9 Drivers Of World Class Brand Sociability

9 Drivers Of World Class Brand Sociability:

Just read this very interesting Study: ‘ Socializing Your Brand: A Brand’s Guide to Sociability’ by Weber Shandwick and Forbes Insight. It talks about why Brand Sociability matters and that it is not only important to the brand, but also to the reputation of the entire enterprise.

The Study defines 9 very interesting drivers of Brand Sociability which are based on an analysis of the most distinguishing characteristics of world class social brands relative to those of the average global company in our study. Here is a summery:

1. It’s not the medium — and it’s more than the message Global brands are not dependent on media to be social. They create creative, original content, so the target group can fully exploit the interactive nature of social media.
2. Put your brands in motion Global brands in Social Media know that they cannot rest on their laurels, so they are constantly on the move. 48% of its Corporate Social pioneers have already closed their blog to shift to mobile communications.
3. Integrate or die Global brands test and revise their social media strategy at least once a quarter! They are much better at integrating their brand personality across all social and traditional channels. A remarkable number of companies that are successful in social media use a content calendar to coordinate their activities across multiple channels.
4. Make Social Central Global brands are structurally organized for social media. In 61% of the brands this is placed in a dedicated social media department, compared to 41% for regular brands. Such a department acts as a “hub and spokes” model, and communicates central and strategic decisions to other business units.
5. Listen more than you Talk “Shout” marketing is easy. Global brands listen, and integrate the opinions and feedback from fans in their products, services and stories.
6. Count what matters —meaningful engagement With global brands the “number of contributors” is ranked as the number 1 measuring tool, whereas in normal-performing brands it ranks at 6 (they still measure most ’views’). Global brands also measure the business impact of their activities.
7. Think Global Asked about the main driver of corporate reputation, the average executive answers “customer service”. Global brands, however, attach as much importance to a ”global reach”, whereas regular brands place this at the bottom of their list.
8. Go Outside To Get Inside Compared to regular flagships, Global brands turn to nearly twice as many third parties in order to measure their social media effectiveness. Too often they also hire third parties to manage their Twitter feeds. That does not mean that these companies are unable to manage their social media strategy, in most cases, these companies acknowledge that it is just not part of their core activities.
9. Be Vigilant 35% of these Global brands have experienced an online crisis during the past year, and 66% have had to deal with negative comments on a daily basis. Does this mean that these brands are more prone to an online crisis? No, they are simply more sensitive to what is said about their brand, or are forced by the crisis to make their brand more social.

Below is an infographic with the main data from the study.

More information about the Study.