Cam Beck “Brandjacks” Joseph Jaffe’s Personality

It’s a world where corporations hire personal brands, leverage cause-based activity to boost reputation, and affiliate with other brands to enhance (or destroy) their image. Before the social web, this trend manifested itself in a well-manicured set of partnerships through corporate marketing and sales. Those days are over. Now individuals and companies alike can bolster their reputations — or worse “brandjack” — by simply swiping a badge, converting a logo into a complimentary or negative image, or affiliate themselves well-known personality via a link or a photo. Companies struggle with and usually fail to control the unlicensed widespread use of their brands.

Affiliation and alliance-based identities are no longer linear and sometimes include unwilling participants. Today they represent a mesh-like confluence of identities and reputations, commitments and past experiences. These coinciding moments occur with the click of a camera, the insertion of some HTML code, or a casual reference on Twitter.

As a result, friending MC Hammer on Twitter becomes a moment of triumph and credibility for long adoring fans. And companies can make big waves by hiring the Internet Famous, such as Fast Company’s troubled hiring of Scoble and Israel. Consider how Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop has built a perception of a powerhouse aggregator by simply encouraging bloggers to boast about their listing.

Smart organizations are already leveraging the brandjacking trend with great success by promoting affiliation. Consider the (Lil) Green Patch program. Individuals get to look environmentally conscious with their personal green patch on their Facebook page and the Nature Conservancy receives matching donations to fight rainforest deforestation. The effort claims to have saved more than 96 million square feet of rainforest so far.

Image (by David Alston) from left to right Jim Long is interviewed by Twebinar Host Chris Brogan and Radian6’s David Alston. Radian6 dramatically increased its visibility by hiring Brogan (and Long) to execute the Twebinar series on their behalf. The Twebinar series was a smorgasbord of brand affiliations.

This trend is one I’ve had a lot of fun mocking this past year. However, it’s a trend that will only accelerate as the social web becomes more common and corporations become more savvy in their adoption of corporation social media and their ability to affiliate themselves with disparate personalities and brands.

Yet the era of “sampling” brands and reputations raises a lot of questions and possibilities (image by Shashi Bellamkonda). For while affiliation and alliances with other reputations can boost credibility, sooner or later a reputation needs to stand on its own. Or does it?

We may be entering an era where the less discerning eye can be easily swayed by images of grandeur. Substantive transparency could be less valuable than smart brandjacking — what was often called name dropping in the 1.0 world.

The new bubble won’t be venture-backed or real estate-driven, but instead a bubble of false perceptions may rise. And this time it won’t come from marketing machines but instead the social web itself. Could the anti-PR machine become its own worst nightmare creating celebrities and brands without substance?

But ultimately the smart will stay smart, and reputations will sooner or later return to their ultimate barometer: Performance. While brand affilitiation may work for a period of time, without core value many lesser composite images will fall to the wayside. Markets ultimately want real answers to concerns, desires and needs. The era of sampling will need more than glue to build the house. Substance is required for long term success. That means product marketing becomes even more valuable for the CMO’s office.

The recent herd mentality on Twitter reminds me of the French mob screaming for aristocrats’ blood. Break out the guillotine! First it was Motrin, then it was the Matt Bacak smeering (I did think he crossed a line, but still the response was excessive), and most recently the portrayal of Chris Brogan — of all people — as unethical for writing an IZEA (formerly Pay Per Post)/K-Mart sponsored post.

Much has been said about the Brogan post, some by Chris, some by Amber Naslund. To me the fact that Chris got his chops busted, and other prominent bloggers like friend Aaron Brazell didn’t just shows you how ridiculous Twitter can be sometimes. The hangman-out-for-blood mentality just shows human nature at its worst.

Frankly, I understand the angst about Pay Per Post. It’s a loss of credibility. But the rebranded IZEA service is bit more high-brow, and in this case sponsored folks like Aaron and Chris with a $500 stipend to shop at K-Mart. It’s hard enough making money as a blogger, but $500 at Christmas time is no joke, especially in an economy like this one.

