The Podcaster

Posts Tagged ‘Social media’

An interesting article from the US but with good examples that could work in any market including the UK.

Restaurants, a bakery, insurance brokers and a local hospital are mentioned.

Their use of Facebook and Twitter is discussed in terms of how they are a conversation tool to help establish and develop a relationship with clients.

More here.

We have now been running Social Media Briefings for 18 months. In that time we have worked with over 400 delegates in London, Belfast and Dublin as well as Hampshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire.

Our training programs continue with an Introduction to Social Media briefings on October 5th, November 2nd and December 7th.

This is what some of them have said:

‘A great overview’

‘Very well presented, extremely enthusiastic – making it easy to learn’

‘Case studies were very interesting. I definitely gained new ideas’

‘Knowledge greatly increased’

‘Enjoyable discussion which will be extremely useful in my marketing’

‘Very interesting. Got the message across how important social media is’

‘Enjoyed the session. Learnt more than I thought’

‘Superb. Really got me thinking about social media. Very clear, informative, practical and challenging. An excellent session’

‘Gave lots of ideas for our business to go forward’

‘Great session. Would have liked more time and some practical help using the tools’

‘Wasn’t sure if a small group format would work but I loved how it meant we could talk about our specific business issues and needs with everyone. You cannot do that easily in a big seminar format. I realised our challenges were often the same as others.

We have just arranged dates for the next batch of half day briefings on Social Media.

The dates are:

• October 5th
• November 2nd
• December 7th

The briefings are held at our Southampton studios, last 3 hours (cost £30) and are divided into two sections. In the first section we examine the brief history of social media but also examine the background academic research into human behaviour that shows why this is no passing fad.

After looking at some of the key social media tools the second section focusses on a range of case studies so delegates can see what others are doing.

Some of these case studies are based upon published ones and some are based upon our work with clients. We look at what has helped make each a success.

If interested in finding out more details or booking a space call Nicky Anderson on 023 8044 8822.

Interesting article in MyCustomer.com with Will King, MD of King of Shaves on the value and use of social media to his company.

He is positive about the value of social media to business and explains how his company is using it as an extension to their use of e-marketing. He discusses how a company customer communication culture works best with social media where no one single department is made responsible.

His final bit of advice is for businesses to customise the messages and tools used to match the businesses objectives. For King of Shaves their objective of becoming a global brand works well with the global reach of social media.

Over the last 15 months over 200 people have attended our ‘An Introduction to Social Media’ briefings. (Click here for more info on the monthly briefings September to December 2010).

We are regularly asked by attendees if we could build on the case studies covered by helping them practically take the next steps and start using social media. In response to these requests we have now developed a series of ‘How-To’ workshops each lasting 3 hours. These build on and expand the topics covered in the briefing session so enabling people to get started quickly and easily.

The three workshops address the main phases of planning, implementing and then enhancing a social media communications strategy.

Each workshop will last 3 hours and start at 10am and end at 1pm with lunch. Refreshments will be provided throughout.

They are held in our digital media studios in Southampton.

Each session will cost £45 + VAT.

Places are strickly limited to allow maximum personal attention and real ‘how to’ knowledge and skills transfer.

Each workshop is self contained so people can ‘pick and mix’ as required or they can be taken as a series of 3.

Workshop 1 – Analysis and Planning (September 15^th)

Many people start using social media before they really understand its true value to them and their organisation or how return on investment (ROI) can be maximised. We always recommend that before using social networking tools like blogs, Twitter or YouTube it is best to understand what is already happening with your competitors, others in the industry and even with customers. In this workshop we look at a number of the free and paid for search and analytical tools that can help you understand the online ‘buzz’. We look at how you can start to engage in the conversation by commenting on other peoples blogs and in forums before starting your own. This approach creates a firm foundation of knowledge and understanding before expanding your activities. In the month following the session you will be able to refine your monitoring and participation so that by the time of the next workshop in October you will have a lot of valuable knowledge.

