Social media: Brand aid … or brand illusion?

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending a major social media conference. Naturally I saw it as a great opportunity to pick up new nuggets of wisdom from first-rate brains. And in this I definitely was not disappointed. Some of the most notable figures in the social media industry presented their thoughts on best practices for adding their sites and services to the restaurant marketing mix.

I also saw the conference as a chance to step away from the incessant everyday chatter about the social media phenomenon and engage in a deliberate and measured assessment of how and when social media might fit seamlessly into our restaurant clients' overall media mix and brand strategy. I wasn't disappointed on this score, either.

It certainly does seem that it's time to reassess social media. Over the past few years, the noise from and about it has grown louder and more confused, partly amped up by the proliferation of networking sites. A ripple that began as MySpace and Twitter, FourSquare and Facebook is now an engulfing tide of networking sites from the generic (Facebook) to the highly specific (the Christian site, Amen Me).

The social media rush has reached such a fever pitch that Wall Street is raising questions about the real worth of players such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. A July 8 article in the New York Times reported that since going public at $122 per share, LinkedIn stock sunk to a low of about half that and now sits at $99.70, a price that analysts say could be still be inflated by up to 56 percent.

This is reminiscent enough of the first Internet bubble of 2001 to make one wonder whether social networking represents the next cautionary tale of "irrational exuberance," which makes this a good time for brands to think about how they're getting into social media and what they expect to get out of it.

Social media have certainly contributed to the further fragmentation of the media, making it more challenging than ever for brands to reach buyers. One conference presenter noted that in 1965, it took just three airings of a TV spot to reach 80 percent of a target audience. Today, it takes 100 placements to make that connection. Increasingly niched audiences have radically increased the importance of thoughtful brand representation.

What's more, restaurant operators must keep in mind the growing number of device formats available to consumers and consider how their existing and potential customer base might seek, use and share information about their brand using social media outlets on wireless devices.

Currently some 93 percent of Americans have mobile phones, and 43 percent of them use their phones to search for restaurants and bars. As the number of smartphones in users' hands grows (from around 38 percent now to an estimated 90 percent by 2014), so will the search numbers.

An increasing number of consumers also will be carrying wireless tablets and laptops, making mobile apps available to them as well as traditional and mobile web sites. Restaurants must sort through options and features and learn how to use them to advantage.

Finally, restaurant brands must consider how social media has changed the thinking and expectations of customers, and how it has brought about (or at least contributed to) a shift in purchasing demographics. As one conference presenter remarked, social media has changed the way consumers perceive a brand.

It used to be a brand telling consumers what it represented; now the shoe is on the other foot — it is consumers who are defining brands for themselves and others. They're basing their characterizations not on a rundown of brand attributes but on their own experience as users, and sharing those ideas with others in their network. Sometimes there's overlap in the messages, but not always. And here, social media can offer restaurant chains valuable insights that contribute to understanding and self-critique.

All of this is far too much to cover in a single blog. So I'll be covering these topics in several blogs in coming weeks, sharing thoughts on the new media, mobility and devices, market demographics and branding mentality. So keep reading, contribute your own thoughts and questions and enjoy the "deliberate and measured" assessment of social media's role in a new age of branding.

The CEO Apology: A New Kind of Brand Booster?

"I'm sorry …

So sorry …

Please accept my apology."

These days, CEOs are singing Brenda Lee’s song.

Unless you were comatose or on a shuttle to Mars last January, you would've caught the chatter about Domino's CEO Patrick Doyle's apology advert for products that — judging from focus group comments sprinkled throughout the ad — the pizza-eating public detested. Doyle lamented that his company had forgotten how to produce the kind of great pizza that people actually preferred over "cardboard" crust and sauce like "ketchup."

If you opened the Wall Street Journal on June 7, you probably saw the article featuring Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz discussing the mistakes his company made when it placed growth above great coffee. The company's excesses, he admitted, had resulted in fussy concoctions and frantic expansion that turned off core customers who felt that Starbucks had come unmoored from its hip, homey origins.

And if you've spent 15 minutes in front of the TV lately you cannot have missed BP's 60-second Gulf spill mea culpa featuring BP CEO Tony Hayward in full-on repentance mode: "To those affected and your families, I'm deeply sorry," Hayward mourns. He then promises to make any oil-soaked American shores as good as new, his British intonation weirdly reminiscent of the Orbit Gum Girl ("Dirty beach? Clean it up!")

What are we to make of this recent trend of corporate self-censure? Could we be seeing the latest, most counter intuitive-ever approach to brand building? That might be taking it a bit far. But it does seem that companies — especially restaurant chains — are discovering the power of the apology.

And that's not a bad thing. In the first place, it suits the tenor of the times. After the Great Wall Street Debacle, consumers are feeling used and abused by banks in particular and by all large companies in general. A chain restaurant that can buck up and say, "We admit we haven't always done our best for you, but we’re going to do X to fix that" can generate uncommon goodwill in times like these.

In the second place, an apology can satisfy consumers' desire for connection with a company. A sincere apology credibly delivered (more on that later) can demonstrate that you actually grasp and regret your customers’ frustrations. This, reasons the consumer, is a good basis from which to start a mutually beneficial relationship.

So yes, when an apology is due, it can help build positive feeling about a brand. But glib, "Oh, gee, sorry 'bout that" contrition … not so much. That ranks with zipping in to steal a parking space another driver has been patiently waiting for, then shrugging your shoulders and mouthing, “"h, sorry!" as you nip into the mall. In response to your disingenuous gesture, you can expect the business equivalent of nice key-job from your customers.

