p10-11 Roundtable Sept4 2/9/09 21:32 Page 11
ttglive.com
in-depth
and it was “working well”. And she added: “It’s pay-per-click Google costs. If you can get other
free, which for a marketing person, who usually people to write about your brand, you can save
has to fight for budget, is totally tempting. money.
“In the beginning, by mistake we didn’t put Advantage’s Williams was adamant that
our website on our profile – I just started bash- social networking helped SEO and marketing.
ing it out. I made loads of mistakes, but didn’t “We measure if it is a success by the number
worry about it too much. I’d suggest suppliers of comments left or fan numbers,” she said.
make sure they know who their audience is.” “We will soon be launching a Twitter account,
FreshNetworks’ Rhodes added: “You must and will analyse who retweets us.
never do anything unless you have an aim, “We are now learning which tools will do this
otherwise it’s a waste of your time.” for free, as I like the word ‘free’. It is difficult to
However, Sarah Rathbone, associate director measure, but it has come to the point where we
at Siren PR, said companies should not be think it is doing us more good – and no harm.”
too prescriptive about their strategies, but
should be prepared to let them be shaped by Be sociable
experiments on Facebook or Twitter. Daniel Price, operations manager at The
Click Travel’s Simon McLean also felt there Appointment Group, said the key to social
was no need to set targets, and that Twitter media was “being social”.
was simply “a big experiment”. “Southwest Airlines and United Airlines don’t
His business travel agency uses Twitter, just talk about themselves, they talk about
LinkedIn and company blogs. “It is mostly other things, and that is how they grow
marketing, but we do publish fares, and their audience,” he said. “That is what we are
sometimes get enquiries about those,” he said. exploring – being a social company.”
Immediate Future’s O’Malley said interaction
Measure benefits was key for any kind of group. “Find 100 people
Most of the panel agreed that social media was who count, who engage with you,” he said. “If
beneficial to their businesses, but all shared others are negative, don’t worry.
the opinion that the results can be difficult “We have to justify the money we are
to quantify. spending. We are trying to go from audience
Royal Caribbean’s Russell said: “We get our size to engagement. Without that, it gets shot
personalities across without being corporate down quite quickly in budget meetings.”
or stuffy, so a lot of agents do look at our blog FreshNetworks’ Rhodes said the immediacy
and our Facebook page.” of social media “made you feel you have to
Success is measured not only by the number respond to comments immediately”. He added:
of views, but also by comments from agents “Conversations about your brand have always
during ship visits. been going on but in the past you would never
“Our chairman’s blog attracts a different have known about them. For example, 15 years
Top Tips for your business
audience,” added Russell. “It has more ago it would be in a pub or a front room. Now
insight and this appeals to the die-hard fans. you can search for them.”
Engage: Use social media to “talk to the People engage and feel like they’re having a Lewis Shields, from PR firm Flagship Consult-
people with the right mindset” conversation with the chairman.” ing, agreed. He likened social media discussions
Be honest: Responding to negative
Another area where social media was shown to “online dinner party conversations”, adding
comments shows you care. You can turn
to be working was search engine optimisation. that “you have to talk about online, to
around a negative comment
Social media is also seen as a solution to rising report back on positive experiences”.
Land-grab: With so many websites,
make sure you own your brand’s name.
Stop people setting up fake accounts.
Case study: Classical by Appointment
Buy all of the variations, too
Segment: Create specific groups for
Classical by Appointment, which handles Europe, we will use Twitter to update
certain types of people. It is dangerous
travel arrangements for orchestras, individuals about where they should be;
to think that you can do one thing for
was a division set up recently by The for example, you need to be at this
everybody
Appointment Group. terminal at this time,” he said.
SEO: Use social media for three months
for a brand. If Google returns go from
Operations manager Daniel Price “It’s a tool, and we sign everybody
5,000 to five million, then it’s working
was tasked with looking at how new up. We had never used it, but I was
Don’t focus on the technology: The
technology could be used to help the tasked with using social media to
concept and story are most important
business, and he opted for Twitter. get more business. As it was a new
“If an orchestra is travelling around firm, we experimented.”
04.09.2009 11
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