Social networks ... don't be a Billy No-Mates!

Was having a rummage around some blogs this morning and came across a new one (well, new in so far as I haven't seen it before) from Brian Solis ... well worth a squizz.

Now the Conversation Prism in the blog (dodgy marketing-speak?) is useful in terms of mapping all the areas one might consider touching people ... but it'll also scare the hell out of those who have to operate in the digital world for a living. So before I go onto my point, try using it in conjunction with his Essential Guide to Social Media, rather than just looking at it in isolation.

Anyway. The complexity of the charts used serve as a useful segue to conversations I have been having with clients and colleagues = simplifying the rules of engagement for brands in social networks.

And there seem to be two common denominators ... and let's face it, these are also the key tenets for any normal conversation you might have in the real world. So if you're not doing this, you're likely to be Billy No-Mates (in which case you've got better things to do/learn than read this blog):

1. Be interesting:
- this is obviously requires some understanding of who you are talking to ... if you're not tapping into a particular passion that the network shares, you're dead in the water and doing more damage to your brand than good
- and being interesting doesn't mean rattling on about your product or service; someone who just talks about themselves in the real world is not a social success so why on earth do you suppose it'll be different in on-line social networks?!
- so pick common ground ... simple Venn diagram will plot the overlaps easily enough, so let's take an example: mobile phones, why not talk about your design process ... what are the design stimuli, what ideas were discarded, what frustrations do you go through, is there anything you're trying to emulate in the big wide world, what's your definition of success?

and/or

2. Be useful:
- there are plenty of ways of a brand playing a role in social networks, even those that on the face of it are "dull" service providers. Let's take any brand that is all about saving money (like Asda or Swift Cover) ... Asda have just launched a "Save Money" initiative on YouTube where everyone is invited to share their ideas.
- Swift Cover are using Iggy Pop (slightly odd, but let's go with it) ... so it's all about saving time: that seems a rich territory for them to explore ... God knows most of us wouldn't mind a series of tips on how to save time in all walks of life
- so whilst not necessarily interesting in an entertaining or slapping your thigh with joy sort of way ... useful, linked to the brand proposition but not flogging the product

Now I know there are other pointers like listening, being open and honest ... but these vanilla tips that don't really help that much.

Now folks, rip it apart. As long as you either interesting or useful when you do it.

What do they do with school buses?

I came across an article by dear old Blunkett in the Telegraph ... saying we should have the American-style yellow school buses ... and to make it affordable, parents should pay £1-£2 per day.

Mmm, right ... so why the American style buses? Actually I shouldn't get sucked into that line of question - the proposal is just idiotic. A better question starts with an observation: The buses drop off the kids at 9ish ... then re-appear at 3ish to drop them off. Then disappear again.

So what the hell do they do with these public assets in the meantime? Couldn't they be used for the rest of, mmm what's the phrase... the tax-paying public. Oh my God, you can't do that ... it says school bus on the side, so that's it - back to the garage!

So leveraging that asset for the rest of the public outside these hours is ridiculous - we would rather park them up, not use them and run the public buses into the ground.

Mind you, I shouldn't bitch about it ... we might end up Red Ken and those bloody stupid snake buses he got for London instead. So instead of asking parents to shell out (for getting another bloody import) and having no access to them, why not let us use what we've already got? I think they might call it value creation ... something completely foreign to our darling politicians.

Simple brand engagement ... take a bow Asda

So just rummaging through the assortment of subscription e-mails I get ... and stumble across one from Marketing Week.

Asda has launched "Saving you Money" on Youtube. They've kick started with some suggestions but it's powered by your everyday punter ... the link to the brand is obvious: everyday savings.

Very simple but at last a big brand that normally spends its money on TV actually engaging customers and prospects alike in a social network environment ... and all because they're not so archaic as to think you have to flog the brand and its products.

So something that's useful and interesting: two key tenets for a brand that wants to participate in a social network ... and the financial risk? Let's face it, it'll be pretty much zero.

So all you brand managers out there ... what's your version?