{"id":11687,"date":"2019-03-15T12:22:11","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T12:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/?p=11687"},"modified":"2020-10-21T10:40:35","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T10:40:35","slug":"the-social-overwhelm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/the-social-overwhelm","title":{"rendered":"The Social Overwhelm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe want brands to be there when we want them, but not when we don\u2019t. We want them to be funny, and yet serious. We want them to know what we need, but they mustn\u2019t listen in on our conversations. We\u2019ve created a monster, and now we need to tame it.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Tamara Littleton, founder and CEO, The Social Element<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Global brands feel they\u2019ve lost control of their social media. That is the finding of our research into 60 top global brands; when asked how in control they felt, they hit a worryingly low 6.5 out of 10. <\/span><\/p>\n

The issues behind this lack of control are: a lack of resource vs the size of the challenge; containing and engaging with consumer content; and having too many channels to manage. Brands also feel unprepared in the event of a crisis, and worry about having a lack of consistent content across markets. <\/span><\/p>\n

We tackled some of these issues in our \u2018Social Overwhelm\u2019 event for brands, held in central London this week. Our panel of speakers included: Reuben Arnold, VP Marketing and Product, EMEA, Starbucks; Debbie Vavangas, iX Industrial Sector Lead, IBM iX; Lee Goodger, Social Media Business Strategist, Shell; Tamara Littleton, Founder and CEO, The Social Element; and Blaise Grimes-Viort, Chief Services Officer, The Social Element. Chairing the panel was Justin Pearse, partner at Bluestripe Media, and the editor of New Digital Age. <\/span><\/p>\n

The discussions focused on four main areas:<\/span><\/p>\n

Global brands struggle with how to manage multiple social media channels across different regions, cultures, languages and sub-brands.<\/b><\/p>\n

Arnold advised brands to think about how they present themselves as a global brand, but in a locally relevant way. \u201cWe take a toolkit approach,\u201d he told the audience. \u201cWe provide the core assets at the centre, and a lot of the content, which can be edited by markets to be relevant, but in a controlled way. There are certain things they can\u2019t change, but others they can.\u201d He talked about using a combination of guidelines, guidance and guardrails to keep control. <\/span><\/p>\n

Grimes-Viort stressed the importance of aligning social media with business goals. He recommends an immersion session as the first step, to understand how social media fits with the business. Next, run an audit of your social media as it is now. Then define your objectives and strategy, before you look at the structure for implementation. Then finally, create the rules of engagement, looking at things like tone of voice and governance guidelines. Supporting all this is great technology: \u201cTechnology allows us to tighten up workflows, make consistent decisions and eradicate errors, and continue to scale,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Balancing the requirements of the global brand versus local relevance and engagement can be challenging. Littleton and Grimes-Viort recommend a hub and spoke model for brands that want to retain some central control but still deliver relevant, localised content and engagement where they need it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Within the central \u2018hub\u2019 sits the overall strategy, creative direction, tone of voice, brand guidelines, and standards for engagement and reporting. The local \u2018spokes\u2019 take responsibility for implementation of the strategy, localisation, engagement, quality assurance and data analysis and insights.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brands are overwhelmed by the volume of content they have to deal with.<\/b><\/p>\n

Insights gained from social listening programmes will help you understand what you should prioritise. Tamara Littleton said: \u201cThere\u2019s a perception that brands should monitor and respond to absolutely everything that\u2019s being said about them. They don\u2019t.\u201d Goodger agreed: \u201cThere can be an expectation that social can do everything and it can\u2019t.\u201d The answer is to prioritise. As Arnold said: \u201cIf someone puts their hand up and says they want to have a conversation with you, that\u2019s an opportunity for the brand.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Those conversations are all about creating genuine human connections. Vavangas said: \u201cIf you\u2019re striving for 100 percent control, it\u2019ll never happen. So instead, focus on how you can create a sense of brand belonging. How do you make people feel? <\/span>Tap into something intrinsically human.\u201d Technology can help you decide how and when to have those interactions with consumers, she said: \u201cConsumers want relevant messages and you can\u2019t get that without insight and data, driven by technology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Social media should support the business strategy.<\/b><\/p>\n

Goodger advised brands to look at how social media supports their business strategy, rather than coming up with a social media strategy per se. \u201cI prefer the term social business,\u201d he said. He encourages people to bring their personal experience of social media into the business: \u201cThe more people use social media themselves, the more they\u2019ll understand the nuances, and the better their decisions will be around strategy.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Vavangas agreed: \u201cSocial media can\u2019t be separate from a business strategy. Social is one of the execution elements of the business strategy,\u201d she said.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

An issue will flare up and spread quickly across markets on social media.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cIssues are amplified if you have a global brand,\u201d said Arnold. \u201cSome can be handled locally, but others might need to be escalated to a central hub.\u201d<\/span> Littleton encouraged brands to collaborate when dealing with an issue, and not to overreact. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of negativity on social media and not everything is a crisis,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Grimes-Viort advised brands to break down silos. He referred to a book by Patrick Lencioni, \u2018<\/span>Silos, Politics and Turf Wars\u2019<\/span><\/i>, which makes the comparison to a hospital: \u201cIn an ER room, there are no silos. Everyone has a single purpose. That\u2019s what you want when managing an issue. In that moment, there should be a single purpose – to protect the brand.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, each member of the panel was asked to give one piece of advice to the brands attending. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t think of social media as separate, but as part of your business and comms strategy,\u201d said Arnold.<\/span><\/p>\n

Goodger said: \u201cUse online listening so you understand what your audience wants, and give them that.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Make sure the business understands what you deliver and how it integrates with wider branding and marketing activities, was Grimes-Viort\u2019s advice. \u201cAsk your boss\u2019s boss if they understand what you do.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Vavangas asked brands to use social media responsibly: \u201cThat terrifying future of Black Mirror is possible if we don\u2019t use social well. Use it responsibly, embed it in your business responsibly, teach your children to use it responsibly. Be good humans.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Littleton advised brands to go back to basics. \u201cResearch your audience – who they are and why they talk to you – to find your purpose. Look at all of your social media accounts, \u00a0and channel Marie Kondo: \u2018Does this give you joy?\u2019 If not, cull it. It\u2019ll help you get back control.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

For more advice on how to simplify complex social media environments, see The Social Element\u2019s guide: <\/span>Simplifying complex social media for global brands.<\/a> <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe want brands to be there when we want them, but not when we don\u2019t. We want them to be funny, and yet serious. We want them to know what we need, but they mustn\u2019t listen in on our conversations. We\u2019ve created a monster, and now we need to tame it.\u201d Tamara Littleton, founder and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":11692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"series":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/2019-03-15.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Genuine-Humans.jpg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/3abc34c3-ff60-4a78-b347-6119461b7ed1\/GENUINE-HUMANS","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/genuine-humans\/id1561811296","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVzb2NpYWxlbGVtZW50LmFnZW5jeS9mZWVkL3BvZGNhc3Q?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwiQz-mM7dzvAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/7jkfw0qeUlwrauhfy2pCGU","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/feed\/podcast","embedCode":"

The Social Overwhelm<\/a><\/blockquote>