Why community management matters in social

Christina Miller from VML has nailed it on the head in a piece penned for Digiday.

Content is still king, but community management is queen

She argues that brands spend countless hours and dollars creating content that speaks to their target audiences on social media, but while engaging and relevant content is important, it can only take the brand so far.

'Community management is the personal touch. It’s how the brand can show it cares and can create a more intimate relationship with its audience through thoughtful one-on-one interactions.'

She goes on to make the point that brands that truly embrace social understand the importance of customer service, are poised to respond swiftly and with care, but also seize positive endorsement and amplify it quickly.

It reminded me of a deck we pulled together a few years back to explain, initially internally, what social media was all about and why it should matter to everyone at Asda regardless of function or job title.

It's fair to say our strategy evolved over time based on trial and error, and was driven out of PR not marketing.

We learnt as we went.

But on reflection it also became clear that our successful approach was based on a very sound formula.

Listen. Engage. Influence.

I'll never forget being asked to present by our then chief operating officer to the Operations Board.

A group of hard nosed retail operators, who'd all grown up in stores at the real front end of customer service not the virtual world of social media.

There was a hefty degree of cynicism in the room as I entered.

Rather than try and sell the benefits of Facebook, I started with stories of why and how we got involved at first.

Twitter was exploding. A free focus group of customers talking about our brand in real time.

Good, bad and ugly. A true reflection of our reputation, what people say about you when you leave the room.

And an early warning device that enabled the PR team to fix issues before they escalated into a crisis. Countless examples of pricing errors, advertising slip ups, or simply well connected angry customers who we got to quickly and handled well hence negating a potential  PR story.

Twitter alone was helping us stay one step ahead of the media.

If nothing else, the bare minimum now for brands I told them was to listen.

"So it's not just people taking about what they had for their tea?", said one. Precisely.

I still firmly believe you only have the right to engage on positive territory with your customers if you are doing the basics of listening well.

Yet all too often you see glossy marketing campaigns on social media that simply ignore the noise already out there.

Everyone wants to jump to the engage and influence phase without having first mastered the basics.

Social media is, as Christina points out, made for conversations — a way to connect with the people around you.

'Brands won’t be successful if they’re just talking at the audience by pushing out content; they should be talking with the audience through the extension of community management. It humanizes the brand and creates relationships with fans.'

I couldn't agree more.

Christina Miller is a senior channel manager at VML, a global marketing agency.

Letting girls be girls, Barbie dolls included

I'm a dad of two girls. One aged nine the other fast approaching seven.

Even at their tender ages you can hear the occasional worry about how they look.

Am I too thin? Too small? I wish my hair was longer, shorter, darker, lighter.

But how much of this anxiety is driven by a comment at school, and how much is a result of the pressure of growing up in a social media fuelled environment?

After all, my girls are part of the first ever generation to have never known a world without YouTube and Instagram.

Two stories caught my eye this morning.

The first is a rather troubling account from an Australian teenager who has quit social media having created huge followings by posting, as it turns out, fake illustrations of her perfect life.

Essena O'Neill is quoted by the BBC saying:

"I've also spent hours watching perfect girls online, wishing I was them. When I became 'one of them', I still wasn't happy, content or at peace with myself."

Perhaps not surprisingly the glossy exterior covered up a real girl who was experiencing all the usual self doubt and need for reassurance any child needs when growing up.

Hers was self-inflicted to some extent having become addicted to the immediate response and recognition that 250,000 followers gives you.

Contrast that however with another young successful female blogger called Zoe, who openly talks about her anxiety and posts videos without make-up.

Recently Davina McColl made a point of recognising why Zoella (her online persona) was a role model she was proud of.

Quoted in the Standard she explained why.

"Zoella talks about anxiety and she talks about things she’s worried about. She’s such a cute looking girl but she shows herself with no makeup on, and with pimples, and I love her for that because these little girls, my kids, really look up to her and think she’s a great role model.”

The other story that stood out this morning was a new campaign by Mattel for their Barbie doll.

Will Burns, writing in Forbes, outlines how Barbie Dolls have had a brand image problem the last couple decades and an acute sales problem the last few years.

He goes on to say: "The brand image problem relates to the unrealistic body image that a typical Barbie Doll presents to children..."

But makes the important distinction, that 'when we see a child playing with a Barbie Doll it’s not a buxom babe projecting negative influence onto the child. It’s imagination at work, a blank slate, a world of possibilities shaped like a doll.'

