Want to be really successful in social media marketing? You need to be an evangelist and activity participate in communities, forums and blogging. Leave this session knowing how to evolve from community observer to community participant and influencer.
Moderator:
Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land
Speakers:
- Sarah Hofstetter, Vice President, Emerging Media & Client Strategy, 360i
- Rob Key, CEO, Converseon
- Adam Sherk, Search/PR Strategist, Define Search Strategies
Note: Was late to session due to presenting in this morning’s first session.
First up: Rob Key
Second Life
Second Chance Trees Project
- Created a youtube video to promote the second life property where you can purchase trees virtually in SL
- became viral
- mainstream media picked up the story
Effective Social Media Strategies Require a Process
- you need to listen before you engage
Next Up: Adam Sherk
Enterprise SEM Limitations:
- Corporate SMM takes multi-dept coordination
- Corporations can be big ships that turn slowly
- You need to plan for SMM
- you may not be able to update certain pages on the website
- Work with limitations of ad revenue and legal dept.
Common pitfalls
- no strategy
- lack of support
- enthusiasm and strategy are 2 different things
- just because you want to create a facebook profile doesn’t mean it’s appropriate to your business
Path to Success
- you should get buy-in from upper management and key depts
- company should understand that they must participate and offer value in order to succeed
- need the right people on board, and they need the right tools
- you must test
- you need time to build “street cred”
- never submit your own content, or wait before submitting your own content
More to consider
- it takes time to be successful
- need to consider what happens if your “brand ambassador” leaves - what if they quit after building up
- a profile after 2 years? Transferability should be built in
- transparency is important - be honest about who you are
- should have a coporate social media policy in place: should employees digg stories about you?
Finding what works
- the daily green: finding users that are receptive to the content. use content as linkbait
- Good Housekeeping: their linkbait made the front page of digg
- TV Guide:have a full time “brand ambassador” who creates profiles online to promote the site
- they do “indirect” SMM to create viral buzz
- “High School Musical 2″ (TV Guide) - had a song that could not be downloaded anywhere else
- had unique content, could get a CD
- very successful: blogged, went viral, direct contact, drove traffic and buzz, and magazine sales were up 65%
Next Up: Sarah Hofstetter
Case Studies
- HGTV - “Living with Ed”
- NBC’s “Heros”
- Tune-In Campaign
- Engagement
HGTV - Living with Ed
- new show with evironmental theme
- needed to build awareness of the show
- Had image issue on Google - sites on different theme were ranking
- tried using PPC, etc. for Google, but didn’t work
- so reached out to bloggers, influencers, etc.who write about the environment (simple email)
- they linked back to the website, which raised up their rankings in Google
NBC’s “Heroes”
- didn’t need SEM generally, just wanted to generate awareness and buzz
- found digital assets that could be used to promote the show
- be careful when reaching out to bloggers, as they may publish their pitch
- look at the “bad pitch blog” - you can see bad pitches
- multiple messaging sent viewers to different assets
Indecision 2008
- was a traffic building campaign using blogs, etc.
- was able to track more traffic coming from blogs
Harnessing the Opportunity
- don’t use interns - use smart people who know your brand
- bloggers don’t care about press releases
- make sure you keep an updated database of people you can contact
- don’t assume that your content is blog-worthy