Social Media's Impact on Brand Image

Neal had a bad experience with returning a pair of defective running shoes to Nike. He decided to write about it and tell others about his disappointing experience. Just happens that Neal writes for The Wall Street Journal and millions of people can read his article in print and online.

Today, we are all broadcasters. Sure, we've always had our circle of friends to share experiences with about a product, service, or company, but with the internet, our circle has significantly grown. Whether it takes the form of a simple status update on Facebook ("I am waiting in line at ___ and they are so slow!"), a product review on Amazon ("I had trouble with ___ and it was actually hard to use"), or a long, detailed blog post, all of our experiences with brands now reach a much wider audience than even 10 years ago.

Nike may have gotten unlucky with Neal, but had they known he'd write about his poor experience for everyone to read, they would have treated the situation differently. Since we all have the potential to talk about our brand experiences to an audience, everyone becomes a potential misstep or opportunity for a company. Keeping in mind Long Tail principles, even though you may only have 50 friends to broadcast to (what damage can that really do?), when you add up all the small circles of influence, it can really become a powerful force. So, if you are a person with a large sphere of influence like Neal or you are an average social media user, every time a company interacts with a customer, there is very real potential for it to be discussed in the social media realm (and become a permanent mark on your brand) . How should social media effect the way companies now look at customer service, return policies and maintaining brand image?

New pitching ground

The media mecca is always changing-- even faster than some of us might realize. Citizen journalism is at an all-time high; all you ever see on broadcast news is something regarding a new or rare face on YouTube. Our coverage methods not only have to be on target but strong and far-reaching, because today's news is old news.

Axiom is announcing a new plan of superhuman attack to keep fervent and thorough media relations correspondence at the forefront of its media strategies. At Axiom, we recognize the importance of turning a yes, no, or maybe response into future interest and future placement. Our perfect pitch sessions, occurring every Tuesday, will share guided insight from TV producers and those buffs in PR who have given themselves a voice for effective pitching counsel. We're even going to go so far as to pitch on each other's voicemail- both the crappy and catching.

Remember, as a media maven, you have 10 seconds to impress and a minute to bore a reporter if you aren't careful. Thanks to perfect pitch sessions, you and I won't be doing any more PR fluff.