birddog

Social Media / Social Web Training

Using the Social Web for brand engagement is no longer optional. The issue is how to find the right way to integrate the Social Web into your business – both culturally (to suit your business) and across channels (to enhance your existing customer communications).

Birddog has partnered with some of the best and most respected talent in the market to develop and deliver Social Web Training and Consultancy that businesses can ‘use’:

• Beginner – What is the Social Web?
• Intermediate – Social Web Motivations & Behaviours
• Advanced – Integrating Social Web and Brand Strategies
• Specialist Executive / C-Level – Deriving Value from the Social Web

Our series of one-day social media training courses are designed to take businesses from a basic understanding of core social tools (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Blogging etc.) through planning and development of advanced engagement and measurement strategies.

The courses are designed to suit small groups/teams typically from within the Marketing Department and combines presentation, discussion, case studies, activities and pre and post course learning support. Course content is tailored to individual clients and would be scheduled according to needs and availability.

Below are some examples of successfully run Social Media Courses. If you’d like more detailed information or to tailor a course suited to your business, just let us know:

Pre-Social Evaluation Workshop

• Outline - A Board level discussion to assess if/how/which aspects of the social web can play a part in an organisationʼs communications/engagement/marketing strategy.

• Objective - To provide decision makers with an opportunity to evaluate the business value, company structure, culture and assess the risks, prior to diving headfirst into social media.

Social Analysis Workshop

• Outline – A senior level workshop to assess the existing business approach and discuss the good, the bad and the downright ugly to introduce new thinking and to enhance social engagement/advocacy.

• Objective - To provide decision makers with evidence and best practice social strategies to improve all areas of the engagement process; from awareness through to advocacy.

Social Rescue Workshop

• Outline - An admission by senior management that they need help. This workshop strips back the existing strategy and helps businesses to understand how to recover and create more successful social engagement.

• Objective - To provide decision makers with the knowledge to revise, recover and rejuvenate their overall approach to the social web.

Advanced Social Strategy Workshop

• Outline - This is for those businesses who already have a good understanding and wish to take their social strategy to the next level.

• Objective - To provide decision makers with new thinking, the latest trends, and measurement advice to continually evaluate performance.

What to do next?

For full details of our services, contact Birddog

Not Enough Time for Social Media?

I am increasingly expected to frequent the musk-scented washrooms and fastidiously monitored self-service comestible bars of international airport business lounges. It would appear that my legendary status at the very forefront of the digital B2B revolution is attracting a wider audience than I expected. I think, and I secretly hope, it’s because businesses are starting to take a more serious interest in B2B social media.

It’s actually a very specific audience that is prepared to pamper me with the executive international washroom facilities I so rightly deserve and send me to such wild and far flung locations as, well, Munich, for example. The C-Suite is finally talking an interest.

The C-level audience has been slow to adjust to the transfer of digital power in the social space. At the junior end of the business, the ‘Y-Gen’ digital natives are fully committed – it’s a problem to keep them off Facebook and on the job in hand. In the middle management tiers there is interest, but not always the budget or mandate to fully commit marketing resources. And then there’s the C-Suite.

CMO, CEO, CIO, CTO even the CFO. These are the people with the power and money to make a difference and yet this group has remained almost completely disinterested in the process of online engagement. Until recently. Whatever the reasons for the slow adoption of the C-Suite (and there are many) they appear, at last, to be taking a more healthy interest in the subject. I’d obviously hate to be the one to tell them they’re a bunch of Luddite laggards just as they start to get their shit together.

What I can tell them, however, is to stop complaining that they ‘haven’t got time’ for social media. The conversation usually goes something like this –

“Scot we invited you here to the exotic Schipol Airport Conference Centre because you seem to be thoroughly versed in this newfangled ‘social media’ thingy. Everywhere we look, we bump into your name. So we thought we’d ask you how you find the time. We’re such incredibly busy and, frankly, important business executives that we simply don’t have the time.”

