Brands on Twitter... ban or embrace?

First, let me say that "I Love Mashable." OK, now that I've gotten that out of the way on with the blog post.

Social media is about conversations. As the title of Robert Scoble's book, "Naked Conversations" implies, transparency is a key to the effectiveness of social media. This article from Mashable makes the argument that people have relationships with people therefore brand only twitter sites are just plain wrong.

http://mashable.com/2008/12/12/twitter-brands/

I agree and disagree. I agree that having a human face to a brand makes a brand more real. However, I also believe you can have a relationship with a brand. See the New Coke story for example. Taste didn't matter, the relationship with what came to be known as classic Coke was so strong that Coke killed the better tasting product. Twitter brand sites need to be careful though. Cold, marketspeak on Twitter is just plain wrong. I don't say ban it, but just know you won't be successful if you don't have real conversations.

Be real,

--Charles

Identity and Corporate Strategy

Interesting research from HBS via Booz's Strategy + Business.

http://www.strategy-business.com/re/recentresearch/re00048

This somewhat validates what I do for a living. I help corporate leaders use their brand to make decisions about all facets of their organizations... including technology. In other words your identity (your brand) is the source of energy from which everything else flows in your organization. It doesn't mean you stay static, it means you stay true to your purpose while always looking for ways to better fulfill that purpose.

Sometimes I really like reading research.

--Charles