Getting Real in the Virtual World

In our industry, new buzzwords pop up constantly, and lately it has been “authentic.”

Last month, I attended AdweekMedia’s Social Media Strategies conference in New York and its What Teens Want conference in L.A. In normal conference manner, professionals described how they have managed to garner enviable results within their unique market. The lesson learned for the jealous and zealous in the audience: Find an authentic brand voice and never stray from it.

In social media, Twitter handles and Facebook fan pages should be run the way you would run your own: Make frequent updates (don’t appear as though you slept all day), answer and interact with your friends and followers, and make statements that reflect your voice and are interesting to more than just you and your colleagues. From PepsiCo’s Shiv Singh to H&R Block’s Zena Weist to Threadless’s Cam Balzer, they all said the keys to success are to never underestimate the consumer’s genuine-content radar or stray from a brand’s personality. Plus, tweets, posts and viral content should never seem commercial.

Let’s talk teens. They can sense a lack of authenticity from a mile away. To this demographic, social media allows for an additional outlet of growth, one where they can experiment with their identity and find groups where they fit in best. They have hundreds of friends on Facebook and won’t waste their time “liking” a brand that doesn’t behave in a personal manner.

Musicians who spoke at each of the conferences preached this message the loudest. Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, a keynote speaker at Social Media Strategies, credited MySpace with some of his celebrity success and said transparency is the key. Fans must know you, he said, the musician or musical brand communicating with them. At What Teens Want, Troy Carter, manager for Lady Gaga and up-and-comer tween Grayson Chance, said his stars are the only ones with the passwords to their very active Twitter accounts. The teen sensation band Honor Society further cemented this fact when commenting on their online brand presence; @WhatTeensWant tweeted, “HS: We are who u see. We talk 2 our fans the way we normally speak. So our fans just add 2 our social presence. We’re out there on display.”

As Nick Bilton of The New York Times said at Social Media Strategies, the future of media across all platforms is conversation. So when planning how to communicate a brand’s voice, remember that authentic conversation is what will prevail in the world of social media.

*Originally posted here on 11-10-10.

The New Moveable Feast/Branding Oppportunity

You’d have to live under a rock to not have been swept up by, or at least heard of, the latest culinary craze: food trucks. California has always had its taco trucks, but now you can find gourmet crepes, sophisticated meatball sandwiches and even schnitzel on a corner or curb near you. L.A., Austin and New York have legitimized the mobile food business; The New York Times even called food trucks “a staple of New York dining.” According to Zagat’s 2011 New York City Restaurant Survey, 26 percent of respondents reported eating from gourmet food trucks at least occasionally, and 11 percent said they follow food trucks on social networks such as Twitter.

When food trucks themselves figured out social media—getting involved in a space that reached more eyes than just their parking spot—that’s when they gained popularity and attention. Social media links consumers with the brands they love in a way that feels more personal than a traditional advertisement. Through social media, food trucks—brands that are local by nature—break through the cyberwall, becoming tangible to their followers. Fans read a Facebook post or tweet and are able to visit the truck in minutes, depending on its current location.

But it’s not just the novelty of better moveable feasts that’s worth talking about; it’s also what the communications industry is doing with them. Brands unrelated to these mobile restaurants are taking notice of the fan bases they have and jumping on the bandwagon to reach consumers. Advertisers are starting to see trucks as a vehicle for delivering their message directly to consumers, hoping to capitalize on the trend. Food trucks are, in essence, the new celebrity endorsement: Being paid to attend events, they deliver messages directly to an audience and were even called “a mobile billboard on steroids” by Michael Chamberlin, executive vice president and director of client services at BBDO San Francisco, which created a ski-pass promotion campaign for the Heavenly resort in Lake Tahoe that included a truck filled with snow cones. Heinz is currently on a road trip across the United States, attracting the food truck audience to its brand with free fries and ketchup.

Judging by food fests across the U.S. this summer, it seems evident that the only problem food trucks have is keeping up with the consumer demand for what they cart around. I’d say this new medium is going to be around for a while. The race is on to see which non-edible brands will cook up campaigns that consumers find the tastiest first!

*Originally posted here.