Brand personality vs your personality: an exercise in better judgement

 

After a contentious online conversation, Fritha Hookway examines the potential repercussions when you blur the line between your brand's personality and your own.

 Recently, a relatively new Auckland nightclub posted a caption competition on Facebook featuring a photograph of a high profile New Zealand celebrity couple. As you can imagine, the stream of comments/entries quickly disintegrated into what can only be described as cyber bullying of the couple. It’s one thing for a personal profile to play host to petty, insulting name-calling but I was shocked to see an exclusive, A-list club’s brand page facilitating this kind of low-level slander. What cemented my poor opinion of them though was when I commented my distaste, I received a personal attack as a reply.Now to be fair, I was perhaps a little snappy in my comment saying "get a life". But I was blown away by the utter shortsightedness of whoever was running their presence’s choice in replying “get a paper bag Fritha Hookway”.  Not because I was offended, I rarely take those kinds of comments personally. It was more the complete disregard for 101 customer relations and marketing principles. In my mind, there were three major considerations they’d completely missed:#1:PR. Have you heard of it? A comment like that from a brand to a Facebook user has the potential to be a total public relations blow out.  It’s important to understand the medium on which you are publicising yourself or your brand. A similar incident occurred two weeks ago when a publicist from Maori TV commented against a Big Day Out story on TV 3's Facebook saying “like this if you think David Farrier is a douche”. Farrier commented saying “it [was] perplexing that a publicist had failed to recognise the consequences that could flow from the use of social media”. Social platforms are some of the most powerful marketing tools for a business and it’s important to understand that a brand’s tone of voice needs to be consistent with a brand’s ideologies. Personal opinions or remarks by a person running the page, although on the surface may seem quick-witted, will often be to the detriment of a brand.#2:Facebook is about conversation and interaction. On one of the most public of forums, your brand has directly insulted someone who had simply engaged and contributed, albeit critical, an opinion. One of the fundamental differences from other marketing tools that Facebook relies on, is its organic conversation and transparency. Controversy and discussion, in any situation, drives interest and it should be fostered, not extinguished.#3:The complete lack of consideration for who it is you might be talking to. As it happens, I’m an editor for a popular website that features, profiles and promotes bars and restaurants in Auckland. Nice going.I’m not about trumpeting “do you know who I am?”. It was more that the incident raised the issue of the way in which you go about things from a branding perspective when it comes to social media. Facebook is an interactive platform. If you are going to post something, particularly something that might cause controversy, you have to roll with the punches.  This means expecting and accepting engagement in whatever form it comes. If you’ve chosen to market your brand on Facebook, your page becomes your face, voice and personality. This comes with a responsibility for the page or website holder to manage what goes on on their site,  a level of editorial judgement about what is appropriate is vital.To the nightclub’s credit and better judgment, the comment was removed. However, with the nature of social media being a lively updated platform, the damage had already been done. Realistically, when you have a brand publicly patronise your contribution to an online discussion, it’s not easily dismissed.It’s also fairly certain they won’t see my face spending a single dollar at their bar any time soon, paper bag or not.