This document discusses strategies for deploying social media for brand storytelling and customer engagement. It addresses four barriers to reaching audiences online: content and media surplus, attention deficit, tunnel vision requirements, and unpredictable customer journeys. It then outlines several key strategies for effective social media use, including developing a social narrative based on research and analytics, aligning content with digital channels based on audience analysis, operationalizing brand advocacy through participatory storytelling, analyzing content performance using metrics, and building an operational framework to support ongoing content creation.

1. DEPLOYING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR BRAND
STORYTELLING & CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
Michael Brito
Head of Social Strategy, WCG

2. FOUR
BARRIERS TO REACHING YOUR
BRAND’S AUDIENCE ONLINE
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3. THERE IS A CONTENT
& MEDIA SURPLUS
Content is omnipresent. There are no shortages of devices either.
Everyone is a content creator, which adds to the noise.

4. THERE IS AN
ATTENTION DEFICIT
Most can barely consume—much less comprehend—285 pieces of
content in a day. Multitasking and multiple devices is a cultural norm.

5. TUNNEL VISION IS A
REQUIREMENT
We only want to consume content relevant to us at a very
specific moment in time. Tunnel vision helps us do that.

6. THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY
IS UNPREDICTABLE
Most of us embark on an open-ended purchase path, and our
content consumption patterns change daily.

7. CREATING AND MANAGING CONTENT IS A CHALLENGE FOR
MOST BRANDS
2013 CONTENT MARKETING BENCHMARKS,
CONTENT MARKETING INSTITUTE
% of respondents
Producing Enough Content 64%
Producing Content That Engages 52%
Producing a Variety of Content 45%
Lack of Budget 39%
Inability to Measure Content 33%
Lack of Knowledge, Training 26%
Lack of Integration 25%
Lack of Buy-in, Vision 22%
Finding Trained Content Marketers 14%
78%
of marketers say that their biggest
challenge with content is "creating
original content," and that they
don't have enough time to do it
44%
of marketers do not have a
documented content strategy.
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8. An Analytics-Driven Content Solution
C O N T E N T A S A S E R V I C E
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9. CAAS IS AN ANALYTICS APPROACH THAT HELPS BRANDS
BECOME EFFECTIVE PUBLISHERS
Social Narrative
Development
ANALYTICS & RESEARCH
Social Channel
Strategy
Content
Performance &
Analysis
Participatory
Storytelling
Develop a story that breaks
through the clutter, is relevant
to a specific audience and
delivers brand value.
Deliver a global social media
channel strategy based on
audience segmentation and
native platform capabilities
and functionality.
Empower, train and mobilize
brand advocates
(employees/customers) to
participate and tell the brand
story.
Build an analytics
infrastructure that tracks
content through the lifecycle
and informs future content
creation.
Content Operational Framework
Craft an operational framework that facilitates the evolution into a content organization.
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10. Social Narrative Development
“After nourishment, shelter and companionship,
stories are the thing we need most in the world.” ― Philip Pullman

11. Social Narrative Development
THE FOUNDATION OF A SOCIAL NARRATIVE IS BASED ON
RESEARCH AND ANALYTICS
NARRATIVE REQUIREMENTS
1 2 3 4
Social Graphics Influencer Muse/Meme Content Gap Analysis Search Insights
Your audience,
categorized. By looking at
what your audience
members follow, share
and discuss, we group
them by interest and
passion.
We examine influential
conversations about a
topic or brand and
compare it to what a brand
is sharing online; the gaps
that emerge are the
brand’s new areas of
focus.
A ranked list of the top 50
people who are driving the
conversation about a given
topic, industry or brand.
This is the digital 1%. The
Muse tells us where they
get their inspiration.
A broad analysis that
examines the search
volume and frequency of
certain topics, keywords
and industries.
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12. Social Narrative Development
CREATE AN EDITORIAL/CREATIVE FRAMEWORK ALIGNED TO
AUDIENCE AND MARKET INSIGHTS
Data & Insights
Strategic & Creative Framework
The brand is the hero
of the story
The brand is a character
in a story
The brand comments
on a story
Data & insights extracted from
the analytics will be used to
inform a strategic framework or
a creative platform.
The strategic framework will
inform all content creation and
creative assets.
An editorial and creative
framework that categorizes
content based on guidelines and
the brand criteria.
Content & Creative
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13. Social Narrative Development
CONTENT AND STORYTELLING SHOULD BE ANCHORED IN
THESE 8 CORE VALUES
UTLITY
Helps me “do”
something or solves
a problem
EDUCATION
Makes me smarter
about a topic or
subject
ENTERTAINMENT
Makes me laugh;
inspires me to be
happy
ACCESS
Connects me to
others that share the
same passions
EMOTION
Elicits a passionate
reaction that
empowers me
EXCLUSIVITY
Makes me feel
special and
emotionally vested
INFORMATION
Gives me current
news, views and
insider information
FINANCIAL
Provides sales,
rebates and product-related
promotions
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14. Social Channel Strategy
Content isn’t king. The right content, at the right time, in the right channel,
to the right customer is royalty!

