As the year draws to a close it is a great time to review your Social Media Strategy. As with all strategies refinement should happen continuously all year but I also like to do a year-end review:

These are just a few things up for review:

1. Audience – Are you engaging with the right crowd? Are you hitting your qualitative and quantitative targets?

2. Metrics – are you happy with the metrics you are collecting? Have you added new objectives along the way and now need to find a metric that relates to them? Are you getting the most out of your metrics tools- for example Facebook updates their Insights tool regularly but are you across the new components?

3.Listening/Monitoring – we all know we need to do it but are you happy with the data you are collecting? is it meaningful and is it time to review your social media monitoring supplier?

4.Staffing – if you are resourcing social media internally what are your staffing skillset gaps? is it technical? content creation? start a skills matrix so you can start the year fresh knowing what skills you need to buy-in or trainup internally

5.Content – as we know content creation is a vital part of engaging in social media – which pieces of content this year hit the mark? which ones missed and why?

6.Competitors – what did your competitors in the space achieve this year? how will this influence how you refine your strategy for next year.

These are just a few things you can review to ensure you start the new year fresh and on track.

Have a safe, happy and prosperous New Year!

Webicina  (the world’s first and only free service that provides curated medical social media resources in over 80 medical topics) has just launched the Open Access Social Media Guidelines for Pharma.

The document (freely downloadable) is a 14 page summary that was developed in the US because  drug companies, healthcare professionals and e-patients had been waiting too long  for the FDA guidelines on Social Media.

While our Australian industry has some differing regulations many of the guidelines are appropriate and cover basic areas such as Social Media Rules of Engagement but it also covers individual guidelines on each platform such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.

The main editors of the Guidelines were:

Dr. Bertalan Mesko (@Berci) Dr. Felix Jackson (@felixjackson) Silja Chouquet (@whydotpharma) Andrew Spong (@andrewspong) Denise Silber (@health20paris) Rob Halkes (@rohal)

Further Reading

Interested in Social Media and Pharma? you might be interested in these additional sources:

Today in my inbox I received an email with the subject line “ Some very sad news…” as you can imagine seeing that I rapidly opened up the email to see that the email was about the end of a free trial for cosmetic brand Nude by Nature.

Now confession, I did subscribe to that newsletter but in my inbox the email name that comes up is of Clint Dowdell so it looks like a personal email (shown above) and with that extremely tacky subject line it is sure to stand out.

But it gets worse. I then commented on the tacky subject line on their Facebook page and the comment disappeared (not once but three times).  Clearly they are not going to have a conversation on their page about it.

A savvy communication professional would move directly into online crisis communications mode:

1. Leave the comment on the Facebook page to show they are listening

2. Rapidly respond to the comment saying something like they were upset to hear this response etc etc …. and admit some fault and show that they care about their customers.

3. Reassess if your marketing tactics are appropriate and review email newsletter subject lines for the future.

Trading on misery or drama is simply unacceptable. This was the case when Kenneth Cole tried to trade off what was happening in Cairo and he was whipped because of it.

Social Media is supposed to be about respect and listening – a two way dialogue.

Enough of the crisis comms lecture, but it does makes you wonder how many negative product reviews they are taking down from their page about the product? mmm

Update: Nude by Nature didn’t delete the posts  (apologies) but there were no comments back addressing the issue of the tacky subject lines. Update 2: They have now commented and said they will be addressing the issue of the tacky subject line with me.  Context: this subject line affected me- I just found out today about a relative who is very ill,  hence the rapid fire commentary (not to be recommended).

At 5.55pm today News online ran with a story Mouthwash Recalled Over Bacteria Scare. My first thought was to view the Colgate Palmolive website where I expected to find at least a news item or ticker regarding the issue.  But nothing.

I then went into the actual product page for Savacol once again nothing!

Next stop Twitter – it doesn’t appear Colgate have a company Twitter stream if they did it would be an ideal crisis communication vehicle, if they do it is not advertised on their home page and is well hidden.

Finally off to Facebook to see if a product or company page exist? No – once again a lost opportunity to communicate and answer consumers questions and fears regarding the recall.

Are people discussing the Savacol recall online? you bet.  These are just a few comments that appear on Twitter from consumers:

-Thousands of bottles of #Savacol antiseptic mouth and throat rinse taken off shelves in Oz after traces of harmful bacteria were detected

With the Qantas lockdown in full swing social media platforms are abuzz with  commentary. On Facebook this evening the following wordcloud was developed using fan feedback from the 10pm Qantas posting.  Also the picture at right was uploaded to the photo file on their Facebook page. It will be interesting to see if consumers start uploading pics of themselves stranded at airports.

Conversations from the wordcloud above centred on the CEO, Joyce, the unions and words such as ‘shame’ and ‘shares‘ appear giving an understanding of some of the key concerns.

A Facebook protest page called Lock out Alan Joyce not Qantas Workers has gained 5438 ‘likes’ over the past 24 hours. The page is said to be not affiliated with the unions.

An AFR article on Qantas and social media noted that the wrong Alan Joyce Twitter account has been targetted online with an American university student copping flack for the grounding.

The buzz online has also seen the development of a fake Alan Joyce Twitter account with his bio saying  ”leading Qantas Airway to its biggest disaster yet and then on to the next”. The account was accompanied by a particularly bad profile pic. You can follow some of the discussion by viewing the #qantasfail twitter stream

Discussions regarding the airline dispute are also occuring in a range of online forums as far ranging as Golf, The Athiest Foundation of Australia and  Vogue Fashion.

It should be noted that this is not the first time Qantas has come under fire in the social media arena with the airline under attack recently when they gave two Wallaby fans platinum tickets to the Tri-Nations decider . They didn’t bargain that the rugby fans would come dressed asRadike Samo complete with afro wigs and painted black faces.

