T H E S O C I A L N E W S C YC L EEmployee Communications, PR & Social Media Summit at Microsoft

Sarah Holm

SECRET 2Source: Facebook Internal Data

The average person scrolls through 300 feet of mobile content every day.

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With this, our consumption on information happens faster and on new platforms.

Social Media has naturally extended the length of the news cycle and changed how we find and consume the

news.

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Contextual relevance and timing is key to success.

Hour Natural Interest Window for News48

SOURCE: Twitter & IPG Media Labs, 2019

88% Of stories peak within 48 hours of their spark on Twitter

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So, how do you break through and converge efforts to deliver value?

1. Understand shared audience(s) across the brand

2. Create a framework to complement traditional methods of storytelling in digital

3. Unify how and where you’re telling your stories

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While creating desire and driving conversions of our products through unique

social publishing proficiencies

Strengthen the Ford brand through unmatched brand and product storytelling on social

media

And increasing owner satisfaction through first-rate customer service on

social

C O M M U N I C AT I O N S M A R K E T I N GC U S T O M E R

E X P E R I E N C E

Our core synergy across Communications and Marketing is content…

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While driving desire and conversions of our products

through unique social content strategies

Strengthen the Ford brand through unmatched brand and product storytelling on social

media

And increasing owner satisfaction through first-rate customer service on

social

C U S T O M E R E X P E R I E N C E

…but across all three entities, we’re all talking to the same group: Consumers

MEDIA CONSUMERS CONSUMERS (OWNERS + IN-MARKET)

EMPLOYEES CONSUMERS (OWNERS)

+Shareholders & Dealers

C O M M U N I C AT I O N S M A R K E T I N G

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Social media rips up the playbook that says “PR’s target audience is the media.”

On those platforms, we’re pitching our stories directly to consumers.

SECRET 9SOURCE: Pew Research Center, News Use Across Platforms, September 2018

of American adults get their news from social media68

%

And that matters because a majority are consuming their news on social.

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How often do you hear about news on Twitter before it is broadcasted on TV?

Twitter Daily Users:

55%

30%

10%5%

Very often or always

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

SOURCE: Kantar News, Discovery & Influence on Twitter, Dec 2017

While some may be getting their news first on social media, TV is still the #1 source for where U.S. adults are getting their news most often. 1

1 Pew Research Center, 2018

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So, how can brands best utilize social media to complement the more traditional media methods of

pitching stories?

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Let’s Start with why they go to social to consume the news…

Social media news consumers like convenience, speed and social interaction.

% of social media news consumers who say the think they like most about getting news on social media is…

Up-to-Date

Speed

Interacting with people

Convenience 21%

8%

7%

6%

SOURCE: Pew Research Center, News Use Across Platforms, September 2018

1. Make It Easy

2. Entice Participation

3. Be Timely

SECRET 13SOURCE: GlobalWebIndex, Sources of News, July 2018

59%

43%

20%

Social Media

News Publishers’ Websites or Apps

News Apps

Sources of news content online for avid social networkers

% of Avid social networkers who have viewed news content in the last 30 days via:

And where they go….

1. Provide Platform-Specific Content (B-Roll vs. Brand Social Reader Video)

2. Amplify Credible Sources (Whitelisting)

3. Be Consistent: Align Key Messages Across Voices (Brand vs. Media)

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Unifying how and where we publish is critical for success

Multiple inputs go into Social distribution:

Alignment on embargo timing with comms team +

consecutive distribution afterwards

Paid media amplification of owned posts and whitelisting of third parties as applicable

Content created for specific platforms and audiences

+ Adaptations for other markets

Social copy aligned with key messages given in

press release

Response plan aligned with community managers & customer service agents

xx:xx

xx:xx

xx:xx

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Full-length available for media w/ B-Roll to cut

from

Social cuts that the brand can tell the story with

(adapted for various markets as needed)

What this looks like in practice: Ford’s Truck Emoji

Told throughout the day, starting at embargo timing:

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Finding the intersection of what people want to know and what we need to tell them.

The news breaks on Twitter, even if it’s

still being broken by Reuters.

SOURCE: GlobalWebIndex, Sources of News, July 2018

1. Work within your organization to find the synergies that complement how each entity is telling the story

2. Optimize content strategies to mirror natural consumer behaviors

3. Keep learning and adjusting

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Questions?