PR & Social Media for Startups

@c_wiertz; @cityunrulyCaroline Wiertz

Professor of Marketing Cass Business School, City University London

@davidwaterhouse; @unrulycoDavid Waterhouse

Global Head of Content & PRUnruly

Plan for tonight

1. Quick catch-up & setting the scene2. Hands on #13. Tips for PR4. Hands on #25. Tips for social media6. Hands on #3

Six steps to a digital marketing strategy

1. Know the room2. Dress appropriately3. Tell a story4. Make a connection5. Brag modestly6. Observe & adjust

Do you know your brand (rotor)?

Why is Frank worried? PR & Social Media

Where is the (brand) love?

Most people would not care if 74% of all brands disappeared for good.“ (HAVAS Meaningful Brands Study 2015)

Only 0.45% of people who like a brand actually create content around it.

“ (Ehrenberg-Bass Institute 2012)

For millennials, brand loyalty is the least important reason to purchase. 68% don’t care about celebrity endorsements

“ (Buzz Marketing Group 2015)

Only 41% of brand followers enjoy interacting with them.“

(Huffington Post 2015)

???

Ad blocking, anyone?

12M active ad blockers in the UK – 82% growth in the last 12 months“

(PageFair/Adobe Adblocking Survey 2015)

Estimated cost to publishers nearly $22Bduring 2015

“

198M active ad blockers worldwide – 41% growth in the last 12 months

“

12Propositions on the future of social media marketing

Escape into the dark...dark social

36% of US Internet users use messaging apps“ (Pew Internet 2015)

69% of all content sharing takes place on dark social“ (RadiumOne 2014)

Contribution of social media to company performance

(The CMO Survey 2016)

Proving social media’s impact

Only 11.5% of marketing leaders report they have proven the impact of social media quantitatively. Another 40.6% report having a good qualitative sense, but not a quantitative assessment. 47.9% report they have not been able to show any impact yet.

(The CMO Survey 2016)

“

Not ok! Social media were supposed to be the

Hands on #1

In groups of 3-4Meet and greetDecide on a startup to work on for this session

Know where you are at

Situation Analysis

CustomersContext

CompetitorsCollaborators

Company

SWOT analysis

Positioning throughMarketing Mix

Strategies

Marketing Strategy:

Segmentation & Targeting

Marketing Mix: Product

PricePlace

Promotion

Know your audience!

Segmentation variables

Geographic

Behaviour

Demographic

Psychographic“Wants”

Most useful when combined: Multi-variable segmentation!

for B2C

Geographic

Behaviour

Demographic

Psychographic“Wants”

Most useful when combined: Multi-variable segmentation!

Geographic

Behaviour

Firmographic

Needs

Segmentation variables for B2B

Develop detailed personas (e.g., Alice’s Pig)

Start with your business objectives

Campaign Objectives

Develop a content strategy

Common types of content

• News (not the same as newsworthy)• about your products• about your people• about your startup• about your events

• Educational materials• Thought leadership pieces• White papers• Research studies

• Information that is relevant to your audience• But doesn’t have to be about you

• Conversations, conversations, conversations

PR & Social Media

Social Media

Content strategy must fit to your brand

Content strategy must fit to your brand

Let’s talk about how to do…

Content strategy must fit to your brand

Let’s talk about how to do…

Service delivery Brand love

Tone of voice – Be a human

If this was a date…would it be a disaster?

Things that don’t work

• Saying “will you marry me” (moving too fast)• Not speaking at all (moving too slow)• Not replying to the invitation to date in the first place (being

unresponsive)• Not answering questions (being unresponsive)• Only talking about yourself (being narcissistic and a

braggart)• Only talking about one thing (being boring)

Things that do work

• Being interested in them (whoever “they” are)• Asking questions (preferably good/interesting ones)• Talking about a range of topics and ideas• Having “real” moments (e.g., self-deprecating humor,

silliness, sadness, “oops”moments)• Putting them and their needs first (again, whoever they are)• Being gracious, elevating others

Tone of voice considerations

• Needs to reflect your brand (Unruly? Cass Business School?)• Needs to fit to the medium (LinkedIn? Twitter?)• Includes not only words, but also pictures, videos, vines, and so

on• Needs to “be human” – make a connection

Tone of voice – Be a human

Tone of voice – Be a human

Tone of voice – Be a human

So what does academia know about why people

engage in word-of-mouth, i.e. share?

We tweet to communicate information to others and to affect how others see us.

The latter is often more important.

(Toubia & Stephen 2013)

Why do people share information?

Why do we share information?

• Main reason: Self-Enhancement• We love to talk about ourselves:

• 30-40% of every day offline conversation (Dunbar et al. 1997)• 70% of Twitter posts (Naaman, Boase, and Lai 2010)

• Word of mouth is a form of self-presentation:• e.g., to signal expertise, to appear interesting, to connect to

similar others (Berger 2012)

Why do we share?

• Study based on the headlines of the most shared New York Times articles

• Arousal shapes social transmission Arousal as a state of activation• Both positive and negative emotions that elicit hight arousal are

positively correlated with virality• Positive content will be more viral consumers share content to

self-enhance• High-arousal negative emotions may be positively associated with

virality (e.g., anger or anxiety)

(Berger and Milkman, 2012)

Individual Reaction Social Motivation

Information - “That is helpful” Shared Passion

Connection - “I feel involved” Social In Real Life

Affect - “I like that” Social Utility

Interest - “That’s interesting” Social Good

Something special - “I feel special” Zeitgeist

Kudos

Reaction-Seeking

Self Expression

Shared Emotional Experience

Other reasons for sharing

Who are you aiming to reach?

Which medium/media do you feel comfortable with?

Your employees?

Do you have the capacity to handle several media?

Choose your medium or media

Hands on #3

Who is your audience on social media?What are your objectives?What is your value proposition to the audience?What is your tone of voice?Which medium/media?

=> Develop a ideas for a couple of posts/tweets that would fit!

Timing is everything

Cadence matters

Create an editorial calendar• Author and sign off• Dates (write, signoff, publish, take down)• Objective• Content type• Platform• Keywords• Promotion and other related marketing

Your measures impact your reality

(Callon 1998; 2007)

Scientific statements (or theories, or models) are not outside the world(s) to which they refer, but they are actively engaged in the constitution of the reality that they describe.

“

Self-fulfilling prophecy!

# of LikesDevote resources to produce content that

gets many Likes

Redefine work to produce content that

gets many Likes

Game the system and just “buy” Likes (Merton 1986;

Espeland and Sauder 2007)

What kind of organizational set-up do you need to do social media well?

Final Words of Advice

• Build-Measure-Learn

• Leverage real life

• Find your audience, online and off

• Be active

• Listen more

• Mention, mention, mention

• Take it offline

• Go to events

• Follow up

• Do your homework

• Be interested in people. Act like it.

• Elevate others

• Be gracious

• Show gratitude

• Don’t take yourself too seriously

Thank you!