Branding in the Age of Social Media by Douglas Holt Analysis

In “Branding in the Age of Social Media” the Author Douglas Holt suggests that branding strategy needs to be revised after the introduction  of social media. Branding in earlier times was simple  as there were few outlets and branding platforms like T.V, Newspaper, and Radio. In modern age the champion of any movement, in any current affair topic gains fame by social media.Companies should attract those champions and pick the support of the crowd culture. In this article there many examples in which targeting Crowd cultures helped business gain popularity quickly. Douglas Holt, shared a sharp analysis on brand marketing and promotion with the help of digital and social media. He introduced the idea of cultural branding in the place of typical branding practice. His some points can be challenged (like overuse of McDonalds and Coca Cola branding) but his concept of cultural branding gets attention of the reader.

There are some key points that are very beneficial in marketing. These key points are as follows:

1. The first key point is never to compare the success of your brand against social influences, it should be compared on how this branding is influencing your business. The traffic and organic customers directing to your business should be the aim of any brand. If your brand is very active on social media but no customers are attracted to the business, the social media campaign is futile and it needs improvement.
2. The second point is developing the purpose of your business and sticking to it. The brand purpose will be the basics of brand’s cultural branding. By the examples of Red Bull and Old Spice the author explains how these brands did well in social media branding by delivering their purpose to the people. This point however has an exception like mentioned in this article by the Jack Daniels example, how sticking to their true purpose affected negatively on their business.
3. Always participate in the community building. Commenting on hot topics of the community increases the social traffic that is attracted to the social media campaign and eventually pays in large amount. Always pay attention to the people who are well known in the community and highlight them in your social media campaign. The example of Tumblr, although they are not a brand in a general case, but they have dedicated special campaigns to these well-known members of the community and executed special events in their appreciation.
4. To brand effectively on social media, bands should target Crowd Cultures. Crowd cultures are the real essence of digital media. The branding model that is needed in social media campaigns is still in progress. Digital crowds serve effectively and they introduce innovative and productive culture. Brands should adopt and focus on digital subgroups within the community, in order to create value and customer engagement towards the brand.
5. Introduce popular culture and amuse you audience in your social media info graphics and ads. The author explained this concept by the example of Cherry Blossom’s ad, which said “Something special is coming your way” and Alka-Seltzer’s ad that attracted the customer attraction by saying “I can’t believe I Ate the whole thing”
6. Be innovative in creating ideas for your brand, using others’ ideas and plagiarizing their concepts can be harmful and may result in failure of you social media campaign.
7. Use YouTube effectively in promotion of your brand. As author described by example of PewDiePie and how he gained popularity by making interesting and thought provoking videos, that he even bypassed KFC’s subscribers by two hundred times, by investing very little cost.