need to understand the synamics of promoting brands.

Here is a brautiful infograph to inform your brand promotion  strategies

based on researh by aytm (Ask Your Target Market). Enjoy

Source: AYTM Market Research

1. The Public is Back!

Yes, the public relations is no more about what you can do improve
communication with your target audience and stakeholders alone, you need to pay
attention to how the publics can now influence your organisation and its
interests. Stakeholders are now more empowered to respond to organisations’ decisions,
policies and people in a record time and in a massive way.

The multiplicity of communication platforms has also thrown lots of
challenges in the way of the reputation manager. Having a customer’s article
about poor service showing up in Google search results before your
organisations’ website is guaranteed to make you lose customers. Online
Reputation Management, Social Media Engagement, Search Engine Optimisation and
Marketing skills are the new competence levels and it is the business of a
public relations manager to be abreast of consumer touch-points and the various
ways in which consumers can provide feedback on organisations products and
services.

 2. The Rise of New Influencers

Trust agents used to be opinion leaders, community heads, monarchs and brand                                                                                                     ambassadors – but not anymore. Across industries and sectors, new influencers are rising and
it has little to do with their educational or professional certifications.
People in your industry with huge social media followers have become powerful
influencers and those with the knowledge of marketing and promotions are fast
turning themselves into marketing and advertising professionals.  A
quick example is the rise of Nollywood Love, an online YouTube channel that
streams Nigerian films online. The organization and its founder have become big
players and influencers within the industry and he didn’t start by showing up
for auditions. With the democratization of information, everyone has become a
potential publisher and the owner of big media houses are paying attention.                                                                                                                                The major lesson is this; today everyone has the power to influence the perception                                                                                                                   of your brand.

3.  Time is no longer money

If you still quote ‘time is money’, it has become an old fashioned
assumption. Really time now costs you more – it is influence, authority,
authenticity, originality and all the leverage that huge amount of money may
never buy back. Letting news about your organisation or client travel faster
that you can respond will cost you more than you think. In our 24/7
customer-centric world, social media has increased the potential for negative
outcry to gain visibility faster than your brands’ media efforts. The challenge
of the PR professional is to be well-informed, methodical, think fast and be
proactive about every public relations issue that affects your organisation’s
reputation.

4. Researchers are Smiling

The speed of information sharing is faster than ever before and PR professionals
have access to a wealth of content that can be shared with consumers seeking
solutions to a problem. Creating a simple keyword based search on Twitter and
Facebook can connect companies with people at exactly the right time to serve as a helpful
resource. By engaging proactively, PR teams can create new opportunities to
create a favorable brand impression that can lead to the beginning of a potential
business relationship.

Social media has also positively influenced the long standing dynamics of the PR-Journalist                                                                                         practice. Journalists seek information from online sources and PR professionals have also                                                                                             benefited from the added access to available channels. Account planners and researchers can                                                                                               also use digital polls management platforms to conduct their research and analyse results.

5. Digital Reputation Management

Since people are going online to find out about brands and product, it is
only natural that brand managers will be concerned about their online
reputation. They will demand that their Public Relation Consultants expand
their level of competence online and to ensure that traditional communication
channels are extended into online communities.

Rankings of negative comments, opinions and perceptions of your brand (or
product) in search engines now become important to your business.

The business of the reputation manager is now more complex, dynamic and
evolving – the time to rest on the oars can’t be now.

6. Conversation is the new Communication

The word ‘mutual understanding’ a consistent  feature of the definition of Public
Relations? Social
media  has added more tools and re-structured the strategy
and execution of successful two-way communication.

Two-way conversation. PR pros can no be information peddlers that puch information into the
media and sit back and expect to succeed. you can be assured that your PR press release will                                                                                              be answered quickly and in a personal manner, faster that all the time you took in developing it.

Timely, two-way communication is the “new normal.” Listening, engagement and thought
leadership are now three areas that PR pros manage.

7. Analytics, Methods and Tools

PR pros need to understand and use emerging social media tools.
Analytic tools can help track return on investment, including direct costs of staff time spent                                                                                                using the tools, social media marketing efforts and measurement of the traffic it drives to a                                                                                            company’s website.

Social media tools is already becoming the main interphase between
journalist s, PR professionals and the publics. There are many tools onlinen to
help achieve this.

It is the business of PR professional not to get lost in
this season of digital disruptions.

