Digital Marketing with Kryptonite.co.nz

Social Media Junction, Auckland, New Zealand

Social Media Marketing is cultivating the relationship before the sale and enriching the buyer’s experience of your product after the sale.

This is a recap of Social Media Junction: The Social Media Marketing conference held in Auckland. Following on from my Primer for Social Media Junction here is a recap of the event. (Reading time: ~15 mins + videos.)

Julien Smith

Your community as an asset and the importance of building social capital

Contribute to a community and it will contribute back to you. Andy Beal also emphasized Giving before you receive with regard to dealing with bloggers. This is about creating evangelists for your products and building brand equity:

1. An audience when you need it: Product launches or Managing a crisis.
2. A customer base that defends you against trolls.
3. A network that gives you access to information before a competitor.  Insider language is critical to taking advantage of this.

You can convert this social capital into financial capital. – Julien says anything that can be measured, can be monetized, but as Andy Beal reminds us:  Social Media measurement is more like PR and less directly measurable like Adwords.

Julien contends that we will never need more advertising:  Why? Because we don’t want it.  What we do need is more connection and community.  Reduce friction so it’s easier to interact. Make it easier to do things as a community rather than by yourself.

Mike Hickinbotham’s slide on Traditional vs Emerging Media clearly demonstrates why the community is an asset:

The web & Social Media allow you to make 1 > many interactions. This diagram clearly identifies how much leverage and bang-for-your-buck social media can give you versus traditional advertising.  Social Media is an opportunity to break patterns – a way to make connections with people. Do something different. Create emotional reactions based on differences in the environment.  Find ways to alleviate boredom. Seth Godin advocates the same approach: (Anyone with an interest in landing page optimisation will probably also enjoy this.)

In Julien Smith’s case, because he had taken the time to cultivate a community first, his book Trust Agents, hit the New York Times Bestseller List 2 days after launch.

• Your audience will always be there as long as you take care of it.
• Remember that your audience spreads out over time so you need to work on it consistently.
• Building tribes is what your company needs to survive into the future – I think Seth Godin conceptualized this idea first:

2Degrees Mobile demonstrates the value of a community through their launch using social media.  They built up a substantial following even before they went live.  They understand why people follow a company on social media:

• They offer Sneak peaks of their ad campaigns provided feedback before mainstream publication and also give followers exclusive content – A reason to join.
• The 2Degrees’s Twitter profile clearly defines why they are there:

Hi! Here’s another channel for 2degrees customers to get service & support. And where we can update you on things we’re up to.

• Bryony Hilless pointed out how your evangelists (fans & followers) will answer community questions and even defend you against trolls.  But you still need to step in and correct misinformation.

Most successful companies are focused on creating communities – All stakeholders engaging at various levels” @justinflitter,Flittermedia.co.nz

“On-demand access to geographically dispersed, topic-specific knowledge and feedback through both synchronous and asynchronous communication over multiple technology platforms is what social media use at work can be and that is a game changer.” Marshall Kirkpatrick, RWW

Air New Zealand is a great best practice case study of a company that has made social media part of its corporate DNA and are embracing it internally:

• KoruTube is for Air New Zealand staff to share customer stories, events or experiences for everyone to enjoy.  It also helps them learn about many of the opportunities and events that are taking place across the Air New Zealand group including training, learning and development assistance, updates and social events. A great way to connect a global company.

• Rob Fyfe, CEO, blogs, you can access special @grabaseat, get news, connect with customer service @flyairnz, have a wish granted by @airpointsfairy or play JumpSeat on Facebook.  They’ve even segmented their presence geographically.  For example, they target the US Market on Facebook and take a completely different approach for Japan, that leverages Ustream, Twitter and a local celebrity endorsement.

• Dearlistener.co.nz demonstrates how a company that embraces social media can have their CEO respond to misinformation very effectively within 24 hours. Air New Zealand recognized speed was key and video was the most effective way to spread their story.

No wonder corporations report that 10% of their bandwidth gets chewed up with Youtube Videos.

Video is something that people love to consume and share, especially the controversial and entertaining stuff. @TheWineVault uses video to great effect, as has KEA with their Pass it On campaign:

Strategy: Activate a global network of passionate kiwis using compelling content, a competition element, fun & curiosity.
Channel Selection: Youtube used because:  Credible. Low cost. High performance. Global reach to 18-55 year old. Full API.  Dual exposure:Youtube.com & Pass it On website.
Production Line: Crowdsourcing videos from Partners > review and approval > pre-processing, optimization > closing frames appended > content activated.

Overcoming barriers to social media implementation > Overcoming fear & risk taking

Julien Smith introduced us to Person Zero (the centre of your network.) You influence out 3 degrees to people you do not even know. Herd behaviour – If you do it, then others will also. If you don’t then others won’t.  Examples:

1. Geese: If you become the lead goose, others will follow.  If no one takes the lead, then all the geese freeze.
2. Canadian huskeys: You can be the lead dog with a nice view, or one of the others and all you see is another dog’s ass.
3. Every time a child does something new (potential dangerous) they learn something new.  Their world gets bigger. As adults, we have learn to avoid pain.  We like to be comfortable.

“It’s time to embrace the ability to make mistakes, to experiment and really make significant learnings.” Aisha Hillary, SBS

Paul Brislen from Vodafone pointed out two key questions C-level will ask:

• What is it? Understand that most C-level executives didn’t get there by being early adopters.  But they know how to steer the ship and undertake an acceptable level of risk to fuel growth. We need to”…connect the dots between conversations on the social web to business strategy” – Shannon Paul

• How much will it cost? The answer is that time and financial investments need to go where the people are.  Social Media is where people are spending an ever increasing amount of their time.  Explain social media in context of the strategic business goals it can help achieve.

Social Media Marketing is about creating social capital, an asset that must be built before it can be converted into financial capital, and then nurtured so you can benefit from its ever increasing value.

Aisha Hillary’s presentation ties all the pieces of the social media engagement puzzle together..  She reminds us of a key point: Your audience has to be there and you have to be able to add value.  Social media is a tool that can be used as part of an integrated communications strategy. Watch the highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1d7ugLhdrI

Note: 3/4 of the Social Media practitioners Panel consisted of Telcos. One could be excused for concluding that it’s our essential utilities & infrastructure companies that need social media.  Or perhaps it is just industries that typically have high customer service loads?

• See Simon Young’s wrap-up and blogging tips
• I have created a list of Social Media Junction event related links that you can access here:  Twubs.com/smj
• Julien’s book recommendation: Blue Ocean Strategy is about differentiation in your space.  This is the source of his example on how Cirque Du Soleil redefined what a circus is.
• Attend Late at the Museum.  Thank you Paul Reynolds.

Thanks to the team at Bullet PR for putting together an excellent social media event.

Part II of this Social Media Junction recap focusing on Andy Beal’s Online Reputation Management Masterclass will be available here in a couple of days.