Social media – observations and recommendations
Overview
In this document we have broken down some of the key
forms of social media in order to provide some tips
about how best to approach them. If you would like to download
a PDF version of this whitepaper, please click here.
Social and new media are elements of the overall media
mix and deserve a proportional response. Interaction
with these forms of media shouldn't be undertaken as
merely a reaction to a fad, there needs to be a campaign
reason behind it. The way in which these tools are
used should depend on the personality, objectives and
target audience of the company and campaign, so as
a company you should decide what works for you.
Social media can be used as a route to your audience
or as a way to gain information. It's as valuable to
listen as it is to speak. In fact it's probably better
to spend time listening or monitoring before you start
contributing, something that at EML we have been doing
for a while on our own behalf.
While all PR is uncertain to some extent and editorial
independence allows journalists to write their own
opinions, an unbiased approach is imposed by the publishers
and copy is subject to rigorous editing. This is not
the case with social media, leaving companies open
to potentially negative feedback, based on subjective
un-moderated opinions. Caution is therefore advised
in what you say and where you say it.
Blogging
Before anyone starts participating in blogs, there
needs to be a corporate policy and guidelines in
place on employees’ use of and participation in blogging.
There are several ways to approach blogging. For example
you might influence others to include content about
the company on their blog, comment on other people’s
blogs or begin a corporate blog to be a ‘voice and
personality’ of the company.
There is bound to be further growth in this area particularly
as traditional media dwindles and evolves as a result
of the downturn.
Corporate blogs are often approached with some trepidation
as it is perceived that PRs often write them. As such,
if a corporate blog is used it is essential that it
is written or thoroughly checked by employees of the
company who actially have something interesting to
contribute.
It is also crucial in the case of a corporate blog
that there is a quick approvals process in place so
that posts are timely and remain topical.
If a company wishes to set up a blog, it works only
if it is 'alive', i.e. if it is contributed to regularly,
therefore it works best if responsibility for the content
is shared between a team of bloggers. This means that
not only will content be posted regularly but that
the team can moderate each blog before posting, to
eliminate any potentially inappropriate statements.
This is the method EML uses for its own blog.
In trying to influence bloggers to include objectively
written content about your company, they should be
treated like journalists. It is very easy to identify
a long list of blogs about, for instance, GPS - but
it is only through monitoring them over time that we
come to understand the bloggers of influence with a
wide following. It is hard to identify key bloggers,
because readership is difficult to determine. http://technorati.com/blogs/directory/
is a good place to start picking people to target.
As with blogging, a corporate policy and guidelines
need to be established regarding employees' use of
Facebook.
It is our view that over time, social media will start
self-segmenting in terms of terms of function, with
Facebook continuing to hold its place as a personal
tool for social interaction. Twitter on the other hand
looks likely to evolve into a professional / business
tool.
Corporate facebook pages – these can be a good idea
if your business targets or impacts individual users
or consumers, but this need to be assessed on a per
company basis and even then Facebook will not suit
everyone.
Watch this space! While its growth has not been meteoric
like its other counterparts (due to its business
focus, rather than some of the other more consumer-orientated
social media tools) LinkedIn is increasingly being
used to bring people together with functions such
as message sharing, rather than serving as just merely
a business contacts list.
Consider joining or initiating a discussion group on
LinkedIn to raise your company’s profile.
Participants in the semiconductor and med-tech industry
are particularly keen on this particular social network.
Twitter a boom area for social media has experienced
a rapid increase in popularity, but we expect growth
to flatten as the "new toy" effect subsides.
At this moment we're seeing Twitter posts often being
used as a flag to alert followers to a blog/website
or link to more information.
The media often use Twitter to secure interest in a
story they have covered or to gather information for
a story they are writing.
Some companies do uses Twitter e.g. Cadence CEO, but
there are very few credible examples of companies using
Twitter well.
We're finding that industry analysts use Twitter to
gather information and solicit.
As with blogs, Tweets need to be meaningful to secure
followers, and when beginning a Twitter campaign, you
should certainly listen to others first, judge who
needs to be followed and what garners interest, before
getting involved and contributing.
Learning from the blog experiences, it is certain that
corporate Tweets will come across as bland if they
are just used to push news out. However using Tweets
to draw attention to a new launch / event / roadshow
/ report, could be a good additional tool for publicity.
If used judiciously!
We recommend that Twitter users install the third party
applications available for Twitter to get the most
out of the network, this is especially useful when
it comes to searching.
YouTube
YouTube continues to remain a new media phenomenon
but one gaining increasing corporate use.
Beyond viral video promotion which can be very effective
in B2B communication we are seeing a number of companies
posting seminars, presentations, corporate videos and
other materials on YouTube as a matter of course. It
is debatable whether posting materials on YouTube has
any merit over posting it on your own corporate website
apart from the fact that it will be available to a
much broader audience and will be found more easily.
The disadvantage is that you cannot choose your audience,
but they tend to self certify instead!
Wikipedia
Wikipedia remains a popular source of quick reference
and cross-checking on a variety of technical topics.
It is a particularly useful reference tool for journalists
trying to get a quick background on new technologies
especially in markets such as India and Asia, where
the media are more generalist than in markets such
as US and European markets.
Hence if there is an area of emerging technology that
a company is involved in it is worth the effort to
create a Wiki entry explaining it. Care should be taken
to maintain a neutral aspect as any tendency towards
self-promotion can be counterproductive and the entry
is likely to be flagged by the moderators as a corporate
wiki.
