Social Audio gives a whole new meaning to the term Brand Voice.
There’s some risk associated with brands getting into social audio but many are missing huge opportunities because they aren’t equipped to navigate the space. With any sort of “live” social — there is no way to know what someone is going to say when they go live. It’s a risk. No amount of moderation are reporting tools can change that.
The benefit for brands in being involved in real-time dialogue for daily shows, weekly events or even large productions can definitely pay off in the long-term.
How do brands fit into the mix with social audio apps? Traditionally when brands develop brand guideline things like tone of voice are covered. But social audio calls for more of a playbook than a set of rules.
Social audio introduces a whole new layer. Brands are entering into the space in a few different ways.
First, actually personifying the brand it self. Like the Kool-Aid guy showing up and saying “ohhhh yeahhhh”. The voice, quite literally, will be the representation of the company. The live aspect leaves brands open to fumbling in terms of real-time customer service along with being in the wrong room at the wrong time and getting pegged as guilty by association.
3 ways Brands are being introduced into Social Audio apps:
- The Talking Logo
- The Sponsorship “Soap Opera”
- The Influencer Introduction
If straight sponsorship or affiliate with clubs is too much of a risk. Utilizing Influencers can give the brand both an in and an out.
Where it fits: to me, these opportunities currently fit best in the mix of social media, content marketing and influencers.
Is there such thing as a safe space in social audio?
Again, With any sort of “live” social — there is no way to know what someone is going to say when they go live. It is harder to real-time control hate speech with live audio than it is to detect in text based apps.
As much as people try to put checks and balances in place to protect people, there’s only so much that can be done in a live environment to prevent these things from happening.
Now before we get into specifics. Are apps doing enough right now to protect users? Absolutely not. But we will get into that later…