Why personal networking is now even more crucial to brands' success
I had already planned the post with this headline and scheduled it for publication when Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would in future focus its algorithm much more on personal interaction with friends and family . This means that brands and now also media will find it even more difficult than before to assert themselves in the news stream - unless, as Zuckerberg put it, their content is the subject of discussions in the personal environment of the respective user.
Now, you can have whatever personal opinion you want about Facebook: The large social network plays a major role in communication and therefore in the everyday lives of many people. This twitter data makes it a medium for corporate communication and marketing (not only) in Germany that brands cannot ignore. What happens and is initiated here also always reflects (or, depending on your point of view, determines) a larger development that also applies to many other platforms.
The Myth of the Evil Algorithm
On the other hand, algorithms are not bad per se, quite the opposite. They are designed to ensure that relevant information reaches us at all. They sort the otherwise completely unsorted flow of information for us and, figuratively speaking, ensure that we can keep our heads above water. This is something that should be kept in mind by those who dismiss such sorting as manipulation from the outset.
At the beginning of 2017, I declared "The Year of Personal Brands". The reason for this was (also) the publication of my book "Pilots in the Information Flood". Or, depending on your point of view, the other way around: The book was born out of the observation of how brands continue to achieve visibility for their content and thus business success in these times of digital information overload.
Heads (also) decide on purchases
In my opinion, this only works in exceptional cases with faceless company accounts. Heads, recognizable people who provide orientation in the abundance of messages, images and offers and at the same time stand for certain values, decide what ultimately prevails. I have blogged a lot about this and spoken about it in lectures over the past year.
What I couldn't have foreseen at the beginning of 2017 was the huge development and the numerous, even controversial discussions about the so-called "influencers" in social networks . I am very happy that the topic of authentic brand ambassadors from companies has gained a lot of attention at the same time.