Ad agencies, PR firms make full use of social network sites | Bangkok Post: tech

INTEGRATED MARKETING

Social networking is not just impacting advertising agencies but also driving public relation agencies to extend their business by setting up dedicated teams to listen and get immediate feedback from customers as a key element in integrated marketing.

Kanpirom Ungpakorn, Managing Director at Hill & Knowlton Thailand, said the advancement of technology in recent years has helped to bring digital content to consumers anywhere, anytime through a wide range of devices. The younger generation and working professionals are now more likely to spend more of their day viewing digital and social media.

In Thailand this is also coinciding with a boom in the popularity of networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Figures as of January show that Thailand has now become Facebook's second highest growing market in the world, with over 150,000 new accounts created every week.

As such, it is essential for PR professionals to not only recognise this changing behaviour of consumers, but to also fully understand how and when to include an online element in their campaigns. This led the company to establish a specialised digital communications practice by using social media and conducting blogger-related activities to help clients.

Any customer of a product or service who is active in social networking should be considered a target customer. Nonetheless there may be some differences among different industries. For example, some industries are hot topics online, such as telecoms, gadgets, beauty, fashion and automobiles, while other industries are less talked about within the online community. To be successful, PR agencies need to fully understand their target audience and environment and lay out an effective communications strategy accordingly.

"Companies today cannot afford to overlook social media if their target audience is represented online. However, you still have to identify the right online communities and engage yourself with them in a way that will capture their interest and loyalty to the brand," Kanpirom said.

For example in the launch of Windows 7 in Thailand, Microsoft wanted to take a different approach and focus first and foremost on consumers. With this in mind, social media - namely a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account linked to a purpose-built website - proved to be the most effective communications channel for reaching general consumers, students and bloggers. She also said that there is some overlap with advertising agencies which have a digital team that can develop online campaigns using social media . However, PR agencies by their nature have a deeper expertise in developing content and finding ways to get target audiences engaged in conversation with the company and brand.

The company also handles blogger relations, which despite some similarities, are very different from media relations. In addition, PR agencies are also better positioned to offer a fully integrated approach by bringing together the online element with traditional media channels.

Social media as digital influences

Jintana Daungkaew, Business Director at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, said we live in a new world where anyone and everyone can be an influencer. Social media like the Internet and mobile communications networks have tremendously changed the way people live and communicate. Social media have allowed both business and governmental corporations and individuals to have effective two-way communications and have influenced each other.

"Digital influence is transforming communication. Our public relations' programs using social media that we developed for our clients have created open and honest conversations; they are not delivering a top-down marketing message to consumers," Jintana said.

She added that digital influence or social media are very different from mere online advertising. The company used digital influence not only to inform about the brand or send corporate messages but also to listen to, and get the immediate feedback from customer.

"Michael Dell used to say that people talk about social media programs but I just think about conversations with customers. We have hundreds of millions of them every year. We listen on the phone and in the offices of our customers. Why not improve our online listening skills and the number of ways we can do it?, " Jintana said. "Interestingly, Direct2Dell generates 3.5 million page views every year. This means that corporations can do so much more using social media to influence and understand specific customer needs and reach even broader targets."

She added that the company has developed a unique "Three-Step Methodology for Using Twitter", and no matter what the business objective, its approach involves three steps - Follow, Create and Engage.

This can create a successful sales and promotion plan which is based on identifying a target audience, providing useful content and being prepared to engage in conversation. When done right, the followers will not only become loyal customers, but also evangelists for the brand.

Tools for reaching foreign buyers

Peter Bachner, Director of Strategic Marketing at Penner Madison, said social media is also referred to as Web 2.0. It's a platform within integrated online marketing that's been utilised as a tactic within an integrated strategy.

"Social network sites can be powerful if you know how to utilise them within a larger integrated strategy that includes personal development, targeted landing pages and SEO architecture, and geo-targeting that speaks to the target audience.

"It's sort of a trend now for companies to see social networking sites as an opportunity to market, but few companies are truly successful in utilising it as you also need to be an expert in integrated marketing, both offline and online," Bachner said. "On the other hand, charities have been extremely successful in mobilising fundraising campaigns through Facebook and MySpace and companies like Dell have touted the fact that they've been successful in selling computers through social media sites."

Social media sites and Twitter, for example, allow a two-way conversation between the company and the consumer and hence allow product and brand credibility to take place.

For PR companies, utilising online marketing tools is essential in reaching foreign buyers, foreign exhibitors and target industries. Companies such as Bitec and TICEB utilise integrated online marketing more and more as a critical means to reach out to their target audiences in foreign markets.

It can be also of great value to the travel and tourism industries, allowing real consumer feedback and dialogue to take place on fan pages. Facebook also allows groups to be created and that allows PR companies to better isolate groups to create a dialogue.

Social media tactics for public relations is time consuming and one also has to give the impression of credibility in what one is promoting. One also has to be extremely relevant in what one is talking about to the target group or efforts will be seen as spamming and not only will the company lose credibility, but also can be blacklisted by online platforms.

A representative from Weber Shandwick said many businesses are now discovering the immense reach and influence of social networking. Hence, when they seek a PR agency, they are now also including online marketing in their communication plans.