“Digital Communications: From Strategy to Execution” was the most recent topic discussed at the WashingtonExec MARCOM Committee roundtable with keynote speakers Brian Williams and Laura Kisailus. Williams is President and CEO of Viget Labs, a full-service interactive agency that helps plan, design, build, and measure successful websites and digital products. Kisailus is Manager of Online Marketing and Advocacy at Forum One, a digital communications firm focused on driving progress on issues of importance such as health, education, the environment, and international development.
The two speakers led their discussion by asking attendees how they currently use social media within their organizations. Is it used to recruit new talent? For engagement with customers? For outreach efforts? Or is its main purpose for crisis management?
The simplest way to start engaging with social media is to incorporate and utilize what is already available on a corporation’s website. The closer the company’s social media strategy is aligned to the public website content; the easier it is to maintain a comprehensive message.
“10 to 15 years ago, leaders were hesitant to launch even a company website. Similar to today, marketing leaders are challenged with justifying the launch a corporate social media campaign. At the end of the day, the question is not ‘do we launch a social media campaign?’, but the question is when,” said Jaime O’Keefe, Harris Corporation.
Williams highlighted how Google is changing the way it ranks websites and articles on its search engine. Google has begun to focus on the evolving role of social media engagement – making social media critical for corporations to maintain relevancy and high search optimization online.
“Google recently announced a new algorithm named Hummingbird to gauge and rank the best content on its search engine by taking social media presence and outreach into account. This will greatly affect those organizations that do not have a comprehensive digital strategy that incorporates social media engagement and trends,” Williams said.
Kisailus encouraged those uncomfortable at the corporate level with social media to start engagement with basic content, readily available, and then widen the corporation’s digital footprint thereafter.
“The conversation about your company is happening whether you know it or not. If at first your organization is hesitant about producing original content online, you can begin by asking questions of your followers to gauge sentiments as well as supporting or sharing other organization’s content. Leaders should start thinking about social media as an integral part of the company’s overall digital strategy, not a one-off initiative,” said Kisailus.
Jaime O’Keefe, Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications and Eileen Rivera, Vice President, Global Marketing and Communications, both at Harris Corporation, sponsored the roundtable for Marketing and Communication executives in the government contracting community.
The 2013 WashingtonExec MARCOM Committee Leaders are Alan Hill (Serco), Sheila Blackwell (Decision Sciences) and Eileen Cassidy Rivera (Harris Corporation).
Past meeting topics for the WashingotnExec MARCOM Committee have included Sequestration: Messaging and Strategy, Content Generation, Employee Engagement/Internal Communications, Government Relations, Demystifying Going Digital and The Strategic Relationship Between MARCOM/Communications Professionals and the Company CFO: Is it a Money Thing?.
