Approaches of Companies in Germany to the Social Web

Thomas Pleil / Daniel Kömpel Approaches of Companies in Germany to the Social Web Four Case Studies © h_da – Prof. Dr. Thomas Pleil, Daniel Kömpel Euroblog 2007, March 15th, 2007 Euroblog 2007

Overview
The Project: Social Software and Online-PR
The Cases
BASF
Ikea
Siemens
BMW
Interpretation & Learnings

Social Software and Online-PR
The four Case Studies are part of the h_da research project „Social Software and Online-PR“
Presumptions
Broad theoretical discussion on chances and risks of Social Software in Corporate Communications
Some empirical work like Euroblog 2006 & 2007
Very limited analysis of Social Software projects of Companies and NPOs

The aim
Analyzing German Web 2.0 PR projects
Concepts
Experience
Appraisal
Learn more on the application of Social Software within Public Relations/Market Communications of German companies
Lessons learnt
Know how for PR practitioners

Output
A qualitative approach
Case study research
15 Cases investigated by 19 PR students
Interviews with responsible PR managers & consultants
Interviews with experts
A simple content analysis/ statistical reporting
> To do: Meta analysis of all cases
Symposium at Darmstadt University with 160 attendees
General issues on Web 2.0 and PR, cases & ethics

Cooperation
PR Agencies
A&B face2net, Berlin
Knallgrau, Vienna
Edelman, Hamburg
Consultants
Robert Basic, Frankfurt
Martin Röll, Dresden
Klaus Eck, Munich
...

Research questions
What is the conception of Social Software projects in German companies?
What is the intention of these projects? Are they just used like an experiment? Or do practitioners define clear tactical goals like relationship-building with defined stakeholders?
How are they integrated into the strategy of Public Relations?
What are the effects of the projects?

Sampling the cases
Excluding projects of Marketing & PR Firms
Excluding projects of small companies
Analysis of three companies with a dedicated strategy on Web 2.0 (and more than 1 project)
Analysis of twelve single projects covering different types of Blogs, Audio-/ Videocasts and Wikis

Sample
Web 2.0 strategy
Siemens
Spreadshirt (Social Commerce)
BMW
Wikis
No remarkable PR driven projects found
Video-/Audiocasts
E-Bay
Ikea Podcast
Merkel-Podcast (German Chancellor)
Jokers (Online Bookstore)

Sample
Business-Weblogs
Issues Blog
Frosta (Nutrition)
Product Blog
Espresso International (Online Shop)
Customer Relations Blog
Juice Producer Walther
TeNo-Blog (Manufacturer of Jewellery)
Eventblog
Frankfurt Book Fair
CEO Blog
AOL
Employee Blog
Edelight-Blog (external)
BASF (internal)

The Cases: BASF InBlog „ If you‘re reacting to change, you‘re too late. You must anticipate change and help to make it happen.“ (Jürgen Hambrecht, CEO BASF, in: NYSE Magazine, 1.2.04)

The Cases: BASF InBlog
Internal Concerns:
“ Blogging foils our „ One-Voice-Policy ”
“ Blogging cannibalizes our communication”
“ Blogging is below the level of our communication strategies”
“ Blogging is the beginning of the end of our Top-Down- Communication ”

What
Internal Employee Blog
Goals
Introduce Employees in Corp. Communications to Blogs
Bundle information from the Intranet
Encourage new many-to-many-relationships, reduce e-mail
Background
Blog monitoring since 2004
Loss of significance of traditional media
Blog statements about BASF in U.S. caused high attention among stakeholders
Strategy
Temporary test
Limited group of participants with pre-defined role concept

Conception
Limited to four months , starting July 2006
Simple external platform using Typepad
200 invited participants with role concept
about 10-20 writers
30 commentators
150 readers
Preset topics :
Employees
PR World
Blog-Coaching
ComTrends
“ RheinneckarWeb“ (Neighborhood-PR)
Information and Communication Technologies
Reminder via e-mail

Effects
45 page-impressions a day
5.256 page-impressions in total
92 articles
160 comments
diverse participant ratings
Experts’ statements
“ The qualitative analysis shows that subjects relevant for work were discussed and collaboration was enforced .”
“ The writing style changed slightly to a more authentic-subjective communication“
„ These are small steps but towards the right direction“

Conclusion
Experimental touch as a key to success
External hosting was a security breach, therefore no delicate topics could be discussed
The limited number of users, the given topics and pre-arranged role concepts seem ridiculous on first sight – a typical company adaption of web 2.0?
Great conflict between One-Voice-Policy and free speech
Blogs cannot be domesticated – if you do, they get boring
Blogs can be an approach to collaborative Information Management
Within internal communications Blogs can be a tool for Buttom Up Communication
Employees who are „at home“ in web 2.0 can be of great use for companies

The Cases: IKEA Podcast „ At IKEA a soap dispenser can easily become a Ketchup-Bottle. What will you become?” (IKEA-recruiting-platform www.deinemoeglichkeiten.de )

