Social Media Branding

Conference Highlights

IST Friday Morning Seminar

November 23, 2012

Conference Overview

Title: Social Media Branding

Dates: September 19-20, 2012

Location: Toronto

Organizer: Federated Press

Presenters

• Bell Canada • World Hotels

• Knightsbridge Human Capital

Solutions

• Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

Ltd.

• Deloitte • City of Regina

• Scotiabank • Universal Music Canada

• Via Rail Canada Inc. • LG Electronics Canada

• Colour Social • The Globe and Mail Inc.

• Yahoo! Canada • Rogers Digital Media

• Sun Life Financial • MNP LLP

• Jungo Inc. • Nokia Canada

Themes Highlighted

Themes of relevance to uWaterloo:

• Client service (communications)

• Crisis communications

• Marketing communications

• Risk management

• Technology trends

Client Service

(Communications)

Organizational Structure

• Historically resided in marketing-

communications (thought of as marketing-

communications function)

• Large shift to client-service focus (helping clients

get the information they need as quickly as

possible)

• Marketing-communications is becoming just one

component of overall social media strategy

(social media campaigns)

Who to Hire

• Someone who knows the business of your

organization (sector knowledge)

• Someone who knows your organizational

structure (services each area provides)

• Someone with a client-focussed perspective

(asks & understands what clients need)

• Someone who knows how to use social media

tools appropriately to communicate with clients

(brand reputation)

Young Social Media “Guru”

Lessons learned:

• Knowledge of business (sector) critical

• Knowledge of areas within organization critical

(e.g., global businesses, multiple product areas)

• Voice used critical (brand voice & reputation)

• Junior vs. senior team-member positions

• Value as expert in medium (social media as a

communications tool)

Social Intranets

• Increasing use expected

• Improved client service/communications

• How this relates to external social media

• Changing workforce demographics

(attraction & retention of younger staff)

• Internal communications tool (vs. memos

via email)

Crisis

Communications

Lessons Learned in Crisis

Situation • People on scene will communicate via social

media right away

• Pictures will come out on social media first

• Media goes to social media (rather than you)

• Social media tends to magnify crisis

• Canned messaging for crisis communications

backfires (real-time responsive communication

expected)

Recommendations for Crisis

Communications • Social media staffing required 24/7

• Staff allocated to monitoring social media

• Staff allocated to responding via social media

• Social media specialist needs to work side-by-

side with spokesperson(s)

• Mobile app for issues/emergency

communications (important to reserve only for

issues/emergency communications)

Marketing

Communications

Marketing-Communications

Challenges • Consistent brand voice and personality across

social media staff/accounts (personal yet

representative of brand personality)

• Uncertainty about what campaigns will and will

not catch on in social media (ROI risk)

• Leadership support for use and staffing of social

media for communications (varying levels of

understanding and support)

Marketing-Communications

Tips & Observations • Messaging vs. experience-based content

(events, contests, hangouts/Q&As)

• Amateur vs. pro photography (real-time,

authentic, sharing, high volume, low cost)

• Your people are your brand (relationships are

built with people who represent your brand –

experience (+/-), identity (personality), image)

Risk Management

Social Media Policy

• Invest in a social media policy

• Include IT in policy development

• Include HR in policy development

• Include Legal in policy development

• Provide training on social media policy

• Have a governance structure in place

Risk Considerations

• Work accounts (vs. personal

accounts for work use)

• Technical threats (files shared via

social media)

• Privacy laws (pay attention to

domestic & foreign laws)

• Behavioural threats (social media

policy and governance)

• Recruitment (HR statement that

social media profiles may be

reviewed)

• Reliance on social media (social

media tools could go down or go

away)

• Endorsement guidelines (legal

ramifications of shared content,

liked content, connections;

personal/work accounts)

• Data loss prevention (data

capturing technology)

Technology Trends

Technology Trends

Commonly used: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube

Increasing use: YouTube, Google+, Instagram

Specific uses: LinkedIn, Weibo

Monitoring & Metrics: Sysomos, Radian 6

(salesforce.com), HootSuite, Facebook Insights

Other: Pinterest, social intranets, etc.

Mobile: iPhone, Android, BlackBerry

Questions

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