Using Social Media to Engage Your Audiences

transcript

2009 Corey McPherson Nash | Proprietary Content | For more information, email info@corey.com

October 15, 2009

Presented by Michael McPherson, Partner and Creative Director | mmcpherson@corey.com, and Ryan Evans, Director of Experience Design | revans@corey.com

Agenda

1. Quick introduction to Corey McPherson Nash

2. What is social media?

3. Why should we care?

· Personally

· Professionally

4. How do we use it?

5. What it means for schools

Agenda

Rules of today:

We believe in walking the walk

· Live Tweeting #coreyaisne

· Continue the conversation

http://www.corey.com/whatisthoughtful

http://www.slideshare.com

Corey McPherson Nash

THOUGHTFUL BRANDING AND DESIGN

Create distinctive, compelling brands and experiences

• Our goal is to evolve, enhance and protect our clients’ brands

• Our approach to social media is strategic

What is a brand?

“Your brand is what people say about you when you leave the room.”

– Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO, Amazon

Brand Strategy

RELEVANT

SUSTAINABLEDIFFERENTIATED

Brand Strategy

Strategic Plan

• Growth Objectives

• Target Markets

• Market Landscape

• Competitive Landscape

Brand Strategy

• Brand Perception

• Brand Architecture

• Brand Position

• Messaging Strategy

Execution

• Overall Look & Feel

• Community Outreach

• Social Media

• Public Relations

• Online/Off-line

Communication Pieces

What is social media?

What is Social Media?

Social media are primarily Internet-based tools

for sharing and discussing information among

human beings. This interaction, and the manner

in which information is presented, depends on

the varied perspectives and “building” shared

meaning among communities, as people share

their stories and experiences. - Wikipedia

shared meaning among

communities, as people share

their stories and experiences.

Creating a shared meaning is about creating a

distinct, compelling and meaningful BRAND

Social media are media designed to be disseminated through

social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable

publishing techniques. Social media supports the human need for

social interaction, using Internet- and web-based technologies to

transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social

media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of

knowledge and information, transforming people from content

consumers into content producers. – Wikipedia (as of October 14,

What it is:· Transparent

· Easy to use

· Engaging, reciprocal

· Blog, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wiki

What it is not:

· Filtered, edited

· Difficult to use

· Broadcast, one-way street

· Email, IM, podcast, RSS, Web site

Social media interrupts:

· Isolation

· Control

· Hierarchy

Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Chief Technology Officer & Founding Partner, Blue State Digital

What is Social Media

Telling Statistics

·Twitter's site traffic grew 800% from March 2008 – March 2009

· 14 million unique visitors in March; 8 million in February 2009

·Facebook has 68,557,534 January 2009; 200 million worldwide

(up 116 percent)

·MySpace is at 58,555,800 unique visitors; 126 million worldwide.

·9 million blogs

· 40,000 new ones/day

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/31/top-social-media-sites-of-2008-facebook-still-rising and http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10160850-2.html

IT’S OVER.

Why should we care?

Personally

Why In the World Would I Do This?

“It was so far from sharing what you had for breakfast – yet it only works because it’s the same place where people talk about breakfast.”

Evan Williams, Twitter Chief Executive referring to people using

Twitter during the gasoline shortage in Atlanta last fall

“Putting Twitter’s World to Use,” New York Times, April 14, 2009

Since the 1960s, there is a decline of “social capital”: connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them.

Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam

http://www.bowlingalone.com/

“As among primates, those humans who are best able to manipulate social networks to their advantage thrive, and that ability may be genetically encoded.”

From a review by Scott Stossel of

CONNECTED: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives

by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler

New York Times Book Review, October 1, 2009

Social networks provide individuals:

· Anticipated reciprocity (I post, you respond)

· Increased recognition (I blog, you comment)

· Sense of efficacy (Wikipedia)

Peter Kollack, The Economies of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace (1998)

3. Have more “friends”

Dunbar Number = 150

· According to British anthropologist Robin Dunbar, there is an

upper limit on the number of people with whom we can maintain a

stable inter-personal relationship.