“Mmmm…”

“And…”

“Yes?”

“…Well, we’re very, you know… ‘Senior’. And Executive.”

“Is that it?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Right then…” And there follows a practiced routine of pithy one-liners and knob gags where I charge the client an inordinate amount of cash to expound on the vagaries of the digital economy. I could save myself a considerable amount of airline indigestion if they would only appreciate one thing – they can’t afford not to find the time. I used a double negative there. It’s that important.

The accessibility (or inaccessibility) of brand leaders has never been more apparent. Digital channels totally flatten the communications hierarchy. If you don’t like the answer you receive from the customer service rep, you ping the Chief Executive. That’s not unusual, it’s now expected. It’s also expected that the CEO will be listening – not only to the contents of their inboxes, but to a spectrum of social channels. Alternatively, the customers will post their experiences online for the whole world to form its own opinion of the brand. Whichever way the CEO looks at managing the company’s reputation, social media is now their business. It’s quite a commitment, not least because the CEO is busy. And executive.

That usually gets them thinking. There will be nods and smiles. I’ve even seen someone take notes. But it’s not as good as the “Why me?” question.

“Why did you pick me to give this presentation? How did you find me? How did you become my customer? Why did you give me an airline ticket, indigestion and, significantly, a pile of cash?” The answer is usually, “We follow you on Twitter”, or, “We found you on LinkedIn.” The fact that social media directly generates revenue isn’t lost on them, but I still feign surprise and say, “Oh, are you using social media then?” They look down at their shoes, shuffle their feet and say, “Um, no… I don’t have… ehh… time…” The job of finding and listening to what the customer wants can be delegated to anyone. The responsibility can’t. Find the time.

Scot McKee

Managing Director

Location, Location, Location

Location-based social media is all the rage in 2010, but has its potential for businesses been dashed before they’ve even moved in?

A lot of new media buzz is generated when a new ‘breakout’ company arrives on the scene. Twitter was 2009’s indisputable success story, and for a long time, it looked like Foursquare might check-in at number one for 2010. It’s trendy, fun, and it comes readymade with a simple business model that companies and brands could quickly benefit from.

But its rocketing popularity has been stymied during a period of increasing focus on privacy online.

Foursquare, for those unacquainted, is the feted darling of location-based social media tools. As opposed to being asked ‘What’s happening?’ by Twitter, Foursquare in essence asks its users – around 3 million, up from 500,000 in March this year – the question ‘Where are you?’

To answer, Foursquare users ‘check-in’ to their favourite places, racking up visitor points and unlocking badges when visiting new places and their top locations. The user who checks-in to a location most often becomes its ‘Mayor’ (the service works using GPS-tracking to confirm a person’s whereabouts, so there’s no cheating).

Harmless enough, and given the pervasiveness of smartphones, laptops, netbooks et al, it’s pretty useful. And the epitome of social, too: using your techno gadgets to tell people exactly where to find you in real-time can only encourage and accelerate face-to-face communication.

But there’s a very stark privacy issue. Like Twitter, the chances are most of your Foursquare followers are people you’ve never met, and don’t really know anything about. And yet the service provides complete strangers with your precise location.

The Guardian highlighted this best with this article (check out the sinister opening line, “Louise has straight, auburn hair…” http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jul/23/foursquare) but such concerns have been bubbling under since Foursquare launched. Worries vary from the naïve, where users detail the location of their homes (and then detail when they’re out), to the conspiratorial: fears that governments or security agencies can monitor an individual’s whereabouts through their social network activity.

The truth is, despite its relative success in the US, adoption in the UK has been slow. For the right brand, the benefits are clear enough: using Foursquare to engage with audiences and reward consumer loyalty adds a competitive edge to customers’ interactions with a brand, and incentivises ‘another’ visit to a favourite coffee shop, bar, cinema, park, tourist attraction, etc.

