lessons from saturday night live's digital word of mouth strategies

Lessons from Saturday Night Live’s Digital Word of Mouth Strategies

Matt AllenNBC.comTwitter: @mattla31

Sarah Hofstetter360iTwitter: @Pezmeister1

22www.360i.com Proprietary & Confidential

The plan for today

• Social media & digital word of mouth education

• Saturday Night Live case study

• Best practices so you can do it too!


360i: Social media advisors to leading brands

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TRAVEL

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http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nyse.com/images/press/jcg-l.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.nyse.com/events/1188383045148.html&h=158&w=234&sz=5&hl=en&start=9&sig2=se4jnQw1bBxo4u46X1Vw4A&um=1&tbnid=PxxRCwziCKFrVM:&tbnh=74&tbnw=109&ei=Sh_3RuuMGqOwjAG0_bmtDA&prev=/images?q=j+crew&svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us

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http://www.ralphlauren.com/home/index.jsp?ab=global_logo

http://www.time.com/time/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Discovery_Communications_2008.jpg


Listen & analyze

conversations

Educate you & your team

Devise strategies

Build platforms

Execute with SM best practices

Report & optimize

Holistic social media practice


Conversations in social media are…

Vibrant Energetic InsightfulDisorganized Monetizable

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http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.s-eight.co.uk/images/content/market-insight.jpg&imgrefurl=http://michealrussell.blogspot.com/2008/03/blind-insight-friday-fixins.html&usg=__qhysbUF32DIv_5YmJd7_F9ZInjI=&h=330&w=285&sz=21&hl=en&start=6&sig2=KkZx_SH4tJ4kEj3u03111A&um=1&tbnid=LYUGSa9CyatMJM:&tbnh=119&tbnw=103&ei=U9SiSbOAItXkmQevmcSADQ&prev=/images?q=insight&um=1&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLL_en


Social marketing strategy must revolve around consumer behavior

Internet As Focus Group Customized Experiences Old Playbooks Obsolete

Strategy & execution require uncommon integration

http://twitter.com/home

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Winning over even just one customer can have a huge ripple effect in social media


The Importance of word of mouth, and blogs as pivotal online influencers

Sources: McKinsey, AdAge, Jupiter Research and Cone, eMarketer

67%

68%

300%

56%

Of consumer purchase decisions are primarily influenced by word of mouth

Of blog readers visit their most trusted blogs daily

Growth in monthly blog readership in the past four years

Of social media users feel a stronger connection with companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment


Don’t fall into this trap!


…or this oneBright Shiny Object Syndrome

Set benchmarks for success

Listen

Evaluate Strategize

Participate Measure & Optimize

BSO Approach Strategic Approach

Results: • Something

to show the boss

Results: • Engage target audience• Achieve KPIs


If we want to succeed in social media, then we need to…

Be Present Listen Up ParticipateMeasure

&Optimize

12

Case Study: Saturday Night LiveDigital Word of Mouth (DWOMSM)


NBC Digital Entertainment │Who We Are

Online & Mobile Destination for NBC ProgrammingHome of super-fan communities including Heroes, Dunder-Mifflin Infinity (the Office), Biggest Loser and more…The promotional arm for the TV Network

INNOVATION

− NBC’s online video player offered the FIRST full-episode streaming with closed-captioned and will be the FIRST to offer user viewing parties as part of the streaming experience

− NBC is the first network to offer high-quality, downloadable video of your favorite TV shows

QUALITY

− Winner of Four Webby Awards & Twenty Commendations

− Two-Time Emmy Award Winner, with Eight Nominations

− Led all networks with Six Wins and Eleven Nominations for the inaugural TV Guide Online Video Awards

ENGAGEMENT

− NBC.com has the highest market-share of visits of all network broadcast sites.

