Insights from Social Media Strategies event
Today The Insight Exchange ran its Social Media Strategies event. It was an excellent session, with some great case studies. Below are the rough notes that I took during the event – hopefully a reasonable representation of what we heard.
Aisha Hilary, Communications Specialist, New Media and Brand, SBS
Social media is the use of electronic & internet tools for the purpose of sharing and discussing information and experiences with others.
It’s not niche any more – there are 5.1 million Australians on social networks, 7 million sharing photos, 3.6 million sharing video, 4.5 million reading blogs and 1.5 million with their own blogs.
So why engage? To each out and connect to customers and audience, building awareness, providing unique and relevant content, and building loyalty.
Overarching principles of strategy:
Listen & Understand
Context & Commitment
Create & Deliver
Listen, Engage & Facilitate
Evaluate, Learn & Listen again
SBS’s Insight program uses Twitter feeds in their live shows, and Facebook to identify topics and people who can speak on the program.
For Top Gear Australia, they used social media feedback on Series 1 to make changes to Series 2.
Sustainable engagement is critical – accessible, available, transparent, building a community around your brands or content.
The road to engagement is a cycle of
ENGAGE – LISTEN – CONTEXT – CREATE
Kate Leaman, Brand Communication Manager, Premium Beer, Fosters Group
Con Frantzeskos, Digital and Social Media Strategist
Beer is a crowded and fragmented market, and Cascade needed a reinvigorated brand, so they redesigned the bottle for Pale Ale to appeal to a broader audience. Incidentally the bottle was smaller.
Many people were unhappy about this, spurring the creation of 8 anti-Pale Ale Facebook page with a total over 2,000 members against the change. Sales went down, including for draught beer, with Cascade’s home of Tasmania the worst impacted.
The Cascade team engaged in a social media 101 session with Edelman PR, and worked out what to do.
They monitored online conversations as a necessary first step, and used that to mould and inform their response. They could get insights into the degree of feeling on specific issues.
The first part of the response was to say sorry. The next step was to create content including Twitter and Facebook pages. Cascade was the world’s first brewery to be on Twitter. [A claim later disproved on Twitter – LovellLager beat them by almost three months.] This enabled Cascade to communicate directly to their community rather than through the media or advertising.
Frantzeskos engaged in social media on behalf of Cascade, making his role completely transparent.
It was a media campaign done backwards, starting with social media, then communities, and finally hitting the mainstream media, which quoted the positive things the community was saying about the relaunch.
The campaign was successful in terms of generating sales higher than before the disastrous initial change.
This was the first time the Fosters Group had engaged in social media, so there was much nervousness, with the legal team seeing the strategy as high risk. There are additional constraints in complying with alcohol advertising regulations. For example their Twitter site has a disclaimer.
Lessons:
* Continually monitor what’s being said
* Be transparent and respectful
* Make sure all information is correct
* Ask permission to engage in existing communities
* Influence by participating not pitching
* If you don’t have the expertise seek the advise of experts
* Set realistic benchmarks – expect that there will be negative sentiment
* It is an ongoing commitment – maintain the relationship/ conversation
* Be ready – if you need legal signoff to respond do as much as you can beforehand
* Have fun!
Chris Noble, General Manager, World Nomads
Listen, Learn and Respond
WorldNomads is a travel insurance company. It started by providing audio lessons and reference for languages.
They made it into an iPhone app which has had 550,000 downloads.
They use their community on Facebook, Twitter, and their own website to get feedback on any ideas they have for products and engaging their community.
In the aftermath of the Asian tsunami they created a contribution site, asking for $2, and found specific projects to support so that they could provide feedback on results to the contributors. They have created an API to enable other sites to bring in contributions.
When you monitor your brands online, often messages are misunderstood – it gets very complex. It is a can of worms, so if you do it you can’t be half-hearted.
Direct business has gone up from 30% to 40% since engaging in social media.
* Be stubborn with your Social Media Vision, but flexible with your plan
* Social Media provides an opportunity to engage and listen
* Engage through the channels where your customers are
* Respond & deliver relevant products and services that meet their needs – that’s what will drive positive word-of-mouth
QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION
One of the most prominent discussion topics after the presentation was about who to get from within the organization to participate in social media. One of the issues is finding the people who are both enthusiastic and responsible. Another key issue is giving people the latitude to contribute to social media as part of their role without it adding to their workload. People don’t want to commit to blogging or Twittering or otherwise engaging on behalf of their company if that’s then an ongoing commitment. They want to feel that they have support, and it doesn’t up in their lap only. In many cases social media initiatives never get underway because no-one puts their hand up.
Committing to Social Media – My Chat with Aisha Hillary from SBS
Aisha Hillary, Communications Specialist, SBS
“Social Media is about adding channels to get the message across”, Aisha said as we started our conversation. Although this is true, I wanted to dig deeper and find out why then did SBS create an engagement team and not a social media channel team? It’s more complex than adding just another communication channel.
In my research, what seems to be throwing companies into such a tizzy is that fact that this new communication channel talks back! AND it talks to others! When I asked Aisha how she is handling this “talk back” from her audience, she gave me some amazing insights into how SBS views social media and how she’s handling the phenomenon – she’ll be addressing this at our event, Social Media Strategies on 21 July.
