This document discusses the evolving landscape of digital and social media marketing. It notes that while there are great opportunities for companies through new channels like Facebook and Twitter, many are still experimenting to determine best practices. Measurement of effectiveness and return on investment remains a challenge. It also highlights risks, such as when McDonald's received negative publicity from a Twitter campaign.

1. DIGITAL & SOCIAL
MEDIA MARKETING
FINANCIAL TIMES SPECIAL REPORT | Wednesday March 7 2012
www.ft.com/digital­social­media­marketing­2012 | twitter.com/ftreports
Advertisers rush Inside this issue
Cautionary tales
David
Gelles
finds
to master fresh
reasons to
be careful
when
companies
take
advertising
set of skills
online Page 2
B2B
Paul Taylor sees a chance
for business to gain traction
with customers Page 2
There are great R/GA, the digital agency. from customers, the iterations
“These things are connected, we could do on a campaign,” Ownership
opportunities, and you can’t do one without she says. “We saw the ability to Ajay Makan looks at the
says David Gelles, the other.” really, really measure results.” wide variety of corporate
The promise of these plat- Adobe now spends 74 per cent of responses Page 2
but companies forms is tremendous. The new its more than $100m marketing
Viral campaigns
are still largely world of digital and social media budget on digital.
April Dembosky looks
marketing can give companies Even for a digital-first com-
feeling their way increased access to their cus- pany such as Adobe, each cam-
behind the success of
internet sensations Page 3
tomers, fresh insights into their paign is a fresh start of sorts.
O
nly a few years ago preferences, a broader creative Ms Lewnes says 20 per cent of Marketing budgets
digital marketers palette to work with, and her budget is going towards Tim Bradshaw says
might have thought additional data and metrics to experimental campaigns, and campaigns via social media
all was plain-sailing. study. that each product launch are still often unpredictable
After a decade of disruption Yet there are unsolved ques- requires a different mix of paid, Page 3
wreaked by the emergence of tions over how best to organise earned and owned media.
the popular web, companies and and execute digital and social Perhaps the largest shift in A life in the day
advertising agencies had finally campaigns. No single formula recent years has been the transi- David Gelles follows the
understood the intricacies of tion from the one-way, broad- chief marketing officer
placing online display and cast messaging of television, of Gannett Page 3
search ads. ‘People find it hard to print and outdoor, to the two-
Yet in the past few years, a realise marketing is a way conversation that social Advertising Predictions of
new generation of technologies options now allow companies to the display ad’s demise are
has come along to disrupt once two­way conversation have with their consumers. premature, writes Jane Bird
Page 3
again the way advertisers oper-
ate. Led by Facebook and Twit-
rather than a “It requires a shift in your
perception,” says Maryam Ban-
ter, and joined by behemoths one­way pushing­out’ ikarim, chief marketing officer
Mobile Tim Bradshaw
explains why the promised
such as Google and a bevy of of Gannett, the media company. land is not quite with us
start-ups, these Silicon Valley “People find it hard to realise Page 4
misfits have muscled into the ad has emerged, leaving most com- marketing is a two-way conver-
business and upended tradi- panies and ad agencies in a sation rather than a one-way On FT.com
tional assumptions about how state of constant experimenta- pushing out.” April Dembovsky explains
companies should allocate mar- tion. There is also lingering con- Yet quantifying the effective- uring their fans and followers,” conversations around the news everything you need to
keting budgets. fusion over how best to measure ness, and return on investment, says Ms Lewnes. “But what’s that Beyoncé was pregnant, it know about
In addition to search and dis- the effectiveness of a campaign, of digital and social campaigns, important are the insights you added more pictures and stories Pinterest
play advertising, big companies and a company’s return on remains a challenge. Rather can glean from the data. Under- about the story to its website.
must now factor in social media, investment. than tracking click-through and standing if someone is happy or Yet many markers remain dis-
video advertising, mobile mar- Ann Lewnes, chief marketing conversion rates as with search unhappy with something.” satisfied with the state of online
keting and daily deals. officer of Adobe, the software and display advertising, market- Social signals obtained from measurement.
