Description
On a day to day basis digital communications means generating messages for dissemination across social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+™ and LinkedIn™. Naturally, this activity should be aligned with PR, advertising and other marketing campaigns.
DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS:
SOCIAL MEDIA FOR B2B BUSINESS
A WHITE PAPER BY THE HENLEY GROUP
WHAT DOES
‘SOCIAL MEDIA’
MEAN TO YOU?
Perhaps you associate social media with celebrities tweeting what they had for
breakfast. Footballers complaining about refereeing decisions. Or teenagers
organising parties on Facebook™.
Brand awareness, corporate reputation or the bottom line may not spring
to mind.
But business is becoming increasingly active in social media. According to a
recent study by KPMG*, two thirds of the businesses it spoke to were either
initiating or expanding plans to use social media for sales and marketing.
And 79% of businesses said their public profile had benefited from using
social media.
Many early adopters were well-known consumer brands. They found that their
customers were already talking about their brands on Facebook, Twitter™ and
other social media. Using the same tools allowed these organisations to engage
consumers in conversation, learning more about them - and what they wanted.
Most business to business organisations today are in a different position. They
already know who their customers are. But these businesses are either not
using social media - or they are not putting it to best effect.
Conversations about your own brand are being started online. There is a brief
window of opportunity for businesses to set up their own social media
networks, engage with customers and reap the benefits - before their
competitors do.
The Henley Group calls this Digital Communications. It’s about
putting social media to work for business.
* KPMG: “Going Social - How businesses are making the most of social media“
WHAT CAN DIGITAL
COMMUNICATIONS
DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
Put simply, Digital Communications helps businesses communicate better with
their target audiences.
It does this by adopting the social media tools embraced by individuals and the
consumer brands that target them - and puts them to use in a business to
business context. Taking what is often dismissed as ‘frivolous’ communication
and turning it into a serious business tool.
Adding new social media channels into the marketing mix extends the reach of
existing communications, but also helps businesses to engage deeply and
profitably with entirely new audiences. This helps raise brand awareness,
establish credibility and demonstrate leadership.
Used properly, Digital Communications can also help generate sales leads,
retain customers and handle customer queries. And as more media embrace
social media, businesses can better target journalists with news and
announcements and identify opportunities for media coverage.
Despite the immediacy of the social channels now available, a digital
communications campaign requires considerable time and effort to get right.
If it’s to be done properly, tweeting can’t be squeezed into an hour last thing on
a Monday, nor passed down to juniors, assistants, or anyone known to use
Facebook at home.
Just like all PR and marketing activity a Digital Communications campaign
needs to be planned, managed and closely monitored if it is to work.
On a day to day basis digital communications means generating messages for
dissemination across social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook,
Google+™ and LinkedIn™. Naturally, this activity should be aligned with PR,
advertising and other marketing campaigns.
Messages being disseminated must be ‘content-rich’. So they might provide
links to external sources, reference topical subjects, feature video, audio or
interactive collateral.
They need to be written specifically for the medium in mind - for example,
using keywords and tags that will get the message to the widest possible
audience and drive traffic to the website.
So, while simply broadcasting business news is important, developing
interactive and informative content is crucial.
Monitoring social media channels to identify opportunities to engage,
comment and guide conversations with key audiences helps achieve this.
Organising live Q&A sessions, promoting events and garnering customer
feedback through social media also help businesses engage more fully with
online audiences.
WHAT DOES
DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
ACTUALLY INVOLVE?
Getting up and running requires more than simply opening a Twitter account.
The right framework for activity must be established, audiences must be
developed and responsibilities have to be confirmed.
Above all, the strategic purpose of the campaign must be clearly defined. What
must it achieve and how can results be measured?
Here’s ten steps to get started:
• Design a Digital Communications strategy that meets your objectives and
integrate it with PR and marketing activity.
• Develop a social media policy to govern internal use and provide
guidance on how to use the channels.
• Identify advocates within the organisation to engage with and let them
take a stake in digital communications.
• Research and identify customers, prospects and other stakeholders that
will be invited to join the community.
• Produce a message platform to confirm key messages and strategic
positions on issues and topics that might arise.
• Establish an editorial panel to guide the production of content and ensure
the consistency of campaign messages.
