Digital Insights Group + SEER™ A strategic approach to social marketing

1. Digital Insights Group + SEER™ A strategic approach to social marketing 29 April 2009

2. About VML • Social media approach • Digital Insights + SEER™ • A toolset • A practice • Case studies • Q&A

3. creativity innovation strategy knowledge

4. Ranked by Forrester among the top five interactive agencies worldwide

5. VML Network Companies We are here. VML Network Companies

6. Delivery service model

7. The conversation prism Source: theconversationprism.com

8. The conversation quagmire Source: tjcnyc.wordpress.com/

9. Source: Forrester Research, Inc. and Intelliseek Why should brands care?

10. Our approach Audience ProfileHow your audience currently engages in emerging forms of media. Locate opportunities for them to engage based on other behavior. Business ObjectivesDefine ultimate business goals – and metrics of success. Engagement StrategyDevelop comprehensive strategy for emerging media, based on insights from the audience profile that can roll across many different tactics within the space. Content DevelopmentIdentify the key idea, based on strategy, that can become the foundation upon which the entire idea is built. Application DevelopmentUnderstand the importance of being true to the idea while deploying it across multiple platforms. MeasurementTrack results against the metrics identified as part of the business objectives to determine success and learn from every effort. Planning Execution

11. Our toolset SEER™ is a social monitoring & active listening tool that maps online audiences, identifies key influencers, locates important conversation, and reveals the sweet-spot of where key conversation and influence intersect. VML’s Digital Insights Group (DIG) synthesizes SEER data to track brands and trends online, develop consumer insights, and create integrated social engagement strategies that range from media and SEO recommendation to influencer engagement and community activation.

12. Our team World’s largest feed aggregator Crawl-based Insights and actionable recommendations

13. SEER the tool - process • Map ecosystem around audience and topics • Audience – proactive activity • Topics – reactive activity • Locate conversation • Identify influencers • Isolate where conversation and influence intersect • Segment audience by areas of interest, type of site, brand affinity, and other psychographic factors • Deliver insights, and develop outreach strategy or other actionable recommendations

14. SEER the tool - components Focused crawler Custom dictionaries and parsing Web-based control panel & remote scheduling Three-dimensional visualization tool Client reporting dashboard Crawls Latin-based and double-byte languages

15. SEER the practice

16. Emerging technology…emerging metrics • There is no silver bullet • Lack of standardization • A mix of quantitative and qualitative • It varies • Example metrics that we have used • Share of voice • Quality, sentiment and depth of conversation • Impact of social ecosystem connectedness • Brand or product presence amongst influential, authoritative sites • Authorship emotion and originality • Dispersion of message or content, pass-longs, forwards • Social bookmarking activity • Average number of comments per post

17. SEER client roster

18. Case Studies

19. Case Study: Sprint – tapping into the influencers Relationship-building, and product seeding • Product launch • Monitored online conversations about mobile technologies • Identified influencers and recruited them to become part of Ambassador program for Sprint Power Vision launch • Nearly 400 Ambassadors and most have written about the experience positively • Includes sites like engadget and gizmodo • Results • National media coverage for Sprint • 4 million hits on Google for “Sprint Ambassador Program” • 1.2 million subscribers signed up for service

20. Case Studies: optimize (backend) based on social media insights Locate untapped online media sources SEER focus: Locate “Embedded Developer” discussions Digital Insights/Finding : linuxworld.com Action: Contacted site, and purchased media. Result: That unit performed 3 times better than any other online ad unit based on click-throughs. Detect product issues SEER focus: Track World Cup campaign across Euro football sites Digital Insights/Finding: Product issues with recently released football boot Action: Notified marketing team – craft targeted response to the address issues, delivering overt care instructions at the source (i.e., pre-treat your boot). Result: Negative conversation went away. Blogger recruitment – reinvigorate corporate blog SEER focus: Locate blogs about home fashion and interior décor. Digital Insights/Finding: Identify appropriate influencers – not brand aversive and willing to shop for deals and discounts. Action: Invited influential bloggers to write on their blog – both as guests and permanent authors. Result: Traffic to HomeGoods spiked 38% in the first two weeks of new authorship, and grew to over 200% through December 2008

21. Do • Listen before you leap • Participate – there is risk in not participating • Discuss risks • Expect consumer feedback and accept criticism. Be prepared to respond to both. • Target. Don’t spam. • Be 100% transparent, clear and consistent • Be in it for the long haul. Social media efforts are not campaigns. No start date, no launch, no end date. • Do approach the consumer as a person, a friend, a human being, who likely does not appreciate being yelled at in their space • Measure and optimize your efforts

22. Don’t • Treat social engagement like a one-time launch. • Be a cheerleader • Drop the ball. Don’t spend time, energy and money to amass large groups of followers, only to let them languish. • Be self-centered – it’s not about you. It’s about making people look good, feel good, get excited talking about you. • Approach social engagement as “cheap” advertising, and blast information because it is economical to do so.

23. Thank you! Camille Lauer Director, Digital Insights Group clauer@vml.com 816.218.2947