50 | SOCIAL MEDIA DIGITAL MARKETING WORDS | Carol Mann & Chris Hall


www.opp.org.uk | JUNE 2011


Stand out in the crowd


It occurred to OPP’s digital experts Carol Mann and Chris Hall recently that as a result of the huge growth in the way businesses are using social media ... and the way in which major brands are now clamouring to attract our attention, that there’s a battle going on within their internal departments, their third party agencies and even their own minds as to whether or not they should break free and show a bit of character and personality. They are battling to stand out from the crowd. But how can you really do that properly online?


how it is going to engage and interact with its target community.


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The campaign managers will create detailed spreadsheets. And Gantt charts will be drawn up highlighting different types of activity across various timeframes to ensure that the objectives are met.


But all too often no-one asks, does this include enough personality? Are organisations adding in little nuances and character traits that help to delineate their company or brand? And - more than that - are they allowing people close to that brand or company (employees) to be themselves and interact as a real person showing emotion and opinion and feelings? Now, at this point you might be


very good marketing campaign depends on a detailed strategy highlighting


asking yourself does it really matter? And that might be true in some cases (although only a few.)


They key thing is to look at how you behave on the social networks. Think about how you engage and chat with people on Twitter or on similar pages in Facebook. You will use a sense of personality there – so why not everywhere else that you or your brand appears online?


Emotional lead


Generally speaking, our actions in day- to-day life are led by how we feel about something that we have read or want to say out loud.


Let me explain this idea further:


You may be a huge fan of Coca Cola and drink four/fi ve cans per week. But every time you have one, or think about having one, it doesn’t lead you


to comment about it on Twitter or to ‘Like’ it on Facebook. But … if Coca Cola asks [across the networks] “What were you doing when you last had a Coke? Best reply wins a case a month for a year” … then I can guarantee that interaction on their Facebook Wall will go crazy and their Twitter conversations will be vast.


This is because the brand wants to have fun and it’s trying to provoke you into memories and emotions rather than direct selling.


I was recently told by a colleague (in the same industry) about a conversation they’d had with an agency that was representing their client.


The agency was becoming frustrated at the lack of interaction the campaign was generating but wanted to be freer with the approach. The agency wanted to use personality and real life


Brand Versus Personality – How do we stand out in the crowd? This article was written by Chris Hall and Carol Mann of Hallmann Market- ing – founders of Social Clarity. See www.hallmann.co.uk and join in the conversation at: http://www.facebook.com/SocialClarity


HallmannMarketing


conversation rather than some kind of social network ‘formula’. The client wanted mass approval of tweets and Facebook content and Twitter’s key objective was lead generation. There’s nothing wrong with lead generation because that’s the “Return on Investment” yardstick that every


Quirky | humourous and diff erent can work well when your campaign needs to break free and get itself noticed. People get frustrated too when there is no interaction.


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