Thoughts on the Social Media Value Proposition: What kind of friend are you?

In yesterday's post I summarized the key learnings of Coca-Cola, Digitas, MySpace and YouTube in how the social media value proposition is evolving. Today, I'll share my reflections on it.

Conclusion #1: The ROI of letting go of control is huge

I revealed this conclusionyesterday. As a classically-trained marketer I admit to fear in the pit of my stomach at the thought of not enforcing strict and consistent brand image and messaging. But the data is compelling. This finding inspired yesterday's title: "How to learn to stop worrying and love losing control"  (All you movie buffs out there will know what I'm alluding to! If you don't, leave a comment and I'll explain.)

Conclusion #2: The nature of branding has changed. Really.

Something that struck me in all the case studies: there was no discussion of what my classical training tells me are the core elements of branding: positioning, the key brand message, the differentiating benefits and features. As I look at the examples, though, these elements still exist, they are much more subtle in these campaigns. Putting these front-and-center in social media would smack too much of advertising, which 27-year old LA guy, Rob whom Heidi quoted yesterday doesn't want.

In my Forrester days, I wrote a report that stated that interactivity changed branding because you had to add the experience dimension to the brand image and brand promise dimensions (you couldn't just say what your brand was about, you had to prove it in the experience the consumer has on the site, etc).

But this feels different than that. The experiences I talked about were bringing the brand promise and benefits to life. All of that stuff is way in the background as you try to be a "friend" and be "authentic". Social media experiences aren't about what the corporation wants the consumer to think/feel/do about the brand, they are about how the individual relates to the brand on a very primal level. The brand becomes less and less about the physical and performance characteristics of the product and more and more about the values it represents and its personality -- and how the consumer uses those to express a dimension of his or her own values and personality.

Conclusion #3: What kind of friend are you?

So the "Robs" of the social media world want brands that are friends; but what does that mean? And as Matthew summed up -- and all the panelists touched on to some extent -- authenticity is essential; but what does that mean?

And so I got thinking about the different friends I have: some I go drinking with, some I debate the great issues of the day with. One is the guy I rely on as a source for great new jokes; another is my guru and conscience whom I turn when I need help putting the important things in life back in perspective.

So maybe this is the authenticity a brand needs to seek. Not an authentic reason why they are better than their competitor. But what kind of friend the brand can credibly be: the pal, the coach, the class clown, the one to turn to in hard times. Figure that out and build the right participatory experience to deliver on this type of friendship, and maybe, just maybe, the social media world will build stronger brand relationships than the mass marketing world ever could.

The Remaining Question: scale

There were some impressive reach and purchase intent numbers in the presentation:

• Cherry Coke gained 64,000 Facebook friends
• Adidas reached 21,000,000 MySpace members and increased purchase intent at at cost of only $.25 per viewer who indicated they "definitely would purchase" Adidas
• Electronic Arts reached 22,000,000 MySpace members and increased purchase intent at a cost of only $.33 per user
• Heinz generated over 10,000,000 views on YouTube.

But is this sufficient to drive the kind of volumes that will be more than a blip on the sales curve for these huge brands?

Pardon my old-fashioned comparison but 10 - 20 million reach is one or two nights of a prime-time TV buy. But then, we know awareness/recall measures decay over a few weeks after a flight ends. Will these kinds of brand relationships have more enduring impact?

And I don't think TV drives these kinds of purchase intent results. How much of it will translate into real sales? (PS: if anyone knows of any research that gives a ratio of purchase intent to actual purchase, I would love to know about it). Will the percent who actually purchase compared to the percent of those who say they will purchase be higher for a social media brand engagement? 

And if these are the right 10 - 20 million target audience members, maybe we finally have an answer to the old "half my advertising is wasted"....perhaps that's why the cost of the purchase intent impact is so low.

But that's what I love about this emerging space -- we're learning fast but there are plenty more interesting and compelling questions out there that we still need to figure out!