On Thursday 18th September the experts of the social media industry descended on the IAB to share in their knowledge about this wonderful way to communicate in a digital environment.

Tuesday, 23 September 2008

Four of the best speakers attended, these were Lloyd Salmons (our newly appointed chair of our social media council) from Outside Line, Marcus Siddons of Graphico, Leo Ryan from Ryan McMillan and finally Publicis Modem’s Anthony Effik.

Lloyd opened the seminar with an overview and a definition of what social media is, essentially ‘people having conversations online’. Lloyd mentioned the ease of self-publishing online now through sites such as Flickr and YouTube. The content online is allowing people to come together and share in their knowledge and opinions. Online has created an ease of communication and made debate and discussions occur more freely through the creation of blogs and forums. We were told sites such as ‘Facebook, Myspace and Bebo are changing the way we maintain our social relationships.’ People use the web for various reasons to shop online; learn about new products, share similar interests or to even keep in contact with friends and family on the other side of the world. He shared some interesting social media facts with the 50-strong audience such as ‘7 out of 10 sites in the world are social’ and ‘SNS are officially more popular than porn sites’ to name but a few. Lloyd also told us that, ‘brand communication is now a dialogue’ so social media allows the consumer to converse with the brand. This is unlike traditional media where content is more controlled and one way-social media gives the consumer a voice and a platform to be heard upon.

It was then Marcus Siddons’ turn to present, on ‘the difference between getting it and doing it right.’ Marcus got to the bottom of why ‘social media matters’ - the fact that the audience now have a more significant amount of control than ever before. Its important for marketers rather than to just talk at their customers they should listen and talk with them - it’s a two way street. There needs to be a real understanding of the medium in order to get it right, ‘living and breathing social media is vital’ it’s also important for the marketer to learn to let go and allow customers to comment and at times even criticise their products. Consumers talk and interact with brands 24/7 so seeding your website with quality content is vital it will inspire people to talk about the information provided in a positive way to others.

Leo Ryan took us through the importance of a balance between the brand and the audience. He explained how the key to increasing a brand’s share of conversation lies in engaging and interacting with the audience and then as a result influencing their opinions and behaviour. In order to do this Ryan uses a planning tool called ‘KUDOS’. This stands for, knowledgeable, useful, desirable, open and shareable and his agency, Ryan MacMillan use this framework to evaluate all social media campaigns. The idea that the whole activity should be an open and honest relationship and the brand in particular should be clear and obvious about their motivations, they need to provide the audience with something of value that can be shared with others. It is crucial to have a healthy combination of professional content and customer generated content in order for the relationship to flourish.

Anthony Effik then explained how, ‘our basic social needs have found new forms of expression.’ He expressed how the need for conversation has always been apparent within our society and that it can and does happen anywhere, even on the most sensitive topics. Effik said that ‘sometimes the smart thing you can do is listen to the noise so you can turn a whisper into a shout.’ A good example he gave of this was the bring back Wispa campaign, Cadbury made the decision to re-launch the bar, which was axed in 2003, following online pressure on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Effik expressed the importance of ‘giving your products a social life’ and by taking down the constraints between producer and consumer allows for more positive and constructive feedback which can only enhance your brand.

We came away realising that social media is the most promising new way to reach customers. It’s a world of unpaid media created by individuals and has the ability to change public opinion every hour or even every minute. Marketers should participate in social networks and virtual communities, because in modern society this is where the real people belong!