I am not saying take $15 for writing SEO pieces every damn day that destroy your blog’s credibility. Personally, hat’s off to the K-Mart bloggers for being good enough to attract that kind of sponsorship. Just openly state that it’s a sponsored post. No big deal.

Amber had a nice entre to her post:

..the underlying issue to me is this idea that social media mechanisms like blogs are somehow sacrosanct, hallowed ground. That there is no room for commercialism within the walls of the Almighty Conversation. That the only use for these tools in within the confines of personal expression, removed from a capitalistic context. That simply isn’t the case.

Regardless of how you feel about Chris getting a $500 sponsorship, to me the mass hanging and outrage on Twitter has gotten to the point where the community is starting to validate Andrew Keen’s Cult of the Amateur. There’s an increasing lack of common sense and a mad rush to bury people online. And that does not bode well for Twitter’s credibility as a source of mass intelligence.

As someone who has seen enough of these, I’m starting to get a) calloused to the cries of evil and b) question whether these events are actually hurting the brands in question, or in actuality helping them. I recently met Chris Anderson and he said to me all publicity is good publicity. Folks like Madonna would agree. In these cases, I am more likely to buy Motrin, I am now following Matt Bacak on Twitter, and I have more respect for Chris Brogan. The mob be damned.

What do you think?

“There’s no market for messages”

One thing has become readily apparent to me: Most social media communicators, “personal brands” (snort) and social media experts have neglected to read the Cluetrain Manifesto. Whether you agree with the principles in this book or not, in my mind it should be mandatory reading for anyone who conducts business communications on the Internet.

Many a social media consultant or online communicator have confided in me that they have not read the Cluetrain Manifesto. To me that’s as unforgivable as practicing law without a J.D. or practicing medicine without going to medical school and internships.

Cluetrain captures the essence of the uncontrolled business environment and they need to provide authentic, real dialogue based around the market’s needs. Without understand the fundamental dynamics of the social media form and the inherently uncontrived conversations it inspires, communicators are lost in the darkness.

At bare minimum communicators should read the opening salvo of 95 theses that comprise the Cluetrain Manifesto, Christopher Locke’s chapter, “Internet Apocalypso, and Doc Searls and David Weinberger’s contribution, “Markets Are Conversations.”

It get backs to community concepts which are at the heart of Now Is Gone. In many ways, Now Is Gone is the direct product of the Internet and Cluetrain’s unrelenting view that controlled and contrived business brand messages — personal or corporate — have no place on the Internet. Consider the boiled down thesis of the book and its seven principles of community development.

For me Cluetrain represents a great hope: That business can be done differently. The Internet and social media can become the elixir to revolutionize our corporate cultures of exploitation, and refocus it on social good, causes, and service to actual markets.

One of the reasons the whole personal branding movement disturbs me is that most personal branders are in actuality exploiting these tools to foster a new conversational, self-centered hucksterism that makes me sick. It’s not genuine or real, and I don’t want any part of it. Add your genuine personality to the conversation, not a contrived self image.

Here are my favorite 10 of the 95 theses from Cluetrain:

3) Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.

25) Companies need to come down from their Ivory Towers and talk to the people with whom they hope to create relationships.

26) Public relations does not relate to the public. Companies are deeply afraid of their markets.

33) Learning to speak with a human voice is not a parlor trick. It can’t be “picked up” at some tony conference.

34) To speak in a human voice, companies must share the concerns of their communities.

35) But first they must belong to a community.

61) Sadly, the part of the company a networked market wants to talk to is usually hidden behind a smokescreen of hucksterism, of language that rings false — and often is.

62) marketers do not want to talk to flacks and hucksters. They want to participate in the conversations going on behind the corporate firewall.

83) We want you to take 50 million of us as seriously as you take one reporter from THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

91) Our allegiance is to ourselves — our friends, our new allies and acquaintances, even our sparring partners. Companies that have no part in this world, also have no future.

Network Solutions is producing the Solutions Stars Video Conference on October 29 at 1 p.m. This free video conference aims to provide insights and online marketing tips to small businesses. It will be of great service to small businesses, particularly now that the economy has gotten tough, and it’s not as easy to attend a conference in person.

