Table Of ContentCopyright © 2015 by Astrid Haug
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
First Edition, 2015.
Reviews in Danish Media
Astrid Haug lovingly explores social media in her thought-provoking book.
The book provides the formula for creating a content strategy in social
cyberspace. Berlingske Business 5 stars
Astrid Haug has written a powerful book on using social media with lots of
examples on what others have done. The structure is clear and logical.
Børsen 5 stars
Once you have read Astrid Haug’s new book, you will understand what
constitutes good content. The book is remarkably well written and easy to
read. It has a large variety of good cases from different companies.
Jyllandsposten 5 stars
The book was originally published in Danish by Gyldendal Publishing
House in October 2014. This is an updated and adapted edition.
About the author
Astrid Haug is a consultant in social media and digital strategy. For the last
ten years, she has studied how social media transforms politics, media and
how we do business. She is an experienced keynote speaker and is among
the leading social media experts in Denmark.
Astrid has ten years experience within communication and social media.
She started out as a fundraising volunteer in John Kerry’s presidential
campaign in 2004 and has since worked at the Danish Parliament, at
Copenhagen City Hall, for the government and as Community Manager at
the world’s oldest newspaper, Berlingske. She has a Masters in Media
Studies.
Today she advises companies, media organizations, NGOs and public
institutions in strategic use of social media. Furthermore, she is the
Chairman of the Danish Association of Communication Professionals and
has a TV program on Danish TV2 News about political use of social media.
Astrid was born in 1978 and lives in Copenhagen with her husband and three
children.
Learn more:
Twitter: astridhaug
Linkedin: https://dk.linkedin.com/in/astridhaug
Website: astridhaug.com
Contact:
[email protected]
+45 30258035
Contents
Introduction
About this Book
1
Strategy and Purpose
What is a Content Strategy?
Discover the Purpose
Three Strategy Models
2
Be Relevant to the Users
Get to Know Your Users
This is How Social Media Work
Listen in on the Conversations
Where are you Relevant?
Find Your Niche
3
Create Good Content
Criteria for Good Content
The Three Undercurrents: Storytelling, Emotional Communication and
Visual Communication
My, Your, and New Content
Set the Agenda
Give Your Content a Long and Happy Life
When User Engagement Becomes a Shitstorm
4
Planning and Measurement
Content Plan and Annual Cycle of Work
Choice of Social Media
This is How Companies Should Blog – Or Not
When Not to Use Social Media
From Engagement to Results – How to Measure Your Efforts
5
Include the Organization and the Employees
Better Collaboration in the Organization
The Personal Brand – Management and Employees
Your Personal Brand
Summary
Thanks To
Litterature
Introduction
In High Noon, the famous western from 1952, Gary Cooper plays the role of
Will Kane. He marries Amy Fowler, the pacifist Quaker played by Grace
Kelly, and gives up his duties as sheriff to become a shopkeeper. When
rumors begin to circulate that the villain Frank Miller has arrived on the
noon train, the couple flees the town by carriage. Some distance outside
town, Will Kane stops the horses in order to return and fight the criminals. “I
don’t understand any of this,” says Amy. Will Kane replies, “I haven’t got
time to tell you.”
I feel the same way about social media. If you still doubt that it can be
used for more than just small talk, then I will not try to convince you to get
started. Because, as the good sheriff said, if you don’t get it now, there’s no
time to explain it.
Instead, you get a book that presents reality in an organization after
social media has become part of everyday life. During the last ten years we
have not only developed our digital proficiency, we have also fundamentally
changed our way of thinking about customers, communities and colleagues.
We know more about customers than we used to, because we can monitor
their digital behavior. At the same time, users have higher expectations of
companies, organizations and public institutions to tailor communication to
their specific needs.
We are past catchy buzzwords and quick fixes, because every example
shows that the best results are obtained through persistent long-term effort
and hard work. So from this perspective, there is nothing new here. There
are no quick tricks that will take care of everything. You have to buckle
down. And it helps if you make the work fun.
You can use this book when the consultants have left the building with
their PowerPoint presentations and when work really needs to get done. My
ambition with this book is to give you the tools to integrate social media into
the organization’s communication with its customers, stakeholders,
employees and community members. To get there you need a content
strategy for social media. A content strategy is the answer to the challenge
that many small and medium-sized companies face. The usual way a
company approaches social media is to choose a few platforms – e.g.
Facebook and Twitter – and get started. But little thought is given to the type
of content that will fuel this effort. How will you be relevant to your target
group? And how should your content benefit your business? Typically, there
is no budget set aside to produce great content. So you post what you can
find here and there – and you wonder why using social media has no effect.
You could also ask yourself what people are supposed to share, link to or
comment on if there is no relevant content. What are you supposed to
advertise with or perform SEO on if not good content? A typical scenario for
the way companies use social media is, therefore, as follows: The company
has been on Facebook for six months. There are 815 likes, of which 200 are
friends, employees, and family. Updates and engagement have ground to a
halt.
This book focuses on how to create content that will fuel the company’s
presence on social media and on how companies can keep the conversation
going on these networks. In my view, good content is the secret to
succeeding on social media. If you find the formula for making good content
that engages people, you will also know how to create value for the
company. This requires that you dare to look at the content you currently
produce through new eyes and from a user perspective. This book will help
you find the answers to these questions: How do we communicate, what do
we communicate, and whom do we want to communicate with on social
media?
Many of the people I interviewed for this book have landed their jobs as
social media managers in non-traditional ways. And they also have different
job titles – from Marketing Manager and Social Media Manager to Project
Manager and Director. This is an indication that this is still a developing
field, characterized by people who create their own jobs and who are, thus,
pioneers. Their job titles are of lesser importance – it is their
accomplishments that make them interesting. Most of the cases in this book
involve Danish companies, many of which operate internationally.
My goal for writing this book is to turn social media into something that
we work with strategically, rather than reactively. The point of the book is
that good, user-centered content can be used to build a strong network
around your projects or brands, thus consolidating your efforts.
In this book I present a large number of models which will, hopefully,
help you develop your strategy. I use different companies and organizations
that have willingly shared their experiences. I have omitted large companies
like Coca-Cola, Red Bull and LEGO, because their use of social media is
described extensively elsewhere and because it might be harder for smaller
organizations to relate to them. I began by finding someone who had an
inspiring or surprising approach and who is achieving something through
great content. The idea is that you can use one or more of these cases in your
work with social media. “If they can do it, so can we.”
About this Book
This book is organized into five general chapters: 1) Strategy and Purpose,
2) Create Relevance for Users, 3) Create Good Content, 4) Planning and
Measurement, and 5) Involve the Organization and Your Employees. At the
same time, the five chapters serve as a model for structuring your work with
social media. You can download a selection of the book’s models and check
lists at astridhaug.com, which you can print out or use for educational
purposes. If you refer to this book on social media, please use #DIYstrategy.
When you have read this book, I hope that you will prioritize the
following in your work with social media: 1) determine a clear purpose, 2)
understand your users’ needs, 3) spend time creating good content, 4) plan
and measure the effect, and 5) involve the organization and employees. In
this way, you will spend your time most efficiently, achieve a measurable
effect, and strengthen your market position.
