Glocal Brand Management: Corporate Communication and the Social Web
Brian J. McNely, Session Chair, University of Texas at El Paso, bjmcnely@miners.utep.edu
In 1999, Fred Durham and Maheesh Jain founded CafePress, an online retailer that facilitates what the
company calls “user-generated commerce.” CafePress enables third party organizations—from globally
recognized franchises such as Star Trek, to relatively obscure individual bloggers—to promote and sell
branded merchandise within the CafePress domain. CafePress is a company that has bridged the glocal,
providing a viable commercial platform for the kinds of “ridiculously easy group forming” (Shirky 2008)
exemplified in the burgeoning social web by organizations like Meetup. In this sense, relatively new
communications technologies and social platforms have likewise enabled “ridiculously easy brand
presence” on the web. Yet at the same time, the old rules of corporate communication, marketing, and
brand and reputation management are rapidly changing, along with notions of sales material,
documentation, push/pull, and global/local.
On the social web, local brands can foster global reach, while global brands must consider the
communication complexities of niche marketing efforts. Simply establishing a brand presence on the web
or within a social network like MySpace is not enough; corporate communication strategies must adapt
not only to the particularities of social networking applications, they must consider the very different
audiences encountered within each of the most popular sites, from FaceBook to Twitter. In short,
corporate communication must scale effectively. In this panel, we will explore the rhetorical
infrastructures of contemporary corporate communication in the social web, considering the means and
ends of global brand management in the popular, distributed networks where consumers live and thrive
online.
This presentation provides the general framework for the panel, offering a perspective on corporate
communication in social networks, as well as thoughts on performing academic research in this realm.
More specifically, I’ll examine Twitter as a tool for performing and sharing our own research on this
project, and I will also explore Comcast’s successful efforts at using Twitter for brand and reputation
management. My talk will set the stage for presentations on piracy, marketing, audience analysis, and
corporate vlogging. Borrowing a term from software engineering, this panel will explore, above all, the
scalability of rhetoric for managing brands in complex, global, social media networks.

Social Networks and Audience
Itzel Villalpando, University of Texas at El Paso, ivillalpando2@miners.utep.edu
According to Strategy Manager Chen Feng at Webtron, marketing through social networks is like fishing:
you have a better chance of catching a fish if you have several fishing lines in the ocean. This analogy
applies to a corporation’s marketing strategies through social networks. Social networking applications
have become an excellent source and opportunity for corporations to reach out to their audience, and to
educate them as well. Figuring out who your audience is and performing a thorough audience analysis is
the key to figuring out which social network best suits one’s corporate marketing strategy.
Strategic audience analysis must be attentive to differing governing gazes. According to Janet Emig
(1982), a governing gaze is a “steady way of perceiving actuality,” and in this case it would be the
perception created and maintained by the corporate entity. Emig also states that perceiving is “a process
of immensely complex activity and selectivity.” In other words, we see only what we elect to see, a
dynamic that is governed by our expectations and experiences. The corporation will use the expectations
not only of the company, but the audience as well, in order to be truly effective in selecting and
maximizing a preferred social networking application.
Most corporations that market themselves through social networks do so in order to be found, but they do
so differently in each social network depending on context and audience. In reference to their target
audience, what social network(s) should they use for browser traffic? This all depends on the governing
gaze of the corporation itself, as well as the context that each networking application provides not only for
the company, but the users as well. In this presentation, I will examine the social media efforts of Burger
King, tracing the different strategies and approaches to audience reflected in two prominent social
networks, MySpace and Youtube.

Organizational Communication and Branding Through the Social Web
Rene Luna, University of Texas at El Paso, rluna3@miners.utep.edu
When someone mentions YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, and FaceBook, the Net Generation can readily
identify what they are talking about. The corporate world has begun to shift its focus from just
advertising from their ivory towers, to interacting with the consumer at a personal level, moving from
digital push to pull. Bloggers, Vloggers, and micro-bloggers can now position themselves in ways that
were only dreamed of in the past. Being able to effectively utilize social networks is essential for
contemporary businesses. Yet just being on MySpace or YouTube doesn't guarantee results; corporations
have to be proactive and imaginative when communicating in these arenas.
Social networking applications have permanently altered the agency/structure dynamics between global
consumers and organizations. Active participants in the social web have acquired more agency; this is
evident in the recent case of the Motrin Moms group on Twitter, who deployed their agency to stop an ad
that they considered offensive. Now, instead of companies saying \"here, this is what we are selling,”
consumers are asking \"why should I buy from you?\"
Tigerdirect.com has multiple vlogs about their products on YouTube, and they frequently update
consumers on the brands they sell. Users can watch videos, comment on products, and leave feedback for
the hosts of the vlogs. If someone doesn't like a particular product or was dissatisfied by their customer
service they can sound off and be heard. Drawing on these recent developments, this presentation will
explore how branding and communication in the social web will have to be harnessed so that companies
can show they are not just manufacturers or vendors, but people as well.
Piracy and Social Media: Quandary or Opportunity?
Jonathan Saldivar, University of Texas at El Paso, jsaldivar@miners.utep.edu
The way the Net Generation communicates with each other—and the way that brands want to be
perceived to that generation—shifts and changes within the context of the social media they employ.
From MySpace to FaceBook to YouTube, businesses are investing both time and resources in social
media environments to market themselves and attempt to capitalize upon recent trends in the growth of
social networking applications. Yet one problematic aspect of brand and reputation management in the
social web is the specter of piracy (both real and imagined) within social networking applications and
peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

The music industry’s battles with social media networking applications are well documented. YouTube,
for example, is one of the prime targets of anti-piracy initiatives in the social web. However, pirating may
not be detrimental to the company’s image, and may serve as an opportunity to generate brand leverage
through strategic pirating initiatives. Companies have found that they can market themselves effectively
by allowing some social media networks to foster strategic file-sharing. However, the question remains as
to whether excessive pirating will create a quandary or an opportunity for the music industry in the long
run. This presentation specifically explores music piracy on YouTube, and seeks credible metrics of
success or failure in the relationship between piracy and brand management.
Marketing through Social Networks
Nadia Ramirez, University of Texas at El Paso, nramirez5@miners.utep.edu
David C. Skul, CEO of Relativity Business Technology Solutions argues that “today’s consumer wants
information delivered fast and often while they are on the move.” Perhaps the most efficient
contemporary approach to enact such a mission can be seen within mobile social networks, giving brands
an opportunity to reach more than one market segment while discovering which communications strategy
provides the most value to both consumer and brand.
Effective marketing in the social web is directly correlated with effective rhetorical strategies; this
combination can eventually produce a stronger brand image, resulting in what Brenton Faber (2004) calls
“image-power.” Faber notes that “image-power, like the organization’s narrative, is a discursive
product.” Taking this into consideration, successful marketing requires a strong brand image in order to
influence and engage both existing and potential customers.
To build, facilitate, and exploit image-power, corporations must find the most effective, discursive means
to market within each social network and its particular users, always considering the specific norms
within a given online community. In this presentation, I will analyze the discursive conventions of
marketing in both MySpace and FaceBook, considering different approaches and assessing relative
effectiveness, techniques, and potential developments for enhancing image-power in social networking
applications.