Who are you? Existentially it is a question that we ask our selves from the time cognitive thought starts kicking around our dome. Growing up as a small Bedouin in the plains of Iowa, I asked my grandfather this question and his answer was simultaneously confusing and stimulating; “We are an amalgamation of who we believe ourselves to be and the person people perceive as.” Sitting there in my sweet eighties shorts and cowboy boots, I thoughtfully nodded and wondered what the heck an “amalgamation” was.
What does this have to do with social media? Everything. Bedouin Interactive was founded with the purpose of helping companies harness the power of social media to, ‘bridge the gap between expectation and experience.”  What does that mean? It goes back to Grandpappa Bedouins’ definition of self; our expectations of our clients experience often fails to jib with their actual experience. Â
Traditional marketing has relied on mountains of cash and the bullhorn of advertising to tell constituents who they should perceive them to be. Companies define themselves as “the Choice of a New Generation“,  ”the Fresh Maker“, the “Noid“, but the truth is they are defined by us and those definitions vary wildly. I define Pepsi as Not Coke, Mentos as the weird ass commercial company, and Domino’s as the cardboard pizza with sickening tomato sauce that my roommate orders after a night of drinking. The crux of the matter; our experiences inform our expectations and our expectations define our perceptions and those perceptions instruct our experiences. Â
Steering clear of Early Modern philosophy, let’s take a look at a real world example from the branding whiz kids over at  GSD&M|IdeaCity. IdeaCity’s stated  purpose is “…to do whatever it takes to build our client’s business so they can fulfill their purpose.” Roy Spence, one of the founders of GSD&M, argues “Anybody who’s running a business has to seek out the higher calling of that business, its purpose.”  ”Purpose is about the difference you’re trying to make–in the marketplace, in the world. If everybody is selling the same thing, what’s the tie-breaker? It’s purpose.” Working with Southwest Airlines, GSD&M recognized in providing affordable air travel, the bargain carrier was giving people the power to travel about the country on their own terms. In the words of Ashley Andy of GSD&M, “Southwest was about freedom.”Â
When defining what may feel undefinable you need to look beyond the use of catchphrases and do your best to honestly evaluate how your product or service impacts the lives of your users, clients, industry, society, etc. in other words it is about merging your perception of who you are with the rest experiential impact you have on the world around you. Â Here’s where he world of social media comes into play.Â
Southwest Airlines defined their purpose as providing freedom of movement, but can social media help Southwest understand how the actual consumer experience? Conversations, my friend, conversations. “Nuts About Southwest”, the official blog of Southwest,  allows the Princely Pauper of the Sky to engage their audience in an exchange of ideas around their product and get actual feed back about how their customers feel about their product. Recently Southwest began service to Minneapolis/Saint Paul and in their blog posts about the move Southwest received a wide array of reactions. In the post ‘When Luv Come to Town’, Ebony Clark shared, “…most of all I am glad that I will not be subjected to long layovers, poor customer service and late flights that I had to endure during my other trips to MN.” While in Southwest Airlines begins service to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Patty chides the airline for chanting “…obnoxiously during a reception held by the Armed Forces Services Center at the Lindbergh Terminal at MSP on Monday.”  If you read the LUV post and then juxtapose that against Patty’s comment you see two very perceptions of the same event. In maintaing the Nuts blog Southwest is able to say, “Hey guys and gals here’s why we be the bees knees” and the consumer to say “Hey corporate dude here’s why I agree and/or disagree with your previous statement.” Its that back an’ forth that allows us to go beyond our preconceived notions and  deliver the best possible consumer experience. Â
In the end what we are is an amalgamation of what the consumer perceives us to be and who we perceive ourselves to be. In striving to bridge the gap between expectation and experience, providing an accurate representation of who you and fulfilling the  needs of the world around you, you must first clearly establish what your purpose is.
For the past few weeks I have been working with my favorite client to help him grow his Accounting practice and kick off and kick off a brand spanking new series of Quickbooks Consulting videos. I’ve created various SEO strategies to get the word out to the masses. I’ve tested several open source CMSs to give his new e-commerce site the flexibility to add and update videos on a whim. I’ve even provided tutorials on filming and editing his Quickbook videos in Camtasia. Turns out all I had to do to get Kenneth J. Haldeman, CPA to the top of the Accounting charts was shoot an ipad with a shotgun
Branding, Online Marketing, Web Video | BD1Interactive | 
August 19, 2010 10:24 am | 
Comments (0) 
Subscribe