Webjam Company Blog » Marketing 2.0 Update 5 - The Inverted Brand

It can take years to build a brand, but you can lose your reputation in an instant.

In his Social Media Marketing Industry Report “How marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses” from March 2009 (http://www.whitepapersource.com/socialmediamarketing/report/), Michael Stelzner quotes that the number-one benefit of social media marketing is gaining exposure. A significant 81% of all marketers interviewed indicated that their social media efforts have generated exposure for their businesses.

Some companies feel exposed because of this and others see this as an opportunity to get closer to their customers. The question social media marketers have to ask is, “Am I willing to let others shape my brand or identity without my input?” More and more companies today don’t want to lose control of their brand so they open themselves up online.  They understand that if you interact with others on any level in the online world you involve them in shaping your brand or identity. For some this happens on a greater scale than others, but it is happening. Online communities are increasingly considered the norm for online interaction. The size of these communities is getting bigger and bigger and they simply cannot be ignored. And the tools they are using can make minor discussions become large events.

There is another dimension to this. Social media networks and tools spread perceptions of brand or reputation like wildfire. It gives a new meaning to “word of mouth”. This passing of information from person to person has been around for a long time but never really featured on the radar screen of marketing professionals in large organisations. It was more relevant for small companies, particularly operating on a local scale. But nowadays, word of mouth is different. The online publishing tools available to people today make the spread of information much easier and faster. Before companies realise, the idea of a perception has become a reality. If numerous people are sharing a feeling towards a company within their online social networks, their friends start to share this feeling in their network and the perception becomes reality at an exponential rate. And furthermore, with Social Media, public sentiment is documented, searchable and ubiquitous.  What is said today will be available today, tomorrow and 10 years from now.

Social media networks like Facebook, LinkedIn or MySpace and social media applications like blogging, micro blogging, forums etc. empower communities and individuals like companies have never seen before: Giving them the power of online conversations and connections, bringing a new dimension to “word of mouth”. Enabling them to influence the way companies build their brand and develop their reputation. I call this Brand Inversion.

Written by Marc Campman, Webjam Marketing Director