Brand Awareness through Social Media

In today's newspaper i read about a new app: rankabrand. This application is an initiative of Rank a Brand. On Rank a Brand you can compare how transparent, green and fair your brands are. By buying the best scoring brands you can contribute to a better world. What a nice way to get companies to invest in sustainability, though I doubt it if large corporate companies will react to negative ratings immediately. Still, I think it's an interesting and
very current way to get the message across. It might actually help when people know that the brand they are wearing is tainted because there was child labour involved. Another example that crossed my mind is software. You might want to reconsider buying software that has been made by some underpayed overworked wretch in India.

Brand awareness
The rankabrand app is a social media app in the direct sense of the word: an app that induces awareness about brands. The only reserve I have about rankabrand is the validity of consumer ratings. How will we know if someone who spreads the word about a brand is sincere? Where does he get his information? Don't count on pr-departments to provide any kind of information that might tell 'the truth' about their brand.

Personal experience
I think the app's power lies in personal experience of every day people who have an opinion about  Philips products or about an online travel agency's customer service, or even with a city governement that refuses to invest in glass fibre networks. (even though they claim to be ready for the future).

Overcooked PR
These personal experiences might not always be the most objective ones. They sure as hell count on the web. More than any overcooked public statement by a brand itself. And there you have the power of social media again. It's the power of friends communicating with friends online. Friends who are inclined to trust their friends sooner than they would trust any company.

www.rankabrand.nl