What is so different
about the social media?
The Social Media
The social media
– The social media are online media that enable:
– - peer-to-peer communication
– - interactivity and
– - content creation.
– They mediate between peers.
– This is why they are called media. Not in the
sense of mediating between few publishers and
countless receivers.
– Some among them were created primarily
aiming at connecting people. These are called
SNS (Social Networking Sites)
Case studies
Goldcorp:
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-02-01/innovation-in-the-age-of-mass-collaborationbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice
Walmart targets mommy bloggers:
http://adage.com/article/news/wal-mart-eleven-moms-weigh-p-g-coke-campbell-brands/132800/
Maersk goes digital:
https://maersk.com/press/social
Case studies
– Bank of America: content for the users, not the
bank
https://www.bankofamerica.com/
– Microsoft stories:
http://news.microsoft.com/stories/index.html
– American Express
«Over 50 percent of business owners fail within four
years. The content we create is really designed to
change that number… OPEN Forum, a site focused
on helping small business owners succeed».
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-
business/openforum/explore/
Communication strategy in the
social media
Communication strategy in the
social media
Objectives
(and measurements)
Targeting
(communities, ambassadorship)
Touch points
(engagement, timing)
Messages
(content, creators, formats)
Communication strategy in the
social media
Objectives
(and measurements)
Defining objectives
– Content in mainstream media is (still) more suitable for awareness & image.
– (Organic) Content in the digital media is more about interaction & engagement.
Awareness in the social media requires display ads & SEM as if they were mainstream media. Big social media platforms go that way.
- Organic content & engagement is about:
- Starting, participating in, facilitating conversations
- Providing information (instructions, tutorials, comparisons etc.)
- Maximizing the content life cycle.
Objectives
(focus on the digital environment)
– Quantitative objectives
– [Sales]
– Traffic / Conversion
– Subscription
– Response / Interaction
– Qualitative objectives
– Awareness / Top of mind
– Image / Reputation
– Positive feelings about a brand
– Behavioral change
– Engagement
*Interactivity as both means and ends
– A quantifiable measure that proves
performance.
– Each communication objective is said to
be measured with KPIs
– Each type of organization or business
function defines different KPIs
– ROI is a KPI!
– The digital environment comes with
concrete KPIs stemming from the
metrics each platform provides – most
are behavioral and quantitative.
Objectives – beware…
1. … between what we want to achieve
and what the platforms measure
2. … between what platforms measure
and what users do, mean or care for
3. … between mass media numbers and
digital / social media numbers
KPIs per activity
e-commerce /
transactional site
editorial / publisher
site / blog
social media mobile app
Visitors
Bounce rate
Pages per visit
Conversion rate
Goal conversion
Average order value
Per visit value
Visitors
Bounce rate
Page views
Average cost per
page view
Average time on site
Pages per visit
Rate of return visitors
Engagement
i.e. “Talking
about this”
Likes
Likes VS
“talking about
this”
Share /“retweet”
Hashtags
Reach
UGC
(Quality of)
comments
Response
appreciation
Insights?
Social sharing
Downloads
App usage metrics
Retention
KPIs per activity
Email marketing Display ad campaign Events or guerilla
actions
Reputation
management
Clicks (leads,
conversions)
Reading frequency
Time spent in content
Introducing a friend
Impressions
Clicks
Share of voice
Attendants’
manifested
experience
User Generated
Content
Earned media
Social media KPIs
Content views
(Reach)
Content interaction
(Engagement)
Share of voice
(relative portion of ad
inventory available to
a single advertiser
within defined market
over a specified time
period)
Measuring
What we have:
metrics that platforms provide
What we need:
tailored metrics to content objectives
• Lack of sufficient composite or tailored metrics
• Outsourcing the process of reporting often inhibits know how
but gives a broader perspective and insight
• Major transparency issues occur for CPM ή CPC ads.
Examples of composite metrics
(also: relationship metrics)
– Engaged Time: the average time a
returning visitor spends on each page /
content unit
– Return Readers / Visitor Loyalty: how
often users return / how many
systematically track and engage with
your content
– Longevity: for how long does a content
unit elicit viewership and interaction?
You can divide all the above per audience…
You can also increase content longevity with
cautious re-postings and up-scaling
* Online metrics are behavioral. Every effort
to infer user incentives is somewhat arbitrary
Communication strategy in the
social media
Objectives
(and measurements)
Targeting
(communities, ambassadorship)
The digital environment allows us to
target interests:
– Pet owners
– Hipsters
– Parents of toddlers
– Used car buyers
– Computer geeks
– EU unemployed youth…
– In the mass media we used to
segment and target assessing the
media consumer profile and spread
one message to all
– In the digital environment we may
diversify the target and the message
(ethically)
Sociographics
– Studying peoples' social standing in relation to measurable needs, profiles, attitudes and passions of their friends and colleagues.
