Social Media Strategy - Bringing Your Offline Brand Experience Online

I was at the dentist for a semi-annual teeth cleaning and checkup. The current dentist bought the practice from the previous dentist several years ago. The change in the office personality was evident immediately and has flourished the past few years.

While the brand experience with the former dentist was friendly in a superficial way, you felt as if you were always being sold some new add-on service, product, or referral (to a buddy of the dentist) with each visit. The result was the brand experience felt adversarial as you tried to get out of the office without being upsold whatever the current marketing program was.

With the new dentist, there is no hard sell. The advice on improving your dental habits beneficial, with no scare tactics or upsell involved. The conversations are genuine and fun, about pets, kids, sports, and what everyone has going on.As I was leaving the office recently, the dental hygienist was showing me pictures of her absolutely adorable dog all dressed up for Christmas (btw, that's Cosmo Kramer to the right). The office manager showed me the dentist's two dogs on her mouse pad.

Bringing Your Offline Brand Experience Online

I mentioned how fun the office brand experience was now and suggested they feature the great dog pictures on their Facebook page.

The dentist admitted he hasn’t really done anything with Facebook yet, but his brother was going to help him get it going over the holidays.

The question will be: “What brand experience gets translated to Facebook?”

Will the fun aspects of the brand experience characterized by our extended conversation after my appointment characterize its Facebook page content?

Or will the Facebook page be a formal, stiff presentation of dental tips that winds up feeling much more like the former dentist's brand experience?

While it may feel like the second social media strategy option is the safe approach, it would be really boring and off-brand. Yet how many brands pursue that social media strategy and completely misrepresent the fun and warmth they create offline?  - Mike Brown

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