How can North West businesses use social media to build value on the bottom line? Neil Tague reports.
Everybody’s talking about social media. They have been for a while – anyone remember the “No I’m Not on F***ing Facebook” T-shirts a couple of years ago? But now there’s some momentum gathering as to how companies can harness it to develop their business. Primarily, the platforms used are LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, as well as company blogs and YouTube video.
In March, advisory firm Deloitte held a CIO dinner in Manchester on “social computing” and has found its clients at various stages. The firm’s Mason Davies says: “There is stronger evidence now on return on investment, so it’s something we’re keen to share knowledge on.”
The RAW 2010 business conference successfully used social media before, during and after proceedings to engage attendees. The Chartered Institute for Public Relations has asked Staniforth managing director Rob Brown to lead a 15-strong national panel on social media.
“Social media is a method of brand-building without necessarily investing heavily in PR,” says Steve Kuncewicz, IP lawyer at Halliwells. “There’s money to be made, and risks, but I don’t see how anyone can ignore it. Technology has democratised communications – everyone has the means to create and spread content.”
Social media is all over the news, whether its Bebo’s collapsed sale or the prospect of Twitter advertising. First things first – this is not reinventing the wheel. All agree that this has to be an element of a company’s efforts.
Steve Downes of Juice Digital, part of Tangerine PR, says: “The starting point is that people buy from people who they trust and believe. With social media, it’s not talking at people, but having a conversation with them. The power is in the support you get from third parties with no vested interest – word of mouth has always been the most powerful form of advertising going, and this is ‘word of mouse’ advertising.”
The victories so far? Barack Obama’s use of social media in his 2008 campaign; the campaign to force Rage Against the Machine to the Christmas number one slot; and Pepsi’s declaration in January that it would not pour megabucks into launching a new TV ad during the Superbowl, instead investing that amount in social media. The Manchester United “green and gold campaign” started on an internet messageboard.
So how should a business approach all this? Downes says: “Social media does away with splitting professional and personal. If I have a sporadic, information-sharing relationship with someone and have taken the time to learn about them, I stand a good chance of at least being asked to pitch at whatever point in time he reviews his marketing.”
The creatives are falling over themselves to help North West business. Take Jennifer O’Grady, formerly of Brazen and Mason Williams, who set up her firm Democracy three years ago. Since then, she says “we’ve seen loads of agencies realise what’s happening and think oh, we’d better do a bit of that”.
O’Grady says: “I realised that PR isn’t about placing stories in papers or on TV now, but about managing relationships across all media, constantly. I’m a bit of a geek and have always been keen on exploiting how PR can use technology, which is where all this has come from.”
There is a wealth of information online, not all of it well-informed, so companies stand a better chance of getting a good press if they’re taking part in the debate. As social media specialist Paul Fabretti says: “The dissatisfied now have a voice, and a brand can find itself with a time-critical problem to solve.”
In his book, This is Social Media, Guy Clapperton praises the speed of Carphone Warehouse in reacting to Twitter criticisms quickly, averting potential PR nightmares.
So how should companies go about using Twitter? Downes says: “A company’s goal is different from the goal of the user, so if every tweet or post is about you, people will get sick of you. If you’ve got a mate who’s into fishing, how quickly do you switch off when he only talks about fishing? Engage in debates.”
Agencies can devise a strategy for you, or even implement it through their own staff, while using software to track all mentions of your business on sites and forums. So what’s been delivered?
Staniforth worked with Häagen-Dazs this year, amplifying a concept from its TV ads into a campaign that boosted its Facebook following by 30,000; Juice has worked with Stagecoach Manchester and Turtlewax; and Paver Smith has helped training companies First100 and Tipton Training.
O’Grady cites Democracy’s integrated campaign for workwear label Scruffs, which included inventing a character called Uncle ‘Arry and resulted in a 260 per cent year-on year increase in March trading figures; and Babydeli in Salford, which targeted key bloggers to take on food giants with big advertising budgets.
Fabretti has worked with Amaze to launch clients’ products in Europe and has worked with police forces and NHS Trusts on managing relationships. “The issue of perception and opening a dialogue is every bit as important for public services to function at their best as consumer businesses,” he says.
Whether you use an agency or do it in-house depends largely on the resources you have and the impact you’re hoping for in terms of profit. Downes says: “An agency can do it as well as someone in-house, but it should always be transparent.”
Spending time and money on social media is not right for every business, and, equally, not all businesses should be in all places. But many people need to be seen as up to speed. If PR man X is proving helpful and engaging, PR man Y, although not being directly criticised, can look out of the loop.
Some words of advice. Rick Guttridge of Smoking Gun PR says: “Professional/personal lines have blurred and users need to remember that their online actions are out there forever for future customers or employers to read, so they must be careful.” Kuncewicz adds: “There is a responsibility. Everything is discoverable and can come back to bite you so you should think carefully. But you can’t miss out on this wider conversation, even if you mostly just listen in.”
A week in the life of a social media virgin
Having resisted the allure of Facebook, Twitter and the rest, Neil Tague thought he'd better see what all the fuss is about.
No-one would call me an early adopter. I don’t have an iPhone or a BlackBerry. I do have an MP3 player, but don’t really know how to upload things to it. I’ve always thought: “I don’t need Facebook. I email, call or see in person most people I’m close to.” Twitter? Not mad-keen on talking about myself. But how credible would my feature be if I didn’t at least dip a toe in the water?
LinkedIn was the first port of call: “Facebook for grown-ups”. On signing up, you do think “what happens now?” The trick is, I was told, to look up groups as a starting point, either by sector or location. “Join them and get involved in discussions; you can’t expect people to come to you.”
The keyword Manchester brings up a huge number of groups, cleverly sorted in order of volume of members. For some reason there are an inordinate number of “Manchester City supporters in business” groups with 15 members each. Maybe they don’t get on.
LinkedIn did pass a task set for it. I wanted to invite a certain property developer at short-ish notice to a round table – charming in person, but almost unreachable by phone, who responded to a LinkedIn message within ten minutes. Eureka! I’ve used it ahead of subsequent meetings, and time will tell if it helps access other hard-to-reach professionals, but I’m quietly optimistic.
Twitter has been useful. After registering, I fired off a couple of chirpy tweets, directed at PR girls and boys I knew to be active. The target was set at 100 followers within a week, which was attained. Somehow the urge to tweet *waves bat to pavilion* on reaching the landmark was resisted.
It was also useful for work. Opinions were found on the Preston Tithebarn scheme for a column – true, they could have been reached by email, but Twitter allows requests to be forwarded further afield. Some people who’ve contributed to my feature were contacted through Twitter and it has helped further relationships with a few loose acquaintances.
Facebook has the numbers and is clearly a fertile ground for consumer-focused businesses to reach people. I’ve only used it for personal reasons so far.
Conclusions? People like LinkedIn as an option, “although it’s rammed and spammed”, while companies seeking to reach punters are using Facebook and Twitter as twin battlegrounds. I like Twitter. It keeps you informed, opens doors and allows the reaching of wider networks quickly. Gone are the days of scoffing at “the so-called Twitterati”.
Also in: May 2010
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