• Agree on campaign metrics and develop dashboards that mesh with
overall business goals.
• Setup the social media channels best suited to the needs of the specific
business.
• Help to get audiences online, through white-labelled guides to social
media, invites and incentives.
• Promote social media channels to internal and external audiences to
build a following.
HOW DO YOU
GET STARTED?
Once you’re set up, the real work begins: it’s not simply a case of clicking the
‘start’ button and watching success unfold.
A digital communications campaign succeeds or fails on the basis of the
content produced - and this takes time, effort and skill.
Even those organisations lucky enough to have a dedicated digital media
person find generating content a challenge; while monitoring social media
channels for opportunities can dominate the working day.
Day to day activity will require you to:
• Monitor closely the conversations your online audiences are having in
order to identify opportunities to get involved.
• Engage with audiences by holding Q&As, conducting surveys and
promoting incentives.
• Target media that use social media to promote stories, provide comment
and identify editorial opportunities.
• Build your online community and expand its reach - both in terms of
quantity and quality.
• Setup and monitor keywords to allow rapid reaction to issues and handle
crises as they develop.
• Disseminate news and announcements to augment traditional PR and
communications activity.
• Measure your online influence through services such as Klout™, Kred™
or PeerIndex™
• Track your campaign progress with tools such as Twitter Counter.
WHEN WILL YOU
SEE RESULTS?
Digital Communications is a new area of activity and the technology that
supports it is changing all the time. There are plenty of pitfalls and many
organisations have discovered that a mistake is easily made.
At best a mistake might mean a missed opportunity. At worst it can damage
your brand and reputation. Typical mistakes include the following:
1. NOT HAVING CLEAR OBJECTIVES – doing social media for its own
sake without a clear idea of what is trying to be achieved.
2. VIEWING SOCIAL MEDIA AS SEPARATE – instead of treating it as
simply another channel and an extension of what you are already doing.
3. NOT HAVING A POLICY ON USE – letting internal audiences use social
media without any guidance or understanding of acceptable usage.
4. NOT INVOLVING INTERNAL AUDIENCES – keeping it ‘hidden’ in
marketing, instead of using it as a tool that benefits the whole business.
5. TRYING TO OWN EVERYTHING – creating your own groups, platforms
and networks instead of tapping into the ones that are already used.
6. PRODUCING POOR CONTENT – writing that doesn't consider the
audience being targeted or the requirements of the channel.
7. DROPPING IN AND OUT – engaging with audiences only when you can
instead of devoting regular time and effort to communicate.
8. MEANINGLESS METRICS – measuring activity in terms of “follows”,
“likes” and “retweets” but not terms that mean something to the business.
9. EXPECTING INSTANT RESULTS – instead of recognising that it takes
time to get social media off the ground and working properly.
10. TRYING TO DO EVERYTHING – instead of choosing the channels that
work best with your business and are of most interest to your audiences.
WHAT SHOULD YOU
LOOK OUT FOR?
Social Media
Web-based technology that allows individuals,
organisations and communities to generate, distribute
and exchange messages and interactive content on
shared networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter
and LinkedIn. Messages are accessed over the internet
and, increasingly, on smartphones and tablets.
Blog / Microblog
A personal or themed journal published on the world
wide web consisting of entries ("posts") displayed in
chronological order, typically expressing the interests or
expertise of the writer. A microblog is a variation of the
blog in that posts are shorter and typically involve the
sharing of brief sentences, images or links to interesting,
newsworthy or entertaining content on the internet.
Web 2.0
A selection of web features encountered on the internet
that allow users to develop, discuss, collaborate on and
share content - in contrast to early stages of the world wide
web where content was designed and presented for passive
consumption only.
Keywords
Words, phrases, tags and terms that are easily recognised
by search engines, allowing for the easy retrieval of
messages and helping content reach a relevant and
large audience.
LinkedIn
A business-specific networking website that allows
individuals and organisations to develop business
connections and engage with internal audiences,
customers and sales channels.
Twitter
A ‘microblogging’ social media platformlaunched in 2006
that allows users to send 140-character messages, or
"tweets”. Each tweet is posted to a website where it can be
read by anyone and sent directly to those Twitter users
who have chosen to "follow" you and can “retweet”
(forward) your message, or reply to it directly.
