Social Value First, Brand Value Second

Networks work best when they put social value first and brand value second. When brands come to address networks they sometimes start with the idea, 'what's in this for us', which can then lead to quite unfulfilling trains of thought (and development).   An example of this was Nike's mega, Google-powered community Joga, which whilst on the surface seemed to be doing everything right, quickly revealed itself to be high on brand value and low on social value.  For example, one of the main P2P dynamics within Joga was choosing and contrasting your own world cup team.  But the choice was restricted to Nike players, which seriously dented its appeal.  So, along with lots of others, I invested in Joga but Joga didn't invest in me, and I stopped.  (Incredibly, despite Nike+Google level resources, Joga's traffic now ranks alongside the splendid one man blog show, Arseblog).  A better way for brands to approach this tricky business is to ask, 'what's in it for them'.  Which sounds easy - but can be difficult for brands to actually do, not least because it's a question that the network is going to want a hand in answering.  At a workshop that Johnnie and I ran last week one of the participants, a marketeer within a publishing house, mentioned that their own forums hadn't worked that well under the management of the company (and agency) so the budgets were moved elsewhere and the forum was handed over to the fans of the book in question.  It immediately flourished.   But (aside from the fact that the operating cost had reduced) its value remained unclear.  It's a tricky area and for brands there are subtle mental gymnastics involved - not least measurement.  But that's another story.

Comments

[Dug Falby]

James, this is so spot on! It's interesting to compare your take on this with Russell Davies'. I think you both agree on the social media principles, but he has a deep love and respect for great ad creative.

It's so difficult for agencies to move away from that love as they perceive their own work as being were the value is created:-)

I'd been keen to hear your take on the metrics of engagement. I've been trying to thrash this out these past few months with some of our clients and it's a beast.

Great work:-)

[James]

Thanks Dug. There's a great appetite among clients for a metric for social value - it's rapidly becoming THE issue. But the reality is that - today - there isn't one. My take is that the best way into it all is through a combination of experimenting and learning. Which eventually can mature into metrics. But there aren't any quick fixes. So there is a leap of faith at some point which needs to be managed very carefully. (Incidentally, many of these chats I have about this often lead to an agreement that the current metrics for other areas eg BARB aren't exactly faultless - they're just accepted.)