Posted by: Sean Cadigan

OK, so you’re sick of hearing people preach about social media. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Youtube, Linkedin, etc., etc., etc. The social space out there is endless. Everyone has an opinion, but here at Factory Emissions we are more interested in sharing those instances of social media that can help demonstrate its reach and, when used properly, its power. The following is a great example of how being socially responsible through ‘social’ media can heighten your customers’ emotional ties to your brand.

Branding and ‘Social’ Media

As most businesses know, branding is integral to the success of any product or service. Essentially, there are three things that influence a brand — price, functionality, and emotional attachment. Sure, social media can help you spread the word on price and the abilities of your product or service, but social media really ramps up with respect to emotional attachment. As many out there scramble to get the most fans and/or followers, the smart ones are using social media to bring more meaning to their brands. It was well said on Amber Naslund’s Altitude Branding blog: “People aren’t marbles, and you don’t get any points for collecting a bunch of staring eyeballs that are waiting for you to do something significant. Attention only matters if can move people beyond noticing, and into investing their time and energy.”

As noted in our previous post, “The Republic of Social Media”, engagement sells. With respect to price and functionality, it is only a matter of time before your competitors match your offering. It is through engagement and emotional ties, then, that you are able to maintain a firm grasp of your customer’s wallet.

A Sense of Community

Rewind 20 years to the beginning of the Internet movement, and many of those aware of its power were all proclaiming the same idea: that the Internet will allow companies to build community more efficiently. And through these communities, companies could immerse people in their brands and create that emotional tie that is so hard to obtain without the resource of huge advertising dollars.

One problem — how do you get people to your community? Solution — insert social media, a little dash of humanitarianism, stamp your brand on it and voilà! Something for people to rally around. A common idea that nearly all people will quickly rally around is that of being socially responsible. Just look at how quick the world supported Haiti after the earthquake.

I’d like to take a look at two brands that have done this well: Dove and Pampers.

As a new parent, I have become very aware of the diaper world. Starting out, price and functionality never even came to mind. I bought Pampers because of the One Pack = One Vaccine campaign. Soon I was on the Pampers Village website and my wife really got into it.

Here was all the parenting information you needed along with the ability to share it with others in exactly the same situation, a true sense of community as people share their experiences of parenting. It is safe to say only Pampers have been brought into our house.

Another online community that my wife has recently become a part of is Dove’s. Based around The Campaign for Real Beauty (Genius Campaign), this site also creates community around all issues related to beauty and people’s perceptions of it. However, it was the page where regular girls define beauty in their own words that caught her.

Dove actually works with partners to help promote self-esteem to young girls and women. Wow, what an excellent cause to support. Out went the High Endurance body wash and in came Dove and a ‘poof’ (A handy tool, I am told, that helps with the application of body wash…).

Putting Social in Social Media

If you haven’t noticed, the theme with many companies has been:

1. Introduce a social responsibility or charity campaign through traditional media.
2. Spread the word virally through social media avenues.
3. Draw people into your online community and engage them.

You can watch a company do something which is socially responsible, then become involved and next thing — whammo — you’re a brand advocate. This is clever. Emotional attachment to a brand usually comes after a lot of time using the brand and consistently being hit over the head with its brand advertising. Now through traditional media and viral distribution through social media, the emotional attachment is made via a company’s acts of social responsibility. This then draws the consumer into the ‘community’ where, if done properly, engagement keeps them.

Some Examples of other ‘Social’ Campaigns:

Dawn World Wildlife Support

Pepsi Refresh Everything

The take-away: ‘social’ media can be key in helping a brand build an emotional tie to its consumer and creating a brand community. Have you made purchases based on a company’s social responsibility campaign? What brand communities are you involved in?

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