Hello Rebecca!
About Social Media In General
1. Which is your favorite social media platform?
I go through phases – I’ll get fixated on channels for a couple of weeks then lose momentum – especially if it’s one I’m working with a lot. But Twitter is my consistent one. I get a steady stream of stuff I want to know from people, and when it’s at its best I love the playfulness and feeling connected to so many people. Plus, my husband asked me out on Twitter, so I’m mushy about it!
Depends entirely on the client, the brief and the audience – although generally speaking the last year has tended to be focussed around the conventional trinity of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Happily, it’s been a long time since anyone’s briefed me to bundle into a just-launched platform for the sake of being there first. No one’s getting back the time they spent on a Beme strategy.
I can’t see this trend of more ephemeral, more niche, and more private social networking going anywhere – I bet everyone says that, don’t they? I also think we’ll see commerce integrate better into social outside of Asia. Broadly speaking, western audiences have been largely unresponsive to attempts at social commerce thus far. However, it’s clear that Facebook has been taking cues from WeChat, and is actively exploring ways to get this hemisphere caught up.
About Great Social Media Campaigns
To be honest, many social media campaigns make me feel a bit itchy. A lot of blood, sweat and tears (and money, obviously) can easily be poured into something that pops up, makes a noise, and then goes away again, without leaving a longer term impact, beyond the inevitable PowerPoint recap or awards-entry video. There’s a lot to be said about a more consistent approach to activating social – and I think this is an increasingly common viewpoint amongst clients.
With that said, I love it when brands create stories on social that are so good they span media. Like Yves Saint Laurent, that seemed to make like an angry ex and erase all evidence of Hedi Slimane when he left as creative director. That wasn’t a “campaign” as such, but it was a spectacularly audacious and dramatic move, that few other brands might consider, let alone dare to try – and it got many people – and the press – talking.
5. What about the latest campaign your brand or agency was involved in?
I haven’t worked on a campaign in ages. These days if I’m working on a social project, I tend to be looking at how social media can be more strategically integrated to solve business objectives beyond just campaigns. A company’s social media audience and approach is a surprisingly good predictor of issues upstream in the business – unpicking and solving them is what keeps me happy in my work.
6. What is the most important thing brands and agencies must keep in mind, in order to build a successful social media campaign?
About the Future of Social Media Marketing
8. What will be the role of social media in the marketing mix of the future?
I think we all know now that we can’t just take what we used to know about reaching people through broadcast technologies and apply it to social – social has changed the way the world connects, and has therefore fundamentally set new terms for communications. So I’d like see social strategy become much broader than it is now – much more rooted in understanding how information and advocacy spreads between people in general – not just in specific channels and media.
9. What would you say is the biggest obstacle within the field of social media marketing?
People obsessing about last click when judging the success of any campaign or activity. It’s just one small element of a very big picture, and it has a nasty habit of hiding the wood with the trees.
10. If you had to give one piece of advice to someone who has just started out in the industry, what would it be?
11. In your opinion, which is the “ad format of the future”?
Fun Fact
12. Finally, tell us one thing someone would NOT be able to find about you from looking at your social media profiles.
I was in a Belinda Carlisle tribute band when I was eight. But maybe you could infer that.
Haha! Great interview Rebecca, thanks so much for chatting to us!
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