“We’ve gone from display and company, says she pushed the ers are trying to count follow- Twitter and Facebook can also Keith Weed, chief marketing
search to this much longer list,” company into digital and social ers, measure sentiment and ana- give companies real time officer of Unilever, the
says Nick Law, chief creative marketing early on. “We saw lyse purchase intent. insight. When MTV saw there
officer in North America for the insights we could glean “A lot of people are just meas- was a spike in online Continued on Page 2

2. 2 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES WEDNESDAY MARCH 7 2012
Digital & Social Media Marketing
A chance for business to gain traction Is it about
B2B
There have been
in a B2B environment is
managing their social net-
work profile, and I think
fire hose of information,
make it actually be of use
to us.
not been leveraged enough,
even though he notes that
an estimated two-thirds of
ences purchase decisions.
What is more, 51 per cent of
people using search are
LinkedIn with a Twitter
component. Mr
explains: “It was almost
Bell selling
or service?
that’s a testament to the “You can’t ignore it. I feel incidents of switching sup- doing it to find a recom- like a support group for
some successful fact that we now live
blended lives.”
inundated every day and so
there’s a pressure to make
pliers is down to B2B rela-
tionship problems.
mendation from someone
else, preferably with experi-
CFOs, so they could talk
about their challenges with
experiments, He adds: “I think the sense of it and turn all that Ethan McCarty, who is ence of a product or service. other CFOs.”
says Paul Taylor notion that ‘social media’ is
a description of a technol-
information into actionable
insight.”
the senior manager, digital
and social strategy for IBM,
“Yet we still don’t put
enough emphasis in terms
Ultimately, the virtual
networking group led to
ogy is not accurate. It is Jonathan Lister, who which works with Ogilvy of what shows up in those real world events and what “The shine has worn off
The role of social media in about human behaviour. heads marketing solutions PR, says he believes this first two pages of search both Mr Bell and Mr Mcarty ‘Ownership’ social media,” says Dr Nora
business-to-business mar- “What’s changed is that for LinkedIn in North issue reflects “an overall results in relation to a B2B say was considerable value Ganim Barnes, the centre
keting is much less talked more of us are using all America, agrees. buyer journey,” he says. in terms of sales leads. There is a wide director. “If companies can-
about or understood than
its counterpart in business-
sorts of social media plat-
forms to take care of things
“We have this aspiration
at LinkedIn to connect tal-
‘Extend the He also believes that,
with a few notable excep-
“I think this is a great
example, and it’s one we’ve
variety of corporate not find a metric to show
social media are generating
relationship
to-consumer marketing. in our lives, from making ent with opportunity on a into the tions, companies are often been replicating around the responses, explains a return on investment,
However social media do
have a role, and an impor-
decisions on business, to
communicating, to network-
huge scale,” he says.
So how does that trans-
virtual space’ too slow to develop any-
thing akin to brand advo-
world because it was so
effective,” says Mr McCarty,
Ajay Makan they may no longer feel
obliged to throw resources
– Ethan
tant one, within business. ing, and so forth.” late to B2B marketing? McCarty cacy or expert programmes whose role involves educat- at, say, Facebook and Twit-
“From my point of view, In addition, he says, B2B “Well, some of the people where they are putting peo- ing senior IBMers in the use There is still a great deal of ter, in the way they did
all social media are highly social media are growing we’re mapping are finding ple within the company in of social media tools, and in uncertainty within the cor- when they were new.”
relevant to B2B,” says John because our attention is that perfect article of news shift, in trust in organisa- direct contact with buyers. using social media to high- porate world about what But measuring results
Bell, who heads the interac- fractured. or connecting with that per- tions to trust in networks”. There are exceptions how- light their areas of exper- social media are for, and leads back to the thorny
tive, broadcast and print “There’s a lot of stuff to fect person, or connecting Mr Bell asks: “If you can ever including IBM. In tise. this is reflected in the lack question of ownership, and
design team at Ogilvy PR. pay attention to and, from a with that perfect brand. extend the sales relation- India, it was trying to build “We learnt a couple of the of consensus about which whether a social media
“There’s this mythology professional point of view, And we’re seeing that more ship from the oral and relationships with custom- things from that experi- department should take strategy is primarily about
that it’s first and foremost a there is not a moment and more. It’s all about rele- meeting space into the vir- ers at the highest level ence,” he says. responsibility. keeping existing customers
B2C environment or set of where I feel like I am on top vance.” tual space, why not do it?” within companies. Most importantly, IBM A recent PR Week survey happy, brand management,
behaviours more appropri- of everything I need to be Mr Bell adds: “Social He says many brands are So Robert Parker, the discovered that if it used found just 4 per cent of US or sales and marketing.
