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futuresticagadh · 3 years

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Things you should avoid doing while doing social media marketing?

In several social media marketing guides and manuals online, you frequently find directions stating that businesses should be genuine and provide amazing content to their online viewers. When you try to accomplish that, though, you don’t necessarily get good outcomes. That is why there are so many company pages on Facebook with only a few hundred followers. These companies may be doing everything correctly, but they may also be doing certain things extremely poorly.

Here in this blog, we will provide a breakdown of frequent social media blunders to avoid if you want your business’s social media strategy to be successful:

1. Not having a social media strategy

Many businesses that take their initial steps into the realm of social media marketing just half-heartedly follow a lackadaisical guide instead of developing a comprehensive social media marketing plan. The first step should be to evaluate your options in terms of social media and corporate goals. That should be the guiding principle for all of your actions online.

Conducting social media marketing without understanding who you’re speaking to, how to promote your posts, and what action to take immediately and in the near future is akin to driving a vehicle without realizing how much gas you have or where you’re going. It’s a blunder that may cause your entire social media campaign to fall flat—and all of your hard work to be just for naught.

2. Purchasing social media followers

We are all aware that purchasing followers is against the rules of any social networking platforms. However, when relatively few people follow any of your company’s social media page, this illegal activity starts seeming increasingly appealing. After all, how can you possibly refuse a thousand followers for just less than $10?

Such deals only promise to be a bogus temptation. In reality, you may be actually paying to set up your social media profile for doom. How is that conceivable? Because purchasing followers violates the Facebook and Instagram algorithms.

When you create a post, it appears in the feeds of a few individuals in your audience. The algorithm considers a post to be good if it receives a lot of likes and comments. It will then continue to show it to additional subscribers.

Assume you started with 500 followers and paid to gain 1000 more. Now, two-thirds of your social media audience is made up of accounts with thousands of memberships. They are not interested in your postings and are unlikely to react to them regularly even if they actively check their feed.

Since there were too many false identities created on Facebook for the purpose of selling followers, even genuine ads started receiving phony likes. This became a crisis since the fraudulent likes were causing damage to businesses, and Facebook was forced to erase almost 2 billion bogus accounts. Why did huge brands force Facebook to do this?

Because these bogus accounts inhibit the algorithm from promoting posts. As a result, fewer of your initial subscribers will receive your posts regularly. This is most likely not what you had in mind when you paid for followers.

Bear in mind that you are not pursuing the number of subscribers; you’re seeking conversions through genuine engagement. And purchasing followers will simply take you further away from your objective.

3. Choosing the wrong tone

A user on social media has complete control over their personal profiles. After all, it’s merely for their followers and friends to learn more about their personal life. But, the activity of a brand on Instagram or Twitter is scrutinized much more closely.

If you choose a brand personality that feels extra formal, you run the risk of appearing extra dull for your audience. However, there is a larger social media sin. That of attempting to attract social media followers by being too relaxed, or worse, disrespectful.

4. Displaying a disrespectful sense of humor

Attempts at humor can occasionally fall flat. A joke, for example, may be introduced in an ad like in one of those obnoxious ways where the advertising department just places a scantily-clad woman in a photo and hopes that it will be sufficient to entice people to purchase their product. It’s not amusing; it’s plain insulting.

So, before you send a tweet or post on Instagram, ponder to decide what tone best represents your brand and resonates with your ideal target audience.

5. Deleting negative user feedback or comments

You must’ve definitely seen a handful of corporations respond to a critical remark by engaging in a protracted and unpleasant debate, only to remove the entire thread.

This is one of the most disingenuous things that a brand can do online. You must demonstrate to your audience that you have nothing to conceal and remain neutral when confronted with an unfavorable critique.

If the individual commenting points out your error, thank them for their suggestion and work to improve. Otherwise, ignore them if they are simply being nasty for the sole purpose of trolling you.

Social media mistakes companies make

When done correctly, social media promises an immense potential to establish your brand’s community, develop your client base, and increase your business ROI. However, if you continue to make social media marketing blunders, all of your efforts will be for naught. Here, we’ll go over some of the most typical social media marketing mistakes that companies must avoid, as well as “how to do social media” in a manner that gets you the outcomes you require.

1. Not displaying a human side

My brand is only my concern and business. If that is your approach to social media, you will not go too far with your online presence. People desire to interact with other people, don’t they? They wish to come across and engage with humans who behave and think exactly like them.

Social media accounts allow business to bring out and display their human side and interact with like-minded people. Just like individuals welcome and engage with one another, your brand’s social media profile should do the same.

Social media is for interacting with others. Use it to demonstrate to your customers that your brand, just like them, is at the end of the day, a social creature. It’s an excellent method to create trust.

