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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

The airline industry is infamous for difficulties in maintaining profit margins amid a number of internal and external factors that consistently threaten to throw them off balance. From rising competition and consumer demands, to labor deficits and union strikes, to fluctuations in fuel prices, airline decision-makers need to constantly adjust their strategies and find new ways to cut costs and increase revenue in order to remain above ground.

Large carriers and low-budget airlines alike are facing mounting struggles globally to maintain profit margins while facing a number of external factors that are causing disruption.

According to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics, airline travel in the US has increased 15% from 2007 to 2017, while flight prices are seeing all-time lows. Worldwide, air traffic has nearly doubled since 2007.

While demand has increased, so have profits for major airlines, predicted to sit around $33.8B in 2018. However, this hasn’t come easy and has led to some significant changes in customer experience.

Looking out at some of the external factors impacting airlines emphasizes the need for leaders at the top to remain acutely aware of any changes that might impact their business, in real time.

As the demand for labor in the airline industry continues to rise, workers are in turn demanding higher salaries and more benefits. From budget carriers like RyanAir to Air France and United, firms are facing labor union strikes, increasing wage pressure across the board.

According to Reuters, labor costs surpassed fuel as global airlines’ biggest single expense in 2016, at 22 percent of costs against just under 21 percent for fuel. “That is expected to jump this year to 30.9 percent versus 20.5 percent for fuel.”

“As airlines have been making profit, the workforce has got market power, so that is pushing up the cost of labor,” IATA Chief Economist Brian Pearce said in an interview. IATA forecasts that unit cost, or the measure of how much it costs an airline to operate each kilometer and seat flown, will rise 4.3 percent this year versus 1.7 percent in 2017.

Airports are currently facing demonstrations from workers globally – affecting those that operate an estimated 36% of world travel, from Sydney, to France, Germany, Brazil and the US. According to a press release from SEIU, airline industries continue to gain profits off of low worker wages as they subcontract out to ‘low-bid, irresponsible contractors” amid aggressive cost-cutting.

“The global airline industry is leading a race to the bottom that’s hurting communities across the globe,” says Stephen Cotton, General Secretary of the International Transport Workers’ Federation. “Airline companies keep coming up with new ways to drive down wages, cut benefits, and increase workloads. But the world’s airport workers will be at every corner to fight these injustices. Our movement to win fair pay and union rights is catching on and spreading all over the world.”

While the existing labor force continues to demand a higher salary, many airlines are struggling to find talent at all, particularly when it comes to commercial pilots. The ‘desperate’ shortage has caused a significant disruption in the form of route cancellations, including the all-out pilot boycott Ryanair experienced earlier this year, causing the carrier to cancel 1 in 6 flights globally during peak holiday season.

This is due in part to changing requirements that have deterred young people from undergoing necessary training to become a pilot, and a general decline in interest for the career path. Due to the shortage, pilots also face demanding schedules and less flexibility.

As a result, salaries are spiking, and benefits offered to new pilots have increased dramatically. Business Insider cites an increase at budget airline GoJet from an entry salary of $20,504 in 2014 to $61,512 in 2018, inclusive of a sign-on bonus.

Further impact: More cancellations means less available flights particularly in smaller communities and regional airports, as smaller airlines tend to be disproportionately affected by understaffing. As a result, passengers need to either cancel travel plans entirely or find farther, less convenient options.

Wages aren’t the only factor cutting into airline profits. We’re facing a slump in crude oil prices globally, hovering at around $50/barrel. While the US puts pressure on Saudi Arabia to bring prices down, the producer is pumping out record volumes of crude.

Low oil prices of course mean lower costs for airlines. But at any minute this can change. Those that hedge on jet fuel – like European carriers – will find the impact of higher fuel prices coming through later than those who haven’t.

Robust global economies, along with a dip in oil prices, have contributed to greater demand for consumer travel, and with it, more airlines offering more routes and more options for the discerning traveler. However, as competition increases, airlines are forced to consider tradeoffs between sacrifices in customer experience, flight prices and other cost-saving efforts vs the potential of losing customers to other carriers.