Facebook
A social networking service launched in 2004 which
provides a web-based platform for users to identify
friends, exchange messages, make comments,
demonstrate their “likes”, and join organisational or
common-interest groups.
Google+
Described as Google’s rival to Facebook, Google+ is a
social networking platformlaunched in 2011 which allows
users to share updates, messages and internet content
amongst “circles” of individuals defined by their
relationship to the user.
YouTube™
Launched in 2005 and now owned by Google, YouTube is
a video-sharing website which allows users to upload,
view, share and comment on videos.
Klout™ / Kred™ / PeerIndex™
Some of a wide range of measurement tools that track the
online influence of a particular individual or brand. Other
tools, such as Twitter Counter, provide statistics on the
reach and extent of specific social media activity.
The Henley Group is not a social media agency. It’s far more.
It has thirty years’ experience of corporate communications and media relations for organisations such as
Siemens, Toshiba, Hitachi, Pitney Bowes and NEC. This experience has made it particularly skilful in turning
complex business messages into compelling stories that appeal to B2B audiences. It is adept at extracting the
business benefits from the most technical of products and making these tangible and understood.
This means it is uniquely placed to undertake digital communications, often as a direct extension of PR and
marketing activity carried out on behalf of clients. The Henley Group’s background and experience guarantees
a realistic, measured approach to social media. It is agnostic about the technology, only recommending the
channels that experience has shown lend themselves for B2B use. It knows not to push ’fluffy’ consumer stories
onto business audiences. And its expert writers combine technical knowledge with an understanding that what
works on paper won't automatically work in digital form.
Whether you need help setting up a Digital Communications campaign or would like someone to manage it on
an ongoing basis, call James Tate on 01491 570 970 and see how the Henley Group can put social media to
work for your business.
Graffix House, Newtown Road, Henley on Thames, Oxon, RG9 1HG
Tel: +44 (0) 1491 570 970 Fax +44 (0) 1491 575 327
Email: [email protected]
www.henley.co.uk
All trademarks and registered trademarks
are the property of their respective owners.
© The Henley Group International 2012.
All rights reserved.
A GLOSSARY
OF TERMS
doc_357145114.pdf
On a day to day basis digital communications means generating messages for dissemination across social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+™ and LinkedIn™. Naturally, this activity should be aligned with PR, advertising and other marketing campaigns.
DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS:
SOCIAL MEDIA FOR B2B BUSINESS
A WHITE PAPER BY THE HENLEY GROUP
WHAT DOES
‘SOCIAL MEDIA’
MEAN TO YOU?
Perhaps you associate social media with celebrities tweeting what they had for
breakfast. Footballers complaining about refereeing decisions. Or teenagers
organising parties on Facebook™.
Brand awareness, corporate reputation or the bottom line may not spring
to mind.
But business is becoming increasingly active in social media. According to a
recent study by KPMG*, two thirds of the businesses it spoke to were either
initiating or expanding plans to use social media for sales and marketing.
And 79% of businesses said their public profile had benefited from using
social media.
Many early adopters were well-known consumer brands. They found that their
customers were already talking about their brands on Facebook, Twitter™ and
other social media. Using the same tools allowed these organisations to engage
consumers in conversation, learning more about them - and what they wanted.
Most business to business organisations today are in a different position. They
already know who their customers are. But these businesses are either not
using social media - or they are not putting it to best effect.
Conversations about your own brand are being started online. There is a brief
window of opportunity for businesses to set up their own social media
networks, engage with customers and reap the benefits - before their
competitors do.
The Henley Group calls this Digital Communications. It’s about
putting social media to work for business.
* KPMG: “Going Social - How businesses are making the most of social media“
WHAT CAN DIGITAL
COMMUNICATIONS
DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
Put simply, Digital Communications helps businesses communicate better with
their target audiences.
It does this by adopting the social media tools embraced by individuals and the
consumer brands that target them - and puts them to use in a business to
business context. Taking what is often dismissed as ‘frivolous’ communication
and turning it into a serious business tool.
Adding new social media channels into the marketing mix extends the reach of
existing communications, but also helps businesses to engage deeply and
profitably with entirely new audiences. This helps raise brand awareness,
establish credibility and demonstrate leadership.