It’s time to step up to the game!

Apple has lost its creative and visionary leader Steve Jobs. Even if you never knew him he has influenced humanity. His brilliance approached in develop Apple brand of products remain the keystone of Apple’s success story. It is still hard to imagine Apple without him.

As brands battle the decision whether to go social media, how to engage new media platforms and exploring the new ways to sell their products and engage their rapidly changing consumers. While some are busy considering what to do, some are brilliantly leveraging on social media to meet the rapidly changing consumer behavior to promote and build their brands, grow their market share and to flaunt consumer loyalty.

This is a roll call of 5 Nigerian’s corporate brands (and honorable mentions) that have smartly engaged social media and are using this to encourage interaction, promote their brand, products and offerings and they are doing a great job at it.

1. GTBank integrates it all

Especially in a traditionally conservative industry, GTBank braved the odds in integrating social media into their traditional corporate communications strategy to reach and sustain communication with their target audience. The GTBank Facebook page remains one of the most engaging and active Nigerian brands on Facebook (ok, maybe after The BeatFM).

GTBank completely uses its Twitter and Facebook page in driving traffic into its websites and targeted communities. It also uses the same channel in attending to customer service, collating customer feedback and promoting programmes and events. The new Acting Managing Director, Segun Agbage was formerly in charge of corporate communications and made his first official media statement on Facebook (YouTube), with this interesting start; I believe we are set for more innovative creations from GTBank.

2. Individual Brands are driving the Heartbeat of The Beat 99.9 FM

If any media brand has consciously or unconsciously integrated traditional and social media, The Beat 99.9FM is it. The Beat 99.9FM is one of the radio channels under the management of Megalectrics Limited and they are hitting the beat hard. The strategy of ensuring that both employees and listeners gain ownership, and promote the brand using their personal networks has yielded brilliant outcomes. While I think they did ‘ojoro’ in importing ideas and methodologies, they have succeeded in patiently waiting for Nigerians in the future and we are growing to meet them there. Coinciding with the rise of radio-enabled phones and traffic jams in Lagos, The Beat 99.9 FM has continued to make traffic fun; following its fans everywhere from offices to their homes.

One interesting feature is how they have used individual brands and a careful blend in the use of Twitter and Facebook platforms in collating user feedback and comments during radio programmes. Other radio stations are catching up on the idea and with time it will soon be normal; Inspiration FM, Top Radio, and recently Star FM.

So to Oreka, Gbemi, Toolz, , Olisa, Dj Caise,Chris… who did I miss? You guys rock!

3. The Courageous News Breakers – 234next

This idea of Dele Olojede has earned him one of the most innovative CEOs in the world. They have consistently used technology as leverage to stand toe-to-toe with the older newspaper companies in Nigeria. They have pulled out every technological trick to stay afloat and to define and the reach of their target audience.

With ground breaking investigative journalism, layout and creative copy as its key differentiation factors, they are using Online Ads, Bulk SMS technology, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube in driving traffic and improving their bottom line.

In a season where government patronage is a lifeline for press houses, 234next is staying true to the call – they are still standing tall.

4. Virtual Window-shop – Samsung Mobile Nigeria

Samsung Mobile knows they are not directly selling a service; they sell products and they are willing to use every avenue to promote it. If you need a quick run through of Samsung’s products in the market, visit their Facebook page.

The Samsung Mobile NIgeria’s Facebook page beautifully uses the platform to help you windowshop for their products. They have also included tabs that encourage customer feedback, users’ tip and tricks and the collaboration they have with The BeatFM. The Facebook page also encourages customer interaction and thus remains one of the most active brand pages on Facebook.

5. Fame overtakes MTN brand

If you snoop around Facebook you are more likely to arrive at the MTN Project Fame page faster than the original MTN Facebook page. On every front, the people have chosen where to interact – the MTN Project Fame WA page.

MTN Nigeria is also the worst hit on unofficial pages – you will find so many MTN Facebook pages than another and will take you time to know the original one is MTNloaded on Facebook.

While being a popular service brand with lots of product offerings, they are bound to get a lot of customer service requests and enquiries and they need to get in-house managers to engage them effectively. The MTN Project Fame on YouTube also has a huge following within the Nigerian context. If any telecommunication can build an engagement on social media, MTN has the potential because the people are already waiting.

Honorable mention:

Always is building a tribe with Girl power!

