Social media has changed the marketing landscape - in our favor!

As customers who engage socially with the brands use, we hold the ball when it comes to their strength. For any company to be successful at branding today, they must listen to, learn from and leverage what their customers say - user-generated content (UGC).

"User-generated content (UGC) requires a disciplined approach to deliver brand building benefits. To realize UGC’s brand building potential, marketers must solicit authentic content that is generated from consumers’ genuine love of the brand." (Forrester)

Expressing the love of a brand on social media

Take a look at REI for example (one of my favorite outdoor-loving companies). Their recent bold move to close on Black Friday has spurred an enormous outpouring of expressions of love for the brand.

A quick look at a graph of their analytics for #OptOutside shows a tremendous spike in engagement through REI's hashtag campaign (Hashtagifyme).

When companies like REI take the time to listen to, learn from and leverage their customers' social media engagement, they align themselves to become a brand that evolves with their customers. They can grow their products and services to focus on their customers' needs and wants by building a Brand Evolution Strategy which engages the four voices of a brand: the brand image, its consumers, its influencers and brand advocates. By leveraging its influencers and advocates they can capitalize on their advocacy to build their brand.

Will REI be able to capitalize on the nearly 60K people who engaged with their #OptOutside last month for closing on Black Friday? Simply inviting the consumer to participate in that conversation and creating a democratization of content, REI has already differentiated itself from its closest competitors; #LLBean barely maxed out at 20K during that same period! (Hashtagifyme)

Social media is a game changer when it comes to brand management, and I for one am glad! The need for a company's transparency and 2-way dialog with its customers can only strengthen the customer's long-term experience and ability to get what they want from a brand. The end result for me and REI...more time to enjoy the great outdoors using products I am proud to advocate for! #OptOutside!