Unwritten Rules: Brands, Social Psychology and Social Media

Posted by admin on Apr 4, 2011 in SXSW | 0 comments

Presenters: Ben McAllister – Sr Strategist, frog design, Kate Canales – Creative Director, frog design

3 types of relationships

1. Authoritative

2. Exchange – Look at what’s fair

3. Communal – open, not concerned with what’s fair

Theory is that these are separate, but in reality, these all overlap a bit.

If you don’t navigate it right it’s awkward

Each has its own rules, and it’s awkward if you don’t know what type of relationship you’re in or what balance do you have.

Which are you going to follow?

You’re boss says, it would be great if… (several things going on in that statement)  Authoritative, yet trying to make it a different type of relationship

Stephen Pinker book quoted

Online, this all falls apart.  Social media makes all of these relationships communal… so when brands get into this space, it’s awkward… mainly because we’ve always interacted with brands in a transactional manner.  A lot of brands are there for self promotion, so that makes it awkward.  You can’t be friends with a brand, but you can have a relationship that’s meaningful

How do brands make the transition from exchange to communality?

Brand building through behavior.  Humanizing brands through interactions

1 pull back the curtain – give access – example best buy twelpforce

2. stop selling and start sharing – self promotion is awkward – violating rules of the space -sharing not just own content but others’ as well – sharing conversations

3. stop talking and start listening – lot of concern about whats going out, but not about whats coming in – use this info – the stakes don’t have to be high to do something meaningful

Unwriten rules of social media:
– rules of communality – brands need to abide by rules of this type of relationship

what are you going to bring to the partry?

healthcare facility – they can’t necessarily give advice – so they did a video series with a couple doctors having conversations about topics – there may not be a clear cut answer