Social Media and Corporate Strategy

Sam FordDirector, Audience Engagement

JGAPeppercomm

The Old Media Model

Broadcast Mentality

This Can’t Be Only About Marketing…

Brands Are Becoming Publishers

Don’t Tell People about Your Expertise & Passion. Show Them.

Spreadable Content

Value Is Created Through Being:

1. Available when and where audiences want it

2. Portable

3. Easily reusable in a variety of ways

4. Relevant to multiple audiences

5. Part of a steady stream of material

People Spread Content to:

1. Define themselves

2. Increase their notoriety

3. Strengthen social ties

4. Build community

“If I tell my Facebook friends about your brand, it’s not because I like your brand, but rather because I like my friends.”

-Mike Arauz

Curation

• Longstanding activity—from newspaper clipping/scrapbooking to word of mouth practices

• Emergence of content editing/curating as a regular activity, for companies and for individuals

• Increasingly crucial activity in an era of information overload

• Particularly happening online now: 51% of people who get news online and use social network sites say they find out about what’s happening through people they “follow” (Pew 2010)

“(My curation strategy is) find good s#!+ and share it.”- Jason Falls, CafePress,

Social Media Explorer

What Your Audiences SayWhat are their patterns, pain points and purpose?

What Your Audiences HearHow do your audiences perceive your positioning and messages?

What Your Competitors SayWhat position are they trying to own?

What You SayWhat positioning and messages are you trying to spread?

Taking a Transmedia ApproachA “transmedia” approach:

• Builds a company’s story across multiple touchpoints—in person, online, through marketing, etc.

• Emphasizes consistency in all communications

• Requires cross-dept. collaboration

• Allows each “medium” to play the role that it is best at, as part of the

overall storytelling effort

Transmedia Storytelling

Paid

Event Sponsorships

Digital Advertising

Search Engine Management

Traditional Advertising

Owned

Website

Blogging

LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Direct

Earned

Media Relations

Blogger Relations

Online Commenting

Speaking Platforms

Transmedia Storytelling

How Does an Individual Build Their Brand?

Transmedia Storytelling for Professionals . . . • Is built on real-life relationships

• Has the advantage of having its story world “set” in the real world

• Focuses on the people behind the “brand” of a company

• Demonstrates the thinking/expertise which inspires a company’s products/services

• Emphasizes internal collaboration & external continuity

Why think about an executive’s individual brand?

• He or she is developing an individual brand as a professional, whether intentionally or not

• The best way to prove the company’s spirit and philosophy to potential and current customers is by living it.

• Think as well about her or his “digital footprint” and what happens when customers/prospects look the executive up online

• Consider how you educate all members of your team to think about the brand they’re building for themselves.

How do you cultivate an executive’s digital footprint?

• Be deliberate with the way they represent themselves online

• Take stock of the executive’s current online footprint; “Google them”

• Pick platforms where the executive already communicates or those where the executive realistically can imagine himself or herself communicating to develop a professional presence

• Show who the executive is; demonstrate her/his passion and expertise

Cultivating Your “Brand”

Social Media and Corporate Strategy

Sam FordDirector, Audience Engagement

JGAPeppercomm