In other words it is us as adults projecting our view of what our kids see, not in fact what they are imagining.

The Mattel ad that he then links to is a brilliant piece of storytelling. Combining neatly the real life reactions of adults to kids roleplaying imaginary careers. It's well worth a look.

Will adds: 'the film squarely positions the Barbie Doll as a conduit for the development of a child’s self image. A professor, a veterinarian, a business woman. Not a bimbo, as many adults have been conditioned to believe, but a business woman.

'Because make no mistake. This film is targeted to parents, not kids.'

These two contrasting stories highlight for me the importance of letting kids be kids. Whilst always emphasising positive role models and real life.

I overheard my eldest saying a boy at school said girls can't do x, y, z with a football. Cue her immediately proving him wrong. That's my girl.

Never let anyone tell you what boys or girls can or cannot do. You can do anything you want.

Words I must live by myself in that case, including letting her play with her sister and their ever growing collection of dolls or watch endless Zoella and Alfie videos.

Declared interest: In my day job for Asda I work closely with the talent management company Gleam that represents Zoella and a number of other vloggers.

At another crossroads

I daren't start this blog by saying I'm at a some kind of a crossroads.

I've seemingly been at more crossroads in recent years than Benny and his wooly hat (a cryptic reference unless you are of a certain age).

Anyhow, I'm at a reflection point let's put it that way.

(As a quick aside, as I write this I'm currently sat in Dragon's Den playcentre in Keighley. The incessant pop drivel blaring out of the cheap crackly speakers is hard to ignore. But ignore I must as this blog is itching to get out.)

My dad once told me if you find a job you love son, you'll never work another day in your life.

I thought he was very clever.

And his wise words stayed with me for more than twenty years helping guide many of the career decisions I made.

When he officially retired from Queen's University I got the chance to address him and his fellow boffins.

In a hall reminiscent of something out of Harry Potter I recounted how proud I was of my father and what a privilege it was to do a speech to him and his contemporaries in such prestigious surroundings.

When growing up I'd always judged his cleverness by how much facial hair he and his colleagues had.

All academics back then had beards. Proper wild beards. Not the trendy Shoreditch type you see on the hipsters these days.

I recounted that on one of my dad's work trips to China I'd stumbled across quotes from Confucius.

He'd been telling me how his over enthusiastic hosts had entertained him all day, and he was completely shattered. He'd visited the home of Confucius.

Prompting me to Google said philosopher.

Lo and behold, as we exchanged emails this popped up on Google.

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

Confucius Born: 551 BC, died: 479 BC

http://mobile.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/confucius134717.html

My dad, a professor of chemical catalysis, who had always jokingly said I'd done a degree in bullshit (public relations) was a professional blagger himself.

Anyway, I digress. Whether it was Confucius or Prof Robbie Burch, the idea of enjoying what you do in your working life is such an important aspect of being happy.

What's more if you are passionate about it, your job can become a vocation in life.

As someone who is not particularly motivated by money, or status, or title, being passionate about what I do is key.

I love to be creative. To try new things out. To take chances on stuff.

A conversation on Twitter this morning reminded me of how I describe innovation. 

"Spotting an opportunity or a problem that needs solving, having an idea, giving it a try, measuring if it worked, if it did crack on, if it didn't what did you learn. Repeat."

I love doing that.

So as I look forward and consider what I should do next, I am determined to ensure the path I choose has plenty of fun on either side of it.

BTW, if one of my team is reading this and is wondering where I'm off to, don't worry. I'm not going anywhere in a rush.

But as a 41 year old, mid way between starting out at Prudential at 18 all those years ago and retirement at 65 (hopefully) it seems a good moment to pause for thought.

And if all else fails I guess I can go back to my former life as a professional bullshitter eh dad?

My top tips for a successful career in PR or marketing

It's scary to think about it, but I started my degree 21 years ago.

I was trained in PR, seems a bit funny saying it like that, but it's true.

I went to a former polytechnic, Leeds Metropolitan University, now renamed Leeds Beckett I think. The course as a result was deliberately vocational.

Anyway since graduating in 1998 I've spent the last 17 years in a variety of comms roles at Green Flag, Direct Line and Asda.

The land of the pocket tappers has never been dull.

Having started there back in 2002 initially looking after food and farming, I was lucky enough to take up roles including head of PR and head of social media.

More recently I've overseen marketing innovation, helping explore new revenue opportunities for Asda. That's included leading a team that has built a pipeline of new digital assets to unlock investment from FMCG brands who value having access to Asda's 18m households.

