Social Marketing Best Practice

June 2010

The role it plays

• Online video has two attractive qualities that make it a necessity for any business trying to market itself online; reach and cost-effectiveness

• As media consumption transitions from passive to active, Internet video combines the storytelling capacity of traditional television with the interactive participation of online social media

• An enormous part of YouTube’s success is the ability to embed clips anywhere, from blogs, to social networking profiles, to the front page of popular websites …

• … and this content can ‘go viral’

Best practice

• From a consumer perspective, online video is the fastest-growing medium in history; video attracts the attention of millions

• Create ads that work as content: Create fun or arresting videos that tell a story and seamlessly integrate your brand

• It's all about the dialogue: Be aware of and harness the social exchange process on YouTube, including comments, ratings, and the cycle of video responses, remixes, and mashups

• Ideas come from everywhere: Crowdsourcing is a legitimate and effective tool, and some successful campaigns were created through crowdsourcing

• Find the talent and use it: YouTube has a well-established pantheon of video stars, with built-in audiences. Partner where appropriate and secure exposure for your video

Brand examples

Create fun, engaging contentBut remember, it’s a

conversation…

Brand examples

Crowdsouce contentCollaborate with YouTube

influencers

The role it plays

• 140 characters can go a long way…

• Give your brand a voice: Discover your fans, get to know them, engage in conversations… Attention spans only continues to thin and therefore requires planning to ensure relevance and appeal

• Generate traffic… by sending users to your web pages

• Monitor your brand real-time: Problems on Twitter can materialise at any moment with little warning unearth potential PR problems

• Crisis management: With Twitter, you can easily contact Twitter users tweeting negatively about the brand

Best practice

• Instead of approaching Twitter as a place to broadcast information about your company, think of it as a place to build relationships

• Include in your Bio and/or custom background the names (or @usernames) of the people twittering from your company account

• Listen regularly for comments about your company, brand and products, and be prepared to address concerns, offer customer service or thank people for praise

• Use a casual, friendly tone in your messages, respond to questions or comments

• Post links to articles and sites you think folks would find interesting, even if they’re not your sites or about your company

• Make sure your tweets provide some real value to your followers

Brand examples

• Over 39,000 people are following Aleksandr Orlov’s every tweet on Twitter• He has currently published over 3,400 updates which shows that Twitter is not just a tool the company thought they had to be signed up for, but a service that they take seriously• The campaign has used the account to add an amusing personal touch to the brand whilst helping to provide an additional level of customer support online

The role it plays

• With 70 million active users, Facebook is the 6th most-trafficked website in the world (ComScore)

• Over 55,000 regional, work-related, collegiate, and high school networks

• A platform that allows 3rd parties to develop widgets and other applications

• Facebook Fan Pages can be described as your consumer-facing ‘micro-site’ and can be used to:

• Bring your brand to life: Seed exclusive content onto your fans, and have an open conversation about your products and services

• Create a Facebook application around the brand: Facebook applications are not guaranteed to earn an audience simply because they’re created, but if well-designed can help increase engagement with your brand

• Drive traffic to corporate materials through status updates

Best practice

• Keep your fan page exciting with fresh and exciting content

• Write notes and share them with your audience

• Post photos and videos of your events

• Add applications that enhance your Page experience

• Create discussion boards to solicit user feedback and generate brainstorms

• Create groups to help people with similar interests connect with one another

• Set up events and have your fans RSVP

Brand examples

Fresh, exclusive content

Link redirecting to online store

The role it plays

• Blogs pioneered social media and came way before social networking exploded with MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter

• Blogs offer an alternative way of discovering and sharing news, information and content

• The production of content is an alternative to traditional media that benefits from interlinked conversation and comments

• In addition, blogs can help with a site’s Search Engine Optimization

Best practice

• Create blogging policies: Blogging has a tendency to become personal. A company should have a list of policies regarding blogging to ensure that trade secrets are kept secret and personal lives do not become public.

• Avoid the marketing blog: Making your blog into a blatant marketing campaign is a bad idea. Customers are looking for real answers and honest opinions. Use the blog for what it's for, transparency; this is an opportunity to make a real connection with your customers

• Keep it fresh: To keep your readers coming back, make your content relevant and timely. Don't forget, content can include anything from product releases to job openings, recent news to thoughts from the CEO.

• Reinforce the company’s core values. Use your blog to reflect your company's inner soul: its mission, goals and direction. Your blog is another part of the brand experience. It should be consistent with the impression the company wants to make

• SEO optimize your blog: choose catchy titles, tag your posts and photos, be clever with your hyperlinks

Brand examples

The Topshop blogs offers a combinations of articles ranging from events, videos music as well as the latest Topshop Collections

The role it plays

• A photo-sharing site popular with amateur photographers and the creative community

• Flickr is a collaborative tool where you can tap into people’s creativity

• People often show products in there natural environment

• Providing an opportunity to connect with customers/people who are already fans of your brand

Best practice

• Search for relevant images and invite users to join a brand group

• Maintain your group is fresh and vibrant by creating new discussions, photo challenges etc

• Photography rights/Creative Commons can be easily managed

• Flickr can also help with your SEO:• Tag your photos: this will make your photos findable to users when they are

searching, and lend keyword weight to the photo’s page

• Create a descriptive title for the image: This adds yet more keyword weight to the photo’s page within Flickr

• Add notes directly onto the photo, enter a description under the photo, or write something about the picture

• If the photo is location specific, go into Flickr’s tools and geotag the picture

• Create thematic sets/collections for your photos, and add each picture to the set/collection appropriate for it

• Link each of your Flickr photo pages to your website, or to related pages on your website

• Have your photos publicly viewable

Brand examples

Brand examples

The role it plays

• One of the most widely used websites on the Internet, Wikipedia offers more than 3 millions articles written in English

• The online encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone has an astonishing 13 million articles total in more than 250 languages

• Wikipedia is routinely the best place to find information for breaking news as it happens and is a growing store of knowledge for reference material, even though not everything in Wikipedia is "expert" material

Best practice

• Do check what is being said about your brand

• Push negative content below the fold: Content always wins when it comes to search engine optimization, the same goes for Wikipedia. Add content to the top of your Wikipedia page to push down negative copy far below the fold.

• Fill the entire page with content… but use normal everyday language to describe the company, products, history, etc. Include the company history, top clients and anything else of interest. The Starbucks page is a good example of how you can expand the company Wikipedia page—they talk about the sizes you can order, the logo, various locations and more. Don’t forget that what you add must be unique content.

• Include official pictures

• Add further reading and references links at the end of the article

• Add a link to your corporate website

Brand examples