Corporates take note – social media is not a fad

A brand community includes the most ardent admirers of a brand. These fans are the most engaged and, crucially, most loyal customers a brand can wish for, and they are also the most likely to infect others with their passion. Consumer brands have long known the value of building communities based on shared lifestyle and common interest; Orange Wednesdays and V festival are good examples.

This has not gone unnoticed by the guardians of corporate reputations who are increasingly looking to communities to capitalise on that sense of belonging.

The power of the brand "community voice" was seen most potently in the recent U-turn that iconic consumer brand, GAP, made following its plans to change the logo. GAP fans were having none of it, with thousands posting critical comments about the proposed new logo on the website and on Facebook.

A Twitter account which was set up in protest attracted nearly 5,000 followers. Critically, social media afforded GAP's brand community an immediate and real-time outlet enabling them to effect instant change.

With research pointing to the internet as our fastest growing meeting place, the best way to create communities is to do so online, yet many corporate brands are still failing to make social media projects work. A study, published by the Brand Science Institute (BSI) in August 2010 paints a dismal picture, claiming that 81 per cent do not have a clear social media strategy.

Our experience at Grayling tells us that there's a lot more going on than these statistics suggest and that actively engaging communities is becoming an important part of many corporations' business strategy.

There are some great examples of how social media is actively benefiting corporations in areas you'd least expect. A particularly interesting example of how a very traditional sector has embraced social media as a key engagement tool is that of mallowstreet.com, a targeted online social network for the pensions industry, developed by pension risk consultancy Redington.

Launched in December 2009, it already has more than 800 active users which represent in excess of 500bn in pension fund assets – a place where the pensions industry, traditionally very disparate, can connect and share knowledge. The blogging and tweeting co-founders saw social media engagement as the best medium to bring members of the community together despite the fact that their user base wasn't part of the Facebook generation.

Social media engagement has enabled corporations to disseminate information to stakeholders and to listen to and communicate with discrete audiences. Social media is not a fad, nor is it about funkiness – it's about building relationships and connecting with stakeholders and audiences.

Christine Emmingham, Head of Grayling North.