As well, more flights that take off and airlines that operate out of global hubs means greater competition over space at these airports. Airports are already facing crowding, and greater demand means they can charge higher prices for a spot at one of their gates. However, more flights and passengers can also mean more delays if operational efficiencies aren’t increased accordingly, which cut into airline profits.

Competition comes also in the form of data-driven technology that is threatening to undermine the age-old infrastructure airlines continue to operate on. Google can more quickly offer real-time information and is working to use AI to predict flight delays before they’re announced. As well, Uber’s deep understanding of the connection between consumer and transport positions the brand perfectly to step in with a better customer experience and take over traditional airline sales channels.

What makes tech companies an even more significant threat is that they’re not tied to a single airline, potentially forcing more fair and streamlined pricing and expectations for consumers across the board if a brand hopes to remain in the competition.

Beyond these factors, elements like climate disasters fueled by rising climate change, political unrest and disputes among nations, and mechanical maintenance or update costs all contribute as forces that impact an airline’s ability to increase profits. Further internal issues like organizational silos and lack of collaboration or feedback loops also inhibit these massive organizations from reaching their goals.

According to a study by BCG, the PMOP – or, profit-maximizing operational performance – approach can help airlines improve profitability by taking an integrated and analytical perspective and evaluating all potential tradeoffs.

This comprehensive analysis combines internal and external sources of data and perspective for an Outside Insight approach. “Internal sources are usually very detailed and accurate. But by themselves, they often do not provide a comprehensive perspective on how the company is doing, compared with others operating under similar circumstances. PMOP starts from a relative perspective, looking at an airline’s performance, compared with that of several peers.”

For each airline, the answer will be different but the key will be to find the right balance and the right tradeoffs that offer increased profitability that doesn’t come at a great cost to customer satisfaction or employee happiness.

External data factors impacting airline profits

Want to know what can get you more social media followers and connections, shares and likes, media exposure and even improve your search engine rankings?

Not just any image or visual, but something attractive, relevant, compelling and, of course, properly optimized.

We’ll show you how to do that in this post.

I became a “visual evangelist” after experiencing first-hand the power of images on the PR in Your Pajamas Facebook page. We usually get a handful of likes and shares on our status updates. But guess what happened when I posted an image with a quote: It got 121 likes, 3 comments, and 63 shares!

This wasn’t a fluke, either. According to Hubspot, Facebook photos get 53% more likes than regular, text-based posts.

It makes sense. Pictures are more eye-grabbing and interesting than words on a screen. We can grasp the meaning from an image faster than we can read sentences, so visuals can be a shortcut to communication. Perhaps most important of all, images stimulate emotions much more effectively and quickly than words. Which probably explains why pictures compel us to take action more readily than text.

Consider these other statistics that show the increasing importance of images in social media:

Pinterest is now the fourth biggest referrer of website traffic (Are you using it yet? Read this to get started).

According to eye-tracking research of Google news, items with images are seen first before plain text articles.

In research by PwR New Media, 79% of journalists who responded say news releases accompanied by a good image are more likely to be picked up than those without photos. 

And if that’s not enough, images can help with search engine optimization (SEO), too. Search engines can’t “read” images — yet — but they do crawl metadata that accompany images (more on that below).

Pinterest pins now also appear on search engine results, which means these shared images can become a source of traffic to your website. In fact, according to a blogger I know, Pinterest has now become one of the Top 10 sources of traffic to her site — even though she only uses it to keep track of posts she likes.

By now I hope you appreciate the significance of visuals in your social media marketing. Before you go and start adding images to all your posts and updates, let me give you some tips on how to do so properly and strategically.

7 Ways to Optimize Images for the Search Engines and Engagement

Earlier, I mentioned that images can contribute to SEO. Most entrepreneurs and marketers don’t know that you can optimize your photos for the search engines. Before you publish a post, remember to use your target keywords in the images:

These items won’t be displayed on your website or social media account, but search engines will read these and factor them in when calculating your search rankings.

2. Use only high-quality, relevant images

Your visuals don’t have to be taken by professional photographers — although that helps. You can take many of your photos yourself, as long as they’re clear and well lit. Bright colors, high contrast, and unusual images will help your visuals stand out of someone’s timeline or Pinterest board.

