FRANKthoughts

Yesterday the press release went out about our revitalised business relationship with STA Travel and we just want to clarify any possible misunderstanding that may have been caused. Here’s B&T’s version…

STA Travel appoints FRANkVizeum
STA Travel has appointed FRANkVizeum to handle creative, online media buying and social business strategy duties.
The student travel company awarded the Melbourne-based agency the business following
a competitive pitch against the Sphere Agency. STA Travel, although previously using Lifelounge for
creative work, has traditionally handled creative, online buying and social media in-house. FRANkVizeum already oversees
the communications planning and offline media buying for STA. The agency has now effectively become STA’s fullservice
agency, handling its $3m media budget. “FRANkVizeum demonstrated that they really understand our business and we look forward to
a long and prosperous partnership working together to achieve outstanding results,” said Natalie Placko, marketing director of
STA Travel. Martyn Thomas, managing director of FRANkVizeum, added: “It’s a delight to be working with the new STA Travel management team and we have every confidence that together we can recapture and exceed the halcyon days of STA Travel.”

What the press release neglects to mention is that STA Travel has a very happy relationship with Media max who were appointed in October last year to manage their SEO, PPC and other online marketing. Additionally the Sphere Agency is currently scoping out potential brand activity.

We’d just like to aplogise  in this regard and look forward to collective success going forward.

Not so long ago we helped Melbourne’s GPO to start a dialogue with it’s fans. We developed an annual online strategy including an editorial site, profiles on social networks and a community manager. This Sunday three of Melbourne’s most prominent fashion bloggers went on an intimate shopping spree with three loyal fans at the GPO with us throwing in a $500 voucher for each. You can read more and look at the photos here. Thanks for everyone involved in this campaign: Tracey, Sarah, Leanne, Ben, fashion hayley, Lady Melbourne and Nuffnang. In the photo: Nadia and Alicia from Sea of Ghosts.

“Social media” is all the buzz now and clients want to “get on it”, “use it” or “leverage it”. Many people think social media is just another media. It’s not. (Tip: if it’s not a dialogue between your company and users it’s not social media). Many people also believe that social media is just another part of their “Marketing”. It’s not. Being social starts from the inside. From your organisation. You cant start a conversation only to leave the room a month later. To fully understand what needs to be done to GET IT RIGHT lets take a step back.

David Armano’s latest presentation (from the SXSW2010 panel picker) about “social business strategy” (what we call immersion).
I like the term “social business strategy” – probably the biggest and toughest part of social media because it’s not about paid for/set and forget marketing solution. It’s about asking questions first, research and probing. It’s not about “Lets do it” it’s about “Lets think about it”. It’s about your organisation being ready for it. So, bringing this down to the essential ingredients, it is about 1. strategy 2. tactics 3. measure. I also love Armano mentioning the scale element of this approach.

Seth Godin’s post “when tactics drown out strategy” is highlighting the difference between strategy and tactics. “Building a permission asset so we can grow our influence with our best customers over time” is a strategy. Using email, twitter or RSS along with newsletters, contests and a human voice are all tactics. In my experience, people get obsessed about tactical detail before they embrace a strategy… and as a result, when a tactic fails, they begin to question the strategy that they never really embraced in the first place. Seth is right. Most brands want to go viral/facebook/youtube before they have a clear strategy. It’s like attempting to drive a truck before taking any driving lessons.

Matt Dickman summarize this nicely in his post: Want better digital strategy, ban seven dirty words. If you don’t have a strategy you shouldn’t talk about “what we’ll do with xyz tool”.

To end this up here’s Paul Isakson’s post that started my search (Thanks Paul).
If you don’t want to fail in “social media” don’t treat it as an add-on. Have someone in charge of it, have a plan and create a budget. But first, start with a strategy. Only then you can start talking about “that viral idea on youtube”.