“I’ve been to a few social media courses and this is head and shoulders above the rest! Great pace, very informative, clear. Can easily see how it’s going to help me in my role as a B2B marketer!”
Simone Foster, Communications Manager, Gen-i

“I just wanted to drop you a line to say a profuse thank you for all the work that went into the SMJ, it was a very enjoyable and interesting event. The speakers were fascinating, the venue was delightful, and the food … superb!! I’m already looking forward to next year’s event.”
Jan Brough, Web Co-Ordinator, Simpson Grierson

“An amazing calibre of speakers resulting in interesting discussions that equal parts validated what we’re doing – but also has inspired a flurry of activity this morning now I’m back in the office with the useful tips, tricks and techniques spoken about yesterday in Lee’s talk.”
Tee Twyford, General Manager/Editor, nzgirl

“Great content, innovation, relevant case studies and contacts… would highly recommend SMJ to anyone who wants to be at the top of their game.”
Rowena Donghi, Marketing Manager, NBR New Zealand Opera

Simon Wakeman’s Public Sector Workshop – Monday, 15th November

ROI on Social Media Marketing Conference – Tuesday, 16th November

Lee Odden’s Masterclass – Wednesday, 17th November

ROI is maybe the wrong phrase to use for what was discussed. With the benefit of hindsight, it was more about content marketing. In other words, you’re on social media platforms, but what are you saying and how are you saying it? And when are you saying it? And are the customers listening and then actually buying or recommending to someone else who buys? Anyway, enough with the questions, let’s try and disseminate what was said by the speakers.

Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing was first up. One of the main points made by Lee was that KPI’s are not the end goal. This is because social media is a communications tool, not a tactic. Delegates often expect a silver bullet to take away from a conference and implement with immediate social media success. This doesn’t happen because there are no secrets to great social media practice. It’s simply the one of the best ways for brands to create loyal customers, get instant feedback and spread/develop content. If you have an idea about what to do in the social media space and it gets re-affirmed by speakers and other delegates at a conference, that is a valuable takeout if you use it when you get back to the office.

Next up was Louise Denver from Deloitte Australia. She talked about capturing and sharing innovation within the organisation through tools like Yammer and also how to tell social media to people outside the marketing team. Yammer is not as sexy as Facebook, Twitter and the like, but it’s just as powerful. It allows a company to be more connected whether they are in the office or not. And it’s not just for large corporations like Deloitte. Smaller companies who have employees spread around the country (and planet) can use Yammer as a cost-effective platform for collaboration, staff retention and staff recruitment. It’s surely something on the rise over the next few years as we start to see an even more mobile, more fluid workforce.

Simon Wakeman, from Medway Council in the UK followed Louise. Simon discussed similar topics to his day one workshop presentation, but with an ROI focus. One of Simon’s key points was that all brands need to do a proper online audit and understand their keywords and the fact that they change as products and perceptions of the brand change over time.

Michael Fox, one of the founders of ShoesofPrey.com, which makes custom women’s shoes then held the attention of at least every woman in the room as he spoke about social media and fashion. Michael talked about Seth Godin’s ‘Purple Cow Theory’, whereby you create something that has huge talkability. The social media part is kind of easy after you have a product or service that is interesting and different. It may not be unique (what’s truly unique these days?), but it could be a unique take on an existing concept or a better designed brand.

Darren Whitelaw from Department of Justice, State Government of Victoria then took to the stage for his speech on crisis communication using social media. Darren was at the communications helm during Australia’s worst ever natural disaster – the Victorian bush fires. An important point from Darren’s presentation was that phone lines normally get jammed during a crisis and social media is the best additional resource for handling queries and information distribution.

We then had a Kiwi brands blog, Chaired by Michael Carney of the Marketing Association, which I (Alex Erasmus of Bullet PR) joined for an agency perspective. We also heard from Telecom, ASB Bank, Hell Pizza and Tui. Telecom has used social media mainly as a customer service channel and it’s been a great way of finding brand evangelists within the company to represent Telecom online. ASB Bank launched the innovative Virtual Branch through its Facebook page. This has increased the options for customers (and non customers) to interact with the bank, which is great ROI. Hell Pizza spent $80,000 on a YouTube campaign – Deliver me to Hell – that delivered millions of views. Tui has used social media (Facebook) as a more of a supporting mechanism, rather than a stand-alone channel. So, for the ‘Yeah right’ campaign it tests which ads are most popular on Facebook before using on billboards. For my two cents, I talked about how the future of PR agencies is going to be about content creation. We need to be the idea generating, campaign driving social media go-to guys for our clients. The day-to-day stuff should stay client side.

