After a public information film for the charity sector, we're on to John Bell of Ogilvy.And... he opens well. "How do we go from social media being a token effort for a brand."
The CMO's dilemma: after a year of experimenting with social media, they really thought they'd cracked the social media code: Facebook apps, blogger outreach. But with no real way to measure, it seemed like a whole load of work for very little tangible return. He longed for mass media... They'd just ported traditional marketing over to social media.
- 90% of Facebook interaction happens on the Wall - so is an application the right way to go? <--good question, too infrequently asked.
- Are your people sharing their best practices internally? Do you have a forum for sharing this?
- Leadership tends to go to the highest budget - this can be a problem.
- Paid media is not the antithesis of social media - it is not the antichrist. It can be a quick way to boost awareness.
In essence, he's arguing that a successful strategy is not just a series of disconnected initiatives that chase after the latest social media "hot thing", it's about a co-oridnated and managed series of activities that lead to a brand community forming (and that doesn't mean building a "community" on your site - but building a real community across active social media sites).
Some key questions:
- If you met your brand at a party, how would you describe it?
- How would it speak?
- If it could invite its customers over, what would they do together?
Great talk. Hope that the slides go up afterwards.
