Building Brand Ambassadors from Within Your Organization

Case Study

Trish Nettleship

Social Media Lead

AT&T Business

Trish NettleshipSocial Media LeadAT&T Business

Trish Nettleship has spent the better part of her career helping business customers succeed. Previously supporting small businesses with a resource portal to help increase productivity and grow their business, she ventured into social media with her role in small business marketing. But it wasn’t until 2009 when AT&T turned its social media eye to the B2B space that Nettleship took on a much larger role in social media within the B2B marketing organization.

Nettleship has held various marketing roles from social media, digital strategy, communications, product marketing and business development within the tech space. She holds an MBA in International Business from Georgia State University.

Session Speakers

@trishnet

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Brand Ambassadors: Where to find them?

Everyone is seeking brand ambassadors; you’ve already got them!

• Look within your organization

• Product/service experts

• Customer service reps

• Sales reps

• Innovators

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It all started with our customers

“I loathe AT&T right now. I do not understand why I have to cancel my

account due to the fact that they suck.”

“AT&T told me the international plans they sold me would cover my data

while I was at sea. I just received my bill. They lied.”

Image Source: Twitter

Evolution of our practice

What is social media?

How can our brand use it?

How do we teach others?

Social requires entire organization

Social media is not a stand-alone tactic, and is not a singular point in time.

It should be used as the connective tissue that links all of your outward communication efforts.

An integrated social strategy serves to connect people with people and people with content at the right time.

Product

Mktg

Sales

Advertising

PR

Digital

Search

Customer Service

AT&T Business social media mission

AT&T Business Social Media informs, educates and engages customers, potential customers and

influencers to enable them to make decisions across the stages of the buying lifecycle.

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Ask the right questions

Who are you targeting?B2B clients, prospects and influencers

What are your business goals?Increase AT&T’s authority in networking technology

What strategies will help you meet your business goals?Through the integration of traditional and digital marketing, influence target audience sentiment and engagement with AT&T

What Tools are required to reach your audience?Web, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blog, Facebook, YouTube, Forums, Groups, etc.

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Identify Objectives and a Vision that Tie Back to the Business

Find an Executive Champion

Build your Program to support your Business Objectives and Plan for Growth

Understand the Importance of Community Management

Track Program and Share

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Steps to Building Social Ambassadors

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Identify objectives and a vision that tie back to the business

Have a foundation that makes sense for your objectives!

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To enable the exchange of ideas and expertise in digital environments which lead to faster and more informed technology purchase decisions

blog

Identify Objectives and a Vision that Tie Back to the Business

Find an Executive Champion

Build your Program to support your Business Objectives and Plan for Growth

Understand the Importance of Community Management

Track Program and Share

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3

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Steps to Building Social Ambassadors

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Find an executive champion

Keep your champion in the loop on progress and successes. It will help with any road blocks.!

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Identify Objectives and a Vision that Tie back to the Business

Find an Executive Champion

Build your Program to support your Business Objectives and Plan for Growth

Understand the Importance of Community Management

Track Program and Share

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3

1

Steps to Building Social Ambassadors

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Build your program based on objectives and vision. Keep growth in mind.

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The Networking Leaders Academy

An exclusive community of thought leaders, active networkers and AT&T Ambassadors who create social proof and digital “trust” in AT&T, its people, and their points of view on technology.

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The Networking Leaders Academy: A foundation for building ambassador impact

Objective: To enable the exchange of ideas and expertise in digital environments which lead to faster and more informed technology purchase decisions

Education Recognition

Start with a focused program. Strategize for the evolution.!

Identify Objectives and a Vision that Tie Back to the Business

Find an Executive Champion

Build your Program to support your Business Objectives and Plan for Growth

Understand the Importance of Community Management

Track Program and Share

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3

Steps to Building Social Ambassadors

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Understand the importance of community management

Prepare your community manager for successes and failures. Remember to talk the “101”

!

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Identify Objectives and a Vision that Tie Back to the Business

Find an Executive Champion

Build your Program to support your Business Objectives and Plan for Growth

Understand the Importance of Community Management

Track Program and Share

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3

1

Steps to Building Social Ambassadors

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Track Progress and Share: Show results along the way

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Ideas Worth Spreading

• Is your content being shared on social networks?

• Is your content ranking in search?

Passion and Point of View

• Are users commenting on your content?

Reach and Influence

• Are you attracting visitors to your site?

• Are users coming back to your site?

• Are users interacting with multiple pieces of content?

Building Authority

• Are seeing organic traffic, including social referrals?

• Are you gaining links into your site?

Tie all key metrics back to your business objective set in #1!

Learn from networking leaders

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It’s in the Network!

It’s in the Content!

It’s all about Commitment!

• Find the right mix of “wins” to gain maximum exposure of content

• Set the ground rules and give them the framework to share

• Continually educate and nurture the program to excel digital footprint

• Find the leaders in the digital space and turn them into teachers

• Recognize those that help meet business goals

What we learned

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Know your culture, your opportunities and your challenges

Collect key learnings and missteps

Start with what you know

Understand the risks and plan for them

Thank You

Trish Nettleship

Global Director Social Media & Influence

UCB, Inc.

trish.nettleship@ucb.com

@trishnet

Black & White Headshot

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Building Brand Ambassadors from Within Your Organization

Case Study

Trish Nettleship

Global Director Social Media & Influence

UCB, Inc