ate to B2C than B2B, but we on top of. media’s value is in doing just that. His group’s chief financial social media to create a companies have a separate For all Mr Tobin’s talk of
found that’s not true. “So I think that we’re all strengthening relationships research suggests that 60 officer in India, began to community of practice, par- social media team, while IT breaking down silos and
“In fact, one of the fastest experimenting with ways in – that’s what it does.” per cent of buyers in the host a social media commu- ticularly where IBM has departments are almost as integrating approaches, his
growing social behaviours social media to make sense But, surprisingly in B2B B2B space say word of nity that was a combination brand credibility: “We get a likely to manage budgets as agency’s approach is nar-
for senior decision-makers of this onslaught, of this relationships, he says it has mouth from peers influ- of a blog connected into lot of traction.” are PR teams. While nearly rowly focused on communi-
all large companies engage cations.
with social media in some His company staffs Twit-
way, the variety of ter feeds and Facebook
responses is huge. pages round the clock to
What to do
“The whole question of push the messages of client
who ‘owns’ social media companies, but complaints
within companies is prob- about a product are given a
lematic,” says Jim Tobin, surprisingly old-fashioned
president of Ignite, a social response: a 1-800 number or
media agency based in email address to contact the
when good North Carolina. “It touches
on everything from cus-
tomer service to marketing,
and companies need to inte-
grate it across everything
client company’s customer
services.
Ignite is a marketing-
focused agency, so clients
know they are paying for a
salesmanship
they do.” focused service, but it is
Many businesses have noticeable that there are
turned to agencies to few, if any, social media
develop a comprehensive agencies focused on cus-
approach. In a relatively tomer service strategies.
new medium, agencies are Even in a set-up such as
goes bad often thought to have a cut-
ting edge in designing and
executing social media
strategies. But the trade-off
is that agencies can never
be as embedded in the cul-
’Campaigns are
constant and
ongoing, and so
Cautionary tales
Ann Lewnes, chief marketing
officer at Adobe, the software
ture and message of a com-
pany as employees.
need more
company. “That’s one of the big- Some see a model of the attention’
David Gelles finds gest changes to marketing today. future emerging in a Chi-
reasons to be careful You don’t just put a campaign out
there. At any given moment,
cago skyscraper. There, in
the offices of Gatorade, the Gatorade’s command cen-
when companies take someone is saying something sports drink brand, five in- tre, there are limits to inte-
advertising online about your company and product,
and you have to be listening.”
house marketing and com-
munication specialists sit in
gration. Communications
and marketing teams are
Because McDonald’s was listen- front of a battery of screens still king. Customer serv-
W
hen McDonald’s ing, it says the damage was lim- programmed to track online ices specialists may be
bought advertising ited, with the #McDStories paro- mentions of the brand, and given access to PepsiCo’s
on Twitter this year, dies accounting for only 2 per to respond. social media applications to
it was hoping to cent of conversation about the The idea is to marry in- respond to specific com-
drum up some goodwill for its brand that day. “The response to house staff’s knowledge of plaints or queries, but they
burgers and fries. By promoting any type of complaint has to be the brand with the best of do not shape strategy.
the “#McDStories” hashtag, it almost immediate,” says Ms technology. A media agency One exception to the bias
expected to users to share favour- Lewnes, adding that Adobe also is represented in Gatorade’s towards marketing is the
ite memories from the world’s strives to remain vigilant. “We social media “command hotel industry. Hyatt offers
largest restaurant chain. have a policy that within minutes centre”, but the effort is led a Twitter-based concierge
Instead, critics of the fast-food we have to respond in a meaning- by, and directed towards, service that has 20,000 fol-
chain hijacked the hashtag and ful manner.” the company’s own staff. lowers, and answers ques-
used it to pillory McDonald’s, Other brands can simply be “The room has glass tions from guests or pro-
accusing it of peddling unhealthy, tone-deaf in their promotions, doors to remind everyone in spective guests at any of
unappetising food. drawing the wrath of online crit- the company of the fact the company’s hotels.
