When Aligning Branding and Messaging,
Don't Forget Social Media
Part 1: Logo Police Ride Into the Sunset
Thomas B. McClintock
Recently at NSI, we’re spending less time urging clients to open Twitter and other social-media accounts than urging them to shut accounts down, or – more precisely – to consolidate poorly maintained accounts into more active ones. There’s a right and a wrong way to “do” Twitter and related media, we’re all finding. Some of it has to do with extending the coordination of your branding and messaging into the social-media space (“multi-channel alignment,” as it’s called).
Where’s the Logo Cop When You Need One?
Fifteen years ago at Deloitte & Touche, my boss would complain about what he called “the Logo Police.” Despite tight deadlines when rolling out a new product, we were forced to wait for approval from what seemed to be a very powerful department. My boss described the Logo Police as staffers who “ride in like the FBI, pixel rulers drawn, shutting down everything because a margin or color doesn’t precisely match their regulations.”
In our (much smaller) firm, I sometimes miss having a Logo Police Department to ensure that the latest version of our logo and tagline appears on all our collateral materials. But with or without Logo Cops, those responsible for multi-channel alignment are busier than ever.
It’s no longer enough that collateral materials match one another in branding and messaging, or that a web site’s look-and-feel is consistent with its print counterpart. In today’s Web 2.0 world, multi-channel alignment now extends into the blogosphere and beyond – onto Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and every corner of your online presence. Now more than ever, it seems, the long arm of the marketing department is needed to police your brand.
Redefining the Logo Cops’ Role
For social media to work effectively, editorial policies (from the Logo Police, legal department or PR team) can’t be allowed to bottleneck staff responsible for posting online. The first of two rules to prevent your social properties from going dormant is: establish guidelines, then empower and trust knowledgeable people to update your social-media platforms.
The second rule appears to contradict the first: delegate social-media posting, but continue monitoring all posts. In other words, don’t delegate the command and control function, lest your campaign lose its focus. Assign a single individual responsibility for monitoring, measuring, and reporting on the posting-team’s efforts. Ideally, this will be someone both familiar and involved with social-media, who can use predetermined metrics to evaluate your social-media effort and ensure the frequency and consistency of posts.
With communication channels multiplying, marketers need help – but not from Logo Cops! While I understand that some content may need review before it’s posted, guidance and assistance is needed more than policing. The fast pace of social-media conversation presents a new reality to which every department involved – from marketing to legal—needs to adapt.
Next Month, Part 2: New Sheriff in Town?