"Universal" Truths about Social Media with Cindy Gordon

 

Cindy Gordon, VP of New Media, Universal Orlando Resort, presented, The New Media Roller Coaster Ride, at the Central West Coast Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association in Sarasota, Florida.

 

Here are some highlights of her dynamic presentation:

 

The world of traditional PR is over.  The world of PR used to be simpler, we didn’t have 24/7 blogging and social media.  We must deal with news in a hyper-intense environment and react instantaneously.  It’s no longer enough to have strong PR skills.  The new media is puts consumers in charge of the message.  You cannot manipulate the message any longer, at least not in the traditional sense.  You must think of engaging, instead of pitching.

 

We are all media channels.  You can now be your own media company and broadcast to the media.  Today’s tools are no longer press releases or annual reports, they are social media, like blogs and social networks.  Social media is the new way of communication.  The next generation is not addicted to Facebook, but they are addicted to their friends. It is astounding how Facebook can mobilize thousands of consumers literally overnight.  There is a new application on Facebook called “cause”.  The Support the Campaign for Cancer Research had over 300,000 friends within weeks of being turned on.

 

Some statistics:

• YouTube as 84 million videos with an average of over 100,000 per day
• 40% view YouTube videos weekly
• 10% view YouTube videos daily
• Comedian Judson Laipply has 90 million hits on his YouTube dancing video.
• There are 50 million page views per day on YouTube.

To remain relative, traditional media like CNN are getting on the social media bandwagon.  If you see news happening, submit it via iReport.

 

What about blogs?

• 9 new blogs are created every minute
• 2.3 content updates every second
• 39% of online population reads blogs
• There is 1 blog death every 40 seconds

Mommy bloggers are big right now.  HP Photobooks.  HP Photographic Memories created a blog for each Mom that participated in a recent campaign The campaign was very successful because of the fact that Moms’ are their customers.  The program is very customer centric, not company specific.

 

Talking to bloggers can feel impersonal, but you need to write as though everything you publish will appear on the front page of the New York Times.  If you do your homework and build your relationships, your program will be more successful.  The more you study your audience, the better you will be.  Targeted blogging is key.

 

PR and Interactive Marketing. 

Cindy sits at the crossroads between PR and Interactive Marketing.  It is very important to drive both teams to widen the net and bring in more people.  For instance, we go right to the core of our fan base when announcing new releases.  We revealed Halloween Horror Nights using a Podcast.  By releasing to customers first, you are targeting your customers directly and ensuring communication will spread virally to YouTube, Facebook, MySpace…

 

When 7 = 350,000,000

When launching the Wizarding World of Harry Potterwe released the information to 7 people.  Harry Potter has very passionate fans and we selected seven industry bloggers to participate in a top secret webcast at midnight.  These seven spread the word around the world.  We had a Q&A with text messages and monitored the seven sites; the announcement was posted before the webcast was even finished.  Continuing this strategy going forward, we have instituted a fan poll to involve fans more directly. 

 

To launch the new Simpson’s theme ride, we blended PR and interactive marketing to create a micro site, http://simpsonsride.com/ for visitors to log on and "sneak into Krustyland by catapulting visitors over the wall while you wait for the gate to open.  Over five million people created an avatar when the Simpson’s movie was launched, so this created an outstanding opportunity to build on to that campaign for Krustyland.  The site has since added the option of launching politicians over the wall, a big hit this time of year.  About five million people have launched over the wall with over 600,000 unique visitors coming the site.
 

Next…

We are venturing into true social media by activating the fans by soliciting on Facebook to become the Mayor of Krustyland.  The goal is to soliciting votes / friends to win the election.  We plan to kick off the campaign by mid-summer.

 

The Three Universal Truths:

 

1. You can’t use new media tools to continue your old manipulation strategy.  When you reach out to a blog, you are reaching out to an entire audience. You have to be transparent.  Be true to yourself and brand, and if you’re sincere, you can build long term relationships for life.

2. You’ll win if you are customer-centric, you’ll lose if you are product centric.  Make the customer the center of the story.

3. The inmates are running the asylum.  Blogs are not simply media publishing vehicles; they are a passionate, personal communication resource.  Find intersections of mutual interest and you will both win. Continue finding these intersections.

Questions:

 

How do you manage rumors from bloggers?

At first, we didn’t know how to deal with bloggers.  On one site they would write if a toilet didn’t flush, so I think it is important to solicit their support early on.  We cannot rest, we must move faster to communicate with the bloggers because they will not wait.  We must get to them with accurate information.  It gets contentious when you are perceived as stonewalling them.

 

Is there competition between marketing, interactive and pr?  It is all a part of marketing so we are all working together.  Meetings are held to determine who should take the lead.  Online campaigns are easier to measure, click through converts to tickt sales.  We have put more money into online advertising to mirror what is gong on in the world and that has been successful.

 

What is the best way to reach Baby Boomers who may not be so tech-savvy?

Many boomers are online.  The medium must match the message.  You need to go where they are.  It is important to match the channel with the audience. The Pew American Life Project has a lot of great statistics on generational marketing.

 

How do you staff for social media production?

We staff through a small agency.  We are planning on hiring interns.  As long as you still have the basics of identifying the brand, message and audience; the new graduates are prepared to produce social media.

 

Do you think that some of the rides, advertising, branding campaigns hurt you with the mainstream audience. 

I think our brand is more edgy and there is a huge consumer demand, but we are always cognizant of that.  We are not seeing small children on our website, but we are seeing older teens, 20’s and 30’s participating.

 

A big thank you to Cindy Gordon for presenting at our CWC FPRA event today.  The presentation was very informative and enjoyable.

 

Matt Gentile

CWC FPRA Blog Team

 

Comments

[Cindy Gordon]

Matt:

Traditional marketing most definitely still plays a powerful role. As much as we are all online, TV advertising is still king for reaching the masses. The question I would ask is how can we use traditional mediums in non-traditional ways? How can you "own" the Superbowl rather than just run an Ad? And how can all the mediums reinforce the other? Coke Zero did a great job with their humorous integrated campaign where the Coke guys are suing each other - they carried through the storyline in both traditional and nontraditional mediums. The way I think people ought to look at Traditional Media in today's marketing mix is in terms of how they can use it in nontraditional ways. Cindy

[Matt]

What role does traditional media play in your mix?
Matt G.

[Suzanne]

Can you tell us more about Blog Relations?
How do you select the ones who will become your trusted source?
It seems thousands might be seeking this position.
Suzanne

[Matt]

Cindy - Can you tell us more about monitoring Facebook & other social networking sites? What does it take to keep up with monitoring millions of fan sites, blogs and so forth?