Just finished reading a great article by Tim Bradshaw of Financial Times, Who Wants To Friend A Brand (http://bit.ly/8YxE5V). In his article he points out how social media has fundamentally transformed marketing from a monologue to a dialogue. If you’ve read many of my blogs you’ll know this is what Anoroc refers to as moving away from ‘Sham Wowing’ and onto real communication.

I love what he says here: “When first faced with the prospect of marketing on social networks, many people ask a reasonable question: how many people want to be friends with a brand? The answer – surprisingly, perhaps – is: millions do, on a daily basis.”

And as experienced brand managers at Anoroc we know this is true.
Much of our brand research begins with focus groups that ask: “How do you want this brand/company to communicate with you?” And unsurprisingly enough we hear social media as a chosen platform most every time.

Bradshaw points out that more than 10m people each day become a “fan” of a brand on Facebook. The world’s largest social network – with well in excess of 400m members globally – plays host to more than 1.4m branded fan pages on Facebook. BrandZ Top 100 brands such as Coca-Cola and Starbucks, along with other smaller brands outside the Top 100 such as Adidas (brand value or BV of $3.3bn in the latest MBO list), have each “befriended” millions of people.

“A lot of our best brand builders are also some of the best companies using social media,” says Joanna Seddon, chief executive of Millward Brown Optimor, which compiles the BrandZ ranking. “A lot of the leadership in social media is really centered in the top 100 brands.”

When Anoroc reviews ROI studies from our campaigns we’ve learned that Bradshaw is speaking Gospel here: “Social media has matured rapidly in recent years. Sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter offer scale and reach to rival Google – still the most dominant single site for online advertising – and many television channels. The best advertisers use social media alongside these traditional channels for a combination of brand-building, direct sales, customer service and PR. The worst simply ignore them, blissful only until they realise the complaints and accusations that disgruntled customers are telling other would-be consumers.”

“Social media have given consumers a voice to respond, as well as hundreds of channels through which to do so,” says Debbie Klein, joint chief executive of Engine, a UK-based agency group. “These websites have fundamentally transformed marketing from a monologue to a dialogue. Brands cannot hide.”

And brands that hide, may never be found.