Tell a Story - Provide Value
My approach to for digital communication is to provide the maximum value possible. By value I mean providing the audience you are communicating with opportunities to connect further with the brand at a deeper level, should they wish to do so. This is passive, not pushy, so it can easily be misunderstood.
I'll use an example story to illustrate different aproaches. For reference the sources are a tweet from FordUK, which I did not post and a tweet from FordEU, which I did post.
Ford UK Tweet
There is nothing wrong with the Ford UK tweet. Sometimes quick and easy is what is needed. It links to a page on a Ford US (.com) social site where the story is available, with supporting text plus the embedded supporting video asset.
The update is for a UK audience, which directs to a US page, not controlled by Ford UK. There are no options for FordUK to provide additional value at the destination.
Ford Europe Tweet
First, control the destination
If you control the destination you have options. The FordEU tweet links to an adaptation of the story, which has been tweaked for a European audience.
Additional value at the landing page
Value for BOTH the user and the client. In this case the client is "Ford Europe" which includes the Ford markets (countries) within the region of Europe.
1: Menu
The menu links on the page provide access to the following:
- FORD - This is a Smart Link. It will take the viewer to a related Ford property depending on their geographic IP address. For users outside Europe it acts as the site home link, providing access to more Ford stories on the site. For users in a European market it will take them to their Ford market home page: Ford UK in the UK, Ford Germany in Germany, Ford France in France etc.
- Share the Road - This is another Smart Link. It relates to a European safety campaign from Ford. There are major markets which are currently running the campaign. Users in a market where the campaign is running will go to the relevant campaign page on their local market site. Users in a country NOT currently running the campaign will go to a page related the campaign.
- Google News - Ford Europe as a publisher in Google News. This provides an additional option for users to "Subscribe" to communications from Ford Europe. That is both articles from the blog and videos published on the Ford Europe YouTube channel.
- LIVE - The live page contains and the most recent tweets from all of Ford's European Twitter handles plus @FordEU.
- Twitter and YouTube - menu links provide direct access for the Ford Europe Twitter channel and Ford Europe YouTube channels.
- Community Videos - Links to a page containing an unlisted YouTube playlist curated by the Ford Europe YouTube channel. The playlist contains "third party" videos, meaning non Ford produced videos which are Ford related.
- Email Updates - Subscribe to the Ford Europe blog via email.
- RSS - Subscribe via RSS.
- Fordzilla - Details on Ford's recently launched eSports teams.
The menu links appear on each page on the site.
2: Google Custom Search
The custom search returns results from European Ford sites, the blog, plus possibly Ads to cover free usage.
3: The related video asset
The video asset for this story is hosted on the US controlled Ford Motor Company YouTube channel. As such the "outro" is optimised for a US audience. When embedding the video I added an "end" variable to the iFrame to end the video prior to the US optimised end content. I also and added a playlist variable for related content hosted on the Ford Europe YouTube channel.
Short story: if a user watches the video to the "end" they are then served related video content from the Ford Europe YouTube channel.
4: Related stories sorted by topic
The story is a Ford "Heritage" story featuring the "Ford Mustang", so options are provided to the user to dive deeper into either topic.
5: Connect with @FordEU
Enable users who arrived via a different route to connect with Ford Europe on Twitter.
6: Popular articles
Provide access to popular stories on the blog.
7: Ford Market Blogs
Provide direct access to Ford country blogs where available, plus to any European country Ford site.
8: Recent Instagram Updates
Allow users to connect with Ford Europe by providing direct access to the five most recent Instagram posts from Ford Europe on Instagram.
Conclusion
This focus on just two tweets for the same story should help to illustrate two different in approaches for one social media story.
One is simple and is quickly achieved; but offers little control or opportunity to add additional value either for the audience, or for the client.
The other is a deeply strategic, long term approach, designed to provide maximum value to both the intended audience and the client.
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