Idea Shop Social: Hamish Priest on Social media for small businesses & a few important dos and don’ts from Ruth Jamieson on Vimeo.
Discover how to develop and execute a creative social media strategy on a tiny budget with social media planner Hamish Priest (OgilvyOne). Hamish will draw on his experience creating campaigns for small businesses such as London’s Bombay style cafe, Dishoom.
Whisky Connosr is an exciting new online resource/social network for all things whisky related.
Designed and developed from the ground up by Founder Jean-Luc Thiébaut, this stunningly well made site was for me, one of the most exciting things we saw at IdeaShop.
Whisky Connosr started out as a simple online journal for Jean-Luc to record notes on the various whiskys he has sampled as an amateur connoisseur
Today it has close to 3000 active members and 2000 listed whiskys
Aim:
Jean-Luc clearly had a great foundation to work and some excellent ideas on how to turn the site into a viable revenue stream but he was keen to hear our thoughts on how he could further develop the user base and spread the word of Whisky Connosr to the internet masses.
Ideas:
1. Become *THE* whisky information resource on the web by offering the site as a platform for key bloggers in the industry to have there opinions heard. Analyse the space and engage key bloggers, etc who’s style, opinion, etc fit with the brand you’re trying to create.
2. Setup an Expert Reviewer category for the site to allow these key bloggers some form of notoriety & status within the whisky connosr community. Value exchange is key when trying to engage bloggers. There has to be something in it for them.
3. Create a Whisky Connosr *badge* or *seal* for contributing bloggers that highlights them as a credible source of expert information for visitors to their own blog. This will play to the bloggers ego while simultaneously promoting Whisky Connosr as a professional and credible whisky Institution if you like.
4. Develop fresh, interesting, engaging multimedia content with those Expert Reviewers that will draw new users back to the site in other ways than just simple search;
- weekly podcasts
- video reviews, etc.
Try and grab the attention of newsmedia such as Metro, Evening Standard, Guardian, Sunday Times to try and promote the site. One idea we had was to use the data gathered from the site’s user base to develop quirky (anonymous) statics that will make a good headline.
Once Whisky Connosr reaches a good critical mass of users, engage distillers, retailers, and other trade bodies by attending trade shows, conferences, etc and selling the clear benefits of Whisky Connosr.
Richard O’Brien
Digital Producer
Ogilvy One
twitter.com/richard_obrien
Macmillan Cancer Support visited the Idea Shop with a campaign brief outlining the need to raise awareness that people with rarer cancers should get fairer access to the drugs they need to prolong their lives. It’s a really important issue that the Idea Shop team were only too happy to help with.
The challenge:
The benefits of drugs to treat rarer cancers, while often hugely valued by patients, frequently prove non cost-effective under the NICE Technology Appraisal processes and aren’t widely available on the NHS as a result.
The campaign brief detailed a range of audiences that Macmillan Cancer Support intend to target including MPs, Health Thought Leaders, NICE, health correspondents, influential bloggers and the general public. The aim of the campaign is to generate national and regional coverage to raise awareness of the issue amongst the target audiences and encourage the public to get involved and write to their local MP / newspaper.
The solution:
We talked Macmillan through the need to pull together a detailed communications strategy setting clear guidelines on timing. We recommended stretching the initial deadline to beyond May as the campaign would still be equally as effective working as a sustained campaign, rather than an immediate push before the general election when the media will be incredibly crowded with competing messages.
The Ogilvy team recommended splitting the target audiences into three distinct groups that each require different messaging and tailored approaches.
Ogilvy stressed the need for a case study in order to help people to engage with the story in a personal manner. An individual’s story would greatly assist the campaign in terms of the strength of the argument created for enabling fairer access to drugs. We batted around a few ideas for ‘lines’ to promote the campaign, which we’ll keep under wraps for now.
Macmillan is currently very strong in terms of generating media headlines. Therefore we recommended focusing on amplifying current online activity – such as utilising the Facebook page and creating a Twitter stream purely for the campaign to raise awareness of the issues these people are facing. By utilising digital streams Macmillan can create a value exchange, enabling supporters to actively engage in the campaign and share their views in addition to spreading the word about the need for fairer access to drugs that treat rare cancers. To that end we talked about initiating a “retweet campaign” to support the call to action to write to MPs or sign a petition.
