Manning on how to use personalities for corporate branding at Social Media & PR Conference 2012

06/03/2012 - Manchester

Margaret Manning this week discussed the impact of using personalities for corporate branding using social media at this year’s Social Media and PR Conference in Singapore. The Reading Room CEO presented her thought leadership piece at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel discussing how organisations have used personalities and social media to boost their brand, giving pragmatic advice on how to do this well, and also demonstrating how this can go wrong.

Drawing on her own experience of personal and corporate branding, as well as high profile case studies, Manning’s humorous and thought-provoking presentation focussed on the connection modern consumers have with the personality of a brand. Often this connection can impact leadership within the organisation and boost their brand significantly. Through social media, this personality can be exploited, but it is important to develop a strategy to ensure that you connect honestly with your audience. 

Manning says: “A poorly executed presence is worse than no presence at all. There is no point creating a persona if you cannot maintain it. A CEO of a company is extremely busy and will often have staff and marketing teams to update their social media platforms on their behalf. People understand that you may have to share the load, but they demand that you be transparent about it.”

With the creation of spoof accounts in the social sphere, it’s important to be able to monitor your social reputation online. The Internet population will be cynical about patently obvious brand communication and Manning’s presentation gave the audience some pointers on how to get it right.

Reading Room is renowned for its work in social media, having recently been awarded the ‘Best in Digital and Social Media’ at the PR Week Awards for their work with the RAF Benevolent Fund and has recently launched a brand new social campaign for the London Business School in the United Kingdom.

The two day conference, attended by marketing executives from local and regional organisations, included insights from  experienced practitioners and successful corporations such as Deutsche Bank, Adobe, Dell, China Light and Power and Hotels.com.

For more information on the conference, visit the website here