Getting leverage out of social media
By Simon Fuller. So, just how many ways can social media help brands and marketers?
“Social media can be used for recruitment,” said Andrew Grill, UK head of sales and business development, Visible Technologies, at brand-e’s Buzz about the social buzz event last week. “Proctor & Gamble, for example, use a dedicated team to find people via social media – people who are making an impact on social media.”
“In 12 months, I think more adventurous brands may start experimenting with geo-location,” added Matt Rhodes, client services director at social media agency FreshNetworks, although both he and other panellists noted that anything along those lines has to be done right to avoid, among other things, privacy concerns.
And while recounting how Eurostar utilised social media to add a human touch to responses to customers dismayed by the brand’s service problems last winter, We Are Social md Robin Grant suggested that, sometimes, social media’s uses can come out of problem-solving.
“It can take a crisis to see that we should take social media seriously,” he said, noting that having to react to an event may move brands to better implement a new strategy. “At Eurostar, a dedicated customer service team now handles the social media – they do the Twitter stuff.”
But perhaps one of social media’s most potent functions was highlighted by Grill.
“Peer advocacy is the thing,” he said. “You don’t believe every advert you see, you ignore them. Brands are missing a trick in not considering peer advocacy.”
brand-e: good to see learnings coming from crisis – flexibility is key to managing social media