To benefit your brand in the end run, an apology must accomplish several missions, many of which must be undertaken even before your CEO wraps his tongue around those three scary syllables, "I'm sorry." Here are five:

Before you apologize, make sure you fully understand the problem. The last thing you want to do is apologize for not meeting certain expectations, only to have customers (or worse, the media) heckle you for not having a clue why people were annoyed with you. Don’t assume you know already what the issue is; believing you knew everything is what gave rise to the problem in the first place.

Commit to solving the problem. Howard Schultz was so determined to fix Starbucks that he jettisoned every distraction — including outside board obligations — in order to concentrate on the immediate task of righting the ship. What's more, he made sure that his vision was also the vision of every other Starbucks employee from C-level to store-level, going so far as to close stores early to retrain baristas. That's Problem-Solving 101: Everyone takes ownership; everyone takes action.

Implement the solution before issuing an apology. People don't want to be told that BP will clean up the spill; they want to know that BP has stopped the flow of oil that's causing the spill. At best, vague promises are written off as self-serving noise. At worst, they deepen consumers' cynicism about your intentions and motives. If you want people to think you're serious about making things right … make things right.

Make your apology credible. That means no spin. When KFC president Roger Eaton apologized (sort of) for his company's bungled free grilled chicken promotion, he represented the problem as a good thing. In a video released by KFC, Eaton explained that people were so crazy for the taste of KFC's new grilled chicken and the response had been so positive, they were going to have to modify the coupon program. His painfully over-the-top performance seemed to indicate that this rationalization rang false even to him. "Really? The problem was that the promotion was too popular and not that it was so poorly planned that it couldn’t be properly executed? Who knew?" Uh, everybody knew. Even KFC, which has since carefully scrubbed the Web to remove every embarrassing trace of the Eaton video.

Once the apology has been issued, continue to work on building trust. Encourage customers to return with offers that show your appreciation for their business (Starbucks announced recently that it will offer unlimited free Wi-Fi). Keep core customers loyal with deals aimed at them (more on Starbucks: The company also has announced free access to subscription-only online sites such as The Wall Street Journal, starting this fall).

Above all, stay vigilant to ensure that problems don't reemerge. If you have to keep issuing apologies, you're going to start looking awfully inept; and at some point, even offers and deals can't overcome the deficit. Eating a little humble pie is one thing. Putting it on your regular menu is quite another.

The brand you live is the only one they'll love.

It sounds complicated, but it’s not. It boils down to this: sincerity. And it’s fundamental when it comes to your efforts at community involvement.

Before you roll your eyes and get all, “Duh!” think how often you’ve heard the complaint, “We always do things for the community, but it never does us any good.”

This is a sincerity issue, manifest in two mistaken assumptions: 1) giving is a reciprocal agreement; 2) all “do-gooding” builds (and lives) your brand.

In the first place, if it’s reciprocal, it’s a trade. In the second place, “community involvement” is more than giving away a pair of dinners in a church raffle. This is only a brand-builder if you intend to do it two people at a time.

Teaming your family concept with an ecumenical group to host “Family Dinner Night” with a chunk of the proceeds going to a local food bank -- that’s building your brand while living it.

The larger problem for many chains is that community involvement is both transitory and as self-servingly transparent as the emperor’s new clothes. People feel played, and they don’t like it.

It’s how I feel when I look at the recently revamped website for a large deli concept.

The chain has conspicuously branded itself as a healthy food outlet, with 41 references to “organic” in its menu, plus a litany of stuff its food is free of — MSG, nitrites, coloring, dyes, transfats, fructose, etc.

But this “healthy option” branding isn’t corroborated by community efforts such as healthy eating education, local organic purchasing programs or community garden sponsorships. One blog recounts a visit by management to a distant, gigantic farm where much of the company’s produce is grown. Nowhere does this blog contain the word “organic.” Brand not lived.

The site does offer information about “community partner programs” that discount meals to seniors and church groups, and give well-behaved schoolchildren free lunch cards to use at the restaurant (presumably taken there by their parents who also presumably will buy a meal). In reality, none of these “partnerships” is designed to do anything but bring in business.

See what I mean? Not feeling brand life here.

So how can your chain honestly, authentically live its brand through meaningful community involvement?

Get involved. Not with any cause du jour, but with one that clicks with your customer base and corresponds to your brand’s character and values.

A great example right now is Nathan’s Famous Frankfurters, which is teaming with the Pittsburgh YWCA to build a franchise in that organization’s downtown location. Both benefit: the YWCA from a new revenue stream and Nathan’s from a high-visibility, high-traffic store in partnership with a nonprofit whose brand is likewise built on the idea of American opportunity.

That’s not just living your brand. That’s living it large.

Let me say here that if you can’t readily define your customer base, character and values, back up and figure them out with a brand study. Before you live your brand, know what makes your brand live. Also, if you intend to define (or redefine) your brand through community involvement, re-read the example above.

One more thing: enact your program company-wide. Set the parameters and provide the energy at the top level to ensure that all locations live the same brand. They don’t have to do exactly the same things, but they must support the same fundamentals: customer base, character and values. And really, most franchisees will be glad not to have to invent their own programs.

So, here are the steps, simply stated:

1. Choose an organization or cause that you care about, that your customers care about and that wants your help;
2. Get involved — join a committee, coach a team, serve on the board, encourage employees to give their time (if you really want to live your brand, make at least some of this paid time);
3. Volunteer your restaurant as host-sponsor for events (e.g., the Family Dinner Night mentioned earlier). Offer ideas — your organization doesn’t know what all you can do;
4. Look into “alternative opportunities” — kiosks, carts, food trucks or a mobile kitchen — for events in which your organization participates. This can further the partnership and introduce your brand and values to entire new audiences.

Think big. Think creatively. You’ll think up amazing brand-living, brand-building opportunities.