But don’t just use an image because it’s attractive and interesting. The visuals you choose should be relevant to the rest of your content. What’s the use of a pretty picture if it has nothing to do with what’s on the page?

Avoid images that are ambiguous or that can be misconstrued to mean something else. And only use images that are aligned with your brand or personality.

Text helps ensure your audience will understand the image in its proper context. Don’t overwhelm the image with words, however. Strive for a balance between words and image. And don’t worry, you don’t have to be a graphic designer or hire one to do this (in a future post, I’ll share free tools you can use to easily add text to images).

Speaking of text, brand your image with your website URL and/or logo. So when your image goes viral and gets shared in various social networks, everyone will know who owns the image. It’s not fool-proof, but a watermark will also discourage others from stealing your image.

Before using any image online, make sure you have permission to do so. A consultant I know was fined $950 for using a copyrighted image without permission. Ouch! And it was a picture of a cow.

The safest route, of course, is to take your own visuals, or commission a professional to do so (and even then, read the contract to make sure you have sole ownership of the resulting images).

It isn’t always possible to only use images you own. You can use sites like Flickr to find free photos with Creative Commons licenses. But there are different types of Creative Commons licenses. Some require you to give proper attribution to the photographer, others allow you to modify the image, while others don’t. Read the fine print to make sure you know what you’re allowed to do with the picture.

Another option is to buy a license to use other people’s images through services like Fotolia and iStockPhoto. For a small fee, you can have access to high-quality images to use on your website, marketing collateral, and social networks. Again, read the license agreement.

Allow your audience to share your image freely. Say so on your website’s terms of use, or on your page footer. Make it easy for readers to make your visual go viral.

For example, make your images pinnable. This means when a reader clicks on the image, it gets “pinned” on their Pinterest board. In PR in Your Pajamas, we use the plugin, Pinterest Pin This Button for WordPresss. Try it: hover over an image and see that the “Pin It” button appears. When you click on the button, a Pinterest interface pops up.

Remember that Pinterest can be integrated with other social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. So when one of your readers pins an image, it may be posted on their other social networks as well, which means more exposure for you.

One last tip: make sure your images are the correct size. On your blog, you don’t want to use very large images, because that will make your page load slowly. So resize images before uploading them.

On Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and other social networks, different images need to have specific sizes.

I hope this post has inspired you to use more visuals in your social media marketing, and to use them more effectively. Remember, don’t just tell; show.

In my next post, I will share the tools you can use to find, enhance, and share your visuals for higher impact.

Meantime, tell me. How are you currently using images online? What challenges do you have when it comes to using pictures? Do you have a success story you want to share?

This article was originally published by PR In Your Pajamas blog

How to Use Visuals To Get More Social Media Engagement, Shares and PR

My colleague Marc recently wrote a blog post on brand advocacy likening his mom to the ideal advocate. He hit it spot on: moms always support your “brand,” they defend you in public and are never afraid to tell others how amazing you are. While moms are built-in advocates, finding brand advocates for your business requires more time, effort and organization. Social marketing tools like Meltwater's help brands identify, segment and organize potential advocates across social communities. Meltwater lets you spend more time engaging with advocates and less time looking for them.

Keep reading for 3 ways to find brand advocates using Meltwater.

1. Social Listening to Find Brand Advocates

Meltwater uses keyword-driven search campaigns to find social media mentions about your brand, competitors and industry. The most straightforward way to find potential brand advocates is by simply looking through and sorting the list of your incoming brand mentions.

Browsing through brand-related searches is an easy way to identify potential brand advocates. Try sorting by “Views” or “Rank” to bring farther-reaching posts to the top. See definitions of view and rank below:

Rank analyzes the author of the post based on all discoverable social information. Rank takes into account the size of the author’s community, the frequency at which they participate in social environments, the channels on which they have a presence and their level of engagement with you. Rank is on a scale of 0 to 10. Views represents the total possible unique views for a specific post if everyone to whom the post was directed was able to observe the post in their stream. This is the number of impressions the post made in the world!