Facebook fans -120,165

The Always Nigeria Facebook page is seeking to promote knowledge about Teens, womanhood, growing up, puberty, first period and being a girl. It is designed o provide a supportive community for girls entering puberty and giving helpful tips and answers to many of the questions girls have and they are doing it well.

1. Product Awareness
As customers and consumers continue to spend more time on the internet, digital advertising is becoming very relevant. The attitude and lifestyle of the consumers is what should dictate the platforms and not the other way around. Huge budgets allocated to product launches can now be reduced to achieve a significantly close success in creating product awareness. Entrepreneurs can also leverage on these social media sites to market their products and services, announce new arrivals and generate hype for their work.
Cheaper and effective, or why spend huge advertising money on TV when most of my target audience is in traffic.
2. Generating Leads
If you are not generating leads, your business is not growing. Generating leads open up your business to avenues to grow your customer base, explore new opportunities and to attract more prospects. Since your customers are busy discussing brands in Social Media, seeking opinions of others in making buying decisions, you need to be paying attention and converting leads into profit.
3. Networking
In building your professional career and business, networking is key. Social media affords you the opportunity to reach people that the front desk receptionist will never have allowed you to reach. Social Media is still an emerging field and a lot of business professionals are personally managing their portals. Discussions about events and networking opportunities are also going on and it is important that you don’t stay missing.
4. Reputation Management/Public Relations
Whether your boss is a social media cynic or not, conversations are going on about your business and you need to be paying attention or your business might be committing latent suicide. I had previously written about what to do when social media attacks your brand and explained how people are influencing others through social media. It is important you consider what you happen if a customer you treated badly goes online to shout about it.
Online reputation and Public relation tools abound online and has continued to deepen the practice of Public Relations in Nigeria.
5. Customer Service/ Educate
Especially for products that need lots of education and information for the consumer, social media affords an almost cost –free avenue to maximize the use of the product/service, social media provides a huge platform to accomplish this objective.
6. Building Brand Communities
Nothing is more attractive to a brand/social media manager that the opportunity to build a community of people who are loyal to your cause/business/brand. While former president Ibrahim Babangida spent millions to to launch his presidential campaign bid, president Jonathan merely got behind a laptop ( got someone to do it?) and announced his own bid without setting up huge equipment characteristic of political campaign kick-offs in Nigeria.
If money is to be made in email list-building, building a fan page on your Facebook can yield huge returns.
7. Thought Leadership
Especially for people in the B2B industry, (i.e. Businesses which serve other businesses) social media affords the fastest way to become brand leaders in their various fields. Social media platforms have allowed easy distribution and cost-free avenues to establish your business in your field.

Ok, over to you, what does social media do for your business?

Have a clear social media strategy

Going online has gone far beyond the era of just developing a beautiful website. The evolving demand for online media marketing and social media engagement requires clear policies, guidelines and experienced staff that will involve employees in every aspect of your business operations – Human Resource, Customer Service, Branding and Marketing.

It also involves profiling your target audience before pouring resources into Facebook. Several PR tools will be useful in this regard. Don’t be busy spending money on ads if your audience is busy in traffic or with their phones.

Be prepared

Dealing with social media attacks require a robust crisis plan. Brand haters exist but unlike the past, a coordinated attack can easily be organized against a brand. Consider the Boycott British Airways campaign organized by the Nigerian Village Square and Respect Nigeria Coalition when officials of the UK Police forcefully ejected Ayodeji Omotade and about 136 other Nigerians from a Lagos bound flight from the UK. Thousands of online signatures were collated which later saw British Airways apologizing for its misbehavior.

When opening your brand to social media, you relinquish ownership of the brand, so before the case ever comes up you need to be sure if your agency has a community management expertise to avert or mitigate a social media crisis? Have a set of best practices been established? Think again.

