Brands are slow. I get it. In my younger years, it frustrated me a bit. Yet, as social media has matured (and so have I), there is a newfound understanding and acceptance to why this happens. First, you must better understand their incentives, and why a gimmicky post may not be a priority of the client. So, it’s time to give them a break.
The reason I bring this up was from a recent LinkedIn post. The author pointed out that she judges brands a bit when they react to a meme after the wave has happened. She based slow approvals on lack of trust between the brand and the agency. In many cases, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Since 2006, my partner Luis and I been lucky enough to build social from the ground up for big brands. Back then, it was the wild west and slowly the law caught up to the technology. During that tenure, I was able to sit in countless calls and meetings with top law firms on this subject. I even wrote a piece or two on the subject for Adweek. So, I get it.
Unfortunately, I have seen many who work in social media who do not understand. And in many cases, like this LinkedIn example, it’s due to improper training. The difference between a personal account and a brand account is not immediately apparent, especially if you grew up in social, where memes, celebs, songs are liberally shared. How can you know it’s not ok to use them when managing a business if you are not told?
It’s a complicated subject. And complicated things take time. Here are a few reasons that brands are slow on social:
Brands Have More Important Things To Do Than Approve Your Silly Meme.
Cute. Funny. Poignant. You may love that reaction post, but it really is a small slice of the client’s pie. Although the most important thing right now seems to be your “Rock Star Response” to the meme in question, there are other priorities. These trending topics are a flash in the pan, and brands should be focused on their longer-term social media strategy, rather than green lighting a hobbled-together meme, as you wait with bated breath to enter the spotlight. There is a bigger picture, and generally these inconsequential posts don’t go to the front of the line. Nor should they.
Stop Wasting Your Client’s Time By Putting Them At Risk.
Sorry to be so direct, but it had to be said. If you don’t understand copyright law, the simple way I explain it is that counsel doesn’t necessarily tell you not to post something, they just identify it based on the level of risk it presents. And even the most banal post carries some level of risk, as they are graded as low, medium, high.
You can post high risk content, and still not face any consequences. All depends on the copyright holder, and whether they will let it fly, drop a cease-and-desist, or just sue the agency and the brand. Imagine if a brand used your family picture for an ad, without notification or compensation? How would you feel? That is another simplified way to help you understand IP, and how one may feel if it is taken from them.
This approach differs from FTC law, which will go after your brand for dalliances in that area. That is about protecting the consumer from influencers or others who deceive by not disclosing a material connection. That gets broken too, but in the case of copyright infringement, the holder must go after you. For FTC law, the agency is the one to enforce.
So when you think about the complexity and risk, speed has nothing to do with trust. Many people take offense or think a brand’s lack of timeliness is a personal affront. Not the case. Brands must follow their due diligence. They need to assess and be comfortable with the risk level it presents. This is not personal, nor are you even a consideration. The legal team’s job is to mitigate risk across the board, and guess what, you just interrupted their job to look at your cute reaction post. There are levels in large companies to mitigate risk at all levels. It’s a process that is deliberately slow, to ensure nothing falls between the cracks. Do they care that the window of opportunity has passed? Do they worry you may be upset that they don’t approve your clever meme? Or are they more concerned with making sure the brand is protected? I’ll let you answer that.
Brands should not act like people, but they should act with humanity.
Early on, I believed brands should act like people. I could very well be quoted in the dark recesses of the web saying that exact thing. Yet, I have moved on from that belief, and instead think only people should act like people, and brands should act like brands, just a bit looser.
And don’t get me started on the new Radio Shack Twitter. That is a new low for brand persona.
If you think more like your audience, it’s easy to realize this: No one is waiting on a brand’s hot take on a current topic.
“Hmmm, I wonder what clever post Mcdonalds will have for the Little Miss Meme?” -No One.
In most cases, fans are made because of your product, not your social media presence. And many times they go against expectation, gaining more engagement with simple product shots, than reactions to trending topics. Yet, many in social media are still chasing that Oreo lights out tweet (yawn), which opened the floodgates to mediocre, reactionary tweets from brands.
Instead of acting like people, brands should just act with humanity. Lose the jargon, and don’t make every post sound like a caption on a brochure. Relax your voice a bit, and let your fans get a peek behind the curtain. They want access, not dumb memes. So help them get value from their follow.
Relax
One of the things that irked me most was when agency leadership becomes single-minded to react to any mention of the brand on social media.
It was tiresome, desperate and unnecessary. Sure, it’s great when someone mentions you. But does that mean you need to be a part of the conversation, beyond a thank you and a kind acknowledgement? Not really.
Because when it goes beyond that, the risk builds. Is the response clever enough? Will it backfire? Is the person writing it a pedophile, racist or has a stream of political rants in their wake? Who knows, but when you get too far along in the participation, you slowly inch toward endorsement. And without proper vetting, you are putting everyone at risk.
By the way, not all mentions are even worth a thank you. I remember having to “unsell” a response someone above me wanted to do to a song/music video about the product. The problem was, the creator made fun of the product, and had a highly sexualized twitter handle. Yet, the fixation was on the mention and a dopamine-driven need to respond. I wondered, how am I only seeing this? Yet, people become fixated on a response, and even the most Sr. staff, can’t think their way out of it.
Use Limitations To Your Advantage
I wrote a script for an auto client as a response to an epic commercial someone made for their used car of the same brand. I didn’t want to do it for the reasons above, and neither did the client, but, was another victim of the food chain and the narcissistic tendency to move forward.
I knew this would take the client a long time to vet and approve. So, I slept on it and wrote a script in a very self-referential way. Sadly, this was approved and dropped the last second, but at the time it felt right.
LAWYER:
Hey Jim*, just watching your commercial. That cat, the coffee. Brilliant. A little dangerous, but brilliant. I’d never sign off on it.”
I’m a lawyer with [BRAND]. I’ve found whenever I introduce myself as a lawyer, I generally have 30 seconds until someone politely leaves the room, so I’ll make this brief.
You made a spot that seemed to cost many times over what the car is actually worth. That tells me something. You get advertising.
Yes, we are reaching out almost 2 weeks after this hit the news cycle. And if you understand why it took us this long, then you get brands too.
So, after 100 emails back and forth, some preliminary background checking
(aside whispering with hand over part of mouth)
Return that library book.
We have an offer.
*not his real name
I’ll spare you the rest, but you see how sometimes you can have a bit of fun, self-deprecating, and use your own limitations to your advantage.
Reset Your Expectations
Listen, if you continually see your client as slow to respond, don’t keep sending content for approval and expect that to change. For all the reasons above, content takes time for brands. There are levels, risks, costs, and most importantly it takes their eye off the ball, especially if it is not part of their overall social strategy.
If a client decides to not send something to legal, they are on the hook. Maybe a copywriter is not accountable to sales or other metrics, but oftentimes, that is how the client is judged. Will their boss be more impressed by the agency’s Little Miss meme, or a strategic, well-engaged post that presents their product in a good light, shows engagement and provides value to their fans? Again, have a go at that answer.
The ad community is insular. And only a fraction of the real world cares or participates in trends. So stop making what is important to you, important to the client. Because, it just isn’t. Everything communicates. And if your one-off posts don’t communicate the larger brand messaging, they don’t belong in any social media plan.
