Integrating social media

by Dhiren Shingadia, Social Media Manager, Harvest Digital

We know that social media is an exciting new way for brands to interact with customers. It is important that social media is not created in a ‘silo’ – it works best when fully integrated with other marketing activity, both on and offline.

Offline integration

Full integration is a two-way street. We need to consider how social media can amplify the impact of offline communication initiatives. At the same time, social media should be consistent with offline in terms of tone of voice and brand.

• TV, press, radio

Traditional broadcast media are good places to “seed” and triggerconversations, which require audiences to participate in social media initiatives online. A good example of this could be a radio ad, which asks listeners to participate in online debate about hot topics that the brand is associated with; for example an energy company discussing climate change.

Events in one communication channel can directly affect engagement levels for social media initiatives. A humorous, entertaining TV, press or radio ad can soften brand perceptions and encourage positive brand engagement within digital social environments.

• PR

PR has long been a tool for many marketing needs but we’re now at a stage where social media, namely blogging and managing blogger relations can be integrated into any traditional PR strategy.

Whilst PR practitioners can address formal relationships and announcements within traditional offline/online media, brands should feel empowered (with guidance) to blog, provide business insights and relevant information to audiences. The nature of blogging gives brands the chance to deliver a different tempo of PR activity, with a stream of quick comments and reactions complementing major press releases and events.

• Brand Events

If we were to stand back and compare all aspects of online and offline marketing, no method or discipline more closely resembles digital social media than bespoke events. They are social in the truest sense and they encompass all the fundamentals of modern social media marketing. Notable brands have already hosted branded events such as music festivals, however, this work can be taken even further by engaging audiences through online digital social media via microsites, social network communication and branded applications all linked to these events.

Online integration

Social media should really be seen as a communication channel that facilitates conversations, builds relationships and syndicates information about your business. In many ways social media should be perceived as a natural extension of a business’s normal communication methods such as email, fax and telephones.

With this in mind, digital social media integration can be a straightforward process. Start by assessing what content a website and a business has to offer and the purpose it serves?

A typical organisation will have people carrying out research, managing
photo and video assets, putting together presentations and updating a
corporate website 2-3 times a day with information such as special offers
or company announcements. How can all of this be transported into the
social realm?

• Research

Research can be posted onto blogs, article websites, syndicated via RSS and tagged on social bookmarking websites. If there is something an organisation is researching you can be sure that other people on the web will find it interesting.

• Video and photography

Photo and video assets (providing they are informative, entertaining or deliver some kind of value) can be placed onto media hosting sites such as Flickr and YouTube, these website platforms allow media assets to be distributed and viewed by people who would not directly access a corporate website or otherwise interact with a brand.

• Microblogging

If a corporate website or blog is being updated frequently throughout the day why not have a webmaster simultaneously update a microblog such as Twitter, Jaiku or Pownce. Users of these platforms are likely to follow a brand if its microblog provides useful updates or the brand has equity with platform users. A good example of a microblog is the No.10 Downing Street twitter microblog, which has over 4,000 followers.

• Slide sharing

Finally if a brand or business has put together some useful presentations why not place them on a slide sharing platform where other people can use them and comment on them. This activity can be extremely useful for brand owners as commentary, be it positive or negative, can help tailor future work whilst simultaneously providing valid grounds for
conversations with audiences.

All these tools help to facilitate conversations, build relationships and generate genuine brand engagement. Brands should not see social media marketing as a way to drum home repetitive sales messages. Social media is a personal brand conversation tool more like telephones and email – you wouldn’t pitch down the phone each someone calls your office, and the same rules apply with social media communication.

A final real world example of early social media integration has to be related to SEO. Elements of social media such as blogging, user-generated content, provision of branded web applications and branded content have enabled SEO practitioners to extend their content strategies across websites in order to maintain and achieve search engine rankings more effectively.

As brands progressively embrace social media they will start to influence audiences through content and conversation, resulting in gradual impacts on measured performance indicators such as sales and website traffic. Patience is therefore important as dialogue and influence will gradually provide returns.

With Semantic Web Optimisation (SWO) and Enterprise 2.0 now gaining magnitude, brand and business opportunities for social media integration will continue to grow. As simple as it sounds, it is important to get on the ‘bandwagon’ as early as possible.

Next page