We live in the age of information, connection and conversation. Any brand that will be successful today must understand generosity to thrive. To make impact you must go all out to help both established and upcoming brands. I am beginning to understand that you must be ready to give without a demand for returns immediately when you are pioneering a cause. I have made a commitment to help, affect as many people that need my professional advice. Each day I get called from students who are interested in brand community building, social media and how it relates to Public relations, marketing etc.

As tight as my schedules are, I have learnt to create time for them, took them one- on -one session and load them with enough materials they will need to stand alone. Sometimes that appears a mere waste of time but recently I was doing a study on social and cultural capital and this gave me a new perspective. While trying to help, I discovered my brand is becoming visible to future managers who will hold position of authority in the industry. As we know visibility and reputation affect the decision making process and at the end of the day they influence behaviours.

It is a privilege to have knowledge to share. I read recently also that ‘When an individual has a lot of people in his/her life who are willing to support him and his ideas, people who want to hear what he has to say and who are interested in talking to him and talking about him, such  an individual has an incredible gift that is called social capital’

Social capital also refers to both network of relationships, you have and have access to. French sociologist Pieitrre Bourdieu also defined social capital as ‘the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognitions’. Funding this account so that you can draw on it later means that you are making connection, building bridges, reaching out to people with aim of giving, staying in touch always with either your strong or weak ties.

Weak ties are those you meet in occasions, online but there is no such bond but you are willing to stretch yourself to those that matter. Technology, social software and networking sites can help us to do this well. You do not need to visit or having to call them every day. But we may need to acknowledge that it is not how many we have that count but how you make use of them.

As good as social capital is, it has limitations. So what takes your brand from here is cultural capital. Cultural capital rests on depth of influence. A great connection or network without strong influence will not help much. Cultural capital encompasses person’s knowledge, experience, connection to the extent, amount of influence a brand has in a society or tribe.

What this meant is that with all the social connection, if the brand has no expertise, experience, knowledge among other great features, it may not wield influence that will guarantee enough capital that it will need to exchange for other tangible or intangible values. The import of the above is while trying to build connection, network among other ingredients that will help build brand’s social capital, the depth of the value of such capital can be affected when the brand lacks expertise, experience and knowledge that will add up to brand’s depth of influence on the social network that produces the cultural capital.

In closing, every brand needs to start from somewhere. Start building your social capital while you are still building your cultural capital. If you have to wait until all the features of Cultural capital are in place before building social capital it may be late. Research has shown that Social capital plus Cultural capital will always guarantee heavy financial capital. Someone actually concluded that Social capital and Cultural capital are greater than financial capital. Whether that is true I cannot draw conclusion here. But what do you think?

It is no longer news that the success of any brand rests solidly on the depth of relationship it has with all its stakeholders. No brand can be successful running a solo raise now. Every brand needs committed community members who are not only interested in working hard with the brand but who can work hard on the brand’s interest on their own freewill. As we now there is no community that thrives well on individualistic spirit and self serving leaders.

Today I just want to share a brief of what i took away from a personal research on the topic. Some of these thoughts are taken from Juliet Powell’s book and I do recommend it to anyone who is interested in building a strong community that is highly beneficial.

Find where they are: there is no strong community without proper understanding of the culture and environment they live. I expect my friend to know where I live. That shows the individual cares. So the first step in building engaged tribe is to know where they live. You may need also to study the community they live and find out what is important to the community members.

Understand the audience strength:  a brand needs to understand the community audience strength. The mistakes most brand make is to focus energy only on the influential. But like Ducan watts says ‘most social change is driven not by influential, but by easily influenced individuals influencing others easily influenced individuals’. The point is everyone is important even though we may have priority.

Understand their habits and motivation: To influence anyone, you must first care about the person. So be sure you study what motivates them and what their concerns are.

Cater for their natural Interest: now that you know what motivates them, care like no other persons for their interest. Share links, give them referrals. Continuously give helping hands. Answer their question. Help them to understand your brand too.

Reward social influencers: in helping out, it is natural law that some of the community member will begin to think they owe you and they will be willing to help spread the buzz about you. Along the line you will noticed some dedicated community members who will go extra miles in making sure your brand excels.

