A key to branding, especially via social media, is brevity. “Brevity is the soul of wit,” wrote Shakespeare. And while he probably didn’t know that his axiom would find itself applied to social media, it seems most relevant in this arena. Twitter, for instance, is fairly obvious, as tweets are limited to 140 characters. Tweeters are forced to be brief. But on Facebook, for instance, crafting a pithy yet sagacious one-liner often requires a particular skill-set. This remains true for banner ads, one-clicks, and traditional print and radio advertising as well.
90 years ago, a young woman at a dinner party bet President Calvin Coolidge that she could get him to say more than three words. He looked at her, unblinkingly, and said: “You lose.” Coolidge accomplished three things in his two-word response:
- he won the bet
- he communicated that he won the bet
- he reinforced his reputation for being witty and wise
Coolidge was renowned for his terse wit. At ABS, we aim to capture “The Coolidge,” as we call it. We want the “onion words” (words with multiple layers that communicate many things at once). The top brands, of course, transcend words, and communicate what they want by simply presenting their logo (as BMW does with its Motorsport logo, known simply as “M.” It signifies power, high-performance, and speed). They do not rely on words. At ABS, we see this as our clients’ ultimate goal. Our team realizes that this is the measure of a brand.
Our Social Media Branding and Marketing team is a high-energy dynamo, focused on harnessing “the soul of wit.” Contact us today for a free evaluation of your company’s social-media branding and marketing needs.