Big, Bigger, Biggest! Social Media’s Top Players Capture the Conversation at PR News’ Big Three Conference: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest in San Francisco
What makes something big? By definition the word “big” means “of considerable size, extent or intensity.” So one would think it’s safe to say that a 2,183 percent increase in U.S. monthly visitors can be classified as big. And 400 million tweets a day, that’s pretty big. How about 955 million registered users? Huge!
I’m obviously referring to three very big social networks – Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook. I recently attended PR News’ Big 3 Conference in San Francisco that spent the day focused on these very platforms we PR peeps strive to be experts in. With constant updates, new engagement features and ever-changing user interface modifications, marketers have the ongoing challenge of staying informed and keeping up with the latest social media news and product innovations. To help meet this challenge, the Big 3 event held several panels and discussions from expert community managers, strategists and brand managers from some of social media’s powerhouse brands, including: Old Navy, Esurance, Sony, American Airlines and Stella & Dot.
There were key takeaways for each platform.
Facebook: It Pays to Pay for Visibility
Dan Gould, Manager of Digital Public Relations for Sourcefire, broke down the key elements of a successful Facebook post. As expected, a paid post has significantly greater reach than a standard post, and pinning it to the top of a brand’s Page will garner even more consumer engagement. However, be aware that a pinned post will only stay at the top of the page for seven days before being dropped in to its original slot in the timeline.
Gould also made the point that all posts should be highly visual to attract the attention of consumers and draw their interest in revisiting a brand’s page. To find his full presentation, click here.
Twitter: A Critical Tool for Crisis Communications
According to Burson-Marsteller Chief Global Digital Strategist, Dallas Lawrence, 79 percent of companies believe they will face a crisis within the next year, with 50 percent of companies believing this will happen in the digital space. What’s even harder to believe is that only one-third of these companies have staff dedicated to social media. Only one-third! Twitter can be, is and will be your single greatest crisis tool in communications. With 46 percent of journalists using Twitter as a source, it’s a bona fide way to make sure the messages you want your brand to get across during your crisis are properly delivered.
Another key action many companies don’t take into consideration is developing a digital crisis communication plan to include a variety of essential responses and actions, including chain of command and key contacts, what message to share with your Twitter followers, and which messages should be delivered by customer service versus the CEO.
For more on using Twitter as a crisis communication tool, click here.
Pinterest: Pin Only What You Own or Have Permission to Use
What’s in a pin? According to lawyers, a pin opens up a lot of potential liabilities for a brand or marketer. If you take a look at Pinterest’s terms of use policy, it basically says that if you don’t have permission to post the content you’re pinning, don’t pin it.
In an insightful and eye-opening presentation by Davis & Gilbert LLP’s Allison Fitzpatrick, she broke down the terms of use policies from each of the Big 3 social platforms, but none quite struck the cord like those for Pinterest. Here are her recommendations on what to and what not to pin.
- Only pin or re-pin images that your brand owns or has appropriately licensed for this use
- Just because a site includes a “Pin it” button does not mean the site has the proper authority to grant you the rights
- Do not pin images of celebrities or third parties without permission
- Do not pin third party trademarks without permission
- Check the site to which the image links to make sure appropriate content
- Do not allow users to pin to your brand’s board
For Pinterest promotions:
- Consider providing the images that consumers pin to enter the promotion
- Register links off Pinterest
For Fitzpatrick’s full presentation, click here.
Measurement: Is there such a thing as “Social Media ROI?”
While we all wish we could simply wave our hand in a Jedi-like fashion when a client asks the inevitable, “How do we measure success in social media?,” it’s difficult to convince business-minded individuals that social media ROI isn’t measured in revenue generated but in the relationships your brand is able to create with consumers through building connections, driving conversations and pushing brand related content. Luckily, there are some tools out there to help with measurement and provide insight into how your brand is engaging with consumers. Here are links to a few of the free analytic tools discussed at the Big 3.
With so many compelling conversations and best practices coming out of the Big 3 conference, it’s hard to list all of the day’s learnings, but hopefully these few takeaways will be helpful guidance for your next big social media program. As the social media landscape continues to grow there will always be new insights to learn and new platforms to become familiar with. Who knows how big these three networks will be in the future but one thing is for sure: things will only continue to get bigger from here, and smart brands will be at the front of the curve learning how to best work within these platforms.
For a look into all of the presentations from the Big 3 click here.