It’s easy to get caught up in the fervor of democratization that blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Google, and countless other social media apps have ignited. It seems to be true that we are no longer paying heed to The Man, but rather the men – our peers. Technology, fashion, TV shows, books, art, cars, movies, newspapers, elections – their trends have been swayed; their fates have been written; and their reputations lampooned or glorified, publicly, by the audience most dear to them – their customers.

Social media’s proposition for power is heady. We can amass friends and followers in 6 digit figures. Our megaphone to the world to launch our ideas, share our opinions, and gain fame, is at our fingertips. We can tweet #FAIL!!! and have a SWOT team of customer service meet us on Twitter doing everything they can so that we remain a customer and tag our next tweet about them a #SUCCESS!!!. The same deal is on the table for the companies, who have the golden opportunity to interact directly with their customers, to build one-on-one relationships, and to track the public sentiment towards their brand, all for free, via the ever expanding toolbox of social media.

It’s infectious, gratifying, and all the rage – but just like Diet Coke, it’s probably too good to be true.

Now more than ever, we follow the leaders.

I came across this statement in the first issue of Industrie Magazine, a fashion publication that has set out to shift the focus from the trends, to the influencers that shape them. Their manifesto, so to speak, follows:

“The fashion media has changed. It has progressed from an authoritarian business model to a democratic peer-to-peer quest for information … [via] the explosive popularity of fashion blogs, Twitter and fashion as entertainment across all media channels. In the wake of all that, it is easy to think that things have moved on, and that fashion is now a product of the broader consensus; that today, because of the sheer volume and accessibility of information, you and I shape the trends. At least, that’s what we’ve been led to believe. In fact, the change is merely cosmetic. More people simply report the same things … when it comes to setting the fashion agenda, things have barely moved an inch. The chosen few, those who have the ability to guide us by their taste, remain firmly in control of the conversation, and today their opinion is more sought after than ever.”

Social media’s ideal of democratization isn’t reserved just for personal fame, customer service, or fashion. Startup companies, who historically have found themselves looking to their peers for council, can now cast their nets wider via crowdsourcing. It’s convenient, cheap, and the sheer quantity of ideas at your fingertips leaves you feeling that the odds are on your side – one of them is bound to be good.

But as Malcolm Gladwell shares in his recent New Yorker article, “Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted“:

“No one believes that the articulation of a coherent design philosophy is best handled by a sprawling, leaderless organizational system. Because networks don’t have a centralized leadership structure and clear lines of authority, they have real difficulty reaching consensus and setting goals. They can’t think strategically; they are chronically prone to conflict and error. How do you make difficult choices about tactics or strategy or philosophical direction when everyone has an equal say?”

How do you make difficult choices about tactics or strategy or philosophical direction when everyone has an equal say?

The reasoning follows that brands can’t be effectively designed by consulting your friends and followers, or even the anonymous crowd-source designers. In order to create an effective brand, you must first create a hierarchy, a strategy, a filter through which to determine whether something rings true or not for your brand. In his blog post, “The Role of Brand Experience Design in Start-Ups,” Kristian describes the single most important factor in determining a business’ success or failure – the brand experience. The responsibility of which must ultimately belong to the company’s leadership:

“…Brand experience design is really a comprehensive, ongoing exercise in the design of the actual business itself. This means that designing brand experiences cannot be entirely outsourced to advertising agencies, design firms, or management consultants. Ultimately CEO stands for chief experience officer. Anything less than full belief and commitment on their part will result in a sub-optimal brand experience for customers, trading partners, and employees.”

Ultimately CEO stands for chief experience officer.

So whether you’re managing the brand for a startup, mid-size or Fortune 500 company, or even if you’re simply looking to better manage your personal brand, don’t fall on Twitter, CrowdSpring, Facebook, or your best friend’s mom to shape your brand strategy. Sure – you need to talk to them, evangelize your brand to them, and listen to them, especially if they’re your target customer. But, to build a truly successful brand, you need a hierarchy, not a network. The many merits of social media are probably too good to be true; they make it easier to express oursleves, but as Malcolm warns, “harder for that expression to have any impact. The instruments of social media are well suited to making the existing social order more efficient. They are not a natural enemy of the status quo.”

And who really wants to be status quo in a world that follows the leaders?