A presentation for your internal clients
Dirk Singer, Cow, twitter.com/dirkthecow
Justifying social media in the recession

Hello!
•About me: twitter.com/dirkthecow,
delicious.com/dirkthecow,
dirkthecow.secondbrain.com
•About Cow: thisiscow.com,
thisisherd.com (blog), twitter.com/
thisiscow, museumofcow.tumblr.com,
netvibes.com/cowpr,
cowpr.secondbrain.com

“A large section of the internet today
reminds me of the guy at your high
school in 1984, out in the student
parking lot, talking endlessly about
the awesome new stereo in his red
Camaro Z28.
“He spends time in that parking lot
showing everyone his massive
kicker box and bad ass set of
tweeters, instead of using it”
Dave Johnson, One Man Lab
All talk, no action?

When actually,
we are talking
about something
that’s:
Measurable
Cost efficient
Strategic, not
tactical
Is here anyway

The received
wisdom: Social
media marketing
set to boom in the
recession
According to Marketing
Sherpa:
Social media budgets (net)
+28%
Direct mail budgets -40%
Event spend -49%
Print advertising -56%

But do the figures mask a bunker mentality?

Why?
• Heard a lot about it / don’t really
understand it (46% of firms who
hadn’t done anything, don’t
understand it - Marketing Sherpa)
• 67% of marketers consider
themselves ‘beginners’ (FutureLab)
• When times are tough, we stick to
what we know and what works
• And that’s often traditional
advertising

Let’s start with a look at a few brand profiles

Sainsbury’s

SouthWest Trains

Currently for sale: Yours for £20!

Or you could also choose from

And on Flickr, this is who is
representing Starbucks

So don’t worry - Social media will find you!

Budgets are cut - so it’s Plus consumers are not paying
much attention anyway
a good time to try
something new
Reasons why it’s timely to think about this now
(and sell it to your internal clients)

Some stats for internal doubters

Even now, you still hear:
“This isn’t for me, we’re not cool”

When in fact
UK housewives spend
half (47%) their free
time online (TNS)
Over 45s on Facebook
grew by 165% Q4
The UK is the second
most active social
media market - 50% of
adults (Ofcom)

So whatever your brand does -
this is where you will find
your consumers

Traditional media
and advertising RIP?
4% of UK regional papers died last
year (Roy Greenslade, The
Guardian)
The transition to the web: No
regional newspaper has more than
137 Google reader subscribers
Mainstream news turns off
consumers - 28% are influenced by
what they see in news media, 40%
other media (Experian)
Internet now second most
influential source of news after TV
(Pew Report, TNS)

Let’s get
onto cold
hard cash
Say you had £100,000
in traditional
advertising

Two spots on ITV drama

“In 1965, 80 percent of adults could be reached
with three 60 second TV spots. Today it requires
117 prime time commercials to produce the same
result” (Jim Stengel, CMO, P&G)

Or alternatively
A social network Monitoring system
strategy to include: to see what’s being
said (assuming you
don’t use free tools)
Someone to
manage it for you
You could even
(job creation!)
have the budget to
develop an online
Design, hosting or iPhone
costs application
And you’ll have
change!

Not only that, it ticks the ‘measurable’ box

It gets you out of the “fireworks business”
and builds long term dialogue

It humanises
your brand
According to DEI
Worldwide:
54% favour “online
representatives” (that’s
you!) over a website
67% will pass on what
they are told, 62% value
their advice over run of
the mill ads

It helps your search engine reputation....and
helps the media find you

For 70%. social media sites
(the definition of which is
message boards, social
networks, blogs or video
sharing sites) are a major
source of information about
companies or brands
It allows you to fish where the fish are

In fact, what’s your website good for?

Skittles answered that question - took
down its whole site, replaced with
unfiltered social media

Who spends their days
talking about multi-coloured,
sugary candy?

So Mr/s internal
client. What now?

At its most
basic
• Claim your IDs! (use
checkusernames.com,
userna.me)
• Think about other places
people can find you and
where they go. What can you
do?
• Start sharing your thoughts,
talk in human form, not
corporate speak
• Give someone responsibility
for making it happen

And also
•Encourage your staff
to get to grips with
social media and to
take part
•And publish clear do
and don’t disclosure
guidelines

Finally, results won’t happen overnight

Thank you for your time!
Any questions -
dirk@thisiscow.com

Further details on some of the
With thanks for the images (taken
research:
from Flickr via a creative
★Google reader subscribers and
commons / attribution /
regional newspapers, from
commercial license)
Currybet.net - see
★Theshoppingsherpa
http://bit.ly/pWBOM
★Sqacco
★Marketing Sherpa’s research
★mgspiller
originally spotted on FreshNetworks
★Themarque
blog http://bit.ly/vSkUm
★Victoriapeckham
★A lot of the stats from the
★Mikejohnston
presentation have additionally been
★Mavmbeckernet
taken from TNS ‘Digital World /
★Tedpercival
Digital Life’, download from
★Oskay
http://bit.ly/M3wGp
★Quartermane
★Twodolla
★Dominicspics