Now, fresh from its own privacy problems earlier this year, Facebook has entered the ‘geosocial’ space with their launch of Facebook Places. While it’s put location-based social networks on the map (sorry), those privacy concerns have suddenly become a mainstream hot topic, thanks to the small matter of its half-a-billion strong user base.

As a result, much of the wider audience will so far only have been exposed to Foursquare and the ‘geosocial’ buzz through its negative publicity.

Social media in 2010 is undoubtedly all about location, but its full impact may have already been damaged, at least short-term, by concerns over privacy. And until these are fully understood, brands thinking about location-based social networking might be served best by waiting to see whether ‘geosocial’ literally does go global – or disappears off the face of the Earth.

Tim Miller

Content Editor

Safeguarding your brand in the social media space

Social Media is here to stay, for now anyway.  The adoption of Social Media into the mainstream has been prolific.  Consumers have been quick to engage with and adopt social channels into their day to day lives. According to Nielsen, the total minutes spent on Facebook alone increased nearly 700% year-over-year, growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009.

But what about brands?  How can brands use Social Channels effectively?  In the new world order, instead of pushing our message at an audience, we are expected to allow the audience to make up their own minds, be selective about what information they choose to adopt and trust that they will spread our message within their own network of peers. What about the loss of control over subject and message?  For some brands, the thought of effectively handing the majority of their PR to their customers – you and I, has been, and still is a daunting prospect.  What if they say the wrong thing, what if they damage the brand?

The web today, Web 2.0, the social web, or whatever else you want to call it is different.  It’s no longer a channel controlled by website owners – as it was way, way back in the dark ages of 1999. It’s now a two way medium, with site owners providing us, the audience, with the tools by which to connect, share, and voice our thoughts and opinions.  The success of these sites is largely driven not just by the functionality they offer the users, but by the PR they achieve. But the PR coverage no longer comes exclusively from press releases and magazine adverts. It comes from us, the audience using them, becoming their advocates, singing their praises (or not) both online, and in day-to-day conversation.

Building a successful brand online, and then protecting it and your brand values isn’t just a case of having a nice shiny website with four gazillion RSS feeds, a Facebook page, or a Twitter alias. It’s a combination of all of these things, the appropriate use of the channels and relevant context.

Things you [as a brand] should think about before embarking on a Social Media strategy:

1. What are you looking to use Social Media for?  If you’re looking to use it as a direct sales tool, forget it (we’ll see why later)
2. Have you got the skills in-house to develop, launch and manage these channels?  If not, consider appointing outside expertise.
3. Are any of your competitors using social channels, and what are they using them for?  What can you learn from them?
4. Social Media isn’t ‘free’ (just like PR isn’t free).  Yes, setting up a simple Facebook or Twitter account costs nothing more than a few minutes of your time, but it’s how you then develop these channels in terms of functionality, management and marketing (seeding, incentives, fan engagement) which takes time and costs money – sometimes a considerable investment.
5. Are you comfortable with your employees engaging with whatever social channels you choose to launch and advocate?  There are varying levels of anonymity to most areas of social media, providing people with a means by which to have a gripe without giving away their true identity.
6. Are your internal PR team, or your PR agency social media savvy?  Do they know how to react correctly to whatever is said on any of the social channels?
7. Are you committed to your social strategy, as a long-term investment, not a quick thing you can pick up and put down as you see fit?

Creating presences in relevant platforms

When you can answer the questions above (and probably a few more questions along the way) the next step is to choose your channels.  Sounds simple right?  Well, not really.  This is the most important part of your strategy.  Using the appropriate channels for your brand will make or break your strategy so it’s vital to choose the right ones.  Relevancy is key – think about your audience, your customers, where are they in the digital space?  If you’re not sure, ask them!

Do this right and you’ll reap the rewards.  Get it wrong and you’ll either waste a whole load of time and money, or end up upsetting your audience.  Or a combination of the two.  Now that would be bad.

