When we think of brands that are really really good at social, it’s usually the younger,
more casual brands that come to mind like:
Wendy’s - nice job on #nuggsforcarter.
It showed a real deep understanding of how to be social in real-time and then leverage
something , not only for your own purpose, but for the purpose of fans.
General Electric - kudos on your all-in commitment to content and being part of the online conversation.
You’ve thrown your resources behind galvanizing the science and innovation conversation.
Thumbs up!
Some others that come to mind are Red Bull, Jet Blue, Go Pro, Dollar Shave Club, Nike,
Starbucks, etc etc etc.
And what most of these brands have in common is that they are fun brands with a young,
hip audience.
But what if your brand isn’t fun?
What if your audience isn’t young and hip?
“I'm with it, I'm hip.”
Austin Powers
What then?
Today I’m going to talk to those whose brands are not exactly fun or hip and show you how
to rethink and recraft your brand for the social era.
My name is Tara and this is ...Truly Social.
Now you may have noticed that one of the brands I featured in my opening that didn’t always
fit the whole young and casual brand description.
That brand is General Electric or GE.
GE was founded over 130 years ago by merging Thomas Edison’s General Electric Company
with the Thomson-Houston Electric company.
It is also one of the 12 companies that formed the Dow Industrial Average and is the only
company of the original 12 that remains.
“The last man standing.”
Pacific Rim
Obviously GE is an outlier, but I’d say it’s remained relevant because it’s been
able to keep up with the times.
According to Linda Boff, CMO of GE, this is very deliberate.
She told Contently in 2016:
“We have a proclivity to go early for sure.
It’s deliberate.
It’s not an accident we keep doing it—it’s a strategy.
We decided to experiment on a wide variety of platforms, fundamentally, because it’s
a mirror to the DNA of the company”
In other words, a big, old company stays relevant because they aren’t afraid to take risks
with their brand.
As Linda continued:
“I’d say there’s a bigger risk of sitting on the sidelines and waiting it out.“
At Truly Social, we work with a really incredible Investment and Wealth Management firm, PWL
Capital.
They have innovation in their DNA as well - as the first Canadian investment firm to
promote passive investing and a holistic view of financial planning and investing.
We started working with them almost a year and a half ago and now produce nearly 10 unique
web series with them - all with unique voices and flavours that reflect individual advisors
within the firm.
So, how does an electric company, a wealth management firm, an accounting firm, lawyers,
a b2b services company, or any other traditionally UNfun company do social well?
Well, the answer lies in first understanding who you are and what you offer
“Who am I?”
Les Miserables
In other words, your onlyness.
And then connecting with your tribe.
Onlyness, as I’ve mentioned before is a term that Nilofer Merchant coined to describe
that unique thing that only you bring to the world.
GE has the legacy of Edison, a man obsessed with inventing things to improve people’s
lives.
Where people said it couldn’t be done, Edison defiantly foraged ahead.
GE is a corporation, but it’s DNA is that of its founder.
Similarly, PWL’s founders were similarly defiant of conventional thinking and built
their evidence-based, passive investing practice decades ahead of other firms.
So the DNA of the organization is a direct reflection of the onlyness of James, Laurent,
and Anthony.
It’s essential that you know who you are.
What you stand for.
People talk about being passionate about something and it may seem a bit fluffy to say this,
but if you don’t have a strong foundation, you’ll have a weak signal.
In order to be truly social, you need a strong signal to attract your tribe.
As Nilofer says in her upcoming book - The Power of Onlyness, which I was lucky to get
a galley copy of:
“Finding “your people” sometimes means having to walk away from places you don’t
fit in, rather than trying to squeeze yourself into a too-tight space with the aim to belong.”
Many companies are worried that they are sending out too strong of a signal to a specific audience,
which may alienate a more general audience.
But having a social brand means that you are part of the audience you serve.
Weak signals will attract weak numbers.
As Nilofer writes:
“If you can’t value what you alone have to offer, no one else can either.”
GE isn’t afraid to be geeky and nerdy about science and innovation.
They embrace it and their geeky and nerdy followers love it.
PWL isn’t afraid to embrace their passion for passive investing and let their finance
geek fly, and the more it does, the stronger their audience grows.
You don’t have to be into extreme sports or be a fun, young brand to excel on social.
“Age is no guarantee of efficiency.”
“youth is no guarantee of innovation.”
007 Skyfall
You just have to love what you do and connect with others who are passionate about it, too.
That’s how you become a truly social brand.
My name is Tara and this has been ….Truly Social.