What is so different

about the social media?

The Social Media

The social media

– The social media are online media that enable:

– - peer-to-peer communication

– - interactivity and

– - content creation.

– They mediate between peers.

– This is why they are called media. Not in the

sense of mediating between few publishers and

countless receivers.

– Some among them were created primarily

aiming at connecting people. These are called

SNS (Social Networking Sites)

Case studies

Goldcorp:

http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-02-01/innovation-in-the-age-of-mass-collaborationbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice

Walmart targets mommy bloggers:

http://adage.com/article/news/wal-mart-eleven-moms-weigh-p-g-coke-campbell-brands/132800/

Maersk goes digital:

https://maersk.com/press/social

Case studies

– Bank of America: content for the users, not the

bank

https://www.bankofamerica.com/

– Microsoft stories:

http://news.microsoft.com/stories/index.html

– American Express

«Over 50 percent of business owners fail within four

years. The content we create is really designed to

change that number… OPEN Forum, a site focused

on helping small business owners succeed».

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-

business/openforum/explore/

Communication strategy in the

social media

Communication strategy in the

social media

Objectives

(and measurements)

Targeting

(communities, ambassadorship)

Touch points

(engagement, timing)

Messages

(content, creators, formats)

Communication strategy in the

social media

Objectives

(and measurements)

Defining objectives

– Content in mainstream media is (still) more suitable for awareness & image.

– (Organic) Content in the digital media is more about interaction & engagement.

Awareness in the social media requires display ads & SEM as if they were mainstream media. Big social media platforms go that way.

- Organic content & engagement is about:

- Starting, participating in, facilitating conversations

- Providing information (instructions, tutorials, comparisons etc.)

- Maximizing the content life cycle.

Objectives

(focus on the digital environment)

– Quantitative objectives

– [Sales]

– Traffic / Conversion

– Subscription

– Response / Interaction

– Qualitative objectives

– Awareness / Top of mind

– Image / Reputation

– Positive feelings about a brand

– Behavioral change

– Engagement

*Interactivity as both means and ends

– A quantifiable measure that proves

performance.

– Each communication objective is said to

be measured with KPIs

– Each type of organization or business

function defines different KPIs

– ROI is a KPI!

– The digital environment comes with

concrete KPIs stemming from the

metrics each platform provides – most

are behavioral and quantitative.

Objectives – beware…

1. … between what we want to achieve

and what the platforms measure

2. … between what platforms measure

and what users do, mean or care for

3. … between mass media numbers and

digital / social media numbers

KPIs per activity

e-commerce /

transactional site

editorial / publisher

site / blog

social media mobile app

Visitors

Bounce rate

Pages per visit

Conversion rate

Goal conversion

Average order value

Per visit value

Visitors

Bounce rate

Page views

Average cost per

page view

Average time on site

Pages per visit

Rate of return visitors

Engagement

i.e. “Talking

about this”

Likes

Likes VS

“talking about

this”

Share /“retweet”

Hashtags

Reach

UGC

(Quality of)

comments

Response

appreciation

Insights?

Social sharing

Downloads

App usage metrics

Retention

KPIs per activity

Email marketing Display ad campaign Events or guerilla

actions

Reputation

management

Clicks (leads,

conversions)

Reading frequency

Time spent in content

Introducing a friend

Impressions

Clicks

Share of voice

Attendants’

manifested

experience

User Generated

Content

Earned media

Social media KPIs

Content views

(Reach)

Content interaction

(Engagement)

Share of voice

(relative portion of ad

inventory available to

a single advertiser

within defined market

over a specified time

period)

Measuring

What we have:

metrics that platforms provide

What we need:

tailored metrics to content objectives

• Lack of sufficient composite or tailored metrics

• Outsourcing the process of reporting often inhibits know how

but gives a broader perspective and insight

• Major transparency issues occur for CPM ή CPC ads.

Examples of composite metrics

(also: relationship metrics)

– Engaged Time: the average time a

returning visitor spends on each page /

content unit

– Return Readers / Visitor Loyalty: how

often users return / how many

systematically track and engage with

your content

– Longevity: for how long does a content

unit elicit viewership and interaction?

You can divide all the above per audience…

You can also increase content longevity with

cautious re-postings and up-scaling

* Online metrics are behavioral. Every effort

to infer user incentives is somewhat arbitrary

Communication strategy in the

social media

Objectives

(and measurements)

Targeting

(communities, ambassadorship)

The digital environment allows us to

target interests:

– Pet owners

– Hipsters

– Parents of toddlers

– Used car buyers

– Computer geeks

– EU unemployed youth…

– In the mass media we used to

segment and target assessing the

media consumer profile and spread

one message to all

– In the digital environment we may

diversify the target and the message

(ethically)

Sociographics

– Studying peoples' social standing in relation to measurable needs, profiles, attitudes and passions of their friends and colleagues.