2. Excessive Brand Promotion

Another common social media marketing blunder made by businesses is this. Several of your online followers will lose confidence in your brand if you over-promote your services and products, believe it or not.

Reduce your advertising activity online to a bare minimum. According to best practices, post just 1 promotional post for every 4 non-promotional posts.

Reshares, a picture or photo that represents your brand culture, or your work culture, how-to instructions, blog posts or infographics, are examples of non-promotional updates. Try to provide something that will benefit your readers.

3. Posting unedited and non-proofread content

Your company may boast an excellent in-house team of amazing copywriters and extra-vigilant social media managers. But if non-proofed content containing embarrassing grammatical mistakes or irrelevant messages goes live on your business’s social media, it may be extremely harmful to your brand’s perception.

Make it compulsory for your managers to cross-check every piece of content slated for publication. Examine the photos, videos, and text on graphics for potential problems as well.

4. Being irregular

So, you devised a strategy in which you stated that you would publish three times every day. But you were so preoccupied with other elements of your business that you failed to publish a single update. What a disaster!

Once you’ve developed a plan and been consistent with your posting, missing even a single day might have a negative impact on your engagement rates and impressions, jeopardizing all your social media marketing efforts to date. If you don’t provide updates on a regular basis, your content may remain hidden from the majority of your followers.

Savvy social media marketers plan their posts routinely for specific times of the day or even a week as a strategy. You should also refrain from making an update simply because you must. But, even then, arranging your posting schedule using and updating a social media content calendar will prevent you from doing so.

The final takeaway

The final message is that there is not just a single thing that you must do to magically improve your social media efforts overnight. It is all about paying attention to each tiny component, thus aligning your objectives and procedures so that you can accomplish the fundamentals effectively and grow on that.

Set a clear plan with targets, provide value to your customers, display genuine interest in providing excellent customer care, don’t be sloppy, and meet audience expectations. If you follow these recommendations, you should be well on your way to have a social media following that increases your client base and your ROI – which is all that any business wants.

Stay up to date & Keep Following Agadh for the latest Digital Marketing Updates.

#social media #social marketing #social media marketing #digital marketing #writers on tumblr #tumblr

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bryanllamado · 3 years

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22 Things I Learned by 22

I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling 22! Yes, you read it right. I just celebrated my 22nd birthday so… Happy birthday, self! I’m officially in my early 20s. While there’s so much to look forward to, I know that there is a certain level of pressure that comes with getting older. I know I’m still considerably young, but at this age, society expects young adults to have their lives *figured out* already. So yeah, this is me succumbing to the pressure and pretending to know what to do, where to be, how to act, and when to take risks. *note sarcasm*

I must say it’s really awkward to start this entry with that greeting but there isn’t much that I can do about it. It’s the very reason I’m writing this one. *sighs* A month ago, I was thinking of a fun way to celebrate my birthday. We’re still stuck in quarantine, and even if some establishments are already open, I’d rather be safe than sorry. So, I thought of posting something on this site to sort of celebrate my birthday and share something to the people who might be interested. With that being said, let give you the 22 Things I Learned by 22!

Disclaimer: I am, in no way, an expert to giving tips and pieces of advice, but traversing through adulthood taught me a couple of lessons which I think are worth sharing. I only finished school last year, but my sudden immersion to the “professional world” a.k.a. work life allowed me to go through paradigm shifts I didn’t ever think I would experience. I’d like to say that I also saw the harsh realities of life 2 years into this path I’m currently taking. So my advice to you is to take everything you’re about to read with a grain of salt. *winks*

1. Health is wealth.

Now that we’re experiencing a global pandemic, I realized how important health is. I used to eat whatever I want (hence, the weight loss and weight gain cycle) and deprive myself of sleep. Now, more than ever, is the time for us to take good care of our bodies. #panggap lol

2. Work is hard, that’s why it’s called “work”.

My internship is Thailand gave me a glimpse of the life of a teacher (which I thought was fun) and I thought that it’s more or less how it feels in the real world. Not that it isn’t fun, it’s only now that I realized how heavy the responsibility is– that it even extends outside of the classroom.

3. Small talk is boring.

I’ve always been one to enjoy lengthy, deep, and mind-boggling conversations. It bores me when I meet people and we just engage in small talks. Like come on, let’s talk about music, politics, religion, mental health, adulting, etc. I think it’s the reason why people get tired of the “Kumain ka na ba?” narrative. *face palm*

4. Social media is not real life.

I used to scroll through social media endlessly to know what everyone is doing, but after a while, I realized how it’s only a reflection of someone’s highlights. A person can look good and perfect on Instagram, but behind the filters and curated feeds are people who deal with problems and struggles on a daily basis.

