“The average estimate themselves by what they do, the above average by what they are.” Johann Friedrich Von Schiller

What makes your brand unique ?

Brand reputation is made nowadays as much online as in the real world, ask Nespresso or LeShop two successful and innovative Swiss brands.

In these very competitive markets, reaffirming your brands identity and core values is more important than ever and social media is a great opportunity to do that. What makes your brand special ? What makes it unique ? Is it innovative ? Is is the customer service ? Is it the way it interacts with its communities ?

Social media platforms such as Twitter have the unique ability to give a voice to a brand and to reaffirm its personality. When It comes to the way you tweet and build content on your timeline, many community manager quote Oscar Wilde: “Be yourself. Everybody else is taken.” This is the reason why any brand who wants to develop a presence online should really think about values it embodies before they start communicating on any platform.

Be more authentic

During a social media one-day seminar I held in February for Arventis (Association Romande de la Vente) in the Lake of Geneva Region, managers present were puzzled about Twitter, it’s ability to develop for brands a voice in 140 characters, communicate on projects in a more personal way and engage conversations.

Managing Swiss Marketing Lausanne‘s communities on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for more than a year, I discovered how important it is for members, fans and followers to engage online as well as in the real world, during conferences and events. But online engagement comes only if you can interest your communities with content that is valuable to them without being intrusive.

Asked by managers at my seminar what I would recommend If they started right away tweeting, my first advice was to Walk the Talk and to stay as real as possible to build trust, loyalty and engage in the best conditions.

Walk the talk and do what you say

In this changing world where many things are in the process of reinvention, successful brands pay particular attention to the way they build trust offline and online as this affects engagement, consumer participation and loyalty to their projects.

As managers active in hospitality and tourism have come to learn, it is increasingly difficult to promise and not deliver as the new generation of connected consumers have the means to inform their communities about failed experiences via Twitter, Facebook or TripAdvisor and generate negative brand buzz very quickly.

To rebuild trust and loyalty, successful brands will have to focus in social media on what makes them authentic and on what they do best.  In this context, brand community managers will play an increasingly not only as brand speakers but also to monitor brand buzz, good or bad.

What is your opinion ? Have you any experience about a brand on social media you would like to share ? Do not hesitate to post comments. I’ll be glad to read and interact.