– Every element that makes people form social clusters:

– Common interests (pets, stamps)

– Art & culture (books, music, movies)

– Causes (environment, inequality, human rights)

– Lifestyle (cooking, going out, celebrating)

– Personal care

– Parenthood

– Professional interests

– Career issues

For some, this is also a new way of targeting customers, indicating that one customer might be the link for others: his friends & peers.

Technographics

– Market segmentation based on ownership, use-patterns, adoption rate, and attitudes toward information, communication and entertainment technologies, devices, and services.

– The more digital technologies penetrate everyday life, the less the focus unless designing for specific audiences (snapchat Vs pinterest)

– Elements to consider:

– PC / Laptop / tablet / phone (connected?)

– Use of apps (especially paid)

– Social media accounts

– Active blogging

– The screen-size effect

– The always-on effect

– The collaborative effect

– However the digital platforms

aligned with long-standing

traditions and include demographic

- psychographic traits.

– Consumer tracking tools enable

market segmentation the

traditional way

What else can we find out about our target audience?

– User experience

– How a target audience perceives a brand and the experience it provides (online products, activations, websites, tailored experiences). Most usual methods include:

– A. Qualitative research as in focus groups

– B. Scientific observation

– C. Measuring response to scenarios

– Usability

– How a user experiences a web site.

– Measured with methods (B) & (C)

– Cookies

– Gathering statistics about web navigation

– Sentiment analysis in User Generated Content

– A very promising socio-linguistic mapping approach, based on natural language processing, text analysis and computational linguistics to identify and extract subjective information - the contextual polarity of text. Language specific

Example: an app preforms sentiment analysis on tweets

http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/tweet_viz/tweet_app/

“The more, the merrier”? – Not always...

Small groups (1 for all & all for 1)

- Close contact, social density

- More talk & support

- More common ground

- More common effort

- Closer viewpoints

- Peer pressure

ROI based on loyalty & ambassadorship

http://adage.com/article/news/wal-mart-eleven-moms-

weigh-p-g-coke-campbell-brands/132800/

Large groups (wisdom of crowds)

- Loose ties

- Less frequent contact

- Agreement is not a prerequisite

- Different viewpoints lead to

innovative solutions

- An index for radical innovation

ROI based on diffusion & innovation

http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-02-01/innovation-in-

the-age-of-mass-collaborationbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice

Stakeholder theory: How do we define our stakeholders?

►Internal

►Employe

es

►Manager

s

►Connected

►Retailers

►Suppliers

►Clients /

CITIZENS

►Investors

►Trade unions

►External

►Industries & associations

►Creditors / financiers

►The press

►Local communities

►Local authorities

►National authorities (regulatory,

legislative, financial)

►NGOs & advocacy groups

Primary stakeholders: those that engage in

direct economic transactions with the business,

directly connected with profit & loss

Secondary stakeholders: although they do

not engage in economic exchange, they are

affected by or can affect its actions

Stakeholder theory: How do we manage our stakeholders?

Keep satisfied Key player

Minimal effort Keep informed

Low Interest High

Lo

w

Po

wer

H

igh

Communication strategy in the

social media

Objectives

(and measurements)

Targeting

(communities, ambassadorship)

Touch points

(interactivity)

Channels? Media? What?

– Definitions vary according to each background

– The world ‘channel’ indicates a steady two-way flow of information but does not reflect existing complexity & polyphony in the digital environment

– The world ‘media’ is not suitable, as it suggests mediation of platforms while the actual process here is a process of dis-intermediation!

– The word ‘touch-points’ is more general, neutral, yet descriptive enough to deliver a clear image of what we actually do.

Every steady, pre-organized and manageable form of presence in the web environment is -from now on- defined as a touch point.

Different forms of touch-points

Owned media: web pages

SM accounts

newsletters etc.

Paid media:

display ads

SEM

Native

Earned media: content reproduced by

users or other media-

amplified reach

Converged

media

Questions:

- One or many

accounts?

- Per platform, per

audience or per

thematic area?

Relevance versus

coherence, management

& metrics…

Content & touch-points: countless options

– Diffuse or distribute

– Per audience

– Per platform

– How many content units per theme?

– Upscale

– Re-post

– Re-market

Communication strategy in the

social media

Objectives

(and measurements)

Targeting

(communities, ambassadorship)

Messages

(content, creators, formats)

Content planning

Kill the myths:

1. Content planning is easy

2. Content planning doesn’t take much time

3. Content planning can be automated

4. Content planning is not expensive

5. Content planning can be handled by the

Intern

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2307123/5-

Content-Marketing-Myths-That-Need-to-Die#

Content is built on two parallel axis

Planned Anticipated

– Annual or (usually) bi-annual

– Monthly plan & revision

– Inline with all other activities

– Seasonality

– Opportunities or Threats around:

– The news

– Synergies & parallel actions

– Crises etc.

– If un-anticipated content exceeds

25-30% of the total content:

– Either planning is poor

– Or resources are poor (skillsets)

Steps for a thorough, long-term content strategy

1. Benchmarking: The entire sector, globally,

similar industries included

2. Source tracking: Where will content come

from? Heritage, dates, important issues,

activities, news…

3. Segmenting: Define content areas per

target audience and / or per touch-point

4. Organizing: Content plan & content

calendar.

