Successful social media interaction requires generating a greater volume of valuable content, so many brand marketers are having to rethink their content strategy. It is vital to understand how your communications will be received by customers in regions that have different beliefs and values.
Now is the time to invest in cross-cultural social media communications
There is a sea change coming to consumer marketing over the next few years and we need to have a smarter, more effective way to create global content. It matters what you say and in what context you say it.
Think globally – but act locally.
Tomorrow’s best customers live in places that you may not even know about. The values of people in North America don’t necessarily translate in South American, European, Indian, African, or Asian markets. Here are some questions to get the conversations started in your organization…
How do you envision people from other cultures interacting with your brand? (within your country and abroad)
What tools or research will you use to understand the consumer behavior in other areas?
What measurements are you using to reach your goals and analyze the success of your communications?
Questions to ask about how your brand message be received internationally:
What is your greater purpose for being in business?
The era of brand obsession may soon be over – for marketers that is.
It’s no longer within our power to force our idea of what the brand represents on the customer. Now, they decide what the brand means to them, whether it is worth their money, their loyalty and most importantly, whether they would risk their own credibility by recommending to a friend or colleague.
So that begs the question, what is the definition of a successful brand today?
Is it measured in revenue? Not if you’re one of the (successful) countless online applications that have yet to figure out a sustainable revenue model. Is it in the number of people using it? Perhaps. Some companies are looking for ways to measure the human response to interactions with their product. Does it make you happy? Does it make you feel self-confident? Does it reduce job-related stress?
A non-profit, for instance, typically tries to raise awareness of an issue and influence the public to either donate time or money to help the organization address the cause. When we educate an audience about the lack of soap in refugee camps, are we making an emotional connection that compels the reader to act? Success will be defined not only by fulfilling the organizations mission, but also by its ability to make people care.
Corporations want to build enough trust for their product that the shopper will ultimately make a purchase, love it and either buy more or recommend it to a friend. No company aspires to be commoditized, so again, the key to success to create an emotional connection with the most awesome (productive, spendy, etc) customers, give them (multiple) great experiences and enlist them in the marketing strategy.
Here’s where the traditional marketer gets lost.
We used to create feature and benefit campaigns. Most of the time, however, these benefits reflected aspiration rather than reality. Some of us (a scant few I’m sure) have even been put in the position of touting the wonders of a product that doesn’t exist yet (vaporware). Those days are so over. The boulevard of broken dreams is littered with disparaging remarks about companies letting their customers down. This power shift deeply discounts the value of reactive public relations, letters from the CEO or apologetic calls from the account manager.
Back to the original question, what defines a successful brand today?
It’s certainly changing. Most of the people I know are spending their money with great care and purpose these days. Success belongs to those organizations that give their customers the opportunity to help improve and innovate alongside its leaders and employees. This isn’t earth shattering. It’s just a matter of listening for and acting on great ideas. Successful brands won’t have a status quo.