2. Social Media Sentiment to Find Brand Advocates

Social media sentiment can save you time when looking for brand advocates. Sentiment in Meltwater is driven by natural language processing (NLP), grouping together the most positive and negative posts for you to browse through. 

While on the Listen tab, put your mouse over “Analysis” in the menu and select “Sentiment.” The resulting page displays posts for your brand search broken down by sentiment by day in a bar graph and overall sentiment in a pie chart. Click on the green parts of the bar, or the green slice of the pie to browse through the list of posts that displays below the graphs.

3. Social Media Engagement to Find Brand Advocates

We’ve looked at how to find potential advocates through social listening and sentiment analysis, but what about community members who engage with your brand? Meltwater centralizes your brand’s engagement on Facebook and Twitter, offering up metrics that can identify users who interact with you frequently.

On the Engage tab, select either “Most Engaged Contacts” or “Top Retweeters” to see the users who interact most with your brand. The time period on each graph can be changed to focus on a specific campaign or spike in engagement.

The first two ways of identifying potential brand advocates looks only at single interactions, so the mentions may not necessarily equal advocacy. These users could become advocates later on, and the ones who mention you more frequently have more potential. The third method uncovers community members who are potentially advocating for your content, but not maybe not for your brand or products. No matter which method you use, after you identify potential brand advocates, use Meltwater to dig deeper into their social profiles. You can create lists here of users who have positively mentioned your product once and another for those who have mentioned you several times. You can also organize user lists by geography or campaign as needed.

While a brand advocate on social media will never quite live up to a mom-vocate, they can have a significant positive influence on your brand. Meltwater reduces the time and effort that it takes to identify potential brand advocates and gives you tools to research, segment and organize them as well. Log in and get started now!

For more great content like this, click here to subscribe to the Success Blog.

3 Ways to Find Brand Advocates

Many companies are struggling when it comes to managing their social media engagement. But being active and posting frequently isn’t enough to connect with audiences. The most successful brands rise above the fray and engage audiences through emotional content on social media. And even then, getting an audience to not only read what you’re writing but to act, via commenting and sharing, can still be a mystery. If you’re unsure of where to start on the path to creating engaging content, using tried and true psychology-related tips can be a great place to start.

Carefully selecting a color scheme can positively represent your brand and impact readers on a psychological level. So, before you start sharing content across social media, choose colors that are synonymous with your brand. You’ll want a color scheme that shouts your brand in the absence of any other visual cues.

Spend the time in your visual marketing efforts to get this right. The Honest Company does this right. They have a signature color scheme they use across their social channels; it’s instantly recognizable by their audience and proclaims to anyone familiar with their brand that this is a piece of content they’ve created.

Don’t forget the power of imagery. A strong image serves as the front door to your content, it needs to draw a reader in and make an impression. Posting a powerful image will make you grab attention as readers are scrolling through their social news feeds. In this image of burgers and Cokes, Coca-Cola hits the checkboxes for relevance, brand messaging, and iconic imagery to generate appeal.

The best way to start a conversation with your audience is to ask for it. Write posts that pose a question, since questions intrigue. Humans are primed to answer: who, when, what, why, where and how; so writing some of your social media posts as questions can create ongoing conversations.

Now that you’ve asked a question be prepared to establish a healthy back-and-forth with your readers. Find out what they want, and provide it to them. Readers will remember the positive interactions they’ve had with your brand, and they’ll continue to engage the next time you come up in their news feed. Since you gave them a glimpse into your brand personality, they will trust you.

Whether aware of it or not, you are always expressing emotion in your posts, provoking a response in your readers. To take advantage of this opportunity, try to share good news and useful information. As you prepare a post, ask yourself what emotion does it convey? Avoid coming off as bored, anxious, or surly. Instead, portray your brand as happy, friendly, and generous; this will elicit goodwill and draw people to your posts. Oreo has a history of doing this well; all their social posts project a brand that is light hearted and fun.

If you have not yet mastered the intricacies of a strong online presence, keep these tips in mind when crafting social media posts. Think carefully about your brand personality in creating social media content and don’t forget that this extends to colors, images, and words. Follow these tips to create conversations that will emotionally connect with your audience. Once you’ve learned to express your brand personality in a positive way, start digging deeper into what makes people tick (and share) on social media.

