Getting Social – Rules of Engagement

Getting Social – Rules of Engagement
Reggie Bradford CEO
Vitrue

In April Facebook crossed 300 million unique visitors per month and Twitter hit 32 million (up an incredible 70% from March) comScore
On average people spend 169 per month per user on Facbeook comScore
Social networking is now more popular than e mail (Nielsen, March 2009)
The social web is where consumers are gravitating
Social Media – Ubiquitous for Consumers

78% of consumers trust the opinions of peers over all other information sources and advertising (Nielsen, 2008)
Savvy companies need to tap into the power of social actions that act as megaphones for brand endorsement
Companies should encourage their employees to speak – age of authenticity and helps build brand and give company character/dimension
Social media is part of the fabric of how we now communicate with our family, friends, colleagues, prospects, etc..
Marketers are Taking Notice

Do need to publish guidelines – like any public company there are rules for disclosure (proprietary, sensitive info that cannot be discussed)
Encourage people to use common sense and not to post competitive info, brag or damage – but you do need enforceable guidelines – we all know sexual harassment is wrong but does not stop people from doing it – so you need a policy in place to point to
Some companies have a “three strikes you are out” policy - raise flag, are you sure you understand this is over the line, ok stop talking you are in violation
Considerations

As social media matures people need to understand their personal voice and their corporate voice – as we are increasingly interconnected our identities meld and we need to ensure we are speaking in a manner that is well rounded – use mediums of social media as you see fit
Be conscious of your digital fingerprint
Considerations

The brand’s social presence (official Twitter, Facebook, etc..) should be created and managed by marketing and PR leads
Like any communication from the company this has a set of standards that need to be reinforced so over time the brand means something – has a value that people can describe
Should be integrated as the core to marketing communication strategies – innovative marketers from CNN to VW integrating vanity social URLs/handles into traditional marketing vehicles
Social Media as the Fulcrum

Fundamentally understand that your brand needs to be there – people will be talking about your brand if you are there are not
Harness and cultivate the conversation
Find tools that help you listen, speak, analyze and react
Twitter is especially rapid and can ignite quickly
Twitter is delivering powerful insights and results
What Marketers Need to Know

KFC - responsive when the Grilled Chicken Giveaway could not fulfill orders – they were there – they were human – they were real
Dominos – employee video caused a lot of stir – brand reacted quickly and issued statements back using the medium of social media
Motrin – J+J heard this small but powerful group on Twitter - The ‘Motrin Moms' campaign, a fraction of the total audience had an uproar – but if you have consumers passionate enough to stand up and be heard marketers should use it to develop a more proactive dialogue
Brand Examples

Dell – has shown direct sales/profit from Twitter
cited $3M in sales from Twitter followers who clicked through its posts to make purchase
Naked Pizza - “betting the farm” on its Twitter presence
last week 69% of sales generated during one- day Twitter advertising blitz
Brand Examples

Social media is a 24/7 focus group
You need the tools and staff to monitor and react let alone engage
Social media provides a powerful ROI
Don’t underestimate social media – it is a long-term commitment with huge rewards
What marketers need to know

Getting Social – Rules of Engagement

by O'Reilly Media - Learning

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