A company’s ability to engage and connect with people has to do with its imagination and not the product or product category.
A couple of days back a quite popular and knowledgeable blog wrote, as a small part of their quite smart overview on social media, that some brands don’t belong in it
.
I do agree with their statement, but disagree strongly with their reasoning:
- ” Some brands do not need to engage with their customers online, period
. Products like bread or socks, for example, are not the kind of things that people want to have a social relationship with anywhere, forget online. It just makes them look silly.” – madebymany.co.uk
Now to me, both bread:
– Bakertweet
And socks:
– LittleMissMatched (mentioned on several occasions by mister Godin)
have a potential following too them.
In my mind it doesn’t come down to the category. It comes down to the company – if you are boring and uninteresting brand, and never even tried to create something remarkable or interesting in regards to your product
– Injectable alprostadil How long does sildenafil last? the patient and partner’s preference, expectations and.
. Then social media, as would be the case with advertising, is not a golden ticket, and will either fail or prove you wrong faster – or both.
And it comes down to our imagination
. Just because we haven’t seen it done before it doesn’t mean there isn’t a possibility that it might happen – in a way we could never imagine. In fact, having NOT seen it before only proves that there is a market and that it is there for the taking (if my initial statement is correct that is :o).
So, it’s not the product or category that defines a companies ability to connect and grow with its audience and participants
. It is its ability to imagine something remarkable inside what to others seems like a lifeless and boring category.
As the saying goes, for every rule there is an exception. But i do feel that luxury goods (the really expensive ones) and tobacco aren’t quite fit to social media. Either for being inefficient or unwelcome.
Even if the idea is that remarkable, it still lacks relevance in regards to the product. It’s just an idea, and it serves no purpose on solving a business problem.
Hi Armando, thanks for pitching in.
Every rule has an exception, I guess your right. But isn’t our goal to find these exceptions so that our clients stand out from the crowd and becomes remarkable – with all the brand value, top of mind and ROI that comes with it.
I would argue that following the rule book, or admitting there is one, and falling into the invisible sameness of unidentifiable brands and products most certainly isn’t.
And if the idea is a novelty or serves the direct purpose of creating new business opportunities, as well, is up to our imagination not the product or product category.
In my mind :)
Helge
Funny how the two examples of bread and socks leaves me with so many openings for good stories – how about local Godt Brød, Åpent Bakeri, or http://www.poilane.com/ – and have you meet the guys behind Happy Socks?
You are perfectly right in your argument Helge, I think the interesting question here is where do we draw the line between value for our peers and remarkability?
And Armando:
Here’s an exception – really expensive luxury brand Maison Martin Margiela – probably more a cult, than a brand, thus quite excellent for social media. Considering Martin has never been photographed, and remains backstage at all his runway shows – he’s perfect.
Marvelous Thomas, I was thinking of some of your local bread examples as well (of course I did :), but didn’t find any web activity.
Especially I was thinking of Bakeriet på Lom (The Bakery in Lom) which is run by the same model as Åpent Bakeri, it would have some great potential with its enthusiasts.
Pollane or Happy socks I hadn’t heard about, the last one is quite a good extension: http://www.happysocks.com/blog/
Thanks for adding your thoughts.
Best
Helge