Emotionally Connect with Your Audience on Social Media

The bottom line for every company is to get more business and all efforts are geared towards activities that can fulfil this ultimate goal. The customer experience teams along with other departments within the organisations implement creative tactics and advocacy programs to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty to create stickiness towards the brand. One of the ways for doing this is by leveraging social media to maintain a touchpoint across a number of devices and channels to create an end-to-end customer journey. Read the blog post to know how brands can increase their brand advocacy through social media.

2. Talk to your fans and customers- Ask them what they value!

8. Employee advocacy to enhance social presence

10. Monitoring the social media ecosystem

Highlighting the brand’s values, personality and culture in communication with the audience can develop trust. For e.g. sharing employee team pictures and behind the scenes, happenings can induce emotions in customers in terms of belonging improving the overall trust and customer experience.

Before launching a campaign or promotion on social media, understand the pulse of your fans. Create short posts asking for their opinion and ideas and implement those in bigger campaigns, products or services, which can make them feel special and heard. Such tactics not only generate repeat customers but also establish a relationship and increases their CLV.

Every customer is an asset to the business, in the socially connected world, the loss of one leads to the loss of many. Be sure to connect with customers on an individual level and social media can be a great way. A simple reply to every tweet/message, which is not only a complaint but also a compliment, can go a long way in creating a trusting bond of friendship between the brand and the customer.

Most businesses segment using demographics as one of the main characteristics and with the growing number of platforms within the social media space brands must analyse the platforms they should penetrate that best suits their audience. Brands must be equipped to engage and respond with resources skilled at answering queries and complaints at any time and at any channel. Various engagement tools are now available that integrate all handles within one platform with task allocation feature for easy management.

The advent of digital has changed the mindset of the connected consumer. The push marketing strategy from yesteryears has been taken over by the pull strategy changing the dynamics of promotional content. Brand delivering a constant stream of adverts can impact the customer experience and disenchant the customer. A mix of content from other sources, user-generated content, sharing company news and culture, asking for feedback and questions are all ways to invite customers towards the brand.

To gain a true edge over the competition and to keep customers happy brands must show signs of appreciation towards their customers. Proactively reaching out, commenting, acknowledging their messages, sending small gesture tokens like personalised vouchers and discount codes on their favourite items can all boost happiness level and proportionately the traffic on the sources.

The On-demand generation expects ‘instant’ communication and ‘instant’ results. Social media is a way to cater to this changing customer attitude. Setting up a step-by-step company program on how to handle complaints on various social channels and the approach to be taken to solve their problems has become key. By incorporating engagement and listening tools, some of our Meltwater’s clients have been able to reduce response times, keep a track of conversations and the frequency at which customers reach out to the business.

Employees are the company’s best advocates and involving them in communication can showcase the brand’s values and imply a ‘We care’ attitude. Brands like Cisco have an employee advocacy program having over 1300 members that are given guidelines and support to amplify the company’s messages through social networks and get the word out about products, services, culture etc.

Social media until a few years ago was a communication medium but with the increased maturity level of the customers and the advancement within these platforms, businesses can benefit from social media in other ways. It can be used to understand problems in the customer journey and a channel for improving customer experience. The volume of content and organic conversations on social media allows data to be converted into a research opportunity highlighting problems and allowing ways to improve satisfaction levels. This is not only limited to the company’s social media handles but also external sources such as discussion and complaint forums. From content sharing to reputation management, social media covers multiple businesses uses if leveraged properly.

Stats depict that 96% of online brand conversations happen outside of their official social channels. For brands to offer great customer experience and loyal customers, they must monitor the social ecosystem from outside other than their internal sources- we call this the ‘Outside Insight’. With the help of sophisticated listening solutions, brands can monitor this dark space that houses most of the customer reviews, complaints and feedback. It’s not always essential for a customer to tag a brand in their conversations, therefore, monitoring keywords in this vast space is a must to see the actual brand mentions allowing the right brand analysis and customer experience reports.

