Devising a successful Social Media Campaign
Jun 14, 2015
Devising a successful
Social Media
Campaign
Expectations – Why should you care?
Eco-Marathon Case Study
Social Media Toolkit
Maturity Model and Cultural Differences
Expectations
I am not a social media guru
I am a global digital communications specialist
I believe social media should be integrated with internal and external comms
I am someone like you who had responsibility for social media within my company
I want to share my experience and my learnings in the hope they will help:
Save you time
Avoid expensive mistakes
Give you a head-start
Plan your next action
#1 #2 #6
Client or Agency – Does this sound familiar?
CLIENT
We need a social media strategy
What can we do with the
resources, budget we have
How can we integrate with other
channels
Where should this team sit:
Marketing, Communications, IT
What training can we provide
How do we maintain consistency
Where do we find the content
How do we sustain it, long-term
AGENCY
Be more ambitious
Look at what others are doing
“Cool stuff”
Design, design
Re-design, re-design
Be leading edge
Improve website to aid discovery
Cross-linking strategy
Build lasting relationships with
customers
Cannot afford to do nothing
Why should you care
Technology moves faster than you think..
Not theory but practice..
Real Case Study
What worked, what didn’t and lessons I learnt
Social Media Toolkit
Tested and improved over time
Whether you are just starting with social media or looking at taking the next step on the
maturity ladder, my experience can help you:
Validate you’re going in the right direction
Take a pause and think
Adapt and change
Eco-Marathon Case Study
Shell Eco-Marathon
The story goes...70 years ago two
employees placed a friendly wager over
who could travel furthest on the same
amount of fuel
Today
3 continents
500 teams
5000 engineering students
16 - 23 year old
40+ countries
2012 Winner – Paris to Valencia on 1 liter of petrol (2833 km)
Shell Eco-Marathon Europe 2009
Europe – largest of the 3 events (3500 attendees, Lausitz Germany)
Managing external communications
No social media guidelines
No expertise in-house
Agency writing communications to students
Company reluctant to engage in social media
Colleagues not interested in digital
Management not supporting digital (no budget)
High profile project at Shell
Simple Goals
Experiment, learn, figure out what works and what doesn’t
Support the Energy Challenge Agenda through Mobility
Start tactical (practical information about the event) and grow
Getting Started
Create my own personal Facebook account and learn to use it
Update the SEM website
Content was old, corporate speak
Content heavy, no pictures, no videos
Webcasts materials not published
Update the newsletter
Change tone of voice – more young, inspiring, team spirit
Competitions:
Student spokesperson re media engagements
CEO & student give “start” signal for the competition
Create Shell Eco-Marathon Europe Facebook account
1000 fans within a couple of months
What worked
TARGETED - Gained their trust
Shell Eco-marathon event:
Has good reputation amongst students
Mobility agenda part of wider sustainability engagement
Reputable and authoritative source of information
Filled a communication gap
Allowed for rapid response and timely news
Showed we were open to listening
Started a conversation not just typical 1-way
FOCUSED – Europe Event
Reached out to teams who already used social media and posted on their pages
Understood how our 16-23 demographics communicated
Photos – universal language (25 countries attending)
Team photos- previous events
Photos from teams preparing for the current event
Recent website re-design project- amazing photography
Original, human, non-corporate like
Captured the brand in an innovative way underpinning the “innovation” theme
of the event
GOVERNANCE - During the Event
Knowledge & functionality sharing
Social Media Hub - Flickr tagging of #SEM shown on our website
Terminals where students could upload images and videos
Corporate Twitter used by Media Team and Digital Team
Team work
Media & Digital Teams on site, timed website/social media updates
Volunteers given flip cameras to document the event, carry out student
interviews
GREAT CONTENT – Timely and Useful
Information about competition & technical rules
How to register for webcasts
Interview with Chief Engineer
Webcasts recordings
Practical information about the event
What to bring
Where to stay
Evening entertainment
Maps of Lausitz Racing Track - Germany
MEMORABLE - Exclusive Offers via Facebook
Exclusive offers and value to fans:
Registration to webcasts
Food coupons
Money coupons
Competition to win products
Competition for media photo opportunity
Emotional level
Team spirit, adventure
Innovation
Solidarity
Cultural exchange
RIGHT CHANNEL - Enabling Interaction between Teams
Facebook allowed us to build and nurture a community of like-minded people:
Teams made their own connections
Nurtured interaction between students
Identified common challenges
Shared stories - overcoming challenges
Reached out to teams for interviews
2009 – 1st female driver
MEASURABLE - Outcomes
Internal stakeholders received regular report on:
Facebook Statistics
Number of Fans, Comments, Suggestions
Website Statistics
Traffic, Engagement, Most/Least Popular
Newsletter
Open rates, most read stories
Outcome was:
People started paying attention
Company realised social media potential
Decision based on actual stats not what senior managers thought our
audience wanted
MEASURABLE - Social Media Pilot for Shell
Knowledge sharing within the company
Asia started using our newsletter tool and template
US Social Media Manager attended Europe’s event and took back learnings
Shell Eco-Marathon Global Event became the Social Media Pilot for Shell and
kick-started the creation and launch of:
Social Media Framework
Social Media Guidelines
Social Media Training
TARGETED Clear objectives
and success
criteria
FOCUSED On specific
issue, customer pain point
MEASURABLE Are the
outcomes the one you’re expecting?
