The Evolution of Digital PR in Retail

Alistair Wheate

October 15th 2014

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About me

Alistair Wheate

Head of Social Media Insights

Email: alistair.wheate@gorkana.com

Twitter: @alistairtweet

LinkedIn: uk.linkedin.com/in/alistairwheate/

Questions: – In event – through Webinar panel– Post-event – tweet to @Gorkana or @alistairtweet

Events contact: events@gorkana.com

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Social Media and Reputation in Financial Services

Topics covered:

• Challenges and opportunities for PR online

• How social media monitoring can inform messaging

• Tracking influencers and understanding how they relate to

each other

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POLL QUESTION

To what extent does Social Media listening and analysis form a part of your team’s responsibilities?

A. Social Media listening and analysis is done by another department

B. Social Media listening is done elsewhere but we include social in our PR evaluation

C. We do some social media listening in PR but don’t do any social media evaluation or analysis

D. We have a social media listening setup for PR and include social media in our PR evaluation

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The Confused Customer

AD

VE

RT

ISIN

GW

OR

D O

F M

OU

TH

CUSTOMER

REVIEW

S MEDIA

PR’s Traditional Domain

Wha

t rol

e do

es P

R p

lay

here

?

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Challenges & Opportunities

• 90% of consumers say buying decisions are influenced by online reviews online reviews

• 88% say they trust online customer reviews as much as personal recommendations

http://blogs.constantcontact.com/fresh-insights/do-customers-trust-online-reviews/http://searchengineland.com/88-consumers-trust-online-reviews-much-personal-recommendations-195803

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Rapid Changes in Retail

“Our customers are embracing new technologies and that in turn is fundamentally changing how they go about their shopping and what they expect of retailers.

“In this world of instant access, instant price comparison, instant social reviews, at the heart what we’ve chosen to stand for is trust. It’s the very kernel of the John Lewis brand.”

- Marks Lewis, Online Director, John Lewishttp://www.retail-week.com/sectors/department-stores/john-lewis-online-boss-more-retail-change-in-next-five-years-than-in-our-generation/5065162.article?blocktitle=More-news-&-analysis&contentID=13146

Online Plays a Big Role Offline As Well....

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John Lewis Retail Report 2014

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Social Media is for Listening

• “Social media is not a bullhorn for broadcast but a coffee shop for conversation.”– Kevin Ashton

https://medium.com/@kevin_ashton/social-media-is-for-listening-125283bc4100

None of the Interbrand Top 100 Brands are in the Twitter Top 100

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The Listening PR Team

CUSTOMER

REVIEW

S

MEDIA

SOCIAL MEDIA LISTENING

FOR PR

WORD OF MOUTH

(SOCIAL)

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Measures to Include in Reporting

In “Traditional” Media Analysis:

1. Proportion of articles referencing Social

2. Sentiment of Social element

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Measures to Include in Reporting

In “Traditional” Media Analysis:

• Proportion of articles referencing Social

• Sentiment of Social element

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Measures to Include in Reporting

In “Traditional” Media Analysis:

1. Proportion of articles referencing Social

2. Sentiment of Social element

3. Categorise by Incident, Review or Reaction

4. Channels Referenced

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Measures to Include in Reporting

In Social Media Analysis:

1. Prominence of mainstream stories in social

2. Identify key drivers of negative and positive comment

3. ‘Organic’ message penetration

4. Influencer SOV

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Influencer Tracking

Our Social Media Analysis:

• 1700 Fashion and Beauty Bloggers & Vloggers on Twitter

• Jul 1st – Sep 30th

• Tweet an average of 4.6 times per day

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Social Media Celebrities

• 6.2m YouTube Subscribers• 3.18m Instagram Followers• 2.37m Twitter Followers

BUT

Not in the Top 100 most mentioned twitter profiles by Blogger community

Only mentioned 849 times out of 867k tweets (<0.1%).

Fashion & Beauty bloggers pretty much ignore her.

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The most mentioned Fashion & Beauty Bloggers as referenced by other bloggers

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High St Retailers vs Online Retailers

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High St Retailers vs Online Retailers

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“Brand Friendly” Influencers

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“Brand Friendly” Influencers

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Top Tips

1. Identify key influencers and focus on them

2. Include social as a dimension within traditional media evaluation

3. Incorporate analysis of reviews and peer recommendations in analysis

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Q&A