A McKinsey report suggests that the move to social can instigate a paradigm shift in customer satisfaction, lower cost and increase the net promoter score if leveraged correctly. Use the above tips to incorporate social media to make an impact. Let your customers do the talking, while you reap the benefits!

10 ways to increase brand advocacy via social media

An Inside Look at Top Communicators’ Playbooks 

Top communicators opened their playbooks on mastering brand crisis and reputation at an exclusive event Meltwater hosted in collaboration with PRWeek last month. Over breakfast in San Francisco, they discussed today’s 24/7/365 world, where external entities control the narrative as much if not more than the brands themselves, and even the basics of crisis and reputation management continue to evolve daily.

Showing us their best methods in the midst of madness were panellists Julie Miller, CCO at Ancestry; Al D’Agostino, SVP, Crisis and Risk Management at Edelman; Emily Horn, Director of Corporate Communications at HP; and Nina Beizai, VP of Communications at Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants. Moderating was Cole Weil, Director of Global Enterprise Solutions at Meltwater. A summary of discussion points and recommended actions follows.

At the first sign of crisis, deploy a tiger team to control the message

Gathering the right people quickly is the key to nimble decision-making, the panellists easily agreed. Emily Horn of HP recommended assembling a small team drawn from your stakeholder community, investor relations, and both employee and corporate communications and setting them to work performing risk analysis and determining the worst-case scenario. “Use the tiger team to control the message, and the fewer news cycles the better.”

Edelman’s Al D’Agostino added that the situation may warrant the communications lead assembling a cross-functional group that includes HR, legal, finance, and operations. “Side-by-side with that tiger team, use these people to figure out what’s going on and when is the earliest you can say something that actually means something.”

Multiple panelists confirmed the importance of having that foundation built in advance and ready to be mobilized in times of emergency.

Take the pulse of leadership early to reduce communication cycles

Ancestry’s Julie Miller says, “If my gut is telling me something’s happening, I try to get my CEO or the GM of the business and my general counsel in a room with me before everything hits. Sometimes the CFO is in there too if there’s a financial impact on the business. Getting a sense of where they’re at can save the team multiple cycles in thinking through the company’s response.” That early meeting often also helps determine what should remain confidential and what the threshold is for disclosure of information.

Come to the table with suggestions that will move the needle

“Strong analytics will get you far, and accurate analytics will get you farther,” says Nina Beizai. She adds that Kimpton has always viewed the communications team as having a seat at the table, in part because Communications is responsible for sharing the data on coverage, sentiment, and share of voice coming in from media monitoring and social and internal engagement. 

“Synthesize that data and come to the table with suggestions that will actually move the needle from a business perspective, not just a communications perspective,” Beizai advises. She says her role includes serving as a fact- and reality-checker of any proposals being floated. “I think that encourages everybody to put on their thinking caps and removes the hair-on-fire aspect of the drill.” 

Julie Miller says she welcomes the passion people bring to managing a crisis because, “If you can harness the emotion, it drives a sense of urgency and feeds the sense we’re going to roll up our sleeves and figure things out.” Her first priority remains to back everyone off the ledge and facilitate a conversation that moves them closer to finding a solution.

Maintaining a sense of perspective throughout is invaluable, says Al D’Agostino. “Oftentimes a client acts as if their whole world is going crazy. You might want to ask them how big is that world, actually. Is everyone really talking about this?” Context and a sense of proportion help keep emotions in check. Metrics can be applied here also.

Focus on being an effective two-way communicator  

The communication team’s responsibility is not only to offer advice and counsel on the wording of any pronouncements but to be the eyes and ears of the company also, says Kimpton’s Nina Beizai. “It really is a two-way street. Communicators are not just pushing out content. They’re also bringing a lot of objective reality into a situation.”

Emily Horn spoke of being at Hewlett Packard Company when hardware recycling became an issue for the tech industry and Greenpeace was protesting outside. “We brought coffee out to the protestors and sat down with them to talk and connect as humans. That helped because it calmed everybody down. Focusing on the human element of how you communicate is fundamental.”

