10 lessons in social media i learnt the hard way

10 LESSONS IN SOCIAL MEDIA I LEARNT THE HARD WAY.10(So you don’t have to.)

Ali bullockHead of Communications – WWF Hong Kong

THINGS ABOUT ME YOU MAY KNOW- I work for WWF Hong Kong as Head of Communications

- Previously worked for Cathay Pacific as global digital marketing manager, and worked on digital strategy for companies such as KMPG, Kellogg’s, Samsung and Motorola

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2 THINGS ABOUT ME YOU MAY NOT KNOW- “Asia’s foremost charity wildlife photographer” - CNN Go

- My dog has more friends (917) than I do on FaceBook (662)

1# KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON.

Social media is like play school. People will say mean things about you.

Listen. Respond if appropriate and then move on.

AT CATHAY PACIFIC

Average views for a CX ad on the official Youtube channel - 40,000 views

8 million + views 500,000 + views6 million + views

CENSORED

NO MATTER YOUR ORGANISATION’S SIZE WE NOW WORK AND LIVE IN A MULTI-CONNECTED 24 / 7 WORLD.

HOW WOULD YOU COPE?

Call: “ali, we need you in the crisis comms center. NOW.”

(… It wasn’t ever going to be a good day)

CENSORED

From images captured by professional photographers and sent to the media for print the next day to -

Images captured on an Iphone and shared to the world’s media in minutes

FROM “BRAND HIJACKS”

“Great day, shooting Elephants for 8 hours”- ali bullock, Head of comms WWF

… TO YOUR OWN EMPLOYEES

“Great day, photographing Elephants for 8 hours”- ali bullock, Head of comms WWF

… IN CONTEXT:

1SOLUTION: MONITOR, RESPOND, ANALYSE & REPEAT:

MONITOR: Your posts and the conversations online

WORK: your biggest fans and posters, cultivate these relationships

FACTS: Check your facts and know the details of the situation

SPEED: Post quickly and frequently (where suitable)

MONITOR (AGAIN): What is the message and flow of the conversation

ADAPT: Apologise, say nothing, address issues as the situation develops and be flexible to this environment.

IT’S NOT THE MISTAKES MADE USING SOCIAL MEDIA THAT CAUSE BRANDS THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS, IT’S HOW POORLY OR SLOWLY THEY DEAL WITH THEM.

2# SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS MANAGEMENT - HOURS NOT DAYS

SEA SHEPHERD VS CATHAY PACIFIC

…BUT THE STORY WASN’T TRUE:WE LEARNT:

From picking up the story to posting on Facebook over 24 hours passed - this was too long

We didn’t inform staff around the network, several of whom were verbally assaulted at our airports by people angry over the story

More posts were needed on our own Facebook properties

We should have posted on the Sea Shepherd page

2SOLUTION: PLAN AND EXECUTE QUICKLY. DOING NOTHING = MISTAKE:

Monitoring is key to social media and crisis management

3# DON’T HIRE A SOCIAL MEDIA AGENCY. HIRE YOURSELF FIRST.

IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN SOCIAL MEDIA DON’T DO IT… THAT’S VERY DIFFERENT TO NOT UNDERSTANDING IT.

3SOLUTION: THE ONLY BARRIER TO SOCIAL MEDIA IS YOU:

Making mistakes is part of the process – I didn’t get CX to a fan of fan reach of 36 million people without dropping a few balls along the way

No single person makes a social media success. You need a good team around you and the management belief to try new ideas

4# FINALLY REALISING EVERY COMPANY IS A MEDIA COMPANY

4COMPANIES AS PUBLISHERS

Blogs, Facebook feeds, Twitter and Sina-Weibo: Every company now has the ability to be a publisher

Media and stories are becoming multi-threaded conversations across multiple platforms

4SOLUTION: MORE CONTENT VS LESS CONTENT

Our challenge in marketing, PR and comms is how to find balance in a world where there is more content than ever before and where people have less then time than ever before to consume that media.

(If you find someone who has the answer to this let me know…)

ENGAGEMENT:Simple to talk about but that will be the key to success moving forward.

FOCUS:Simple to talk about but that will be the key to success moving forward.

TARGETING:Simple to talk about but that will be the key to success moving forward.

