Branding Social Media

Tony. The King. The Captain. The Gecko. They are all ferociously joining your ranks on social media sites. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when the M&M’s start tweeting. That’s right, I’m talking about brand mascots, and they have also jumped on the social media bandwagon.

Mascots have been used for decades to increase brand awareness and create a more personal connection between consumer and business. Mostly relegated to meet and greets and traditional media, mascots haven’t had much exposure to status updates and 180 character limits. Until now.

With sites like Facebook and Twitter, brands now have a place to create a more personal and interactive relationship with consumers by using their mascot. The brand mascots that people have come to know and love are able to show off their unique personalities, while still promoting their company. Utilizing the mascot on social media allows companies to bridge the gap between professionalism and approachability.

Beth Mansfield, director of public relations for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, (whose mascot is Happy Star) puts it nicely, “With social media you have to be engaging and have a one-on-one voice. It’s much easier to have that one voice be Happy Star instead of the marketing department of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. If we signed our Facebook posts ‘from the marketing department,’ that would be a little awkward.”

Some of the more recent social media mascot campaigns include the ReuniteM Campaign with M&M’s, and Flo, the Progressive Insurance Girl. The ReuniteM campaign is offering consumers a chance to win prizes for finding the five M&M characters together. You just have to buy selected packages of M&M’s milk chocolate candies and look for all the five characters printed under the wrapper. The candy brand has about 2.2million fans on Facebook, where the “yellow” M&M posts updates.

Flo, the Progressive Insurance mascot, has also become increasingly social. She has her own Facebook page separate from Progressive Insurance. With over 3 million likes, her fan page allows people to interact with Flo’s character, while gaining exposure for Progressive.

I’m sure more and more brands will recognize the potential social media has for increasing mascot value, and in turn, increasing product value. It’s a great way to have consumers connect with the often original and entertaining spokespeople, cartoons and characters of companies. Now if only I could Facebook chat the Aflac duck...

Isn't it Ironic?

Alanis Morissette describes irony best in her 1995 hit song "Ironic" (click here to spark your memory). Yesterday I mentioned my initial disappointment in Facebook's restricted page design capabilities. Well what do you think I stumbled across today? News that now you can customize your page! Sit back, relax, and let Alanis serenade you while reading further.

Access to page designs is based on your Klout score. This is a measurement of your online influence -- the amount of interactions and visits your page and posts receive. The higher your influence, the higher your score. Simple, right? As mentioned in my previous blog, Facebook is great at seeing the bigger picture. The bigger picture in this case is the ability for companies to get free publicity through high Klout scores.

Company Facebook pages are able to create page designs that are available to users with high Klout scores. The higher the Klout score, the more designs available. The organizations can create designs that promote their brand. For instance, Audi has a background with a picture of the LeMans.

When someone gains access to the backgrounds and applies them to their page, anyone who visits their page will see the images. So if a user applied the LeMans image to their page, everyone who visits will see the product and be exposed to Audi's brand.

To add further irony to this post, companies hardly do any work to gain the publicity! The user works to increase their Klout score, only to benefit their organization and gain an eye-catching page. What a win-win situation!

Facebook Getting Their Hands in Yet Another Industry

Six years ago I received an email saying I was invited to join Facebook -- yes, back when you had to be invited to be on the site. After much contemplation I decided to make the big switch from MySpace to Facebook. I remember being so confused and having no idea what to do with the site. It took me a long time to adjust to the site, and as someone who is in love with color I had to learn to appreciate the simple color pallet provided.

Facebook has come so far in the last five-some years. Now anyone can join the network: people, companies, products . . . heck, my cousin's cat even has a profile. Advertisers have caught onto the site's potential and now post ads on sidebars that are user-specific. This is one of Facebook's biggest money-makers, but they have another idea in the works that will make the site even more attractive.

The site is teaming up with Spotify and creating a Music Dashboard. This tool will allow users to listen to their favorite music just like other sites currently available. What sets this music stream apart from the others is that users will be able to view what their friends are listening to in real time. Users will even be able to sync up their playlists and listen to the same songs at the same time.

This is yet another example of Facebook's constant innovation. The Music Dashboard may not directly bring in profits, but it will keep people from going to other sites in order to listen to music. This additional time on the network will expose people to more advertisements, indirectly creating profits. Facebook has done a great job at looking past the immediate results and seeing the big picture -- something everyone can learn from.

Mobile App Usage Higher than the Web

Every day we see people who are paying more attention to their phones than their surroundings. Walking and texting took over streets, malls, and high school halls. This phenomenon has become even more prevalent with the introduction of smartphones and mobile apps.

A recent study, conducted by Flurry, tracked the amount of time people spent on the internet versus mobile apps. They found that June is the first month in which mobile app usage has surpassed internet usage. Consumers spent 81 minutes per day on mobile apps and 74 minutes a day on the internet. 6 months ago internet usage was in the lead with 70 minutes per day and 66 minutes per day on mobile apps.

Data from June 2010 shows that mobile app usage has almost doubled over the course of the year. Last June the ratio was 64:43, with internet usage winning. This June's stats are mere 5 minutes a day away from doubling last June's stats.

This means that companies need to change their marketing habits and figure out how to reach the growing number of app users. It will be exciting to see what the creative juices of advertisers come up with!

Words of Wisdom for Bloggers

So I'm guessing most of you reading this have blogged yourself. How weird does that sound? Blogged. Blogging. Say the words over and over and they start to sound like a made-up language. Not long ago there would have been no mental connection with any form of "blog," but the rend has grown so fast that is part of most people's vocabulary (just not Word's or T9's). Blogging has become so commonplace that it is now an industry -- and with that comes liability.

Nellie Akalp, CEO of CorpNet.com, advises bloggers on some of the liabilities and how to avoid trouble. Her first word of wisdom? Disclosure. Whenever you have a "material relationship" with an organization you need to make the public aware of it. So any time a company sponsors you, gives you a product, etc. and it ends up in your blog, tell all your readers about your relationship with the organization.

The next words of wisdom are to give typical results. We've all seen thousands of commercials for diet pills and other products that advertise extreme results, but then in tiny print at the bottom say "results not typical." While this might be acceptable for television advertising, this is not okay in the blogging world. You need to report the standard results of the product being reviewed.

The last piece of advice, for now, is to protect your personal assets by starting an LLC or incorporation of your blog. This means that, on the off-chance you do get pinned with a lawsuit, only assets of your corporation or LLC will be at risk and your personal assets will be safe and sound.

Many wise teachers told me this catchy phrase: "when in doubt, leave it out." While this is applicable to commas, think the opposite with blog content. If there is a question of whether what you wrote crosses the lines of the law, put in the extra details that will prevent any trouble.

To read more on blogging tips, click here!