you don't need a social media strategy (washington dc edition)

YOU DON’T NEED A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

ABOUT

THIS

PRESO

THIS DECK WAS PRESENTED AT THE

140 CHARACTERS CONFERENCE IN

WASHINGTON DC ON 6/17/10. IT WAS

WRITTEN FOR A TEN-MINUTE

“LIGHTNING TALK” FORMAT.

IT WAS CREATED IN RESPONSE TO

MYRIAD PUNDITS CONTINUING TO

GUSH OVER SOCIAL MEDIA AS A

SUPER-SPECIAL SPECIALTY AREA.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IS FAR

PAST THE EXPERIMENTATION AND

“SHINY NEW OBJECT” PHASES. TIME

TO STOP GUSHING, START THINKING

ABOUT INTEGRATION, AND START

SHOWING RESULTS.

2

IM IN YER COUNTREE, STEELIN UR HELTHCAREZ

3

I’m an American, but work in Vancouver, so here’s a shout-out to all the Canadians in the audience at #140conf!

4

I’m an ad guy, a marketer, a suit — but also a mega-nerd, one of the first bloggers (see above) and podcasters. I’ve seen the web move

from experimental to commercial to search to social.

i.e., I’m not predisposed to either social or traditional media. I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to explore marketing innovations to see

which trends and tools have legs — or don’t — for my clients.

IT’S BEEN A

FUN FIVE

YEARS,

HASN’T IT?

2004-2009 WAS A RIOT, AN

EXPERIMENT, A FUN CULTURAL

EXPERIENCE.

WE MARVELLED AS OUR TWEETS

SCROLLED BY AT SXSW.

WE SIGNED UP FOR JAIKU, POWNCE

AND TWITTER.

USTREAM, KYTE AND JUSTIN.TV.

SNAPVINE, TROTTR AND UTTERLI.

IN SHORT, WE TRIED EVERYTHING.

5

6

In the early days of the social web, we joined Flickr meetups…

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We attended Ignite, TechLive, Facebook Developer Garages. Wrote blog posts in podcasting lounges at social media conferences.

8

We marvelled at (and endlessly played) the “Did You Know” video.

9

And we watched as Justine talked about her iPhone bill from AT&T.

10

WE WATCHED OPRAH, ASHTON,

LARRY KING AND CNN POUNCE ON

TWITTER.

WE STOPPED RANTING THAT IT

WAS “ABOUT A DIALOGUE” AND

STARTED TALKING ABOUT CO-

CREATION, CROWDSOURCING AND

UNPAID ARMIES.

AND THEN PEOPLE STARTED

TALKING ABOUT THE NEED FOR A

SOCIAL MEDIA

STRATEGY.

WE DON’T NEED NO STEENKING SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY.

11

THAT’S LIKE A

CELL PHONE STRATEGY.

12

A FREEWAY STRATEGY.

13

BECAUSE SOCIAL AIN’T NO BOLT-ON PUBLISHING PLATFORM.

14

AND IF YOU’RE IN MKTG/PR,

15

SOCIAL SHOULD BE WOVEN INTO EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING.

16

OUR GOALS:

INTERACT.

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SHARE. GET OFF YOUR ASS.

My job is to think past mere communication.

To get my clients’

customers to interact with our

content. To share it with

their friends. To get them off

their asses and get them to DO something. Join a loyalty club. Show up at a

company event. Choose us at

retail.

IN OTHER WORDS:

ENGAGEMENT.

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INFLUENCE. ACTIVATION. Rather than a “social media strategy,” we need an Engagement Strategy.

An Influence Strategy. An Activation Strategy. Focused around our clients’ end business goals, not media specialties! Srsly.

CREATIVE CHALLENGE

REIMAGINING OUR APPROACH

ACTIVATE INFLUENCE ENGAGE PUBLISH LISTEN STUDY/

PLAN

Too many companies approach social from a Publishing mindset. We recommend rethinking marketing using a MIX of traditional and social, in the

context of Engagement, Influence & Activation. An activated customer spends more, shares more and cares more. It’s a harder creative challenge but a better

one.

REVENUE POTENTIAL

36,053 PEOPLE WHO COMMITTED TO LEAVING

FACEBOOK ON “QUIT FACEBOOK DAY” (MAY 31)

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NEW USERS WHO JOINED THAT DAY ANYWAY

794,000 (GIVE OR TAKE A FEW THOUSAND)

HUMOROUS ASIDE: On May 31, 2010, 36,000 people were activated to quit Facebook. Ironically, that same day, another 794,000 were activated to

join Facebook anyway.

