MackCollier.com

  • Blog
  • Mack’s Bio
  • Work With Mack
    • See Mack’s Work
  • Buy Think Like a Rock Star
  • Book Mack to Speak

February 4, 2014 by Mack Collier

Your Brand Is the Sum of the Stories We Tell About You

KatyFirework

Facebook has just launched an elegant mobile reader/app called Paper.  Facebook is trying to position the app as less of a reader and more of a way for users to share and create ‘stories’.  Jay has a great write-up on the direction Facebook may be heading with the app.

Over the last few years, our ability to create content and weave multiple medias has increased dramatically.  Our smartphones are becoming computers that are far more powerful that the klunky desktops from just a few years ago.  The ability to create pictures, high-definition video and text has all been fused into a small item no bigger than our hand.

While our ability to tell stories via digital content has greatly increased, many brands are still missing what an opportunity they have in letting customers speak on their behalf.  It’s scary for many brands, I get it.  You spend millions in carefully orchestrated marketing messages designed to communicate specific points to a mass market.

What you miss is that we don’t care about that.  Well we do, but not to the degree you think.  Every customer has their own connection to your brand.  Many customers have complete indifference to your brand.  Some have slight levels of affinity and loyalty, and a select few are raving fans.

We are all telling stories about your brand.  And if you don’t connect with us, we will tell the stories on our own.

But if you do connect with us, two important things begin to happen:

1 – We begin to understand you, and the story you want us to tell

2 – You begin to understand us, and the stories we want to hear

The thing to remember is this:  While most of us have the ability to tell stories about your brand, most of us don’t have any desire to.  Unless we either love you, or hate you.

And again, either way it pays to connect with us.  If you connect with your fans, the customers that love you, those fans will work with you to make sure they tell the story about your brand that you want other customers to hear.  Read that again until you understand just how important that is.

On the other hand, when you connect with your fans, they will come to your defense against customers that are telling negative stories about your brand.  Truly a win-win situation.

Keep in mind that when you empower your customers to tell stories on your brand’s behalf, your customers tell your brand’s story in their own voice.  This is incredibly powerful because customers respond more to a message that’s delivered in a voice they recognize and trust.

Their own.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Brand Advocacy, Content Marketing, Marketing

About Mack Collier

My name is Mack Collier and I am a digital marketing and content strategist located in Alabama. Since 2006 I've helped companies of all sizes from startups to global brands such as Adobe, Dell and Ingersoll-Rand, create customer-centric programs, content and experiences. A long-time internet geek, I've been online since 1988 and began using social networking sites in 1991 when I joined Prodigy. Today, I help companies understand the ever growing and evolving web3 space, including crypto, NFTs, DAOs and the Metaverse.

Recent Posts

  • Monday’s Marketing Minute: Twitter Rolling Out UI Changes, ChatGPT’s Rumored Sale, Global Brands Adopting NFTs
  • Monday’s Marketing Minute: All Twitter, All The Time!
  • Monday’s Marketing Minute: Elon Releases The Twitter Files, OpenAI Debuts ChatGPT
  • Monday’s Marketing Minute: Layoffs Come to Meta and Twitter, Selling NFTs Comes to Instagram, Fans Get Paid Via Music NFTs
  • Monday’s Marketing Minute: It’s Official; Elon Musk Owns Twitter

Categories

Archives

Comment Policy

Be nice, be considerate, be friendly. Any comment that I feel doesn't meet these simple rules can and probably will be deleted.

  • Blog
  • Mack’s Bio
  • Work With Mack
  • Buy Think Like a Rock Star
  • Book Mack to Speak

Copyright © 2023 · Executive Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in