Presentation given to students at Stirling University about the challenges they face in Scotland about getting companies to adopt social media. More information on the event can be found at http://bit.ly/9ISbV7

1. Using Social Media
& The Scottish Problem
Social Media Presentation to CIPR Stirling
Twitter hashtag: #ciprstirling

2. Why bother - officially
• “93 percent of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media, while an
overwhelming 85 percent believe a company should not only be present, but also interact with
its consumers via social media.”
• “Our company would have gone bust without an online presence. It started us. From that we
saw value in online engagement, kept doing it. Four years in, our turnover is more than
£3million with 15 staff.”
• 56% of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with and better served by
companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.
• People are online talking about your brands/sector and if you aren’t engaging with them
you’re losing out on potential sales and minimising criticism or negativity
• Others in your sector are doing it. Join in or let them take your sales
#ciprstirling

3. Why bother - really
• You get to be this guy
• You get to show the
world you care
• You get to
communicate
• You get to make a
difference
#ciprstirling
Taken from http://craig-mcgill.com/2009/02/why-twitter-matters-in-pr-and-marketing-and-we-all-get-to-be-like-superman/

4. Still sceptical?
• Everything is done online now
• When you hear about a new thing, how do
you find out about it?
• Growth of social networking shows
communities are forming online
• It’s where customers are
• But more importantly... people are already
talking about you
#ciprstirling

5. #ciprstirling

6. #ciprstirling

7. #ciprstirling

8. Does everyone need
digital/social media PR?
• One company famous in the design world
• Even more well-known in print and mag
media
• So well known a major part of digital PR is
named after it
• Constantly pioneering - yet expensive
#ciprstirling

9. #ciprstirling

10. Social Media for brands
• A few set objectives from company POV:
• increase brand awareness/loyalty
• increase PR
• increase brand champions (if unpaid, even
better)
• increase sales
• grow customers
• quick form of crisis PR beating press
#ciprstirling

11. Obstacles
#ciprstirling

12. This is Scotland
#ciprstirling

13. This is Scotland
• 13 newspapers, 4 have digital staff
• The biggest of those is 4 people
• 6 radio stations, no online staff
• Risk-averse, conservative businesses
• Digital engagement not at core
• Little value placed on customer satisfaction
• When you fail, it’s a negative not an
opportunity
#ciprstirling

14. This is Scotland
#ciprstirling

15. This is Scotland
#ciprstirling

16. And this is whisky...
#ciprstirling

17. But this is Scotland
#ciprstirling

18. This is Scotland
• 415,000 Facebook accounts
• 38,000 Twitter accounts
• More than 700 blogs
• Mashable - world’s most visited Social Media news site with millions of fans - created in
Scotland
• Online businesses starting up and raking in five and six-figure sums completely under the
radar. Based in Scotland but don’t deal with Scotland
• Strong consumer demand for smartphones, iPhones, iPads
• World-leader in digital entertainment through games sector - in terms of ROI, creativity,
staffing
• 71% of population consider themselves consumers of digital
• 33% have online ability, 87% when you add in mobile phones
#ciprstirling

19. This is the world
• 300million Facebook accounts
• 55% of active users spend an hour a day
• 9 days last year, more than £800m spent
• In total, more than $100bn spent online
globally
• One whisky website sold £395,000 in six
hours
#ciprstirling

20. Don’t be...
#ciprstirling

21. Be...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO-aRXgVSbE
#ciprstirling

22. The Master Blender
• Richard Paterson, Whyte & Mackay Master
Blender (MasterBlender.com & @the_nose)
• Expert for more than 40 years
• Watch the video
• He starts with “hello, how are you?” not “I
know all about whisky”
• He reaches out instead of making it about
him - that’s social media