The incident was the latest ics quick to pounce on the slight- that social media are Starwood Hotels, which
example of how well-intentioned est whiff of inappropriateness always on and affect every- operates brands such as
social media marketing can back- from a big brand. When Casey thing they do,” says Joshua Sheraton, blazed a trail in
fire, putting a company on the Anthony, the mother suspected of Karpf, director of digital corporate social media a
defensive. While sites such as murdering her daughter, was Tweets: critics of the fast­food chain hijacked the hashtag and used it to pillory McDonald’s and social media for decade ago by creating the
Facebook and Twitter provide acquitted last year, the “#not- PepsiCo, which owns Gato- “lurker,” an online persona
unparalleled access to customers, guilty” hashtag began trending on year Olla, the condom maker, blogosphere were swift and fierce. rade. that trawled websites for
allowing companies to interact Twitter. devised a campaign to attract cus- “Our entire meal was a SHAM!” PepsiCo set up a “centre customer complaints and
with fans, they also provide a That prompted Entenmann’s, tomers. It created a programme wrote one participant. “We were of excellence” in 2008, and sought to address them
forum for dissenters. the snack maker, to tweet: “Who’s that sent men a friend request unwilling participants in a bait- holds meetings among exec- directly.
McDonald’s was monitoring the #notguilty about eating all the from their supposedly unborn and-switch.” The story went viral, utives to share best social Whatever the focus of a
conversation on Twitter, and tasty treats they want?!” Custom- babies. So a Facebook user named and ConAgra was soon on the media practice, such as social media strategy, ana-
quickly took down its promoted ers called Entenmann’s out, and Daniel Ogawa got a friend request defensive. Gatorade’s command cen- lysts say companies will
tweets. “With all social media the social media agency repre- from “Daniel Ogawa Jr”, with a “Social media brings both tre, among brands. need to change the way
campaigns, we include contin- senting the company apologised picture of a baby and a message opportunity and threat. Entering But such a high level of they manage campaigns.
gency plans, should the conversa- in a blog post. that said “Avoid surprises like the market with a siloed mindset resource commitment is Dallas Lawrence, chief
tion not go as planned,” Rick “The mis-steps happen when this one. Use Olla Condoms.” can be extremely dangerous,” unusual. In one of the few global digital media strate-
Wion, social media director for marketing departments aren’t Another ill-fated tactic involves says Laurence Buchanan, Digital academic studies of social gist at the Burson-Marstel-
McDonald’s USA, told the FT. aligned with the brand’s values,” ‘Social media bring trying to engage with the social Transformation Lead at Cap- media activity, the centre ler agency, says: “Conven-
“The ability to change midstream says Nick Law, chief creative both opportunity and media community on false pre- gemini Consulting. for marketing research at tional media campaigns
helped this small blip from officer in North America for tences. “Having a mechanism in place the University of Massachu- involved intense work dur-
becoming something larger.” R/GA, a digital agency. “There are threat. Entering the Last year, ConAgra, a maker of to filter through the vast amount setts, Dartmouth, found ing the commissioning
Yet the damage was already
done, and the episode became a
all these steps in the process
where marketers take shortcuts
market with a siloed packaged foods, invited bloggers
to a four-course meal at an exclu-
of noise generated on social media
sites is a pre-requisite,” he says.
that in 2011 take-up among
Fortune 500 companies lev-
period, but once they were
launched, clients could step
cautionary tale for companies. to get some news out in the mar- mindset can be sive restaurant in New York. “But this is a complete waste of elled off, while there was back.
McDonald’s scored points for ketplace.” Instead of haute cuisine, the blog- investment without the ability to retrenchment among fast “Social media work is
being quick to respond. “You Social media gaffes are not lim-
extremely dangerous’ gers were served frozen lasagne. act fast on opportunities and growing, privately owned constant and ongoing, and
need to be on it 24/7,” says ited to Twitter, however. Last The reactions on the threats as they come up.” US companies. so it needs more attention.”
