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Social Media Week 2011: Top tips for social media listening done right

 

 

By Elissa Ehrlich, Account Director, Affect Strategies

This morning, I attended Pay Attention! Social Media Listening Done Right event as part of New York’s Social Media Week. I was drawn to this event because lately, everyone seems to be drowning in a sea of information, whether it’s on Twitter, Facebook or in their email inbox.

True to its promise, panelists offered advice and best practices for finding and analyzing the useful information amidst the clutter. Here are some top tips and strategies for not only listening well, but how to best use the information:

• Put the information in the context of other data: You know the saying – you need to compare apples to apples. In the case of marketing, companies cannot create their strategy without understanding the broader marketplace and their competitors. To properly analyze the information gathered on social media, put it into dashboards or other tools that will draw correlations between competitors’ data and industry conversations. Also use the data to determine your brand’s correlation to other brands which can be potential marketing vehicles, like TV shows or musicians.
• Size doesn’t matter: To find useful information on your brand, focus on finding the group that’s most passionate about the company or product, no matter the size.
• It’s a work in progress: Use the community to get feedback for things as they are in progress, such as the Beta release of a new product. This information can be invaluable as you finalize the positioning and features of the product or initiative. 
• Put the right person in front of the data: If you’re investing in social media, invest in putting the person best equipped to analyze the data in front of your monitoring tool or dashboard. The ideal person should also understand and have the authority to bring the insights gleaned to the right stakeholder and influence them to take action.
• Don’t be afraid of what you’ll find: If you’re engaging in social media, you’re already taking risks. Understand you don’t have control over the conversations happening in social media, but you can influence and respond to them when necessary. Also keep in mind that conversations online are more extreme than those that occur in “real life,” as traditional social norms are not always present.
• Don’t put too much stock into Tweets: Remember that the Twitter community probably doesn’t represent the opinions of your entire community. On the flipside, Facebook probably does represent your community better than any other social networking site ever can or will, as 25 percent of time spent online is now spent on Facebook. Keep in mind though that you will never be able to listen to everything on Facebook due to its privacy settings. And ethically, brands shouldn’t attempt to.
• Don’t respond to everything: A few years ago, brands were applauded for responding to any customer complaint or question online. This day in age, constant responses can overwhelm the consumer very quickly. Be selective on your responses and understand that not every complaint or personal opinion warrants action from your brand.    
  

Social Media Week 2011: 10 ways to suck at social media

Continuing Social Media Week 2011,  Johnson King’s Hannah Townsend and Ginnia Cheng attended '10 ways to suck at social media'.  To make sure you’re not sucking at social media, read their blog on the Affect Strategies blog.

Social Media Week 2011: Want to organise a rally? Try social media, says Comedy Central

 

 

By Brittany Bevacqua, Senior Account Executive & Julia Gaynor, Account Supervisor, Affect Strategies

In PR, marketing and social media, nearly everyone can recall a time when a client needs project support in a very tight, if not nearly impossible, window of time.  In Comedy Central's case, the clients were network talent Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who each announced the 'Rally to Restore Insanity' and the 'March to Keep Fear Alive' events not via email or during an internal meeting, but instead during episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

On day two of Social Media Week 2011, we had the opportunity to attend a panel sponsored by Comedy Central titled, 'Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear Case Study,' which discussed the social media driven tactics that would lead to the resounding success of the event on October 30, 2010 in Washington D.C.  The panel consisted of:

• Steve Grimes, SVP Comedy Central, Digital
• Don Steele, VP Digital Marketing, MTVN Entertainment
• Moderator: Craig Minassain, Rally Producer and President, Minassain Media

The panel began with the realisation that Comedy Central had no previous knowledge that Stewart or Colbert had planned to announce the events.  After the initial shock, the Comedy Central team had just six week to organise, promote and execute the rally event in Washington D.C. 

Because of the tight timeline, the group turned to social media in lieu of traditional marketing activities to ensure a successful campaign.  By tapping into The Daily Show and The Colbert Report's strong viewer following via Twitter and Facebook, they were instantly able to begin generating buzz and attendee interest in the weeks leading up to the event.

