Lee Jeans Enters the Social Media Space

It’s always interesting to hear a marketer talk about integrating social media into marketing efforts. When it’s a respected brand with a long history, it’s even more so. Yesterday’s AdAge video interview with Liz Cahill, VP Marketing for Lee Jeans gives insights into the process they used to begin social marketing.
Watch the video here.

One of the things Lee did was to conduct a social media audit in order to understand what was being said about them in Internet space. Some agencies (iCrossingUK, Serengeti Communications) have social media audit products and have posted information about them. This is one way of listening to the customer without (marketing) intervention into the conversation. As the interview suggests, it may be a very good first step to joining the conversation. Remember the bore at the cocktail party who plows right into the discussion without first understanding what’s really going on? Not the way your brand wants to be seen!

There are other approaches to consider as you enter the space. Firms like Networked Insights and KickApps will either allow you to create your own community or mine community data that is already out there or both.

Your PR people should be deeply involved in reputation management, whether you choose to market in the social network space or not.

Listening to the voice of the customer is different in the age of social media. Liz Cahill also points out that the velocity of customer communication is high in the social media world. What are you missing if you are not listening—if you are not part of the ongoing dialog? A lot!