18 Comments »I just finished reading an interesting post over at Howtosplitanatom.com about brand slogans. The article talks about the classics like: “Always Coca-Cola” , “Just Do It” and “Think Different”. After reading the post I started thinking about the slogans of some of the social networks out there and what they really said.
The article makes a point to mention that some slogans appear to be after thoughts created with no real perspective. Having worked in marketing I find this hard to believe. Marketing people spend hours looking over the finest details.
With my new mission I decided to look at the slogans of some of the popular social networks and see what they said about their product. Certainly this is all up to interpretation, but it never hurts to look back at a product to figure.
MySpace: “a place for friends”
MySpace is the giant of social networking. In retrospect it is ironic that the MySpace logo is “a place for friends” since one of the major complaints is that a large portion of the profiles are fake. The slogan however embodies what MySpace was trying to accomplish, a place for friends to meet and stay in touch.
hi5: “Who’s in?”
Hi5 has the most inviting slogan of all the social networks. I think this makes sense since hi5 has created itself a truly international community feel. Their network slogan gives a sense of, “come see if you don’t like it we won’t be offended.”
bebo: “EXPLORE”
Bebo’s slogan makes the most sense out of all of the social networks. Bebo focuses on providing content rich experience that allows users to explore and discover new media. By connecting with people on bebo you can find explore their world of entertainment.
Facebook: “Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around you”
While Facebook’s slogan isn’t very catchy it says quite a bit about the social platform. Facebook has taken a very utilitarian stance on providing a social network. They have created a framework and are expecting you to do most of the work. I do not use Facebook to meet new people, but instead use it to maintain connections.
I was wondering what your thoughts were on these slogans. I find it interesting how a slogan can me something different to different people. Let me know what your thoughts are on these slogans and maybe you could suggest some better ones.
The product is no longer sugar water. The slogan is far less important.
What I mean is… these sites are known for their steak, not their sizzle.
Slight mistype in Facebook’s slogan: Facebook is a social utility that *connects* you, not “contexts” you.
I totally agree about the irony of MySpace, although there’s nothing like a well-intentioned slogan to convince the naive.
I am a strong believer that major players in the market need short, five-words-or-less slogans that capture their essence, and Facebook doesn’t do that. I wouldn’t even consider what you list as a slogan, as it’s just a description of what the site does. Of course, in today’s world, sites like Facebook don’t seem to need catchy slogans to entice new users; rather, they need to find ways to keep users from getting too bored once they’re already on the site.
It would be important when analyzing the slogan that is the meat of this piece, to correctly identify it. It’s not “Facebook is a social utility that CONTEXTS you with the people around you.” It’s CONNECTS. CONTEXTS would be very weird in this context (pun intended). Also, this is more of a description than a slogan. Look at the others you mentioned- The Hi5 and Myspace slogans are memorable. Facebook’s is so long that you couldn’t even remember it properly… that’s probably not an effective “slogan.”
http://blog.collegetonight.com
The product is no longer sugar water. The slogan is far less important.
What I mean is… these sites are known for their steak, not their sizzle.
Slight mistype in Facebook’s slogan: Facebook is a social utility that *connects* you, not “contexts” you.
I totally agree about the irony of MySpace, although there’s nothing like a well-intentioned slogan to convince the naive.
I am a strong believer that major players in the market need short, five-words-or-less slogans that capture their essence, and Facebook doesn’t do that. I wouldn’t even consider what you list as a slogan, as it’s just a description of what the site does. Of course, in today’s world, sites like Facebook don’t seem to need catchy slogans to entice new users; rather, they need to find ways to keep users from getting too bored once they’re already on the site.
Good idea to look at SNS taglines. Wow - facebook’s is absolutely awful:
- No personality
- The tagline is not “bigger” than the product itself. What is it about connecting people that is important?
- It’s too damn functional - I can just hear Zuckerberg saying it. I think they need to move towards something evocative.
It would be important when analyzing the slogan that is the meat of this piece, to correctly identify it. It’s not “Facebook is a social utility that CONTEXTS you with the people around you.” It’s CONNECTS. CONTEXTS would be very weird in this context (pun intended). Also, this is more of a description than a slogan. Look at the others you mentioned- The Hi5 and Myspace slogans are memorable. Facebook’s is so long that you couldn’t even remember it properly… that’s probably not an effective “slogan.”
http://blog.collegetonight.com
I stick to my story. A slogan only matters in so far as people are buying what you’re selling based on the marketing of something aside from what you’re actually selling (I call it “sizzle”). Facebook is all about getting what you want from a site. No catchy gimmicks. In fact, I don’t think MySpace’s slogan has helped very much either except in so far as it has served as a description.
Good idea to look at SNS taglines. Wow - facebook’s is absolutely awful:
- No personality
- The tagline is not “bigger” than the product itself. What is it about connecting people that is important?
- It’s too damn functional - I can just hear Zuckerberg saying it. I think they need to move towards something evocative.
I stick to my story. A slogan only matters in so far as people are buying what you’re selling based on the marketing of something aside from what you’re actually selling (I call it “sizzle”). Facebook is all about getting what you want from a site. No catchy gimmicks. In fact, I don’t think MySpace’s slogan has helped very much either except in so far as it has served as a description.
Good article Anthony!
My problem was never with well thought out slogans like Bebo’s or Hi5’s, it was with the less thoughtful ones like — as you mentioned — Facebook.
A slogan is supposed to tell a story, but much more than that it is supposed to tell a story that is palatable to the demographic that you’re targeting.
A good example of this is, “I’m Lovin’ It.” It’s thoughtful and it speaks to those who McDonalds sees as its target demographic.
Now lets look at Facebook.
“Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around youâ€
Beyond the fact that this is an extremely long winded explanation of Facebook’s approach to Social Networking, it also doesn’t resonate with Facebook’s college demographic, which is -still- a very large percentage of its traffic.
I don’t think that every company creates thoughtless slogans, I think that -many- companies would do well to clarify their vision so that their slogans are more meaningful to those who they are trying to court.
Good article Anthony!
My problem was never with well thought out slogans like Bebo’s or Hi5’s, it was with the less thoughtful ones like — as you mentioned — Facebook.
A slogan is supposed to tell a story, but much more than that it is supposed to tell a story that is palatable to the demographic that you’re targeting.
A good example of this is, “I’m Lovin’ It.” It’s thoughtful and it speaks to those who McDonalds sees as its target demographic.
Now lets look at Facebook.
“Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around youâ€
Beyond the fact that this is an extremely long winded explanation of Facebook’s approach to Social Networking, it also doesn’t resonate with Facebook’s college demographic, which is -still- a very large percentage of its traffic.
I don’t think that every company creates thoughtless slogans, I think that -many- companies would do well to clarify their vision so that their slogans are more meaningful to those who they are trying to court.
I really don’t think that’s facebook’s slogan
I really don’t think that’s facebook’s slogan
Speaking as a marketer, Facebook’s slogan is very poor (”social utility” - horrible). I don’t think that reflects a desire to avoid catchy gimmicks - rather a reflection that Facebook doesn’t really know what it is (or has become)
Speaking as a marketer, Facebook’s slogan is very poor (”social utility” - horrible). I don’t think that reflects a desire to avoid catchy gimmicks - rather a reflection that Facebook doesn’t really know what it is (or has become)