Since the start of the year, I’ve been heading up our Social Business Consultancy here at 1000heads, and I’ve been spending a lot of my time this month listening rather than talking; seeking ideas from a huge range of people on what a ‘social business’ of the future really should look like and the challenges in implementing some of those changes now.
Our social consultancy clients include Mars, Heineken, Nokia, Cancer Research UK, Veria and LocateTV, so we well know that being social can mean something very different depending on what sort of company you are – the approach has to be bespoke.
However, I’m also a believer in starting with what the ideal social business might be and being bold in challenging businesses to question and evolve themselves as radically as possible.
Last week’s #trulondon Social Recruiting Unconference provided some provocative insights. Far from just looking at social recruitment, the discussions ranged from corporate culture and internal blogging to personal branding and legal issues. One of the best (and most divisive) sessions looked at The Future of Work, where we discussed whether (and which) businesses really will move towards a decentralised, networked and mobile way of doing things.
A particular inspiration was Kevin Wheeler, whose Future of Talent Institute has some valuable insights on working culture, structure and tools in a social world. Browsing his site, I was reminded of this Clay Shirky video on Institutions vs Collaboration presented at TED in 2005.
Yes, 2005.
The ways in which work is going to change have been obvious to many people for a while, but businesses are only just starting to take baby steps towards implementing them. It’s time to accelerate the rate of change. Businesses have always been slower than people, but that excuse is wearing increasingly thin.
I am, as you can, tell, on a mission. Get in touch if you want to join in.
This afternoon, at the IAB’s ‘How to be safe and social‘ event, Malcolm Phillips from the Committee for Advertising Practice (CAP) pointed out that if a brand retweets a message from a user, then that content will fall under the soon-to-be-enforced CAP code.
This tweet, from the awesome Tia Fisher, has been shared multiple times already and nails the reaction of the brands and agencies in the room perfectly -
If you’re tuning in right now, you can follow the conversation by searching twitter for ‘#iabuk’ – failing that, with our employees holding memberships on the both the DMA and IAB social media councils, as well as the President for WOMMA UK under our roof, stay tuned how these interpretations play out over the coming months; both from a social media angle and also from a larger, more holistic, word of mouth perspective.
Finally, if you’re wondering what the hell we’re on about, this advert (from the ASA themselves) should give you a fair idea –
My daughter has started a new school, and along with other pressures comes the need to be seen as ‘a good mum’.
Last Friday she announced she needed a blue nose. A request like this usually implies an entire costume is required at breakneck speed for an assembly or charity day.
“What do you need it for? I’m not sure I have a blue eyeliner…”
“Not a blue nose Mummy! A Blue Nose! It’s an animal with a blue nose – everyone in my class has one, but Emily says if you don’t want to, she will ask her mum to get me one.”
Okaaay. I look slyly at Lily. Does she realise she has just performed the most perfect piece of pester power? She smiles sweetly, “It’s true – she says she won’t mind!”
Five minutes later we’re at the toyshop. Bluenoses are ugly, unimaginative ‘plush’ creatures with dead eyes. I know it, she knows it. She keeps glancing furtively at the Sylvanian Family section. She’s wanted a Dalmatian baby for a while now….
I suggest a Bluenose key ring – visible the whole time on her bag but only £1.99. She accepts and I then buy her the Dalmatian baby anyway simply because she didn’t ask for it – bizarrely the second most perfect piece of pester power.
The reason I seem so weak is because I actually don’t have a problem with school crazes – they’re part of school life, and more often than not, they occur organically rather than are brand driven. I’ve asked around – the passion for Bluenoses isn’t replicated at any other schools around here – nor was the obsession with Mighty Beanz last year in my son’s class. Yes, they are designed as kid’s collectibles, but I think it just takes a couple of kids to kick-start it – and the herd follows.
But what happens to my point of view when a pester is clearly brand driven – usually through advertising or a website? I feel my shackles rising. Nothing annoys me more than a request for an obscure item that I must then go and research – only to find more stuff aimed at seducing kids.
So how am I feeling about the brand now?
What emotions am I attaching to it?
Ultimately, I still hold the purse strings, and nine times out of ten I will say no on principle. Yes, I know I’m tough, but I’m sure those parents who give in do so under duress rather than through warm feelings towards the brand.
By all means talk to the kids – but talk to the parents too. At 1000heads we go further than that. We will not target kids under 16 at all. We speak to parents, communities and often, schools too – in a language which seeks to inform, stresses the benefits and ultimately results in a positive attitude towards the brand. Instead of a one-way pester, you get a two-way conversation.