Let’s talk about Dell for a minute. Dell is a well-known brand that has been using social media effectively for some time now. Dell launched www.ideastorm.com on February 16, 2007, and continues to use it to gather feedback on existing products.  It’s also a place where you and I can make suggestions for new products, features or functionality.  Other people then vote on these suggestions.  Suggestions with the most votes get reviewed and potentially implemented by Dell.  The point of this site is not merely for Dell to gather consumer feedback on their products, it’s also a great PR tool – who can say Dell don’t listen?

Dell also has a Facebook page – Social Media for Small Business.  Search on Facebook for it and check it out.  It’s a great resource for SME’s and SOHO’s, that gives plain English introductions and whitepapers all about Social Media.

You’ll also notice Dell include social bookmarking icons on the majority of their online properties, empowering their users to easily save and share Dell content.

Relevancy.  Dell are using multiple social channels, but in ways that are relevant to the audiences of those properties.

What to include?

Of course, it’s important to ensure your messaging is consistent – after all, it’s your brand, but it’s also important to ensue that your tone of voice is relevant to the channel.  Come across too corporate on certain channels and you’ll discourage people from engaging with you.

By using social media as a means to engage with your audience, you can build a relationship with them, a good rapport. It’s a small step to turn customer conversation into customer advocacy of your brand.  Whether you’re engaging with your audience through social channels or not, people will be talking about you.  It’s better to be engaged and influencing the conversation than not at all.

Understanding the landscape and conversations – Social Media in a B2B context

Social Media as a tool in B2B can be broken into three core areas:

1. Conversation -  Channels such as Twitter fall under the conversation category. These channels are a continual stream of real-time chatter that you can dip in and out of as you wish.  Conversation channels are fast becoming the first source of information for people seeking up-to-the-minute information on anything current.
2. Community – Facebook is the best example here.  Whilst Facebook is a ‘social utility’, to most users, their space in Facebook is their own online community, made up of friends, relatives and associates.  Online communities are built through trust and relationships, and provide both users and advertisers with powerful communication tools.
3. Networking – Networking sites provide users with the ability to do exactly that, network. LinkedIn is a great example of a networking site, giving its users the ability to get introduced to people they want to know, through utilising existing relationships.  Networking sites are a powerful tool in today’s business world.

Of course there are other ways of using social media, however, understanding the above will ensure that you use social channels effectively and in a way that is relevant.

What to say?

The main thing to remember with all social media is that the conversation is continuous.  Just because you log off at 5:30pm, doesn’t mean the conversation ends until 9am the following morning when you log back on.

The web is 24/7.  As we’re going home in the UK, people in the US are going in to work.  Conversations that have been created by a predominantly UK audience will continue through the night with people around the world, so it’s important as a brand to understand how these conversations can develop, and the repercussions if something were to go awry.

So what can you as a brand do to ensure you’re saying the right thing?

1. Listen.  See what people are saying about your brand, where they’re saying it and to whom.
2. Get involved – join Facebook groups, follow conversations on Twitter, slowly begin to engage with these groups and conversations.
3. Be responsive.  If people are asking questions, be prepared to answer them, help them and guide them in the right direction.
4. Don’t try the hard sell approach on social channels.  Ever.  People won’t like you for it.  They will probably also tell you they don’t like it.  And their 100+ followers/friends.

When it all goes wrong!

There is a flipside to the good and wonder that is Social Media.  It can also severely damage a brand.  As a brand, you can no-longer control what others say online. How you react to what has been said online will therefore determine a good or bad final outcome. Here are a couple of examples of how to, and how not to do it:

How not to do it – United Breaks Guitars

United breaks guitars” is a powerful example of how social media empowers consumers and can tarnish the image of a big company.  In spring, 2008, Dave Carroll of the Sons of Maxwell band claimed United Airlines baggage handlers broke his $3,500 Taylor guitar on a flight stop-over in Chicago while travelling from Halifax to Nebraska. Ladies and Gentlemen – presenting Dave Carroll: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Dr. Natalie Petouhoff, a Forrester Research analyst covering customer experience/service and social media says “If you spend millions on advertising your brand and someone spend five cents on a YouTube video, you’ve just wasted a lot of advertising dollars. There’s a consensus around the frustration customers feel with companies that act like monolithic monsters”.

