Lessons from the Obama campaign by Ketchum's digital media director, a video interview with a best-selling social media book author, insights from Kodak's chief marketing officer, and a Q&A with an Advertising Age magazine editor
From Facebook to YouTube, the world of digital media holds great promise. As consumers flock to the Web to post their own blog entries and videos, comment on products and services, or seek out news and views from others, marketers must follow. But how?
This issue of Perspectives takes a look at some of the ways companies and brands are using digital media; provides insights on measuring online activity and engaging employees online; and offers some lessons learned from campaigns that include America for Obama and an effort to increase brand awareness among Millennial Moms.
INTRODUCTION
Statistics about the reach and rapid growth of digital media are virtually endless. Consider these:
The total global Internet audience is now more than one billion visitors, according to digital media research firm comScore.
The number of Twitter users grew an astonishing 1,928 percent from June 2008 to June 2009, reports a Nielsen survey.
Facebook, which started in 2004, says it reached 200 million users in April of this year. It has added an additional 50 million in the three months since then.
And, again according to comScore, U.S. consumers watched 16.8 billion videos online in April 2009, a 16 percent increase over March.
Those are only a few of the available stats. Yet, with all that's known about digital media, it is still evolving. The facts change quickly from year to year and even month to month. So, it's no surprise many PR and marketing professionals still aren't certain how to play in the space. To be sure, scores of companies are marketing online – with sophisticated search engine strategies, their own corporate Facebook profiles, Twitter handles and YouTube channels. However, many more still offer only Web sites or simply repurpose their offline marketing tactics in the online world. Even after watching other brands take hits to their public images recently, many are not even monitoring what is being said about them online and have no policies in place for how their own employees can represent the company online.
To say the least, these are missed opportunities. Organizations that don't begin to leverage digital media and interact with online audiences may find their communication methods outdated in a world that is rapidly going digital. To help our readers get or stay on track, this issue of Perspectives provides insights on some of the ways companies and brands can effectively use digital media, as well as learnings on a range of digital media topics.
The "Voices of Influence" section includes four prominent figures in digital media and marketing: Jonathan Kopp, global director of Ketchum Digital and a former member of the team that led President Obama's youth campaign; Charlene Li, an adviser to Ketchum and co-author of Groundswell, a bestselling book about how businesses must operate in a world transformed by social media; Jeff Hayzlett, chief marketing officer of the Eastman Kodak Co., a Ketchum client; and Matt Creamer, an editor for Advertising Age magazine who writes widely about digital marketing.
In "Viewpoints," we offer do's and don'ts for engaging employees through social networking and articles on measuring "earned conversations" online. In a special section called "What's Clicking," Dawn Bates, manager of consumer relationship marketing for household-products maker Kimberly-Clark, also a Ketchum client, talks about using digital media to successfully reach a new target audience.
Our "Roundtable" includes lessons learned from Ketchum's digital media specialists in Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. And "Street Smarts" offers additional interesting stats.
No matter where your organization is in its use of digital media, I believe this issue of Perspectives offers something of value. E-mail me at ray.kotcher@ketchum.com to let me know what you think.
Best regards,
Ray Kotcher
Senior Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Ketchum
VOICES OF INFLUENCE
Before joining Ketchum earlier this year, Jonathan Kopp was part of the team at integrated marketing agency SS+K that engineered the successful youth campaign that helped drive President Barack Obama to victory. That campaign relied heavily on social and other digital media, and its impact was in not only getting messages out to a target audience, but also welcoming this influential audience to share their own messages in support of the Obama brand. Here, Kopp shares some key learnings from his work on the Obama campaign and talks about their applications for corporate communications.
What Corporate Marketers Can Learn from the Obama Campaign
By Jonathan Kopp, Global Director, Ketchum Digital
View bio
One of the keys to President Obama's victory was the campaign's groundbreaking social marketing movement, which used both traditional and nontraditional media. The campaign defined the Obama brand early, maintained a consistent message, and invited everyday people to be a part of the brand. The role of digital media in the process was indispensable.
Here are six lessons about the way the campaign used digital media and some thoughts on how tools and tactics can be applied for corporate brands:
Lesson One: A social networking site was a powerful complement to the campaign's official Web site.
The Obama campaign benefited greatly from both its Web site, BarackObama.com, and an opt-in social networking and community organizing engine, MyBarackObama.com (MyBO). They were the two MVPs of the campaign. The Web site offered useful top-down content, such as news releases, speeches, position papers and volunteer opportunities, while MyBO served as a way to communicate ideas and connect people based on their interests and locations. Importantly, MyBO – which was designed by one of the founders of Facebook – didn't just deliver information. It encouraged and facilitated people taking action to help the candidate, such as making phone calls to voters, hosting house parties and donating money. It offered a way for people to be involved in the campaign both online and offline.
Insight:
In addition to their corporate Web sites, companies and brands also can use online communities to connect consumers around their products or issues related to them. Already, some brands offer sites where consumers can share information and advice, rather than just receive information from a company. Such sites also can be used to facilitate volunteer activities or encourage attendance at local events and promotions.
Lesson Two: Relentless e-mail blasts kept supporters connected to the campaign.
The campaign used e-mail to drive fundraising, capture data, and to reach out directly to voters to rally support throughout the campaign. These frequent, opt-in e-mail messages had the effect of making people feel connected to Obama and to the greater movement. They also personalized politics in an unprecedented manner by delivering messages not only from the candidate and his campaign manager, but also from his wife, his running mate and his running mate's wife. At the same time, the campaign was always careful to balance the e-mail blasts between "frequent" and "too much" to avoid overwhelming audiences.
Insight:
In the same way, companies can personalize consumers' and other stakeholders' connections to their brands. Opt-in e-mail blasts can keep customers informed of new products, product enhancements or other relevant news. They can even be used to communicate directly to stakeholders when issues and crises arise, and to capture data for consumer research.
Lesson Three: Paid search and search engine optimization were important elements in online advertising.
Obama outspent McCain 10-to-1 in online advertising, including click-through banners and boxes and videos, and his cash advantage enabled him to target messages to different constituencies around issues such as healthcare and the economy. Paid search and search engine optimization enabled the campaign to promote the candidate even when Internet users were not specifically looking for information about the election.
Insight:
Search engines are the most frequently used sites on the Internet, and many companies already use search engine optimization to direct consumers to their Web sites. Companies and brands should carefully consider ways to get the most out of both SEO and paid search. For instance, a company faced with undue criticism or false information about its brands can employ search to directly deliver accurate information to individuals who are looking for information related to the topic. Or a mattress retailer can target ads to consumers who are looking for information about buying a new bed. Tools such as Ketchum's Search Matters can even predict what topics consumers will be searching during a given time — enabling brands to stay ahead of market trends.
Lesson Four: Text messaging was an invaluable tool for gathering data.