Another communication channel, yes. That’s the core of social media – to communicate. But what else needs to be considered before jumping into the pool?
During our luncheon event, Aisha will talk about her four points for engaging in social media. But more importantly she’ll discuss the aspects of a social media strategy that need to be considered within the organization. Aisha is finding at SBS that by educating employees on how social media can benefit the company, their relationships, and their service it’s having an amazing affect on employee retention and loyalty.
Aisha will kick off our Social Media Strategies event talking about the fundamentals of social media and how important it is to “make the commitment” to make it happen. Yes, it’ll talk back – but that’s the biggest benefit social media channels can offer.
Who Needs a Social Media Strategy?
Chris Noble, General Manager, WorldNomads.com
I had the pleasure of speaking with Chris Noble, General Manager of WorldNomads.com (@worldnomads on Twitter) last week and boy was I inspired. Here’s a guy whose company sells travel insurance, a very unexciting product, on the phone with me passionately explaining how social media is all about taking advantage of opportunities, being innovative, and striking the right balance with your customers, audience, and community. You’ll no doubt be blown away by what he’s accomplished.
By starting with a blog, moving to podcasts, and most recently developing an iPhone app, Chris seems to have done it all and, I should say, successfully. He explained how business is moving to a “CoOp-petition” environment and by understanding that social media is part of the fabric of an organization, any company can succeed.
At the Social Media Strategies luncheon taking place 21 July in Sydney, Chris will go through his philosophy of Listen, Learn, and Respond and THEN analyse approach to social media and how not having a rigid strategy has worked for him. You’ll hear how he’s been able to develop new initiatives (and new companies) from the use of social media and create a competitive advantage within his industry.
Perhaps NOT having a structured social media strategy is the best strategy of all.
How Cascade Connected with Consumers
Kate Leaman, Brand Communications Manager, Fosters Group
It’s pretty amazing how passionate consumers can get around a brand. Kate Leaman, Brand Communications Manager at Fosters found out first hand the importance of implementing a social media strategy to corral consumers passions allowing them to become advocates of the brand.
In Tasmania, consumers were upset with Cascade for distributing their Pale Ale in smaller bottles for the same price. Feeling cheated and taken advantage of, a group of angry consumers got together and created a Facebook group AGAINST Cascade, which ultimately made it into the traditional news headlines. This immediately prompted Fosters to do something to get these consumers back on their side.
Kate’s challenge was simple: figure our how to manage the bad press, the animosity, and the disgruntled consumers by using online means. Quickly, Kate went online and saw the anger and realised that she had to get to the root of the problem to be able to solve it. With an understanding of the issues, she called on Con Frantzeskos to help her design, implement and monitor a social media strategy.
On 21 July, at the Social Media Strategies luncheon, Kate will walk us through the steps she took in creating the successful Cascade social media campaign. She’ll explain the importance of listening, monitoring, chosen language, and tools used to really dive into the community and make a change. Her case study will give you a first hand look at the importance of getting it right the first time and help you understand, as Kate says, “it’s about the intentions and the relationships, not the tools and the platforms.”
Social Media Strategies – Event Overview
Here it is another Friday and another week has gone by pulling together what looks to be a fantastic lunch program, Social Media Strategies, coming up 21 July. I have to say I love learning how people have overcome challenges. Complete with two case studies and an interactive format, I think you’ll be able to take home some key practical tactics and insights to help you develop a social media strategy right for your organization.
As I mentioned, I’ve have had the chance to interview and speak with all four of our presenters and believe they’ll be able to give you some great insight into how to approach developing a social media strategy. They’ll be able to talk through what has worked, what hasn’t, and how Social Media is changing the way they do business.
I’ll be posting all my interviews with our speakers next week, but here’s a bit of what you can expect at the event.
First, Aisha Hillary, Communications Specialist at SBS and part of their newly formed Social Media Team will go through what companies need to consider when pulling together a social media strategy.
Kate Leaman, Brand Communications Manager, from Fosters Group will then walk you through her “Ready… Aim… Fire!” approach. She will be discussing the importance of getting yourself ready to tackle social media and how monitoring is so important. Walking through her experience in launching the Cascade Pale Ale social media campaign, she’ll explain the important aspects, tools, and techniques to setting a successful social media strategy.
Social Media expert, Con Frantzeskos, will also be on the panel and will explain from an agency point of view the steps, platforms, and delivery methods available to create a successful engagement strategy. He worked with Kate on the Cascade campaign, so all your questions can be answered from all sides.
Finally, Chris Noble, General Manager of WorldNomads.com has been extremely innovative in the way he’s built and engaged with his audience. His “Aim – Fire! – Ready” approach begins with knowing his community and implementing Social Media from a holistic point of view. He’s been able to test, try, and deliver some of the most imaginative social media campaigns. You’ll hear how he’s been able to take advantage of opportunities as they arise and that how that is a strategy all of its own.
Developing a social media strategy is very dependent on your audience, your customers, and your product, so, is one of these approaches right for you? Join us for this case study driven event and take home some practical tactics on getting started in the social media space.
I look forward to seeing you 21 July!
