Ford: “Your brand is not my friend. I don’t want a cup of coffee or car or piece of clothing to “friend” me on Facebook. I want the brand manager, designer or engineer. I want someone who can talk to me/listen to me.”

I: INFLUENCE: After Listening and Learning about the customer needs, you need to act on it in an authentic manner. Transparency and Authenticity are key in creating a degree of influence. Deborah Schultz, Partner Innovation Practice, Altimeter Group cautions: “Always be truthful on social media…Google is the long tail of lies.”

E: ENGAGE: If you constantly listen and learn from the customer AND influence her by acting in a transparent and authentic manner, you will enter the engagement phase with the customer. Engagement is where the customer becomes a brand ambassador/advocate. Customers in this phase are the most profitable. They provide you feedback and suggestions for improvement. They bring in other customers. They are willing to pay a higher price for your product compared to that being charged by the competition.

It will be interesting to see how companies adapt to the new Socialist order and how many are willing to partner with the customers to develop what the brand should stand for. What do you think will be some of the challenges?

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