In conclusion, we must note that having engaged community or tribe is work but the ROI is unquantifiable. An engaged community is extremely powerful tool that can provide self-perpetuating support and guidance system for you and your business.

At a recent World social media mob flash held in Lagos Nigeria where we have the gathering of social media enthusiasts, professionals and those who intend to use social media, the audience was generally talking about best use of social media in Nigeria by corporate organizations in our environment.
People suggested GTBank Plc should be rated as one the best uses of online community in Nigeria. As moderators of the session, we asked that audience should give reasons for their suggestions and can we all looked at the brand’s online initiative, presence and activities together in the face of best practise internationally. Given the fact that Community is supposed to be an agglomeration of people with common interest, who have common language and where everyone has a say. Also, the community members of today do not want organization to talk at them but to talk with them. They desire dialogue, conversation and feedbacks. Strong community does not rest solely on the game of number; it is the extent, depth of interaction and engagement
This view has been supported by Lani Rosales when he wrote ‘there is no value in ‘friend collecting/likes’ but there is a massive value in building your network…If the end goal is to put money(through the relationship you are building) in your pocket(or build relationship as the case may be), stop friend collect, build network’. Brand community is not about the community creator; it is all about engaged network that speaks the truth and promotes the brand.
There is no online community that will become celebrated when it is only the brand that is speaking and does not allow feedback. No solid relationship has been built on Monologue. When a brand does not give room for feedback, it will lose enough credibility it is supposed to get. To gain word of mouth, clients or community member must be allowed to ask question, express their opinions. As we know word of mouth is a cultural accelerator but the brand must set up the architecture to engage audience.
To create a worldwide rave about a brand online in which people help to tell your story, you must be ready to lose control. We are in the age of information democratization and not monologue or broadcasting. If there are virtual strings attached (feedbacks on the ‘wall’ of GTBank Facebook page is deactivated), people will not engage you or choose to speak to you or for you about your offerings.
When a brand sets up online engagement mechanism with a mission to listen, get opinion of the community, it will always lead to a higher social intelligence and better leadership for the brand. Juliet Powell says’ while traditional leadership understanding of leadership structures stressed the need for power and stern guidance (as we see GTBank seems to be doing with its community now) new structure of leadership (which GTBank community is aiming to achieve) is based on empathy, two-way communication…to be an effective leader, you need a team (community members/stakeholders) that supports you and is willing to work hard not only on your behalf, but on their own as well for you’.
Given the above, how many of the close to sixty thousand ‘friends’ of GTBank on its Facebook page are singing, propagating GTBank Orange rules yet?. GTBank now has easy access to gather enough feedback it will spend money on yet it has muffed the voices of its community by removing facility/applications that will make it get feedback through the setting it is operating now. In a Nielsen’s report on ‘Why Banks should listen in Social media’, it clearly states that when banks listen, it gives the feeling of stability, solidity, partnership, empathy and understanding.
For its Twitter page, it is well designed with care and we must give kudos for this. But what is the value of a beautiful house whose family members has to listen to the father’s instruction only, while feedbacks are not given attention as fast as the information the father has to push out. We have monitored/followed conversation on that page and we discovered questions are not answered immediately. Speed is important in today’s fast speed online world. A customer that is not answered on time may post a comment that will catch fire within few hours. The bloggers’s post that started ‘DellHell’ got 760 comments among many examples we can cite.
My conclusion on this session is that strong community requires honesty, credibility, openness, willingness to accept feedback irrespective of what they have to say. There is no fear in love (which brand community wants to promote). When dialogue is allowed, it will give the brand the true performance rating of its services to the cherished community. It gives brands opportunity to know how to correct wrong impression, information at the disposal of the clients, community members etc. A great community is not a place to ‘self-promote’, it is an avenue for dialogue, support, engagement, understanding and sharing that will allow members to defend one another. I just hope someone is listening. In all, we ended the analysis on the fact that we should commend the GTBank team for pioneering an online brand community. Our plea is that what is worth doing is worth doing well.

I was thrilled recently after a discussion session with a think tank group that comprises of customers (Generation X, Y with a little of baby boomer), service providers, some other informed opinion leaders in the area of branding, marketing etc. Prior to this, I have stumbled on an article ‘Future of Retail’ on the net and was fascinated by the trend at which customer service as well as business relationship with clients are being conducted in other clime.

