Over the past year or so, Just Marketing
has carried guest blog posts from distinguished thought leaders in the
field. But looking over the list of contributors, I also noticed that we
have had no posts from the next generation of marketers. With the
marketing field changing as fast as it is, the next generation has an
entirely different perspective on brand building and consumer marketing.
The natural toolbox they turn to is the web, and in particular, social
media. So I thought it would be worthwhile sampling the perspective of
these marketers -- we can all learn from them. This is the third of three posts by guest bloggers just starting out in the field of marketing. Today's post is by Jordan Brears.
Jordan Brears is a fourth year
undergraduate student at the Richard Ivey school of business. He has a passion for politics, strategy and international affairs; and his interest in the professional fields of marketing and consulting flows from that passion. He is currently fostering these interests this summer, working for the Canadian
federal government. In the future, Jordan plans to pursue a career in strategic
management consulting and gain important international work experience
throughout the world.
Lets talk social media. But before you start browsing for a more
originally themed article, chill. This is not another social media article
where I’ll profess to be a social media trend fortuneteller or tell everyone to
get a Pinterest account. Instead I’ll discuss some politics, people, and
even philanthropy and what it means to businesses today. But let’s start with
social media.
Now we all remember the 2008 US presidential election. Starring the
charismatic underdog Democrat who won the hearts and minds of millions of
Americans. It was also never a secret that his great success was helped by his
revolutionary social media campaign. No other political campaign in history had
ever been able to mobilize and raise funds from such a large percentage of the electorate.
The Obama 2008 campaign set the standard for electoral campaigns in the future.
Take for example the election in France this month. Though the 2008 US election
first successfully introduced social media, the French election has taken this
strategy to another level. Incumbent candidate, Nicholas Sarkozy, has made
great investments in his social media campaign from developing a mobile app and
using Facebook’s timeline page design to illustrate his life story, to
establishing a video blog website integrated with YouTube (http://kikadikoi.com/). His
contender, Francois Hollande, has adopted a similar strategy with a focus on
Twitter as he enjoys over 200,000 followers.[1] (French election and social media)
While it is still being debated whether an online and social media
presence translates into votes, social media has allowed these political
parties to not only mobilize supporters and raise funds efficiently, they have
also provided an unfiltered medium with enormous exposure to 50 million French
Internet users.
Getting as many people as possible to receive the message that you want
to provide is an ideal situation. But you have to use social media with
caution. It is often this same communications medium that can be the most damaging
to an image as candidates experience increased scrutiny and leave a digital
trail that can be dug up at any time. In 2007 President Sarkozy welcomed Libyan
leader Muammar Gaddafi to Paris for economic talks and faced harsh criticism at
the time. As future events unfolded and France took a lead role in deposing the
disgraced Libyan leader in 2011, images filled cyber space of the two shaking
hands and talking as friends. These images and attached commentaries to this
day are still negatively affecting the Nicholas Sarkozy image.[2] This type of publicity (both negative and positive) will become
increasingly important over time as the public relies more and more on the
Internet for information and news. A 2010 survey conducted by The Pew Project
for Excellence found out that over 40% of Americans use online resources as
their main source of news.[3] This growing trend emphasizes the importance of online brand
management and the challenges that face political parties or businesses
today.
Though there is no magic formula to foster and build a
positive brand image, there are definitely good and bad ways. Take for example
Goldman Sachs and American Express. Two similar companies operating in a
financial industry that has been perceived as unethical and corrupt after the
2008 crisis. However, that is where the similarities in perception appear to
end. According to the Ethisphere Institute that conducts annual ethical company
rankings, American Express made the list of the ‘World’s 110 Most Ethical
Companies’ while Goldman Sachs was dropped from the list as it has experienced
a number of recent scandals and unfavorable press.[4] But how can a few PR miscues bring a giant company to fall from
grace? Goldman has been known in the past as a philanthropic corporation and
continues to contribute large sums of money to various philanthropic causes.
I think it comes back to the changing habits of voters/consumers. Merely
throwing money at charity is no longer a sufficient brand management strategy
as companies’ practices are becoming increasingly exposed and scrutinized. In
today’s business world internal measures such as culture and employee morale
become essential in creating a public image. Goldman believed in philanthropic
strategies that had worked in the past, and neglected its internal health. The
results: employees openly criticizing the organization, unethical methods being
adopted by employees, and comparisons being made between Goldman and the not-so-loved
vampire squid. The ensuing PR nightmare has significantly hurt Goldman’s
standing in the business world and affected the company’s bottom line.
Companies need to identify this changing media reality and move with the
times, or face a Goldman-like mess of their own.
[2] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nicolas-sarkozy/9139310/Nicolas-Sarkozy-received-42-million-from-Muammar-Gaddafi-for-2007-election.html
1 comment:
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