If 2011 has taught us anything, it’s that large groups of people can sway opinion, encourage change and find a way to take back the power. Today’s branding and marketing environment, with social media and mobile technology, is more about pleasing and appealing to a target audience than it ever was – you can no longer solely depend on a self-serving advertisement whereby a message is shoved in people’s faces and they have no choice but to take your word for it; no, people can now share, create groups, comment and reject.

So if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! It’s important to ensure that you are wherever your audience is; if it’s on Facebook, invest in a page; if it’s on a smartphone or tablet, create an app… whatever the platform, the key point is that you have to now invest in your audience to convince them to invest in you. That being said, remember the content is as, if not more, important than the platform – consider carefully what will get your audiences’ attention, people are not going to bother opening the lines of communication unless they stand to benefit from it, so genuine creativity must be applied to every approach. Here are two examples of brands that put the current platforms to clever use:

Specsavers in the UK recently ran a campaign on the new Google+ brand pages. Google+ has a feature called “hangouts” whereby users can video call multiple people; a “hangout” with Specsavers’ brand ambassador Gok Wan (stylist and TV presenter) was part of the campaign.

Pampers (Procter & Gamble) launched an app (Hello Baby) for both iPhone and iPad where expectant mothers can experience each stage of a baby’s development from week four to forty of pregnancy.