GREAT CONTENT Find a different and intriguing way to deliver
content
MEMORABLE Emotional connection
between the brand and audience
RIGHT CHANNEL
Think about the actions you want
people to take and match the channel to the
message
Social Media Campaign – Ingredients for Success
What did not work
Twitter was not used much outside of UK
Multiple languages e.g. Spain, France expected to converse in their own language and
not English
Teams from North Africa
Too much work managing this channel with no training
We leveraged the official Twitter channel to post important
news and direct traffic to the website
Shell has now created a Twitter account @shell_ecomar
Governance
Difficult convincing internal stakeholders we needed to change tactics
Social Media seen as optional or something everyone can do
No in-house expertise, yet no budget to hire agencies or do training
CEO participated at US Event and was shown the Social Media Hub
Over time, we established a network of social media advocates and started to share
knowledge and resources
Email sent to our Digital Communications community to ask for stories, ideas, materials
we can use
Formal training introduced
Multimedia Prep Work
Corporate videos were too long, too much talking
Required additional budget, more work
Little to none video editing skills in the team
Agencies engaged in taking pictures/videos were briefed on digital requirements too
late
Lack of social media standard
Internal stakeholders e.g. Media Team viewing Digital not as important
Separate image uploading channel (hosted by the agency)
Legal challenges
Approval process
For posts not directly related to event information
Governance would have helped
Tone of voice was too formal, not transparent enough
Remember our audience demographic
We had to be “cool” not corporate without losing integrity and brand values
Later: Improved Writing for the Web guidelines, Twitter and Facebook channel
specific guidelines and training
My Learnings
It’s hard work
It’s hard to sustain tempo and the quality of content and you soon run out of interesting
things to say:
Tap into internal communications resources
Steer conversation towards subject matter experts, get them involved
Leverage existing materials, stories, photos, videos
Create an Editorial Board to manage content planning/editorial calendar
Knowledge sharing with other countries, regions
If using agencies, brief them properly (they should sit within the Digital Comms
Team)
Focus on the audience needs: relevant and personal
Need a strategy and senior management support
Align with communication strategy for an integrated approach
Be clear on goals and what success looks like
Do the right thing, not the newest cool thing
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should
It’s about what works for your brand, your business objective
It’s ok to start small and grow
Don’t be afraid to fail but learn from mistakes
Adapt and change course if it doesn’t work
Don’t assume you know your audience, know your audience
Don’t ask people to “like” you, they will if you deserve it
Social sharing can super-charge our visibility and credibility
Social Infographics
Social Media Key Performance Indicators
Define Goal
Quantity
Quality
Define KPIs
Measure outcome
Social Media Strategic Toolkit
Listen &
Research
Strategy &
Governance Plan
Engage and
Sustain
•Research audience and
understand their needs
•Find where they are
interacting
•Discover what they are
saying
•Decide how to reach
them at an emotional level
•What should the outcome
be
•How will social media
support the business
goals
•Is social media part of
external/internal digital
strategy
• Which channel approach
fits your organisation
profile, values
• What happens when
things go wrong (Risk
Mitigation plan)
•What success looks like
•What resources and
budget is available
•Editorial Calendar
•Governance
•Digital Community (Roles
and Responsibilities re
Social Media)
•Training, Guidelines
•Reporting Methodology
and Tools
• Creative - Agency
involvement
•Integrate with website
and other traditional
channels for max efficacy
•Engage audience in
conversation
•Monitor performance
•Maintain activity
•Share insights with
internal stakeholders
•Integrated
internal/external
communication
Social Media Strategic Toolkit
Business Strategy Tactical Implementation
Framing the
challenge
A central hub whereby a consistent customer experience can be choreographed is becoming increasingly important Empower Communicators to empower the Business
Digital Communication’s
role is to lead from the
centre and help the
business reach their
audience with efficiency &
impact
Put a framework, structure
and vehicle in place for the
business and recommend
how they drive it
Then, let go..
Build customer trust, cements
vision and meets business objectives
Growth of digital network incl social media channel’s
value and reputation
Social Media content to support business goals &
build lasting relationships
Social Media Strategy & Thought
leadership
What it takes to succeed
Vision, Strategy, Governance, Resources, Ownership, Measurement
Without these, ambitious plans are set to fail in the long-term
Digital skill
To complement traditional competencies. Employees have to learn new
communications platforms & tools, explore emerging channels and be able to tell
their stories with an expanding palette of creative options.
Ultimately, communicators have to continue to do what they do best: craft powerful
stories
Empower them and more stories will be passed from employee to employee,
journalist to reader and customer to prospective customer or advocate
Sell the dream
Social media is not a “one
man show”
STAY IN TOUCH..
http://www.linkedin.com/in/danapoole
Thank You
Social Media Maturity Model
Cultural Differences
Appendix
Social Media Maturity Model
Social Media in Asia
Cultural Differences
Cultural Differences
Design (text and
colours)
Copy Translation
Broadband speed
Profile (photo vs avatar)
Anglo-Saxon
Bold, strong colours
“Add a Favourite”
Average to High
Asia
Pastels, subdued
= “Scrapping” (Korean)
Very High