As author of Now Is Gone, it was an honor to work with Network Solutions Social Media Swami Shashi Bellamkonda and the 32 top bloggers who participated and shot videos with us at BlogWorld Expo.  The conference features nine different documentary style video sessions:

• Building Web Presence
• The Social Opportunity
• Start with Listening
• Strategy Drives Outreach
• You Need Social Networks
• To Blog or Not to Blog
• Visibility Through Search
• Rising Above the Noise
• Time Demands

In addition to Now Is Gone Co-Author Brian Solis, Solutions Stars include:

I hope you can participate in this  conference and conversation. It will be well worth your while, with lots of great insights.

In addition to the main site, please visit the Solutions Stars Video Conference event pages on Facebook and Upcoming:

• www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=33854706886
• upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1200021

It shouldn’t surprise anyone to see posts titled "The Role of Ethical Brands in a Down Economy," "The Four Social Media Questions You Must Answer During an Economic Downturn," "In A Down Economy, Tomorrow’s Leaders Are Born Today," "Will Social Media Help PR Weather the Storm," and "25 Ways Social Media Prepares You for a Social Media Downturn." All of these respected marketers have the recession in mind (image by collective nouns).

There were some great insights in these articles, most of which I liked Todd Defren’s statistical based analysis showing online marketing will be the bright spot in communications. I disagreed w/ some of Chris Brogan’s 25 ways (though I love Chris), but mostly because no one knows how social media functions and works in a recession. I think reliance on brass tacks, on hard core value building and ROI is what matters now.

What is clear: This new media world will see an even stronger focus from corporate as big ad spends get cut and marketers seek guerilla oriented tactics. But things will change, and online communicators are going to be forced to act differently.  

I’ve been through one of these before, in the telecom industry which suffered an industry specific depression from 2000-2. During that time I actually excelled and grew a book of business, keeping more than a dozen of my fellows employed. So while I will be deploying social media for the first time in a  recession, I’ve got a few experiences that are guiding my thoughts during this particular time:

Here are five ways I anticipate this recession will affect us:

1) ROI must become the song. If you can’t measure or you think page impressions represents an accurate measurement for marketing communications initiatives, mail it in. No company will engage in that anymore. Integration with calls to action must be used to produce tangible results.

2) Similarly, social media consultants will be forced to produce or they will bomb. Now more than ever it’s about ROI, not Facebook friends.  

3) Independent, positive thinkers will do better. They will not be susceptible to media driven BS and fear mongering. Consider this ridiculous CCN story that liberally uses poll terms to claim 60% of Americans say depression is likely. Talk about tabloid journalism. Yet, these stories can inspire panic and that is the great challenge.

Rich Becker makes a good point, "When economic times seem tough, you tend to want to work with those who seem largely unaffected." In his post, he was speaking about the newspaper industry, but it may as well be your company. Executives and individuals will need to wield a sober, pragmatic approach to the market, and provide actionable ways to grow their business. More than anything people and cultures that win will be the positive ones with real value to offer their employers, their clients and the world in general.

4) It’s time for millenials to grow up in the workplace. This is Gen Y’s first recession, and to date they have shown heavy demands for senior executive access and mentorship, lifestyle choices, collaboration, high salaries, plush bennies, transitory career paths, and steady, significant pay increases. More than anything it has been incumbent on employers to attract and retain them with these many cultural aspects. Well, the coin has flipped.  In tough times, it’s incumbent on the employee to prove value, not the employer. I sense that many over-privileged divas are heading for a rude awakening.

5) More noise.  As companies abandon traditional, costly tactics and crowd the marketplace with their new social media initiatives we will likely see a new nightmare of corporate crud. Social media initiatives must offer immediate, clear strong value to communities, or they will click and flee. Substance is paramount! Tolerance for BS gimmicks will evaporate. Last recession, a similar noise level occurred with email marketing, that time’s cheap marketing elixir.

A Time of Pain

Regardless of how social media fares as a sub sector, I believe from a societal perspective that this will be a widespread recession that will take a good long time to get better.  Poor fiduciary lending has affected our entire financial industry and in ways that we’ve not seen in modern times before under the Federal Reserve. This will impact all businesses and all sectors, from credit to actual sales. My prayers and thoughts are with those who will be affected.

