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Brand Survival in the Age of Asymmetric Communications

Managing the challenges and maximizing theopportunities presented by social media's newworld order

MH Group Communicatoins, Tel: (212) 984-0672, Address: 100 Park Avenue, 16th Floor, New York, New York 10019www.mhgroupcom.com

2October 10, 2009If you are a corporate leader who feels safe ignoring social media because “yourcustomers don’t use social media,” you are in for an unpleasant surprise.Your company’s online presence—your online media coverage and advertising,your search engine results, and even your company’s own Web site—is about tobe overtaken by social media in a way you cannot stop, slow down or control.Until now, your company may have ignored social media without sufferingobvious consequences. No more. We have entered the era of asymmetriccommunications, and there isn’t a place on the Web where your company canescape it. In every place that your brand exists on the Web, social media is thereas well, providing vehicles for giving feedback, offering praise and criticism, andseeking a response. Your customers no longer need to seek out social mediacontent to be exposed to it—social media is now pushed in front of themautomatically everywhere they go on the Web.There is hope, however. Companies who handle this new environment correctlyhave an extraordinary opportunity gain trust, build connections, strengthen theirbrand and ultimately sell more products to their customers.Regardless, one thing is certain: The business world sits on the cusp of yetanother social media transformation, and this one is far less sensitive toindividual organization’s reluctance and concern. It’s the beginning of theasymmetric communications era, and only the strong will survive.

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The age of asymmetric communications is distinctly different from age of conversation that preceded it for a number of reasons, all of which center on thedistinction between opt-in and forced participation. The latter era was driven bytwo-way conversations in which stakeholders—not corporate leaders—had thefinal say in a brand’s relative success or failure. This was a huge departure frompast communications models, all of which were built upon top-down, one-waymessaging that executives delivered to stakeholders, who had very little say inthe matter.Social media’s emergence upended this one-way model by introducing a meansfor stakeholders to “talk back.” However, while this certainly had profoundimplications for organizations’ brands and reputations, there was, at least tosome extent, an element of choice; social media platforms cross-communicated

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3October 10, 2009only manually, in the sense that conversations taking place within a specificplatform stayed there unless someone made a concerted effort to cross-pollinatemessages. As an executive, you had a choice about whether to participate in

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Conceptually not unlike asymmetric warfare,in which both sides of a conflict use vastlydissimilar, sometimes guerrilla-like tacticswith the intention of exploiting one another’sweaknesses, asymmetric communicationshas profound implications for both companiesand their stakeholders.Because neither side has the option to opt-out of participating in social media,traditional “wartime” practices employedduring a crisis, including negotiating,bartering or even surrendering, are renderedineffective. The reason: New Webapplications that demolish opt-in modelshave begun to emerge, and their effects,both positive and negative, are taking well-established brands by surprise.

social media. You could decide thatbloggers or Facebook users did notrepresent an important audience foryour company, and therefore eitherignore these mediums or dabble in afew areas of social media with apiecemeal strategy.Your company certainly ran the risk of being taken off guard when a smallfire started in social media caught theattention of traditional media andstarted a full-blown communicationscrisis. But until that actuallyhappened, it was out of sight, out of mind. Social media

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an opt-inenvironment.No more. Thanks to asymmetriccommunications, this opt-in participation is no longer opt-in. Instead of needingto seek out social media content proactively in order to be exposedto/participate in it, you and your stakeholders will now be faced with socialmedia everywhere you go online, whether you like it or not.The implications for your business: As a corporate leader, your only hope of survival is to build a community of active online supporters who will support anddefend your brand against negative attacks. These brand ambassadors’ allegiance is the only way to enhance the company’s credibility and authenticity;at the same time, the lack thereof will result in reputational crises the likes of which may not be survived.As you prepare yourself for this new asymmetric communication paradigm, youmust consider three dynamics that are largely responsible for driving itsevolution: Integration, aggregation and annexation.

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In the opt-in age of participation, social media conversationswere largely contained within their respective platforms. In the new age of asymmetric communications, information is exchanged as easily across

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