Social Networks are for People, Not Brands
From Steve Rubel’s Posterous blog, in describing the success, or lack of it, of brand advertising on Facebook:
“In short, a faceless presence on a social network doesn’t really work that well. People are there for people, not brands. Companies need to put their own employees out there authentically if they hope to break through in the Age of Streams.”
A great point, missed by many companies.
Jasen commented: “So companies should have posts like evangelists to work in social media space?”
No!
I’d like to speak to real people when I speak to corporates on social media. I don’t think that’s a social media evangalist, or a specially created post.
If I’m speaking to Dell, I might want to speak to a technician who really knows my hardware inside out. If I’m speaking to a hotel chain, it might be the member of staff who is a keen hillwalker knows about nearby routes.
BT staff are encouraged to blog about their jobs helping us understand what they do (taking customer confidentiality into account). I believe AT&T pay their staff a bonus if they help someone out on a social network – they don’t have to be “customer service” staff.
Surely it’s all about ethos. Zappos is successful, and was bought by Amazon, because it is a customer service company, not a shoe company. Every member of staff is a customer service evangalist, not a brand evangalist.
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