DDB IS

FOCUSING

ON A

BLENDED

APPROACH 21

We’ve seen incredible success for our clients using

a blend of traditional and social media.

EXAMPLE: DDB Canada was asked to build a traditional media

campaign for Knorr’s Sidekicks®

low-sodium

packaged meal product. We

created a character, Salty,

who was no longer needed at the dinner table.

22

Once we had started the conversation through traditional media, we then brought Salty to life through social.

23

Our Radar DDB Cultivation Team engaged with consumers in character, on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and elsewhere. Visitors were encouraged (and activated) to participate with Salty through activities like photo contests.

24

Through the social sites, Salty could come to life and engage with consumers, who would use their influence to forward, fan and like

him.

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Even teenagers surfing ChatRoulette were stunned to find they were chatting

with salt and pepper shakers, instead of some random shirtless dude.

Surprise!

We got traditional press as well as lots of blogger pickup, and our cultivation team engaged with these bloggers to stretch our reach and

influence further. Let’s take a look at another traditional commercial that followed after the initial Salty creative.

We encouraged user-generated content. Consumers started uploading videos of their kids interacting with the salt and pepper shakers, some getting

thousands of views.

People enthusiastically submitted photos in our photo contests. And then shared those photos with friends.

They even put together photo shoots featuring their culinary dishes, along with Salty and Pep.

And pasta art submissions prove that activation CAN defeat time starvation! So how did the campaign do?

WE MOVED

THE NEEDLE.

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6,000 FACEBOOK FANS

400,000+ VIDEO VIEWS

1,000 TWITTER FOLLOWERS

18,000 SALTY & PEP SHAKERS

SOLD OUT IN FIRST 25 DAYS

HIGHEST WEBSITE TRAFFIC EVER

SIDEKICKS SALES ROSE BY 10%

SIDEKICKS SURPASSED UNCLE

BEN’S AS #1 BRAND IN MEAL

ACCOMPANIMENTS

AW

AR

EN

ES

S

NE

ED

D

ET

ER

MI

NA

TI

ON

EV

AL

UA

TI

ON

/C

OM

PA

RI

SO

N

PU

RC

HA

SE

LO

YA

LT

Y

DOT-COM SITE

Integrated Traditional/Social Marketing Mix

S T O R Y T E L L I N G

FACEBOOK FAN PAGE

SEO RECIPES

COMPANY BLOG (IP)

BRANDED SITE

EXTERNAL MKTG-MANAGED PRESENCE

EXTERNAL THIRD-PARTY SITE

TRADITIONAL MEDIA/PR

HELPFUL RESOURCES COMMENTS

RETAIL

ONLINE SAMPLING

TOPICAL COMMUNITIES: IP, HELPFUL TIPS

PRINT

OUTDOOR

PRODUCT LAUNCH MICROSITE

ONLINE

EVENTS

E-COMMERCE PARTNER

EXTERNAL BLOGS: IP, TIPS

YOUTUBE CHANNEL: STORYTELLING, IP

PR

SAMPLING PGMS

32

Blended, integrated efforts WORK. It takes a lot more effort, cost and brand interactions to move consumers through the funnel these days. So why not

grease the skids using a mix of traditional and social content?

SUMMARY

POINTS

33

PROPONENTS: WE

NEED TO TALK

MORE ABOUT

END BUSINESS

GOALS THAN

SOCIAL MEDIA 34

COMMUNICATORS:

PLAN YOUR

TRADITIONAL AND

SOCIAL TOGETHER

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Too many marketers are looking at social as an add-on. They hire social media enthusiasts with no traditional experience to handle their social efforts, resulting in marginal market response. Your traditional

and social media efforts should be planned together. By

experienced strategists. Using impactful creative work.

SO USE

TRADITIONAL TO

START AND/OR

SUPERCHARGE A

SOCIAL

CONVERSATION 36

AND USE SOCIAL TO

REVERBERATE AND

AMPLIFY MARKET

IMPACT WHEN THE

CAMPAIGN IS NO

LONGER RUNNING. 37

BECAUSE STRONG

CREATIVE,

INTEGRATED

ACROSS BOTH

TRADITIONAL AND

SOCIAL MEDIA, WILL

MOVE THE NEEDLE. 38

AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS A

GOOD STRATEGY.

39

MUCHAS GRACIAS.

ERIC WEAVER DDB CANADA @WEAVE +1 604 640 4350