Further, more than any economic downturn in my life, this will hurt the lower middle income and low income classes.  Consider the impact high heating costs, transportation costs, lost jobs from construction, cut state spending, etc., will make on blue collar America.

There will be great challenges ahead that supersede "making money," and I encourage readers to think about what we can do to help as individuals. It is a time for charity, a time for helping brothers and sisters regardless of race, creed, class, religion. Economic pain affects all, and no American should go hungry.

Related posts:

• Recession 2.0
• Using Social Media to Communicate in Tough Times (HR Perspective)
• Accelerating through the Recession

When Chris Brogran stops the press to summon good deeds, people sit up and take notice. Beth Kanter (with prerequisite trust in spades) raised $3,000 in one hour at Gnomedex to send her sponsored Cambodian student back to college for another semester. The game changing Social Actions widget (below) makes it possible for any plugged in individual to highlight campaigns on a blog or profile. We Buzz Binners are committed to a better place.

The ChangeBlogging meme has arrived. On a meta level - not just the three question blog-a-long at the end of this post. Eyes are shifting from the internal “me” meme to a season of “we” and “us.” The winds of change are welcome - and overdue.

A year ago there were about 15 notable nonprofit and philanthropy bloggers. Today dozens of voices regularly discuss community and global change, often in relation to the role of the social Web. (Check out the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Give & Take blog roll for a solid starter list.)

The unofficial and growing network of Changebloggers is another testament to the trend toward good. Changebloggers, as defined by Britt Bravo, are “people who are using their blog, podcast or vlog to raise awareness, build community, and/or facilitate readers/listeners/viewers’ taking action to make the world a better place.” These actions occur across nonprofits, government, corporations and the general civic sector.

Here’s the great news: Social media platforms give anyone with a little reach and commitment the ability to influence, if not outright persuade. You needn’t be solely focused on societal impact to afford changeblogger tendencies. It’s a question of what are you influencing and to what end?

DC: Setting the Stage for ChangeBlogging Results

One of the iDistrict’s most remarkable qualities is its focus on community change. As one example, marketing, PR, Web and social media gurus gather each month at NetSquared’s Pimp My Nonprofit event. We listen first, then offer digitally-derived insight and ideas, one nonprofit at a time. A meeting of the minds plus a way to contribute locally.

This fall, DC will be one of 35 cities visited by NetSquared’s Alex Steed. He’s touring the U.S., meeting with millennial activists about “the future of organizing.” We won’t be letting him out of here that easily, however. Alexandra Rampy (a.k.a. SocialButterfly) is rallying local changebloggers to meet with Steed. Our goal is to unite interested parties around something good (TBD). From there, we can do just about anything.

That’s setting the bar pretty high for Valley and NY folk.

If you were here with me, I’d make a toast. Instead - to help formally launch a new wave of social activism - a new meme. Three questions (with my answers):

• What is one change - big or small, local or global - you want to see in your lifetime? I’ll kick off with a big one. Poverty has to end. There is plenty of plenty to go around. The U.N. Millennium Development Goals are here to motivate.
• Who is already working this issue that you think others should support? Microfinance groups, like Kiva but beyond. Opportunity International, Grameen Foundation, Global Giving’s microcredit programs, and small micro-enterprise initiatives happening here in the U.S. and abroad - to name a few. Social capitalism at its best.
• How are you going to use your Web/tech/marcom skills to further this cause? (Or, what are you already doing that works?)
  I have badges on my personal blog for several of the above groups, and support a few of them too. That’s  not enough! I hope to get more involved with NEST, a local group that provides microcredit loans to women artisans in developing countries, and brings their wares to market in the U.S. They’ve already dipped their toes into PR and social media but could use some additional support.

Tagged in this meme (we’re all changebloggers in some way!): Minjae Ormes, Ike Pigott, Alex Rampy, Holly Ross, Jake Brewer, Josh Chambers, Colin Delaney, Maddie Grant, Andre Blackman, Mark Drapeau, Sarah Marchetti, Ryan Moede, Christian DE NEEF and Kenneth Yeung.

Peace.