Ogilvy talked about the importance of listening to what is currently being talked about online and then engaging in that conversation. Engaging influential bloggers is key to spreading online chatter and we recommended a listening exercise in order to help Macmillan identify relevant individuals.
We also talked about right and wrong ways to approach bloggers and active twitter users – think of it as a conversation you are joining, be respectful, earn your right to be there, then add your two cents, just as if you were joining a conversation down the pub or over the garden fence.
The chatter online will drive traffic to a dedicated part of the Macmillan Communities site where the call to action will be clearly stated, either in the form of a petition or a template letter.
Macmillan is keeping Idea Shop updated on their progress and we are fully behind the campaign.
Keep your eyes peeled for the latest coverage: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7189796/Terminally-ill-patients-being-penalised-by-Nice-for-having-rare-conditions.html
Get involved: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/macmillancancer http://community.macmillan.org.uk/whatsnew/default.aspx
Post by Sophie Gray, Ogilvy PR
Budding photographer Max came to Idea Shop to see how he could better differentiate himself and his work in the extremely competitive market for photography in London. He also wanted to see what opportunities there might be to showcase his work in new and innovative ways.
After reviewing Max’s work (www.MaxColson.CarbonMade.com) along with his Twitter feed (www.twitter.com/ThatPoshBastard) it became apparent that he had a substantial body of work already under his belt and had several key differentiating factors he could build on. His idea of using documentary photography to create fictional dialogues (http://prezi.com/0suqwiqjmhsb/) showed thought that stood him apart from the current crop of endless party snappers. He’s also been sitting on a study of cage fighters – including red tops’ favourite Alex Reid, imagery for which there is likely to be an appetite.
There were many ideas discussed from pop-up exhibitions to provide a physical location to allow him to meet his audience, to how he can better articulate his identity through digital media – using tools such as Flickr & Twitter (albeit perhaps with a new handle) and also how he could grow his following by collaborating with others also seeking to build their portfolio; stylists, fashion students, models etc.
Ultimately two key themes arose – firstly the importance of clearly articulating and maintaining his identity in a highly competitive market, and second the need to build-up and engage with a digital community of relevant stakeholders. Max’s one and a half hour slot went by in a ‘flash’ and he left with a few pages of notes and a promise to return photograph Idea Shop in its final day of glory – which he duly did.
Post by Kieran Bradshaw
Mad Hatter’s Tea Party arrange and host club nights in South London venues, based around the theme of Alice in Wonderland. They aim to offer something different from run-of-the-mill parties in the area, with fancy dress, games, live bands, djs and most importantly, a good cause. A different charity receives the proceeds from each event.
The challenge:
Previous events have enjoyed small success, selling out in less than 24 hours, but the event is about to get a lot bigger and they’re in need of a small-scale marketing strategy that will reach a wider audience than word of mouth alone. Being a charity event, funding is minimal. The date of the next event just over a month away, so time is short too. With a team of only, any advertising needs to be cheap, effective and quick to do.
The solution:
We suggested that the easiest way of reaching the local target demographic might be to direct advertising towards places where similar nightlife activities are already happening, ie; local pubs and clubs. As a great flyer has already been designed, making postcards which people will pick up, absorb and circulate is a cheap and easy way of spreading the message. Independent local cinemas such as the Roxy and Picturehouses (Greenwich and Clapham) will soon be screening Tim Burton’s ‘Alice In Wonderland’, which will naturally create interest around the theme. Leaving flyers/postcards in their foyers would target people who already have an interest in the theme.
Whichever charity is to benefit from the event should be encouraged to advertise the event on their website/newsletters. We identified that the current lack of web presence of the organisation needs to be rectified as soon as possible. We strongly recommended that they start utilising social media spaces such as Flickr, MySpace and Facebook to start an online buzz, and provide a forum for club-goers to share their experiences/listen to music, etc. Press (local and music) should also be sent guest passes to the event, so that it receives proper coverage, ensuring a following for future events.
Local charity shops could be tapped to build a dressing-up wardrobe, which could be hired/sold at events to generate yet more money for the charity. Photos could be taken and sold to customers for a small fee. Going forwards, a festival presence might also be an avenue they want to explore, as fancy dress is always a hit at these kinds of events. We suggested they get in touch with local festivals to enquire about getting involved.
Lots of small-scale, locally-targeted initiatives applied within the realms of a tiny budget could have a big effect on this fledgling events organisation, and together we helped troubleshoot some of their concerns and come up with some easy ways get the word out on the street without breaking the bank.
