1.
Lessons from the Front: How PR is
Leveraging the Social Media Opportunity
Could a Closer Relationship with Advertising Yield Better Results
for Both?
Elizabeth Sosnow
January 28, 2011

2.
You can’t contain disruption
can t
2
Photo by: Direct Dish

3.
This is not
not…
• A speech about why social media is important
p y p
• A speech to share the latest social media trends and
tools
• A speech about how to judge successful
advertising/social campaigns
• A speech about why PR is “doing it right”
doing right
• A speech about why Advertising is “doing it wrong”
3

4.
This is a speech about:
• Le eraging Opport nit
Leveraging Opportunity
• Getting more clients
• B ildi more cross selling
Building lli
opportunities
• D i i more profit
Driving fit
4
Photo by: The Big Quack

5.
Industry leaders & observers
are worried
"I left my cushy job at a global agency. Actually, I didn't leave; I was pushed
out.
out " – Ad professional
"Creating more work for less money is the big paradox" -- Matt Howell,
president of Modernista
"Our power has been matched and, in some categories, rivaled by user
influence" – McCann CEO
"Marketing in the future is like sex. Only the losers will have to pay for it." – Jon
Bond
“In our business, whenever there's a disruption our clients need guidance" --
In business disruption,
Interpublic CEO
5

6.
Why am I speaking to you about this?
I was worried, t
i d too.
• In 2007, we are a B2B PR firm. We don’t care about
social media
• In 2008, not one client had conducted a social media
campaign
• In 2009, we established digital footprints for about 75%
of our clients
• In 2010, almost every one of our clients added social to
their marketing mix
• We reaped the financial benefits
6

7.
How did we do it?
• Led the charge myself, instead of delegating it
• Hired my own teacher
• Accepted that this would be a slow build process to educate clients
• Built little programs
• Understood that the gold rush mentality around “setting up a Twitter
feed” would not last
• Relied heavily on our history of thought leadership to drive initial
content
• Pushed agency employees to accept their job descriptions had
changed
• Leveraged adjacent services such as SEO and video production
• Fell in love with Google Analytics
7

8.
How to avoid common SM
pitfalls
• Plot out where your old services can – and cannot – be
y
extended into new offerings
• Evangelize, but only when it reflects your knowledge of
specific sectors/niches
ifi t / i h
• Prevent employees from taking the global agency POV
• Spend much more on digital training then you would like
• Support the client’s desire to own social
• Leverage the many free tools that exist to offer better
g y
data
• Work late. A lot
8

9.
There’s plenty of business for
everyone
• Social Network Ad Spending Worldwide 2009-
2009
2011
9

10.
2010 Opportunity Snapshot
• McKinsey research says companies that use social media achieve
higher profits
• YouTube introduces skippable ad format
• Email remains most dominant mobile activity in U.S. (38.5% time
y (
spent)
• App users download an average of 27 apps
• iPads and Kindles hasten rise of content marketing
• Search engines confirm social influence = improved ranking
• Billboard debuts new “Social 50” chart
• Big d
Bi ad agencies spending $750 00 1 000 000 on di it l t i i
i di $750,00-1,000,000 digital training
programs
• U.S. Location-based service users jumps from 12 to 33 million
10

11.
Unilever’s Axe campaign inspired the
most social chatter in 2010
t i l h tt i
11

12.
Old Spice was everywhere…perhaps the
most successful social media campaign ever
t f l i l di i
12

13.
Pepsi Refresh demonstrated
integration across platforms
13

14.
The Swagger Wagon got
multiple plays in my house
14

15.
Converse Domaination offers
continuous communication
15

16.
Movember’s mustaches reminds
millions of men t thi k about h lth
illi f to think b t health
16

17.
World’s Biggest Dorito bag
World s
17

18.
Oxy Clinical demonstrated power of PR
i t
integration, i l di bl
ti t h
including blogger outreach
18

19.
What does TAAN think of the social
media opportunity? How does it
compare to PR’s take?
• 4Q survey of 50 TAAN members and 50 Worldcom
members
• Qualitative interviews with 5 TAAN leaders as well as
leaders,
several PR thinkers:
– Bob Travers
– John McCallum
– Gordon Hochhalter
– Rodrigo Rodrigues
g g
– Sean Duffy
• Integrated PR leader Matt Kucharski also offered
valuable insight
19

20.
Does PR lead in Social Media?
Pleased with their Profession's approach to SM
40%
Keeping Pace
64%
12%
Innovative Advertising
20% PR
52%
Positive Rating
84%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
20

21.
Lower Social Media Self
Esteem for Advertisers
Ratings given by PR and Advertisers
48%
Keeping Pace
54%
20%
Innovative PR gives Advertisers
13%
Advertisers give PR
68%
Positive Rating
67%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
21

