Sharing Your Social Part 2: Getting Started With The Right Communication Strategy And Social Media Tools
I love public radio. In fact, I'm a public radio junkie. I worked for New Hampshire Public Radio as the Senior Director of Marketing and Development, and it was there that I fell in love with social media.Public radio is leading the way in social media innovation and there is much to be learned from stations across the country doing good work in this realm. Stations like Vermont Public Radio, New Hampshire Public Radio, KCRW, KEXP, WNYC, and Chicago Public Radio are experimenting with social media and finding ways to start meaningful conversations with their listeners. Community engagement at its finest.Today, we presented the second in a series of webinars on social media: Sharing Your Social Part 2: Getting Started with the Right Communication Strategy and Social Media Tools. Check out the presentation and get some great ideas from all the cool things that public radio folks are doing.
And if you missed the first presentation, you can check that out here. While you're cruising public radio social media presences, remember that it's fall fundraising pledge drive season and consider making a donation to your favorite public radio station today!
Please welcome Frujen Bridgewater (@Frujen) as our guest Media Words writer. He too is a student embracing social media, your comments are welcomed.
DreamWorks Animation is a film production studio that specializes in computer animated films. DreamWorks has developed an international presence operating out of the US, London, England, and Toronto, Canada. They have dominated the box office with films such as Shrek, Madagascar, and Kung Fu Panda.
So I wondered if they have implemented social media into their marketing strategy? They have a large outreach program working through schools to inspire and discover the next generation of animation superstars which dates back to 2005. I got in touch with the folks at DreamWorks to ask them more about their Social Media strategy but no one knew who was responsible for it. In many ways that's ok, proof that the many DreamWorks groups out here have grown organically.
DreamWorks is currently promoting on their homepage that they are on Twitter. They can also be found on networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and YouTube, and it seems they are creating a stronger presence all over the web. I've been able to see that they use these social networking tools for recruiting employees, promoting the business, and most obviously for promoting their products. The are using Twitter and most recently tweeted about Shrek the Musical. Twitter is also where they dropped the news, they'll increase their film quota to producing a total of 5 new movies every other year and included a link to see what's on deck.
By using social networks such as Facebook to spread the news, DreamWorks is able to push its newest productions into the minds of their fan base. Perhaps even more importantly, they enable their fans to stay connected and continue to enjoy their favorite characters and films. In Facebook alone they have fan bases that break 600,000 members just in Shrek fan clubs alone. With this kind of representation it is no wonder that films such as Kung Fu Panda are grossing approximately 632,000,000 dollars worldwide. Also while promoting the sequels of their box hits to the public, they are introducing three new movies: How to Train Your Dragon, Oobermind, and The Guardians (the title isn't set in stone).
I can't help but imagine the connection and additional loyalty that could be harnessed if DreamWorks were listening to the voices in these social streams with more focus. The additional value they could bring into the business and to their customers has tremendous potential.
Businesses are still wary of social media, and our clients often ask us for examples of companies that are making social media work for them. Our plan is to profile the social media strategies of Fortune 100 companies to give you the scoop on what they're doing internally and externally, and what the results have been. One that stood out to us was Ford: Their Ford Fiesta Movement makes use of the creative and communal nature of social media to create a buzz about their new subcompact car.
In 1976, Ford began manufacturing the subcompact Ford Fiesta in Germany. Sure, it went over well in Europe -- they sold more than 10 million autos there -- but would it fly in a country filled with the precursors to SUVs and Hummers?
When gas hit $4 per gallon, the answer became "yes." Ford, which plans to bring the car stateside in early 2010, set aside 100 test cars for the U.S. market and held a blue-sky meeting to decide on the best way to use the Fiestas. Hoping to attract a younger crowd, Ford decided on a social media campaign and held a contest to find 100 people to test drive the Fiesta for six months and to create a record of their travels on social media platforms like YouTube and Flickr as well as the Ford Fiesta Movement website.
Four Thousand Applications
To be chosen, hopefuls had to fill out an application demonstrating that they had a strong presence on social media and knew how to use it to generate buzz. Applicants were asked to create YouTube videos describing why they deserved to win and to solicit votes from their social media followers.
The result? More than 4,000 applications and 640,000 views by the contest deadline. Hopeful "agents" put their all into their applications; take this video by "MysteryGuitarMan" which, as of June 1, has had more than 133,000 views and 1,300 comments, and was "favorited" 810 times.
Five Million Impressions
"The movement works on two different fronts," says Sam de la Garza, Ford's small car marketing manager. "First, people are developing some fun and innovative content. Second, we need to learn more about how people are driving this car. Ford hasn't had a subcompact for 15 years, so we need to understand the customer again."