Classify mud-slings and don’t fight dirty
Ok the deed is done and you have a crisis in your hands, what do you do? The next step is not to have a hurried response to your online audience. The next step is to determine the type of response necessary. It doesn’t matter the kind of crisis, one rule is critical – stay positive. Being bitter and negative about comments is the easiest way to expose your brand to bashing.
Some problems or complaints direct you to a particular challenge your customers are facing with your product/service, nicely thank them for bringing it to your notice and deal with it. If the comments are as a result of customers not understanding your methods and policies, you score a bigger point. Simply thank them and explain why you do it that way. You won’t take all suggestions, but be careful to win their loyalty and trust by being appreciative. But then some mudslings are downright dirty, they are designed to draw or bait you into an unnecessary I-am-right-get-lost fight thereby exposing you as inept and leaving your organization at the mercy of a community of angry comments and future readers of the page. Nescafe (international) will never forget this lesson when they multiplied their challenges by mishandling Facebook attacks during protests by members of Greenpeace.
Finally, in going social, always remember a Facebook page isn’t a social media strategy. Using social media engagement strategies includes identifying your brand personality, profiling your target audience and going to engage them. If your brand is hoping to leverage on social media, it should be ready to create new teams to proactively listen, learn and engage your customers in real time. Cheers

We have dissipated our time and energies in coordinating our communal efforts to develop our nation –we have gone to orphanages and convalescent homes to help others, we have supported the work of inept governments when we repaired our damaged roads, but we can only do so much. We have taken to the streets when we have been pushed, deprived and beaten to the wall – only to say enough is enough. How many people die when hospitals shut down because of strikes? How many people meet untimely death simply because the person in charge feels some other personal agenda needs to be serviced? We cannot afford to sigh.

If all we do is to succeed in spite of the system, we may be paying a heavy price for negligence of the fate of others and the society. If we can afford to buy good cars for bad roads and generators for candle electricity; we cannot build refineries to supply fuel for our cars and generators, or can we then raise our kids in body armour? Some go to school with kids who have no idea what tomorrow holds for them. It is time we rolled our sleeves and got working. If one conscientious leader becomes your Local Government Chairman, Governor, even President then our lives will be fuller, safer and richer. Everyone who desires the interest of Nigerians must not be spectators; we must be part of the solutions. Our sighs must be a reward of our committed labour.

Where am I going? We need 300 people. Will our members everywhere, those interested in the rallying around a cause strong enough to push Nigeria forward come together? If we were to look back in 15, 20 and 30 years from now, if our children asked us the single moment for would have loved to change, will it be now, when we have a chance, not only to vote, but to vote for results that matter. I don’t want to join the company of people who will look back and sigh to ourselves – we could have done better!. God, give us great leaders, give us great men!

Register now here

Though life is calibrated and measured in years and accomplishments, the outcome of those times will depend on the little details of our lives – in days, hours, minutes and seconds. The key to success in life is getting to do little things correctly, all the time, every time, so that the summation of our actions will yield a balanced, structured end result which is a brand of impeccable and sound quality.

Even in my work, where I demonstrate a passion for work and idea generation, I have come to appreciate that commitment to quality and relentless attention to details are essential hallmarks of excellence. Attentions to details save organisations a lot of time, frustration and money. Most organizations and people that have enjoyed the greatest success understanding that it takes hundreds of small, seemingly insignificant details repeated day in and day out to create an unforgettably excellent experience.

Lesson #1: Train your brain, but back it up

Some clichés become so common they often lose their significance like it is often said that the shortest pen remembers better than the shortest memory. I have thus learnt to carry notebooks about wherever I go. I have notebooks for my work plan, personal projects and ideas, meditations and church notes- and I use them.

It’s not that the devil is in the details, but that every detail we forget contain a seed that can potentially make the difference between success and failure. If the benefits of your work, prayers and efforts will be reaped, attention to detail is an absolute necessity.

Lesson #2: Write your life

Even when you have a notebook, make sure you put things down- the stupid, necessary and the critical. Most time we can’t track our progress because we don’t care to measure it by writing it down ab initio. It doesn’t matter the information, put it down (and keep sensitive details secure!). The reason why the history of global development is western is that Africans propagate history by word of mouth which eventually gets lost in transmission.

Lesson #3: Order

Anyway you look at it; they’re going to be times within your job or life where your attention to details will save you. One of the key issues to being exact is orderliness. Having an organized desk, room or life may seem minor, but when the outcome of a circumstance clean and organized desk it’s easy to find papers quickly. And just like your desk, the rest of your job should be organized and neatly projected that so that little things like going over budget don’t get by you.

Lesson #4: Do things immediately

One of the reasons we lose details is usually the ‘I will do it later’ syndrome. The idea that there is a convenient time to do things always makes us rely on our memories to keep us up to speed.

Putting off tasks till later is half leaving things undone.