But the guitar wasn’t the only thing damaged.  In just four days from the launch of the song online, millions of viewers had watched the video on YouTube and United Airlines stock plummeted 10%, costing shareholders $180M at the time. ‘This could have bought Dave over 51,000 replacement guitars” reported Chris Ayres of the Times: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/chris_ayres/article6722407.ece

United’s lack of willing to engage with the consumer cost them dearly, and no amount of crisis management could rectify the situation. The damage had been done.

How to do it – Domino’s Pizza

The now infamous Domino’s food prank, where a couple of employees decided it would be funny to upload a video on to YouTube showing them doing various unsavoury (excuse the pun) things to food that was about to be cooked and delivered to customers: http://www.dailymotion.pl/video/x8zunc_dominospizzaemployedegoutant_fun

“By Wednesday (April 15) afternoon, the video had been viewed more than a million times on YouTube,” reported Stephanie Clifford of the New York Times. “References on it were in five of the 12 results on the first page of Google search for ‘Domino’s,’ and discussions about Domino’s had spread throughout Twitter. This goes to show how social media has the reach and speed to turn tiny incidents into marketing crises.”

However this situation was different.  Rather than ignore the matter, by Wednesday (April 15) afternoon, Domino’s had created a Twitter account, @dpzinfo, to address the comments as well as their CEO, Patrick Doyle making a personal address via YouTube, apologising and re-assuring people that the matter was being dealt with, and that it was an isolated incident, watch it for yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l6AJ49xNSQ

Making such a quick response within the social networks proved extremely helpful in efforts to re-establish trust and credibility with consumers while rebuilding their customers’ desire to purchase their products.

Things to remember with social media

1. You can’t control what people say about you online, but you can ensure you’re engaging with these people, and have the tools and knowledge to best to engage with them.
2. There is no room for spin with social media, if you try and manipulate the truth; chances are you will get found out.  Transparency is key.
3. It’s not all about you.  A big part of your success lies in how much and how well you interact and share with others in the social space.  This can range from quoting and referencing other brands’ articles, linking to useful resources (other than your own), or commenting in a positive manner to something someone has written.
4. The majority of social media engagement takes time and effort. It’s not something that can simply be bought [such as banner advertising].  It’s all about creating awareness, creating your unique space and building your reputation.
5. Just because a channel exists, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for your brand.
6. Attention, Interest, Desire, Action Advocacy.  That’s the thing to remember with social media, it’s not a direct sales tool. You don’t necessarily want your audience to perform an action.  You do however want them to become your advocates.

The day the Internet nearly died [Michael Jackson and the power of Wiki’s]

A Wiki is a website that runs the Wiki back end.  It is a content management system that enables collaborative contribution to the content of the site by the users.  Wikipedia is the best-known example, it was founded by Jimmy Wales in January 2001 and now has over 10 Million articles.

On the 26^th June 2009, it wasn’t just Michael Jackson who tragically died. People rushed to report the chain of events as they happened, with news spreading around the Internet at such a rapid rate that the load put on many websites was too much for them to handle, causing a large percentage of the web to almost grind to a halt.

People on Twitter were updating every minute, fuelling blogs and news sites.  But it wasn’t just Twitter, Facebook or blogs that were serving the news.  People were racing to Wikipedia to update Michael Jackson’s page, and all other pages that were in some way affiliated with the artist. Wikipedia saw close to 500 edits made to Jackson’s entry in less than 24 hours following his death.