Text messaging was a critical element in helping the campaign reach a young, mobile audience. In fact, the campaign's database ballooned when it publicized that the candidate's choice for vice president would be announced via text messaging. Even the short code (62262) was a strategic piece of communication: It spelled O-B-A-M-A on the cell phone's alphanumeric keypad. Supporters also could use their mobile phones to voice their concern about particular issues, such as the war in Iraq, in response to outdoor, video-projection billboard messages. And the campaign later was able to send text messages directly to individuals to help drive voter registration and turnout on Election Day.
Insight:
Brands can use text messaging to drive participation in contests and promotions as well as to gather quick feedback on existing products or changes that consumers would like to see. Highly mobile consumers who may not take the time to complete a survey can send a text message in less than a minute. Twitter offers similar speed of communication and is a great way to personalize corporate and brand communications and build conversations with the public. If used as a promotional device, Twitter also can drive revenue.
Lesson Five: Open source activity was a major asset.
Some of the most memorable activity in support of the Obama campaign didn't come from the campaign at all. It came from unaffiliated individuals who created artwork, music and videos that took on lives of their own, both online and offline. Rather than try to control or compete with those outside efforts, the campaign encouraged, and even equipped, fans to express support in their own ways. For instance, the campaign's "O" logo was animated and reinterpreted for numerous constituent groups, from students to environmentalists to gay and lesbian organizations to various ethnic groups. Not only did unregulated, open-source activity allow groups to show support for Obama, but the fact that the campaign did not oppose or try to compete with the activity made the groups feel supported by the candidate.
Insight:
Companies are naturally protective of their brands. But in the Web 2.0 world, the best way to protect brands may be to welcome and encourage consumer involvement with them. Young people, especially, don't accept brands as static things; they feel free to re-imagine them. Companies should use the Web to make it easier for consumers to provide feedback and suggestions and even to share brand news and information with others. Enabling consumers to feel more connected to your brand also will develop brand advocates who may be motivated to defend the brand when negative news arrives. For instance, the campaign had dissenters as well as supporters on MyBO; we accommodated them for a more authentic conversation and to empower supporters to respond, too, offering third-party validation.
Lesson Six: Microtargeting was an essential way to get into the conversation.
Conversation about the campaign was happening on the Internet. Since the campaign couldn't control the conversation, it simply engaged in it. One way to do that was microtargeting — speaking to different audiences in ways that showed that the candidate related to them. For instance, when we created ads for Barack Obama to speak to youth, we had him speaking to a webcam. It was another way to show that Obama understood the ways that young people communicate.
Insight:
Similarly, by marrying macro brand messages with micro customization, corporate communicators can draw in niche audiences. Customizing conversations for specific audiences enables brands to introduce their points of view in ways that people will more readily listen to. For instance, Levi's recently launched a global branding campaign called "Go Forth," which focuses on the theme of the American pioneer and targets men ages 18 to 33. To complement traditional advertising done by Weiden+Kennedy, Ketchum created a guerilla campaign on Craigslist across U.S. markets that provided a modern take on Antarctic explorer Ernest Shakleton's legendary classified ad seeking brave men for hazardous work and low wages. The ad has already generated thousands of unique visitors to the "Go Forth" Web site, and the campaign is still underway. We also created and published a social media release and provided blogger and online media relations.
On a final note, Barack Obama was a stellar candidate who represented the right change at the right time. But discipline on consistent communication strategy and messaging throughout the two-year campaign was critical to his success. The same is true in corporate marketing. To achieve that consistency, digital communication and offline activity must be integrated seamlessly – and from the beginning. Digital communication cannot be just a tactic or a bolt-on to a marketing campaign. It needs to be a part of the discussion during the strategic development phase and embedded in the core communications all the way through. Only then will a company truly harness the full spectrum of the digital space.
VOICES OF INFLUENCE
Six Ways Companies Can Leverage Digital Media to Manage Their Reputations
An Interview with Charlene Li, Blogger and Co-Author of Groundswell View bio
Q:
One of the key points of Groundswell is that the speed and reach of social media can have a powerful impact on corporate reputation for any given company. That can be a scary idea for corporate executives who are accustomed to issuing carefully crafted press releases for traditional media, speaking to the general public largely through reporters, holding periodic conferences for industry analysts, and hosting annual gatherings to speak to a few shareholders. How do you think social media has changed the effectiveness of those kinds of tactics?
Q:
Corporations have various stakeholders — customers, employees, shareholders, external activists, etc. — who sometimes care about different things and whose actions can affect different aspects of a company's reputation. How can a company best communicate with these fragmented groups online?
Q:
How can companies be consistent with their messaging when reaching these fragmented audiences?
Q:
Negative news spread through social media can have a swift and damaging effect, and it can continue to spread even after the facts of a situation have changed. How can companies (and their communicators) most effectively counteract negative news in the social media space?
Q:
Is there any way for companies to shield themselves from reputational damage online? If so, what might that involve?
Q:
How do companies handle activists that are determined to spread negative messages about their organization?
VOICES OF INFLUENCE
Eastman Kodak Co. has been making it easier for people to make, manage and move images and information for more than 120 years. Today, Kodak is a leading innovator in imaging. Its products and services include digital cameras, consumer inkjet printers, photographic and entertainment films, commercial digital printers and prepress solutions, and document scanners. Additionally, millions of people around the globe manage, share and create photo gifts online using Kodak Gallery. As CMO, Jeff Hayzlett is responsible for the company's worldwide marketing operations. Here, he talks to Perspectives about how Kodak interacts with consumers through digital media.
An Interview with Jeff Hayzlett, Kodak's Chief Marketing Officer
With Jeff Hayzlett, Chief Marketing Officer, Kodak View bio
Perspectives: Kodak has a wide involvement in the social media space, with its own blog, a presence on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. What is the goal of Kodak's social media activity? And has it been successful?
Jeff Hayzlett: Our goal is simple — to be where our customers are. At Kodak, we've always embraced this marketing philosophy, and in today's world that means being active in social media. It's been successful for us because it offers the opportunity to have a dialogue with our customers. Hearing directly from them online allows us to better understand them and subsequently better serve them.
Perspectives: Has digital media improved or affected in any way the feedback you get from consumers? If so, how?
Hayzlett: Absolutely. It's improved the feedback we receive from consumers because it enables them to reach us directly. In turn, we can respond to consumers faster than ever. By interacting directly through digital media, we're showing our customers that we're listening.
Perspectives: Can you share a particular instance where Kodak has used digital media successfully with consumers and why it worked?
Hayzlett: There have been many instances where we've used social media successfully with our customers. It's important to show what we're doing as a brand on our Kodak social media channels. We maintain three blogs, two Facebook pages, more than three Twitter accounts, podcasts, and YouTube posts — we try to be everywhere online!
In March of this year, Kodak was the lead sponsor of the first-ever Streamy Awards, which honor the best in Web videos. The awards show was broadcast live on www.streamys.org, and consumers could access it through the Kodak Web site. The event was a perfect opportunity to help launch our new Zi6 and Zx1 Pocket Video Cameras, which make it easy to shoot and upload videos right to YouTube. To generate interest in the event, we hosted a trivia contest on Twitter during the week leading up to the show. The Twitter contest was a big success, with a large number of replies, retweets and direct messages sent to the contest host. We also did short videos for the Web site 12seconds.tv, in which we interviewed award winners about their favorite Kodak moments. All of these digital media touch points helped us support the brand and expand it to new audiences.