I've also overseen the transformation of Asda.com's adserving capability, which in the coming months will enable Asda to become a credible media publisher.

And I've built Mum's Eye View on YouTube, capturing 11m views since launch in under 18 months.

I was asked by The Drum recently what keeps me awake at night. Truth is very little (other than my six year old), but the work thing I ponder about most in those quiet moments is how brands are going to make the transition from mass market, broadcast media, to targeted, content driven comms, but at the scale they need and crave.  No-one has cracked the nut yet.

In fact for many brands they are yet to embrace digital, let alone understand how to harness it.

The abyss is just round the corner, but by the time they wake up and realise they need to change it could be too late.

It's an old adage but you no longer need a digital strategy, your strategy needs to be fit for the digital age.

If you're reading this and just starting out on your career in PR or marketing, these are my top tips:

1. Never stop being inquisitive.

2. Network, network and network some more.

3. Be healthily paranoid that your assumptions could be wrong.

4. Take a chance once in a while, but be humble when it goes wrong.

5. Learn from your set backs.

6. Find a good mentor.

7. And then coach others in return.

If you've enjoyed this blog post be sure to share it with your network, or like the post on LinkedIn or Twitter, or leave a comment below. If you haven't enjoyed it, feel free to say why.

A mum's eye view of YouTube

Eighteen months ago we launched Mums Eye View into the world of YouTube.

It's fair to say we took our time working out how Asda could be more relevant on one of the world's largest social networks.

In fact we'd spent nearly nine years hiding hours of videos on our own Asda channel which had very few subscribers and a similarly low number of viewers.

The conundrum we faced was more than one quarter of our own customers, some four to five million people, told us they visited YouTube every day.

After Facebook it was the most popular social media site for Asda shoppers.

It was also at a time when short form video was exploding across Vine and Instagram. And Facebook was indicating it too was serious about video.

Now, it should go without saying, people follow people on social networks.

Much as brands like Asda like to think it is all about us, actually it is the stories we are part of that truly resonate.

And no more so than if it is one of your close friends telling it, or someone you have an intimate relationship with.

Clearly word of mouth is not a new phenomenon, but in spite of our own relative success getting it right on Facebook, we were struggling to get it right when it came to YouTube.

The lightbulb first flickered when we considered an important question.

As a brand on YouTube should we create video content ourselves, or curate other people's. It puzzled me for weeks if not months trying to figure it out.

A pivot point

Then around two and a bit years ago, thanks to a session at YouTube, we were introduced to an agency called Gleam Futures.

At the time Gleam were based in the basement of another agency's office near Covent Garden.

The meeting was significant and immediately helped change the course of our approach to YouTube entirely.

Gleam, in their own words describe themselves as an agency that 'manages social talent'. They describe social talent as 'individuals who have built considerable audience & influence on social media channels'.

They only manage quality talent who are among the top social creators in the world, dedicated and passionate individuals who are extremely professional in my experience.

Back then I don't mind admitting I had never even heard of Zoella, or Tanya Burr or the SacconneJolys.

Now they are household names, regularly featuring in the weekly glossy magazines, or on ITV's Real Stories, or on Celebrity Great British Bake Off.

Even my nine year old knows who they all are.

Yet, most brands are still at a loss when it comes to harnessing 'social talent', nor do many even recognise how talented vloggers really are. You often hear people bemoan these kids simply videoing themselves on their phones in their bedrooms. Have they even got any qualifications?

Our approach since meeting Gleam has been dramatically different.

We've confidently handed over editorial control to a small number of hugely influential vloggers.

We've resisted the urge to be in the room with them, instead simply providing a simple brief, then letting them do what they do best.

As a result we now know when and how our brand should feature in a YouTube video if at all.

So anyway, here we are two years on, 18 months after launching Mums Eye View, more than nine and a half million views under our belt, and 180,000 subscribers.

According to Social Bakers if Mums Eye View were listed as a retail brand (we are listed in the entertainment category) we'd be in the top ten in the UK based on the numbers of views we've had to date, and number two for total subscribers.

Our latest five-part baking series has notched up just shy of a million views on its own in under six weeks, added 25,000 subscribers in the process, with a click through rate of more than three per cent, but peaking at six per cent on the Monster Jazzies video.

If you search 'baking' on YouTube, two of the top four results are baking videos from our channel. Staggering SEO, considering we've not spent anything on promoting that content.

It feels like we're now approaching a tipping point.

We can now help harness new up and coming talent, giving them access to our 180,000 subscribers on our channel.