5. Happiness is a by-product of purposeful living.

To achieve happiness, you must live purposefully. It’s a matter of motion before emotion, so before you feel happy, you have to do something that’s good for your soul. Stop making excuses. Pursue your passion. Serve others. Find your purpose. Design a life that’s worth living and happiness will come to you.

6. Change is inevitable.

I know this a cliché, but going through changes and shifts over the past two years taught me to acknowledge change. As much as the people, things, and feelings change, I also do. It makes me sad sometimes how I’m no longer the version of myself that I used to be, but I’d rather change than stay the same.

7. Rejection is redirection.

People see rejection as a bitter pill, but I realized that it saves you from something (or someone lol) that isn’t meant for you. It sucks to be rejected but if anything, it leaves an open space in your life which you to acquire something. So pick yourself up and move forward.

8. Jumping into conclusion is a bad habit.

I know it’s easier to just analyze things in your head but if you can, communicate. Scratch that, you MUST communicate. Don’t let your thoughts cloud your judgment on a person or a situation just because there isn’t an explanation for it yet. Clarify, then comprehend.

9. Being busy is different from productivity.

Productivity means achieving the things that you have to do and being able to rest deliberately. If you’re just working all the time and have a lot of things on your plate, then you probably are just busy. Use your time well and work smart. Avoid spreading yourself too thinly and maintain your focus.

10. Overthinking is a waste of time.

Oh, I can’t stress this enough. I am NOT an overthinker, but I’ve met some people who are. Thus, I’ve also seen how it takes up much of their time. Sometimes, your biggest enemy is your own mind. Stop overthinking, let it go, and give yourself peace. Pray about it and trust the process.

11. People change and so do relationships.

It saddens me how I’m no longer friends with some people I once considered my “best friends.” People grow, and sometimes, we grow in opposite directions. I know I have my fair share of faults, but I choose not to blame anyone anymore. Perhaps, things are better off this way– distant, but at peace.

12. Waiting seasons are not wasted seasons.

Finishing college, getting a job, earning my license– these are just some of the things I achieved last year. Trust me, I spent countless days and nights just waiting for these things to happen, and while I was waiting, I focused on the things I can do. The longer the wait, the sweeter the victory will be.

13. Supporting others will not invalidate your success.

Support other people on their winning seasons because you don’t have an idea what they lost during their losing season. It’s all a matter of timing. If other people seem to be winning, clap for them. You’ll have your time soon, and when it happens, your success will be magnified.

14. The biggest pains can come from our pleasures.

“If it feels too good, question it.” This is a quote I got form one of my favorite podcasts. Sometimes, we find delight in things without seeing through them. Watch out for the things that seem to be perfect. I’m not telling you to be suspicious. What I’m trying to say is that you should guard your heart. *winks*

15. Baby steps are still progress.

Taking small steps towards the right direction is better than running fast heading to the wrong direction. Need I say more? Value your small efforts. Take it one day at a time. The rate that other people are operating at should not dictate your pace as long as you have your eye on the road.

16. What others think of you is none of your business.

Whether you do good or bad, “some people” will always have something to say. I guess it’s just engraved in their identity to criticize and find faults. We may feel the need for validation to come from others, but if there is someone who knows you more than anyone, it’s you. Keep doing you!

17. Save money wisely.

Adulting is not complete without money matters. In your 20s is the best time for you to save money wisely and by wisely, I mean: a) cut down unnecessary expenses; b) invest on the things that you can use repeatedly; and c) don’t put all your eggs in one basket– have various savings for different purposes.

18. Don’t operate on high emotions.

Growing old teaches me not to be a slave to my emotions. I’m more of a rational person than an emotional one, but there are STILL times when my emotions take a hold on me, and when I do, I tend to say things that hurt people. Let your emotions die down before you say/do anything.

19. There is a time to give up.

At some point, you will realize that some things aren’t mean for you and it’s totally fine. By holding on to ~those things~, you might be wasting more time. It’s about accepting the things that you can’t control, the things that aren’t for you, and the things that you can pursue. *fist bump*

20. Growth can be painful.

When it’s scary is the best time to jump. Taking risks is just a constant part of adulthood. Going out of my comfort zone is one of the best decisions I have made. You’ll grow even more when you are in unfamiliar places and new environment. Have it in you the courage to take that leap of faith!

21. It’s not your job to fix people.

Even if you give them all the love in the world, people will still remain the same if they refuse to be helped. They will keep doing the same things and acting the same way despite your best efforts. Hence, you can only be there for them and teach them how to heal themselves.

