"The Secret Power of Brands" is one of the four MOOCs (massive open online courses) that I am currently doing. Very interesting indeed, so for anyone who is looking to learn more about branding, I can only recommend it. As part of the course materials, we were assigned last week to write a short piece answering the following question: To build a successful brand, is it better to control every aspect of the brand, or to encourage people to adopt it and adapt it? Here's how I answered:

In today's era of real-time, in-the-moment, everywhere-and-anytime world of online communications, brands no longer hold control over their reputation. Organisations do indeed control internal activities such as manufacturing, supply chain management, finance and even corporate communications that allow them to ensure expected quality of products and services, but the way their brand is seen and experienced externally is now defined by consumers. As Brian Solis says,

“Businesses are no longer the sole creator of a brand; it is co-created by consumers through shared experiences and defined by the results of online searches and conversations.”

Brands have no physical objectivity. They sell a way of life. The asset of a brand is that dream that exists in the heart and soul of the customer and her experiences of it, shared in the online space.

In a previous blog post I talked about the art of persuasion and the ethical principles of influence as defined by Robert Cialdni. Today, I want to share with you further important principles from the work of another brilliant man – Dale Carnegie and his best-selling book "How to Win Friends and Influence People". The difference between this post and the one about persuasion is that with the advice from this post you can go a step further – from influencing people to making friends, or in the language of business, from influencing strangers to delighting them into becoming your loyal followers.

I read Carnegie's book a while ago and I've been thinking about how to best present my impressions. He offers valuable advice in the form of well categorised principles and I though it doesn't really make sense to just list them. So I got a little creative and put together an infographic that serves as an ethical guide to human relations and making friends.

Why is that important in your professional life?

As Dale Carnegie says,

"Dealing with people is probably the biggest problem you face, especially if you are in business."

Do you agree: storytelling is THE buzzword of the year in marketing and communications? From what I've seen, and read, and experienced, it sure is. I also got addicted (and still am) to studying storytelling and learning how to use it as a powerful tool in PR and social media (see here, here, here and here).

Apparently, the hype hasn't just affected me, but the whole profession seems to be fascinated with storytelling for business.

This was more than evident at the dmexco in Cologne last week – the international digital marketing exposition and conference with the motto "connecting the global digital economy".

I was at the #dmexco on the second day and even though I got to choose which seminars and sessions to visit, many of them touched upon or were entirely focused on the importance of brand storytelling.

But why this sudden fascination? Why this massive interest?

Big shift in media

Well, one of the reasons, obviously, is the "big shift in media" that we've observed over the last decade or so.

This shift is what Jonah Peretti, CEO of BuzzFeed, presented in a really cool and funny way at the closing keynote at the event.

When talking about the "evolution" of BuzzFeed, he said that the company has quickly grown to an organisation which has the reach of a traditional media company, but doesn't function as one. This has been due to the emergence of thousands of new media technologies and types, which on the other hand have transformed media consumption and information sharing.

Today, attention has shifted – your audience is on social and mobile, not TV or radio.

So, the learning here is this: be where your consumers are and be relevant.

The key to successful leadership lies in being human. That's what Unilver's CEO Paul Polman deeply believes in. You wouldn't really expect that to be the most important attribute for one of the world's most influential leaders and especially for a male executive, considering how the general perception of a great leader is the domineering, command-and-control and know-it-all male.

But with the increasing requirement for full transparency, interconnectivity and a values-led approach, it seems that there's something missing in today's prevailing leadership style.

A "female" touch.

We all know about the many opportunities and substantial value social media provides for communications, marketing and for business overall, at least you should if you've been following my blog. What's still a grey area though is the adoption or rather acceptance of social media by the highest hierarchical level (if we can call it that way) in an organisation - the C-Suite.

One of the very fundamental things about social media is that conversations happen all the time, no matter whether you are listening, participating or ignoring them. This means that even if senior management is not following or engaging on platforms such Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram etc. people are still talking and are by driving the conversation about the brand. Those conversations are often so powerful that they even manage to shape the brand's story and significantly influence corporate reputation. Isn't that a reason enough for CEOs to join the conversation and share their voices?

Apparently, for many it is not.