Workshop 2 – Getting Active – using social media (October 12^th)

Using the knowledge gained in the initial Briefing Session and research and practice in Workshop 1 we start to prepare and practice your active use of social media tools. We initially audit  your current internal materials, programs and resources and the content that maybe created across different groups and teams within your organisation. We look at how to set up and start using LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, Flickr and podcasts. We look at how to define and develop a company Social Media Policy and Guidelines and how to establish and engage with a ‘content development’ team across multiple company functions. We look at how others have done the same thing and see what ‘best practice’ we can learn from them. We also look at how to set and measure ROI especially linking to key words and web site SEO. This session is very hands-on and aims to give you enough knowledge and confidence to create and develop your own online presence and not simply comment/read others. 

Workshop 3 – Unlocking the power of Audio and Video (November 9^th)

The value of audio and video on web sites plus podcasts and webinars is well known. Audiences for online content are growing rapidly. The BBC announced a few months ago that the iPlayer now has over 100m downloads a month. YouTube reports monthly downloads exceeding 1billion. More and more organisations are using these tools to create compelling content for use by customers and employees alike. Building on our many years of experience of audio and video production we look at what it takes to script, record and edit a/v content as well as webinars. We look at how senior management, product management, HR and Customer Service can all generate and share content. We look at how content can be ‘curated’ so that its ROI is increased. We will look at how content can be used to help drive ‘web traffic’ as well as create real value for the community. We will look at what tools are available to help create and support a community. We will look at how social media and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems can be made complimentary. Even better – during the session we will use the audio and video studios to create some podcast content.

 To book your session please call Nicky Anderson on 023 8044 8822.

For details and dates of the ‘Introduction to Social Media’ click here.

After their use of social media in 2009 and 2010 to help launch the Ford Fiesta they are now planning to use it again for the new Explorer.

Late last year Ford asked the public for volunteers for the ‘Fiesta Movement’ which included a Test Drive program for 100 people.  80k people showed interest. Those selected were asked to engage in social media conversations about their experiences.

The result:  A lot of online buzz..

• agents traveled more than 1.4 million miles
• YouTube views were 6 million
• Flickr photo had more than 740,000 views
• Twitter had more that 3.7 million Twitter impressions.

In a press release dated December 2009 Ford annouced
* Ford is using the success of the first chapter of Fiesta Movement to create a second chapter by enlisting new agents to generate excitement for Ford’s new 40 mile per gallon car, the 2011 Ford Fiesta
* Selected agents will include 20 teams who will set out to complete a series of missions to create buzz-worthy content for the new Ford Fiesta
* Interested consumers can submit video applications on www.fiestamovement.com through the end of January
Those missions are continuing with new online adverts/promotional videos from the 20 teams available online. Click here.

Other businesses can learn from what Ford are doing. Rather than rely on traditional media businesses can use social media to reach and and engage in conversations with their customer base. This conversation can be public and in doing so expand the online brand. By engaging in ‘crowdsourced’ content marketing budgets can be stretched at the same time as generating online buzz.

 Here is a good summary of how other US car manufacturers in are using social media US to engage with their customers. Click here

For more information on the Fiesta campaign click here

Image source: http://www.chiff.com/science/hurricane-pictures.htm

With the hurricane season already started the various Government departments are co-operating and actively using social media alongside traditional media to get their public safety messages across.

Coke and Pepsi have been active in social media for some time but have now taken it to the next level.

An article in the Harvard Business Review discusses how these global brands are using social media to build a ‘Trust Bank’ against potential customer issues in the future.  The idea being that if anything negative occurs they will have a ‘reserve’ in the ‘trust bank’ to draw-down on.

A New York  restaurant due to open in July is using crowdsourcing as a way of creating a menu. It is also using other social media techniques to engage with prospective customers.

With Hurricane season (starts June 1st) expected to be much worse this year than normal South Carolina’s Emergency Management services are using social media as part of their public education and emergency planning and preparations. As mentioned in the news report (ABC Columbia) one advantage of Social Media is that it is lower cost than traditional media so is an additional cost effective tool to use to offset budget cuts.