2009
brought a surge in the number of brands using social media. In 2010
we're likely to see more frequency in use of social media and
experimentation with different approaches and methods. However the
overriding issue brands should ask themselves is "what is our intent?".
Why Is Intention Important?
Intentional actions and communications illuminates the factors
which influence people's judgments of whether an action was done for
the suppliers benefit or the buyer. In other words the intent is
considered social if the message is in context to the buyers needs,
wants and desires.
The historical intent of advertising and marketing methods have been
focused on creating a result, a sale. However since the web has become
"social" marketers will have to change their intent or suffer "side
effects", both intentional and unintentional.
What Are The Side Effects?
In marketing, an adverse effect is a harmful and undesired
effect resulting from a campaign or other communications to the market.
An adverse effect may be termed a "side effect", when judged to be
secondary to a main effect, and may result from an unsuitable or
incorrect message or impression, which could be due to a lack of
thinking through "social implications and side effects".
The
social web has increased the implications of not thinking through the
effects of communicating the wrong things and the implied intent of
communications. Lets consider two examples:
- Verizon ran an ad implying their network was bigger and better than AT&T (The map with red beads). AT&T responded with an ad that implied Verizon's ad was misleading and not factual (the ad with all the Verizon beads falling). Verizon's ad could be considered "anti-social"
whereas it tried to belittle its competition by propagating misleading
information into the marketplace. The intention of the Verizon ad was
to position itself as superior when in fact the side effects of the ad
made their intentions appear misleading and anti-social. AT&T is
suing Verizon for misleading the market.
- Sub-Way ran an ad campaign titled "$5 Dollar Foot Long". The
intent of the ad was simple. Promote value using a short jingle that
gets attention. The ad was originally suggested by a store manager in
Florida. Corporate marketing rejected the suggestion, as did their ad
agency, yet the store manager ran the ad locally. The response was
overwhelming. Subsequently Sub-Way corporate ran the ad national. The
end results, $3.6 Billion in additional sales! The irony is the original ad idea came from a store manager and not the marketing department or the agency.
The important point is that in both cases the intent was to create results, increased sales and brand awareness. However, Verizon's ad created "side effects"
that hurt the brand. In other words their intent was wrong to begin
with and subsequently they hurt themselves in more ways than can be
measured. Sub-Ways ad created intentional side effects, increased
sales and brand awareness. In both cases the intent was transparent to the marketplace.
For individuals and businesses the use of the social web makes your
intent transparent. Whether running an ad or simply engaging in
conversations. The purpose of an ad is different than a conversation
but both should be aimed at intentional benefits for the receiver, not
the sender. The intent of all media needs to be aimed at the value
the content provides to the marketplace of conversations. Not doing so
could be very costly in more ways than you can imagine.