− NBC.com has the highest time spent/user

− MyNBC: A thriving social network for the NBC super-fan with more than 450,000 active members


Audience Development │ Tactics

• TRADITIONAL PLATFORMS• On-Air:

• Digital promos• In-show integrations• Digital tosses• Snipes

• Print & Radio• Publicity• Out of Home (NBC Everywhere)• NBCU Cross-Promotional Support

• DIGITAL PLATFORMS• Mobile• Online

• Promotion & Partnerships• Media• Search • Digital PR, Syndication, Widgets

NBC On-Air Digital Toss:

Publicity:

Print:


Widgets │ Types We Use

• SINGLE-CLIP VIDEO WIDGET(Embeddable Video Player)

MULTI-CLIP WIDGET CONTENT WIDGETS


Widgets │ Deployment Strategy

• NBC.com• Digital Media• NBC Publicity• Distribution via 360i• Viral Propagation • Facebook Applications


Audience Development │ Measuring Success

Embedded links

Blogs MySpace

Message Boards Other Websites

Viral syndication drives site traffic


When looking at social marketing, there are so many platforms; but so little time….


Let’s evaluate social marketing through a strategic lens

Does it meet our objectives?

Does it leverageour social media

arsenal?

Does it follows social media best

practices?

Does it provides value to theconsumer?

SOCIAL MARKETING STRATEGIC LENS


What are our objectives?

Preferred Player

Site Traffic Advocacy

Objectives

Arsenal

Rules Value


NBC’s incredible social media arsenal

ssetsranditizens

Objectives

Arsenal

Rules Value


Rules of the social media road

Listen to audience &

cultivate relationships

Understand & acclimate to each of your

environments

Empower your fans to express their opinions

about your brand

When using the brand voice, be consistent

Make as much of your content

portable & sharable

Recognize you’re in an always-on

environment

Always be authentic & transparent

Objectives

Arsenal

Rules Value


Ensure effective value exchange

Conversation Access Utility

Entertainment Social currency

Objectives

Arsenal

Rules Value


SNL Video Case Study


Strategy Overview

Find Engage Nurture/Fuel

Synchronize

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http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/photos/montminy0927.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2000/09/27/montminy000926.html&h=250&w=194&sz=17&hl=en&start=46&sig2=Ujjk3mlh7hYwy-NuoVz5sQ&um=1&usg=__QnF5KyBv8PWXNzXojuufar-voJ8=&tbnid=GmguLIW-Bk22tM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=86&ei=laH7SNvOCKXCeb_i8CA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsynchronize%2Bdiving%26start%3D36%26ndsp%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN


Personalized outreach & strong relationships result in high visibility coverage


6/1 6/15 6/29 7/13 7/27 8/10

Rapid, relevant outreach delivers coverage every Sunday morning

Jan. 10 Neil Patrick

Harris

Feb. 7Bradley Cooper

March 8Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson April 4

Seth Rogen

March 15Tracy

Morgan

Feb. 14Alec Balwdin

Jan. 31Steve Martin May 9

Justin Timberlake


DWOM drove 77% interactions and 63% daily uniques of NBC video player for SNL


Popularity in social media dominates PageShare on Google as well

Aug ’06 Pre-SEO Oct ’06 After SEO

NBC.com did not rank in the first natural search page

Apr ’08 After SEO + DWOM

Blog Posts Linking back to NBC.com


Did this program measure up against the strategic lens?

Does it meet our objectives?

Does it leverageour social media

arsenal?

Does it follows social media best

practices?

Does it provides value to theconsumer?


Can DWOMSM work for you? Some best practices:

• Always be transparent• Customers don’t want transparency; they demand it. And it’s good for your

brand, too

• Never spam• Don’t post comments on blogs, seeds message boards or forums, or blasts

press releases

• Authenticity is key• Authenticity lets you take advantage of your brand strength and

commitment to listening to your customers• Don’t incentivize online influencers through payment or pressures them to

write positive posts

• Give them something to talk about• Figure out what will resonate best with online influencers – and their readers• If no assets exist – create them!


Guidelines of social marketing best practices

• Establish your goals up front

• Listen to your audience

• Lay out your social marketing footprint

• Populate, converse, engage and share

• Adapt the execution to the platform

• Measure!


Matt Allen

Senior Exec Director of Marketing

NBC.com

[email protected]

www.nbc.com

Twitter: @mattla31

Sarah Hofstetter

VP, Emerging Media & Client Strategy

360i

[email protected]

blog.360i.com

Twitter: @Pezmeister

Thank you!

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.nbc.com/

mailto:[email protected]

lessons from saturday night live's digital word of mouth strategies

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