Through partnerships with outlets such as Foursquare and Meetup, Comedy Central was able to reach its audiences from all angles.  As a result, more than 250,000 attended the rally; two million viewers watched it on Comedy Central; it emerged as the largest single event for Foursquare; and was one of the biggest live streaming events in history for MTV Networks.

One of the key learnings the panelists felt came out of this experience was actually to put the viewers or customers more in the driver's seat.  Both shows have significant viewer advocates.  By using social media to listen to what they needed and wanted out of the event, the team was able to formulate a successful event.

Another key takeaway that panelists found to be invaluable in their experience was to let the experts do their jobs.  Often times, as marketers, we can dream up fantastic ideas, but when it comes down to execution, we may not have the skill set in order to make it happen. 

The Comedy Central team learned this when developing an iPhone app for the event.  They found experts in creating apps for music festivals and leveraged their talents to pull out the seemingly impossible feat of developing and deploying an iPhone app in less than six weeks.

The most significant learning for the Comedy Central team was that social media needed to be part of the everyday activities of the shows.  They saw the true power of the medium and what could be achieved by engaging with fans in this venue.  This is something that every marketer can learn from.

Not all clients have built-in followings like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, but no matter if you're selling ceiling fans or coffee, social media engagement has been proven to have a real, tangible impact on a business.

 

Social Media Week: Social Commerce Has Arrived

 
Ryan Derousseau, Social Media Manager, Affect Strategies

It’s a question that has troubled companies and marketers alike: How do you make money off of social media? Well, according to the Social Media Week panel attended yesterday at Saatchi and Saatchi Wellness, it’s a question of the past (almost).

That’s because more and more, companies are figuring out creative and interactive ways to utilize Facebook or mobile applications to make the entire experience of shopping more social. But in order to accomplish this, brands have to realize that the dynamics have also changed. Back in the days when email marketing dominated, consumers were given information without their desire. Whether it was an email marketing campaign or spam, they received information that they didn’t ask for. Now consumers are in control of who contacts them. This means consumers decide which brands to interact with, and they can organize their Facebook page or mobile device by brand affinity.

So they decide what they want to hear, which means advocacy is the key to a social campaign. And to get that advocacy, you need to offer the consumer something for all their efforts. Spa Week had the right idea. In one of the more interesting campaigns I’ve heard, Spa Week offered a chance for customers to earn money for providing brand advocacy. If a customer liked the Spa Week Facebook page, they had the chance to purchase a gift card. If the customer purchased a gift card then posted on Facebook about the purchase, they could use a special tracking link. Then if their friends used the link to go purchase a gift card, Spa Week would give the original customer a 10% discount on their purchase. Spa Week used a PayPal account, where the customer could go find their money.

Pretty cool!  So what should brands do to assure they are able to profit off of a social media campaign? One overarching complaint from the event was when companies don’t provide a budget to market the social media campaign or mobile app. The idea can’t function in a vacuum, so in order for it to work, companies need to support it with some marketing. Remember, 10,000 active, engaged customers can be way better than a 95 million viewers. Other advice: Make sure any technology you use doesn’t overshadow the brand, or take so much time developing that it hurts the brand. Plus, make sure the platform is appropriate for what you want to get out of the campaign.

But back to that old question: Can social media lead to sales? David Soubie, of HauteLook shined some light on that. HauteLook, a fashion daily deal site, offer fans a chance to shop, purchase and get special deals all through Facebook. The fan can even select the type of stuff they’re interested in, which creates their own little storefront. According to Soubie, a deal HauteLook offered with the brand DVF on Facebook produced 30,000 new fans, 800 orders and a 3.6 percent conversion rate. What does that mean? Social commerce has arrived.

 

Social Media Week 2011: How to write for social media

Johnson King’s Jonathan Mathias attended the Social Media Week London event called ‘Sweet Retweets’ on how to write content specifically for Twitter and Facebook. For more information, read Jonathan’s blog on the Affect Strategies blog.

Social Media Week 2011: How to protect reputation in a digital world

As part of Social Media Week 2011, Johnson King’s Laura Mead assesses how companies can protect their reputation in a digital world.  To learn more about why digital media matters and what can happen to companies if social media is not taken seriously, read the full post the Affect Strategies blog.