5. Creating: Articles, images, video,

infographics, etc. – edits and approvals

6. Timing: posting periodically and based on

feedback – ongoing optimization

7. Measuring: (knowing that some efforts

require some time before paying off).

Content plan

– You need the big picture:

– Plan the entire year 2m before it begins

– Focus on:

– Strategic priorities

– All brand activities

– All competitors’ activities

– Important anniversaries

– Annual days

– Updating the FAQs, the crisis

responses, and the disclaimers

Announce – report – assess

Announce, introduce

Create groups, connect, broaden

base

Announce kick off meetings

Announce – report – assess

Announce – report – assess

Reports, photo albums,

highlights, video

Announce – report – assess

Announce –

report

Discuss 2018

Inform, train, educate

Inform, train, educate

Announce Estia kick-

off

Report Estia kick-

off

Announce Pyrgos kick-off

Report Pyrgos kick-off

Interview Estia

member

What is infoplatform

Report on infoplatform

Report on Domus

Report on Disarm

Disarm factsheet

Report on agroinnoeco

Report on

biowaste

Report on innoventer

Report on ib3

Report on eBP

The weekend kick-offs

Visualized timeline for

Oct

Sunday

(FB, I, TW) 11:00

Announce beginning

(FB, I, TW) 15:00 wrap

up

Next week’s agenda

Live tweets

Week of Oct. 9, 2017

Report Pyrgos kick-

off

What is infoplatfo

rm

An active week:

interview with XXXX

(FB, I, TW) 11:00

Announce beginning -

Pyrgos

Livstreaming

Infographic / timeline:

Plan of the

week

Learn more about the

BalkanMed initiative at

Pyrgos

Interview (Blog,

LinkedIn)

Pyrgos – event

poster on Instagram

Content types in comparison to the traditional media

The “long text” The “short text” Multimodal Multimedia

– Blog post

– Article

– Announcement

– Report

– “slogan”

– Headline

– Tweet

– Post

– Caption

– Headline

– Infographic

– Gif

– Emoji

– Video

– “Story”

– Game

– App

Textual approaches to all types of social media content

– Multimodal

– Visual posts https://www.canva.com/ (or the Adobe suite)

– Gifs https://giphy.com/

– Multimedia

– Video Scripts or editing (host on YouTube & Vimeo)

– Podcast https://soundcloud.com/for/podcasting

– Platform based

– Slideshare https://www.slideshare.net/

– Textual

– Releases

– Reports

– Articles

– User Generated Content

Word or ppt formats

Everywhere lies

a story waiting to be told

There are two ways to use storytelling in your work:

1. Work with actual facts but purposefully synthesize

or re-arrange to show cause & effect or consequences.

2. Use parables or analogies. Tell a story with a similar

cause-effect pattern & make the connection evident.

Roles

Sandro Botticelli, Judgement of Paris - 1485

Every story is about solving a conflict Every story creates cause-effect relations between events and actions Every story answers a problem, solves a dilemma or shows a way out of some hardship. Every story hides an allegory. Every story can be apply “in our case”, when we identify with the problem, the hero or any of the roles. Stories are not about truth or lies but about different perspectives of the same occurences

Conflict

Las Meninas (The Maids of Honour) Diego Velázquez 1656

Stories don’t have stars, persons, characters… Stories only have roles. A role contributes to the plot. A person, an object, a weather phenomenon, an animal may constitute a role.

Roles

Hero: needs to solve the conflict

Maximum 6 roles in every story (A. Greimas)

Helper: supports the hero’s actions

Benefactor: creates the conflict thus initiating the plot

Trophy: awaits the hero if the hero succeeds

Adversary: obstructs the hero’s actions

Beneficiary: benefits from the hero’s actions

Joseph Cusimano, Il Sogno di Ulisse (Ulysses' Dream, 1981)

All stories have a Gauss-curve like plot. Tension escalates until a dead-end is reached and resolution is achieved. The time frame for each stage of the plot varies; the curve varies. But the curve is always there.

Plot

Salvador Dali, The Melting Watch, O/C, 1954

Ab ovο: linear plot – events are presented in the chronological order they occurred.

In medias res: the story starts in the middle. As we go on, we find out how it all began.

Intradiegeses: stories are narrated within the main story

Time span: how long from the beginning to the end?

Time lapse: leaps forward, periods of time uncovered.

When is the story actually taking place? Time

Every story has a narrator who chooses, connects, assesses and puts together facts, events and incidents. The narrator determines the conflict and all stages of the plot, the order the events will be presented in, the roles and their contribution. The narrator may be: -Obvious or hidden -Part of the story or an external observer

A) obvious, part of the story B) obvious, observer C) hidden, part of the story D) hidden, observer Narrator

N. Engonopoulos, David Profitanax, 1984

Thank you!

Georgia-Zozeta Miliopoulou, Ph.D.

Full Time Assistant Professor –DEREE ACG

gmiliopoulou@acg.edu