the "boring stuff" about social media is most crucial for business success

The ”Boring Stuff” about Social Media Marketing

Joonas Rokka16.09.2010

Internet Marketing Conference, Helsinkihttp://www.internetmarketingconference.com/helsinki

Who’s presenting?

Joonas Rokka, DSc (Econ)• Digital Marketing Project Leader, Valio Ltd (2009 -)

– Digital marketing strategy and tools• Researcher, Aalto University School of Economics (2006 -)

– Consumer & new media studies– Dissertation about how to study the cultural aspects of

online communities– Teacher in branding, marketing research, methods and

consumer behavior courses• Visiting scholar, HEC School of Management, Paris (2008-2009)

– Research collaboration, teaching

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Outline

• Why is Valio here today?– And why exactly is social media relevant for Valio?

• How is Valio making use of social media in practice?– What have been the biggest challenges in turning a

”traditional company” into a ”social media marketing company”?

– How can this sort of change be managed? – What activities have been made?– What guidelines and principles are in use?

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Valio Ltd Valio was founded in 1905 as an export co-operative for high-quality Finnish butter.The name Valio still stands for excellent quality.

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Valio, Finland’s biggest milk processor

Owners: 22 dairy co-operatives, about 10 000 Finnish milk producers

Turnover: 1 844 million € in 2008 (30 % from abroad)Factories: 15 in Finland, 2 in Estonia and 1 in BelgiumSubsidiaries: Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia,

Belgium, USA, ChinaSales: in over 60 countriesPersonnel: appr. 4 375 in Finland and abroad

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Market shares in Finland (%)

Source: ACNielsen ScanTrack, moving annual total to 6th January 2008, market share by value

Milk Cheese Cooking products

Yoghurt Butter and spreads

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Valio is the most responsible company in Finland

Finnish consumers named Valio the most responsible food company in 2009. Research made by Suomen Gallup Elintarviketieto Oy:n

What is responsiblity according to Finnish consumers?

High quality products, safety, freshness, enviromental issues, domestic.

Valio is one of the biggest advertisers in Finland…

• However, Valio’s marketing activities remained more or less outside of the digital realm– Share of digital marketing practically close to zero – Valio is the poster child for ”traditional marketer”– No significant experience nor skills in the area of digital

marketing– Consumers are adopting digital media very fast– Also competitors…

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Valio’s activities

• Valio needed a new strategy in digital marketing– Actually there was no strategy before..

• Strategy project was launched in 2009– Internal digital and social media audit was conducted– Training sessions were planned– Strategy and mission were formulated– Guidelines and support was provided– Implementation underway– Several iniatives set forth

Digital and social media audit

Starting point

• One-way info on web• Static, textual content• SE not supported• No flow, dead-ends• No interaction• Passive• No social media• Up-to-month info

Goal

• Interaction, dialogue• Dynamic, visual content, UI• SEO, SEM always supported• Sharing, linking relevant

contents• Active participation,

engagement• Social media in use• Up-to-minute info

Training sessions

• The problem was not tecnology but people– Social media cannot be outsourced..

• Digital marketing team was set up

• All employees were invited to learn more about– Social media (kick-off)– Wikipedia– Facebook– Blogs, microblogs– Social media marketing– Online videos

Valio’s vision 2015

“Valio is an international forerunner, among food producers, in digital and social media and utilizes it actively in supporting its business and strategy.”

• What does this mean?– Valio offers best services for consumers in target markets– Valio understands and is connected with consumers’ lives and

current phenomena– Valio is active in developing new innovative, value creating

services

Guidelines and support

Online forums

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YouTube

Facebook

• Valio has two main sites where consumers and fans are activated and made visible– Valio, 6.000 fans– Maito – kansallisjuoma,

22.500 fans

• In total Valio has nearly 80.000 fans in facebook

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Twitter

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Valio employs Twitter mainly for linking materials and news. More emphasis in Sweden and US than Finland.

Valio LinkedIn

Valio Consumer Council

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Valio created a consumer council, where people areasked for feedback, ideas and comments

Netnography = (Inter)Net + (Et)nography

• Social media research method– For gaining understanding and

business insights• What consumers do and aim

for, social practices, rituals, meanings, values and language

• Deeply contextual insights and holistic view on consumer behavior

• Makes use of natually occurring data in the net

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Netnography in brief

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Measurement of online buzz

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Valio ranks 2nd in online buzz

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Valio, the most postive youth brand 2010

19th March 2010Source: 15/30 Research

Valio, the most postive youth brand 2010

Brand with most postitive feelings• Valio 5,7 %• Pirkka 5 %• Fazer 4,5 %• Nokia 4,5 %• Rainbow 3,3 %• Apple 3 %• Marimekko 2,3 %

…

Most authentic brand:• Valio 15,7 %• Fazer 7,3 %• Marimekko 4,3 %

…

(Results based on a youth study,15-30 yo respondents (n=5263),spontaneous response,unaided brand questions)

19th March 2010Source: 15/30 Research

Key takeaways

• The ”boring stuff” of social media marketing is the most crucial from business success perspective– Training employees and teams– Development of company principles, rules and guidelines – Gaining support from top management– Gaining access to social media (from IT!)– ”Doing” social media marketing requires continuous ”doing”– Measurement and evaluation of activities– Linking social media marketing to ”actual marketing”

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