Copeland Communications = Your Copeland = Effective Social Media Branding

I spent a week following @yourcopland, a twitter account for Copeland Communications which is an advertising agency in Victoria BC.

Copeland actively uses their twitter account and has 6 tweeters who bring unique views and prospective to their page. When there are events happening in Victoria the company actively tweets leading up to the event and also during the event, which makes sense considering the industry. In my opinion Copeland is effectively using social media. Doug Brown, Owner and Managing Director,  has not only made social media a priority but also believes it is a vital part of any business.

I recently met Doug Brown at NABS Vancouver Island where he explained to me, when working with clients the end result is critical. Once you need to find the end result, you need to work backwards to integrate traditional and social media marketing together in order to reach your target market. Easier said than done, I am sure!

There are many differences between traditional communication and social media however the major difference is the spread of the message/idea, which is limitless thanks to technology.

Integrated marketing communications allows companies to follow and connect with their target market and also combine social media into promotional elements to tap into the viral marketing tactic. Viral marketing is becoming popular by communicating the content, frequency, timing and medium of message by an organization along with traditional marketing tactics. Similar to traditional marketing and the spread of word of mouth to create a hype, Social media has harnessed “sharing” which allows for an article to be shared and also provides analytics on the popularity of the topic.

Social media is definitely not a replacement for traditional marketing. Generation Y is a lot more technology savvy then X and not everyone uses the Internet in the same way.

Also not everyone has the Internet, do you think I am kidding. I have a number of friends who are finding they are too connected. They have the Internet at work and on their smartphones that is it, they don’t have the Internet at home.

Social media has the downside that is constantly changing, Twitter is in today and could be replaced tomorrow and like a herd of elephants we will go…

Twitter also limits your character count, which means you have to be direct, effectively use links and create networks within your twitter network. I really like the challenge of this aspect. Twitter in my opinion is a more effective and professional network compared to others.

Remember to tie all social medias together. Copeland does this effectively by tying their blog, into their twitter and both of those into their webpage to create “yourcopeland.”