I fully admit, until as recently as this year, I held the firm belief that social media was nothing more than the faddish playground of teenyboppers and techno-geeks. This, despite the urgings of colleagues and peers that social media is in fact, a game changing brand management tool. I have come to see the light (evidenced by my participation in this blog), and here is a prime example why: Google Sidewiki.
Sidewiki is a relatively new tool that allows any user with a Google login to post comments (positive or negative, benign or mischievous) about any webpage that will appear in a sidebar frame of the browser for any other user to see. Furthermore, the owners of the website have no power to remove said comments (Google reserves sole moderation rights). Imagine if you will, the din of a flame war going on directly adjacent to your homepage for the world, and more importantly your prospects, to see. Yikes! (see The Google Sidewiki Controversy) Even more scary, the idea that these posters are now given the power to define your brand for you if you are not monitoring carefully and maintaining a steady stream of corrective comments. (see Don’t Blame Google Sidewiki if Your Brand Takes Another Hit) Brand management in the age of social media is not really a new idea anymore, but this particular application brings into shocking clarity the need for such management due to its extreme proximity to your most important outward facing channel, your website.
Google Sidewiki is still relatively new and adoption rates are unclear at this point but regardless of any personal feelings I may hold about Google overstepping here, the point is clear, social media, while no panacea, is a force that must be recognized in strategic brand management for the foreseeable future.
Google Sidewiki may just be the flavor of the month social media tool, but make no mistake; other tools are currently under development in some garage somewhere in the world that will one day be the next outlet demanding your direct and immediate attention. The only way to truly prepare for the onslaught is to make sure you have a well thought out and defensible brand platform and a strategy that allows for the rapid adoption of new channels to manage that brand.
Tags: branding, Google, social media, strategic brand management