23. The point
• You work in Scotland
• You serve the globe
You can’t think Scottish
#ciprstirling

24. What is social media?
• It’s...
• but also...
#ciprstirling

26. #ciprstirling

27. #ciprstirling

29. • Also...
#ciprstirling

30. • And...
#ciprstirling

31. #ciprstirling

32. • There are more than 700 platforms dubbed
as social media or digital PR
• Term now widely used for any area where
customers have the ability to interact with a
company
• (yes, technically that makes a phone a social media device but it’s better than a phone because even the
one-to-one chats are broadcast to the world)
#ciprstirling

33. None of it is social
media
• Social media is not a tool. It’s not Twitter,
Facebook, blogs
• Social comes before media.
• Social is people
• True social media is an attitude
#ciprstirling

34. • Social media is about listening to others
because you are interested
• From a company perspective that also
means acting on what they say, listening to
them
• Your customer is your new stakeholder
• The tools will change, the attitude should
stay
#ciprstirling

35. Social media is...
• All about the customer
• All about helping
• All about listening and acting on that
• Giving people your time
• For a business, reaching out to the die-hard,
the casual buyer, the curious buyer - all of
them
#ciprstirling

36. Why do people go
online
• To find out more about brands
• To develop an affinity with brands they like
• To be entertained/informed
• For discounts
• To buy and consume - physically and digitally
#ciprstirling

37. After product what do
they want?
• Engaged
• Informed
• Educated
• Connected
• Authenticity
#ciprstirling

38. They don’t want
• “Sorry can’t ship to
there”
• “We can’t do that”
• “We think that’s
irrelevant”
• 404 Page not found
• “We don’t do online”
• “Not allowed to...”
#ciprstirling

39. Where should you be?
Wherever this lot are...
#ciprstirling

40. This is us

41. What’s the Strategy
• Listen to what is said
• Respond within six hours, quicker the better
• Act on what is said
• Inform of what is done
#ciprstirling

42. What’s the secret
• Co-ordinated planned activity
• Engaging locally, results globally
• Authenticity
#ciprstirling

43. Leaving faking it to
these guys...
#ciprstirling

44. Marketing PR Sales
Events IT HR
#ciprstirling

46. Why?
#ciprstirling

47. #ciprstirling

48. #ciprstirling

49. Management
• Are staff encouraged to use social media
• Does management care? If they don’t, why
should staff
#ciprstirling

50. HR
• Can staff check social media at work?
• Is there a usage policy?
• What can they say about work out of hours?
#ciprstirling

51. IT
• Can staff check social media at work? Are
they past IE6?
• Can they use the best tools for maximum
productivity?
• Are they tooled up - iPhones, Blackberry
• How quick can a new social media tool/site
be implemented
#ciprstirling

52. Sales
• New stockist - worth a tweet, FB post. Put it
on a Google Map (where to buy...)
• Large sale - shout it from the rooftops
• Answer queries: “Where can I buy W&M?”
• Find new customers: “Where can I buy
whisky?”; “What whisky works with...”
#ciprstirling

53. PR/marketing
• Are your releases/activity social media/SEO
friendly?
• Are they online? On your site?
• Are they monitored for follow-up comment?
• Is there video and audio to go with it
• Are you treating bloggers like press?
• Is it online at same time as traditional press
#ciprstirling

54. Marketing/PR
• Is there an online element PR can use?
• Is there an online retailer?
• Is there an online discount?
#ciprstirling

55. Events
• Does event have a website?
• Does it let you buy tickets?
• Does the event have a hashtag?
• Is there regular content to engage?
• Live updates? Video? Audio?
• Is the digital aspect promoted elsewhere?
• What about post-event? Podcasts?
#ciprstirling

56. But who should lead
• PR: social media is front facing and as such
should be their realm. They should be aware
of all company activity/issues.
• Other depts have to be ready to act on
push from PR/marketing though
#ciprstirling

57. 2010 baseline
• Main website
• Blog (as part of site or standalone)
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube/Vimeo
• Online identity on physical products
• Podcasts - appearing on
#ciprstirling