But also, we can now open up the channel for relevant brands to get on board and participate too.

That last bit is proving easier to say than do however.

I still find it staggering how entrenched most marketeers are in creating video content that no-one ever sees.

I won't be mean and name them, but there is one at the moment that is paying for a minor celebrity to host a series on their channel alongside a vlogger.

The content is fine. But that's not the point. With no subscribers and therefore no option but to pay for views the engagement is non existent.

Anyway, that's the next challenge I guess. Helping brands integrate with Gleam's social talent in a way that meets their marketing goals, but respects the medium and the content creators.

Watch this space.

48 hours in Cannes

I'm very fortunate in my role that I get the opportunity to go to interesting places on business. Occasionally those interesting places are also bathed in sunshine and are beautiful on the eye.

This past couple of days I've had the privilege to attend Cannes Lions. An event synonymous with advertising creative types, media houses, and more recently ad tech companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter.

The new kids on the block are no doubt changing the dynamic somewhat.

Buzzword bingo was dominated by phrases like programmatic and viewability.

Panels debated whether the old guard were fraudulently trading ad inventory as they struggle to maintain healthy margins.

Everyone across the sector appears to be doing part of someone else's job now.

For my part I was here to take part in a panel discussion on whether retailers like eBay and Walmart are going to be able to become credible ad publishers in our own right.

In front of a packed audience of 200 people on 'Le Rooftop' (I'll resist the temptation to translate that for you), who to be fair had probably come to see the panel after mine, we debated the power of first party data in determining whether ad spend was effective.

In my mind it highlighted the scale of the disruption still to hit the ad industry. A sector in the UK alone that is £18bn strong.

Retailers have an unprecedented opportunity to optimise FMCG brand dollars in a way not seen before. Effectively saving companies money on their advertising, or more likely, enabling them to spend the same amount but drive sales harder.

And unlike other ad publishers, retailers have a vested interest in the ad spend actually working.

Anyway, this is all a roundabout way of saying that in spite of the gorgeous setting, the unbeatable weather, and the general loveliness of the French riveria, the calibre of people attracted to the event makes attending worthwhile.

It's the conversations and connections made that add huge value. Be that comparing notes with eBay, or pitching your view of the world to the senior team at Google over lunch.

Meetings that could be set up in more mundane locations but inevitably aren't, enable you to make big leaps forward, and in my case at least, have hardened my resolve to move faster and more aggressively.

And if nothing else you get to pretend at being rich for 48 hours by oggling all the yachts and stopping for a croissant and machiatto at the Georgio Armani café, which as it turns out is remarkably good value.

Ritual living

There's something soothing about holiday rituals.

Tea and cake at 4.30 in the afternoon.

Coffee first thing on the veranda.

A glass of something chilled as the sun goes down.

The call to prayer. Albeit not observed by us.

Yet the ritual I'm more accustomed to in the hustle bustle of my working life is the 8.11 to Leeds.

The third carriage along, without fail.

Were a secret spy ever laying in wait for me, deciphering my whereabouts would be child's play.

As humans we are naturally habitual.

But the habits we have slipped into are often far from healthy.

The wocca-mocha-chino on the way into the office.

Checking emails as soon we wake up and just before we go to sleep.

Sharing our every movement on social media (ok, ok, I know... I'm more guilty than most on that point).

With many of our natural rhythms disrupted by modern life, my sense is we are yearning for the rituals of our ancestors.

Where religion previously filled the gap, our ever more secular Western ways have left a void.

Our pagan ancestors worshipped the sun and the moon.

The passing of the seasons and the movement of the galaxies above informed their way of life and their perspective on it I'm sure.

Without today's light pollution all around them, the bleed of our street lamps and neon lights, their connection to the universe, and their relative place within it, must have been more profound.

Stargazing wasn't a mere holiday excursion, but a nightly occurrence.

Here in Morocco, with the stresses of work evaporating by the minute, I'm reminded of a more simple way of life. But also a more centred one.

Travelling is clearly good for my soul it would seem. It is also a quiet reminder of the need to have a healthy balance between work and life.

Morbid as it sounds, the treadmill we're all on leads to one ultimate location in the ground.

I for one am determined to jump off it from time to time.

Unplug the apparatus.

Wander a little more through life, taking detours along the way.

Time to pause. Reflect. Ponder.

Rituals that don't just rely on work work work, followed by wine wine wine, or whine, whine, whine.

Some rituals however are probably more ingrained than others.