The Cases: IKEA Podcast
What
Podcast
Goals
Recruiting the i-Pod-generation
Introducing profession at IKEA
Background:
Demand on qualified trainees
Boom of e-recruiting
Strategy:
Integration into the recruiting platform www.deinemoeglichkeiten.de with information, chats, games, application form

Conception
Two interviews with trainees on their future profession
Interview with personnel officer on working at IKEA
Realization with a famous German podcaster (Annik Rubens)
One way communication (no feedback)
Three episodes within a year
Effects
More than 100.000 downloads for three episodes
No. 1 in i-Tunes for several weeks
On the web: Nearly no discussion and links
Several articles in print media

Experts‘ statements
Not exciting and entertaining
Too narrow editorial conception
Video instead of pure audio
Too little authentic. Suggestion: Trainees should podcast themselves
Conclusion
A first step into Web 2.0
One of the finest examples with well defined stakeholders
Not appropriate for relationship building (only 3 episodes, no comments, timeless)
Classical Online-PR within a new format

The Cases: Siemens (strategy) “ 337 blogs in just 100 days”

The Cases: Siemens (strategy)
What
Internal Blogs
CEO Blog
Employee Blogs („Blog 100“)
External Podcasts
Innovations
Jobs & Career
Job Training
News Room: Different RSS-Feeds
Goals
Prove innovation
No dedicated PR goals
Experimentation

The Cases: Siemens (“Blog 100”)
Conception
Every employee had the possibility to start an internal Weblog
Scheduled for 100 days
Content: No presettings
„ An experiment just to test the possibilities of Blogs and their acceptance“
A platform for all Blogs:
Newest entries
Voting: Blog of the week
Blog Zoo: Linking independent Blogs
Blogging guidelines, e.g.
No anonymous comments or Blogs
Registration for commenting

The Cases: Siemens (“Blog 100”)
Effects
337 Employee Blogs
9073 employees registered for commenting
Main Topics : Operating Processes, Blogs, News, Management & Business Applications, Trends, Culture, Technology, Siemens
Experiment will be continued
Siemens is discussing external Blogs of employees
Experts’ statements
“ An experiment like this can show the involvement of employees and the necessary efforts”
“ Successful integration into a portal”
“ Internal Blogs of employees can complete communication of innovations” (Klaus Eck, econcon – pr-blogger.de)
Conclusion
Experimental touch as a key to success
Challenge: Motivating to blog (CEO-Blog)

The Cases: BMW (strategy) “ Branded information”

The Cases: BMW (strategy)
What
Enduring projects
BMW Oracle Blog (since 2005)
BMW Vodcast (since 1/06)
Community Platform (to be started in 2007)
Event driven projects
IAA Podcast & Blog (Frankfurt Motorshow 2005)
Audiobooks (4 short stories with product placement 2006)
Mini-Videoblog (Leipzig Motorshow & Mini Challenge 2006)
(Real life) discussion with bloggers on the BMW projects during IAA 2005
Goals
Brand awareness
Customer loyalty
Occupy new markets
Testing Social Software to support these Goals
Marketing driven projects

Background
Pull communication instead of waste coverage of advertising
Niche-communication (Long Tail)
Podcasting: quick & cheap
Importance of the Web for BMW Customers
i-Tunes-users are twice as much interested in buying an BMW than not-users (JD Power Study Automotive Review 2005)
Source: BMW Group, Marketing Innovations

Conception
Infotainment
Topics
Products (event driven, e.g. motorshows)
Innovations
Sports (sailing, car racing, golfing)
Culture
Brand values
One way communication in Podcasts
Open comments in Blogs (Mini, BMW Oracle)
All projects published on own microsites

Effects
IAA Podcast (2005)
Rank 43 in iTunes
114.640 visits, 640.102 page impressions, 183.100 downloads within 2 months
Downloads: 50 % Germany, 20 % USA, 10 % Japan
50 % of the users downloading a show subscribed to the feed
BMW Oracle Blog
343 visits/day
646 page views/day
Projects give access to an in BMW interested community

Interpretation & Learnings
On the four cases
The introduced projects have experimental character
Therefore, events & internal projects seem to be very suitable
Most visitors download just the newest show / read the newest story
SEO and links due to simple and linkable URLs
On all 15 cases
10 of 15 Web 2.0 projects are integrated into corporate comms strategy
Two medium sized businesses build up their comms strategy on Blogs (Walther, Edelight)
Content: A narrow focus may hinder continuity
Integration of Pod- and Videocasting into corp. communication seems to be easier than Blogs

Thank you for your ATTENTION! Questions?

Contact
Prof. Dr. Thomas Pleil
Mail: thomas.pleil@gmail.com
Blog: www.das-textdepot.de
Daniel Kömpel
Mail: daniel@opportunity.de
Blog: www.pr-fundsachen.de (Online-Journalism (focus PR) Course Weblog)

Approaches of Companies in Germany to the Social Web

by Thomas Pleil

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