Used properly, Digital Communications can also help generate sales leads,
retain customers and handle customer queries. And as more media embrace
social media, businesses can better target journalists with news and
announcements and identify opportunities for media coverage.
Despite the immediacy of the social channels now available, a digital
communications campaign requires considerable time and effort to get right.
If it’s to be done properly, tweeting can’t be squeezed into an hour last thing on
a Monday, nor passed down to juniors, assistants, or anyone known to use
Facebook at home.
Just like all PR and marketing activity a Digital Communications campaign
needs to be planned, managed and closely monitored if it is to work.
On a day to day basis digital communications means generating messages for
dissemination across social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook,
Google+™ and LinkedIn™. Naturally, this activity should be aligned with PR,
advertising and other marketing campaigns.
Messages being disseminated must be ‘content-rich’. So they might provide
links to external sources, reference topical subjects, feature video, audio or
interactive collateral.
They need to be written specifically for the medium in mind - for example,
using keywords and tags that will get the message to the widest possible
audience and drive traffic to the website.
So, while simply broadcasting business news is important, developing
interactive and informative content is crucial.
Monitoring social media channels to identify opportunities to engage,
comment and guide conversations with key audiences helps achieve this.
Organising live Q&A sessions, promoting events and garnering customer
feedback through social media also help businesses engage more fully with
online audiences.
WHAT DOES
DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS
ACTUALLY INVOLVE?
Getting up and running requires more than simply opening a Twitter account.
The right framework for activity must be established, audiences must be
developed and responsibilities have to be confirmed.
Above all, the strategic purpose of the campaign must be clearly defined. What
must it achieve and how can results be measured?
Here’s ten steps to get started:
• Design a Digital Communications strategy that meets your objectives and
integrate it with PR and marketing activity.
• Develop a social media policy to govern internal use and provide
guidance on how to use the channels.
• Identify advocates within the organisation to engage with and let them
take a stake in digital communications.
• Research and identify customers, prospects and other stakeholders that
will be invited to join the community.
• Produce a message platform to confirm key messages and strategic
positions on issues and topics that might arise.
• Establish an editorial panel to guide the production of content and ensure
the consistency of campaign messages.
• Agree on campaign metrics and develop dashboards that mesh with
overall business goals.
• Setup the social media channels best suited to the needs of the specific
business.
• Help to get audiences online, through white-labelled guides to social
media, invites and incentives.
• Promote social media channels to internal and external audiences to
build a following.
HOW DO YOU
GET STARTED?
Once you’re set up, the real work begins: it’s not simply a case of clicking the
‘start’ button and watching success unfold.
A digital communications campaign succeeds or fails on the basis of the
content produced - and this takes time, effort and skill.
Even those organisations lucky enough to have a dedicated digital media
person find generating content a challenge; while monitoring social media
channels for opportunities can dominate the working day.
Day to day activity will require you to:
• Monitor closely the conversations your online audiences are having in
order to identify opportunities to get involved.
• Engage with audiences by holding Q&As, conducting surveys and
promoting incentives.
• Target media that use social media to promote stories, provide comment
and identify editorial opportunities.
• Build your online community and expand its reach - both in terms of
quantity and quality.
• Setup and monitor keywords to allow rapid reaction to issues and handle
crises as they develop.
• Disseminate news and announcements to augment traditional PR and
communications activity.
• Measure your online influence through services such as Klout™, Kred™
or PeerIndex™
• Track your campaign progress with tools such as Twitter Counter.
WHEN WILL YOU
SEE RESULTS?
Digital Communications is a new area of activity and the technology that
supports it is changing all the time. There are plenty of pitfalls and many
organisations have discovered that a mistake is easily made.
At best a mistake might mean a missed opportunity. At worst it can damage
your brand and reputation. Typical mistakes include the following:
1. NOT HAVING CLEAR OBJECTIVES – doing social media for its own
sake without a clear idea of what is trying to be achieved.
2. VIEWING SOCIAL MEDIA AS SEPARATE – instead of treating it as
simply another channel and an extension of what you are already doing.
3. NOT HAVING A POLICY ON USE – letting internal audiences use social
media without any guidance or understanding of acceptable usage.
4. NOT INVOLVING INTERNAL AUDIENCES – keeping it ‘hidden’ in
marketing, instead of using it as a tool that benefits the whole business.
