Is social media now a key marketing channel? Expert reveals how he maximises social media success

The lighting arm of Philips separated from its Dutch parent brand in a structure reshuffle in September 2014. Frans van Houten, chief executive officer of Royal Philips, announced that the move would boost growth and drive profitability: “Giving independence to our lighting solutions business will better enable it to expand its global leadership position and venture into adjacent market opportunities.”

Here, the GMA talks to Clive Roach (pictured) about his role as director of digital social media, Brand Communications, Global, Philips Lighting, based in The Netherlands, about how the independent company is enjoying social media success.

From where does your love of social media and digital marketing spring?

I have been working with social media since 2009. Firstly in the Philips B2B online group and then with Philips Healthcare as it was known at that time. I finally moved to Philips lighting in 2013 as director of Social Media. I first fell in love with digital marketing in 1994 when I taught myself how to build websites for friends and charities in my spare time. I joined Philips lighting in 1999, building Intranets, Extranets, and moderating online communities. I also became an expert in search engine optimisation, web analytics and lastly spent several years managing the global online product catalogue application. Previous to Philips lighting, I was a qualified lighting designer with Thorn Lighting for many years.

Beyond the funky mood lighting that we all love, how is Philips driving awareness of design innovation, connectivity, energy-efficiencies – such as LED street lighting, smart buildings – ‘normalising sci-fi’ in the home?

One of the best ways to answer this question is to paint a picture of what the future is likely to be. Philips lighting recently created an interactive virtual reality experience showcasing smart cities in 2030 – re-imagined underground public spaces and interactive streets enabled by connected lighting. Have a look at the video presentation:

Could you point to a case study or a campaign, perhaps, which shows how you are increasing engagement, reach and creating buzz around Philips lighting of the future?

The Light & Building trade show is the biggest lighting industry event and occurs every two years in the German city of Frankfurt. I saw this as a great opportunity to use social media to amplify the fresh new company positioning following Philips lighting being independently listed on the Amsterdam Euronext stock exchange last May. I devised social media objectives for the event, which aligned to the new positioning. The results were over 3,500 organic likes, shares and comments, plus 6.1 million impressions on all the social media event content with no paid promotion. There were 2,500 brands present at the event and Philips lighting had the leading social media share of voice.

Why should modern marketers embrace social media? Does it really help to engage customers, give better service, nurture leads? 

Social media is a key channel to reach prospects and customers, and can be used to discover insights about how products are used or perceived in the market. It is equally applicable to B2C, B2B and B2G. I have used it successfully in all three scenarios. It can also be used to benchmark competitors and new trends. In 2017 and beyond, social media will most likely be the channel of choice for customers when they want to give feedback either positive or negative. The best way to monitor and manage a social media crisis – no matter the size – is to embrace and use social media as well.

There is a wide range of outcomes with social media marketing, but one thing is always true; a validated business relevant objective is key for success. The usage in Philips lighting of social media is wide-ranging. I am seeing it used to discover the product lifecycle phases which generate the most questions for products right through to Snapchat and learning unique ways that Snapchat B2B usage is different from the B2C experience most companies are having.

Are you ‘listening’ 24/7 to what people are saying on social about you? And reacting, how?

Social listening is my favourite social media activity. Within Philips lighting I use it to track everything from how campaigns are performing 24/7 and discovering what is being said about the company, through to learning about unique new trends in our targeted business segments.
The tool I use allows me to get results within minutes and schedule updates to stakeholders via emailed reports at a frequency of their choosing. I also use the data from social listening to power a command centre based at our HQ in Eindhoven. New trends and insights can be exposed to our staff within seconds of them starting on multiple large HD screens located in the office. I have used social listening information to help define campaign messaging based on what the target audience is saying. This is the essence of content marketing for me.

Can traditional still work with more modern media to drive sales or are social channels forging a stronger path?

I am a strong believer in integrated campaigns. Social media can be used in many different types of campaigns and often has a different role to play depending on the campaign objectives. Traditional media can be deployed successfully with social media as long as the strategic and tactical approach has been well thought through, and an evaluation should always take place at the end to document the lessons learnt. Despite the abundance of digital content, for B2C, looking at a product in-store remains one of the most influential inputs to the purchase stage (Source: Forrester’s Consumer Technographics North American Retail and Travel Online Benchmark Recontact Survey 1, Q3 2016 (US)). However, we can build on this with proximity/location based social media technology driven messaging to aid the buying decision process and we have used this in Philips lighting.

Top tips for channeling social success? 

I have two major tips for social media success. The first is a simple one. Always have validated business relevant objectives from the very start, and then use them to create an integrated campaign or activity. This will ensure that social media is not deployed in a silo and that the results are aligned to the business.

The second tip is to develop a process powered approach to using social media. Today, there are so many different ways that social media can be deployed that it is crucial for success to understand what aspects should be considered for each and every campaign or activity. The magnitude of success, financial or otherwise, can vary depending on many factors. When should privacy and legal aspects be considered? This is very important for regulated industries, but can have a major role for all campaigns if personal details are going to be collected. When should paid ads, re-targeting or social selling techniques be deployed? What is a good channel mix? Is it essential for specific communities alongside, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter to be used or another mix of social platforms or none at all? What about in-house or out-sourced community management staff? Is an analyst needed and what KPIs should be used? Is it always necessary to use the company branding to maximise reach and what about the tone of voice? A process powered approach to using social media will guide users through the decision path and eliminate options that are not needed and prompt users to follow essential ones.

Favourite social platform that marketers should master . . . or top 3? 

My favourite platform is Twitter. I would certainly list it along with Facebook and LinkedIn as my top 3 to master. If you are based in Asia then I would list WeChat as number one and Weibo as number two so the list would vary depending on the region of the world the business is operating in.

Clive Roach is speaking at the forthcoming MINT Global in Amsterdam (April 3-4, 2017): a conference that is unlike any other; offering delegates an unforgettable experience as well as top-level insight into the very latest marketing expertise. Places are limited, so book your seat now at this unique event and don’t miss the boat (which is a hefty clue about that ‘unforgettable experience’)!

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