The Global Social Media Network – Social Media with a Twist

It’s one thing to read about what companies are doing in the way of Social Media, but to watch people talk about it and see what it is they are actually doing is truly, a motivating experience. These folks were not only passionate about their companies, but also, passionate about helping the people they serve by using Social Media. The following are my notes from the conference. Two tracks of four companies were offered. Four company overviews are presented here.

“8 Great Case Studies on the Best Social Media Programs at Large Corporations”

Hosted by  The Blog Council and Gaspedal

Blogwell San Jose Convention Center 10/ 28/2008 -1pm -5pm PST

Opening Remarks

Andy Sernovitz, CEO Gaspedal

“Social media is learning to talk to people, like people, understand people and treat people better….”

1:30pm   Lindsay Labresco, Corporate Blogger for Graco.

“Graco is one of the world’s best known and most trusted juvenile products companies.” (from company website)

Graco -18 months in Social Media

Social Media Strategy – “building relationships”

1. Enable Advocacy- capitalize on WOM between Moms and 1^st time and expectant mothers
2. Humanize the Brand – Instill trust in the brand highlight that people behind the brand are parents too
3. Connect and Educate – Build relationships through

Listening – conversation mining, listen to the conversation online, don’t do anything without doing this first

1. Gauge public sentiment

2. Strategic Planning – this helps set goals

3. Provides information for production

Staying Informed – knowing what’s going on with customers and in the industry

“People love the product, but we want people to talk about the brand.”

Engage and Participate

Graco – Engaged – personal engagement

“Graco Get Togethers“ – regional blogger meetups, hosted 9 events so far, avg. 125 attendees, 55 post-“posts” talking about the parties

End result of this event – Graco having a guest shot on the Today Show…something that they didn’t aspire to, but came organically out of “Graco Get Togethers”

Also:

• Joining online communities – Blogher, Cafemom, Facebook, Twitter and being in those places as people
• Adding to conversations – commenting on parenting blogs
• Recognize bloggers with monthly nods – pick favorite Blog of the Month
• Giveaways and product reviews
• Flickr – post events

Graco – Participation

• Graco corporate blog, participate in parenting conversations which builds trust and gives Graco a face in that community
• Strategic Content Generation yields positive SEO results

All of this results in:

“true authentic engagement with their targeted consumers” and “Have people come authentically” including:

Bloggers

Retailers – coming to them for advice

Media – being seen as a recognized peer

Twitter - http://twitter.com/GracoRoadAhead

Youtube Videos – with demos of products

2:10pm - Nick Ayres, Interactive Marketing Manager at The Home Depot

Social Media Strategy

1. Recapturing customers

2. Connecting with a new set of customers – 1^st time home owners and ones just coming out of college

3. Engage associates in ways that are relevant to others lifestyles.

EXAMPLE 1 : Twitter and Natural Disasters

The Home Depot on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheHomeDepot

Home Depot is the leader in natural disaster preparation and recovery efforts for both customer and associates donating money and materials

The Challenge for Home Depot:

Could Social Media get us to help better and faster?

How did they engage?

Trusted

Timely

Relevant

Accurate

Appropriate – Ex. using Twitter – letting customers know stores were open later than normal during a time of crisis or, making their community aware of what products were available at which location ex. Generators

He mentioned they could not have gotten this message out fast enough using traditional media methods.

All of these actions were building blocks for “long term brand presence.”

Example 2: Video Syndication

Youtube “How To” Videos

Home Depot Take-Aways

1. Find out what customers want first

2. Find others at your company who are passionate about brand, make them evangelists

3. Scratch and claw for small wins

4. Do not let social media turn into another campaign

3:40pm UPS - Debbie Curtis Magley - Public Relations Office Manager at UPS

Lessons Learned from Social Media monitoring

The largest piece of the monitoring process was to discern which conversations were customer sentiment as opposed to just venting sessions –  the term “UPS” generates many unrelated terms “pushups, pullups”

UPS Social Media Strategy

1. Determine what you want to learn and for what purpose

2. Look at general brand conversations

a. Degree of chatter that mentions your brand

b. Reputation topics – monitor issues that represent opportunities or threats

c. Business Industry sector – what is the brand’s role within the market sector

Recognize the limitations of monitoring

Although they had TNS build a dashboard for them to help them monitor, the need for a human “filter” is essential. Not all conversations can be automated.

The task of analyzing conversations was distributed among co-workers. Co-workers became even more aware of issues and these individuals were being seen as an expert on the issues they addressed.

4:20pm Suraya Bliss, Sr. Director Communications and John Andrews, Sr. Marketing Manager, WALMART

2.2 miliion employees worldwide

Purpose Driven Company

“Save Money. Live Better.”

Whatever they decide to take on, Wal-Mart looks through that lens to make a difference.

Internal social networking just started a month ago whereby they tap into the wisdom of employees for development

Guding Principles

• Increase Loyalty
• Gain Understanding
• Reduce costs
• Reinforce Brand Pillars