22.
Working Relationships are in
the eye of the beholder
Working Relationships are in the eye of the beholder
36
PR folks less likely to work with Advertising
48
Social Media
General
64
Advertisers like to work with PR
64
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
22

23.
Social Media Revenue Growth
for Ad Agencies
Social Media Revenue Growth for Ad Agencies
8
More than 33%
4
8
25%‐33%
4
15%‐25% 2011
12
2010
44
5%‐15%
40
25
Less than 5%
36
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
23

24.
Social Media Revenue Growth
for PR Firms
Social Media Revenue Growth for PR Firms
8
25%‐33%
4
32
15%‐25%
24
2011
44 2010
5%‐15%
36
16
Less than 5%
32
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
24

25.
United in Social Media Growth
Strategies
Educate their clients about the potential of social media 8%
Invest in new people or training to get their organizations up to speed 16%
Integrating social media in all campaigns and programs 35%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
25

26.
TAAN Members are Scoping the
Social Opportunity…and Pi f ll
S i lO i d Pitfalls
• “Social media is an investment that we think is beginning to pay off.”
• “We lost our social person to (big agency). They learned on the job.”
• “TAAN members are still struggling with scoping the social media offer and
making money.”
• “Our client contacts are on LinkedIn, our creatives are on Facebook.”
• “We realized if we didn’t do it, someone else would.”
• “2011 is the year we define the social media opportunity for our clients.”
• “Brazil is just starting with social media now. Right now, 42% of the
country’s marketing budget goes to ads.”
• “We see social media work developing from interactive agencies, not ad
agencies.
agencies You design a website then you get to develop a social program ”
website, program.
• “Our in-house SEO is an inverted version of a media buyer. He makes the
stuff and now they come to him.”
• “Ad agencies used to be entertainers now we can offer more concrete
Ad entertainers,
business value and measure it.”
26

27.
TAAN Members on PR’s Place
in Social
• “Social media bridges the g p between advertising and
g gap g
PR.”
• “We never hear from PR after initial meeting. Are they
protecting their b d t?”
t ti th i budget?”
• Social media is part of the PR function – it is a relations
activity.
activity.”
• “We look to PR firms for their media contacts…we do our
blogger outreach in house.”
• “Large PR dropped the ball on social.”
• “It’s not a discipline issue, it’s a generational issue. Are
you a traditionalist or you open to change?”
change?
27

28.
Why does PR appear more
confident about social?
• PR starts with ongoing “brand builder” mindset
brand builder
vs. finite project “promoter”
• PR more used to “heavy time, low cost” activities
y ,
• PR jumped on idea of becoming influencers
themselves
• PR likes words – and words are free & fast
• Advertising g app g with (so et es) s a
d e t s g grappling t (sometimes) small
social budgets
• Advertising still refining p p
g g perspective on digital, as
g ,
well as social 28

29.
My Social Media success
formula
• Self model the presence you would like to sell
• Senior social knowledge should eclipse juniors – not
the reverse
• Make sure Google confirms your personal and
agency brands
• Research, research, research. No shortcuts, ever.
• Accept that “conversations” are time consuming,
arduous work
• Social = giving, not receiving
29

30.
How can PR & Advertising
collaborate more closely?
Collaboration
Data Analysis
Messaging
“Listening” (monitoring)
Content Creation
Influencer Identification &
Outreach
Community Management
Crisis Management
Earned POV
T h l
Technology
Idea Packaging &
Extension Visual creativity
1-1 Conversations Multimedia savvy
PR SEO
Blogs
Media planning insights
Video
Advertising
Measurement Humor
Training Paid POV
30

31.
2011 Client To-Do List – How can you
help them achieve th
h l th hi these objectives?
bj ti ?
• Integrate web 2.0 into employees’ day to day activities
g p y y y
• Ignore viral in favor of “extraordinary ordinaries” such as email
campaigns
• Build mobile “pure plays (not retrofitted)
pure plays”
• Have a POV on how to extend projects with location
• Embed a “preditor” at client site 1x p month
p per
• Create a content universe with continuous big and small
bangs
• Build an analytics dashboard
• Identify and equip client community managers
• Develop proprietary products that extend your current
positioning
31

32.
Conversation Starters
Is it realistic to think that Advertising and PR can collaborate
g
on social? What roles would you want to “own” in a joint
pitch?
Does PR over-rate its capabilities in SM? Does it under-rate
over rate under rate
advertising’s SM potential?
Is there an opportunity for smaller ad agencies to “pull the
rug out”
r g o t” from under big agencies with high volume of smaller
nder ith ol me
projects?
How many of your current social media campaigns fall into
the “promoter” vs. “brand builder” buckets?
How much agency budget have you invested in digital and
soc a training? Why?
social t a g y
32

33.
Last slide
“It is the people who figure out how to
It
work simply in the present, rather than the
people who mastered the complexities of
the past, who get to say what happens
in the future.”
future
Clay Shirky
Cl Shi k
33