We also have posted videos and tweeted about Kodak's partnerships with the Academy Awards, Celebrity Apprentice and the Consumer Electronics Show, just to name a few. Not everyone outside of Kodak — or even inside of Kodak — has the opportunity to experience these major events, so we use videos and social media to ensure our customers and employees are connected to real-time activities that are relevant to them.
Perspectives: You have a personal presence on Twitter and you frequently mention Kodak in your posts. Do you view Twitter as being more effective for business purposes than for personal purposes? And how do you balance representing Jeff the person and Jeff the Kodak CMO in your online communications?
Hayzlett: I think it can be a balance of both. Twitter is a great online tool that helps me engage with the various audiences that are important in both my professional and personal life. When I first began to use social media, it enabled my family to keep in touch with me while I traveled for work. But I soon realized the benefits of updating my fellow employees, our customers, the media and others who want to be updated on what's happening at Kodak. Personally, I'm a leader who's receptive to getting direct feedback and posting personal thoughts throughout the day so I'm able to balance both equally. I'm a big believer in people hearing from the real me at all times. Some people ask if I write my own posts, and I respond, "You simply can't fake it with social media. If you do, it's cheating, it's not authentic, and people will pick up on that."
Perspectives: How do you see Kodak using social and other digital media to interact with consumers in the future?
Hayzlett: We certainly plan to continue embracing digital and social media in the future. If there is a new online offering within digital media that we feel is organic to our brand and that we can become involved in, you'll most likely find Kodak there. We're constantly looking to cultivate our emotional connection with consumers, so keeping pace with social media keeps us grounded and aware of what's really happening in the world.
What's more, we'll continue our presence in new digital media channels not only because it establishes the essential, expressive nature of our brand, but also because beyond our roles as Kodak executives and employees, we're likely already going to be in those channels on a personal level.
VOICES OF INFLUENCE
Journalist Matt Creamer has been writing about media and marketing for more than six years. He currently is an editor for Advertising Age and writes about digital and social media and the future of marketing. In this interview with Perspectives, he shares his thoughts on what works and what doesn't work in digital marketing.
An Interview With Ad Age's Matt Creamer
With Matt Creamer, Senior Editor, Advertising Age View bio
Perspectives: Many companies still are trying to figure out the best ways to include digital media in their marketing strategies. Can you share two or three examples of companies that have been effective and why you think their campaigns worked?
Creamer: Wal-Mart and Johnson & Johnson are becoming sources of information online. Wal-mart's Web site offers tips and advice for consumers on ways to save more, and Johnson & Johnson's Baby.com site provides advice on how to raise a newborn. Both of those show how marketers can use Web sites to become resources for consumers. It's not just about advertising; it's about becoming useful sources of valuable information. That engenders brand loyalty. Being a resource is huge in digital marketing because it's so easy for consumers to ignore the ads online. The brands that are most successful online are the ones that are providing destinations for information — or some other useful experience. You can't rely on banner ads and pop-ups if you want people to truly engage with your brand online.
Perspectives: Breaking through the clutter has been a long-standing issue for marketers. What impact has the increased use of digital media had on this issue? Has it made it more or less of a challenge?
Creamer: Given that the idea is to get your message to consumers, it hasn't helped. The Internet has put more and more distractions into the mix and it will continue to do so, making it more and more challenging. That's broader than marketing – it's a societal issue. It's very difficult to expect that any one message is going to cut through. It happens, but it's rare.
Perspectives: What are two or three missteps that you've seen marketers make in the digital media space? And how were they able to overcome them?
Creamer: A few years back, Wal-Mart hired bloggers to write positive things about the company and didn't disclose that fact. The brand took a lot of hits for that, but since then it has done a pretty good job of atoning for its sins in digital marketing. What they are doing now is very transparent — a very simple, clear marketing program. Importantly, the company is bringing messages to consumers in a way that overlaps with its business. It's not very sexy; it's just simple.
As far as missteps go, there are sins of commission (or abuse of trust), as in Wal-Mart's case, and there are sins of omission (or neglect), where companies just don't pay attention to what's going on online. They don't use the Internet to test-market or even to gather information. I think that still goes on too much, though most are figuring out that you really need to be out there.
Perspectives: Commercial messages within social networking sites like Facebook can be a turnoff for users. How do you think companies can best use social networking sites to promote their brands?
Creamer: I think the biggest issue is not in potentially offending consumers, but rather in not being terribly relevant to consumers. There is a lot of spending by brands in this space, but no one has hit on anything great. I don't see much happening on social networking sites with respect to promoting brands that people would want to spend their time on. And when I do see something, I usually find that it's not worth it because, quite often, viewing or taking advantage of a promotion involves running or downloading a potentially problematic computer application. For instance, sometimes if you download an application, you wind up spamming your entire network. This isn't necessarily a problem generated by the brand, but it still ends up involving the brand.
All in all, I think there is a fair amount of potential in these sites but no one has yet unlocked this potential. I think it can be a viable piece of a marketing strategy. It can be an effective way to collect data on your consumers.
Perspectives: Do you see mobile phones as a viable medium for marketers in the U.S. or elsewhere?
Creamer: I'm not entirely convinced of the viability of mobile marketing as a big business. It's one of those businesses where everyone is always talking about how big it's going to be next year. Then when you get to the next year, they're talking about how big it's going to be the next year.
That said, the fact that many phones have GPS creates some potential. Technology in the U.S. tends to lag other markets, so there are more opportunities abroad for now. As phone technology gets better, that will raise the tide for mobile marketers everywhere. But phones aren't like televisions or even computers. Phones are emergency devices that shouldn't be fooled around with. For instance, no one wants to be bombarded with marketing messages when they may be waiting for a call from a son or daughter who might be in trouble. So, any sort of mobile marketing needs to be opt-in.
Perspectives: In your view, what innovations in digital media hold the greatest potential for marketers?
Creamer: If you look at the evolution of digital marketing — from banner ads to social media — nobody has cracked the code on it. So right now, no particular innovation stands out.
I think that where digital marketing is now, is where TV advertising was before its "golden age" – when marketers really figured out how to use TV for commercial messages. There is a lot of learning still to be done. What's more, because online media is so fragmented and consumers also have a voice in it, it is harder than ever for true mass breakthroughs to happen. But the flip side of that is that business will scale itself accordingly. Companies will create more products for smaller audiences. They will learn to cater to the customers they do have rather than to the ones they wish they had.
VIEWPOINTS
Digital Workforce: Social Media and the Two Sides of Employee Engagement
By Rebecca Orbach
Consultant, Stromberg Consulting, View bio
and
Helen Paczkowski,
Consultant, Stromberg Consulting View bio
Let's face it, whether you personally have been blogging for years or are hesitant even to set up a LinkedIn account, social media is becoming more important to all of our lives. Tools like Twitter and Facebook enable any individual to engage broad audiences in dialogue. This makes social media an important resource for helping organizations interact with employees, connecting individuals across organizational and geographic boundaries, and enabling employees to communicate on a company's behalf.
