Signalfire | Brand Matters

An explosion of social media popularity has sent a flurry of new broadcasts out into the “tweetosphere” producing a lot more noise. Kind of like getting every FM radio station at once. No one is arguing the value of your message on social media. It’s clear that the right business using the right social media tools can have a huge impact in their marketplace. But how does a business push through the social media noise?

In the audio world (and a lot of others) there is a term called “signal to noise ratio”. Signal to noise refers to the basic concept of how much music (signal) is getting through versus how much garbage (noise). The higher the number, the stronger the signal. When we look at, for example, a Twitter account we can ask how much information coming in is useful (signal) versus pointless (noise).

We all have them: the followed user that pumps out tweets every few minutes twenty hours a day. Sure every few days you may get a useful link, but for the most part knowing what percentile their newborn is on a growth chart is hardly of interest. Yet, if you unfollow the person, will there be a emigration of followers? So you put up with the noise. However, when was the last time you reviewed your own tweets?

With tweets (and most anything in business) “be remarkable” is the axiom, but what’s remarkable to everyone? This is where interest communities come into play. Interest communities are the online families that are bound together by a common interest. Interests can be a product, an activity or even a topic and when that interest involves your business—it is critical to be a part of it.

“Be remarkable to the community” suddenly makes more sense. Look back at your tweets—how remarkable are they to your interest community? Is retweeting a viral video of a skateboarder wiping out signal or noise? Noise to a lot, but signal if you’re selling protective gear or promoting a skate park. The difference between them is knowing your interest community and knowing if your broadcast message is signal or noise.

Of course, you have the overlapping of interest communities where signal to some is noise to others. There is no perfect signal—no environment devoid of noise. That is what allows our interest communities to expand. Customers or consumers searching for a signal, lost in the noise, can never come to you unless you keep broadcasting. Keep pumping out the signal and drawing customers or consumers in.

Self-examination and keeping your marketing message a strong signal may mean you drop from ten tweets a day to one or two. This also means considering another important element to keeping a strong signal—timing.

Timing is everything. Know when your interest community is online. A coworker fires off an email just before 5:00 pm on Friday likely means the average Joe won’t see it until Monday. Sending out a tweet while the interest community is otherwise engaged likely means it will get buried in the hundreds of other tweets. Your signal becomes noise unless it is received. When it comes to participating with your interest community, timing is as important as having a relevant message.

Keeping your signal to noise ratio strong will require keeping in tune with your interest community. Burning through the noise means keeping your signal on-message or of relevance to your community. Finally, delivering your signal when your community is listening will bring it all home. When a customer or consumer find a strong signal, they will stay with it until the end.

Is being a “Vaniac”, an aggressive follower of branding philosopher Gary Vaynerchuk, such a bad thing? I say “no, it’s a great thing” for some very good reasons.

Like any evangelist of new thinking, there are stalwarts of established tradition who will steadfastly stand against this “unproven” thinking. While an equal or greater number of followers will embrace this renaissance of marketing thought. Who’s left standing at the end of this philosophical cage match will hold the title for the next technological generation.

Few people in the branding world would argue that trends come and go as quickly as the winds change, but real changes in thought are rare and often come on the heals of new media. The printed word, radio, television and the web all have seen these watershed changes and it should come as no wonder that at the dawn of social media, “garyvee” has come.

From handheld videos on the streets if New York to the famous table adorned with NY Jets and wrestling action figures, Gary pours out his knowledge and opinions without reservation and seemingly without consequence. Regardless of his opinion on the nose of a new label or the latest PR 1.0 blunder from some corporation, Gary’s passion reaches through the screen and slaps you. Agree or not, you listen. Like him or not, you keep coming back for more.

Why? Simple, he brings “thunder”. The amount of exuberance that boils out of the pint-size wine guru might give us a glimpse of what Napoleon Bonaparte must have been like. People cannot ignore him and given the fact he’s right more than he’s wrong leaves more people nodding than clicking away.

Since I started following a year ago, I have seen the benefits of his commentary first hand. Our clients have seen it, too. Gary’s plain, no nonsense approach of applying passion, hustle and communication simply makes sense. His oft-repeated advice of “get in the trenches” is sound council for most businesses. Because, just as I mentioned before, we’re at the dawn of a new age in marketing.

Gary’s, “in the trenches” approach works so well because the evolution of marketing and the true power of brands have been realized by the masses. The web and now social media have merged into a new form of community. Interest communities.

Some will argue that these interest communities have always been there. Harley riders, Red Sox fans, even Green Bay Packer fans have no problems finding friends in their respective circles. However, the web and social media have opened these communities beyond geographical locales. Web and social media tear down the barriers of distance and language to unite these communities in ways we have not truly imagined.

Interest communities all have extensive knowledge of their communities and have distinct opinions of the products, producers and services providers. News is discussed, products informally reviewed and product failures are troubleshot. Why would a business or manufacturer not want to be fully plugged into these communities?

Few venues have the transparency and brutal “truth detection” that interest communities possesses. If you are not authentic and the real deal, you will get called to the mattresses and will get schooled. If a business or person is simply looking to “cash in” with these tools, they all inevitably fail.

The same principle applies to participation. If a business or individual is not willing to “crush it” with time with the community, relaying intense passion and good ol’ fashioned hustle they’re better off staying away. In this arena poor execution is worse than simply being absent. In this new era, the most committed win. There simply is no “second place”.

Vaniacs, by our nature, are mavens. We’re tied into our own communities, but are drawn to the truth coming from Gary. The fact that spectators to these communities may view fellow Vaniacs as sycophants or “kool-aid drinkers” merely demonstrate they’ve never spent time in the evolving social media community.

As the new economy emerges from the rubble of the old and the new business, marketing and branding practices become stitched into our lifestyles; we’ll see how this user-driven revolution was not powered by people like Gary Vaynerchuk, but merely represented by people like Gary Vaynerchuk. Building on the phrase, “power to the people”, we can now embrace “power to the community”. Thunder on.