So even before news sites, papers or television could get the news to the masses, social media had the scoop. Wikipedia is now one of the largest sources of news related information – and has even been credited with publishing news reports before the police know an incident has taken place!

Wiki’s – best practice

If you’re an established brand, it’s likely that there’s a Wikipedia page about you.  The first thing to remember about Wikipedia is that it’s not a sales tool. It’s designed to be unbiased and factual, so don’t approach the creation of a Wikipedia page with the idea that you can simply stick all of your well crafted PR on a page and that it will be accepted. It won’t.

1. Before creating an entry for your product or service, be sure the entry meets the notability requirement.
2. Remember, the page isn’t yours, other users can add or contribute to it – as long as what they write is factual.
3. Because anyone can create or modify a Wikipedia entry means that your entry could be modified by an unhappy customer, or worse, a competitor.  As a result you should regularly monitor your entries for any misleading or inaccurate information, and promptly make corrections.
4. The management of your Wikipedia page should become part of the management of all of your online channels such as your website and Facebook page.
5. Google loves Wikipedia.  If you’re number one on Google for your brand term, you may well find that in time, the Wikipedia page about your brand may overtake you into the number one spot.
6. The majority of people trust Wikipedia, so look upon having a presence on there in a positive light.
7. Every edit made to a Wikipedia page is archived and catalogued for future reference, so don’t do anything to a page that you might regret in the future.
8. Make sure your internal comms and PR team are fully aware and up-to speed with your Wikipedia page, and how to edit it.  Despite a large approvals team, the occasional slanderous or factually incorrect comment can appear on Wikipedia pages – make sure your team(s) know how to edit the page.

Finally

Social media isn’t merely something you can do as and when it suits you.  Even if you’re not engaged with it and in it on a regular basis you will fail. So spread the load. Consider you corporate social media policy and allow others to establish, join or maintain the conversation. This can range from your employees and customers to your competitors.  Ensuring your brand is as well protected as possible is about being aware of the conversations happening – even if you’re merely listening. But the best protection will come from the network itself. Brand advocates will do the protection and the promotion. Look after them.

Oliver Budworth

Digital Director

Top Digital Tips – in plain English

If you’re still struggling to work out digital, here are a few basic tips that should help you along the way.

1. Assess your company’s digital strategy – is it fully integrated into your marketing mix?  If it isn’t, why not?  The opportunities the web presents to you as a business are immense, so you should make sure you’re exploiting all available channels.
2. Are you engaged in any social media activity?  Even if you’re not, chances are other people are talking about you and your brand right now – from your staff, your customers, or independent reviewers, someone will be.  Make sure you’ve got a presence in these channels and get engaged.
3. Do you use your own website?  Poor user experience is the number one gripe people have with businesses online.  Frustrating navigation, unnecessary long user journeys, shopping carts that don’t work.  Today’s programming languages enable websites to do pretty much anything; there aren’t any constraints any more, so there are no excuses for the technology letting down the user experience.  Anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong.
4. When was the last time you updated your website?  Websites generally need at least a design refresh every 12-18 months to ensure they remain looking fresh.
5. Are you thinking about the mobile web?  Whilst ‘web-on-the-go’ has been around for quite a long time, it’s only over the past year or so that it has become more and more mainstream.  With more people accessing the web on their mobile on a regular basis, does your offering sufficiently cater for mobile web users?
6. Are you looking to save money in the recession?  If your website is built in .NET – a Microsoft technology, then chances are you’re paying hefty annual licenses for the server software.  You might want to consider a re-build in an Open-Source language such as PHP.  Open-Source languages have come a long way.  So far in fact that they now serve the platform for some of the highest trafficked sites in the world – such as Facebook, Twitter and Del.icio.us – all built in PHP!
7. Search is still huge.  Despite everyone talking about Social Media all of the time, it’s vital that your organisation has a search strategy in place.  This will cover both paid (PPC) and natural (SEO).  After all, over half of all people online start their journey with a search!

Oliver Budworth

Digital Director