One month into the Ford Fiesta Movement, they've logged close to five million impressions on the various social media, there are around 300 videos uploaded to YouTube, and one agent has already driven 11,700 miles. Agents are sharing their experiences with the Ford Fiesta in creative ways; for example, agent Brad Nelson twittered, "Look even a knocked up woman can fit in the hatchback of the Fiesta!" Attached to that was a photo of a pregnant woman happily curled up in the hatchback of the car.
It's too early to tell what the ROI for Ford's social media campaign will be. "We'll have to wait until we get final awareness numbers and summer sales numbers," de la Garza explains. "But we're really encouraged for the first month." One thing that's for sure is that the campaign has generated buzz -- and it's an authentic buzz, as Ford does not control what their agents write on their social media accounts such as Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and blogs.
Lightning-Quick Internal Communication
While Ford doesn't use officially social media internally, de la Garza finds it useful for getting snapshots of what's going on in the business. "I've been able to communicate with some employees via Twitter faster than via any other means," he says. "For example, I first learned that our website went down through a tweet -- even before our digital people knew it. So I sent a tweet to our digital person, who handled it over the weekend." In another example, de la Garza tweeted that he was about to go into a metrics meeting, and an employee from another division read his tweet and sent him some recommendations. "Employees monitor what's going on on Twitter to stay involved in what the conversation is," de la Garza says.
Watch This Space
While it's not yet clear what the ROI for the Ford Fiesta Movement has been, we'll be checking in to update the status; keep an eye out on this blog to find out how the social media campaign is affecting Ford's awareness measurements and Fiesta test drives and sales. Follow Linda on Twitter Read Linda's blogs, The Renegade Writer, creative paw, or learn to write like her, by signing up for instruction at Write for Magazines.
Baby steps...the presenters used YouTube video clips
In the past week or more I have attended a few informational events. It's great to see and hear what people are doing, especially when they are passionate about their work. The biggest disappointment for me has been something I feel almost personally, like I'm just not getting the word out and helping enough people step outside the trap of business communication norms. "Step away from the PowerPoint templates people, everything is going to be okay."
I've watched time, and time again, individual and corporate representatives swing at lobbed serves and miss (or marginally return). The people in attendance to most of these sessions have paid to be there. They want to be educated and engaged; in all respects a captive audience. In each session I've watched slide shows with bulleted lists; some suffered the "too many words" demise while others struggled with just enough words but no compelling reason to look at the material.
What's interesting though is that I am seeing evidence that we are taking baby steps in the right direction. At least twice in the this last stretch of events a presenter used a YouTube video clip. Each time they achieved focused attention and great responses to those moments in their presentations.
I can't help feeling that these presenters could have captivated us all, I mean really hit the ball out of park, if they would just allow themselves to move out of the PowerPoint Time Warp. ("It's just a jump to the left, And then a step to the right.")
Just noticed that HubSpot has a video demo/explainer available on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH4imqmSLEk). This another example of how this form of communication really is the best way to reach your audience. I do wish that this video was readily available (easy to find) on the HubSpot website, though.
If used properly, PowerPoint can be the right tool for some really great presentations, the unfortunately thing is that it is rarely used well. This next video should offer you a bit of humor, it's one of those commiserate moments of "connecting".
The only negative thing I have to say about this piece is that when using video one should have not only a great topic, engaging content, and a rapport with the intended audience, but should also have broadcast quality video and quality lighting!
So previously I talked about the difference between communicating and connecting. Everyday I find myself being asked; "why video?" , "why does it make that much of a difference?"...ok so here's an example or two.
I can tell you that there is this really cool ad that uses shadow puppets to create forms of bunnies, birds, branches, and a moose. It's set to music and kinda surreal.
We all know what shadow puppets are and you should be able to imagine them being used in an artistic way...so then, I have communicated that concept to you.
I could be more descriptive, but with all the elegant writing in the world, I still do not believe that it would have the same effect. Nor do I believe that all the adjectives and adverbs I might use to articulate the imagery could hold your attention span or be recalled in conversation weeks later.
I do believe the following will engage you in just these ways.
BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE...
If your not worrying about artistic impression or want something a little more "real". I can tell you about this guy, Xin. He's an immigrant kid who studied martial arts to get by in a gang ridden neighborhood. He got really good at it and felt confident until he came up against a kick boxer who schooled him some more. Long story short, this young man wanted to be the next Jackie Chan stunt man. He could be found leaping through malls and doing acrobatics as he learned to perfect his skills. This young man, not only is an amazing aerialist, but he is the subject and the producer of an online video that has seen more than 15 million viewers. The video serves him better than any picture or text article could, and it has enabled him to reach a larger audience than he imagined.
And if you missed the first presentation, you can check that out here.
