The Blog

OK, so the bottom line is ‘Did the DDM Summit provide any answers?’ The answer is yes and no. It answered some of the smaller questions, and uncluttered our minds, but it certainly left a lot hanging in the air. And I would suggest that is exactly as it should be. The aim of the Summit was to explore and enthuse, to spark interest and encourage participation. It is now up to all those of us who want to use digital media for drinks communications to push things forward. And since this is such a new medium for all of us, we will make better progress if we work together. There was certainly an air of excitement and determination as the event ended, and it would be great to see that convert into increased involvement and activity. In an effort to signpost some of the key factors, here is a brief summary of what was discussed.

PLAYERS
It’s important to first identify all the players that operate within the drinks business digital media sphere – brand owners, marketers, PRs, bloggers, journalists and consumers/customers.

COMMUNITY
Digital media allows remote conversations – and social media allows gossip. But above all, this is about community, interaction and sharing. It’s about talking with and listening to like-minded people. As far as the drinks industry is concerned, any purchase-motivating factors other than price should be gripped with both hands, and telling the story behind a product is a great place to start. If you can’t tell that story face to face, then sharing it with an online community – and the wider world – is the next best thing.

CONTROL
It is impossible to control what is said about you and your brand on social media. You can introduce the conversation, but then everyone has a right to comment and the focus should then fall on steering and monitoring the conversation as best you can. This is an excellent opportunity for research and feedback, and for building a relationship with your target group. Increasingly there is a power-shift away from the brand, as online peer-to-peer relationships become more important – personal recommendation is a very strong tool and a cynical audience would much rather hear from a trusted source than from an organisation with an agenda.

PERSONALITY
It’s best to determine, from the outset, the character you want to portray through your social media avatar – e.g. on twitter, facebook etc. It is hard to be all things to all men, so some practitioners maintain a number of different accounts to target different target groups – although this can increase the workload. This is the age of the brandividual – so your personality, brand and character are all rolled up together. Inevitably, this means that the personality of the individuals operating the social media output for an organisation ‘becomes’ the organisation, and vice versa, but with an integrated and controlled approach this can be beneficial.

RESPONSIBILITY
One of the key issues raised was that of using social media to promote alcoholic drinks brands, and how this could be done responsibly. Given the lack of control that social media affords the originator of any communication, is it responsible to introduce something as contentious as alcohol in the first place? Social media is rather like a conversation, and it was generally agreed that it is OK for drinks brands to join in, provided their original message is appropriate, targeted and unambiguous. The biggest debate centred on how to attempt to address one’s brand being abused in the first place, with the ‘Blossom Hill challenge’ of necking a bottle of wine used as an example. Some saw it as an opportunity to engage and education the perpetrators, others suggested any attempt to enter into dialogue with them would be dangerous and open to criticism. Some tools, such as facebook are working hard on age-gating meaning that access to certain content can be controlled – and this certainly seems to be a positive move – while others, such as twitter, are making no apparent efforts. Provided the message is directed to the right people in the right tone of voice, there seems little difference in communicating through social media than through word of mouth.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Ah, the perennial problem! Just when we were all starting to feel comfortable with measuring PR through print and broadcast media, along come blogs and social media platforms to complicate the issue. Sure, one can count the number of comments and estimate the reach of some social network activity, but technology designed specifically to do this is still in its infancy. And measuring the impact of blog mentions is equally hard – the site may have 5,000 followers, but how many engage with your brand? Undoubtedly, awareness and perceptions can be influenced, but just because this is the fastest of media doesn’t mean it will produce the fastest of results.

SALES There are plenty of examples of blogs and tweets influencing sales – such as Majestic’s recent twitter parcel sales and Stephen Fry’s comment increasing sales of a particular book by 6,000% in one day. However, the norm is less spectacular but equally as important. The focus should be on community and relationships and, over time, they should translate to sales.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGING THE ROLE OF PR
Digital media and the web allow brand owners to talk directly to their customers, and to hear back from them faster and clearer than ever before. This is subtly changing the role of PRs, placing a focus on monitoring and steering consumer communications rather than just those facing the press. CAUSE AND EFFECT Digital and social media can massively amplify goodwill or dissatisfaction

PRs VS BLOGGERS?
Most bloggers have no commercial aspirations from their online activity – they simply want to share a passion. PRs and marketers, on the other hand, want to engage with these influence-formers and encourage/influence/persuade (delete as applicable!) them to endorse their brand. Bloggers want content and stories. PRs want mentions. Both groups know the rules, and there is no pulling wool over each others’ eyes. Therefore the only way forward is to work together on collaborative projects that everyone gets something out of.

HOW TO LEVERAGE SOCIAL MEDIA
Don’t shout, be interesting, avoid butting in – all the normal rules to making friends in the real world. Above all, interact – there are massive opportunities here for research and sharing, through holding votes and asking for opinion.

FINAL THOUGHTS
The panellists were unanimous in their suggestions for how to move forward; • Get involved even if you just watch to start with • Think laterally – food, travel etc rather than just drinks • Bring value to the party • Support – think, “How can I get involved and be creative?”