What Tiger Woods Can Learn From the Social Media Marketing Experts
What Tiger Woods Can Learn From the Social Media Marketing Experts
As Tiger Woods demonstrated at the Masters, he still is one of the best golfers in the world, five months after the scandal surrounding him first broke. However, there are lessons that Tiger could have learned from the some of the biggest names in social media.
At one time, in a sports marketing world filled with risk, Woods is was as safe as it could get. He exuded class, consistency and excellence - qualities that prompted companies and brands, such as Buick, Electronic Arts, Tag Heuer and Accenture, to pay top dollar for the rights to capitalize on his name and image.
No company had a stronger association with Woods than the marketing goliath Nike. For more than a decade, Woods has been the driving force behind the company's $500 million golf business. "Frankly, I think no one can argue that he's probably one of the best hangars in the business in regards to clothing; he always does a great job in presenting our apparel and footwear and really makes a statement in how he looks on that golf course," says Cindy Davis, general manager of Nike Golf.
THE RISE OF THE PERSONAL BRAND Nearly 10 years ago, management guru and best-selling business book author Tom Peters, launched the concept of personal branding with the cover story for Fast Company. Through the years, since Peters first brought the concept of "Me Inc." forward, many image consultants, HR professionals, and sales trainers have encouraged their clients (and anyone else who would listen) to think about themselves as personal brands as they grew their entrepreneurial endeavours. No one more embodied this than Tiger Woods.
NEWS FLASH TIGER: "YOUR BRAND IS NOT WHAT YOU SAY IT IS...IT'S WHAT GOOGLE SAYS IT IS" So says Chris Anderson (editor-in-chief at Wired magazine and bestselling author of The Long Tail). For Tiger Woods that "golden image" all came to a crashing halt, when on November 17th, Eldrick "Tiger" Woods crashed his Cadillac SUV outside his home during a dispute with his wife. However, the SUV was not the only thing that crashed that day: so did the reputation of a once spotless brand. Yes, Tiger Woods was a brand, probably one of the most valuable brands in the world.
LESSONS FROM CHRIS BROGAN Now "Tiger", one of the best students of the game there ever was, is having to learns lesson from social media gurus such as Chris Brogan. For many years, getting to "know" the real Tiger was not possible. He was very guarded of his life and image. He had built a persona that no one could ever live up to. Many believed that to be a result of the intense media attention he had on him since a young age.
At one time, there were a few similarities between Tiger Woods and Chris Brogan, such as:
* Extremely marketable brand
* People wanted to be connected with both of them
* People wanted to be them
However, there is one great difference, Chris Brogan built his brand by being open, available, quick, and responsive in all of the spaces he occupies. He is a prime example of a person who has seen a total shift in his professional and personal life through use of online communities to share his ideas and insights; and that has turned that into real-benefit for him.
The first lesson that Tiger could learn from Chris: do not lie or deceive your audience. A brand is about trust, and Brogan knows that a personal brand requires an even deeper trust - similar to that which we extend to our immediate family. Brogan respects that and knows that social communities are all about transparency and trust.
Chris Brogan manages and develops a very personal brand that has a huge audience (bigger than most big corporations, though maybe not as large as Tiger's). Thus, the second lesson to Tiger is clear: In this new social media world, it is not about how your business connects and communicates, it is about how you as an individual build, nurture, and share personal brands.
In the end, the third lesson Tiger needs to learn is that a personal brand comes from within. As Mitch Joel states in his bestselling book, Six Pixel of Separation, a strong brand shines when the core values and belief systems of why it was created are as obvious as the logo, packaging, website, and supporting marketing materials. That being said, brands rise (and fall) every day because each and every one of us is making decisions about that brand based on our own values and beliefs. From our internal gauge, we decide if the products or services "fit" with who we are - or who we want to be. Has there ever been a more public display of this than with Tiger Woods? It was not his golf game that brought him down; it was how he, in particular his actions, measured against our core values that has knocked him off his pedestal.
YOU CAN'T FAKE SINCERITY As you listen to Tiger talk about finding the love of the game again, and see him interact with fans, it reminds me of what Dan Pink wrote in his excellent book A Whole New Mind. In it, he writes about testing on the human face and the muscles used to control emotions. It turns out that, when we smile out of true happiness, certain muscles are activated that can't be controlled. That means that when we fake smile versus making a genuine smile, our faces actually look different. So when you watch Tiger go around Augusta National Golf Club this weekend, in search of his fifth Masters title, ask yourself is he faking it? We all know he has the passion to win, that has never been in doubt. I mean is he faking his passion to connect with the people around the game. Because making real connections is what really counts in the new social media world.
There is no doubt that the world's number one golfer will regain his top golf form as some point. The question remains is will "Tiger Woods the brand" regain its marketing ability? As Geoffrey Colvin's book, Talent is Overrated, points out, one of the things that made "Tiger" great was his willingness to put in the 10,000 hours of deliberate practice needed to achieve that greatness. Let us hope he learns the lesson that many of our social media gurus already know: you cannot fake your personal brand in less than 10,000 hours.
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