A discussion of how to organize different social media identities for use in the business environment at NCI.

1. A hierarchy of identities on social media
• Personal versus business
– Do I use a personal identity or a business identity in creating my social
media presence?
• Parent versus sub-brand
– Do I align my social media identity parent brand, or with a sub-brand
(e.g, a company brand or a product brand)?
• National versus local
– Do I focus on the national attributes of my brand organization or the
local attributes?

2. Defining the engagement factor of your brand
relationship
• One-to-one
– A personal connection that includes diverse & familiar communication between yourself and your
contact.
• Example: A customer or work colleague who has become a close friend
• One-to-a-few
– A knowledgeable connection, where you are intentionally communicating to a group of connections
who have like interests and generally will benefit equally from interaction and information
• Example: A group of customers or prospects who you communicate with at the same time about
common things, e.g., an e-mail group you send promotional information to.
• A few to a few
– A group of individuals with common interests who communicate freely and with knowledge of each
other.
• Example: A group of your business partners or customers who are able to meet and share
experiences and idea, e.g., an association meeting.
• One-to-many
– A broadcast paradigm, where you are communicating information (either general or specific) to a
broad group of individuals
• Example: A traditional media or marketing paradigm including advertising or information distribution
• Many-to-many
– A broad social network where people with limited knowledge of each other share information
around similar interests and pursuits.
• Example: A group of people who exchange information based on common interests, such as Yelp or
Yahoo Answers or fan groups on MySpace.

3. Organizing your social media identity
Personal identity Brand identity
• Categories • Categories
– One-to-one
– One to many
– One to a few
– Many to many
– A few to a few
• •
Uses Uses
– Customer & prospect marketing
– Customer acquisition
– Customer service
– Customer referrals
– Customer retention
–
– Professional relationship Information distribution
• NCI example • NCI example
– Engaging with potential prospects and clients
– Local distribution of brand content
is a personal interaction.
– •
Your brand is a service you provide to your Twitter announcements
customers to help them be successful in their • Facebook fan pages
business
• Implementation
– You embody the brand to the customer or
prospect
– Twitter: @mylocalbrand
• Implementation
– Facebook: My Local Brand fan page
– Twitter: @myname
– Facebook: My name
Consideration: Good social marketing is fresh & active. Assess the amount
of time & energy you want to commit to each identity.

4. Managing brand hierarchies
• National
– @TREB
• Consumer focus
– The Real Estate Book Facebook fan page
• Consumer & real estate agent focus
• Local
– @TREBLocalMarket
• Consumer focus in local market
– Local TREB Facebook fan pages
• Consumer and real estate agent focus in local market
• Personal
– @rchandler
• Personal twitter account
• Focus on distributing information to personal followers and gather information
from sources of note
– Rebecca Chandler on Facebook
• Connections that merge business and personal interests

5. Some obvious questions…
• How will we make the hierarchies work?
– Project Massive Network will include new processes for creating and
distributing marketing and consumer-focused brand content across
social networks and into local markets
• How much time should I spend?
– The work is in creating the networks
– Another element of prospect-focused distribution
• What if I don’t want to do this?
– Local participation is an election.
– National brand activities will have some impact on your local market
regardless of involvement.