Social Networking For Brands?
Segway has done it. So has Nike.
And soon in Malaysia, one brand will once again be at the forefront in the creation of yet another social networking site.
But why another social networking site when you have such a plethora of already existing sites such as Facebook, Friendster, Orkut and Ruumz?
Shooting off the hips here – my opinion on this matter is fairly straightfoward: You can’t sell a product through a social network, you are merely creating a platform for like-minded individuals to converge and share ideas, stories, gossips and even to know one another. That pretty much sums up the gist of what social media networking is all about.
What your brand stands to benefit though is the continued relevance and visibility to answering the needs of these group of people – which in all accounts, shouldn’t be too difficult to achieve since the product or service you sell is the enabler to their needs. But remember that a brand’s social networking site provides the platform for sharing experiences, not for the brand to tout its products or services – because your corporate website would have all the product and services related information there.
However, above all, the brand also needs to understand that these group of people may already have profiles at other social networking sites and the bigger challenge here is how to leverage on their already existing networks from there. UGCs should be the staple content here.
And last but not least – please….be Web 2.0 relevant. RSS, widgets, social bookmarking, Twitter and the whole nine yards. After all, it’s a social networking site, not a portal.
