360DigitalInfluence

As retailers find their feet in social marketing, it would be interesting to know why they started down the road in the first place. All too often the answer is, “Because my customers expect me to be on Facebook.” Often “So I can push promotions” tops the list. But isn’t it great when the answer is, “I wanted to learn more about a few of my biggest fans, and leverage their influence to generate repeat visits at end of the purchase funnel?” This we don’t hear often.

Social-savvy retailers understand that their platforms aren’t just another outlet for brand messaging and promotions. They are often great listening posts and active drivers of business value. A few thought-starters (and relevant posts) on the subject:

1. Look into curated collections. Search for your brand on curated platforms like Pinterest. When you find someone who is in love with your product, they’ll often have past collections that reflect shared interests, and you’ll be able to discern whether they have ‘tastemaker’ status or not. After a careful identification process, these curators can be invited to broadcast their perspective on your brand.

2. Remember the valuable minority. A few of your most valuable influencers (often less than 10% of your total) can drive significant business value. Irfan Kamal’s great post thoroughly illustrates the point.

3. Turn your fans into advocates. Build a network of endorsers. Or, as our own Gemma Craven put it in her terrific post, turn your attention to “looking at the empowered customer as the new powerhouse that must be considered and included in any advocacy program.”

Consider the famous exchange from Pulp Fiction in which Jules and Vincent debate the rationality of abstaining from pork. Jules just doesn’t dig on swine, that’s all, because they’re basically dirty, like dogs.

VINCENT:     Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal?

JULES:          I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy, but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.

VINCENT:     Ah, so by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true?

JULES:          Well, we’d have to be talkin’ about one charming #@$#%& pig.

Indeed, we would have to be talking about one charming #@$#%& pig. Sure, people can “like” a brand. But most people don’t really like brands. Brands need to be more charming. For that, they need personality. Without it … well, we wouldn’t call them dirty. Just invisible. Like a ship passing in the night, to quote our founder.

In fact, I think to feel human might be the greatest feat a company can pull off. But letting your “you” come through is not an easy switch to throw. It takes knowing the central truth about your offering, and identifying the one cultural tension it can speak to. It takes a team of smart, honest people leading the dialogue.

And it takes a social platform that helps these people shine. To be personable is to be in dialogue. The consistency of traditional media is critical, but social media offers opportunities to be carefully inconsistent, like all humans. How? For starters, by not yammering about yourself all day. By listening. By developing a dynamic social cadence that steps away from your textbook tweets, and dabbles in your fans’ interests and even their voice.

Maybe then they will a) always know what to expect and b) be pleasantly surprised at the same time. Charm can run the gamut, from funny to sincere to Arnold on Green Acres. Some varied examples, below.

We’re all rightly impressed with social media when it activates communities to engage with a brand — when it does its job. We’re even more pleased when that community uses our social channels to lift that brand to a new level, even boost sales and profits.

I’d suggest that there’s an even greater accomplishment for social media, one that our integrated, cross-regional Ogilvy team recently saw in action. At the Opportunity Nation Summit in New York, a broad coalition of activists spent two days crowdsourcing solutions for our country’s joblessness and faltering education system. Some of the biggest names in business, media, policy and entertainment came together: Arianna Huffington, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, CNN’s Dr. Fareed Zakaria, financial guru Suze Orman, Pastor Rick Warren, hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons, tennis star Serena Williams, and several business icons lent their voices at this critical moment for our country, sharing ideas and making solid commitments.

With a combination Atlanta/DC/NY/Chicago Ogilvy team at the controls and global CEO Chris Graves leading the charge, we produced an event livestream from the stage at Columbia University, live celebrity interviews from our Conversation Room, and liveblogging and tweets from Ogilvy content creators, making the conversation a worldwide talking point. And an innovative new Opportunity Index was unveiled. It was social media for a special cause, playing a crucial part in the effort, and it was an honor to be a part of it.

The conversation was built on the foundation of our New York and Washington DC offices’ remarkable work for Opportunity Nation’s new brand identity and website. We spent a month seeding conversations throughout the social web and promoting the stage and livestream events. Then, at Friday’s summit, the conversation really took off. We invite you to take a look at the video interviews, Facebook activity, and follow the continuing conversation (#oppsummit).