Whose Face is This?

It's the newest Facebook feature but there is more to it than meets the eye. This holiday weekend found me near the pool but never far away from my iPad. It's one of those things most people don't know about me. But should they? They would likely recognize my face but would they recognize my habits and trends? You know, the things that make me - me?

Here's the deal. While surfing Facebook this morning I saw a familiar face in the right hand margin. Above it the headline, "whose face is this?" and a field in which to write a response. On this occasion the pretty face belonged to my wife. So of course I recognized it. As she already knows, I'm a face guy. Still I'd like to think that if the feature had listed attributes like, "loves old movies, broke her arm as a little girl, has an authentic joyful laugh, is a great hostess, listens to Sinatra, doesn't know her own beauty, graduated summa cum laude, likes brunch at the Beauty Shop, and enjoys summer watermelon", instead of her picture -- I still would have recognized her.

The same should be true for your brand. Sure, any person familiar with your logo will know who it belongs to but what about the essence of your brand? Does the marketplace know your brand personality, its voice, how it interacts with its constituents, and the value it proposes to bring absent the "mark"?

I know of a recent instance when a small segment of a brand's audience attributed certain unflattering characteristics to the brand. It happened largely because the organization wasn’t teaching the market about itself and so the market chose to create its own definition. A couple of years later the brand owners are still working through it.

The non-visual part of your brand is what resonates beyond the first glimpse. It’s the result of reflection, planning, teaching, marketing and market dialogue. It takes time to develop and years to establish. For those who read this blog looking for speed consider this: if you subscribe to the same “farmer’s approach” to social media that I do, you can begin getting the non-visual messages about your brand into play quickly and at a lower cost than ever before. You’ll even find members of your brand audience who are already in step with you and willing to advocate your brand message right away via platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

So, whose face is this: original, consultative, loves ideas, tech savvy, creative, and treats customers like the big fish?

Let’s get to know each other. I’m www.twitter.com/timbigfish or on Facebook www.facebook.com/timcnicholson.