I dare say that social media wouldn't work as a marketing tool if normal people weren't just a little bit narcissistic. (Yes, that includes you too.) That harmless dose of narcissism from which we all suffer is called "false uniqueness" in social psychology. It's the human tendency to believe that we are each more special than everyone else. We're all better drivers than anyone else. We have better taste in clothes or music or our politics are more informed and enlightened. We're all far above average at one or more things (I'm sorry to say that's not true). We all have the worst luck, and it's that bad luck that makes unfortunate things happen to us (rather than our ineptitude or laziness), because we are certainly more deserving of good things than most people too.
This low level narcissism isn't such a bad thing. It helps us live with ourselves despite our flaws. And our personal belief that we are special means that we fight to get our own needs met, sometimes at the expense of others. That's survival.
To maintain our own high flying perceptions of ourselves, we constantly work on maintaining others' perceptions of us through countless micro-behaviors every single day. We are all image managers to varying degrees of skill and success. Brands fit into our image management because they help us present a nonverbal story about ourselves to everyone around us. People don't buy Burberry because they adore plaid. They buy Burberry so you know they can.
Social media is the ultimate environment for personal story telling and image managing. And that's why brands have a place in the social media space. Strong brands thrive in social media because people want to closely associate themselves with certain products to help complete their story in the online space. Becoming a fan of REI is a nonverbal declaration that you're a person who likes outdoor adventure. You want people to know that dimension of yourself because it's interesting and maybe it's a little bit counter to the person most people believe you to be. That REI fan page serves as one piece of your bigger story.
So what does this mean for brands in the social media space? It means that the most successful social media strategies will be founded on an understanding of the personal story the brand helps people tell. Before you think of tactics, like Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, develop a strategy that taps into people's passions as they relate to your brand. Every tactic should stir those passions and help complete the personal story your audience is trying to tell. And then your customers will tell your brand story for you, gladly, willingly, and passionately.
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