Does a brand have personality? This question brought more to mind:

  • If you asked your customers, would they say that your brand has personality?
  • As a marketer how do you give your brand personality?
  • As a Community Manager how can I give our ACDSee brand personality?

All of those questions resulted from reading about Rohit Bhargava’s new book.

Faceless companies don’t work anymore. In a world where consumers have more access to information than ever, and more power to share their voice … a brand’s identity is no longer controlled through marketing and advertising. In this new era, what you say your brand stands for is no longer good enough. What you demonstrate to your customers matters most. This is the power of your personality.

This book is going to be an interesting read because I think my sister & I personalized the ACDSee brand. Here’s what happened:

  • We’ve had a website since January, but this happened July
  • We started holding real time chats at digital scrapbooking sites
  • We became branded as Connie & Heidi – our personalities came thru
  • Because ACDSee Photo Editor was little known, we spent the first half hour chatting about it each time
  • Our chat schedule has been busy with one per week since July
  • ACDSee Photo Editor not only has users, but word of mouth is increasing

I had realized how we launched ACDSee Photo Editor. Talking about it in real time was far more effective than traditional advertising efforts. But have we given the brand personality? And my sister stepped up the social media initiative by doing a webinar so people could see the software being used! That was well received too.

So my question is – when digiscrapping ladies think of ACDSee, do they think of ‘Connie & Heidi’? Or does the brand have it’s own personality? I just asked a couple what their ‘word association’ response was to ACDSee. One said ‘easier scrapping’ & the other said ‘Connie’. I think I need a bigger poll!

Overall, social media efforts are probably more appealing to potential customers because of their interactive nature. Customers are thinking about the product, asking questions and if that results in a positive experience it’s integrated with their sense of the brand.

In my work as a Community Manager I’m working externally with Customers as well as internally with our team. It’s my goal that the enthusiasm for social media tools is extended in both directions. Everyone should share in the excitement about the brand! It’s more than just creating & selling of the software. Or on the flip side, the use of it. It should be an experience that everyone wants to share with others!

So my challenge is how can I impart this? Here’s an example where a digital designer uploaded an image of her kit, then describes it using Utterz (it definitely gives it a new dimension). Does it give her work personality?

What ideas do you have for creating brand personality? We can brainstorm while we wait for Rohit’s book to be published!