While we keep the argument that it is not possible and we may not get there soon because of the peculiarities of our environment I believe we must start learning how it is down so that as soon as the environment becomes conducive, we are already armed to go.

In above caucus/group discussion, we were basically chatting about today’s customer with regards to how to relate with them. While many brand owners are still sleeping, the group envisaged that most product producers and service providers are still thinking that customers have not changed. The Customer service word equation is gradually changing at a rate that if care is not taken, most will be left behind. The use of customer service with regards to customer is now synonymous with Content, consistency and community. The age of telephone based customer service is gradually being phased out.

Customer service is basically shifting online with the aid of new media tools. Where the goal post is shifting to  will be the focus of our discussion today. Brand owners must begin to develop their capacity to effectively feature in this realm in order to remain relevant.

 Content: Content creation skill, development and marketing are essential skills that brands must develop to spread their messages as well as to gain eyeballs that will turn browser into buyers and advocates.

Consistency: whatever your brand is doing to excite, ignite passion of your potential and actual clients needs constant fuelling and lubrication

Community: Community is now as vital. Just like the blood that pushes nutrient into the body, brand community must be built with the right skill. Are you incorporating these tools into your customer service idea.

Many have asked me why I always say that networking will be the rule of the game now. A guy actually said ‘if I have done my part do I need anyone to validate my effort?’ While I quite understand that we cannot substitute hard work for anything, it is also a known fact that there are several ‘hardworkers’ who have not gained any noted ground in their fields. Hardwork alone cannot guarantee success again. There are lots of other ingredients that come to play for individual to make headway.

When you programme your personal branding journey on a   ‘solo frequency’ it will suffer unnecessary hardship. Never forget the African adage that says ‘because snakes do not move in group make it easy for a man to kill them’. No matter how powerful your brand is, it will always be considered as fuzzy, proud and irrelevant when you go solo.

Integration will bring a lot of coverage to the brand when many are talking about it. Come to think about it what is the strength an individual can pull when every effort is concentrated on building a skyscraper by a single hand? How long will it take such an individual? But ensuring you incorporate others will help achieve the goal faster. But a point to note here is that individual must have something of value before it can gain wider acceptance. So what factors will ensure you get necessary attention and positive words of mouth.

Understand your territory: You want to get necessary attention and influence your community? The first step is to understand the terrain you want to operate. This begins with the ability to understand the language your niche speaks. Even if you speak great English but you operate within a French speaking environment, you will still be termed as an illiterate and no one will propagate your thoughts nor follow you

Network: Do not be far from your industry’s event or be afraid to meet up with top leaders in the industry. Do not be afraid to offer them any help your skill can push. Remember, everyone will appreciate helping hands. When you do that consistently, you will get noticed and be recommended for better positions.

Be involved in niche dialogue: being part of a good community and being visible is important. What there is a current issue; ensure you always express your view. Make an intelligent contribution instead of just being part of the conversation. That will enhance your profile.

Guard your tongue and your fingers: Always remember that as huge as a ship is, it is only a small rudder that controls it with the help of a captain. Never assume you know it all. Do not send wrong signals about your brand by using your tongue anyhow. If I must add, your fingers are important now in this age of internet. Watch what you write or post as it has likely influence on whether you will become solo or enjoy all the comradeship

Apology

Sorry for break in transmission, our domain host has issue and therefore the site has been off

There is no need repeating the obvious. Humans thrive when there is interaction, bonding and not when in isolation. Humans are not wired to live in isolation. To be successful human/brand needs solid relationships, engagement with others. since the world has become a global village, building engagement withy locals only deprive brands the benefits that are available to all.

 As many professionals know, productive, profitable engagement in the midst of noise level today is not a child’s play. It is real work. What I have noticed is that many give up so soon when their efforts are not yielding immediate result. The pressure from management that has invested much in online branding is not helping matter. Community manager must educate the management on the time lag it will take to make meaningful impact. There is no overnight success.

Whether there is instant success or not, we must be able to see clearly like DNA13 suggests ‘joining conversation and shaping public opinion holds promise of reducing cost of communication’. Strong community engagement thrives where there is strong collaboration among the major actors which includes the community manager, the community members and other stakeholders. Conscious effort must also be made to recognize, value active promoters of community well being. The community leader, manager must be a bundle of inspiration. He/she must not be lazy or tired of maintaining the conversation so well with relevant content. The community leader must also learn to build quality relationship with the community stakeholder and be willing promptly attend to community concerns.

