How brands can reap big from modern media boom

At the turn of the century, when Internet adoption in Kenya started to go mainstream and everyone was clamouring for an email address and patronising the few cybercafès in the city, web development houses converted a few brave corporate souls to the gospel of the net.
The output of many of these “let’s get your company online” initiatives was a dismal brochure site that often times had the “managing directors” message to welcome you to the site.

In hindsight and to agree that we have indeed come a long way, the industry was finding its feet, which may have meant succumbing to the whims of a clueless brand head. However, some brands did get it right, and Coca-Cola’s Life in Red portal still stands out for what could be considered cutting edge and daring in a pre-Facebook era for a brand to pull off, managing to build a rabid audience.

We seem to be facing the same challenge currently with both mobile and social media experiments. I feel that brands are yet to fully understand how to connect with their target consumers and ride the wave of benefits that an engaged consumer will bring.
Drawing from Coca-Cola’s Life in Red, the brand became an enabler of the social interactions that surrounded its product. While the platform was very visibly owned by the brand, evident from its design and prominence of the brand identifiers, users never felt that they were being sold product, yet this was achieved very subtly and effectively.

The brand become part of everyday life and the sense of community was palpable. People knew each other, whether by name or nickname to the point of roll call in the forums being taken and new users welcomed to the different discussion groups.
An analysis of this close knit community would reveal the “god particles”, those members of an ecosystem with the largest networks and most clout. These “particles” would be leveraged to push for opinions on polls , drive content consumption and create awareness of events.

In today’s world of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and other social media outlets the benefits of such engagement can be amplified by several factors if you include mobile into the mix. The accrued benefits were not a function of technology but more in the strategy and positioning of the platform.
Life in Red earned Coca-Cola a seat on the table, a right to participate in the lives of thousands of users on a daily basis.

The beauty of the now, is that in an open knowledge economy, we can learn quickly what has worked elsewhere and adapt it to local needs or better yet carve out new experiences and models that will deliver the brand and shareholder promise without feeling like a nag to the consumer.
Earn your seat at the consumers table.

Mbugua Njihia is CEO of Symbiotic. Twitter - @mbuguanjihia