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MN AMA Digital Series Event Recap

December 05, 2013

Twin Cities marketers gathered at Figlios on November 19th to hear seasoned professionals talk about brand building through digital communications at MNAMA’s Digital Series panel. In case you missed it, here’s a full recap of the event and the topics covered by the six panelists.

The Panelists

Through the boisterous din of clinking glasses and attendees’ small talk, the digital panel settled into their seats. The air was thick with warmnotes of garlic and the appetizer table attracted marketers like antelope to a watering hole. (No offense, my fellow heard.)

Nathan Eide, the group’s moderator, introduced the speakers: Jamie Plesser, Director of Social Media & Mobile Marketing at Best Buy; Craig Pladson, Digital Marketing Manager at General Mills; Brian Marx, DigitalMarketing Manager at Truvia; Matt Lechner, Digital Content Editor at Park Nicollet and Leilani Bloomquist, Manager of Marketing, DigitalExperience at Capella University.

Topic 1: How Can Social Media Influence Community and Brand Awareness?

Each panelist shared how their social media efforts have impacted their brands. Each case study proved both the worth and strategy behind asuccessful social presence. Here are three ways in which social influences community and brand awareness for our various panelists:

1. Tapping Into the Existing Community

“It’s all about meeting them where they’re at,” said Lelanie Bloomquist, talking about Capella University’s target audience on Facebook. Where is this demographic spending time - and more importantly, in a mindset that is centered aroundconnecting and open to messaging surrounding continued education? One reason Facebook has been a successful medium for Capella is because its target market are busy, 40-year-old women. Capella Facebook ads have been really successful because they do just as Lelanie said - meet their market where they’re at. Capella’s target audience already exists on Facebook and the key is to tap into that existing community. 

2. Social Listening

This past Halloween, General Mills brought back to store shelves their “Monster” cereals, including Count Chocula, Franken Berry and Yummy Mummy. The unique thing about the cereal’s comeback story is that it was rooted in social listening. Craig tells how thesocial media team heard a lot of buzz surrounding monster cereals and a vocalized nostalgia around the “retro” product. Keying into fanconversation ultimately drove General Mills into product development - and brought back Monster cereals (to much excitement).

Turning over to Best Buy, Jamie explains their 24/7 monitoring customer conversations approach. Complaints or questions are intercepted on a1:1 basis and next steps are figured out from that point. “Blue shirts” or store employees, work closely with “techies” and product enthusiasts to help mitigate problems customers are having. Social has a direct influence on how the brand is perceived and howthe community feels regarding service.

3. Developing Useful, Usable Content

One of Truvía’s challenges is that they’re a low engagement product. In Brian’s words, “who thinks about what type of sweetener they use?” In order to get peopletalking about Truvía, share-worthy content is key. Currently, Truvía focuses on a lot of content featuring recipes using their product - which has played nicely on Pinterest . Turning it over to the community and utilizing voting apps and polls also helps keep the brand engaged.

Addressing the topic for Park Nicollet, Matt Lechner explains the unique challenge his social team faces in the fact that they operate in an extremely regulated arena. (Matt can’t hop on FB andgive medical advice, for example). There is heavy scrutiny over their social media and also heavy consequences if rules are violated. The socialteam had to be very clear with their answers to questions like, “Is it worth it?” “How do we respond to various customer interactions?” “What canwe do/can’t we do?” The solution for Park Nicollet has been to use social as mostly a broadcast medium. They work closely with compliance so that they are able to respond in timely andapproved manner. They also rely heavily on creating proactive content. For example, creating content about flu season as it approaches, that waythey are prepared when users are online and looking for information regarding flu season.

Topic 2: Which Social Network is the Most Successful For You?

Facebook was the resounding answer from our panelists. Why? Target market, demographic, scale, reach and volume are all top perks of using Facebookfor marketing efforts. Truvía also finds a huge audience on Pinterest (not surprising, since a huge part of their content involves recipes). Jamie at Best Buy had a differing answer, stating the integration of Google+and YouTube as the most successful and exciting thing in social.

Topic 3: What are some of the Most Common Misconceptions Surrounding Social?

Owning social media marketing is a tough job. Not only are there misconceptions surrounding what works/what doesn’t, but it’s also a constantly changinglandscape. What worked last year may not work this year. Staying on top of up and coming media and vetting their worth can be a full-time job initself. Even amidst these challenges, there were three misconceptions surrounding social that our panelists all agreed upon:

Misconception 1: That you have to be on social. This is the worst assumption. The right thing to do is look at goals and audience first, and then decide if social is right.

Misconception 2: That you have to be on EVERY social channel. What should you do instead? Look at intent and purpose of your brand and/orproduct. Start with strategy and then go to social.

Misconception 3: Facebook and Social media are “add-ons.” If social media is a fit for your brand, Matt argues that you need to be able to committo it from the get-go. If you just “add on” social media with the left-over budget, you’ll get dismal results.

Topic 4: How Do You Justify Social?

Matt Lechner answered this question by posing another one to the group, “How does the money stack up? Look at what you’re spending on traditional and then lookat the reach compared to social.” Understanding that social media ROI is often judged in a different “currency” is also important. For example, at Capella University they need to quantify more abstract concepts like “influencers” and “reach”. How do you measure influencers? Utilizing programs likeAdobe Social help, where different consumer touch-points can be quantified to paint an overall picture of the pieces that impact the decision process. Craig emphasized the need to look at what the web, specifically social media, is built for – building communities. Take a step back andlook at how to measure building relationships and community. Brian enthusiastically recommended everyone read From Social to Sale , a white paper from Vision Critical.

Topic 4: Real Time Marketing

Many panelists argued and even shuddered at the mention of real-time marketing. “There’s no such thing” spat Nathan and he proceeded to mention the infamous Oreo example – which was decided on as a paid media success – not a real time marketing success. Best Buy and Truvía both use social listening to drive “real time content.” Best Buy utilizes promoted Tweet and posts, while Truvía struck it “lucky” with a Breaking Bad reference. Spoiler alert: click here to see the tweet that garnered them a 250% lift in web traffic. Bottom line: RTM success is either about 1) luck 2) money or 3) a little luck and a lot of social listening.

Topic 5: What Analytics Tools Do You Use?

General Mills uses Visible Measures and a proprietary marketing tool in their mix. Omniture and Adobe Social are the programs of choice for Capella University. Park Nicollet has had experience with both Shoutlet and Meltwater, but rely most heavily on Google Analytics. Best Buy employs Radian6, and Truvía is currently “shopping.”

Topic 6: Tweetable Takeaways:

The night wrapped up with a few last words from our digital experts...

  • Jamie Plesser @jamieplesser : “Social media is not free media.”
  • Brian Marx @mrxymarx : “Find ways to get your community involved, i.e. recipes, events. Ask for their opinion.”
  • Craig Pladson, @craigpladson : “Purpose first” and “Partner with community to make a better brand.”
  • Leilani Bloomquist, @Leilani_J_B :“Focus on overarching content strategy first.”
  • Matt Lechner, @mattlechner : “Remember that you’re a human speaking to another human.”
  • Nathan Eide, @nathaneide : “Someone owes me a shot.”

What advice would you add to the bunch? Tweet us your answer at @mnama !