22. Put yourself first.

Last but definitely not the least, prioritize yourself. This is one lesson I learned the hard way as I constantly put other people before me. While I still struggle with this, I now take self-love more seriously and value my mental health above anything. You have to save yourself because everyone is busy saving themselves. #harshtruth

And that wraps up the 22 Things I Learned by 22! Again, I’m not an expert and I’m just a mere young adult wading my way through this crazy world. I just hope these things made sense to you as much as it did to me. There are still a lot of things that I want to include but I only wrote the ones that resonated well with me– think I can reserve them for another blog entry. What else do you want to see here on my blog? Let me know by sending me a message and I’ll try my best to post more entries.

Don’t forget to check out my social media pages!

Till the next entry!

Bry. x 102420

#birthday #article #blogger #blogging #journal #life #personal #writer #writing #learnings #life lessons #blog

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glenmenlow · 4 years

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Vision 2020: Lead Brands With Meaning

What is happening to our world?

The world we used to know is changing in front of our eyes – affecting the way we perceive it and how we derive meaning from it. The ongoing social and cultural shifts we are experiencing today are redefining how we view our own place in society, our sense of identity and everything else in our lives, including brands and businesses.

The shifting foundations of meaning we see today – where everything is being questioned and rethought – have a powerful effect on how brands create value in the real world. As context changes, and we no longer positively know what things mean, it makes it difficult for brands as well to create relevance – to signal their value.

University of Toronto professor and cognitive scientist Dr. John Vervaeke talks about this time as a “cultural disembedding”, which has led to an ongoing meaning crisis across our society, which brands and businesses are a vital part of.

Building and retaining value in such a world is a daunting task for any brand. When we don’t know what things mean anymore, society starts crumbling. And if the core pillars of value, trust and social meaning are harmed or destabilized, the very idea of doing business and building brands becomes challenging and innately questionable.

The 2020 Vision

Starting 2020, we are headed in a new direction of personal relevance driven by our increasing focus on the Power Of Identity. This new era of branding and marketing has meaning at its core. The core of consumption are the signs, symbols and cultural values the brand uses to signal value to the customers. This is why the role and importance of meaning and crafting an ownable and distinctive symbolic territory for brands to occupy in people’s minds will only be on the rise in the next decade.

The consumer paradigm is now shifting from aspiration to identity, from ownership to usership and from buying to being. We are experiencing a 180-degree shift in the dynamics of the market and the consumer culture that has the potential to redefine the entire future model of consumption. It is fundamentally about shifting focus from brands to people. The dynamic is no longer about people looking up to brands as vehicles of praise, image and social aspiration – it is now about the brands looking up to people and embodying their values in a relevant way to help us better and more creatively express who we already are: our own individual authentic identities.

Authenticity, transparency, diversity and inclusivity are not trends – they are social signals pointing to the new emerging state of being, where who we are, how we feel and whom we are becoming takes precedence over how we appear to others, the status we emulate and the image we build for the mere perception of other people to seem one way or the other. Authenticity is an absolute key to creating value in an age where the identity has taken over as our primary form of human expression.

The Value Of Cultural Context

Culture and cultural relevance have become the new core products for brands and organizations to create and maintain to retain and grow their value and equity. This is because, without relevance within the broader context of culture, in which your business is embedded, the value that your brands create will not be sustainable.

No brand is an island. You cannot manage a brand in a vacuum from the real world and call it brand management. Brands grow their value and retain relevance precisely in the context of the real world – because they are embedded in the larger ecosystem of values in our culture and society. This is where their value comes from. It doesn’t come purely from the inside out, although yes, brands are the containers of value, but also from the outside in as the world that we live in influences how we express our values and also where the value shifts next.

Brands in the truest sense are the dynamic ecosystems of symbolic and cultural value. So to manage brands properly, we need to tend to the symbolic meanings they impart in our world and understand how they mold meaning to signal different values and virtues to the people around us.

Brands Are In The Business Of Meaning Exchange

People value meaning. We don’t consume brands for their logos, products or services, we consume them for what they mean to us – for what they represent in terms of our own desires, values, feelings and mental images we create about the world we live in. The more meaning you create as a brand, the more value you have and the more meaning you can exchange with your customers.

The more meaning you can exchange with your customers, the stronger mental, emotional and cultural links you can create between your brand and organization and the larger context of culture and society that your customers live in.

Embedding your brand in the vital context of culture and society through the symbolic territories and the strength of mental connotations your brand occupies in people’s mind is the right way to create a steady strategic position and enduring value that truly resonates based on shares values and beliefs.

Measuring What Matters

We need to create new metrics to make sure that we measure not what is expedient, but what is meaningful. We need to make sure that we measure what matters, what has inherently a value to brands and their customers. Measuring something just because it’s there is no longer a good enough reason. We are buried in data today, what we desperately lack is meaning. You cannot meaningfully measure what will help you create more value for your customers in the long-term when all our metrics and reward systems and KPIs are linked to quarterly results. To measure what’s meaningful we need to fundamentally re-evaluate the systems we use in organizations to allow for the creation of long-term value. Otherwise, brands will never get out of the vicious cycles of short-termism that kills their symbolic value.

