Corporate Eye

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Social: Coca-Cola and Social Proof

Social: Coca-Cola and Social Proof

coca-cola-social-sWith a well-maintained blog, and over 68 million likes on Facebook, Coca-Cola shows that they are one of the most popular companies around.

Information about their social media is showcased brilliantly at the bottom of every page on their website, along with icons that double as links to their profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more. Also, Coca-Cola provides a section called “Opinions” that allows users to take part in online debates and conversations, each one having an impressive number of comments below it. This further showcases Coca-Cola’s popularity, and engages the audience.

This display of popularity sets Coca-Cola apart from rival companies in a unique way. Reputation cannot be faked, and Coca-Cola builds trust from the audience by proving their credibility in the online world.

Usability: Coca-Cola Dim the Lights

coca-cola-dim-bright-sCoca-Cola’s website features a Dim/Brighten option, which allows the user to dim certain areas of the web page.  The button itself is located conveniently near the top of each article, and features a familiar icon to make it easily identifiable.

Coca-Cola recognizes that potential customers may be overwhelmed with the amount of content presented on their page.  This feature allows them to eliminate distracting material with the click of a mouse.

This feature creates a more user-friendly environment, and allows additional emphasis to be placed on core content.

Capturing the Reader by Appealing to their Primitive Mind

panning-for-goldYour reader can, at best, process 7 pieces of information at a time. But did you know that at any given moment, they’re being bombarded by over 11,000,000 bits of information?[1]

The conscious mind cannot even begin to process the remaining 10,999,960 but their subconscious can  – and does so as every minute passes.

When reading your content, the subconscious mind is submerged in a flurry of processing – identifying, processing, and filtering out information of no importance. They are not only filtering out what’s not important, they’re also determining why it’s not important, and deciding what the reader needs to do about it.[1]

As the subconscious mind busily pans for cognitive gold, your reader’s conscious mind is free to concentrate on the words you have so carefully crafted on their screen.

But, only if you capture their attention – which research says you must do within 8 seconds.[2]

So, how can you make it past the subconscious barricades, capture the conscious mind, and do it all in 8 seconds? 

You must write compelling content.

In order to write compelling content, you must first understand how the subconscious determines what content is worthy of their attention, and which content is cause for bouncing off the page.

The first question to address is this:

If 11,000,000 separate stimuli are demanding the attention of the conscious mind, then why do people still take the time to read?

The explanation has evolutionary roots. The goal of the subconscious is primitive – survival. Therefore, when scrutinized from this perspective, the subconscious mind is responsible for making the types of split-second, life-saving decisions that your (rather overrated) conscious mind is too slow to make.

That being said, the origin of reading has evolutionary roots. Humans rely upon story for survival.  In fact, our conscious mind thinks in story format. We learn from our own stories (e.g. personal past mistakes) and from the stories of others (e.g. the past mistakes of others). [1] Our ancestors knew that the saber tooth tiger was not friendly because they had heard stories about the encounters of others, or they had experienced encounters of their own.

Armed with this knowledge, content creators must heed to the fact that the reader is craving a story, not to mention expecting a story, at all times (even when reading website content).

So, your content must tell a story.

Research shows that a narrative presentation of an advertising message is exceptionally effective. [3]. Therefore organizing your content in somewhat of a story format is wise.

Narrative content formats work through blocking the counterarguments of the reader. Every reader is in some way resistant to the persuasive pressures that are inherent in any form of advertising, and they naturally create counterarguments against them.[4] However, if the audience can identify with the storyline of a message, they become enthralled – and all counterarguments go out the window.[3]

Testimonials

This highlights the importance of testimonials. When testimonials are created in story format (problem, climax, resolution) they are especially effective

Blogs

Blogs provide ample opportunity to create a story for the reader. Surely you can find a story to tell with your product. ‘If/Then’ statements encourage the reader to create a story of their potential experiences with your product.

When creating content in story format, remember the importance of relevance. The story must strike a chord with your reader. This stresses the need for audience research and analysis.

By capturing the attention of the primitive mind, you can entertain and sway the conscious mind – all with a simple story.
 

References

[1] Cron, L. Wired for Story

[2] Nielsen, J., Molich, R., Snyder , C., & Farrell, S. E-Commerce User Experience

[3] Dal Cin, Zanna, & Fong. Resistance & Persuasion

[4] Petty and Cacioppo. Central & Peripheral Routes to Persuasion

 

The Goldilocks Theory and Investor Relations

goldilocks-three-bearsThose that are involved in investor relations recognize that in order to do it right, you need to combine skills from the disciplines of finance, marketing, law and communications. Underpinning these disciplines are a deep understanding of the company you represent and knowledge of how the capital markets work. So there are a lot of factors at play. Combining these factors in a coherent message can be a tricky business, because if one chooses to emphasize one factor over another the entire message can suffer.