We’ve been talking about running different themes here at the ‘heads of late and one that continually pops up over and over is that of Travel and Tourism; who’s engendering positive word of mouth and who isn’t.
Not one to focus on the negatives, I thought I’d kick this session off with a focus on my favourite social-airline; KLM.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (to it its full name) has been playing around in social for a few months now and their activities to date really are quite interesting. Rewind back to December last year and you’ll find this delightful ‘social (media) experiment’ around putting smiles back on the faces of KLM’s travellers.
I’ve talked about ‘Surprise and Delight‘ before and how brands (big and small) can reap success in this area; believe it or not, creating smiles and happiness is a fantastic way to build both customer loyalty and positive conversation.
The great thing about KLM is, they didn’t stop there. After testing the water with the above marketing campaign, they then added social to the care side of the business – with their ‘Extended Service on Social Media‘ initiative.
To quote:
“Want to get that seat by the window, rebook your ticket, or find out how to bring your surf board? Tell us on Facebook, or send us a ‘tweet’!
Ask your question on any day of the week, between 8:00 and 23:00 hours, and we will reply within the hour.
Requests such as rebooking your flight, we try to arrange for you within 24 hours. By using “instant messages” or private messages, your personal data remain protected.”
Good job guys.
Finally, to top it off, last week they launched this neat little viral video to demonstrate the new space available in their business class section.
Being charming, funny, informative and coming in at 1min 40s precisely, the video hits the sweet spot just right. So that’s Marketing, Care and now Comms; all covered off with smart use of social media.
And why? To create positive word of mouth, brand loyalty and of course, ultimately – an uplift in sales.
Car leasing is a boring business, right? Not when you are Ling Valentine it isn’t.
Ling runs a car leasing business in Gateshead which is spectacularly, gloriously eccentric, and we love it.
Her website is a deranged collision of hideous graphics, mind-bogglingly weird competitions and anarchic content but it is touched by genius.
Ling has brought colour, entertainment and no little madness to the world of car leasing. On Twitter she is quite unafraid to call customers ‘idiots’ or a ‘pain in the ass’ and they love her for it.
She also is fond of posing with military hardware and has her own armoured truck complete with nuclear missile, a familiar sight in the North East.
But behind the lunacy is a hard-nosed businesswoman who shifts up to 250 cars a month.
Say what you like about Ling, and many do, but she knows the value of daring to be different.
Hi, I’m Emma Parsons and I’m a Community Exec here at 1000heads.
Last week I attended a couple of events during London’s Social Media Week, which, aside from learning that apparently it helps to have a beard and wear a blazer *cough*@whatleydude*cough* (– yeah, thanks Emma! *WD), the events I attended really brought it home to me that social media is not about the latest platform trends or how many followers you have, but about communicating, being approachable, honest and friendly and above all just using a little common sense!
So, without further adieu, here are my:
Social Media 101 Top 5 Tips for Success:
Add value to everything you do - -
This is a BIG one for me. You always need to ask yourself – why are people going to engage? On the tube today was an ad, let’s say for “rustic socks” and they encourage tube riders (rageful, tired tube riders) to share their guilty secrets with “rustic farmer Ben” on their Facebook page. My response to this ad was – Why would you? Who is going to make a note of the URL, wait until they’re off the tube because there isn’t any signal down there, and then share their most intimate secrets with a made-up character on a public Facebook page? Which all your friends could see? Good luck if your guilty secret is sleeping with your best mate’s girlfriend. This is a classic example of social media for schmedia’s sake. -
Showing up is not enough - -
This is a no-brainer. Start as you mean to go on, because if you start then can’t be bothered / don’t have the resource / freak out because you don’t know what you’re doing, then go back to the drawing board and quick smart. You’re doing your brand damage if the last tweet you wrote was in 1985 (not possible, I know but the ‘80’s always hit home that I’m referring to a long time ago). -
Help, support, guide, not sell, sell, sell – -
People will follow you because you’re insightful, helpful, interesting and add value to their Twitter stream. Selling your hoovers with a 50% discount every 5 minutes only adds supreme irritation. -
Measure success meaningfully - -
Not by how many followers you have, but how engaged and relevant your community is. The Twitter feed I run for my client is for the fashion and beauty blogging community; 80% of my followers are from that community, and tweet at me as they do anyone else in their community, every single day. I never offer discounts or trials or follow irrelevant people, yet my followers have increased at a steady and organic rate. When I tweet, the people listening are the exact audience I want listening. -
Being on Facebook is like being at (someone else’s) home - I love this, because it really captures just how personal Facebook is. You’re in people’s “living rooms” when you’re in their home streams so give people a reason to publicly declare they like you, reward them for wanting to have you in their living room. Don’t abuse it by updating every other minute, you’ll be like the dinner party guest that won’t shutup and you’ll swiftly be asked to leave.
