A War Room of One
An all you need guide to creating a pretty awesome real-time marketing practice for teams large and small. @AmberHorsburgh

I made this presentation at
Upload Lisboa 2014. Portugal’s largest digital & social media marketing conference. It has been modified just slightly for Slideshare. Enjoy!

What you will hear from
me today 1. What we mean when we talk about real time marketing 2. Executing successful real time marketing with War Rooms 3. The war room of one

We’re here to talk about
Real Time Marketing

Made famous by this OREO
SUPER BOWL XLVII

And this
NASA
OSCARS 2014

And this one too... SNICKERS
2014 FIFA WORLD CUP

But its not just that.
“For most brands the real event is not the Super Bowl but smaller and mid-size moments that align to brand values and offer an opportunity to create an experience in near real time.” - Linda Boff, Executive Director of global brand marketing GE

Real time is Crisis management
CHOBANI YOGURT RECALL, 2013

Real time is Customer service
Responds in 78 mins to 96% of queries KLM AIRWAYS

Real time is Responding to
critics BELIZE TOURISM BOARD, 2014

Social channels operate in real
time. Brands that are not aware of their immediate environment risk losing great opportunities for fan interaction.

But in order to execute
in real time teams must be set up to rapidly respond to the environment.

In buzzwords
The war Room

WAR ROOM. A place that
centralizes operations for performing a given project. Image courtesy of LA Times http://framework.latimes.com/2012/12/11/times-editors-working-during-first-world-war-ii-blackout/

War rooms allow the agility
to leverage the now

War rooms
focus a team

War rooms
enforce
accountability

War rooms
facilitate
immediate
communication

How to do it

Let’s pretend we’re in the
#Oscars war room for

The key is to Plan
to be spontaneous

COMMUNITY MANAGER Assign everyone a
role ANALYST STRATEGIST COPYWRITER DESIGNER PRODUCER Image courtesy of LA Times http://framework.latimes.com/2012/12/11/times-editors-working-during-first-world-war-ii-blackout/

Ensure everyone is versed in
the process MONITOR CONVERSATIONS IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES PUBLISH Strategist Community Manager SEEK APPROVAL MAKE CONTENT Copywriter Designer Producer + client Analyst

Have 90% of content ready
made

Fill the content calendar before
the show even begins 70% PRE-APPROVED - Design assets - Copy - Concepts - Community management strategy - Success metrics - Measurement dashboards - Influencer lists 20% SEMI-APPROVED - Templated designs - Copy options - Reporting templates 10% REACTIVE - Community interactions - Reactions to key moments - Social listening

Set rules guided
spontaneity

Empower the team to seek
real-time opportunities RULES FOR ENGAGEMENT 1. Respond to people with high follower counts 2. Media interactions require client approval 3. Don’t ignore customer service questions 4. Don’t interrupt conversations between friends 5. Don’t respond to people that talk frequently about competitors

Separate
important
conversations
from fluff

Important
Critical event moments

Important
What influencers are saying

Important
What brands are saying

Important
What fans are saying

Fluff Spam, shared and sponsored
content - Shared content - Unrelated to event - Sponsored content - What partners, clients and agency teams are saying

Established an
approval process

Obtained approval ahead of time
BE COOL WITH LEGAL Ensure the things said about the brand can be said about the brand. BE COL WITH CLIENT Establish communication flow for quick edits and approval during event.

Have paid media briefed and
on standby

Have audience targeting and budget
ready to get behind content that gains traction.

How to replicate as a
one man show [without working the weekend]

Let’s pretend we have one
week

Monday
Set up social listening

Red Carpet BEST & WORST
DRESSED Possible events Broadcast Awards Ceremony Post Show Recaps INTERVIEWS LATE ARRIVALS OPENING PERFORMANCE HOST SPEECH LATE ARRIVALS CATEGORY WINNERS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT BEST ACTOR BEST & WORST DRESSED SPEECH QUOTES Tuesday Map the previous event

Wednesday
Make the content

Thursday
Schedule everything
[Netflix]

Friday Figure out where the
client will be • Outline a process for getting content approved • Share contact info - email, IM, SMS or Whatsapp

If you remember only three
things. Remember these... 1. Real time marketing is most effective when participating in events that align with brand goals, not unrelated gigantic ones. 2. To be set up for real time marketing success operate as a war room. 3. War rooms can scale big and small. Planning is key.

THANKS
@AmberHorsburgh