A social brand is one that is able to stay true to three core principles; it actively listens, it has appropriate social behaviour and it builds win/win relationships with its stakeholders.
Active listening is required if the brand is to truly be part of the market conversations, being part of the conversation provides valuable insight and critical feedback. Without active listening, and appropriate responses, the brand is still operating in the pre-social media world of mass communication.
Appropriate social behaviour is the easiest to define, authentic, honest, transparent, human, but it's the hardest to successfully implement. Ultimately it will come down to the organisations' commitment to a social brand value system and a people strategy that is aligned to this.
Lastly, because social media is creating perfect markets the last principle this win/win relationships. This is about the value exchange, the value exchange between the brand and each of its stakeholder i.e. prospects, customers, employees, influencers, investors etc. This value can take different forms, so for customers it could be about the performance of the product, the quality of the customer support or the influence they may have over shaping the product development.
In reality the impending challenges to re-engineer an organisation in order to be able to successfully build a social brand is huge; aligning internal departments, processes and communication channels is just the tip of the iceberg.
The conclusion therefore, is that the only way an organisation can effectively meet these challenges will be if the board, and more specifically the CEO, genuinely understands this new social world, is committed to building a social brand, has a clear, effective strategy and strong leadership to make it happen.
There is certainly an opportunity for organisations to get a competitive edge by building social brands although the interesting question is how organisations will differentiate themselves in the future when all brands are social brands.