Advertisers rush to master fresh set of skills Contributors
David Gelles
US Media and Marketing
Correspondent
Continued from Page 1 agencies to change the way out across television, print, could rapidly catch up, as ing our spend across differ- help determine the winners If marketers continue to Tim Bradshaw
they work. radio, and the web. they adopt digital media. ent media,” says Mr Weed. and losers in the years to flock to new digital and Digital Media
consumer products group “Twenty years ago there “Things really are getting “In emerging markets “If you fragment, the mes- come. At stake are the valu- social options, Facebook Correspondent
that is the second-largest were templates,” says Mr joined up,” says Mr Weed. they’re going to go through sage you’re making it less ations of companies such as and its social media peers
advertiser in the world, Law at R/GA. “Now, we “The same creative is going these cycles much more cohesive and joined up.” Facebook, which earned may prove their worth. Paul Taylor
says: “Digital is in theory don’t have a typical client to flow across multiple quickly than us,” says Mr Technologies are chang- $3.7bn last year, mostly Yet if a proliferation of Editor, The Connected
more measurable than any- engagement. Because media screens.” Law. ing fast, and few marketers from advertising, and is online options fragments Business
thing else, in theory and in are so flexible, we can get Growing access to the And digital advertising is would claim to know what preparing to go public at a advertisers’ spend, or if the
April Dembosky
practice, but it’s not broad very specific.” web in emerging markets is still a small portion of glo- new social platform might value of up to $100bn. promise of social media San Francisco
enough yet. What we’ll see One brand may need a also allowing for truly glo- bal advertising, accounting demand their attention a Yet some basic trends are goes unfulfilled, this Correspondent
is a significant maturation robust Facebook page, bal campaigns. for 16 per cent of total year from now. emerging, with mobile moment could one day be
of ROI in digital.” while another may call for a “A few years ago I would spend in 2011, according to access to the web leading seen as another bubble. Ajay Makan
More insights and crea- strategy of engaging with be engaging much more of ZenithOptimedia. the pack. Regardless of that, it US Reporter
tive opportunities mean consumers on message a national base on cam- That figure is growing ‘Google and “If the first 1bn users con- seems certain that new
Jane Bird
more work for marketing boards, blogs and elsewhere paigns,” says Mr Weed. fast, but television is set to Facebook are truly nected to the internet technologies are destined to
Sarah Murray
teams, and can mean on the web. Such “But Google and Facebook remain the biggest advertis- through PCs, the next 1bn change the way consumers
increased costs for market- approaches are forcing are truly global media com- ing platform, accounting for global media will be through mobile,” interact with brands.
FT Contributors
ers.
In-house and at agencies,
departments within organi-
sations to collaborate in
panies in a way the world
has never seen.”
40 per cent of total spend
through at least 2013.
companies in says Mr Weed, who recently
visited a family in the
Just as the web reshaped
the advertising world a dec-
Martin Brice
Commissioning Editor
marketers are scrambling new ways. The amount of money Managing the growing a way the world slums of Mumbai who none- ade ago, the new world of
to acquire new skills, and “It’s brought the market- being committed to digital array of digital and social theless had two mobile digital and social media Andy Mears
add staff to monitor the ing teams much closer marketing varies widely, initiatives has forced com-
has never seen’ phones. marketing is forcing compa- Picture Editor
exponential growth of together,” says Ms Lewnes. with more developed coun- panies to revise their rela- Unilever was the first and nies and ad agencies to re-
online dialogue about com- “They all used to be in their tries seeing a higher digital tionships with ad agencies, Pinterest, the online pin- largest customer for Apple’s evaluate where, how and Greg Meeson
Front page illustration
panies. silos. PR was off operating spend. as well. board and sharing site, is mobile iAd marketing when they engage with
“You have to throw bod- by itself, advertising was Unilever, for example, Unilever reduced its ros- the latest to draw a legion platform, and has renewed potential customers.
For advertising details,
ies at that,” says Ms operating by itself. Now spends about 35 per cent of ter of more than 400 digital of users – and the interest its contract for a second “Ultimately, this concept
contact:
Lewnes. “There are people they’re working together.” its US budget on digital, agencies to fewer than 100, of marketers – without hav- year. of digital will disappear,”
James Aylott
who have to monitor it all At its best, this can result compared with 25 per cent with just 12 lead global ing proved its business “I want to get to the says Mr Weed.
+44 (0)20 7873 3392
day.” in truly integrated market- in Europe, and just 4 per agencies, including Razor- model or staying power. future first,” Mr Weed says. “My 20 year old son
Email: james.aylott@ft.com
Myriad options are also ing campaigns, with a uni- cent in India. fish, AKQA and R/GA. How this shift in the mar- “I don’t want to be follow- laughs at me when I talk
forcing companies and fied message being pushed Yet emerging markets “We’re already fragment- keting world plays out will ing my competitors.” about online and offline.”