MONITORING:Know what is being said, by whom and engage where appropriate

5# SOMETIMES (ALWAYS) YOUR BRAND IS IN THE HANDS OF SOMEONE ELSE

CAMPAIGN CANCELLED

SOCIAL MEDIAPUBLIC ISSUE

5SOLUTION: YOU NO LONGER “CONTROL” YOUR BRAND AND THE MESSAGE:

… MOVE ON.

6# HOW DO YOU AVERT A SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS?

SIMPLE ANSWER IS YOU CAN’T…

It’s how you react and manage the issue that matters. A crisis will only get better or worse as you manage it.

6SOLUTION: BUILD YOUR CONSTITUENCY. AND BUILD IT NOW:

Simple steps to increase engagement:

Don’t oversell on social media. Special offers and promotions are all well and good, but use them sparingly

6SOLUTION: GOOD BUSINESS WORKS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

103 likes 606 likes

SOCIAL GOOD WORKS FOR YOU, YOUR EMPLOYEES, SOCIETY AND FOR SOCIAL PR / ENGAGEMENT (MOST IMPORTANTLY.)

IT’S A WIN FOR EVERYONE.

EVERYONE CAN DONATE A SMALL AMOUNT OF TIME. TALK TO CAROLINE@HANDSONHONGKONG.ORG

* Caroline is my wife and she is awesome

*

7# EVERY EMPLOYEE FROM THE CEO TO THE RECEPTIONIST CAN B YOUR BRAND AMBASSADOR.

THE GOOD: A Great example of a very low cost but effective social media strategy.

7… AND THE BAD.

This is Tatiana Kozlenko, a flight attendant for Russian airline Aeroflot.

In October 2011, she apparently posted this photo to the social networking site Vkonttakte.

She was fired Monday after the photo began circulating on Twitter.

… And sometimes people make silly mistakes.

REMEMBER: What you put on social media, stays EVERYWHERE.

7SOLUTION: SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES:

Guidelines: Any organisation that is big enough to have HR guidelines will need to have social media guidelines

REMEMBER, FEW “SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS” INCIDENTS HAVE ENDED THE COMPANY.

(So that’s a relief then.)

Wait, the bad news is they can cost a lot of money, time and effort to re-build the brands reputation…

# BE REALISTIC. BE FOCUSED. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE AND CUSTOMERS8

8SOLUTION: IS SOCIAL MEDIA RIGHT FOR YOUR ORGANISATION…?

# GIVING AWAY FREE STUFF WILL GET YOU EXACTLY WHAT YOU PAY FOR.9

IF YOU GIVE AWAY SOMETHING FOR FREE, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT IN RETURN…?

LOYALTY?

9SOLUTION: FAN ACQUISITION VS CUSTOMER ACQUISITION:

Fan acquisition means doing something to get the attention of users on a social network so they will opt in to your messaging. Customer acquisition is doing something to convince a person to purchase something.

# SIZE IS NO BARRIER TO SOCIAL MEDIA10

I STARTED OF THE CX FAN PAGE WITH ONE FAN.

(Social media can be a very cold, lonely place in the beginning.)

SOCIAL MEDIA FOUND THIS PUPPY A HOME *

* (OK, that’s not strictly true as I adopted her the day of this photo-shoot, but she would so have been adopted through social media.)

ONE PERSON STARTED A FACEBOOK PAGE ABOUT THE ORANGUTANS IN BORNEO.

RESULT: A FULL CHANGE IN PALM OIL BUYING POLICY AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS LOST IN NEGATIVE PR.

10CONCLUSION: SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT A SILVER BULLET FOR YOUR BRAND:

Social Media is something that is too important to ignore

Social media does not and will not ever work on its own, it has to be integrated into a bigger comms / marketing plan.

It’s going to get more complex – If I post a photo on Twitter through my mobile phone, is that mobile marketing or social media marketing?

Social media will change the face of advertising, just as TV did 50 years ago. But it’s still about people and word of mouth and that has not changed.

*NOTE: # EVERY TITLE WAS LESS THAN 140 CHARACTERS (MEANING IT WOULD FIT NICELY INTO YOUR TWITTER FEED.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME

YOU CAN FIND A COPY OF THIS PRESENTATION HERE:www.slideshare.net/alibullock/presentations

ali bullockabullock@wwf.org.hk / alibullock@gmail.comwww.alibullock.com