Ask JZ
Thanks to Ed Ethridge for providing one of last week’s top questions. Remember, get your questions about advertising, business, the economy and more answered every Wednesday by posting comments to blog posts or, better yet, on Twitter via #askjz.

“What is your response to Jonathan Salem Baskin’s recent Ad Age article, “What If Giving Up Your Brand Really Means Giving Up?” If the trend is moving towards NOT trusting the people we engage with through social media platforms, how will advertisers and marketers adjust? And will it even still be relevant?

You’ve always espoused growing a brand while simultaneously driving traffic and sales. Where does social media fit into this Brandtailing pyramid?”

According to the Edelman 2010 Trust Barometer, only 25% of people view their friends and peers as credible sources. This number is down from 45% in 2008. If Edelman’s study is accurate, then it means there’s even more reason than ever for brands to get involved in social media! If people continue to rely on their peers as go-to sources of information, brands must interject themselves into the social media space to make sure these peers have reliable information about their company and products to share. If people do end up moving away from trusting their peers as Edelman’s study suggest, then it’s even more imperative that brands get involved in that space in order to communicate their message directly to consumers. Bottom line? Social media will continue to be an area of huge importance!!

Social media fits into the Brandtailing™ platform simply as a new communication channel. It allows you to simultaneously drive traffic while building your brand – it just gives you a more powerful channel with which to do so. For example, you can utilize platforms like Foursquare and Gowalla to activate loyal customers as brand advocates while driving in-store traffic through loyalty points and rewards. Social media allows us to communicate the same messages on a much larger scale to a much larger audience.

As Baskin states in the article, “Even the best game of telephone requires that somebody start it off by saying something.” It’s up to brands to make sure they contribute credible, authentic content to the conversation.