58. 2010 extended
• Podcasts - creating
• Blogger outreach, conversations
• Facebook ads, Google ads
• Online sponsorships
• Foursquare, Gowalla
• SEO savvy
#ciprstirling

59. 2010 advanced
• Events
• Mobile
• Location Based Information
• Blog beyond product, industry talker
• Gaming
#ciprstirling

60. Sad but true
• It’s not about one tweet, one post, one
event, one stunt, one podcast
• It has to be ongoing, constantly new, evolving
Terrifies or inspires
#ciprstirling

61. Make no mistake
• This is a lot of work
• You are becoming your own media
• But you do a lot already
#ciprstirling

62. Rules of engagement
• Once you’ve said it, it’s gone. It’s never
coming back.You can delete it, odds are it’s
still somewhere
• It’s global. People take the huff if you make
an offer and then don’t deliver worldwide
#ciprstirling

63. Expect:
• Not everyone will love you
• People will tell you your product is rotten
(but you can turn that to your advantage)
• Be sensible about the numbers - but don’t
be shy
• Honesty
#ciprstirling

64. But how do we make
money?
• Money isn’t the key thing a person gives you
online
• It’s time
• Online, time means more than money
• If people give you their time, you are valued
#ciprstirling

65. • But for many that’s not enough....
#ciprstirling

66. #ciprstirling

67. MONEY
• This is a business and money is still seen as
the best ROI there is
#ciprstirling

68. How to get the pennies
• An online store
• Online discounts
• Online-only offers
• As with all things online, you need to make it
easy for people to get you or get to you
• Mention the store in your links, your
tweets, everywhere
#ciprstirling

69. Online works
• Companies like BrewDog sell globally on the
back of their website - and offer online only
discounts
• Dell made more than $1m in Twitter only
sales (measured through links and Twitter-
only discounts)
#ciprstirling

70. Another benefit
• All this social media activity can benefit
inhouse as well as customers though...
#ciprstirling

71. Internal comms
• Benefits aren’t just external:
• inhouse podcast and blogs
• Make sure all staff are following on FB,
Twitter,YouTube so they can see what
company is doing
• Send them a weekly email with all the
updates and links
#ciprstirling

72. For 2010 this guy was
wrong
#ciprstirling

73. The tips for closing
• When bringing out a product reserve the
names for it - on Facebook, Twitter, web and
elsewhere. If nothing else, it prevents the
competition grabbing them
• Be flexible
• Plan lots
• The speed of comms is instant but that
doesn’t mean it doesn’t take time for impact
#ciprstirling

74. Things which also help
• Domain names ownership
• Affiliate ad program
• Google keywords
• Links
• video, audio skills
• Use SEO friendly kit - no flash video or
imagery, text not embedded in images
• Tag your blog posts
#ciprstirling

75. What’s next?
• Far more on mobiles - mobile vouchers,
mobile only offers, location-based services,
location overlays - as they overtake laptops
and desktops as main source of web
browsing worldwide
• Location-based awareness
• Further rise of casual gaming
• Press relying on crowdsourcing
• Dads as the new mummy bloggers
• English to become secondary online
#ciprstirling

76. • Whyte & Mackay had a brand with
some whisky in an unusual place...
#ciprstirling

77. Whisky at South Pole
#ciprstirling

78. • Started as a Podcast
• Became a blog post
• Bloggers picked it up
• SoS journalist noticed it, wrote about it
• Telegraph saw tale, wrote about it
• More bloggers wrote about it
• Whole world wrote about it
#ciprstirling

79. The result
• More than 1000 news articles Nov-Dec ’09
• More than 1200 articles in Jan-Feb ’09
• More than 2300 tweets
• 1100 blog posts in ’09
• 1450 blog posts in ’10
• 100 TV spots, 450 radio spots
• Video/audio from podcasts used by media
#ciprstirling

80. #ciprstirling
http://twitter.com/fymd/status/8599984501 http://www.andyallan.com/blog/post.cfm/isle-of-jura-to-the-rescue

