  |
KCADC Joins the Social Media Revolution
Apr. 8, 2010 | By: Ashlie Hand | Category: Marketing KC
Tags: communication, social media, strategy
I have three children. They are 7, 5 ½ and 1 ½. When I was pregnant with my oldest, my mom gave me the most recent copy of Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care: 7th Edition. It meant a lot to me because I could remember the worn, yellowed pages of the version my mom used when my brother and I were growing up. However, my copy lay virtually unused until I was recently cleaning out closets and chucked it in the pile of books to put out at the next garage sale.
Before you decide I’m a completely heartless daughter, or that I have a laissez-faire attitude about parenting, I did do my research. When I had questions about pregnancy aches and pains, teething, diaper rashes and behavior issues, I turned to a website called babycenter.com and the online chat rooms where there were other moms with children the same age as mine. It was the advice and experiences of “people like me” that gave me the comfort, support and reassurance I was looking for.
Maybe you’ve heard Eric Morgenstern with Morningstar Communications talk about the meteoric rise of social media as a communications tool. He loves to ask people – how many of you have some kind of personal communication device – Blackberry, iPhone, etc.? How many of you can check your email from where you are sitting? How many of you can surf the Internet? Check your calendar? Plot where you are standing and get a list of nearby restaurants? How many of you could do those things five years ago? Imagine what we’ll be able to do five years from now …
Where and how we get the information that influences our decisions is changing. Our KCADC investors, clients and partners expect our team to be on the cutting edge of marketing and communications tools. As social media has become more business-friendly, and begins to impact our industry, we knew it was time to dive in. Last fall, we surveyed KCADC investors and about 100 of our site location consultant contacts to find out how THEY were using social media.
We used the results to develop a very strategic and targeted approach to our social media communication strategy. Our strategy is focused primarily on our KCADC investors. Our site location targets are virtually absent from social media networks when it comes to communication that would influence a deal. Tim, Jill, Lynn and Chris will tell you that it’s still the face to face contact with our targets and clients that make the difference in the relationships that lead to deals.
We’ve chosen to develop a presence on LinkedIn, build out our ThinkKC Channel on YouTube, and create a weekly blog penned by KCADC staff and an occasional guest blogger or two. Since few of our KCADC investors are using Twitter or Facebook for business relationships and networking, as popular and useful as they are for some, we’re not going to waste our time there.
If you’re just starting out on this adventure, there’s one piece of wisdom I can share after going through this process: Don’t feel pressured into being on every social media networking site available. Do your research and start where YOUR audience already feels comfortable. You can branch out and be a trendsetter for your industry later after you’ve learned the ropes a bit.
As social media plays an increasing role in how we communicate in the business world, it will play a bigger role in KCADC’s communication strategy – we believe this is just the beginning. We invite you to participate – read the blog, comment, ask questions. If you are a KCADC investor, join our LinkedIn group and post discussion items, or link news articles you want to share.
Social media is here to stay, so go ahead – join in the conversation!
4 Comments
Leave a Comment
Phone 816.221.2121
This is an interesting approach to a social media campaign. You guys clearly did your research, but we’re wondering if effectively shunning Facebook and Twitter might leave you closed off to worthwhile opportunities… I some thoughts on our blog: http://lockerpartner.com/2010/04/kcadc-facebook-twitter/
Thanks!
Jason – thank you for your comments and insight. I thought I’d offer a little more detailed look at our thought process in building our strategy. Of the 97 KCADC investors who responded to our survey, 42% are using LinkedIn on a monthly or weekly basis for business and 18% use it daily. Compare that to 23% monthly or weekly for Facebook, and only 8% monthly or weekly on Twitter. 21% say they visit blogs less than once a month. Our KCADC investors are typically c-level executives down to the VP level in the KC region’s largest corporations and civic groups so this is probably a pretty accurate reflection of that demographic’s use of social media.
Of the 30 site location consultants who responded to our survey, 10% refer to LinkedIn and 3% listed blogs as sources for them as they evaluate markets across the U.S. for their clients. Facebook and Twitter both scored a big goose egg – 0%. For this audience, it’s still face to face contact that makes the difference. Members of our business development team connect with site location consultants through LinkedIn and a few are using Facebook, but it’s a very relationship-oriented business where one-to-one contact is most effective.
So, that being said, we feel this is a manageable entry into social media for our organization. This is part of a comprehensive and strategic communications program for us, as well, that includes a long list of traditional marketing and PR strategies to tell the KC story to a broader audience.
My advice is that anyone just starting in this process keep their strategy flexible. I am certain that ours will evolve as we gain more experience in communicating through social media. I would not recommend anyone taking their first step into any new medium try to do it all from the get-go.
Thanks for your response, Ashlie. It’s great that you’re moving forward with your community in mind and keeping your options open!