Digiday: Mobile, Social and Sammys 9/17

Takeaways for Professional Services

For those charged with marketing professional services, concerns swarm social media. Whether its law, finance, accounting, medicine, architecture or engineering, orchestrating all the voices of your practice alone is daunting enough without the anxiety over security issues surrounding client service. As a colleague said to me, we’re all about confidentiality and privacy why would I want to do that? Like it or not, this new wave has gained ground, in politics, on store shelves and your kid’s social calendar. In the process, it has raised the bar so here are some suggestions from the experts at Digiday’s “Future of Social Media Marketing”.

Listen First - “Some companies will not be ready to jump in but they can begin listening. Tools are available and you need to get them started.”Mike Maron, Strategist with Converseon

Throughout the session, attendees were reminded social is different, it is a different voice than your brand’s, it’s a conversation and like any conversation, you need to listen. Whether you choose to participate or not, these conversations are going on anyway. Customers, employees, clients, regulators, media and public are conversing together throughout the world. If they aren’t already discussing you and your firm, it is increasing likely they will. Just the way you do competitive analysis and research to get a snapshot of the current market, tracking the “cloud” of social discussion is further fact-finding. Beyond network, online articles and publications, you now have access to all powerful word-of-mouth. Unlike the private dining rooms and golf courses of the past, you can now listen in with the help of second generation listening tools.

Since 2001, Mike Maron of Converseon, the winner of the evening’s Sammy award for the “Best Social Media Marketing Agency”, has been telling companies how to become listening organizations. When asked after his presentation about application to professional services, Mike spoke exc:itedly about its “rich opportunity to empower each of the practitioners to build their business”. He should know, he spent 30 years at IBM before launching Converseon.

Impact: “Reach is not what it used to be, because it doesn’t need to be” stated Health Care specialist, Dr. Augustine Fou, Group Chief Digital Officer at HCG.

With social media you can further pinpoint customers. Reach and frequency, the models of the past in measuring media and agency value have shifted. By way of example, Augustine asked the audience about a specific flash drive on the market, only one person in the whole room knew about it. “You don’t need to know, its for photographers”. Similarly, the highly specialized offerings of professional service firms can pinpoint directly their clients.

Costs "Connections less than Email; Engagement less than Media to Website; Connections less than Search" Michael Gorman, ACXIOM

A most important word for these budget-crushing times, this powerful set of conversations can be connected, engaged and conversed with for LESS than email, media to websites and search according to Michael Gorman. Also, if you are not already doing so, leverage Linkedin’s Plaxo.

Entertainment & Media Case Studies

Not surprisingly media and entertainment companies have been first adopters and those agencies working on their behalf have pushed the tools to delight consumers. Your best agency advisor may not yet be working in your industry but have accomplished great work in others. Look for demonstrated creativity and success in social media. Sammy award winners and nominees are a great place to start. For more information about Digiday’s information packed conference and cutting edge Sammy awards post a question or go tohttp://www.digidaydaily.com/