the fundamentals of digital engagement: terminalfour t44u 2013
DESCRIPTION
'The fundamentals of digital engagement': Simon Nash is a strategist and consultant specializing in multi-channel digital strategy, communications and engagement. He examines the major challenges that organizations have faced in 2013 and defining the major trends that will dominate the next 12-18 months. These are illustrated by client case studies and followed up with some practical approaches and actionable guidance that can be applied to your own digital marketing activity.TRANSCRIPT
The Fundamentals of digital engagement ------------------------------------- Five key challenges facing digital professionals in 2014
Simon Nash
----------------------------------------- Planning Director, Reading Room
--------------------------------
Some of our consultancy clients
Successful engagement isn’t about tinkering with social
media or starting a blog. It’s a major shift in thinking and
requires co-ordinated action.
The Fundamentals of Digital Engagement
------------------------------------------------------------------ Five key challenges facing digital professionals in 2014
----------------------------------------------------
Audiences – Strategy – Content – Multi-channel – Change
Technology is advancing at a bewildering pace Technology is advancing
at a bewildering pace
Digital technologies are changing the way we sell and market products and services.
And they’re transforming the relationships we have with our audiences.
And then there’s the Internet of Things
The only constant is change itself. And the only
organizations that will prosper in this context are
those that adapt.
Challenge No.1 -----------------------------------------
Understanding your audience
-----------------------------------------
Culture is increasingly embracing the opportunities afforded by new technologies with open arms.
People are now integrating the internet seamlessly into their daily lives using an increasing range of devices to access the
internet at home, at work and on the move.
New styles of interaction are driving the development of
new formats of bite sized content
“There are 200 million people on the U.S. ‘Do Not Call’ list. Over 86% of TV viewers admit to skipping
commercials. Forty-four percent of direct marketing is never opened. Roughly 99.9% of
online banners are never clicked. Buyers wait until they have completed 60-80% of their research
before reaching out to vendors”
Michael Brenner, Senior Director of Global Marketing at SAP
Major companies like BT are taking these changes very seriously. Hiring analysts to understand how they need to
adapt their services channels for hyper connected customers.
Our audiences expect transactions and experiences to be increasingly seamless and connected as they wander
aimlessly between on and offline touch-points.
And the way they interact with us has changed too;
they share their experiences with their networks in real time.
And the way they interact with us has changed too;
they share their experiences with their networks in real time.
And the way they interact with us has changed too;
they share their experiences with their networks in real time.
And the way they interact with us has changed too;
they share their experiences with their networks in real time.
And the way they interact with us has changed too;
they share their experiences with their networks in real time.
Traditional barriers between organizations and their audiences are giving way to new forms of relationship. Transactions have gone beyond the confines of simple
monetary exchange and people are increasingly playing a participatory role in campaigns and product
development and engaging in dialogue about services .
New expectations are being set by innovative and progressive organizations who are blessed with either
the agility or the budget to set new benchmarks for the way we interact with our audiences.
Meanwhile the rest of us are all playing catch-up – we have to take established processes, entrenched
technology, decades of experience and conservative organisational mindsets – and steer our organisations toward bold new frontiers.
Challenge No.2 -----------------------------------------
Developing a coherent strategy
-----------------------------------------
Most organizations seem to be facing the same basic challenge. We’ve been on the back foot, developing platforms & infrastructure and adopting new channels & technologies.
Whilst we’ve kept our audience in mind, the limitations enforced by organisational structure, marketing imperatives
and operational processes have conspired against us.
Generally, despite individual successes this path has led to web presences cluttered with good intentions, inconsistent
platforms, incoherent messaging and legacy campaign assets. Our audiences often have to wade through ‘digital landfill’ to
access what they need - it’s a wonder they bother.
There are a vast number of digital options available to us. So how do we make the right choices?
“A good strategy has coherence, coordinating actions,
policies, and resources so as to accomplish an important
end. Many organisations don’t have this. Instead, they
have multiple goals and initiatives that symbolize
progress, but no coherent approach to accomplishing that
progress other than ‘spend more and try harder’ “
Richard Rumelt – Good Strategy/Bad Strategy
You must set tangible strategic outcomes as objectives. Attention
matters, but engagement itself is not an outcome.
Target 55+ males
Using digital channels
Convert from blends
Upsell to higher SKUs
Encourage advocacy
Taste The Glenlivet
Awareness +58%
Consideration
(amongst those who are aware but not buying TGL) +75%
Preference
(vs. Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie) +113%
Brand I trust
Brand for me
+24%
+37%
Consumption / Sales
regular buyers of TGL 52%
Challenge No.3 -----------------------------------------
Giving your content a life of
its own. -----------------------------------------
Content strategy meant thinking about what content you were going to put on the website, who was going to produce
and approve it etc.