“Brave New World of Digital Intimacy,” The New York Times, September 7, 2008

“Are people who use Facebook and Twitter increasing their

Dunbar number, because they can so easily keep track of so

many more people?”

According to one researcher, constant contact online had made

close ties “immeasurably richer,” but had not increased the

number of close friends and family. “But where their sociality had

truly exploded was in their ‘weak ties’ – loose acquaintances,

people they knew less well.”

4. Get answers; good referrals

· In social media, it is often the weak links that have the most value.

“Brave New World of Digital Intimacy”, The New York Times, September 9, 2008

“Social Media: The Next Great Gateway for Content Discovery?,” Jon Gibs, VP Media Analytics, Nielson Research, October 5, 2009

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/social-media-the-next-great-gateway-for-content-discovery/

“Socializers trust what their friends have to say and social media acts as an

information filtration tool. This is key because Socializers gravitate towards

and believe what is shared with friends and family. If your friend creates or

links to the content, then you are more likely to believe it and like it.”

“Social Media: The Next Great Gateway for Content Discovery?,” Jon Gibs, VP Media Analytics, Nielson Research, October 5, 2009

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/social-media-the-next-great-gateway-for-content-discovery/

“I outsource my entire life,” she said. “I can solve any problem on Twitter in six minutes.”

Laura Fitton, a social-media consultant with more than 39,000 followers on Twitter.

“Brave New World of Digital Intimacy”, The New York Times, September 9, 2008

“Twitter reverses the notion of the group,” said Paul Saffo, the

Silicon Valley futurist. “Instead of creating the group you want,

you send it and the group self-assembles.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/technology/internet/14twitter.html

1. Ambient awareness of others

2. A way to feel “less alone”

Professionally

Our clients are not saying,

“Make us ads” or “Make us Web sites”

They’re saying,

“Create interaction between our brand and our customers.”

That’s our job now.

Executive Creative Director of the Nike account at R/GA “Multiscreen Mad Men” New York Times 11.23.08

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/magazine/23roundtable-t.html?scp=3&sq=multimedia%20mad%20men&st=cse

Why Should We Care?

Corey’s Top Six Rules of Social Media:

1. Be authentic.

2. Fortify. Strengthen your current audience and engage new ones.

3. Connect. Publish content that invites your audience to participate. (Don’t sell, sell, sell.)

4. Be remarkable. Give your audience things to remark on.

5. Get outside (your site).Participate in other discussions, not just your own.

6. Embrace organic planning. Establish a plan, but be ready to adjust.

Case Study

Obama: The Brand

Why Should We Care?

Messaging Strategy:

Platform:

Change We Can Believe In

Signified: Hope

Tone: Positive, inclusive

Social Media Approach

2008 Presidential Campaign Social Media Stats:

2,379,102supporters

620,359supporters

1,792 videos uploaded since 11.06

114,559subscribers

329 videos uploaded since 2.07

28,419subscribers

112,474followers

4,603followers

1. Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video

14,379,890 views, 404 blog posts

2. Wassup 2008

Most impactful videos of the campaign:

3. I Got a Crush...On Obama By Obama Girl

4. Barack Roll

5. American Stories, American Solutions: 30 Minute Special

Morningside Analytics http://tinyurl.com/66ojww

Of the top 5 influential videos:

3 were professionally produced

2 were moving

2 were funny

1 was officially from the campaign

All were remarkable.

1. Be authentic.

“Your brand is what people say about you when you leave the room.”

– Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO, Amazon

How do we use it?

Content Is KingConversatio

Content is just something to talk about.