There is a lot more where that came from so if you’ve got questions or want a full run-down of all that I absorbed then please, leave a comment or find me on twitter – I’d love to hear from you.
I spent my early years in a small country village; incidentally, so did 1000heads.
London doesn’t seem quite so special now, right?… via VisitCornwall
One consequence of this is that we’ve always acknowledged that Britain, although social media would sometimes have you believe otherwise, does not end at the M25. Our word of mouth activity in the UK is just that – across the UK. Similarly, our activity in Canada goes beyond Toronto, our activity in France goes beyond Paris, our activity in the US goes beyond the Big Apple… well, you get the idea.
I’ve discussed the value of localism before. If we all agree that the best business engagement is personal and relevant, then adapting your activity to where people come from (as well as what they love) is hugely important. We’ve learnt ourselves that some of our biggest successes have come from going to local communities – such as with our Aussie Angels beauty bloggers’ events across the country for P&G.
So I’m delighted to be travelling to Truro on 3rd March to speak at a breakfast seminar for the Cornwall Development Company. With superfast broadband coming to Cornwall, local businesses (from £1 million startups to big established firms) are eager to step up their social activity, and understand what other companies in the UK are already doing in the space.
What I’m interested to learn is how their location effects their audience, their brand identity and their approach – their insight into what it means to be Cornish will be integral to our advice. And sometimes you just have to be in situ – I find a chatty wander in the streets and a sociable drink in the pub can bring more insight than reams of online data.
So if you’re a Cornish business, or a word of mouth/ social media fan who lives in the area, get in touch with Cornwall Development Company to secure your space – or send me a tweet and I’d love to meet for a coffee and find out what you’re up to.
While some of the larger numbers within will be of no surprise to the more savvy social media practitioner, what’s interesting here is the idea that Facebook fan pages and ‘likes’ are the ‘new word of mouth’ [see slide 25] with stats like:
160% lift in brand recall
200% lift in message awareness
400% life in purchase intent
The numbers speak for themselves. But personally, if brands really are ‘reorganizing themselves around people’ then:
How does that manifest itself in an offline environment? It’s all well and good having a fantastically engaging fanpage, but if your member of staff at the point of sale is completely unplugged from your social media department, then your customer experience falls flat at the part that matters most.
How long do you think the 3rd party platforms being used to support these efforts will continue to do so free of charge? Yes, they make money from advertising, but will that really and truly always be the case? What happens when the well runs dry?
Finally, here at the ‘heads we manage some of the largest (and most vibrant) local and global Facebook groups in the world. If brands are continually seeing the success like that laid out above, then a larger education piece needs to be undertaken in pushing these wins out to the common man/brand. Here in London’s Soho, nearly all of the coffee shops and lunch houses can be found on Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare, but what I want to know is; how do you get your local corner shop involved? Where are the wins there?
We have a running, semi-serious joke in the office that our ideal client would be a toilet roll brand. Social media works well within the technology products space, FMCG sees many successes too… But if you can get people talking (and subsequently build communities) around say, the latest velvet-quilted roll of loo paper…
Then the future is here and literally, anything is possible.
It’s a phrase I first came across in a drafty Computing Studies class many years ago. GIGO (and not GI Joe, as a colleague was disappointed to find out) states that a computer is only designed to process the information you give it. While your ZX Spectrum can do amazing things with the right input, it won’t be much use if you just feed it indiscriminate data.
But of course, this isn’t just about computers. It’s about people too.
And communities.
And relationships.
If you eat a lot of junk food, you end up a lethargic dollop of a person. If you flood a community with imposters, then the benefit of that community is lessened. And, as I found out to my detriment on Valentine’s Day*, if you fail to contact your girlfriend for weeks on end, you might turn up one day to find she’s left you.
So what’s the message here for brands looking to engage with their consumers?
Simple, Give them quality.
If you’re serving them content online, make it great content. If you’re engaging with them in your retail stores give them an amazing experience. If you’re giving them customer service, make it service with a smile.