How To Create Marketing Effectiveness

This is why marketing effectiveness is at an all-time low at the moment. With chasing of the next shiny new thing and embracing the power of channels, we have successfully compartmentalized, fragmented and decontextualized the entire value chain of marketing communication to the point that our messages have become utterly meaningless. You need to first create value (and meaning), then you can deliver it. Obsessing with HOW we deliver content over WHAT it is that we want to say in the first place is a sure way to arrive in the land of meaninglessness, which is where the majority of global brands are residing right now.

Brand managers and strategists need to look outside of their day-to-day operations and take inspiration from the real living and breathing world of culture that is everywhere around us to infuse more value in their brands. We need to make sure we know what it is we want to say, what meaning we want to create for our customers (since we’ve already established that people consume the meaning behind brands and not brands alone) and what values we want to impart in the word. It’s all a game of meaning, where the exchange of values is at the center. Technology is a good servant, but a bad master. We need to know the difference.

Bridging The Meaning Gap Between Brands And Society

But because we have the wrong metrics for measuring what is meaningful and creates long-term value for brands, the symbolic disconnect between brands and organizations on one hand and culture and society on the other is deepening and widening every year. The speed and scale of change and the cultural complexity we live in today makes organizations unfit for purpose and lose a significant amount of value because their rigid metrics make them inflexible and unable to proactively adapt to the evolution of values in our current society.

This is a very big problem as cultural irrelevance is one of the biggest reasons why global brands can’t successfully grow today and retain and inflate their value and equity. We need to find new strategic mechanisms that will allow us to scan and analyze the evolution of culture in real-time and measure meaning to keep brands vibrant, relevant and profitable. Luckily, semiotics and cultural anthropology are the methodologies already available to us that allow us to do just that.

The Four Key Meaning Gaps To Close In 2020

The meaning gap is the symbolic disconnect between reality and fiction. It makes brands look good on the surface but when you look deeper underneath, you realize that something is off with what they actually mean. It’s a symbolic misalignment.

Over the years of studying brands, I was able to identify four biggest meaning gaps affecting most global brands and organizations today. They are the following ones:

1. The Culture Gap

This is the gap between what brands and organizations say versus their relevance in culture and how accurately they’re able to portray and mirror the society as it actually is. This was very visible in the 2017 Pepsi Kendal Jenner ad criticized for its woke-washing and its tone-deaf and vague take on the message of global unity.

What creates this gap is the inability to navigate the cultural complexity of our time and distill cultural sense and meaning to inform strategy. What can mend it is a greater cultural intelligence and empathy that gives brand strategy and creative ideas more nuanced social meaning.

How To Close The Culture Gap This Year?

Ask these questions: What is the changing cultural meaning of the concept I want to communicate? How does this evolving meaning affect my brand, company, service, business?

You need to understand the codes of culture and how they shape brand meaning. Culture is implicitly present in everything that you do, whether you are aware of it or not. It is the world of symbols in which all brands and value systems are embedded.

2. The Context Gap

This is the gap between what brands intend to say versus what they’re actually saying in the real-world context, as the context by which a message is framed always offsets its intended meaning. We could see this work greatly into H&M’s disadvantage with their accidentally racist product photo in 2018 where a little black boy was dressed in a hoodie that said “coolest monkey in the jungle”. It also worked against Dove when their ‘body diverse bottles’ ad backfired as a brand whose entire legacy and cultural equity is based on the idea of embracing real beauty and female empowerment cannot equate female body types to shower gel bottles.

What creates this gap is the inability to foresee how the physical context will shift the intended meaning. What mends it is understanding things and planning in context.

How To Close The Context Gap This Year?

Ask these questions: What do you want to say? And what is your communication really saying? Are you communicating your intention or is there a meaning disconnect?

Always be mindful of the context in which people consume your message as it changes its final meaning. The same thing communicated in a different medium and framed in a different context will mean a different thing.

3. The Trust Gap

This is the gap between what brands say and what they do. The much-praised Fearless Girl was the unfortunate example of this gap as the company that launched it got fined $5m for not paying women and minorities as much as men. The similar seems to be true for P&G who are investing in progressive masculinity with Gillette on one hand while still charging a pink tax on their female Venus razor products.

What causes this gap is an inability to deliver on the company promise and do as you say leading to symbolic duality and betrayal of brand values. What mends it is the integrity of words and actions and having the courage to be honest and act with transparency.

How To Close The Trust Gap This Year?

Ask these questions: Does our marketing have integrity? Is it relevant and meaningful to our audiences? Does it inspire a bold action, trust and loyalty?

