El Gaffney

The Proof is in the People

I just read an interesting post over at Thought Gadgets, which talks about the importance of putting individuals at the front of companies’ social media efforts. I agree with just about all of it, except not sure about the thought that “the most authentic brands online are the ones that give us real people’s names.” Certainly Ford’s Scotty Monty on Twitter (where he uses his own name) @scottmonty) is a great example (cited in the post). And of course, Zappos’ Tony Hsieh and his staff counts (even if he uses @zappos and other names range from @zappos_fly to @Zappos_Service). But would Skittles Fan page on Facebook be more authentic (or successful) if its CMO or Director of Product Innovation shared his/her name and let everyone know he/she had the reigns? Probably not. That is, unless some Willy Wonka-type character (or Leprechaun) worked there as “Keeper of the Rainbow.” I’m not sure Nike+ (the example in question) gains any authenticity points for being a real person vs. having a real purpose for it – customer service, new features or linking up users and Twitters who are geographically and pace compatible. (Of course it doesn’t have to be one or the other.) No one seems to be dinging at @TOMSshoes for lack of transparency about who’s tweeting from its end. Because humanity is baked into the business (buy one pair, one pair sent to someone in need).

But that’s not to nitpick or twist words. It’s just to build and ultimately get me to a point about how in social media or traditional media: If the goal is to move away from being a faceless corporation—or in more positive terms to be human—, then you should empower your employees to bring to life the personality of the brand. Whether they become faces of the company or not and whether you do it on Twitter or TV, it still about people. And when you encourage/enable them to add their own unique personalities to the mix, that’s when you get something really special – like @JetBlue which updates who is on Twitter duty or one of my all-time favorites, Southwest’s David Holmes:

You go airlines!

Tags: airlines, brands, jetblue, nike, southwest