Comments on: IPA Social: 10 conversation starters

By: We Are Social joins CIPR advisory panel / we are social

We Are Social joins CIPR advisory panel / we are social — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:15:00 +0000

[...] social media council which has been in place for almost two years, and even the old-school IPA launched IPA Social six months [...]

By: The best of the We Are Social blog, 2009 / we are social

The best of the We Are Social blog, 2009 / we are social — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 03:16:24 +0000

[...] IPA Social: 10 conversation starters My report from the IPA Social launch event, with links through to all ten conversation starters. If you haven’t read these already, you should. [...]

By: links for 2009-11-02 | Mark William Mann

links for 2009-11-02 | Mark William Mann — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:03:38 +0000

[...] IPA Social: 10 conversation starters / we are social (tags: marketing media social pr research howto tools) [...]

By: IPA Social – A Few Weeks On « Chutzpah

IPA Social – A Few Weeks On « Chutzpah — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:12:34 +0000

[...] were about 80 people in attendance and there’s since been a few debates about the event and about the 10 [...]

By: geetarchurchy

geetarchurchy — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:34:27 +0000

Great post Robin. You've hit the nail on the head when you make the point about a conversation being led by Ford being a truer representation of a social media campaign than Compare The Meerkat, which is regarded as a SM success. CTM is a great creative which tickled everybody's imaginations offline which spilled over online as a, be it well managed and executed, sub-campaign.

I agree with James where he says "which agency is best placed depends, as usual, on the nature of the Client's problem and their objectives". I think larger digital communications groups will always have a place alongside those which are more nimble yet smaller.

What is great with the way our industry is developing at the moment is that each type of agency/group is, and will continue to, learn from each other, providing our clients with more effective solutions. But more importantly, we've got an opportunity to instigate institutional change making brands more honest and transparent and delivering a better service for consumers.

By: geetarchurchy

geetarchurchy — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:34:27 +0000

By: christianhughes

christianhughes — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:23:16 +0000

Hey Robin, great post. I think the question of who is best suited to utilising social media is answered by asking, who actually understand what social media can do for a brand?
I think the marketplace (and perhaps even human nature – from a consumer point of view) has changed. We have entered an “Age of Reciprocity” – the relationships between brands and consumers have, in most instances, I believe, matured and developed to a point where the nature of the 'buy and sell' dynamic is fully understood and appreciated – 'I like your product therefore I buy it, in so doing you make money' – simple but often forgotten by brands. Once this is accepted, from a brands perspective, they can move on to more important aspects of building their brand relationships with customers. What can they give back? A perfect example was Guinness' Arthur's Day in which the proceeds of the events went to charity. The consumer got the good feeling of giving to charity while also getting a great night out at a very reasonable price. The brand made money from the sale of its product and also boosted its CRS profile. This 'reciprocity' is fully understood by the consumer and appreciated.
Within all of this social media is the perfect tool to connect with customers because all you actually want to do is talk to them and communicate what activities you are doing – you effectively remove the 'selling' from the conversation. I think if that's how brands approach social media they can fully understand its power.

By: James Devon

James Devon — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:16:26 +0000

Some valid observations Robin... though I do feel the "who's best placed?" argument is somewhat acadamic. For me, social media is so exciting at the moment because how one uses it is constantly evolving; people are working out how to use it in exactly the same way that marketers and agencies are. Although some "be nice" etc. behavioural parameters are emerging, there are no hard and fast rules of engagement.

So to my mind which agency is best placed depends, as usual, on the nature of the Client's problem and their objectives. I can see how We Are Social's set-up is perfect for some Clients, but other situations still demand the "Compare the Meerkat" type idea which you may not be structured to deliver (but that's ok, as it's not what you do).

On a separate note it's well worth reading Mark Hancock's recent post (http://bit.ly/dTC71) about a few emerging models that socially based technology enables.

By: Paul Armstrong

Paul Armstrong — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:20:10 +0000

Good post R. Reminds me of http://www.internet-manifesto.org/ - I think we should add #12 'Tradition is not a business model'.

By: Roger, C&M Online PR Agency

Roger, C&M Online PR Agency — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:12:45 +0000

Good list there Robin. The first point is great – and usually forgotten. Also 'people, not professionals' often goes wonky. Time to stop Marketing and start talking, no? : ) I posted something earlier on some of these themes… ref the old 'stop building stuff' discussion. One of your faves, I know. See – http://www.contentandmotion.co.uk/blog/pr-socia…