- Corey Doctrow

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/10/10/disney-exec-piracy-i.html

Social MediaStrategy Matters

Tweets sent vs. receivedMonth of September 2009

@DeanElmore1936 followers

@Suffolk_U1329 followers

• Great content• Has a face• Listens to campus buzz• Expresses an opinion• Queries his audience• Comments on outside

@DeanElmore1936 followers

@Suffolk_U1329 followers

• Announcements and headlines

• On-campus focus• Occasional shout-outs

Engagement

Getting to Engagement

Social Media Monitoring

Why should you listen?

· Brand perception

· What are people saying about you?

· Respond to questions or misperceptions

· Insert yourself into conversations about your organization

· Crisis management

· When something happens you want to be ready to respond.

What should you listen for?

· Your brand

· Who is talking about you?

· What are they saying?

· Your peers and competitors

· Are there best practices we can learn from?

· Your category

· What are people saying about your area of focus?

· E.g., “New Hampshire prep schools”, “sixth grade art programs”

How do you listen?

· Free tools

· Google Alerts

· Twitter Search

· TweetScan

· SocialOomph

· Paid Tools

· SM2 from Techrigy

· HubSpot

· Radian 6

Ok, I’m listening.

Now what?

Getting to Engagement

1. WHO do you want to reach

- Who are they listening to?

2. WHAT are your goals?

- How do you want to shift the discussion?

3. HOW will you engage in relationships?

- What are your messages? How will you nurture them?

4. LAUNCH your social media strategy

- Select your channels

- Identity your resources.

1. WHO do you want to reach?

Getting to Engagement: WHO

Sample Audiences

· Prospective students & families

· Alumni

· Prospective faculty and staff

· College admissions officers

· Peer institutions

· The media and bloggers

Know your audience

· Market research

· Interviews

· Monitoring online discussions

· Audience personas

Planning Your Strategy: WHAT

· Sample Goals

· Brand perception

· Monitor your school’s brand online

· Differentiate your program

· Attract and nurture communities

· Increase number and quality of applicants

· Engage your alumni community

· Recruit

· Attract top faculty and college recruiters

Planning Your Strategy: WHAT

· Your social media goals should align with your business objectives:

· Strategic plan

· Branding goals

· Marketing plans

Example: Shift Brand Perception

http://twitter.com/comcastcares

Example: BB&N Senior Tiles

Planning Your Strategy: HOW

· Sample Strategies

· Query your audience

· Energize your advocates

· Facilitate discussions

· Build communities

· Crowdsource ideas

· Just watch

Make sure your engagement strategy will work for you.

· It has to be comfortable.

· It has to match your culture & personality.

· It has to fit with your available resources.

· It has to be part of your work flow.

1. Be authentic.

Example:

Boston University’s Dean of Students·Authentic

·Builds Connections

Example: Authenticity

Example:

MIT Undergraduate Admissions Blogs·Gives Reasons to Participate

Example: Connection and Participation

http://www.mitadmissions.edu

Example:

Worcester Academy and the Inauguration·Be Remarkable

·Get Outside

Example: Get Outside Your Site and Be Remarkable

· Begin with a strategy

· Be specific about your execution

· Plan – and adjust if necessary

Example: Social Media Execution

How @jowyang uses Twitter

As a shared feed reader

As a chat room

To capture events

Listening tool

How @jowyang doesn’t use Twitter

Personal minutia

Excessive personal discussion

Planning Your Strategy: Launch

The Channel

Dip your toes in. Get a feel for how the various channels and their communities work.

But focus your resources. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Planning Your Strategy: LAUNCH

Evaluate the channels:

· Are your target constituencies using it?

· How are they using it?

· Will the technology support the ways in which you want to engage?

· Is it an open platform?

Summing Up

Corey’s Social Media Process

1. WHO do you want to reach?

- Who are they listening to?

- How do you want to shift the discussion?

- What are your messages? How will you nurture them?

- Select your channels

- Identify your resources.

Thank you!· http://www.corey.com

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