But take caution. Social media tools are exactly that: tools. To get the most from them, organizations must understand how to use them – in both the workplace and the marketplace.
Workplace
Research shows that engaged employees tend to display higher levels of performance, serve as proud brand advocates, and feel truly invested in the success of their company. And one recent survey reported that corporate communicators believe social media will lead to increased employee engagement. However, just because you use social media, doesn't mean your employees automatically will be engaged. As with any tool, misuse can lead to negative outcomes, such as opening up additional venues for disengaged and disgruntled employees to air negative opinions.
If you're looking to use social media to impact key drivers of engagement, start by considering these basic do's and don'ts:
Engagement Driver
Do
Don't
Collaboration and Relationship Building
Create an internal Facebook-like application that enables employees to connect regardless of location, function, or level
Underestimate the cost of a fully functional Facebook-like application
Forget to create guidelines
Innovation
Create a forum using "crowdsourcing technology," which enables employees to submit and share ideas online to collectively troubleshoot business challenges; this process is facilitated by the online community, which decides through ratings or votes which ideas are most viable
Overlook the necessary communications and training needed to make this successful
Neglect following up on ideas
Transparency and Leadership Visibility
Create a leadership blog where senior managers can connect directly with employees around the world
Choose a leader who is uninterested in blogging
Let the blog go unmoderated
Forget to set expectations on timing for posting responses
Marketplace
External social media programs often are missing one element: an organizational activation plan. Without guidance, employees may not be sufficiently motivated or prepared to act as representatives of the company's brand. Or worse, they may unwittingly damage the brand or use the tools for personal reasons.
Ideally, companies should have a strategy and an activation plan in place before delving into external social media, but it's never too late to begin. To get started, ask yourself each of the six questions below. While these questions also apply to internal programs, they are critical for external ones.
Why do you want to use social media? Identify key business objectives, align leadership, and establish metrics for measuring progress and ROI.
Is your organization ready? Measure base-line engagement levels and administer a small culture assessment to gauge the appetite for social media tools within the organization.
Do you have a strategy? Engage experts and design a social media strategy to address the needs of your employees and the business as a whole.
Is the organization aligned? Align strategy to your overall engagement program and communications plan. Remember, internal social media tools are not a replacement, but rather an enhancement to traditional employee interactions like face-to-face communication.
Is the organization ready for prime time? Ensure you have the right people and infrastructure in place to support implementation and behavior change. If appropriate, equip employees with the tools to act as external representatives of your brand.
Do you have "rules of the road"? Although it is impossible to prescribe for every scenario, develop and communicate corporate guidelines.
Involve a team of social media experts and your company's legal counsel.
Determine whether current policies adequately cover use of the new tools.
Advise employees on how to set boundaries between work and personal life.
Establish appropriate consequences for tools being misused.
Finally, whether you're looking to implement a program in the workplace or the marketplace, the most important investment you can make is taking the time to ensure you are using social media for the right reasons and that your organization is ready for both the opportunities and responsibilities it brings.
VIEWPOINTS
Challenges and Solutions to Measuring Social Media
Last year, Internet users around the globe spent 45 billion minutes communicating on social networking or "member community" sites[1], according to Nielsen Online. That's a lot of online chatter, and some of it is about brands. But what does it all mean?
Here, Joanne Puckett of Ketchum's Global Research Network talks about some of the challenges (and rewards) of measuring social media, and Patrick Rooney of Ketchum's word-of-mouth agency, Zócalo Group, discusses a solution to addressing the multidimensional nature of online conversations
The Challenges and Rewards of Measuring Social Media
By Joanne Puckett,
Vice President and Research Director, Ketchum Global Research Network View bio
As a growing number of professional communicators turn to social media marketing, they are quickly discovering that traditional techniques for measuring media results don't always apply.
Unlike a newspaper article or a TV news segment, social media conversations are as dynamic and varied as the millions of people engaging in them. That poses challenges for extracting information that is meaningful to marketers. But most of these challenges can be overcome.
Here are three key challenges to measuring social media and some considerations for addressing them.
Multiple conversations are happening at once. Any given subject can have numerous blogs and other social media outlets dedicated to it. And with virtually endless online chatter, the task of measurement can seem particularly daunting and costly. That's why it's important to realize that not all social media are equal. Some have greater reach and influence. So, a single mention of a product or brand on one site may outweigh multiple mentions on another. When deciding which sites to measure (and where to target marketing efforts), marketers must determine which social media outlets would have the greatest impact on their brands.
Even on the most important sites, you don't need to read and measure every comment. You can take a sample of content or develop a consistent approach that stays on the pulse of what consumers are saying. For example, you can actively measure what key influencers are saying while only monitoring others who are commenting on a topic. You also can periodically alter measurement of the frequency, breadth and depth of conversations based on the resources you have available for measurement.
Social media alone can tell an incomplete story. Traditional media and social media may affect one another. Specifically, the impact of social media tends to be greater when it is integrated with other forms of marketing. So, looking at the results of social media alone can understate or overstate its true impact. Whenever possible, marketers should track in a manner that allows for side-by-side comparison and statistical analysis.
But bear in mind that it may take a while to see the impact of social media for a number of reasons. For one, marketing through social media requires broader relationship building than traditional media, which takes time. And "impressions" for digital media typically are lower, which means that it can take longer for social media to achieve the same reach as traditional media when using that metric.
Social media is rapidly evolving. New forms of social media enter the marketplace seemingly every day. Adequately measuring social media impact means keeping pace with the latest outlets where consumers may be commenting about your brand. Marketers must continually review the outlets they are measuring and make adjustments as needed.
No matter what the challenge, the bottom line is that marketing in new media requires new ways to measure program effectiveness. But the potential rewards are far greater than the challenges. The democratic nature of social media means that companies have more opportunity than ever before to hear directly from consumers about their brands.
While most existing methods for listening to online consumers currently measure only one dimension of their conversations, measurement technology is becoming more sophisticated every day (see Patrick Rooney's article on "Measuring the Multidimensional Impact of Online Conversations"). New data-mining technology, for instance, already can allow marketers to not only measure the volume of online chatter, but also to examine the tone of conversations and determine their relationship to increased engagement, recommendations and even sales.
Access to such information means a treasure trove of opportunities for professional communicators to relate the work that they do back to real business results – and that's a challenge I think we're all ready to take on.
Measuring the Multidimensional Impact of Online Conversations
By Patrick Rooney,
Partner, Zócalo Group View bio
Word-of-mouth has long been a powerful form of marketing, and now online conversations have taken that to a new level. Marketers understand that.
