MackCollier.com

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What happens when a brand evangelist’s message isn’t the same as the brand’s?

All week we’ve been talking about the value for companies and organizations of connecting with, and even embracing and empowering their brand evangelists.  But a recent post by Sean Howard raises a very valid question:  What if an brand evangelist creates content about a brand, that the brand might not approve of?  To illustrate his point, Sean even created a parody video about Marketing Profs, so I invite you to click over and check it out.

Here’s a couple of other possible examples that brands might object to:

  • A popular political blogger that’s an evangelist for a particular restaurant chain creates a post lauding the chain.  However, the post contains the blogger’s usual proliferation of 4-letter words, and the blogger actively supports several organizations that the restaurant chain’s founders are opposed to.
  • A video blogger creates a humor video where he does a ‘taste test’ of several different soft drinks, and spits each out, declaring that it tastes like (use your imagination here).  Then he finishes by drinking Pepsi, says it is amazing, and not at all like the other soft drinks.

The idea is, what should a company do if one of its brand evangelists creates promotional content for that brand, that the brand objects to?  How should they respond?

As I told Sean over at his place, I think it all starts with the connection that a company has with its evangelists.  The company/organziation has to make the effort to connect with its evangelists and communicate to them exactly what their branding is.  Companies and organizations can’t invite their evangelists to promote them, then try to slap their wrist if they create content on the brand’s behalf, that the brand doesn’t agree with.

Remember that evangelists WANT to see your company or organization succeed and they WANT to promote you.  And they WANT you to talk to them.  To give them direction.  To show them how they can best help you.  Take advantage of this to work WITH your evangelists to help them better do what they already want to do: Sing your praises.

How do you think companies and organizations can best communicate to their evangelists how their brand can best be promoted?  Should they?

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How to Launch a Successful Blogger Outreach Program in One Day

Using Google to connect with bloggersFor any company that is looking to leverage the blogosphere in its marketing communications efforts, here’s all you need to do:

9:00 am – 11:00 am: Go to Google Blog Search and search for people that are talking about your company. Make a list of at least 20 people that have blogged about your company within the last 2 weeks. Concentrate on bloggers that appear to be evangelizing your company, but also add some bloggers that are critical of your efforts.

11:00 am – 2:00 pm: After you have your list of at least 20 bloggers that are talking about your company, go back to every blog and respond to the blog post where your company is mentioned. Clearly identify yourself, and your position with the company. Address only the topics presented, and any relevant information. Invite replies from readers. Thank the blogger for the comment, and then go back and email them thanking them for their comments, and let them know that you are available for a short phone discussion or interview, if they are interested.

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Subscribe to the feeds from all the blogs you commented on, as well as their comment feeds, if available.

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Visit your list of blogs again, and read any new posts, and also reply to any comments that were addressed to you, or relevant comments that other readers have left.

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm: Answer any emails from bloggers, and if possible, schedule times to discuss topics raised with blogger on the phone, or via interview.

This will get your blogger-outreach program off the ground. From this point, every day you should read the blogs via your feed reader. Also, at least twice a week, you should again check Google Blog Search for new mentions about your company, and repeat the process.

Why this will benefit your company:

1 – It will get you noticed in the blogosphere. This is a coordinated effort to reach out to bloggers and to engage them in their space. What you are basically saying is that ‘I respect you enough to take the time to respond.’ That’s HUGE!

2 – It will show bloggers that you are serious about starting a conversation with them. This is why you can’t do this once, you have to make it a habit to read blogs from your evangelists (and even detractors). This wins even more respect among bloggers.

3 – It will get bloggers talking about your company. It is still rare for companies to make a sincere effort to monitor and respond to bloggers as part of a marketing strategy. It also encourages bloggers to evangelize your company, AND, just as importantly, it encourages OTHER bloggers to evangelize your company. You are literally creating a network of bloggers that will be more likely to promote and evangelize your company.

4 – It will greatly improve your social media and marketing efforts. Simply talking to your customers and potential customers in their space in the blogosphere is a wonderful way to better understand them, but also to better understand how social media works. It’s one thing to hear about how quickly ideas spread in the blogosphere, it’s quite another to spend a few hours talking to bloggers on their blogs, and then to see how quickly other bloggers link to your actions.

5 – It means you stop wasting time on lame-ass mass email pitches to bloggers. These almost never work, and frequently backfire. Actually taking the time to talk to us in OUR space is MUCH more effective.

6 – It shows bloggers that ‘you get it’. This makes bloggers much more likely to pay attention to your company, and blog about you, your products, and marketing efforts. Which means the network of bloggers that are talking about your company is further expanded. Which doesn’t hurt your company’s Google Juice either.

Again, this program can be launched in a day, for free. Why not give it a whirl tomorrow?Using Google to connect with bloggers