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Sociability review for Social Media clients

Brands that use or are considering use of social media for any customer-facing purpose can strategize their approach and shape their efforts to align with their audience. And not the audience "at large," but members critical to success. These are not just "influencers," but different types of influencers. As well as the networks that influencers attract, the kinds of tools they use to interact and communicate, how they build and protect reputations, and more.

The sociability review describes the nuances of social relationships and engagement not from the perspective of the brand, or its self-image, but from the perspective of consumers and their self-interest. It's this that leverages the latent and active social fertility of any socially-mediated brand. For consumers do not mention brands in order to relate to the brand, but to convey their interests to friends and colleagues.

Socially-mediated branding is not about the brand as focus, but as content, and less about brand relationships to customers than about relationships among customers that may refer to the brand. The sociability review is intended to help brands achieve a comfort level with a different frame of perspective. Not consumers reflecting brand image and values, but the brand reflected in consumer social engagement.

Because brand image, perception, reputation, and messaging in social media requires audience participation, a sociability review of the brand's audience can provide insights valuable to resource allocation:

• in personnel
• content creation
• use of sites and services (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr, etc)
• conversational strategies and content
• conversations to join, sponsor, and invite to the brand
• and more

Sociability for brands is a subjective review of conversations relevant to a brand. These include:

• competitors and their social value
• conversations within the verticals
• influencers and other notables and their individual social media practices
• relevant social news, topics, and trends
• sentiment and preconceptions
• brand failures and opportunities
• and more

Brand sociability examines how consumers talk, and includes:

• who talks, to whom, about what, and for what reasons
• linguistic expressions frequently used around the brand
• relationships involving brand content, references, desire, trust, and reputation
• consumer relations with the brand:
• • identifying with the brand
  • owning the brand
  • identifying with the brand's values and principles
  • interest in brand activities, product, corporate, representatives, or other
  • loyalty
  • feelings about the product, brand,
  • believability and trust
  • brand authority and credibility
  • affinities to related products, services, companies, and representatives
  • and more
• and more

The goal of the sociability review is to help brands to build a value chain out of their social media efforts, extending existing conversations and bridging them by means of an integrative and holistic approach to socially-mediated branding. Emphasis is placed not on brand messaging but on socially sensitive and responsive brand placement. It's purpose is to steward brands in the shift towards faceted and conversational brand presence for the purpose of enabling audiences rather than controlling and monitoring message.

Engagements can be one-off or ongoing, and vary in depth and scope as best suits your needs and budgets.

            

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