To retain and grow in value as a brand, you need to aim for integrity in all that you say and do. Corporate values need to be felt in your customer experience. If you need to rebuild trust, be honest. It’s the backbone of all our human relationships.

4. The Social Impact Gap

The last one is the gap in purpose between the role that brands aspire to versus what they can actually credibly claim to be relevant to their customers. The latest Gillette’s campaign showed a huge disconnect in this department as their ad looked as if Gillette positioned itself in the role of a social watchdog to police the future of masculinity. An otherwise uplifting message was framed in an incredibly patronizing way, which made its social impact and the brands’ stance very questionable.

What causes this gap is a misguided purpose and a delusional belief in the brand’s own heroic role in the world. What mends it is understanding what creates real social meaning and instigating a massive action for the good of people and not brands.

How To Close The Social Impact Gap This Year?

Ask these questions: How can our brand values be best translated into an ownable role in the world to inspire and empower people to be the best they can be?

Understand the role you play are in the world today. Learn to use your brand as a platform to amplify what you stand for in society to empower people, not just the bottom line. This is where you give your brand real meaning, not just an illusion of it.

In 2020, Lead With Meaning

This year, when you’re planning your brand and marketing activities, make meaning the core aspect of your brand leadership. Meaning is the only thing worthwhile for brands to create as it is what your customers will consume. So as long as you’re creating it, make it a good one. And make it consciously, your audience can tell the difference, I promise you. True essence and authenticity of values scream from the inside out. If you are authentic and meaningful, your customers will notice without you needing to be loud.

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Dr. Martina Olbertova, founder and chief executive at Meaning.Global.

The Blake Project Can Help: Please email us for more about our meaning workshops.

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Growth and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

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joejstrickl · 4 years

Text

Vision 2020: Lead Brands With Meaning

What is happening to our world?

The 2020 Vision

The Value Of Cultural Context

Brands Are In The Business Of Meaning Exchange

Measuring What Matters

How To Create Marketing Effectiveness

Bridging The Meaning Gap Between Brands And Society

The Four Key Meaning Gaps To Close In 2020

Over the years of studying brands, I was able to identify four biggest meaning gaps affecting most global brands and organizations today. They are the following ones:

1. The Culture Gap

How To Close The Culture Gap This Year?

Ask these questions: What is the changing cultural meaning of the concept I want to communicate? How does this evolving meaning affect my brand, company, service, business?

2. The Context Gap

What creates this gap is the inability to foresee how the physical context will shift the intended meaning. What mends it is understanding things and planning in context.

How To Close The Context Gap This Year?

Ask these questions: What do you want to say? And what is your communication really saying? Are you communicating your intention or is there a meaning disconnect?

3. The Trust Gap

How To Close The Trust Gap This Year?

Ask these questions: Does our marketing have integrity? Is it relevant and meaningful to our audiences? Does it inspire a bold action, trust and loyalty?

4. The Social Impact Gap

How To Close The Social Impact Gap This Year?

Ask these questions: How can our brand values be best translated into an ownable role in the world to inspire and empower people to be the best they can be?

In 2020, Lead With Meaning

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Dr. Martina Olbertova, founder and chief executive at Meaning.Global.

The Blake Project Can Help: Please email us for more about our meaning workshops.

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Growth and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

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disappearingground · 5 years

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No Nostalgia: Jenny Lewis on 'Rabbit Fur Coat' Ten Years Later

VICE February 2, 2016

When Lewis wrote this LP she was still figuring out what she believed in. Now she reflects on how far she's come and her all-female record label, Lovesway.

By Dianca London

The first songs I learned were hymns, stripped down and chock-full of harmonies, gospel became the soundtrack to my childhood. I sang “Precious Lord Take My Hand” to my dolls on countless afternoons and hummed “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” during games of hopscotch at recess. Whenever my family went to the community swimming pool or ventured to the Jersey Shore for a weekend trip, I whistled “Take Me To the Water” until my mouth grew tired. Or until I was asked to stop.

As the years passed, my appetite for “old-time religion”—ie. a sort of "back to the basics" core expression of Christian faith—became more nuanced. I developed a craving for something different. I started searching for similar chords and lyrical narratives in songs that I could call my own, songs that I hadn’t inherited from my grandmother or my parents. I wanted to lose myself in the melodies that existed outside the confines of leather bound hymnals. Jenny Lewis, in that sense was an answer to that prayer.