Social Media Week: Social Gaming – how social dynamics are reshaping gaming

 

 

by Regina Nisita, Account Supervisor, Affect Strategies

Many of us can admit to spending some time in any given day on our computers, mobile devices or consoles playing games.  Some gamers prefer online single-player games, while others seek out communities within their gaming worlds, while still others like to gather with a group of friends in their homes for fierce game challenges.  So, of these, who are the social gamers and how is social gaming changing the gaming and marketing landscape? 

Today kicked off the first day of Social Media Week 2011. I had the opportunity to attend a panel in New York City, “How Social Dynamics are Reshaping Gaming.”  The panel consisted of:

• Josh Shabtai, Emerging Media Strategist, JWT
• Keith Katz, VP of Marketing, Open Feint
• Bill Clifford, VP, Global Ad Sales, Wild Tangent
• Manny Anekal, Director of Brand Advertising, Zynga Games
• Moderator: Nick Parish, North American Editor, Contagious Magazine

The discussion immediately launched into defining a social game.  There are some differing opinions about what truly makes a social game versus a regular game, especially since many people will say that most multi-player games, whether video or board, are inherently social.  A few definitions were offered by the panelists that helped to frame the discussion: any game that builds an online community; gaming regardless of time, space and geographic location; and games where “friends” can help each other reach specific achievements in game play.  For the purpose of the panel, the discussion focused mainly on multi-player online games, whether played on a mobile device, console or computer. 

Social games have seen an influx in popularity over the past few years, especially with games like Farmville and Mafia Wars on Facebook.  So how has this popularity changed the face of gaming and, as a result, marketing?  Here are some insights from the panel:

• Immediate feedback from the gaming community:  According to the panel, one aspect of social gaming that has had a great impact on the gaming industry has been the availability of immediate feedback.  Instead of waiting weeks to hear player feedback, social games have the ability to provide real time feedback immediately after launch.  This not only gives consumers a voice in suggesting fixes for game play but it also give developers the opportunity to change game play, sometimes within hours. 
• Changes to KPI to meet social gaming structure: Instead of using the old ways to measure success (for example, click-through rates), new KPIs must be used that make more sense in the social gaming world and can measure the interactive nature of games.  The panel suggested a few including engagement time, share-through rate and like rate.  As with any campaign, brand marketers must determine first what the campaign’s goals are before starting any social game campaign.  Without knowing what you want to measure and what you are basing the success of the campaign on, it is very easy to fall back into old habits which may not demonstrate the true success of the campaign.

• As always, product placement/branding must feel organic:  Manny Anekal from Zynga Games mentioned that, more and more, brands need to go to where its audience is, not build a game for its audience.  Part of the reason for this is gamers, casual or not, do not like product placement that does not naturally tie into the game play or storyline.  Instead of building a game that does not have anything to do with your brand, figure out where your audience is and make sure the product is a good fit for the game.  One example, Farmer’s Insurance in Farmville.   Also, don’t advertise your brand just for the sake of advertising.  Keith Katz, VP of marketing at Open Feint brought up a good point.  Gamers want rewards.  The best way to make them notice your brand? Tie the brand into a game reward or plot point. This way, the gamer is forced to recognize the brand. 

As marketers, we are always looking for new ways to reach out target audiences.  Keep an eye on social gaming.  It could be the next big boom in marketing. 

Social Media Week 2011

by Jonathan Mathias 

This week, Johnson King will - for the second year in a row - be attending the annual Social Media Week London event.  Last year we brought you a series of blog entries, authored by both Johnson King and our partner agency, Affect Strategies, who attended Social Media Week New York.  This year is no different, as we again share our thoughts on all things social media from both sides of the Atlantic on the blog, twitter feed and LinkedIn discussion group. 

