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focus on consumers
Getting social wisely:
Importance of strategy in your social
You’ve probably heard loads about social media. All the buzz
aside, one can hardly challenge a simple observation: Social
media have changed the way we talk and share stuff in an
unprecedented way. Marketing and PR pros jumped on them
like wild cats, but not every trial has turned into a success story.
Anyone can create a Facebook page or Twitter account these days,
but it takes more to communicate in the social web correctly.
Whom we talk with
Let’s put some facts on the table
first: A recent survey carried out
by digita.sk, a digital advertising
agency, has confirmed what had
been thought before – Slovaks
love to be online. What is even
more important, almost 90
percent of all users are online
every day. And we’re not talking
only about young people, but
a nicely distributed group of
teenagers up to 50-somethings.
With 1.8m accounts registered
in Slovakia, it is no surprise
that Facebook has become
the most visited website in the
country. It has outnumbered
Google three-to-one in terms of
popularity and left then-dominant
local player Pokec.sk in the dust.
Given a rather mediocre advent
of Twitter in Slovakia, Facebook
has established itself as the most
prominent online communication
platform in the country.
As almost anywhere else in the
world, a shift towards online
conversations has occurred
in Slovakia too and the social
web has brought about vast
marketing and PR opportunities.
The audience is there, but the
question is: How can we address
these people effectively?
Engage, but how?
The way people communicate
has changed with the rise of
social networks for good. People
are no longer interested in being
fed with prefabricated chunks of
information. On the contrary, they
want to create and share content
themselves. This all means they
need are out there – ranging
from free blogging and contentsharing sites to cheap cameras.
Today, people are empowered
to lead the conversations, not
companies or media
outlets. As this is great for
humanity as such, it could as
well turn into a communications
person’s worst nightmare: A
profession of mild “control
freaks” constantly worried about
how messages are delivered
to stakeholders who naturally
feel threatened by a myriad of
links and interactions people
make on the social media. Any
message sent can be turned
upside down in a dense web of
comments, likes and retweets. In
a way, social media have put the
public back in public relations,
as the title of Brian Solis’s book
goes. And it was up to all PR &
Communications pros to quickly
adapt and find ways to get
involved in these conversations.
Luckily, reputations cannot
be torpedoed only by a bad
blogpost; they can also be
built via engagement, trust
and honest dialogue – which
are the building blocks of the
Golden rules
Five things you shouldn’t miss when setting up a social media strategy:
1. Know your audience
Check existing sites, forums, blogs
and pages first. Get to know the
people you are interested in. See and
listen what they talk about and how.
Seek overlaps among what they look
for and what you can bring in.
2. Set goals
Define clear objectives and measurable goals of your communication.
Focus on quality and don’t reduce
your deliverables to numbers of fans,
likes or page views. Plan your steps.
3. Ask for advice
Turn to your communication staff,
PR agency or digital media specialist
and share your thoughts with them.
They give you an external opinion and
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july/august 2011
provide you with the necessary “reality
check”.
4. Be prepared
Every dialogue you step in bears a
chance that you might not like what
you hear. Be ready to face criticism
and argue whenever possible. Always
be honest and polite, no matter how
hard it might be.
5. Follow and assess
Track your goals and assess your
actions on the go; see what works
and what doesn’t. You may pre-plan
well, but social media is just like the
people using them – unpredictable to
a certain extent. Sometimes, trial-fail
is inevitable, but it should not be your
policy.
amcham connection
Prepared by AmCham member
media communication
CASE STUDIES
Engaging customers
Even if you had set no
goals in the beginning,
it doesn’t mean you
won’t be disappointed
at the end. With a clear
strategy, your success
(or failure) can be
measured.
PR profession anyway, right?
Even though communication
space has evolved and tools
have changed, a well-thought
strategy plays the same crucial
role in managing successful
communication. An article
recently published in “PR Week”
defined the real value of PR
firm’s role in social media as
the one of the strategic thinker:
“Social media tactics must reflect
the brand or company voice and
resonate with the community of
stakeholders. If transparency and
authenticity are lacking, and the
communication comes across
as billboard clichés rather than
dialogue among real people,
there’s little point in pursuing it.”
The article rightly assumes that
if companies adopt social media
merely to get hits, likes, and
smiley faces, it’s a wasted effort.
It is up to PR pros to sustain their
amcham connection
role in mastering communication
strategies in the changing
environment.
Don’t forget to bring your
torch and compass!
Whether you are launching a
product or setting up a reputation
management program today,
you will almost certainly think
of social media as one of your
communication channels. You
are right about that because you
believe that features of the social
web can be used to build your
reputation or create buzz like
never before. But before you start
coming up with shiny Facebook
apps or specialized Twitter
accounts, give it a deep thought.
Define your strategy and set goals
first. Have a clear vision what you
want to talk about, whom you
want to talk with, what you want
to achieve, and how it will align
with your “grand strategy”. As an
old saying from PR pros goes:
Even if you had set no goals at
first, it doesn’t necessarily mean
you won’t be disappointed at the
end. With a clear strategy, your
success can be measured. And if
you fail, at least you know how to
make things work better next time.
Peter Jančárik, Senior
Manager, Client Service
SEESAME Communication Experts
If you are Steve Jobs, you probably
don’t have to ask your customers what
they want. For the rest of us, it’s not all that bad. Dr. Oetker was
about to launch a new marzipan, but its attributes had not been
set first. We used specialized sites for baking moms and asked
them how they would like to have their marzipan. They voted on
the amount of almond mass,
weight, price and other
attributes they considered
important. Dr. Oetker then
took their votes and turned
them into the new product.
At the end, we launched the
ladies’ very own marzipan at a
special baking event with their
kids. Engagement the smart
and simple way!
Facing customers
The gas utility Slovenský plynárenský priemysel
(SPP) is a great example of the assertion that
virtually any company can communicate on
social media – if it gets it right. Energy companies are in a difficult
position – energy bills will always be too high, so their issuers are
far from becoming “lovebrands”. Despite that, we have brought
the topics of pricing, regulation, suppliers, gas technologies,
marketing and CSR to Facebook. Our goal has been to discuss
these with analysts, journalists, politicians, customers or just any
“gas enthusiast” out there. We looked for a group of a hundred
relevant people; now we count more than 1,900 of them. We
opened a brand new communication channel to real people on
behalf of SPP to argue with their counterparts. It is not always
easy, but it greatly helps build
the reputation of an open
company. The page is not
only an instant indicator of the
company’s communication
and messaging, but it is
also a unique tool to identify
advocates who would not
have been found otherwise.
Join the conversation
at www.facebook.com/
otvoreneoplyne!
july/august 2011
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