Improve what you put in, and you might just find that what you get out goes the same way.
How are you improving what you put in?
*Fret not, she was still at home and I prepared her a lovely goat’s cheese and onion tartlet.
“It’s just not the same anymore. It wasn’t like this in my day, players were real people and you’d meet them in the pub after cheering them on from the stands”
Hey there, my name’s Joe Weston and I’m an account manager looking after all things sport-focused here at 1000heads. Recently, I’ve been thinking about how sport (football in this case) can really benefit from the use of social media.
If you’re a young(ish) football fan, you’ll have heard the above quote common complaint from the previous generation who followed football when it was played by real men; when tackling hard was allowed, diving was a completely different sport, and the closest thing you got to a neck warmer was a halftime whisky.
But, all clichés apart, the point that’s being made (and it’s a point which is made by a very large number of fans) is a valid one. Over the last 20 years in particular, the divide between the player and the fan has grown to an almost catastrophic size. Catastrophic in the sense that football is close to losing a whole generation of fans who have fallen out of love with the game (a generation it should be noted which have not only the disposable cash available for merchandise and match day tickets, but also the word of mouth influence to inspire the next generation of fans). If you want proof, just say the three words ‘Premier league footballer’ to anyone over 50 and see what their response is – trust me, it wont be positive!
But let’s take that first quote and look at in more depth – in particular “players were real people”. This clearly hasn’t changed; footballers still talk, sleep, fart, sneeze, cry, laugh and moan about the weather like we all do (even if they do get paid £200,000 per week). But why has this perception been allowed to happen when we have the tools to stop it?
This is where social media comes in.
Social media is about breaking down boundaries, providing a human face; it’s the personal touch, an insight into what’s going on behind the scenes, it’s everything that allows you to connect with people and brands on a personal level. Brands have grabbed this opportunity as a wave of savvy marketers have realised the opportunities available to them, but sports teams are lagging way behind.
At the Social Media Week ‘Sport and Social Media’ event I attended last week, I was struck by a number of things. The first thing was how such basic, almost rudimentary social media tactics and implementations can have the most unbelievable results. None of the presentations provided any ground-breaking, boundary pushing social strategies, and I certainly didn’t leave thinking that these are the social innovators of our time. But I did leave thinking, “Bloody hell those results are phenomenal!”
The audience is clearly there; over 4 million people like Chelsea FC on Facebook and it’s growing by the tens of thousands a day.
But the second thing I left with is that teams aren’t doing enough. Why aren’t there more footballers on twitter? There are a few notable examples – @rioferdy5,@cesc4official and @kevindaviesbwfc of course, but they are the exception to the rule. It’s also clear that these are players who have decided to do it off their own backs, but why aren’t more clubs demanding that their players are on Twitter?
Just look at the success of Rio Ferdinand [aforementioned @rioferdy5]; it’s simply phenomenal, at 529,000 followers and counting. OK, it may not be the same as having a pint with him down the pub after the game, but I do know that he is a big fan of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, I know what music he’s listening to (even if it is in his Bentley), I even know when he arrives at training.
In short, I get to feel like he’s a human again.
That is why there is so much more to be done in this field. One club (however much it pains me to say as an avid Man United fan) that does seem to have picked this up and run with it is Arsenal, who claim to have up to 20 professional players active on Twitter. They have clearly encouraged their players to get involved and get active, and this is reflected in the results that the club is having in the social media arena.
So, what would I like to see?
More clubs encouraging their players to embrace social media channels, that’s what. Focusing on the most popular first – Facebook and Twitter. Obviously they can’t just let them roam free on these channels as there are obviously dangers; clubs need to set out strict social media guidelines for their players to adhere to.
There have been a couple of high profile mistakes made by footballers (@ryanbabel got fined by the FA for posting a mocked up picture of top ref Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt after perceived bias in a match) so guidelines need to be in place.
But by setting out parameters, agreed topics and even providing social media training, football clubs can make a real difference to their fans and followers. Clubs always state that they want to bring their fans closer to the action and make the club have more of an impact with its own fans, giving them rewarding experiences; some simple social media steps can make a huge impact.
If any clubs out there want to get in contact and ask us any questions about setting out strategies for social media then do please get in touch – we’d be happy to hear from you.
Hi, I’m Emma Parsons and I’m a Community Exec here at 1000heads.
“It’s just not the same anymore. It wasn’t like this in my day, players were real people and you’d meet them in the pub after cheering them on from the stands”