A lot has happened in a year. Mark Zuckerberg was named Time Person of the Year 2010, a film about his website is up for eight Oscars, Old Spice got social media right, while others struggled, and we’ve recently seen more demonstrations of the power and influence of social media in a political context. ‘Social Media’ is as hot a topic as it’s ever been, but is it any nearer to being successfully channelled and reliably exploited by businesses? Well, campaigns such as the Old Spice one already mentioned certainly raked in the hits, as did the Tippex campaign - both showing how popular, and widely received, viral videos can be. We also found out that social media is no panacea, with brands such as BP and Nestlé unable (or perhaps just unprepared?) to use social media to their advantage in times of crisis.

Towards the end of 2010, I wrote about how all the travel disruption at the time demonstrated just how badly some businesses and organisations were neglecting to use social media to inform and engage their target audiences.  However, since then, I’ve also written about some encouraging experiences with businesses starting to use social media tools including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare and, most recently, Facebook has announced Facebook Deals, which augments the social network’s Foursquare killer, Facebook Places. 

I genuinely feel that, whereas 2010 was more of a social media training ground - where businesses got more to grips with the potential opportunities and real possibilities - we’re really going to see social media come of age with businesses either making or breaking it by how they exploit the tools on offer. 

It will certainly be interesting to see how the sessions at Social Media Week 2011 address the hottest questions a la mode; how can you protect your reputation with social media?  Exactly how should you use Facebook & Twitter for business, and, the question everyone seems to be asking, is Quora the new Twitter?! 

It’s all just a little bit of history repeating itself…

by Oliver Fischer

Once upon a time an event of epic proportions shook Europe. Suddenly the people were not only part of it, they wrote about it and published their views, so other people could read about their take on what was happening.  Of course, some people (journalists for example) have always published their thoughts but, suddenly, everyone was at it! And they didn’t just do it once; they even started to publish different information more and more regularly.

If you would ask different people what period of media history I’m talking about, I’m quite sure you would get a lot of different answers.  Probably, most responses would refer to the rise of Web 2.0 and social media (whether it’s blogs, Facebook and Twitter), which has meant pretty much anyone has the ability to publish information about their lives and events of public interest.

Well, here are some alternative answers.

I could – for example – also be talking about the situation in Central Europe during the 17^th Century in the area that is now known as Germany.  With every turn of the Thirty Years’ War, several new periodical publications were founded and several popular prints were published to inform or persuade people.  I could equally be discussing the increase in number of newspapers in England after the end of the license system in 1695 or during the War of the Spanish Succession 1701-1714.  Or, I could be describing the foundation of almost one thousand newspapers in France during the revolution of 1789-1793.

During these (mostly aggressive and radical) events in history, more and more people started to publish their experiences, opinions, true and made-up stories, facts and propaganda on a periodical basis – because with the inventions of Gutenberg and others some decades before, the opportunity to do so was much easier.  This is, in a nutshell (and not at all in every detail), how the press started its success story in Europe.  Many of these new publications disappeared again soon after, but for a short period of time, the provision of information increased significantly.

Another example could be the current situation in Tunisia where, after the revolution, journalists have to learn to handle their freedom again.  Not to mention the never ending discussion if video really killed the radio star.

But new media – and every medium was “new” somewhere along the way – has also lead to reactions from the government, society and from the economic system.  These reactions mostly follow similar patterns, including a phase of ignorance and the attempt to subordinate the new media under old rules.  In my opinion, the knowledge of these patterns and how to break them (if necessary) is quite important for PR and communications professionals. 

If you just have a closer look, you can see that in some way it’s really all just a little bit of history repeating itself …

LinkedIn's InMaps - a lab feature that we hope is here to stay

Labs.  They pass many of us by but the internet giants all have them, the development websites where users can access innovative features and projects made by the company’s employees.  Google has Google Labs where you can ‘explore new ideas’ whilst Facebook has Facebook Protoypes where you can test out their ‘experiments’.  These sites are great for getting users to trial features.  If they are a success, they might be integrated into the main product.  If not, they may be removed. 

Over at the alliteratively pleasing LinkedIn Labs, there is one feature that has been garnering a lot of attention.  The InMaps analytics project uses the connections from your profile data to create a visual representation of the relationships in your professional network.  It categorises the different sections into colours, enabling you to spot patterns and links between contacts, thus creating a useful tool and a very pretty picture!  This is one lab feature that we hope is here to stay.