Face-to-Face

Fun facts: Did you know that the average person talks about ten different brands per day? It is estimated that people are exposed to about 15 billion brand conversations per week. The typical brand conversation lasts about four minutes, and two-thirds of these brand conversations concern either recommendations or criticisms of the brand. These stats indicate the need for brands to understand the word-of-mouth conversations people are having about them offline. Are people talking negatively or positively about your brand? Are they comparing you to the competition? If so, how do you rank? And most importantly, what drives these offline conversations?

This blog has recently been filled with my thoughts (and some insight from course readings) about the power of social media in our digital world. When I started reading Chapter 1 of Ed Keller and Brad Fay's The Face-to-Face Book, I was surprised to read about the importance of face-to-face offline conversations, because so much of what we've read so far in social media classes has been "social media is the future" themed.

Keller and Fay's TalkTrack research says 90 percent of word-of-mouth conversations happen offline and 8 percent of word-of-mouth conversations happen online. This surprised me, because 8 percent seems like such an insignificant fraction in today's digital world. However, when I think back to the stats I previously mentioned (people are exposed to 15 billion brand conversations offline per week), the 8 percent converts to about 1.2 billion online conversations per week - not so insignificant. "It's not so much that online is small, but rather that offline is enormous" (Keller & Fay, 2012, p. 18).

Taking these numbers into account, the question for brand marketers and social media professionals goes from, "What are people saying about our brand online?" to, "How well do online conversations drive the offline conversations people are having about our brand?"

Humans are social creatures, but even though our social tendencies are way more digital today than they've ever been before, "'social' is more than what happens online in social media" (Keller & Fay, 2012, p.23). In the world of PR, marketing and social media, brands need to shape their strategies around people and word-of-mouth conversations (offline especially) rather than technology.

Digital world moving at lightning speed

In Chapter 13 of Branded!, Brennan and Schafer quickly sum up my entire thoughts on the book in one sentence: "In a fast-moving world, everything is subject to rapid change - and it will never move back, only forward - so continuing dialogue is critical" (p. 255).

Throughout each of the book's case studies - Starbucks, Zappos, JCPenney and many others - it was obvious to me how much social media has changed in the past couple of years. Each of the case studies highlighted the way these companies used digital communication, social media and mobile apps to engage with customers in their own unique and innovative way. However, because the case studies were written in 2008 and 2009, some of the "digital transformations" mentioned in the book seemed dated in my opinion. Much of the digital communication mentioned in the case studies is considered common practice for large brands today. For example, online communities for customer reviews, mobile apps for e-commerce and customer service via Twitter and Facebook were mentioned as groundbreaking developments for brands like Starbucks, Zappos and JCPenney. But in today's digital world, companies not engaging in these digital platforms are commonly outshined by their competitors who are digitally active.

Also, since the time these case studies were written, many of the companies have experienced new digital transformations - some good and some bad - like JCPenney for example. The brand used to be respected for their interactive websites and social engagement, now their "social media team is probably on the verge of a nervous breakdown." Companies are facing new digital challenges, but it is important to continue dialogue and continue evolving because our digital world, obsessed with social and mobile communication, continues to grow at lighting speed. 

JCPenney: Digital transformations

With the growth of mobile technology and social media, JCPenney has experienced a number of digital transformations. But they have also dealt with their fair share of digital hiccups, especially in the last year. Chapter 9 of Branded! by Bernie Brennan and Lori Schafer provides an in-depth case study of the digital strides JCPenney has made within the past decade.

JCPenney has always been viewed as a dependable, fashion-forward, traditional retailer. Before 2008, the brand was also well-known for their "big book" paper catalogs and weekly newspaper inserts. The company made the cost-effective decision to discontinue the production of their "big book" and cut back on their number of printed newspaper inserts in order to make a shift toward digital communication. As a result, the company became a leader in digital retailing through interactive websites, social customer service and mobile e-commerce applications.

However, since these rebranding efforts, JCPenney has faced a few digital challenges. For example, in 2012, new CEO Ron Johnson chose to target wealthier consumers and abandon the store's regular sales and coupons, which resulted in a loss of nearly one-third of the retailer's customers and a lot of social media backlash. For a company that had previously been so focused on improving their customers' shopping experiences, they lost sight of what was important to their customers and their brand's success.

When they realized how upset many of their customers were, JCPenney brought back previous CEO Mike Ullman and launched a new advertising and social media campaign:

The company plastered #jcplistens all over their social platforms in an effort to reassure customers that JCPenney was listening to what they had to say. The company owned up to their mistakes and welcomed customers back into the store they had known and loved for so long. Some customers were receptive to the advertisement and accepted the retailer's public apology, but many felt that the damage could not be undone.

The retailer experienced another social media setback during the 2014 Super Bowl. The brand's real-time marketing attempt involved sending out a number of misspelled tweets, leaving many Twitter users wondering if JCPenney's social media director was drunk or ill. Twitter followers responded to the tweets puzzled, but eventually the brand issued their big reveal:

#TweetingWithMittens was not as clever as the brand had hoped. The stunt lacked clarity and appeared to be more of a crisis than a marketing scheme.

At the time Branded! was written, JCPenney was widely respected as a leader in digital communication among retail brands. However, recent social media challenges have tarnished JCPenney's digital brand, and I think it will take time, commitment and innovation from the company to restore the digital image they once had.