But as more brands venture into social media programs, what marketers are still trying to understand is how to measure the impact of those programs so they can better calibrate them to tap into, harness and maximize online conversations. Unlike traditional marketing, measurement of online engagement is ill-defined. Marketers are still not quite sure what they need to measure or how to measure it.
To begin to comprehend this challenge, it's important to distinguish between "traditional" online marketing and programs that incorporate social media tools. When it comes to online conversation and engagement, the difference is paid engagement on the one hand (click through ads, banner ads, etc.) and earned engagement on the other (blogs, forums, microblogs, social networks, etc.).
Where marketers today are well-versed in measuring paid engagement (read: advertising), the ability to measure the impact of earned online engagement – conversations driven by word-of-mouth – is far less advanced. Most marketers rely on one or more automated technology solutions to gauge the amount of chatter about a brand. A number of existing tools – ranging from Technorati to Radian 6 to IceRocket – allow agencies and clients alike to set up a dashboard to track the level of conversations about a brand, trends around keywords, and even keyword-driven sentiment analysis.
The problem is that this is one-dimensional – measuring only quantity (or volume) – and even for that one dimension there is no industry standard. So marketers fall back on metrics with which they are familiar and comfortable – impressions, reach, etc. – but that aren't necessarily meaningful for measuring online engagement.
What marketers must understand is that online conversations are multidimensional and that measurement tools should be, too. Tools to gauge a brand's online presence should show not only the quantity of conversation, but also the level of interaction and the depth of message penetration and saturation.
At Zócalo Group, Ketchum's word-of-mouth and social media specialty group, we use a proprietary suite of tools that combine dozens of methods to evaluate, measure and track a brand's online footprint across multiple channels. Developed in conjunction with DePaul University School of Business and vetted with leading analyst firm Forrester Research, the measurement suite helps brands in these ways:
Understand where and how they are being talked about, recommended, and/or criticized online (Are positioning and key messages resonating?)
Identify leading advocates and detractors
Measure and track the growth of a brand's earned online presence over time
Quantify the value and ROI of earned conversation across social media channels
Benchmark against competitors' social media presence and impact
Demonstrate the impact of digital word-of-mouth activities
The Zócalo Measurement Suite is our approach to comprehensive measurement. But the era of social media is young and nascent, so others are sure to follow.
All of that spells a positive outlook for marketers seeking to gain a tangible understanding of the impact of their social media marketing programs. But the biggest impact will surely be determined by how readily marketers embrace these new measurement tools and techniques. And as marketers adopt the emerging tools that best meet their needs, perhaps an industry standard won't be far behind.
A Snapshot of the Zócalo Measurement Suite
The Zócalo Measurement Suite goes beyond merely tracking conversations, but also quantifies the reach of engagement and the value of the conversation. It consists of four distinct and powerful tools:
Digital Footprint Analysis (DFA)
Digital Footprint Index (DFI)
Earned Digital Engagement (EDE)
Advertising Equivalency (AdEq)
Digital Footprint Analysis
Digital Footprint Index
The DFA is a qualitative analysis that provides insight into where, how and why a brand (and its competitors) is talked about and recommended and identifies key market trends that will affect the brand today and tomorrow.
The DFIquantitatively measures, scores and tracks the progress of online engagement. The DFI consists of three separate but inter-related components: height, width and depth.
The DFA informs the brand:
How it's talked about, shared, recommended or criticized online
Who its leading advocates and detractors are
Which channels (i.e., blogs, forums, etc.) are most actively and effectively reaching the right audiences, and how conversation differs from channel to channel
What trends are currently and most likely to shape the brand and the industry
What key words and themes are most associated with the brand – and its competitors
Why people recommend (or not) the brand and its competitors
How to best structure a plan to maximize impact of earned conversations
These measures answer the central questions of a social media strategy:
Height: How much is the brand talked about and where is conversation occurring?
Width: How is the brand shared and interacted with online, and how active are the communities within which conversations take place
Depth: Is the brand understood and talked about in the way it wants?
The DFI helps pinpoint not only the quantity of conversation about a brand, but also those channels where engagement is occurring and how well people understand and share the things the brand wants them to. By analyzing these elements from month to month, an online engagement program using social media can be recalibrated to maximize impact.
Earned Digital Engagement
Advertising Equivalency
The EDE measures the number of people reached through a brand's social media efforts across channels – from blogs to Facebook to Twitter and YouTube and Flickr. Whereas media impressions measure the sheer number of people reached through a passive experience, the EDE measures the number of people reached online through deliberate, active engagement. Simply stated, it only counts the people reached through focused social media marketing efforts.
Developed based on research of published rates by BlogAds and counsel/guidance from Omnicom's OMD, the Zócalo Group AdEq calculates the equivalent advertising costs of EDE.
"If we get XX number of EDE through earned social media marketing, what would it cost to reach the same number of people through paid ads?"
The AdEq is now developed for blogs and forums, and work is underway to develop AdEq for Twitter, social networks (Facebook, MySpace, etc.), and picture/video sharing sites.
[1]Global Faces and Network Places, March 2009, The Nielsen Company. Countries in global study include Brazil, Spain, Italy, Japan, the U.K., the U.S., France, Australia, Germany and Switzerland..
WHAT'S CLICKING
A Look at How Companies Are Using Digital Media
By Dawn Bates, Consumer Promotion Marketing Manager, Kimberly-Clark View bio
How can digital media help you reach your target audience? What's the best way to interact with nonjournalist bloggers? Can digital media tactics help drive sales?
Communicators want to know what's working in digital media — in other words, what's really clicking with online audiences. While the same strategies and tactics won't work for every company, there are lessons to be learned in how others are succeeding with digital media. Here is a look at how Ketchum client Kimberly-Clark, maker of such brands as Kleenex facial tissues and Cottonelle toilet paper, recently boosted its public relations work in the digital media space.
Kimberly-Clark Uses Social Media to Reach Millennial Moms
Kimberly-Clark's brands — which include Huggies, Kotex, Scott, Poise, and Viva — can be found in nearly every room of the home. So to further drive awareness and increase sales, the company launched the Room-A-Day Giveaway promotion, in partnership with ABC's The View, in 2007. Since then, the program has awarded 16 winners a year with a $25,000 makeover of a room in their homes. Consumers enter the sweepstakes by signing up online or mailing in an entry form.
This year Kimberly-Clark chose to increase its focus on Millennial Moms. Past campaigns focused more on Gen X moms and relied largely on traditional media, such as television and magazines. But Millennial Moms spend more time engaged in online communities than they do reading print publications. That sent the Room-A-Day campaign into new media territory.
Dawn Bates, manager of consumer promotion marketing for Kimberly-Clark, shares how turning to social media amped up the three-year-old promotion.
Marketing "With" Consumers Rather Than "To" Them
As marketers, we must understand that we are facing decentralized control. Our consumers are creating their own content and delivering messages for our brands. There is no doubt we are experiencing a paradigm shift. Instead of talking to our consumer, we need to be ready to have a dialogue with her on her time and make it easy for her to have a conversation with her network. By having conversations and listening, we create a stronger relationship.