Julie Miller says it’s important to know what your stakeholders expect from you and suggests weighing your response against a set of decision principles. “They don’t have to be absolute. You can use them merely as aids to judgment, but it’s much easier to explain what you’re doing if you have a principle-based approach.”

Understand the power of your employees to influence events

Employees should learn of a crisis first, followed by your customers. The focus should be on answering the questions you’re able to and confessing that you’re still gathering information, says HP’s Emily Horn. Tell them you’ll inform them as soon as you know more. She cautioned against a knee-jerk reaction to volunteer too much information. “I am often the first to say less is more.”

“It’s tricky,” says Julie Miller of Ancestry’s. “But I do believe there’s a role for key employees to play. An engineer or product manager may be the best person to speak to a product defect. Oftentimes it’s specific to the use case. This is where the company’s social media policy comes in. This feels like a more authentic place to have certain conversations.”

Kimpton’s Nina Beizai questioned whether we do enough to set employees up to be successful. What content can they be given that feels organic and can be shared during a crisis? Understand the power your employee base has to affect change. A crisis handled poorly with employees will not only impact reputations, Beizai says, but also morale. “This, in turn, will impact the business again, so you’re creating a vicious cycle where the crisis impacts morale, which impacts business results, which then impacts reputation again.” You devolve from talking about employees being ambassadors and advocates to worrying about their impact on the bottom line.

Edelman’s Al D’Agostino mentioned his company’s Trust Barometer, whose latest findings reveal that more than 75% of people globally view their employer as their most trusted institution. This adds to the imperative for the company to act responsibly in the eyes of employees.

Deploy a coalition of people willing to defend you in public

Julie Miller said she’d been with a leading tax software provider when scammers began filing fraudulent tax returns and receiving other people’s tax refunds. “Somebody already has your refund. Unwinding that is very, very hard.” She says her company hadn’t prepared a coalition of people willing to speak on their behalf, and that was a hard lesson to learn. “Sometimes it’s not enough for the company to defend itself. Gather a group of people who will partner with you in battle, as either public defenders or private advisors.”

Emily Horn agreed that third-party validation has never been more important. “Pick the right partners, have them act as your brand halo, and push them forward to tell the story.”

Even though the media environment is changing and the media mix is much different today, Nina Beizai cautions against neglecting or minimizing the importance of existing media relationships. “Old-school media relationships help in a crisis more than we tend to give credit. Where you want to balance stories with your quotes and who you trust to do this are both key.”

Timing is everything, and might offer you a chance to benefit from a crisis

Kimpton’s Nina Beizai says, “There’s this pivotal moment where you have an opportunity to build reputation and loyalty to a brand. Spotting that moment and shifting the paradigm is key. Oftentimes you’ll have a situation where an organization apologizes and it’s too little, too late. So look for that window of opportunity for your spokesperson to come forth.” She says the initial approach must be human, authentic, and as transparent as possible for there to be any chance of success.

It helps when what you value is also important to others. HP’s Emily Horn says, “One of our reputation pillars is diversity and inclusion. It’s extremely important to the company.” She says diversity and inclusion’s impact on reputation is often hard to measure, but that reputation itself can be measured by an increased intent to buy. Seeing an increase in this metric is one way of knowing that others share your values and appreciate your responses.

Don’t dwell on mistakes, and never shy away from bold solutions 

Crises happen in every industry, says Edelman’s Al D’Agostino. No matter what brand organization you’re part of, something unfortunate will happen. “You’re going to be judged on your response operationally and from a communication standpoint. So how prepared and willing are you to be a transparent and direct communicator?” 

Asked by an audience member for solutions that go beyond forming tiger teams and other tried-and-true methods of damage control, several panel members referenced Starbucks’ 2018 closure of 8000 stores to conduct racial-bias training. Something positive and unexpected that has an impact on revenue often captures people’s attention. Al D’Agostino’s takeaway from that incident was that Starbucks was truly committed to making amends.

Panellists agreed that a cross-functional “tiger team” should be assembled the moment a crisis hits. Have a list of participants prepared and include the key functions. Gathering the right people together in the very beginning is the key to making decisions quickly.

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