Content now lives well beyond your website and there are some key considerations that can make all the difference in
ensuring your content is conveying your message effectively.
.
And a whole science has emerged in relation to the development, creation and deployment of content and its
role in conveying your message implicitly & explicitly.
Concentrate on making your content interesting, entertaining, useful, helpful, & rmost of all elevant.
As interesting as your product message might be, the fact is that your audience is very
unlikely to be sat at their desk waiting for you to issue your next product promotion. In order to grab their attention you need to think like a publisher and offer them a compelling reason to engage with your content, some sort of value exchange.
The fine art of editorial calendars
“If I like your content it’s not because I like your
brand it’s because I like my friends.”
Henry Jenkins
‘Spreadable Media ‘
Think about what your content means to the end user, if they share it – what’s in it for them?
Ongoing scheduled moderation and publishing according to strategy
2015 Campaign
2016 Campaign
Time
Size of Social Following
2014 Campaign
Don’t lurch between campaigns. Communicate and engage consistently in an always on fashion.
Conversational
• Responsive • Promotional • Engaging • Positive
Content Led
• Proactive • Content creation • Advocacy driven • Campaigning
Narrative Led
• Strategic • Story telling • Dialogue driven • Always On
Embark on a journey from conversational engagement
toward a storytelling narrative
• Huge and complex marketplace
• Reductions in funding
• Consolidate technology
• Focus on inspiration
• Work with the sector
Slice and dice and focus on spreadable formats
Multiple formats increase the chances of engaging users who have a preference for a particular content type. And publishing on third party
syndication sites increases your visibility in search results.
•The growth of the multi-channel web means that structured content is growing in importance
And don’t forget Google glasses, a car dashboard, an
internet fridge…..
More visually appealing, more findable, better for SEO, incorporation of reviews and other data plus deep links into
site sections and taxonomy.
More visually appealing, more informative and more likely to catch the eye in the newsfeed.
Structured Content
Much more real estate, more visually appealing, more shareable and more likely to generate a site visit.
But if you are starting from scratch you can go deeper and prepare for the future. Foundations First
Challenge No.4 --------------------------------------------
Becoming a smooth ‘multi-
channel’ operator ---------------------------------------------
Someone who can handle multiple situations in a fashion that can only be described as "Awesome, spectacular, and, above all else, awesometacular". Usually a smooth operator is someone who tends to be "on top of things", and is usually in control of any given situation. If he/she isn't in control of a situation, they usually find a way to gain control of it to make it more awesome for everyone involved.
Definition: Smooth Operator
Digital channels are expanding exponentially. 2009
Digital channels are expanding exponentially. 2013
Our audiences have adapted comfortably & they move seamlessly across channels & platforms both on and offline. But most organisations are failing to rise up to the challenge.
We need to consider experiences from our audience’s point of view.
Keep things neat and tidy!
Rethinking search for the multi-channel web.
Findability not SEO
The Internet of Things has arrived and multi-channel experiences just gained a whole new dimension.
CRM has been a buzzword for many years yet many organisations still struggle with unsatisfactory
customer data and few have properly integrated their various touch-points. This is problematic
because it introduces dissonance as your audiences move between them. But the real problem is that
you cannot then identify people and use that information to add value to the experience.
Unlock the potential of the multi-channel web
Challenge No.5 -----------------------------------------
Moving from digital owner to digital leader.
-----------------------------------------
Stuff Marketing
control
Stuff we need to
change
Stuff IT Manage
You simply cannot conceive or implement a successful digital strategy without collaborating with teams across
the organisation.
Marketing
Operations Human
Resources Product
IT Dept
Organic Growth (Silos,
Fragmentation)
Customer focused
approach
multi-channel
customer
engagement
Marketing
Technology
Culture
Operations
Customer focused
approach
Organic Growth (Silos,
Fragmentation)
Customer focused
approach
multi-channel
customer
engagement
Marketing
Technology
Culture
Operations
Customer focused
approach
You need to develop a pan-organisational framework for engagement. Develop a distributed structure with guiding
policies and enable teams to own implementation.
London Business School have placed engagement at the centre of their digital strategy and have invested across all of their digital channels to support this. We helped them
develop an engagement strategy and a framework to support that.
So to summarise
Five challenges facing digital professionals in 2014
• Understanding your audience
• Developing a coherent strategy
• Giving your message a life of its own
• Becoming a smooth ‘multi-channel’ operator
• Moving from digital owner to digital leader
More on this subject…
A practical guide to content marketing featuring insights gleaned from Reading Room projects and case studies provided by industry peers from a range of backgrounds.
Recently presented at Internet World, this presentation by Simon Nash outlines the importance of connecting engagement activity with real world outcomes.
Thanks ------------------------------ @ReadingRoomUK @SimonNash