Violet Mae Lim

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are real people being Facebook pages. It’s easy to read posts, click like, share them, or even ignore them all together but every once in a while, something happens that makes us remember that there is someone (or a team of someones) sitting behind the page, carefully selecting what will appears in a Facebook stream. Sometimes that “something” is a quirky little mistake…

Yesterday, I noticed a post from the NPR Facebook page that looked a little different. Instead of the usual link to a story that they normally post, there was a block of text:

It turns out, people didn’t mind. And a quick scan of the Facebook page shows that this post is pretty active and engaging compared to some of their other posts.

This post stood out to me because it is personal, friendly and conversational… much like a note that a friend would send. Additionally, it’s pretty transparent. Somebody made a light, honest error and they fixed it. Fortunately for the producer, the picture wasn’t anything racy, pornographic or inappropriate! (If that were the case, it would be a different story!)

The moral of this story is that it’s ok to be “off-brand” and show a little personality every now and then. I wouldn’t recommend posting off-brand messages often but every once in a while, it helps people remember that there are people behind the pages.

Social networks come and go. Think: Friendster, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and all the ones that have come in between or are struggling to keep up (Plurk, Pownce, Jaiku etc). As someone who uses social networks both professional and personally, it’s important to identify and understand these trends. As a brand, understanding these trends will keep you above your competition and relevant in your industry.

Social Networking Life Span:
1. Launch
2. Growth
3. Peak
4. Plateau
5. End
*Some social networks won’t ever get pass #1.

Once a social network peaks, you’ll hear about it everywhere from the mainstream media and all throughout the blogosphere. Everyone and their grandmothers will be on the site. The site will eventually become over saturated with users, companies, brands and ultimately, spam. Additionally, there will be other social networking sites that are able to fill the
needs/wants/desires of users and grow with the user base (I hope to revisit this topic at another time).

As a marketer, It’s during #2 (growth) and #3 (peak) where it is most beneficial to join the site. Build your reputation, “social capital” and community while the social networking site is growing. Thrive during stage #3 as more users join the social network. All the while, keeping your ears and eyes open for the next, up-and-coming social network. As the first social network starts to plateau, utilize the second social network. As previously mentioned, when a social network plateaus, it is infiltrated with spam, glittery icons and too much music (think: MySpace). You (of course) are not spamming your community, but they are getting spam from elsewhere in the social network–perhaps your competitor who hasn’t a clue how to effectively or strategically use it.

What’s important to remember: if your messages and interactions are in the company of spam and junk, you are no longer relevant. Your community gets bored and your messages are drowned out. Marketing is an arms race. You have to understand how your communities want to receive, see, “hear” and consume your message and use the appropriate technologies to implement your strategies. At the same time, marketers also need to be aware of the life spans or social networks while keeping an eye and ear open for the next up and coming sites. Doing so keeps you relevant as a brand and ensures your engagement and interaction with your customers, consumers and communities are maximized.

Social media can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, social media allows us and everyone to share what we like, what we don’t like and consume content easily and at a faster rate within our communities. On the other hand, just because you have content doesn’t mean you should share it everywhere you see a social bookmarklet. One of the keys in social media is the community which consumes your content. Without this community, your content is forgotten and lost. Perhaps we should ask ourselves, “if content is never consumed, does it exist?” (That’s the best “if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it..” analogy that I could come up with… har har).

Let me give you an example. If you have a social media release that you think is pretty rad or an interesting blog post you whipped up, I’m sure you want to let everyone know about it. As you should! However, does a social media release about the newest Baby Einstein series belong on Digg? No. Does your very cool, very informative blog post on how to wallpaper your home belong on Reddit? No.

My point is, you have to know where your community is on the social web. You also have to know where they are and how they prefer to consume their content. Furthermore, you ought to have an understanding of how each popular social discovery, social bookmarking and social networking sites work. What’s the digital culture of each site? Their norms? Accepted practices? This takes a fair amount of observing, listening and participating on the social web. Don’t put your content up on social discovery sites for the sake of having it up there. You are better off sharing your content with a few targeted individuals (or small community) than blindly posting your content or sharing for the sake of sharing.

Learn about your community before you start sharing, posting and getting buck on the wild, wild web. Use social media to your advantage. Oh and please don’t let me see your press release under the “Upcoming Stories” section of Digg. Your one digg isn’t doing you any favors. You’re better off not submitting it.

As more brands begin to humanize themselves on the social web, I find myself not only expecting brands to engage with their customers, consumers and communities but also appreciating the brands that do. One brand that has crossed my mind multiple times is Rebecca Minkoff. Rebecca Minkoff purses range anywhere from $300-$700 and can be seen on celebrities from Lindsay Lohan to Lauren Conrad and everyone in between. Rebecca Minkoff is a New York based purse designer who is using the social web to her advantage.

Rebecca is ahead of other purse designers as she has an online presence on the social web. She has accounts on mainstream social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook and niche forums that cater to women obsessed with handbags and fashion. I am an active member of these niche communities and I’ve “seen” Rebecca leverage the power of these communities. In one instance, members of a forum begged and pleaded for her to hold a sample sale in Los Angeles. She said if X amount of people were interested, she would have one and she kept her word. I attended the sample sale and it was crazy as crazy gets: women lined up 4-5 hours before the event, eagerly awaiting their turn to purchase a new purse (let it be known, that there were some women who bought 3-4 purses at the sample sale).

Rebecca is personally on these forums and I have communicated with her regarding new products and sample sales. She also has a handful of customer service reps on these forums answering customer service questions and engaging with the entire purse-fanatic community. These forums are a way for her to monitor conversations about her brand, understand her target audience, understand the customer demographics, collect market research, humanize herself and a method of CRM. She has created a groundswell around her brand just by joining the conversation that was already happening online.

I first read about Rebecca Minkoff online and instantly fell in love with her purses. The first time I bought one of her purses was online, through a fashion community. I own two Rebecca Minkoff purses, one of which she helped me pick out. Yes, SHE helped me pick it out. I’ve also met her in person at a sample sale she held in Los Angeles and she is a doll. She is digitally-savvy and understands the power of the social web… I can’t say the same about many other mid-end/high-end purse designers. Although I have many other ideas on how she could further increase her presence and leverage her community, I think she is off to a great start. There is something very different about actually being able to engage and meet with the designer of the purse you are carrying versus buying a purse from a department store and never speaking with the designer.