For Room-A-Day in 2009, we really thought about where and when the Gen X and Millennial Moms would be most receptive to engaging with us. So, in addition to focusing our print strategy on magazines that appeal to our target, we started conversations with her in blogs, on social networking sites and through online word-of-mouth. For the first time, Room-A-Day had a Twitter handle so we could tweet about the promotion. These efforts resulted in a substantial number of quality discussions with our target focused on our promotion and brands.
Getting Bloggers Involved
We invited a select group of top "mom" and "home design" bloggers to participate in an online conference, during which they were granted exclusive access to our spokesman, Thom Filicia, host of the TV show Dress My Nest. More than 90 percent of our targeted invitees participated. This event allowed us to acknowledge the bloggers and their influence and to give them access to something not widely available. In turn, they became involved in our promotion. They not only told their friends, but many also became advocates. This expanded the number of online relationships for the Room-A-Day Giveaway.
As a matter of fact, over half of the attendees tweeted during the event, generating organic content about the Room-A-Day Giveaway during the one-hour conference. Many bloggers also followed up with posts about the giveaway. Equally exciting, one of our blogger's posts was picked up by the St. Petersburg Times and ran on the front page of the home section on Super Bowl weekend, reaching an additional one million readers.
In the end, the number of online conversations about Room-A-Day increased dramatically versus the prior year, and the sentiment of the vast majority of those conversations was positive. This goes to show that involving bloggers in a conversation that is relevant and exciting creates energy, and that energy is contagious.
Measuring the Success of Digital Media
Metrics should always be tied to brand objectives. With digital media, just like with all marketing, our goal is response. So first, we must understand the objective and determine what success looks like. Then, it's important for us to create an exchange that incites action. This response may be measured by engagement with the brand, number of conversations, sentiment, advocacy – in any number of ways, really – as long as the metric ties back to the brand objective.
More Social Media Marketing for Kimberly-Clark?
In today's marketing space, there's media fragmentation, new technology, self-selecting consumers and an ever-increasing number of peer groups. The digital space, including social networking, is burgeoning. According to Forrester Research, three-in-four online adults in the U.S. now use social tools to connect with each other, compared with just 56 percent in 2007. Not only are we seeing a change in consumer behavior, we're also seeing a new media landscape with more touch points than ever.
However, at Kimberly-Clark, we don't like thinking about traditional versus new media. For us, marketing is about getting the consumer promise and the touch points right. It's about developing strong commercial ideas so our brands can sell more stuff to more people, more often, and for more money. Key to generating those ideas is an integrated approach to marketing planning. As a result of our integrated process, we have seen our share of spending in digital media increase.
ROUNDTABLE
Digital Lessons From Around the Globe Digital media has made the world smaller as global communication can now happen in an instant. At the same time, however, widespread individual use of digital media has made the job of communicating with consumers seem bigger than ever. Many companies are still testing the waters with digital and social media or merely observing. To give our clients and prospects some perspective on what works, Ketchum experts from Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Spain, the Middle East and the United States share some of the biggest lessons they've learned from working with digital media.
Participants
Lukas Adda, Account Supervisor and Digital Guide, Ketchum, Munich, Germany Wallace Baldo, Manager, Interactive Communications, Ketchum Estratégia, São Paulo, Brazil Valeria Bazzi, Managing Director, Ketchum Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina Ken Buraker, Vice President and Creative Director, Ketchum, Washington, D.C., United States Ludi Garcia, Practice Area Manager, Technology and Digital, Ketchum, Madrid, Spain Clem Lau, Senior Vice President, Digital Communications, Ketchum, Beijing, China Jamie Read, Account Manager, TBWA\RAAD\PR Middle East, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Olivier Saint-Léger, Director of New Media, Ketchum, Paris, France
Perspectives: What are one or two lessons you've learned from working on programs in the digital media space?
Lukas Adda: First of all, you have to make it clear for the client that the digital space is NOT simply a small action field for young people or techies. The Web is a huge community with more than one billion users! Every project or campaign implemented here needs to be planned in detail from the very beginning.
A second learning is that viral effects or boomerangs for online actions can be tremendously higher in the digital world than those effects resulting from offline projects. Furthermore, if you are working with users, such as in Facebook groups, it will not be enough to create this group and hope that action gets going on its own. Every program needs to be moderated by a client or agency presenter.
Wallace Baldo: In the digital space, you can receive very quick and precise feedback on a PR campaign, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. When a client has an article published in a newspaper, for instance, it is not possible to measure what the reader thinks of that. In social media, the client can take a look at the comments and read something like "Thank you, guys, I'm going to buy this product" — not to mention the several metrics you can use to measure exposure improvement, cost efficiency and reach.
Valeria Bazzi: There is a mental shift that should happen when thinking about programs in the digital media space. The way we connect with consumers or stakeholders is absolutely different. It is different not only in theory, but also in practice. We should start thinking that the media has different rules and ways to work from the PR perspective.
Just to mention two lessons: One, we not only get faster feedback, but also faster impact; two, budgets can be lower and they can be spent in a much more strategic way.
Ken Buraker: Our client Web site solutions have to be complemented with more than just an earned media strategy. Typically, with widespread earned media coverage, Internet searches will increase about the respective topic. So, online paid media opportunities, such as Google AdWords and search engine optimization programs, can help drive audiences to online brand or campaign destinations. Even after the earned media coverage subsides, we can increase the dissemination and potential impact of our clients' messaging while sustaining traffic to their Web sites. This approach is vital when our metrics of success are still defined by total number of unique visitors.
Ludi Garcia: One lesson is that when dealing with setbacks of any kind, PR professionals must have the smartest, most up-to-date crisis management plan possible, which means leveraging the Internet and e-mail communications. With the 24/7 news cycle that includes bloggers and citizen journalists able to instantly wreak havoc on an organization, knowing how to use the Web and its tools to your advantage — and in a timely manner — is critical.
Clem Lau: Early on in the digital media space, I worked on bringing interactivity to traditional media — in other words, creating a communication channel between the audience and the TV program. At the time, I was CEO of XLink Media and we were one of the first companies in Asia to bring SMS (short message service) text messaging as such a means for communication. The amount of participation, sharing and passion that was brought out through what was then a new form of communication was something that nobody had expected. True then as it is today, people, even in China, want to share their passion with the world.
Jamie Read: The Internet has allowed people to communicate at the speed of thought. Social media, RSS and search have meant that brands need to engage in real time; otherwise, they will be left out of the discussion. I had an experience with clients who wanted to approve every comment made on a blog I created for them. The very first comment took a week and a half to approve at the various levels of management. This alienated the consumer, who wanted to engage in a dialogue with the community about topics on which the client was seen as an expert. Rather than an online dialogue, the conversation happened somewhere else and the blog died.
In some instances, it may be difficult to communicate because of strict industry regulations, such as in healthcare. But in today's world, engaging online with consumers, INCLUDING patients, is critical. For this reason, we need to work with our clients today to understand the strict industry regulations they may be facing and work together to find the best path forward.