– Every element that makes people form social clusters:
– Common interests (pets, stamps)
– Art & culture (books, music, movies)
– Causes (environment, inequality, human rights)
– Lifestyle (cooking, going out, celebrating)
– Personal care
– Parenthood
– Professional interests
– Career issues
For some, this is also a new way of targeting customers, indicating that one customer might be the link for others: his friends & peers.
Technographics
– Market segmentation based on ownership, use-patterns, adoption rate, and attitudes toward information, communication and entertainment technologies, devices, and services.
– The more digital technologies penetrate everyday life, the less the focus unless designing for specific audiences (snapchat Vs pinterest)
– Elements to consider:
– PC / Laptop / tablet / phone (connected?)
– Use of apps (especially paid)
– Social media accounts
– Active blogging
– The screen-size effect
– The always-on effect
– The collaborative effect
– However the digital platforms
aligned with long-standing
traditions and include demographic
- psychographic traits.
– Consumer tracking tools enable
market segmentation the
traditional way
What else can we find out about our target audience?
– User experience
– How a target audience perceives a brand and the experience it provides (online products, activations, websites, tailored experiences). Most usual methods include:
– A. Qualitative research as in focus groups
– B. Scientific observation
– C. Measuring response to scenarios
– Usability
– How a user experiences a web site.
– Measured with methods (B) & (C)
– Cookies
– Gathering statistics about web navigation
– Sentiment analysis in User Generated Content
– A very promising socio-linguistic mapping approach, based on natural language processing, text analysis and computational linguistics to identify and extract subjective information - the contextual polarity of text. Language specific
Example: an app preforms sentiment analysis on tweets
http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/tweet_viz/tweet_app/
“The more, the merrier”? – Not always...
Small groups (1 for all & all for 1)
- Close contact, social density
- More talk & support
- More common ground
- More common effort
- Closer viewpoints
- Peer pressure
ROI based on loyalty & ambassadorship
http://adage.com/article/news/wal-mart-eleven-moms-
weigh-p-g-coke-campbell-brands/132800/
Large groups (wisdom of crowds)
- Loose ties
- Less frequent contact
- Agreement is not a prerequisite
- Different viewpoints lead to
innovative solutions
- An index for radical innovation
ROI based on diffusion & innovation
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-02-01/innovation-in-
the-age-of-mass-collaborationbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice
Stakeholder theory: How do we define our stakeholders?
►Internal
►Employe
es
►Manager
s
►Connected
►Retailers
►Suppliers
►Clients /
CITIZENS
►Investors
►Trade unions
►External
►Industries & associations
►Creditors / financiers
►The press
►Local communities
►Local authorities
►National authorities (regulatory,
legislative, financial)
►NGOs & advocacy groups
Primary stakeholders: those that engage in
direct economic transactions with the business,
directly connected with profit & loss
Secondary stakeholders: although they do
not engage in economic exchange, they are
affected by or can affect its actions
Stakeholder theory: How do we manage our stakeholders?
Keep satisfied Key player
Minimal effort Keep informed
Low Interest High
Lo
w
Po
wer
H
igh
Communication strategy in the
social media
Objectives
(and measurements)
Targeting
(communities, ambassadorship)
Touch points
(interactivity)
Channels? Media? What?
– Definitions vary according to each background
– The world ‘channel’ indicates a steady two-way flow of information but does not reflect existing complexity & polyphony in the digital environment
– The world ‘media’ is not suitable, as it suggests mediation of platforms while the actual process here is a process of dis-intermediation!
– The word ‘touch-points’ is more general, neutral, yet descriptive enough to deliver a clear image of what we actually do.
Every steady, pre-organized and manageable form of presence in the web environment is -from now on- defined as a touch point.
Different forms of touch-points
Owned media: web pages
SM accounts
newsletters etc.
Paid media:
display ads
SEM
Native
Earned media: content reproduced by
users or other media-
amplified reach
Converged
media
Questions:
- One or many
accounts?
- Per platform, per
audience or per
thematic area?
Relevance versus
coherence, management
& metrics…
Content & touch-points: countless options
– Diffuse or distribute
– Per audience
– Per platform
– How many content units per theme?
– Upscale
– Re-post
– Re-market
Communication strategy in the
social media
Objectives
(and measurements)
Targeting
(communities, ambassadorship)
Messages
(content, creators, formats)
Content planning
Kill the myths:
1. Content planning is easy
2. Content planning doesn’t take much time
3. Content planning can be automated
4. Content planning is not expensive
5. Content planning can be handled by the
Intern
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2307123/5-
Content-Marketing-Myths-That-Need-to-Die#
Content is built on two parallel axis
Planned Anticipated
– Annual or (usually) bi-annual
– Monthly plan & revision
– Inline with all other activities
– Seasonality
– Opportunities or Threats around:
– The news
– Synergies & parallel actions
– Crises etc.
– If un-anticipated content exceeds
25-30% of the total content:
– Either planning is poor
– Or resources are poor (skillsets)
Steps for a thorough, long-term content strategy
1. Benchmarking: The entire sector, globally,
similar industries included
2. Source tracking: Where will content come
from? Heritage, dates, important issues,
activities, news…
3. Segmenting: Define content areas per
target audience and / or per touch-point
4. Organizing: Content plan & content
calendar.