Cliff Rosenberg, MD of LinkedIn for Australia and NZ then shared stats and trends in online networking with the delegates. It’s interesting to see the niche that LinkedIn has carved out in terms of recruitment in particular. Surel, we will soon see the day when everyone is recruited via platforms like LinkedIn. Cliff made the useful analogy that engaging with people on personal social media like Facebook is like approaching a CEO who is with his kids at Disneyland – i.e. possible, but not very useful.

The day was rounded out with a panel of the international speakers, chaired by Vincent Heeringa of NZ Marketing Magazine.

The day began with audience members being asked to write down their expectations for the workshop, along with their personal role within the public sector. This was a useful way for people to get to know each other and a timely reminder of the importance of sharing information and experiences between delegates as much as gaining insights from the speakers themselves.

Because of the deluge of mis-information, many of us find using the word ‘revolution’ a little over the top when discussing social media. Simon reminded us that it is just that. It’s has fundamentally and permanently shifted the way that every brand, public sector or otherwise, communicates with its customers and stakeholders.

When the public sector fully jumps onto a trend, you can hazard a guess that the trend has become the norm. Think of a good website. People don’t talk about whether or not a local council needs a website anymore, they talk about what it says to its community. The same is fast becoming true of social media. Simon demonstrated his plan for social media strategy: content, community and channel, with social media at the intersection. If you know your community and get the content right, the channel will follow.

Selling social media to people outside the marketing team has been a significant factor in Bullet PR’s consulting in this area and Simon echoed our experiences by isolating the hard numbers of where the communities are at to show tangible value. It may not represent the full story of the social web, but hard numbers sell anything to the decision makers. Simon compared local Facebook stats to the local newspaper readership for his colleagues.

Perhaps more than the private sector, dynamic social content for the public sector is often dependent on tying in to the news agenda. If it’s already getting coverage online, use the momentum to leverage your message, in a relevant way of course.

This links in to one of Simon’s final points. If there is an existing community, similar to what you are looking to create, explore how you can tap into it, rather than building a brand new one.

For Simon’s morning presentation please click
am Social Media Junction Public Sector workshop Simon Wakeman, 15 Nov 2010

For Simon’s afternoon presentation please click
pm Social Media Junction Public Sector workshop Simon Wakeman, 15 Nov

Watch Lee Odden, CEO TopRank Marketing

Attend Lee Odden’s Masterclass on November 17th and learn how to implement a successful Social Media Content Strategy.

Or register for the pre-conference Public Sector Workshop on Nov 15th with leading UK expert Simon Wakeman, who will help you develop a personal action plan for utilising social media in your organisation.

Register here

Interesting article here on LinkedIn and the numerous ways businesses can put it to good use. Remember, Cliff Rosenberg, LinkedIn’s Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, is speaking at Social Media Junction on 16th November:

http://tinyurl.com/27shnlv

After a hugely successful inaugural conference in May of this year, which attracted more than 200 NZ marketers, Social Media Junction returns with six international speakers, 16th-17th November at SkyCity in Auckland. The theme is Achieving ROI in your Social Media Marketing Strategy. US keynote Lee Odden will offer his insights into how to build long-term business benefits through great digital engagement on social platforms. Based out of the U.S., Lee runs one of the world’s most popular marketing blogs, TopRankBlog.com, and advises many Fortune 500 companies on how they can get the most from their digital marketing activities, including influencer engagement, video web casts, Facebook, Twitter, blogging, Online and SEO PR, as well as digital asset optimization .

Other international speakers include British online marketing expert Simon Wakeman, ex-Google and Founder of Shoes of Prey, Michael Fox, and LinkedIn regional vice president Cliff Rosenberg. The conference will also showcase the social media successes of a wide range of international and Kiwi brands, including MTV, Qantas, Deloitte, Hell Pizza, Tui, ASB and Telecom. There will also be a special presentation from the State Government of Victoria highlighting the social media communications strategy at the time of the Victoria Bush Fires, and the platforms they have in place today.

While the May event was a great success, there is always room for improvement and we’ve listened to all the feedback and tried to incorporate it.

The full programme will be released very soon; however, we can tell you that the theme will be ROI and there will also be a great line up of international and local speakers.

On the 15th there will be a pre-conference public sector workshop led by Simon Wakeman from the UK. Simon is one of the world’s most experienced public sector social media practitioners and will be sharing all the insights he has picked up over several years of working in local government.

The first day of the conference (16th) will be full of social media practitioners discussing ROI case studies. In addition to the international speakers like Deloitte, there will be a Kiwi businesses panel featuring Hell’s Pizza, Tui and Telecom, amongst others.

The second day of the conference (17th) will be an online content delivery masterclass with Lee Odden. Lee is one of the world’s foremost authorities on how to engage, build a community and drive SEO online. He runs a highly successful blog (TopRankBlog.com), advises large corporates and has spoken at countless conferences across North America.

We look forward to seeing you there.