15. Social Channel Strategy
PERFORM CHANNEL ANALYSIS THAT IDENTIFIES AUDIENCE
BEHAVIOR AND CONTENT PERFORMANCE
Facebook audience is 65% female; interested in technology and live in the US. Community
engagement (vs. corporate announcements and other content) posts generate X% more
engagement than the average content, but account for only X% of posts.
Twitter audience is 80% male; interested in sports and music and most live in the US. Followers
engage mostly with product-related content, but they make up only X% of branded tweets.
Corporate news garners little engagement but make up 85% of branded tweets.
YouTube audience is 70% male; interested in extreme sports and most live in the US. Thirty-second
videos generate 15 times the engagement and impressions, but 75% of branded videos
are longer than 1 minute.
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16. Social Channel Strategy
ALIGN CONTENT WITH DIGITAL CHANNELS BASED ON
FINDINGS FROM CHANNEL ANALYSIS
Prioritize and map storytelling initiatives to specific digital channels based on audience segmentation,
scorecard analysis, campaign programming and brand priorities.
Branded
Content,
Promotions
Employee
Stories &
Interviews
Third-Party
Stories About
the Brand
Lifestyle
Content
Real-time or
Agile Content
Customer
Stories
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17. Social Channel Strategy
BUILD CONVERGED MEDIA MODELS ACROSS PESO – PAID,
EARNED, SHARED & OWNED MEDIA
EARNED MEDIA
Media relations,
Influencer engagement
Word-of-mouth
SHARED MEDIA
Social media channel strategy
Community management
Social content creation
Engagement
Content
Experiences
SHARABLE STORIES
PAID MEDIA
AMPLIFICATION
Content syndication
Native advertising
Search
Social paid
OWNED MEDIA
Brand website/newsroom
Campaign microsite
Mobile apps
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18. Social Channel Strategy
DELIVER REAL-TIME CONTENT WHEN THE RIGHT AUDIENCE
IS PAYING ATTENTION
Brand Alignment
Relevant to current
brand positioning
Agile
Content
Audience
Passion
Based on
targeted
segmentation
Trending
Conversation
Within a very
targeted
segment
Audience Segmentation
Targeted Listening
Creative Production
Agile Content
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19. Social Channel Strategy
Participatory Storytelling
When it comes to trust and credibility, “people they know”, “consumer
opinions online” and “colleagues and friends” rank the highest when consumers are
seeking information about a brand or product (BCG)

20. Participatory Storytelling
PARTICIPATORY STORYTELLING IS BRAND ADVOCACY ON
STEROIDS
Brand advocates are trusted and found credible by others when seeking brand or product-related information.
of people find "people like
yourself" and "employees
of a company" credible
and trustworthy when
seeking information
about a product or a
brand
92%
of consumers say that peer
recommendations are their
most credible source of
brand information
67%
65%
of business pros
participate and engage
with colleagues and
peers within social
media
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21. Participatory Storytelling
LEVERAGING INFLUENCE ACROSS THE DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM
90% Listen and Learn
ninety %
Enthusiasts
• Reflects what customers read,
search and discover online
every day
• Important to listen, engage
and provide unique
experiences
1% of People Create Content
Influencers
• Top opinion leaders – 1% or
less who drive the ideas that
fuel conversation share
• Important to focus content and
relationships here
9% Share and Repackage
nine %
Advocates
• People who carry the
message, and where top
influencers source ideas
• Important to surround sound
with paid + earned media
one %
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22. Participatory Storytelling
OPERATIONALIZING BRAND STORYTELLING USING EMPLOYEES,
CUSTOMERS OR BOTH
Content
Alignment
Technology
Partner
Distribution
Strategy
Align content shared with
advocates within the existing
editorial framework or
campaign initiatives.
Advocacy programs require a
technology partner in order to
scale.
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23. Content Performance & Analysis
What used to be the “galvanizing idea,” which has always been the anchor in
creative marketing programs, has now been replaced with “what does the data say?”

