THE OPEN BRAND
How Twitter is Pushing Radical Transparency
in Brand Management

SO,
WHO CONTROLS
A BRAND?

YESTERDAY
Brand Managers

TODAY
Customers (Influencers)

WHAT DO PEOPLE TRUST?
• 75%don't trust company
advertising
• 81% trust word of mouth
• 56% trust media editorial
• http://bit.ly/Dtn7S

POWER SHIFT

SOCIAL MEDIA IS A
DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY
Old School New School
Top Down Bottom Up
Closed Open
Advertisement Conversation
Print Media Digital Media
One to Many Many to Many
Privacy Transparency

AN OPEN WORLD
Open Open Open Open
Culture Government Software Brands

RADICAL TRANSPARENCY
Case Studies

CHEVY VIDEO
CONTEST
What happened?
Chevy launches a YouTube campaign to submit user
generated videos promoting the Chevy Tahoe.
Backlash
Activists seize the opportunity to voice their
feelings about the Chevy Tahoe.
GM Fast Lane Blog
“Early on we made the decision that if we were to
hold this contest, in which we invite anyone to
create an ad, in an open forum, that we would be
summarily destroyed in the blogosphere if we
censored the ads based on their viewpoint. So, we
adopted a position of openness and transparency,
and decided that we would welcome the debate.”

#AMAZONFAIL
• Friday: Authors discover that Amazon.com is delisting their
gay and lesbian titles in book search
• Saturday: Word spreads around the Twitter like wildfire
• Sunday: Amazon provides a few vague responses about it
being a glitch.
• Monday: Stocks have dropped by 2%

SKITTLES
• home page into an online portal
featuring a live Twitter feed alongside
Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube
content
• so many hits the first day it brought
down Twitter
• But just two days after its launch,
Skittles was forced to rethink its
social media strategy after users
deluged the site with inane and often
profane quot;tweets,quot; the messages sent
by Twitter users.
Source Link

JET BLUE 2008
• Joel blogs about how it was creepy that JetBlue followed him.
Moments later, JetBlue direct messaged him apologizing and explaining
their human approach to connecting with their customers.

JET BLUE TODAY

UNITED AIRLINES
• Offering exclusive
fares to Twitter
followers

AMERICAN EXPRESS
OPEN FORUM

INTUIT QUICKEN
LIVE BLOGGING TOWN HALL

INTEL PUBLISHES
SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES
• Be transparent.
• Be judicious.
• Write what you know.
• Perception is reality.
• It's a conversation.
• Are you adding value?
• Your Responsibility
• Create some excitement.
• Be a Leader.
• Did you screw up?
• If it gives you pause, pause.

MC DONALDS
CHANGES SLOGEN
Sign of the Times
Fitting with the “self expression” era of the
web, McDonalds changes it’s slogan to a
more personal line.
“We love to see you smile”
To
“i’m lovin’ it”

PATAGONIA

CEO GETS TRANSPARENT
• CEO, Paul Levy, recognizing the hospital was in dire financial trouble,
sends a personal letter to the entire staff about the crisis, and
devotes the organization to becoming more transparent .
• “I promise to have an open administration, sharing with you
as much information as possible to help you be part of
solving the problems of the medical center.”
• The turnaround worked. And since 2002 has been blogging openly
about the institutions issues.

ZAPPOS CEO ON TWITTER
•CEO, Tony, talks about his
company, but also shares his
personality.
• Massive following
• Early success story in using
Twitter.
• Jumped on the new “I think the way to succeed in today’s world is to make
your business more personal. Twitter is also a great way
technology early. of doing that.”
-Tony, CEO of Zappos

CEO’S ON TWITTER

GoodGuide provides
the world's largest and
most reliable source of
information on the
health, environmental,
and social impacts of the
products in your home.

A call for SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
Companies Customers
1. Be human 1. Be understanding
2. Use real names and be 2. Use your real iden9ty
personal
3. An9cipate problems will 3. Recognize that problems
occur, and set clear, public will occur and give
expecta9ons in advance for companies the informa9on
how you will address issues. and 9me required to
competently address issues.
4. Cul9vate a public 4. Share issues directly or
dialogue. through a forum.
5. Speak plainly, candidly 5. Give companies the
with customers. benefit of the doubt.

HOW DO I MAKE MY
BUSINESS OPEN?

THINKING OPEN

BENEFITS OF BEING OPEN
• Allowyour customers to do
your marketing for you
• Gaininnovation from your
customer feedback
• Quicker
response time to
customer concerns
• Build loyal customers

UNDERSTAND
SOCIAL CURRENCY
• Like a bank account, add social
capital, withdraw social capital.
• Generate valuable content,
share valuable content
• Become known as an expert in
your field
• Ask questions, answer questions,
respond to customers!
• Be noteworthy, stand out

BEHAVIOR OF INFLUENCERS
• Engage others in conversations
• Inspire others to continue the
conversation
• Participate consistently
• Are seen as credible
• Compels others to want to hear what
they say next
• Create content that is ‘remarkable’

HOW BRANDS SHOULD
PREPARE
• Don't Hesitate
• Prepare For Transparency
• Connect with Advocates
• Evolve your Enterprise
Systems
• Shatter your Brand Website

MEASURING SOCIAL MEDIA

NEW
METHODS
Social Media requires a new
way of thinking about
marketing, and moreover a
new way of thinking about
management.

NEW MEASUREMENTS
B2C C2C
Advertisement Conversation
Paid Per View Free / Viral
Page View Social Action
One Time Accumulates

KEY MEASUREMENTS
• Focus on Social Actions: Use traditional media to drive target
users online to do something -- take a social action -- not just arrive on a site.
• Measure Before and After: Measure social intensity
before and after to see if campaigns successfully caused target customers to take social actions --
rate, comment, share, recommend, etc..
• Accumulate Social Capital: Devise social actions that lead
to an accumulation of value for the community of users over time -- e.g. users rate and share tips
about restaurants -- Yelp.com. This builds an asset that has lasting value.
By Augustine Fou, ClickZ, Feb 11, 2009

TIPS FOR DOING SOCIAL
MARKETING RIGHT
• Social Media Marketing is worth more
• Don't pay for social marketing.
• Give out samples
• Give a place to talk about your product online publicly
• Ask questions to stimulate conversations
By Augustine Fou, ClickZ, Apr 9, 2009

GO FURTHER
Resources

ABOUT THE PRESENTER
• Joey Shepp, Green MBA
• Principal at Earthsite, Web Strategy
for Sustainable Brands
• Founder of Open Brands, Making
Brand Monitoring a Social Sport.
• JoeyShepp.com
• @joeyshepp

FOLLOW US ON
@earthsite
@joeyshepp
@openbrands