BEGINNER’S

G U I D E

Social MediaCampaignExecution

How to Win Friends and InuencePeople WithTwitter,Flickr, YouTube and theBlogosphere.

Rowan Stanfeld, Head o Strategy and Creative, C&M

September 2009

Beginner’s guide:

Social Media Campaign Execution //

C&M

//September 2009

This short paper gives you a ‘101’view on how to research andimplement a basic Online PR / Social Media Campaign.Specically, it oers some bestpractise advice on how to useTwitter,Flickr,YouTubeand the Blogsphere or successully seeding campaign ideas.

If you’re a Facebook or LinkedIn addict don’t worry:we’ll be writing a separate paper about Online PR in Social Networks very soon!)

“The skills required in theOnline world are very differentto those practised in traditional Media Relations.”

Roger Warner, MD of C&M

It may have been said beore, but I’m going to say it again: Online PR isputting the ‘public’ back into ‘public relations’.Gone are the days when us PR people have to rely on a third party (i.e.the mass media) to get a message ‘out there’, because Social Mediahas opened up a wealth o opportunities or talking directly with yourcustomers. And or this we use a Social tool set and a more humanapproach. But this also means that we assume direct responsibility orwhat is said, and are liable to take the fack i we say something oensiveor inappropriate.The phrase ‘outreach’ has been banded about a lot in relation to SocialMedia and Online PR campaigns lately – but we try to avoid it here atC&M. ‘Outreach’ seems to imply a one-way, outbound transaction withexternal parties (it’s a term oten associated with the disenranchised– homeless people, drug users, etc.), whereas our best work is allabout give and take on a very intimate level. Talking to Joe Public is anentirely dierent ballgame to media schmoozing, and should always beapproached as a conversation rather than a pitch.Once you get your head round these essential dierences, Social Mediacampaigns can be a huge amount o un and massively rewarding –in a much more personal, direct and measurable way than, say, seeingan article placed in a magazine. It’s not about ring o press releases,sucking up to journalists and counting the column inches, it’s aboutstarting a dialogue, that should – i you do it right – take on a lie o itsown, distribute your message, and drive warm blooded web trac.

Part 1:SoCial MediaCaMPaignPhiloSoPhy

Beginner’s guide:

Social Media Campaign Execution //

C&M

//September 2009

“

True friendship consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and value.”

Ben Jonson

The best conversations in lie are those we have withlike-minded, interested, interesting people who are good at listening aswell as talking. The same goes or Social Media conversations, so don’twaste your time and energy on someone who really isn’t bothered aboutwhat you’ve got to say.In most cases, the quality and relevance o your ollowers/riends/ contacts is more important than the quantity. It may look impressiveto have a 1000+ Twitter ollowing, but how many o them are actuallycontributing anything to your cause? And who they are and where theycome rom is oten less important than how they can help you. In OnlinePR terms, your media can be a customer, a partner, a consultant, amember o sta or a reporter – the important thing is that they care oryou and are able to extend the conversation around your brand.Identiying the right audience is the rst step to good Online PR practice,and there are hundreds o tools out there to help you do it. Here are just a ew o our avourite research tools or Twitter, Flickr, YouTube andthe blogsphere, plus some general notes on monitoring and managingpotential contacts.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

Marcel Proust

Twellow

is a really useul directory o Twitter users, because it letsyou search people’s bios as well as their names. So or a UK-speciccampaign that’s promoting new web design technology, you could typein “Web Designer UK” to get a list o relevant users.Tweetbeep is a bit like Google Alerts or Twitter. It allows you to set upkeyword specic searches that can be turned into alerts or RSS eeds soyou can receive alerts whenever someone is Tweeting about a specicsubject. The tool’s advanced search also lets you speciy a location: orexample ‘500 miles rom London’ would show you any tweets on yourchosen subject sent within that radius.Twitter Karma is particularly handy i you’re taking on an existing Twitteraccount that needs some TLC or i your current prole is in need o aollower overhaul. It shows you who is ollowing you back and whicho your ollowers you are also ollowing. The main advantage o TwitterKarma over FriendorFollow (another popular Twitter housekeeping tool) isthat you can speed up this process by bulk ollowing and unollowing.When deciding whether to ollow someone on Twitter, we also take intoaccount the velocity, sociability and lucidity o their tweets, as well asthe obvious number o ollowers and weight o second-order ollowers.Twinfuenceis a good tool or measuring most o these things.

Part 2:SoCial MediaCaMPaignPhiloSoPhyPart 3:SoCial MediareSearCh toolSfor online PrCaMPaignS