Any brand that wants to maintain solo, one man squad approach to managing, promoting, positioning itself will end with lots of regret.

In today’s world, campaign seems to be loosing the grip it used to have. Campaign used to be the magic wand that sold the idea to people. It used to be the last card when a brand, idea, product or service is not doing well and brand owners need to reinvent or rejuvenate the brand. Campaign is also used to launch a new product to the market. While campaign is still very relevant, its effectiveness seems to be fading. Some other vital instruments are coming up fast and catching up with campaigns relevance. What then seems to be wrong with campaign? I think it is important to start with what campaign is. An online resources states ‘Campaigns are the advertisements created by the Advertiser. A Campaign contains one or more Advertisements.

Campaigns include setting up limit costs, delivery flight dates, targeting, among other issues. Campaigns can only be created and owned by an Advertiser”. Campaign is associated with the war tactic and vocabulary. It is driven by target, launch and domination. Campaign most times is not supposed to create emotionally attachment but to ensure a selfish connection to buy support for a advertiser’s brand or idea. Campaigns are used to achieve a temporary gain. Traditional campaign aims at selling, convincing, interrupting, and urgency. There is no long-term value to this activity. So the moment campaign achieves its aim, it is often discontinued. In other words the moment a brand owner, advertiser gets return on investment in the campaign, it is often automatically stopped. Examples are there to see from major campaigns that had been on.

Because most campaigns have short term goals that do not require a life long commitment, most advertisers normally use the traditional media that have short term appeal which are expected to catch attention for the specific period it will runs. Campaigns are self created with intention of fanning a selfish goal. It is basically focused on an advertiser talking about him/herself and when properly diagnosed campaigns are meant to create awareness. Having said that, times are changing, efforts must change direction.

What works yesterday may not be that effective again. Brand’s tribe engagement through conversation and relationship building is gradually getting right result as well as  exposing the weakness in campaigns. The reason is not far fetched; this method seems to be getting more results than campaign nowadays. One of the reasons for that is that brand’s tribe engagement tools are directly opposite of campaigns tools and the motive is more of win-win than a ‘one sided gain’ approach tactic of campaigns. Brand’s tribe engagement is more credible because it goes on while the communal spirit is still intact. Brand’s tribe engagement can happen at both platform, offline and online. Internet has become more accessible and possibly one of the biggest, most valuable resources that help to reach the tribe’s member. It reaches people of all ages, cultures and regions and you have a lot of freedom to be creative with your ideas.

In any given situation, circumstance or community there are noted influencers who can either spell the doom or make the community grows. Interestingly many brands today do not know how to manage their major influencers if they have properly identified them at all. For personal brands that are married, spouses and children can be a major influencers in the brand’s overall success. For instance, many personal brands do not realize the impacts of a nagging or abusive spouse can have in overall brand’ performance. If in doubt, ask a victim next door.

For a corporate brand, there are several are shareholders, union leaders, community leader, government agency and of recent bloggers that can destroy every effort put in place to build brand equity. There is therefore a need for brand drivers to identify the leading brand influencers as well as those who wield major influence in their niche, manage the relationship well so much that brand can be successful. To identify major brand’s influencers, brands must observe the followings.

1. Depth of knowledge: an individual can not be an influencer except he knows the terrain so much and people can respect his level of knowledge and commitment to the common stake.

2. Depth of authority: find out the depth of authority of the individual as well. How much does he shapes the expectations of the followers around him/her?

3. Depth of influencer’s acceptance: Do carry out a due diligence research on the influencer and be sure you are dealing with the right person. Never make an assumption about the kind of the influence the individual has just by the words of mouths that are not backed with proven results.

4. Depth of links, comments, and associations: For online industry influencers like blogger, brand must identify this set of people by the numbers of links to their websites, traffics, feedbacks, comments and association they have with other online users.

5. Depth of influencers’ action and impacts: find out what kind of impacts can your niche suffer if the action of the influencers are allowed to run unchecked. There are some whose influence can be damaged without much ado.