Photography Source: C-Monster
Earlier this month, I put together this pretty extensive feature with Bobby Hundreds that spoke about not only his most recent collaboration with DeLorean (yeh, the Back to the Future car) but also other aspects of our cultural landscape. As I practiced my greatest skill, the tangent, our conversation fell onto social media and the likes of Twitter. But it slowly unraveled over a series of relevant chronological events outlined for the most part below:
Sort of tying into the whole notion of globalization, how do you view those who are slow to adopt the latest in Internet brand presence, do you feel it’s a big detriment to development? Do you genuinely find new social media platforms beneficial like Twitter and the like?
It depends! For the majority of brands and businesses out there, you’re in the dinosaur ages if you haven’t dedicated a significant amount of attention towards your internet presence. BUT it’s certainly not for everyone. With some brands, any proactive internet exposure goes against the very fabric of their ideology. Yet, they still make the mistake of sparking up a blog or Twitter profile because they assume it’s what they’re supposed to do, although the forced nature is detrimental to their overall branding development. Follow the natural course of your brand.
For us, the open platform has always made sense, because it’s the core of our branding strategy. The very notion of The Hundreds was to be on the same level as our customers, and be as open as possible about our process and day-to-day. Logically, the blog and eventual online interaction plugged into that equation. So yes, our customer is looking for a The Hundreds Twitter page, and for Ben and I to be a finger-click away. And ultimately, it enhances their overall understanding of our brand, and reinforces our DNA.
I’ve had my Twitter account open for a couple years now, and tried to shut it down a few months ago. It’s such a gross exercise in narcissism, I didn’t see any benefit to my personal life. But when I looked at our webstats, I realized that the vast amount of traffic to our site now comes via our Twitter accounts. So now I update mine regularly with bad jokes and quips (anything to NOT talk about my personal life or product news), although it’s more for business purposes.
After that, I saw this article on CrunchGear which highlighted some of the current companies doing well and not doing so well in the social media landscape. Among those listed was Apple, see excerpt below:
Apple
Whoa there, calm down. Read first, then flame if you must. The standard “I’m typing this on a mac” preamble applies. Plus, the fact is that whether or not Apple gets or does the blogosphere, their current strategy is working. But my point isn’t that they aren’t successful or suck at PR, just that they’re not utilizing the new media well. And of course, they don’t really need to — the new media pretty much use themselves without Apple’s help. But here’s the thing: despite writing thousands of words on Apple products, sometimes good, sometimes bad, I’ve never heard from them. Not in a comment, not in an email — nothing. Oh, we’ve got someone to talk to if we need to RSVP for a press conference or whatnot, but that’s not the same thing. The fact that I can write a mean-spirited dismissal of iFrame and not hear a word from Apple means they don’t get it or don’t care enough, and either way it’s not a good thing.
Apple is good at doing what I mentioned above: letting the product sell itself. But they don’t engage the community. They don’t need to comment on rumors or address every little thing, but when it’s shown that thousands of Apple laptops have faulty video cards, I think it’s in their interest to go around doing a little damage control.
From there… Bobby Hundreds re-visited things on a recent blog post which reinforced his belief that Twitter and various social media platforms weren’t the next logical stop for all brands… cue his comments and the subsequent article on MSNBC (which goes against CrunchGear’s arguments).
THE EXAMPLE.
In my Hypebeast interview last week, I mentioned how current online-based marketing trends aren’t necessarily blanket truth for all brands and companies. Just because everyone else is blogging and Tweeting, doesn’t make it the obvious solution for your particular project. MSNBC posted an article this morning delineating exactly that, through one of the most iconic brands of our generation: Apple. Steve Jobs doesn’t Tweet, Facebook, blog, or interact, yet they’re still the benchmark. Eugene asked me why we won’t open up the blog to Comments. And they kinda get into that within this article as well. Thought you might like it.
Ok so there you go, congratulations if you’ve made it this far, you’ve managed to get through 700-some odd words based on the Word count stat at the bottom of this WordPress window haha. An admirable feat in this day in age.
I still personally feel as though for the majority of brands out there, social media is still key. It has a lot of potential at its core and I’m not talking about just posting a bit.ly link of some new shit you did and ignoring the rest of what’s around you (actually… the Hypebeast Twitter is a bit like that but it’s more an issue of time). It’s not so much a matter of if I should do this and get onto social media, it’s more like when I should do this. In a few years, the likes of Twitter/Facebook will be no different than owning an email address. Apple has had the ability to stay away from this realm of open communication (maybe coupled with its brand philosophy) cause the work and branding was done many years ago. Let’s face it, Apple’s number one goal is to sell electronics and by and large they are successful (although I still won’t buy Apple cause I think it’s over-priced). Prior to the days of social media, through clever tactics and great product design they managed to captivate a massive audience. While this is commendable, this has given them a late pass to do things others don’t have the luxury of doing. As I see it, the greater your brand, the greater leverage you have when entering or delaying entry into expansion into different new mediums and platforms. If an established high-fashion house decided to not enter an online presence, would they suffer, for sure but they would be far from extinct.
Now this isn’t a knock on behalf of The Hundreds, but comparing them to Apple is much much different. The Hundreds is a much much much smaller operation than Apple and I think should realize we’re at communication crossroads for better or worse. Maybe I’ll look back and be all wrong about this but I can’t see anything letting up. I can’t see Twitter/Facebook and all that stuff falling the wayside in the next few years especially given the potential business ramifications involved. Once you toss money into the equation, you know people will start giving a shit.
I’m still an advocate for building things through relationships which I feel social media offers. Time and time again, you hear people say this (and many) industry is about relationships. It doesn’t matter who you are, for the most part some sort of a positive relationship is beneficial for both parties. On another note and perhaps most important cause there’s no going back is the fact that Apple’s rise occurred in a time where organic growth (such a fucking cliche word that I over-use way too much) was much easier to achieve. Why? Cause you didn’t have the Internet cramming all this instantaneous shit down your throat, Live Feeds included. I think that you simply have to adapt and why not get onto things when its in its infancy where you can make mistakes like everybody who’s all relatively new to the same things? Things change and what was once organic growth 5-10 years ago has simply taken on a new context you can’t overlook.
The Internet now allows for the dissemination of information so much more quickly that often times it gets re-appropriated on the wrong note. These platforms help you set the record straight as well as help define your brand. I think it’s definitely possible to strengthen your brand through more active communications. I don’t care what you say, offering a lifestyle as part of the package helps your brand out. If you can keep people interested on more than one front in your brand, you’re doing yourself a favor.
As you can read from Bobby Hundreds’ excerpt, his thoughts are pretty clear what he feels are the proper procedures for social media and brands. Obviously we have slightly conflicting views but that’s cool. But much like Apple, The Hundreds does have the ability to not worry so much about their “Internet Rating” since regardless of whether they Tweet or not, there will be that grip of kids lining up at that next release. The Hundreds are definitely among the new(er) crop of successful brands that were helped by timing and the fact they got their shit right with how to properly use a blog to their advantage, something new brands can’t really do much about cause the landscape is that much tougher these days. But if you didn’t know, Twitter is the new WordPress ha. It’s all relative, established brands with set identities and good followings can afford to be slower to adopt something. But if you’re shit out of luck in that department, enter other tools to get you out there, Twitter and Facebook included.
Is this shit seemingly all too calculated? I don’t know maybe I am looking too much into things like I often do. Probably a few typos, grammatical errors in there…