Olivier Saint-Léger: During the last three years, the most evident point I have seen in working on digital PR activities is that we must always ask ourselves "How far can we take the Internet?" What I mean is that we all know now that the Internet — this great equalizer — leverages most of the offerings. Put another way: What's the difference between a blog made by a Web agency or a press agency and a blog made by our digital department at Ketchum Paris? The convergence of technology also means a convergence of marketing, editorial, PR, advertising and so on. And we can see it every day when our clients hesitate on the right provider of services.
So, how far can we take the Internet? A blog — to take it back to a simple example — is only a tool. And we should never forget what this tool is linked to: our core PR business and know-how, notably our great ability to convey messages and engage in conversations with the public. This, after all, is what strongly distinguishes us and gives us a legitimacy to act in the digital space.
Perspectives: Can you share an example of a key learning you've seen a client have about communicating via digital/social media?
Adda: A client in Germany that makes mountain equipment started a blog page on a social community space and contracted some of its campaign influencers to become members of the group. These influencers were supposed to actively share their mountain climbing experiences and participate in the group discussions — as this was a point of their contract. But because they had been more or less forced to participate, their reaction was somewhat half-hearted and even inactive. The lesson for the client: Don't get frustrated if users and community members do not work with or for you, and do not try to force them into participation. A campaign will run well only with authentic, happy and transparent participants.
Baldo: One Ketchum Digital client in Brazil has realized that it is not proper or necessary to pay for posts and that they can get them by simply using public relations properly. We developed a digital PR campaign for the client that resulted in hundreds of positive consumer posts and mentions in key blogs and social network communities, with all relevant product messages. Since Web 2.0 is about relationships, PR campaigns have means to be more efficient and credible than advertising to reach the online consumer. That is even more real if we consider that some blogs do not deal with paid posts or banners.
Bazzi: Last year, we organized a big event for the 40th anniversary of Hot Wheels (Mattel's brand for boys). Basically, we invited families to attend a huge car exhibition and an entertainment space specially designed for kids. The event was massive and it was free. Since we didn't have a large budget to invest in traditional advertising, we decided to advertise through Facebook, where there were many groups of Hot Wheels fans and cars collectors. We reached more than 1,000 contacts who considered attending the event. We supported the activity with traditional PR, and the
outcome of this combination was fabulous!
Buraker: When leveraging social media to reach consumers, the pharma industry still exists in a Web 1.5 world in comparison to other big consumer brands. Since there is no FDA guideline or regulation that specifically covers how to have direct communication with patients and how to handle information they may get pertaining to adverse events or off-label and inappropriate use of their prescription medication, you have an industry that treads cautiously. This goes against the grain of the Web 2.0 world, which is inherently about risk taking.
For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, the level of engagement has to be carefully controlled. We've worked with clients where comments are not posted immediately. Instead, before posting for readers, the comments go through a regulatory filter to evaluate potential adverse event information so that the company can ensure responsible reporting of these events to the FDA. It's limiting because the conversation doesn't happen in real time; however, it still sustains a social-content-sharing strategy.
While it isn't happening quickly, we are seeing that pharma is embracing the new world, with many companies trying to create internal protocols to be able to better work within this medium. Hopefully, with the coming leadership change at the FDA there will be some clear guidelines developed for social media activities for pharma companies.
Garcia: This isn't specific to one client, but we've found that it is extremely important to have a relationship with bloggers before you pitch them. If you don't, then ask permission to send them some information about what you're doing for their consideration. And keep it simple. Straightforward and to-the-point may not get our creative juices flowing, but it often will get the results we're looking for.
Lau: China's Hunan Satellite TV has learned to anticipate consumer activity and even to make it easier for consumers to be involved with its shows. During the heyday of its talent search contest Super Girl, there was tremendous activity off-air. Online blogs, fan sites and sites featuring information about the contest, the contestants and their current news were abundant. Through these blogs and fan club sites, the respective clubs organized local fans to be out in force and on hand to greet their favorite contestant no matter where in China the contestant traveled. However, these blogs and fan club sites were mainly created by the fans and netizens of China and were not in cooperation with the actual Super Girl contest. There was no concerted effort to coordinate or organize these fans and interested netizens. Through the huge success of the show and the tremendous participation and show of fan support from the online community, Hunan Satellite now has implemented interactive portals for its latest hit shows, such as the No. 1-rated Chinese version of Ugly Betty.
Read: Some clients are learning that the social media space isn't necessarily the best place to display their brands. In the same way that my mom can't understand why I don't accept her friend request, some brands aren't suited to the often young, hip, adlib world of online discourse. For instance, I was asked to help create a Facebook group around a property development in the U.A.E. The clients didn't know what they wanted it for but knew that Facebook was popular, so they saw it as just another way to distribute news releases. There was never any engagement with the audience. Then the client couldn't figure out why people weren't commenting positively on the group. I eventually suggested they abandon it because 16-year-olds didn't care about property developments.
Others are learning that they are not yet comfortable putting their brands out there for everyone to see, comment, mash up and regurgitate on YouTube. That's not to say there isn't a digital space for all brands; however, in the excitement of a digital world, we can't forget that there are some serious risks online, too, and that sometimes the best (and often most cost-effective) thing for the client to do is stick with what works. A different client who sells products around the globe was looking to create a blog but later realized that nothing could be posted before being approved by four or five different people from around the world. The company also didn't want to allow comments in case someone said something bad. After realizing that what they would be most comfortable with would essentially be a corporate Web site, rather than a blog, they decided not to do it.
Saint-Léger: The most interesting thing we learned was with Adobe. When we won this client, its merger with Macromedia was just finalized. Adobe, which is more culturally oriented to creative people, needed to communicate to software developers. We decided to approach this community via bloggers. So we did many mappings to identify the most influential ones. Then we implemented microparties with these bloggers and a few very high-level spokespersons from Adobe. The idea was to involve them in vision sharing with Adobe and not to market anything. We did this in full transparency. Our philosophy was "Never talk about Adobe!" So we went "beyond the brand."
The results went far beyond what was originally expected, which was just a few posts on blogs. During the microparties, Adobe naturally found its place in the discussions among bloggers, and the strong relationships that we created led to extra activities that were beneficial for Adobe, such as school conferences, partnerships and business shows.
Perspectives: What do you think corporate communicators most need to understand about communicating via digital media?
Adda: Clients need to understand that they must "be." Be simple. Be fresh. Be creative. Be transparent. Be true. Be open. And do not lie! Otherwise your campaign and your reputation will die!
Baldo: The building of relationships in social media requires a specific planning, with customized strategies and tactics. Companies often are talking directly to the client in the digital space. To be successful, they need to use a different language and fulfill different demands. They need to provide quick, informal and clear messages, and they need to consider a broad range of scenarios. There is little control of campaigns, so corporate communicators must be ready to take advantage of positive results and to deal with negative ones.
Bazzi: What corporate communicators need to understand is that online communities are a completely different target than the consumers who never had a chance to speak back before the Web. Corporate communicators and marketers should resist the continuous sales temptation and focus, instead, on establishing a dialogue that enables them to consider online communities' ideas and feedback.
