What is a Social Brand?

In 1998, Al and Laura Ries published The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, and the marketing world went into a frenzy. Where the focus of marketing had been on go-to-market strategy (distribution, advertising, publicity, etc.) and driving sales, this book threw a wrench into everything by claiming that the ONLY thing that really matters is BRAND. All of a sudden, things like perception, awareness, sentiment, "cool factors," recall, and other softer, more qualitative metrics came into play.

But the issue with BRANDING was that most people didn't really understand what it meant (and many still don't). There was a focus on logos and colours and "marks" and "tone and voice" and such. There are 22 immutable laws, but people forgot everything outside of the graphic design department. 

Our graphic designer Alex wrote a post a few weeks back that talked about how much he's had to learn about branding in the social era. The major lesson is...brand guidelines are pretty limiting when it comes to a time that consumers are participants, content is is multimedia, loyalty is built by connecting through shared passions and experiences, and taking a stand is celebrated, traditional brands with rigid guidelines and limited palettes just won't do it. 

But, once again, branding goes well beyond how you visually represent your product or service in a tweet or gif. It's a new way of thinking. As we say at Truly Social, it's not about a tool, it's about an approach. In this week's video, I focus a bit more on the visual, but the dimensions of a social brand should be applied to the way the company interacts with the world:

#1. A social brand has a personality

When I see "tone and voice" guides that say things like, "knowledgeable, positive, credible, friendly, helpful, authoritative....etc etc etc," I shake my head. Think about how you would describe a person...a REAL person you know.

Knowledgeable isn't a personality trait. How you present that knowledge is. Neil deGrasse Tyson is knowledgeable, but he presents that knowledge through his super enthusiastic, geeking out voice. He gets giddy about learning. You can hear it in his voice and how he writes. Bill Nye the science guy is also knowledgeable, but he presents his knowledge through humour and sometimes a little snark. 

Giddiness or snarky-ness are "personality traits" where knowledgeable is an attribute.

#2. A social brand has a point of view

The most recent ad by Nike takes a stand. You may or may not agree with that stand, but taking a stand helped them connect deeper with a specific audience. They made a choice. In Ries' book, one of the laws of branding is "The Law of Contraction: a brand becomes stronger when you narrow its focus". Now, I don't know if Ries would agree, but Nike narrowed its focus with that ad. They differentiated themselves in a crowded market. 

Oreo did this a bunch of years back when they published a "rainbow" version to show their support of LGBTQ+ communities. This created a huge backlash from their conservative followers, but enormously expanded their support (and increased their relevance) with their liberal followers. Honestly, Oreo had become a bit irrelevant in the sea of competitors and the anti-sugar movement, but this move reinvigorated the brand.

#3. A social brand has flexibility

When you hear the phrase "digital-first" or "mobile-first" or the like, you may wonder what that means. It means that you design with either a digital or mobile experience in mind, THEN re-design for the other platforms. But that was narrow thinking. There are no more "firsts." Now we have to think about ALL of the ways in which our brand will be experienced: mobile, desktop, app, browser, offline, online, social, video, audio, gif, on a listicle, pinboard, Twitter thread, vertical video, horizontal video, album, sticker, interactive, in a search result, as a postcard, a banner ad, packaging...okay...I'll stop. You understand. But I should also add that this content has to come out almost daily, so you need to think about how it expands into an ongoing series without creating monotony.

Rigid visual brand guidelines won't work. Ask Alex.

#4. A social brand can adapt across multiple media

This goes beyond your logo or visual representation. What does a podcast version of your brand look like? How do you represent that personality, point of view and flexibility when you aren't looking at anything?

#5. A social brand is hackable

People support that which they help build. If they can interact with it, personalize it and feel some ownership, they are more likely to get behind you.  Do's, don'ts and other rules prevent people from being part of your brand growth. This is the most important (and toughest) rule in the social era.

Watch this week's video to get the scoop.

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Truly Social is a web series that you can share with your boss or client when they’re not really “getting” social. It’s also the name of my company — where we work with clients on helping them develop their own content series.

I’ve been working on this social stuff for over 19 years and I’ve been a participant in the social web since 1992. My videos (usually) come out twice a month …with ~5 minute “lessons” on what are truly social practices (and what are NOT).