24. Content Performance & Analysis
CONFIDENCE IS EXTREMELY LOW IN MEASURING CONTENT
PERFORMANCE
Only nine percent of marketers said they are very confident their key metrics are effective in measuring
business results.
Source: Contently
90%
of marketers expressed
uncertainty that their key
content metrics are
effective in measuring
business results.
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25. Content Performance & Analysis
DETERMINE THE RIGHT SCORING SYSTEM FOR BRANDED
CONTENT
Build an analytics infrastructure that identifies performance benchmarks and improves content over time.
Content Gathering Content Processing Content Scoring
We collect all your content from its
multiple platforms—even content
shared across multiple platforms.
All content is loaded into a custom
database and scored. All possible
variables (likes, shares, comments,
clicks) are taken into consideration.
Primary and secondary channels are
weighted appropriately to their
importance.
Total post scores are the average of all
possible channel variables (e.g., likes,
shares, comments, clicks for Facebook).
Each post’s score is a function of all content
for the brand, rather than an isolated
quantification. As such, engagement is a
realistic reflection of your brand’s content.
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26. Content Operational Framework
Continuous storytelling implies that there is an operational framework in place to
keep the content engine going day in and day out.

27. Content Operational Framework
BUILD A NEWSROOM ORGANIZATION THAT ALIGNS INTERNAL
RESOURCES AND WORKSTREAMS
Start with identifying the roles and responsibilities with internal stakeholders and agency partners.
BRAND AGENCY PARTNERS
Content Strategy
CONTENT AGENCY
(PR/Social/Digital)
Leads community; drives
brand strategy, analytics and
publishing
Develops brand narrative, leads
content strategy and
development
CREATIVE AGENCY MEDIA BUYING AGENCY
Develops brand and creative
platform for large-scale
productions
Leads media planning and
buying
Content strategy, creative and
media direction
Community & brand
engagement
Converged media (PESO)
buying and direction
Creative content direction
Content creation and production
Content publishing
Converged media planning
Consumer insights research
Brand creative direction
Large-scale content production
(TV, advertising, etc.)
Media strategy
Media buying
Media partnerships & promotions
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28. Content Operational Framework
ESTABLISH A “CENTRALIZED” EDITORIAL CONTENT TEAM
AND FUNCTION
Develop Content Strategy
Scale Content Globally
Source Technology Vendors
COE B
C
A
M
B
C
A
M
B Brand, Business Unit, Region
M Media Agency
Creative/Ad Agency
A
C Content/PR Agency
Content Governance
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29. Content Operational Framework
ENSURE EDITORIAL INTEGRATION WITH REGIONAL TEAMS AND
BUSINESS UNITS
COE
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30. Content Operational Framework
OPTIMIZE THE CONTENT SUPPLY CHAIN AND EDITORIAL
WORKFLOWS
Build workflows (for real-time and planned content) that control the planning, production and distribution of
content based on roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder group.
CONTENT PLANNING
Ideation and planning of
drumbeat or campaign-related
content
CONTENT CREATION
Creating original content or
curating content from
relevant third parties
CONTENT APPROVALS
Approvals from brand and
legal teams and other
stakeholders
CONTENT DISTRIBUTION
The execution and posting
of content within digital
channels
Content performance and
effectiveness informs future
CONTENT INTEGRATION
Integrating content across
PESO (paid, earned, shared
& owned)
content planning
CONTENT SCORING
Scoring content based on
type, distribution and
engagement
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31. Content Operational Framework
DETERMINE THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY STACK TO ADDRESS
YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS
Editorial
Planning
Content Marketing
& Publishing
Social CRM &
Listening
Advocacy
Platforms
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32. THANK YOU
Michael Brito
Head of Social Strategy
mbrito@wcgworld.com