Buraker: With current and emerging social media technologies, our consumer-in-control world is here to stay. We can only influence online conversations, not control them. We must continue to help our clients observe, listen, and when appropriate, actively engage in the conversations surrounding our brands and issues across multiple channels. Doing nothing is no longer an option.
Garcia: Journalists, analysts, public relations specialists and company spokespeople are no longer the only ones telling the world about business. Today anyone can spread the word about a company and, in a matter of seconds, enlighten thousands of people about an eye-opening fact the professionals overlooked. That's a frightening thought. So, every company should ask themselves how they can cultivate a culture of authenticity and respect among their employees, leadership and loyal customer base that downgrades the fear of the lightning-fast Web 2.0 landscape?
Lau: Corporate communicators in China need to understand that digital media channels allow them to gain a more complete understanding of how their target audiences see their brand. Trying to bury negative blog postings — or worse, trying to delete them — is not only ethically unacceptable, but also ineffective. Instead, we should use these channels to listen to what the consumer is telling us about the products and services being offered. Digital media channels give corporate communicators a unique and direct access to speak intelligently and honestly to their target audiences.
Read: The Internet and the World Wide Web were called such because that's how they functioned — with hyperlinking between related static Web pages, slow communication channels and content designed to be absorbed. Web 2.0 opened things up. Web pages became more interactive, social media developed where conversations included more people and were in real time. With the boom of user-generated content through YouTube, blogs, Flickr, etc., the new Web is now more accurately referred to as a cloud. There is so much information within the cloud, much of it is useful, even more of it useless. That's why search engines have become so fundamental to our online experiences — because we can no longer surf, we search. As the cloud expands, we will begin moving into a new era of the Internet and it will be more important for brands to stay true to their beliefs and to offer value instead of simply shouting. It also will mean that the Web and the real world will combine and brands will need to develop experiences outside of the digital space but that communicate seamlessly with what's online.
Essentially, the most important thing for companies to understand is that things are constantly changing and those brands that understand the trends and can see what's coming are in the best position to meet consumers on their own turf, build the relationship and create the experience.
Saint-Léger: We always explain to clients that even if they are not interested yet in an online strategy, they cannot ignore what's happening in the digital space. In any case, they should understand that they are probably already part of it, even if they don't know it! So, it's better to anticipate and manage as early as possible to avoid potential crises.
Finally, our guideline could best be summarized in two words: honesty and transparency. And of course, having the right content is everything.
STREET SMARTS
Facts About Digital Media
The ongoing, rapid evolvement of digital media means that facts about what consumers are doing online can change quickly. But one constant is that use of online media is dynamic and growing. Here are some recent stats that provide a snapshot of how consumers are spending time online and how they view certain digital media sources.
More and more people are spending time on social networking sites and blogs.
At the end of 2008, "member communities' reached 66.8 percent of online consumers around the globe, outpacing e-mail, which reached 65.1 percent. Member communities are now the fourth most popular activity online, after search, general-interest portals and communities and software manufacturers. And in the U.S. alone, total minutes spent on social networks sites increased 83 percent from April 2008 to April 2009, according to Nielsen Online. Nielsen, Global Faces and Networked Places, March 2009. Nielsen Online Global Index, December 2007-December 2008
Consumers trust each other more than they trust corporate messages.
Only 16 percent of U.S. consumers say they trust information on company blogs, and just 18 percent trust information on social networking site profiles from a company or brand. Twenty-eight percent trust e-mail from a company or brand.
By comparison, 21 percent trust message board posts and 60 percent trust consumer product ratings and reviews.
Forrester Research Inc., North American Technographics Media and Marketing Online Survey, Q2 2008
Consumers over age 35 are major users of social networking sites.
Nearly 42 percent of Twitter users are ages 35 — 49, making it the largest age group on the site.
Nielsen NetView, February 2009, U.S., Home and Work
Almost one-third of Facebook's global audience is between the ages of 35 and 49, and nearly 25 percent is over 50 years old.
Nielsen, Global Faces and Networked Places, 2009
Every minute, 10 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube. YouTube Web site
Four in five bloggers post brand or product reviews, with 37 percent posting them frequently. One-third of bloggers say they have been approached to be brand advocates. Technorati, State of the Blogosphere 2008
Seventy-three percent of active Internet users read blogs. Universal McCann, Power to the People Social Media Tracker, March 2008
The Obama campaign benefited greatly from both its Web site, BarackObama.com, and an opt-in social networking and community organizing engine, MyBarackObama.com (MyBO). They were the two MVPs of the campaign. The Web site offered useful top-down content, such as news releases, speeches, position papers and volunteer opportunities, while MyBO served as a way to communicate ideas and connect people based on their interests and locations. Importantly, MyBO – which was designed by one of the founders of Facebook – didn't just deliver information. It encouraged and facilitated people taking action to help the candidate, such as making phone calls to voters, hosting house parties and donating money. It offered a way for people to be involved in the campaign both online and offline.
Obama outspent McCain 10-to-1 in online advertising, including click-through banners and boxes and videos, and his cash advantage enabled him to target messages to different constituencies around issues such as healthcare and the economy. Paid search and search engine optimization enabled the campaign to promote the candidate even when Internet users were not specifically looking for information about the election.
Let's face it, whether you personally have been blogging for years or are hesitant even to set up a LinkedIn account, social media is becoming more important to all of our lives. Tools like Twitter and Facebook enable any individual to engage broad audiences in dialogue. This makes social media an important resource for helping organizations interact with employees, connecting individuals across organizational and geographic boundaries, and enabling employees to communicate on a company's behalf.
But take caution. Social media tools are exactly that: tools. To get the most from them, organizations must understand how to use them – in both the workplace and the marketplace.
Digital media has made the world smaller as global communication can now happen in an instant. At the same time, however, widespread individual use of digital media has made the job of communicating with consumers seem bigger than ever. Many companies are still testing the waters with digital and social media or merely observing. To give our clients and prospects some perspective on what works, Ketchum experts from Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Spain, the Middle East and the United States share some of the biggest lessons they've learned from working with digital media.
Lukas Adda: First of all, you have to make it clear for the client that the digital space is NOT simply a small action field for young people or techies. The Web is a huge community with more than one billion users! Every project or campaign implemented here needs to be planned in detail from the very beginning.
Jamie Read: The Internet has allowed people to communicate at the speed of thought. Social media, RSS and search have meant that brands need to engage in real time; otherwise, they will be left out of the discussion. I had an experience with clients who wanted to approve every comment made on a blog I created for them. The very first comment took a week and a half to approve at the various levels of management. This alienated the consumer, who wanted to engage in a dialogue with the community about topics on which the client was seen as an expert. Rather than an online dialogue, the conversation happened somewhere else and the blog died.
More and more people are spending time on social networking sites and blogs.
Nearly 42 percent of Twitter users are ages 35 — 49, making it the largest age group on the site.