Digital Digest: Social First Edition

Digital Digest: What Edelman Canada is reading in digital marketing, technology and strategy. Fresh links served up Fridays.

Too often a social strategy is tacked on to a traditional program that has already been signed off on. But to develop a truly integrated and effective campaign, communicators and marketers need to think social right from the start. In this edition of Edelman Canada’s Digital Digest we take this concept a step further by imagining a Social-First campaign, in which the digital strategy informs the traditional program.

Social by Design

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s second in command, recently chided members of the Association of National Advertisers to “put a little Facebook in everything you do.” Campaigns that are “social by design,” she argued with examples, have demonstrated increases in market share and sales as high as 4.2% and 28% respectively. “”We aren’t arguing you shouldn’t keep doing what you’ve been doing” she said.”But you should think about social as an absolutely fundamental ingredient.”

Advertising Age: Put a Little Facebook in Everything You Do

Case Study: New Heinz Ketchup’s Digital Debut

On Nov 15, Heinz will launch an all-new, limited-edition ketchup on its Facebook page. Five months later Heinz Tomato Ketchup Blended with Balsamic Vinegar will appear on store shelves, possibly for just 31 days depending on sales. With no immediate plans to advertise the product, which uses balsamic vinegar in place of white vinegar, Heinz has devised a truly Social-First campaign.

New York Times: Ketchup Moves Upmarket, With a Balsamic Tinge

Understand Your Social Customer

To create positive engagement with your social customer, you need to understand your social customer. But adding social profiles to your customer’s phone and address information is just the first step. In this article, Forrester analyst Zach Hofer-Shall outlines how brands can build and budget for customer relationships that include the whole customer, online and off.

Computer Weekly: Six tips to improve your organisation’s social media CRM strategy

Case Study: Banks Go Social

Without any need for physical branches, a bank invented today would be very different from the banks we know (and love). A historically slow-mover in the social space, the financial industry is cottoning on to the idea that social media can drive consumers to online services, which are cheaper and more efficient than branches and paper statements. ”You will start to interact through your bank the same way you interact through social media,” predicts industry analyst James Van Dyke.

Wall Street Journal: Chasing Friends, Banks Go Social

Six Ways Your Fan Base Can Help You

A Social-First campaign would include social media right from the start. That means not just planning to use social media, but using social media to plan! In this blog post, entrepreneur Jim Belosic looks at six ways you can tap your fan base online to help with research, creative and everything else.

SmartBlog: Six ways to get your fan base working for you

Building a Social-First Business

A Social-First campaign requires Social-First thinking, but as Edelman Digital EVP David Armano points out in this post, most organizations are stuck with “legacy” systems and processes. Becoming a social business means taking three steps to integrate social listening and engagement into not only your marketing, but also your customer service and business operations.

Edelman Digital: How Digital Is Your Company?

Edelman Canada’s Digital Digest is a weekly bundle of links, served up on Edelman Canada’s Our Ideas blog on Fridays. It’s also available by email. If you know someone who would like to be added to the mailing list, have any questions or just want to share some thoughts on anything you read here, email me. Let’s get a conversation going. 

Digital Digest is edited by Matthew Hayles and Kareena Coelho. Twitter: @midnighthaircut, @Kareena_Coelho