Lesson #5: Learn how to do things right the first time

No matter what business or personal activities you are involved in, you will be confronted with greater challenges that could have been prevented if you had paid closer attention to the details in the first instance.

Lesson #6: these things are a reflection of your leadership and personality

I was told of someone applying for the post of a financial analyst who was called to an interview. The man was astute in his presentation and was heavy on pedigree, but he forgot his CV and credentials at the venue of the interview when he left.

Excellence in any endeavor is a production in which every little detail tells a story about one’s personality, commitment, and character. Pay attention to the small stuff. Consistent attention to details produces excellence and that’s why every detail counts!

“The magic behind every outstanding performance is always found in the smallest of details.”

I would really just want to know how you felt, what went through your mind, how you currently feel about the value system in Nigeria and how you intend to further tackle the issue of wrong values. I look forward to reading ur reply.

Thank you.

Sincere regards

xyz xyz”

As I read his mail, many things came into my mind. I remember the unending bad publicity about the double standards and scandals that have continued to rock most of the respected leaders in the society. From of Tiger Woods, Juanita Bynum, T D Jakes and Paula White to Nigeria’s respected leaders both in the political and religious sectors of the polity, we are fast losing role models to scandals- from sex to money.

So many thoughts have ran through my head as news and rumours have managed to form an odd mixture that continually batters the conscience of people who once believed in the few leaders who have managed to stand up to what is true. Why are these leaders failing?  Are there still true mentors? Here are my thoughts

Role models didn’t choose themselves – we chose them.

Mentoring is defined by someone whose behavior in a particular role is imitated by others. We choose them, we make them celebrities, we form our opinions of them through the things they have achieved, their pedigree, credentials and we develop and form an opinion of the code of life they should follow and when they intimately cannot follow them, we get disappointed and blame them for not being up to the standards.Role models are not necessarily mentors- we chose them because of what we heard, read and our opinions of them, then we can’t blame them for our idolizing them.

The best of men are still men at their very best

No matter how great a mentor or role model is, he/she is till man/woman at his very best. I was conducting an interview for someone two weeks ago and he made a profound statement. If there were no checks and balances, even a holy man can fail. I personally don’t idolise people and my Pastor totally abhors it. I’m pastored by Tunde Bakare and though I’ve been ministered to by him for over ten years, I still have a room for him to fail. The only problem we have is usually that we have equated some people to the nature of Christ himself. We listen and respect and learn from men, but ultimately we follow God. If your CEO, Pastor, Role Model falls, we don’t have to fall with them, pick up yourself and follow Christ Though as we move in life, we tend to focus less on the things we shouldn’t do and to focus on the things we should do; we still need to give men room for the frailty of the human nature. Broken promises, backstabbing, heart breaks are all a result of putting too much trust in the infallibility of the human nature.

Most times role modeling can be addictive.

When you’re a role model, the primary focus is on you- I mean people can’t have enough of you. You speak here and there and you suddenly think having moments in front of the large audience and microphone and are tempted daily to present the polished and structured part of their lives. But when you become a mentor, the primary focus is on your protégés. The time commitment of role modeling is simply the life you lead, with everyone free to observe. Your actions continually speak and everyone can consciously predict where you stand even when you have not spoken. The time commitment of mentoring is a personal involvement in the lives of a select group of protégés. As a role model, you say: “Here’s a way to live that you might want to emulate.” As a mentor, you say: “Here’s a way to live that you might want to emulate…and let me share the details of my journey.”

Role Models must mentor

While a role model is “someone whose behavior in a particular role is imitated by others” a mentor is a mentor is “a trusted counselor, guide, tutor or coach”. Mentoring is a progression of role modeling. Most times we chose mentors we do not have an idea of why they do the things they do, we only see them at their best- giving speeches, smiling on red carpets and well scripted books they probably never wrote a line of it. If role models communicate, they become mentors. Role models must share from their heart the things that have influenced their lives, how they have navigated the difficult choices of their lives (not only the ones that yielded results). People are not tending to find role models among the people they relate directly with and those who have the opportunity to influence their lives.

Finally we must communicate. Since our mentor-deprived generation is desperately searching for one, we hardly encourage peer communication as we even navigate our own challenges and even churches can be very guilty of this. Most times we talk about every thing except the things that matter to us. Look and search for a mentor, they may not have time, but create it. We need them, we need friends.

Selah.