In addition to backbeats and catchy chords, it was Lewis’ ability to tell a story without hesitance that converted me to a diehard fan. At an instant, I was struck by the raw candor of the quasi-autobiographical narrator on Rilo Kiley’s 2002 song “A Better Son/Daughter,” drawn in by her refusal to downplay the anxieties of expectations, relationships, and the perpetual demand of a 9-5. Years later, I encountered what felt like a resurrected version of that same narrator in “Handle With Care.” Offering a litany of flaws, fears, and unabashed confessions, “Handle With Care,” much like the rest of Lewis’ debut solo album, Rabbit Fur Coat, seemed to add something more to the tradition that first introduced me to music. “Run, Devil Run” and “Happy” felt sacred. The album’s final minutes played out like an intimate benediction. The first time I heard Lewis sing with The Watson Twins, I felt like I was a little girl again, listening to my mom sing along to gospel LPs from the 70s. Reminiscent of Loretta Lynn, Nina Simone, Skeeter Davis, and Aretha, Lewis' songs became for me what “Amazing Grace” was for my mother. Her songs offered a different kind of salvation; it was Lewis’ sincerity that saved me.

Currently touring to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the album's release, Lewis, who is admittedly “not really one for nostalgia,” has returned to the stage yet again to perform an album that ultimately shaped the rest of her career, and inspired everyone from Best Coast to Waxahatchee to First Aid Kit. Unlike the rest of Lewis’ discography, Rabbit Fur Coat is the only album to date that was solely influenced by women. It’s release sparked a desire in Lewis to further explore lyrical narratives crafted outside of male-dominated spaces. While speaking with her over the phone on a chilly afternoon, it became clear that even after a decade, so much of her first solo album continues to ring true.

Noisey: It's been ten years since Rabbit Fur Coat's debut on Team Love Records. How has your connection to the album evolved? Jenny Lewis: The songs feel strangely relevant ten years later and I've been playing a handful of them during my solo sets. I played “Rise up With Fists” with Rilo Kiley on our last tour but the songs that I avoided in the last ten years, they feel like they really apply to my life right now. It's strange, when I write songs I don't always know exactly what I'm writing about and this particular period for me I had only written within my band and [Rabbit Fur Coat] was the first time that I was writing with a different intention. It wasn't being filtered through the other members of my band, it was very quiet, private songwriting process. I didn't share the songs with anyone really except for The Watson Twins before we recorded them, so they feel particularly personal and private.

In retrospect, which tracks resonate the most? We're performing the album in its entirety in order which I've never done before. They all serve a purpose within the whole, they all feel good and they fit together. They tell a story from beginning to end and there's an arc and the middle of that arc is the title track which I don't typically play. I mean, I played it a little bit in 2008 and I certainly played it in the first touring cycle for Rabbit Fur Coat, but that one I've avoided. Partially because it’s a four minute story song and I'm just up there alone, you know? I feel very exposed when it’s just me and the guitar and my song in front of an audience. It’s different if I'm in my living room playing songs for my friends who are also songwriters, but that song in particular is kind of a tough one to get through and not only because of the content, but just to be able to stand up there in front of so many people. It’s terrifying.

There's so much transparency and vulnerability in moments like that. It’s almost like those nightmare dreams you have when you're in front of a class and you're naked. It’s the part of my job when I'm up there when I'm like, “Goddamn why did I choose this job?”

In an interview from 2008 you referred to the title of the album as a metaphor for the “need to show your wealth” and “use a bunch of little dead things to make you more than what you are.” Looking back, has that metaphor changed for you in any way? I still identify with that metaphor but that song has taken on so much more for me. In my songwriting in my 20s I was pointing my finger a lot, I was looking outwards sort of examining my past, looking to my future, looking to the people around me, but what I've realized writing songs now is that I embody all of the characters that I'm criticizing. I've sort of become all of those people and I guess I was those characters all along I just didn't realize it.

The album is really rooted in the tradition of folk and gospel, two genres that have a legacy of bearing witness and responding to moments of personal and cultural significance. Songs like “The Big Guns,” “Rise Up with Fists,” and “Run Devil Run” come to mind. How did those genres and their traditions influence your identity as a songwriter? The record that influenced Rabbit Fur Coat the most is Laura Nyro's It's Gonna Take a Miracle and The Labelle Sisters are singing backup for her. That was something that I listened to growing up with my mother and my sister in the San Fernando Valley. I sing because I grew up singing with my mom and my sister. We were always listening to gospel songs because there were such distinctive harmony points. [Rabbit Fur Coat] for me, is a kind of spiritual record. It's not a religious record, but it's a spiritual record that in that moment in my life I was trying to figure out what I believed in. It turns out I believe in love and my friends and at that moment making music in Nebraska.

Omaha's music community, at that time and even now, was so influential. Saddle Creek and everything that they were doing was pivotal for so many bands. Conor [Oberst] was a great influence lyrically. He asked me to make the record and I never intended to be a solo artist, I never set out to do that. My identity was wrapped up in my band, that was my entire life, it was all I cared about and when he first approached me to make the record my first reaction was I can’t do that and he said, “No you can do it, you're going to do that and I'm going to put it out on my new record label, Team Love.” So he’s very much a part of the songs and the spirit of the record.

