A growing anomoly, almost as spectacular as the speed with which social media has gained traction, is the number of social media experts following in its wake. Have you ever wondered about the emergence of this surplus of experts? Well, as the genre suggests their experience, in many instances, is largely accumulated through socializing on these very platforms. In the ordinary course of business I have encountered a regular theme from prospective clients. Their heads are spinning from the constant flow of web statistics, and the bombardment by emarketing tactics available to them. The identikit appears something like “we can manage your Facebook fanpage for your brand,” or “if your brand isn’t tweeting you just aren’t in a dialogue with your audience.” Or the seemingly compelling options like being active in mobile to avoid missing out on the uniquely prolific mobile penetration in South Africa. Do you have a database building strategy? Is your company regularly distributing a newsletter? Does your company have a blog, a poll, a forum, an avatar, favicon or YouTube profile?

The communications industry now features an array of previously unseen products and innovative services being sold as the next ‘hot marketing tip.’ These aren’t necessarily MBA’s that have specialized in the use of Social Media to enhance brand equity. These may not be veteran marketers that have discovered an elixir to resolve their communications problems. These aren’t necessarily even marketing people. They could originate from the upwelling of a new generation who publish their emotions via the status update bar on Facebook, Tweet their ablutions and romantic encounters, and Blog in SMS styled dialect. And they want to be paid to play with your brand. In such a fast paced and turbulent environment one can be forgiven for a little motion sickness. The reality is that this velocity won’t subdue anytime soon and brands will need to rely on sound navigational equipment more than ever in order to make the right strategic decisions. There is a dizzying array of tactics available for your consideration. But which are relevant to your brand’s DNA? And which are simply contributing to the ever-growing eNoise out there? Such is the enthusiasm around the possibilities inherent in Facebook, Twitter, viral ‘marketing’ and mobi development  that insufficient strategic input is guiding many solutions. To distinguish those tactics that are true to your brand you will need clarity of mind regarding the essence of your brands positioning, your target market and your key communications objectives. Now more than ever a client needs to understand and preserve their brands DNA. And consider which communication tactics: advertising, experiential events, digital activations etc. honour the DNA and simultaneously build brand equity.

A colleague and I had a chuckle the other day at the expense of a media placement opportunity.It related to the days when advertising arrived in public toilets. It was briefly the next best thing! Or so we were told. Based upon the number of people passing through it was a good place to advertise. Or was it? Unless your product and brand is relevant to that environment you shouldn’t be there. Simply placing your brand in an environment like that because of traffic seems daft. Well, the same goes for brands evaluating the digital landscape. A Facebook fanpage for a luxury vehicle, or a daily twitter message from a premium 15 year old single malt whisky? I’m not saying it’s not possible, but only if it is relevant to the brands DNA, its positioning and communications strategy and addresses a genuine need in its target audience’s life. My advice is to pose tough questions of the digital proposition that next arrives in your office. As you would all the other channels available to you.

• “what role does digital play in Brand strategy and building Brand equity?”
• “are all of these new social media environments actually relevant to my target audiences?”
• “why am I really wanting to do this…really? Because it’s popular and sexy and everyone is telling me to…or because it’s right for the Brand?”

Digital, while uniquely positioned for its measurability, is largely a series of available platforms for interacting, sharing, commenting, communicating, transacting etc. But marketing principles and brand DNA should inform the choices you make. Or digital could just be the biggest threat to your brand’s health. __________________________________________________________________________ David Moffat is the Managing Director of the award-winning digital marketing agency, HelloComputer. For more from the world of HelloComputer and their recent account gains, please visit www.hellocomputer.com.