Web 2.0
– particularly editors – and is a key topic of debate at this point in the evolution and adoption of social media.
Integration and balance The relatively immature state of social media adoption in our community manifests itself in two key ways. Firstly, too many organisations continue to place social media in a silo, with communications and campaigns via social media being planned, managed and executed separately from marketing activities in other channels. Given the increasing levels of time and resource being invested in social media engagement, it’s important that it is consistent with other communications and contributes to overall objectives (not least so that return on investment can be measured). Secondly, too many organisations focus
on sharing, at the cost of listening, asking and responding – using social media only to promote content, events and news without adequately monitoring feedback from customers, or taking advantage of the customer insight that is uniquely available. This is likely a legacy of the print environment, in which publishers focussed on their institutional customer base, with little need to understand or connect more closely with end users – and, in fairness, little opportunity or means of doing so. Social media has overturned both aspects of
brands is unnerving. On one level, we are eager for this kind of interest in our brand, imagining fans connecting to sing our praises – and this can happen, of course (see more below, in the context of advocacy marketing). But those of us burned by experiences of social media’s forerunner, the listserv, know that the unhappy few tend to be more vocal than the satisfied majority.
that situation, by increasing the visibility and power of the end user, and giving publishers a means of accessing them for the first time. First impressions count. It’s important that, from the outset, our engagement with social media gives users a positive sense of who we are and what we stand for – not just what we do. That means listening to our audience before wading in, so we can understand where they congregate
‘Engagement is perhaps best considered as a catch-all term for the different types of impact that social media can have; it should always be more clearly defined for specific projects and campaigns’
In the traditional media world – the one-
way streets of advertising, direct mail and so forth – an organisation can control the public image of its brand. In social media, customers can make equally public assertions about a brand that arguably carry greater credibility. What if those assertions are not in line with our desired brand identity? Fear of ‘losing control’ in this way concerns many
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(which tools and services they use), what interests them, how they talk about it, and what sort of interaction generates a response.
Effective communication Thus informed, it’s advisable to begin by responding to others’ comments and questions, and asking questions to generate broad discussion, rather than simply ploughing
FEATURE
in with self-promotion. Once you’ve begun to build your profile, you can begin to share news about your organisation and its content, but this sharing should always be balanced with continued listening, asking and responding. In all cases, it’s also important to apply traditional PR and communications rules – is the post of interest? Would you take the time to read it? Does it convey personality? How can sparkle be added? This approach will ensure that a publisher’s investment is optimised, by contributing in the right places, with the right tone, and the right input to maximise interaction. Progressive publishers are beginning to make the transition from experimenting with social media as a promotional broadcast platform, to seeing it as a channel for building relationships with customers, and capturing insight that will form the basis of future competitive advantage.
Advocacy Increasing external and internal pressures, from funding challenges to substitute communication mechanisms, are making the scholarly communications environment more competitive. Publishers need to act to reinforce their role and that of their publications; future success in the role of publisher will depend on the strength of our network – our relationships with authors, editors, readers and purchasers. Formalising our approach to these relationships, rather than relying on serendipitous support from and interaction with our target audience, fits within the concept of ‘advocacy marketing’. Advocacy is the positive recommendation of a brand by a trusted independent third party; recommendations can range from a casual endorsement from a friend to an expert’s product review in an online forum. Such testimony, from a trusted colleague, friend or mentor, is more convincing and compelling than anything we can tell a potential author or purchaser about our products, but happens by chance; it is spontaneous, unpredictable, and beyond our control. Nonetheless, a structured advocacy marketing programme can generate activities that encourage, inform, promote and reward the customer base, or a subset of it, to talk as much as possible about our products, services and brand. Advocacy marketing therefore focuses on growing and retaining customers by building trust and increasing referred business. Publishers are beginning to deploy
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