81. #ciprstirling
www.facebook.com/diurachs / @jura_whisky

82. #ciprstirling

83. Who gets it right?
Clearly there are online champions,
people who have made it work and
reap the benefits, but who?
#ciprstirling

84. Skittles
#ciprstirling

85. #ciprstirling

86. BrewDog
• Founded 4 years ago
• Couldn’t sell a thing
• Sent 50 crates of beer to beer bloggers globally
• Kept engaging (but also very good PR)
• 4 years on, turnover £3million, 15 staff
• US is their no.1 market, UK is no.3
• No marketing team
#ciprstirling

87. Blogging
www.antipope.org/charlie/ www.warrenellis.com/ www.millarworld.tv/
#ciprstirling

88. One man brands
• Charlie Stross, Warren Ellis, Mark Millar
• Writers who have engaged online for years
• All run their own blogs and forums, write
the content, reply, engage
• All reaped benefits from a built-in audience
• Authenticity
• No different from coke - they are a brand
#ciprstirling

89. Ford
• 25% of marketing spend is on social media
(9% sector average)
• Online presence across the brands
• Online core throughout the company from
CEO to salesmen
• Only car company not bailed out by US
Govt
#ciprstirling

90. The Fiesta Movement
• Brought Fiesta to US
• Asked for people to get in touch about
why they should have a Fiesta
• Gave 100 ‘socially vibrant’ people a free
car/petrol for 6 months - prior to US
launch, said do what you want
• 38% increased market awareness
#ciprstirling

91. What they do well
• They never edit, they crowdsource
• They engage, even on tricky issues
• Go to the consumers
• They take pride in their work
• Passion, desire, enthusiasm
• It’s company wide
• Seen as industry leaders
#ciprstirling

92. They listen & engage

93. Who gets it wrong?
• If there’s online winners, there has to be
online losers
• For every Ford there’s a Stuart Maclennan
#ciprstirling

94. Amazon
• One Friday, all listings for GLBT books
vanished
• Amazon did nothing until Monday
• No comment until the Tuesday
• “Problem caused by a Frenchman changing a
line of code”
• EPIC FAIL
#ciprstirling

95. 1click & they were done
• With lack of credible info, theories assumed
and acted on (the worst was assumed)
• Hundreds of authors pulled Amazon listings
from their own sites
• GLBT sector outraged, to this day many not
convinced of explanation
• Far too slow to respond
#ciprstirling

96. Eurostar
• Next to no
updates through
crisis
• People were
panicking
#ciprstirling

97. The right way...
• Every tweet, every online mention should
have been replied to in real-time with
information
• Front page of website turned over to live
updates - but not crowdsourcing
• Hourly email to press (optional if time
pressed as they can get info via Twitter and
other online sites same time as public)
#ciprstirling

98. Nestle
• Got YouTube to pull a controversial
Greenpeace video
• Greenpeace went everywhere with it
• Then Nestle got snitty on Facebook
• World + Dog outraged
#ciprstirling

99. #ciprstirling

100. So close, but so far...
• Nestle should never have pulled the video
• Should have put their own out quickly
• Should have reiterated to everyone -
constantly - that they were addressing the
issue
• Etiquette (this did them more damage than
anything)
#ciprstirling

101. Vodafone: #prfail to #prwin
• 1 rogue tweet
• Every twitter mentioned was personally
replied to
• Every blog mention was replied to
• Staff offered top brass up to digital media to
say sorry
• Story was done before a paper hit a printer
#ciprstirling

102. Want to learn more?
• Scottish Social Media Dinners: 3 speakers
every month on digital and social media PR.
Glasgow and Edinburgh. #ssmd
• Contently-Managed.com/blog & @content_ly
• Mashable.com
• Quiet News Day Podcasts
• FIR (For Immediate Release) Podcasts
• Buy Social Media Bravehearts in June
• Use Google #ciprstirling