Socialising Media Training

cubaka social media trainingProper media training is vital for anyone in business exposed to regular TV, radio or press interviews. Our partners LansonsLive are specialists in media training: ”saying the right thing at the right time in the right way and to the right people is never easy. Whether you are talking to journalists, politicians, investors or clients, we can help you get your message across effectively.”

But being ‘media-savvy’ now spans more than broadcast. Being truly savvy means developing your social profile and your total web ‘footprint’ (or ‘shadow‘) so that it is consistent and reflective of you and your views. This means developing an appropriate Twitter profile, knowing where the line between private and social is, knowing what is and isn’t appropriate to discuss, and coming to terms with the relationship between personal and business content and contacts.

The need to introduce ‘social’ into media training was highlighted recently when a young Liverpool footballer felt the need to express his alternative theory on 9/11 via Twitter. Not necessarily the right thing to do with such a sensitive subject, especially when your employers are an American Company (we contributed to the debate via the BBC here). This highlights the need for company-wide governance and individual social as well as broadcast training for individuals exposed to the media.

A brief review of Forrester’s Marketing Forum EMEA 2009

Toyota’s use of social media to support the launch of the iQ was covered by Forrester Research as a case study, and so it was that Head of Digital Simon, along with three hundred-odd marketers, struggled through what felt like gale force winds to the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel, in not-quite-Westminster-but-ooh-look-there’s-Big-Ben for Forrester’s Marketing Forum EMEA 2009 earlier this week. Simon had a slot to present the case-study on day 2. I hung around playing blogger-on-the-wall for good measure.

Most of the Forum took place at least two floors below ground. Cue tweets complaining that the lack of mobile reception prevented them from tweeting. (1. How did you manage to tweet that, then, smartypants? 2. What – you, like, don’t have a smart phone?) Technological disparity aside, #FMFE09 got off to a good start. The calibre of the speakers proved to be high overall, with Conny Kalcher (LEGO) and Forrester’s own Lisa Bradner (@lisabradner) being particular highlights for me.

EMC Consulting’s Paul Dawson (@poleydee) was on fine form, and his presentation software was the hot topic of the entire event for most of day two. I was genuinely impressed and fired up by Starbucks’ social media efforts and achievements with Alex Wheeler (@aewheeler) at the helm. Simon (@simonru) did Toyota proud, with the augmented reality video getting a positive reaction on Twitter from Forrester’s Nate Elliott (@nate_elliott, also a great speaker), among others.

The themes of orchestration, ‘joining the dots’, personas, the new/old Four Ps and the media meltdown recurred throughout (as did cutesy pictures of people’s daughters). What did I take away, apart from a free EMC bag and the express intention of mixing Vegemite and cream cheese as soon as the opportunity arose? That, to quote Lisa Bradner, ‘the whole notion of managing brands is becoming untenable’. iFood For Thought 2.0.

Other links:

Forrester on Twitter: http://twitter.com/forrester

Toyota’s ‘Today / Tomorrow’ blog: http://blog.toyota.co.uk

The Toyota blog on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ToyotaGB

 

cubaka begins to buzz….

3
cubaka is beginning to buzz....

cubaka is beginning to buzz....

I’ve had a great time for 18 months as the acting Head of Digital at Toyota. In that time we’ve managed to totally redesign our corporate website. And the redesign has worked – we know that from research.

Toyota's corporate website has changed beyond recognition in the last 18 months

Toyota's corporate website has changed beyond recognition in the last 18 months

We’ve also introduced a blog to work alongside the main site – you can see it here. It’s really important for clients to run a blog, or at least a platform which allows proper discussion and debate around their products and services. It’s also critical to allow customers and prospects access quick and easy answers to any questions they may have.

Toyota's 'Today/Tomorrow' blog

Toyota's 'Today/Tomorrow' blog

Continue reading