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As you know, in branding, we highlight the distinction
between rational brand attributes and emotional brand
attributes. Rational brand attributes are concrete, deliverable
traits—the table stakes that get you into the game. Emotional
brand attributes help you connect with your audience on a
much more meaningful and emotional level, allowing you to
differentiate in a compelling way that tips the scales in your
favor. Having social savvy enables you to tap the impact of
authenticity and immediacy, building a personal bridge to
your audience.
Today, regardless of your role or level, understanding how
to use social media to do your job better is a requirement.
Whether you’re sourcing staff, building marketing campaigns,
enhancing relationships, developing new products, designing
print ads, or performing market research, you will thrive only
if you know how to harness social media to deliver greater
value to your company.
3. Digital—From Final Frontier to
Launchpad
At Reach (my company), we always say, “Be real before
being virtual.” We mean that you must work on your brand
in the real world before building your brand online. That’s
still true, but the timeline is nowcompressed. Your online
identity should be drawn from your authentic traits, but that
digital identity needs to go live as soon as possible. For your
audience, digital now precedes real.
As a society, we continually research brands online, and we
often search for a digital profile of people before we meet
them. Before heading to the conference room, we check
out our colleagues who are on the meeting attendee lis и)]