5. TRYING TO OWN EVERYTHING – creating your own groups, platforms
and networks instead of tapping into the ones that are already used.
6. PRODUCING POOR CONTENT – writing that doesn't consider the
audience being targeted or the requirements of the channel.
7. DROPPING IN AND OUT – engaging with audiences only when you can
instead of devoting regular time and effort to communicate.
8. MEANINGLESS METRICS – measuring activity in terms of “follows”,
“likes” and “retweets” but not terms that mean something to the business.
9. EXPECTING INSTANT RESULTS – instead of recognising that it takes
time to get social media off the ground and working properly.
10. TRYING TO DO EVERYTHING – instead of choosing the channels that
work best with your business and are of most interest to your audiences.
WHAT SHOULD YOU
LOOK OUT FOR?
Social Media
Web-based technology that allows individuals,
organisations and communities to generate, distribute
and exchange messages and interactive content on
shared networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter
and LinkedIn. Messages are accessed over the internet
and, increasingly, on smartphones and tablets.
Blog / Microblog
A personal or themed journal published on the world
wide web consisting of entries ("posts") displayed in
chronological order, typically expressing the interests or
expertise of the writer. A microblog is a variation of the
blog in that posts are shorter and typically involve the
sharing of brief sentences, images or links to interesting,
newsworthy or entertaining content on the internet.
Web 2.0
A selection of web features encountered on the internet
that allow users to develop, discuss, collaborate on and
share content - in contrast to early stages of the world wide
web where content was designed and presented for passive
consumption only.
Keywords
Words, phrases, tags and terms that are easily recognised
by search engines, allowing for the easy retrieval of
messages and helping content reach a relevant and
large audience.
A business-specific networking website that allows
individuals and organisations to develop business
connections and engage with internal audiences,
customers and sales channels.
A ‘microblogging’ social media platformlaunched in 2006
that allows users to send 140-character messages, or
"tweets”. Each tweet is posted to a website where it can be
read by anyone and sent directly to those Twitter users
who have chosen to "follow" you and can “retweet”
(forward) your message, or reply to it directly.
A social networking service launched in 2004 which
provides a web-based platform for users to identify
friends, exchange messages, make comments,
demonstrate their “likes”, and join organisational or
common-interest groups.
Google+
Described as Google’s rival to Facebook, Google+ is a
social networking platformlaunched in 2011 which allows
users to share updates, messages and internet content
amongst “circles” of individuals defined by their
relationship to the user.
YouTube™
Launched in 2005 and now owned by Google, YouTube is
a video-sharing website which allows users to upload,
view, share and comment on videos.
Klout™ / Kred™ / PeerIndex™
Some of a wide range of measurement tools that track the
online influence of a particular individual or brand. Other
tools, such as Twitter Counter, provide statistics on the
reach and extent of specific social media activity.
The Henley Group is not a social media agency. It’s far more.
It has thirty years’ experience of corporate communications and media relations for organisations such as
Siemens, Toshiba, Hitachi, Pitney Bowes and NEC. This experience has made it particularly skilful in turning
complex business messages into compelling stories that appeal to B2B audiences. It is adept at extracting the
business benefits from the most technical of products and making these tangible and understood.
This means it is uniquely placed to undertake digital communications, often as a direct extension of PR and
marketing activity carried out on behalf of clients. The Henley Group’s background and experience guarantees
a realistic, measured approach to social media. It is agnostic about the technology, only recommending the
channels that experience has shown lend themselves for B2B use. It knows not to push ’fluffy’ consumer stories
onto business audiences. And its expert writers combine technical knowledge with an understanding that what
works on paper won't automatically work in digital form.
Whether you need help setting up a Digital Communications campaign or would like someone to manage it on
an ongoing basis, call James Tate on 01491 570 970 and see how the Henley Group can put social media to
work for your business.
Graffix House, Newtown Road, Henley on Thames, Oxon, RG9 1HG
Tel: +44 (0) 1491 570 970 Fax +44 (0) 1491 575 327
Email: [email protected]
www.henley.co.uk
All trademarks and registered trademarks
are the property of their respective owners.
© The Henley Group International 2012.
All rights reserved.
A GLOSSARY
OF TERMS
doc_357145114.pdf