The case for integration with social media

Pilar Barrio, head of social at MPG Media Contacts’ social media arm Socialyse, provides six tips for integrating social media into your marketing communications…

Social media represents a shift in consumer behaviour, not a bunch of platforms or technology. That’s why changing the focus from the brand to the consumer will directly result in making all media and all marketing communications more social for brands. Placing social – whether it’s the concepts or actual people and expertise – at the heart of a brand, organisation or agency, leads to healthier relationships between the corporate world and its consumers.

Integration has been front of mind for brands and agencies for a long time. When it comes to social media, however, we still default to platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. This way of thinking can sometimes restrict the spectrum and possibilities that social media as a whole can offer. Moreover, as social media is still the new kid on the block, it is often planned or thought of in isolation – much in the same way that search activity is considered in a silo.

In our opinion, the case for integration with social media is simply common sense – it’s about understanding how consumers behave and how brands are not perceived based on the various segments of communication e.g. Facebook Pages, Advertorials or point of sale.

Agencies that promote integration over specialism just to ease their client’s lives are forgetting about the most important part of their job – helping businesses achieve their objectives. Those objectives tend to revolve around consumers. Consumers must be the starting point, and their behaviour, motivations and actions will determine the case for integration.

Integrating social concepts into the different departments of an organisation can aid each of them not only through achieving their own specific goals, but also through building solid and long-term bridges with consumers. Transforming a brand into a social business cannot and should not happen over night. It doesn’t only require buy-in from every stakeholder, but also a shift of focus from the brand being at the centre, to the consumer taking the spotlight. The challenge here is that agencies will have to build confidence in their clients by delivering tangible results, illustrating the role that social plays in the consumer decision making process.

Below are 6 top tips on how to apply some basic principles of social media, which, we believe, can result in more effective marketing initiatives and push brands to start evolving into social businesses.

• Understand your target market’s behaviour and motivations will only help enrich your marketing strategy. For instance, if you observe that your customers tend to share their negative experiences with the brand on Twitter – set up a Twitter feed dedicated to customer services exclusively and not to promotions and offers. Brands such as Dell, BT or even ASOS are already benefiting from this approach.
• Elongate the consumer journey, from initial triggers to encouraging action and rewarding interaction. Advertising is still a powerful tool to raise awareness around new products, initiatives and keep the brand ‘front of mind’. Adding social activity to that same TV campaign will drive your target audience to a place where they can engage with the brand on a more intimate level.
• Make the brand more social and mobile. Adding social functionality to the brand properties, enabling commentary and creating shareable content will not only remove some of the faceless, corporate image of the brand, but also harness the power of peer recommendation.
• Nurture advocacy. Identify which customers could become potential advocates and make them feel part of your brand by listening to their feedback, sharing information or crowdsourcing ideas with them, this will empower them to defend and promote the brand. Brands such as Walkers crisps or Wispa have centered many of their campaigns on consumers, asking them to create new flavours or to write personal messages to be displayed on billboards. Brands like Starbucks have gone as far as asking their most loyal customers for ideas on how to improve their business.
• Partner with upcoming opinion leaders. As the market continues to be saturated and more complex, brands should look at the new protagonists forming around specific niches and influence their target audience opinions and purchase decisions. The key for success when planning social PR is to establish mutually beneficial relationships with these influencers and understand their motivations as opposed to targeting them in the same way as traditional press.
• Align your SEO and Social content strategy. With Google acknowledging the value of peer recommendations and personal relevance, devising a unified content strategy maximises the performance of both. Social content whether branded or user-generated is likely to make it onto the first page of Google. Additionally, if we take into consideration Google’s efforts to destroy spam and false content produced to increase a brand’s rankings, the case for quality content is even stronger.