5. Creating: Articles, images, video,
infographics, etc. – edits and approvals
6. Timing: posting periodically and based on
feedback – ongoing optimization
7. Measuring: (knowing that some efforts
require some time before paying off).
Content plan
– You need the big picture:
– Plan the entire year 2m before it begins
– Focus on:
– Strategic priorities
– All brand activities
– All competitors’ activities
– Important anniversaries
– Annual days
– Updating the FAQs, the crisis
responses, and the disclaimers
Announce – report – assess
Announce, introduce
Create groups, connect, broaden
base
Announce kick off meetings
Announce – report – assess
Announce – report – assess
Reports, photo albums,
highlights, video
Announce – report – assess
Announce –
report
Discuss 2018
Inform, train, educate
Inform, train, educate
Announce Estia kick-
off
Report Estia kick-
off
Announce Pyrgos kick-off
Report Pyrgos kick-off
Interview Estia
member
What is infoplatform
Report on infoplatform
Report on Domus
Report on Disarm
Disarm factsheet
Report on agroinnoeco
Report on
biowaste
Report on innoventer
Report on ib3
Report on eBP
The weekend kick-offs
Visualized timeline for
Oct
Sunday
(FB, I, TW) 11:00
Announce beginning
(FB, I, TW) 15:00 wrap
up
Next week’s agenda
Live tweets
Week of Oct. 9, 2017
Report Pyrgos kick-
off
What is infoplatfo
rm
An active week:
interview with XXXX
(FB, I, TW) 11:00
Announce beginning -
Pyrgos
Livstreaming
Infographic / timeline:
Plan of the
week
Learn more about the
BalkanMed initiative at
Pyrgos
Interview (Blog,
LinkedIn)
Pyrgos – event
poster on Instagram
Content types in comparison to the traditional media
The “long text” The “short text” Multimodal Multimedia
– Blog post
– Article
– Announcement
– Report
– “slogan”
– Headline
– Tweet
– Post
– Caption
– Headline
– Infographic
– Gif
– Emoji
– Video
– “Story”
– Game
– App
Textual approaches to all types of social media content
– Multimodal
– Visual posts https://www.canva.com/ (or the Adobe suite)
– Gifs https://giphy.com/
– Multimedia
– Video Scripts or editing (host on YouTube & Vimeo)
– Podcast https://soundcloud.com/for/podcasting
– Platform based
– Slideshare https://www.slideshare.net/
– Textual
– Releases
– Reports
– Articles
– User Generated Content
Word or ppt formats
Everywhere lies
a story waiting to be told
There are two ways to use storytelling in your work:
1. Work with actual facts but purposefully synthesize
or re-arrange to show cause & effect or consequences.
2. Use parables or analogies. Tell a story with a similar
cause-effect pattern & make the connection evident.
Roles
Sandro Botticelli, Judgement of Paris - 1485
Every story is about solving a conflict Every story creates cause-effect relations between events and actions Every story answers a problem, solves a dilemma or shows a way out of some hardship. Every story hides an allegory. Every story can be apply “in our case”, when we identify with the problem, the hero or any of the roles. Stories are not about truth or lies but about different perspectives of the same occurences
Conflict
Las Meninas (The Maids of Honour) Diego Velázquez 1656
Stories don’t have stars, persons, characters… Stories only have roles. A role contributes to the plot. A person, an object, a weather phenomenon, an animal may constitute a role.
Roles
Hero: needs to solve the conflict
Maximum 6 roles in every story (A. Greimas)
Helper: supports the hero’s actions
Benefactor: creates the conflict thus initiating the plot
Trophy: awaits the hero if the hero succeeds
Adversary: obstructs the hero’s actions
Beneficiary: benefits from the hero’s actions
Joseph Cusimano, Il Sogno di Ulisse (Ulysses' Dream, 1981)
All stories have a Gauss-curve like plot. Tension escalates until a dead-end is reached and resolution is achieved. The time frame for each stage of the plot varies; the curve varies. But the curve is always there.
Plot
Salvador Dali, The Melting Watch, O/C, 1954
Ab ovο: linear plot – events are presented in the chronological order they occurred.
In medias res: the story starts in the middle. As we go on, we find out how it all began.
Intradiegeses: stories are narrated within the main story
Time span: how long from the beginning to the end?
Time lapse: leaps forward, periods of time uncovered.
When is the story actually taking place? Time
Every story has a narrator who chooses, connects, assesses and puts together facts, events and incidents. The narrator determines the conflict and all stages of the plot, the order the events will be presented in, the roles and their contribution. The narrator may be: -Obvious or hidden -Part of the story or an external observer
A) obvious, part of the story B) obvious, observer C) hidden, part of the story D) hidden, observer Narrator
N. Engonopoulos, David Profitanax, 1984
Thank you!
Georgia-Zozeta Miliopoulou, Ph.D.
Full Time Assistant Professor –DEREE ACG
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