I've been really fortunate along the way to just have these guides and I've always been really afraid but when I get on stage I'm not afraid anymore, just getting there is terrifying. Conor, Ben Gibbard, Blake Sennett, and Ryan Adams... all of these guides, have just kind of pushed me out there, pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of doing. Each era is defined by a guide in a way.

In regards to things that define you, what have some of your current influences been? I've been staying in New York in my friend's apartment, just trying to write my new record and there's no internet, there’s no TV and there's the record player and a handful of records. They're her records but the one that I keep listening to the most is the second Steely Dan record, that one has been on repeat. It's so great to get back to the basics of music where I've got like five records that I listen to. I don't feel inundated with too many choices. That and this Ted Lucas record...it’s amazing [and] EZ TV. They're from Brooklyn and they made my favorite record from last year. I've been listening to a lot of jazz and reggae, roots reggae.

It's really cool that you mentioned reggae. In a way a lot of the narratives in reggae are similar to the stories that folk and gospel tell, especially with the call and response pattern present between each genre. The message is love really, you know? Almost all of Bob Marley's songs are about God and the reason why it connects with people is because there's this mess of love and I've been listening to this music and trying to grasp on to it a little bit and it’s really inspiring.

Rabbit Fur Coat explores similar themes head on. Do you still feel the same way about religion? It's funny because you know, I was 28, 29 years old when I wrote these songs so for me it feels very 20, but then some of the themes continue to resonate. It’s not a totally serious record and I think there's a lot of questions on the record, but I think the through line is spirituality and however you choose to define that or identify within that but I'm still on the quest to figure it out but I always come back to one word which is ‘love’ and that, you know, dictates how I proceed.

You were on tour last year for Voyager. How was preparing for this tour different for you? I tend to compartmentalize eras. I'm not really one for nostalgia, I don't really look back but I do think [that] it's really important. The Watson Twins—they're such an important part of this record and although they're my songs, [the twins] help bring them into the world. Without them, I don't know if I would have even made the record.

There was just this moment where I had these very private songs and they lived a couple blocks from me and I went over to their place and we started singing together and it was like I was back in the kitchen with my mom and my sister. It felt immediately like I was a part of a family. I'm so grateful to them and I just think our vocal blend is really very, very special. I feel very safe around them. They're very loving and it's just a very special connection that we have. Touring with Voyager was amazing and I love my band but when I sing with the twins, it's like something from outer space.

Their presence on the album gives each song such an intimate, almost sacred feel to them. … and there's no dude in control! [With] Rilo Kiley, it was very collaborative, but there was a very prominent male presence. With Rabbit Fur Coat, M. Ward produced a few songs, but his approach is very different, it’s a very, you do your thing and then he does all this amazing stuff around it. This is really the only record that I've made where there isn't a very strong male influence—you know all the Rilo Kiley stuff and Voyager with Ryan [Adams] and Beck. This is really a very feminine record. It's very stripped back. Whenever I'm in a producer position, I like to create space for the words and the vocals, and I'm not always right, sometimes it can get boring, but that's my sensibility and I think that this record reflects this.

Dudes are great, but there's something really powerful about songs crafted solely by women. It's a continuation of a tradition of women telling stories, of women as makers of meaning. When I play with women it's a completely different thing, We just arrange songs differently. We're not afraid to lay [it] out. I've played with some amazing women over the years and when we're in a room arranging, it's just a different intention. It's really special.

[It] brings to mind my label, called Lovesway, which is named after my parents band from the 1970s and Lovesway is re-releasing Rabbit Fur Coat as the first release, but then I hope to put out female artists exclusively on Lovesway: I want to put out a series of 7-inches of some of my favorite female artists. It’ll to be a really safe place for women.

That sounds like the perfect antidote for counterbalancing the misogyny and sexism that's often synonymous with the music industry. Some of my guy friends are going to be super bummed. [Laughs.] I'm not excluding them because I don't love their songs but I'm really interested in a female lyrical perspective. It's strange when you find yourself as the slightly older gen and there's women who've come up to me like Bethany Consentino and Katie [Crutchfield] from Waxahatchee, they've come up to me and said, “You were the first girl that I saw playing guitar on the stage, watching you when I was in high school inspired me to start a band.” You never think you're going to get to that point, you're like, wow, am I really that old, but it’s really cool to give back in a way.

#publication: vice #album: rabbit fur coat #year: 2016 #mention: songwriting #person: conor oberst #mention: lovesway #song: rabbit fur coat #mention: femininity #mention: nostalgia #person: the watson twins

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