Digital Democracy is a leading Sydney social media agency. Director Jenni Beattie has over 20 years marketing experience and has focused on social media for the past five years. Jenni teaches social media at UTS and also develops social media strategies for a range of clients. Digital Democracy can be contacted on 0423073099

I read with interest that The International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) is joining forces with the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) and the Council of PR Firms to form a Coalition to develop global standards in social media measurement – one of the four key commitments of the Lisbon Summit Measurement Agenda 2020 initiative.

When working many years ago for the global media content analysis company CARMA,   AMEC set some standards for the media content analysis industries which was much needed after the many years of simplistic AVE measurements.

Tim Marklein, coalition chair and Practice Leader, Technology & Analytics, WCG  said “Clients and agencies are hungry for expert guidance to navigate the changing media landscape, and they deserve guidance that’s based on sound social science, proven practices and openly available methodologies.  Too many of the social media measurement options available today are based on proprietary tools and methods that can’t be easily replicated across brands, campaigns and organizations. As a coalition, we intend to break down those barriers and map out a path to standards that address key social media measurement challenges, including content sourcing, influence, sentiment, engagement and ROI among others.”

On 17th November, AMEC is running “The Big Ask” social media measurement conference in London, when it aims to ask PR and media intelligence professionals what they want to see as part of the new global standards. Let’s hope the conference has many social/online mechanisms  where international marketing professionals can follow the event and participate widely in it.

Who hasn’t been seduced by an infographic? Wikipedia explains an Infographic as : a graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly.

Today however I read an excellent article from PsychCentral discussing a recent US infographic called “The Depressing Statistics about Anti-Depressants.”

The author firstly discovers it was produced by ADrugRecall.com  a lawyer referral website that specialises in connecting consumers with lawyers who sue drug companies and secondly and more importantly many of the ‘facts’ in the graphic were simply wrong.

While most infographics are factual it does raise the issue of the challenges in over simplifying data.

On a more positive note!, there are loads of factual and fantastic infographics. Check out the Cool Infographics blog.

If you are thinking about getting an infographic developed for your brand, company or service view 16 Experts Answer, “What makes a great infographic for some great advice.

A fortnight ago I taught a Social Media course in conjunction with Net101.  Along with working for a range of clients I also teach a Masters Communications subject at UTS called Rethinking Media (essentially about the changes that Social Media is bringing to the communications professional). In  both these environments I am always interested in hearing what is happening within organisations regarding the integration of social media into the business.  These are some of my observations from both large corporate and SMB empoyees:

• Communication Manager’s are overloaded with their job responsibilities that now extend into Social Media
• IT departments are still to come to grips with giving staff access to the tools they need to do their job
• While many are well versed in the concepts the practicalities (hands on) of how to do the tactical work is still difficult for many
• Underresourcing is a huge issue with social media elements given to juniors who have hands-on skills but no business acumen
• The c-suite (many of who are mid 50s and up) still don’t get it - forcing in some cases good comms managers to look around for businesses that will embrace social media so they can get experience in this area
• The pace of change - many are overwhelmed by how fast the platforms changes – think Facebook competitions t/cs and many worry they will be caught unaware in this environment

What observations can you make about what is happening within offices in Australia?

As a parent the topic of video games can be problematic! let’s face it all those hours in front of the box it can be a source of tension.

Well this week The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently published a paper that argued health-focused video games, including those for mobile platforms, now deserve “serious attention.”

Dr. Leighton Read of Alloy Ventures and Seriosity, Inc. and Dr. Stephen M. Shortell from the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley chronicled the popularity of video games and the promise that the popular form of media holds for teaching the public to make healthier choices.

Some examples currently include:  

• Zamzee – online rewards system for kids based on physical activity
• Mindless eating challenge – peer support via mobile phone

Read JAMA to find out more



It is your worst nightmare as a retailer, it is your biggest trading season and you have a product recall in place. That is where Lindt has found itself this week.

They said of the recall “We were recently made aware that elements of peanut butter were found in the 16g milk egg, and have immediately confirmed the issue and informed FSANZ and the NSW Food Authority. We are placing a voluntary recall on all potentially affected products, as any consumers who have a peanut allergy or intolerance may have a reaction if they consume the products in question.”  

Crisis Comms

Not pleasant indeed BUT the upside is they have handled the crisis well. They have updated recall information on their Twitter and Facebook pages and on their website there is a well labelled Product Recall area. My only disappointment was when they mentioned updates on their Twitter and Facebook pages (within their media statement) the words were not hyperlinked for ease of use .

I am also interested to see if they are going to use the new Facebook functionality to use the Outreach feature (pasting comments on other organisation pages alerting them to the dangers) I would suggest starting with family pages such as Essential Baby or Kidspot where mums are online.

Reputation

With regard to their reputation, interestingly fans on their Facebook page were not negative but actually thought nuts could be a nice addition to the chocolate- showing their customer loyalty. Some of the comments included:

 would love for some to be sent my way no nut allergies here… waste not

haha! YEAH we dont mind nuts! give it to us!!

All up a good performance with a little tweaking it would be eggcellent (ok couldn’t resist!)

Postscript

After I had written this blogpost I was contacted by a woman who had a severe allergy reaction to the Lindt eggs, and she had found it difficult for Lindt to take responsibility – She told her story to 3AW Listen to the interview.

Author Bio

Digital Democracy is a Sydney based digital communications consultancy by Jenni Beattie.

Jenni is a senior communications strategist who has worked across advertising, public relations, market research and media.  She has worked for companies such as News Ltd, CARMA International, McCann Erickson Advertising,  Cancer Council NSW, Media Monitors, The Digital Edge and Network PR.