Putting A Face On The Faceless Organization
Companies with faceless brands have some of the greatest opportunities in social media.
I’ve written on this topic before – there are several reasons why the opportunities are so great, but one stands out: the bar is set low for them. No-one expects to see them reaching out and engaging with people; when they do, it’s both noteworthy and newsworthy for many people.
Let me give you an example.
Putting a face on the Toronto Maple Leafs
A couple of weeks ago, I posted a quick note on Twitter:
“Just picked up two Leafs tickets for next week. I’m a glutton for punishment.”
Cue amused responses from numerous people. Among the replies, though, was this, from @MapleLeafs:
“@davefleet – OUCH! Dave. What game u coming too?” [sic]
The very fact that the Leafs replied to my tweet made me sit up and notice. Then, via a direct message, came this:
“For the TB game Tues, let me know when u arrive, and if u have time, i can show u some behind the scenes stuff.”
To cut a long story short, when we arrived at the game we were met by Jonathan Sinden, part of the Leafs interactive department and the man behind the official Maple Leafs Twitter account. Sinden joined the Leafs a few months ago after hearing that they were looking for someone to help them with social media.
Sinden took us on a tour behind the scenes at the stadium, including heading into the production centre (a truck!) from where the Sportsnet and Leafs TV shows are produced, which travels with the Leafs to every game (and through which they apparently almost never do tours on game day). Exceptionally cool. Now, if only the Leafs would start winning…
No longer a black hole
See what Sinden did here, with an investment of a couple of tweets and about 20 minutes of his time?
He put a face on a faceless organization.
Sinden did more than just show us around. He candidly answered our questions, he showed that the organization does care about the fans, and he gave us an experience that we would otherwise never have had. The Leafs became more than a blank, faceless organization and became much more personable. What’s more, this cost almost nothing to do.
How about you? What can your organization do to engage with its fans?
What do you think?
