Wiki Brands

According the the NY Time is a good season to forgive. I agree.

Beautiful snow in NY today. Over a foot. Storm is mostly done now. Just blowing and digging out.

The RuMe bags I gave for Christmas went over well. Good blog entry on them.

I read an awesome and inspiring book - Wiki Brands - Reinventing Your Company in a Customer-driven Marketplace by Sean Moffitt and Mike Dover.

Mostly it was inspiring because I like marketing and social media and this book is at the intersection of those fields. It inspires me to remain active in Social Media. Sometime the Time Management Guy in me questions if it is a good use of time.

I love branding. Al Ries is one of my brand heros. He talks a lot about positioning. Wikibrands talks about the impact of social media on this positioning.

Wiki Brands reinforces that the web has given great power to the consumer. Consumers now can own the media through tweets and blogs. Companies need a keen awareness that what they do will be reported on. "Social media acts an accelerant for good news about the brand as well as for bad."

And online dialogue is now a two way street. The web speeds things up so responsiveness is key.

Companies do not own their brand, consumers in the internet age do. All companies can do is "help" guide and transparently contribute to help the brand move the right direction.

Marketing cannot fix a bad product. Working first on product and service excellence should be the primary goal of any company.

Wikibrands has a practical list of things companies can do to support an online community including:

"Ability to join a VIP circle
Access to an exclusive channel or influence
Access to exclusive resources
Chance for gaining wider fame
Reputation building
Recognition by the company
Recognition by pers
Sense of we-ness versus the rest of the population "

It is a good book. Worth reading.