London Technology Public Relations agency | Social Media Strategy | B2B PR | Chameleon PR

 

Many people would love to shove B2B social media bores into a dark room encased in thick concrete, to talk award-winning communications campaigns to each other. And for one day, they (and we) got their (and our) wish when Chameleon PR went to PR Week’s PR, Social Networking & Blogging in Practice conference at the Barbican Centre.

Speakers included some of the great and the good of the UK’s social media world including Kate Mackenzie from FT.com, Kevin Anderson from Guardian.com, Sara Gavin from Bebo and Roberto Hotal Munoz from More Th>n.

Amongst excited talk about Twitter, the difference between consumer ‘influence’ and ‘participation’ and of course, an Obama love-in (there was not one presentation that didn’t mention how fantastic Obama’s use of social media was), there were some incredible insights into what brands and marketers are doing with social media. Here are some selected highlights:

- ‘Google is not a search engine anymore. It’s a Reputation Management Engine’ (Roberto Hortal Munoz, More Th>n)

- ‘Social networks are like the best pub in the world. People have had a few drinks, are chatting away to each other and showing each other videos on their mobile phones’ (Laila Takeh, British Heart Foundation, on how she describes social networking to her peers)

- ‘Don’t be the dad on the dance floor’ (Tony Bilsborough, Cadbury’s, on why Cadbury’s resisted direct engagement of Bring Back Wispa groups on Facebook and took a more permission-based approach)

- ‘Social media facilitates a nation talking to itself’ (Kevin Anderson, Guardian.com)

- ‘Kids are now searching for videos on YouTube rather than Google so they can see something in action rather than just reading about it’ (Alex Balfour, LOCOG, on the importance of video content from any source – not just professionally created-sources)

The important message from the conference was that as marketers, we need the right tone for our social media-savvy audiences. Avoid the temptation to jump in with both feet and monitor the conversations before you engage to ensure you’re using the right approach. With these simple considerations, you can avoid being the ‘dad on the dancefloor’.

Adrian

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