For example, if a press release is written where legal factors and accounting dominate, the result is a stilted document that reads like a regulatory filing, a lawyer’s brief or worse yet, an accountant’s statement. In other words, something that’s deathly dull and uses language to obfuscate rather than clarify. Similarly, if the marketing and communications disciplines dominate, what you wind up with is a document that is more hype than substance and is bound to turn off your audience of sophisticated investors. The key to getting the message right is to balance the various factors.

You start with the key message you wish to convey (communications). Then you consider your audience and how they may view and react to the information you are giving them (marketing). You bolster your message with a discussion of how the business operations either supported your message or will be impacted by the information you are conveying (finance). Finally, you run what you intend to say through the legal filters to make sure you are complying with the appropriate regulatory scheme (law).

One of the things I have learned from combing through business textbooks in preparing for my class on investor relations is that a catchy graphic helps to explain complex relationships. Couple that with the fact you almost can’t give a talk nowadays without PowerPoint slides and I simply had to create a graphic to illustrate this point. So here it is – my attempt at capturing the need to combine all four disciplines in your investor relations message.

goldilocks-investor-relatio

Of course, it’s one thing to understand the theory, it’s another thing entirely when you are trying to incorporate comments to your press release by the CEO, CFO, the General Counsel, the outside auditors and the communications department.

This is where investor relations officers should think back to the Goldilocks story and say to themselves, “Not too much law, not too much marketing, but just right…”

It’s at times like that I recommend you pull out the graphic to remind yourself what it is you are trying to achieve.
 

Ernst & Young Rebrands as EY

EY logo old and newJuly 1, 2013 saw the demise of another of the “Big Four” global audit and advisory brands when Ernst & Young rebranded as EY. The new EY brand includes not just a new name but also a new logo and tagline, “Building a better working world.”

According to the EY press release announcing the rebranding (and the appointment of a new CEO, Mark Weinberger), the shift to EY will bring consistency to the company brand in the 140 countries it operates in around the world. The rebranding will also, “demonstrate clearly and boldly who we are and reflect the goal we have recently set ourselves to be the number one brand in our profession.”

The rebranding is also intended to reflect the EY corporate values. As Weinberger explains, “our values are the fundamental beliefs of our organization and remain the bedrock of our culture. They are one of the most important sources of our organizational strength. We encourage and expect our people to demonstrate integrity, respect and teaming, have the energy, enthusiasm and courage to lead and build relationships based on doing the right thing.”

Can EY live up to those bold statements? Only time will tell. There is no better time for a company like EY to seize the opportunity to prove it can act honestly and responsibly. The video below provides more information about the rebranding effort.


The new logo includes a beam icon that has already appeared in EY marketing materials but now is clearly the core of the entire rebranding effort. The beam certainly adds a sense of looking toward the future to the brand. When combined with the tagline, I’m reminded of Stephen Colbert’s Super PAC slogan, “Making a better tomorrow, tomorrow,” but I digress.

While the application of the beam works well in graphics, designers in the Brand New community believe it seems like a lost opportunity in the logo. I do have to agree that the beam seems like an odd afterthought tagged onto the EY. However, the logo design does follow the trend in creating simple logos rather than the highly stylized Web 2.0 logo design trend that dominated the early 2000s. That is a good thing.

To clarify, EY will be used to refer to any and all companies within Ernst & Young Global Limited. Each of those companies is its own, separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited does not provide any products or services directly to consumers in any way.

 

Social Media Recommendations Are More Popular than Face-to-Face

share buttonNew research from Canadean Custom Solutions has found that social media recommendations are how more popular than face-to-face recommendations.

The results come from a survey of 2,000 U.K. consumers over the age of 18. Three out of four of the study respondents use social media websites, such as Facebook, to communicate with other people, and 17% have increased the amount of time they spend on social media websites in the last six months.

Overall, consumers don’t just like to share information, they believe it’s very important. 54% of the survey respondents report that it is important to share information online about things that “excite” them, and 30% have done so more regularly in the past six months. The key to increased sharing among U.K. adults is social media, which has become more popular than face-to-face sharing and communications.

Just 29% of respondents to the Canadean survey said that it’s important to spend time interacting with neighbors and people in their communities. That’s significantly lower (nearly half) than the percentage of U.K. adults who believe it’s important to interact on social media sites.

According to a Canadean press release, survey respondents do still interact with and communicate with friends and family in person, but the trend in choosing to interact with people outside your immediate family and circle of close friends via social media first, is one that continues to grow. Canadean Research Manager Michael Hughes explained, “Social media sites allow consumers to interact with like-minded others on specific sites, and in turn begin to follow trusted brand ambassadors for advice and inspiration, even if they have never actually met the person.”

Preferred communications tools and social “venues” are continually evolving, and savvy brands understand that word-of-mouth marketing via social media conversations and sharing is crucial to driving brand awareness, sales, loyalty, and advocacy. Making it easy for people to share information to their social media connections should be a top priority for every brand marketer today. That’s a key piece of the puzzle that is too often missing from social media marketing campaigns. Furthermore, brands need to reward their most vocal brand advocates, which is another piece of the puzzle that is often not factored into social media marketing campaigns at all.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

Image: Joe Zlomek