Outsourcing & training

We help organisations manage their social media activities, namely community management, buzz monitoring and influencer relations.

We do this by training internal teams to perform these activities, creating the guidelines, workflows and assets that the teams will require. Following an initial training period, we support the teams on an ongoing basis and in specific situations when additional support is required. We can also help teams recruit the individuals they need to perform these activities.

Our recommendation is for clients to have their own internal resources for these activities. These activities are normally performed on an ongoing basis, which makes internal resource more cost effective. Additionally, given their requirement for in-depth knowledge on the organisation, they are normally most effectively performed by the people closest to the organisation.

We can also provide short-term, outsourced resource to complete these tasks. We typically do this when an organisation needs to start performing these activities prior to the hiring and training of a team, or during a spike in activity when more assistance is temporarily required.

Typically we offer outsourcing and training services for:

§ Community management: managing an organisation’s communities on Facebook, Twitter, forums, blogs, innovation hubs and myriad other social platforms

§ Buzz monitoring: selecting, setting up and optimising conversation monitoring tools; monitoring online conversations of interest to the organisation (its brands, competitors, trends, key issues etc.); reporting key data and associated insights to the relevant teams within the organisation.

§ Influencer relations: developing relationships with authoritative and influential social media communities or individuals to increase positive word-of-mouth around their brands, products or services.

1.1 How we do it

We work with organisations to understand the resources, skills, knowledge and capabilities they require, what already exists within the organisation. Once this information has been analysed, we create a training plan that details the most effective way to meet these requirements. We then action this plan.

Finally, we offer ongoing support to the team, we monitor their progress and effectiveness and offer advice on how to improve their performance.

1.2 What are the benefits to your organisation?

Our approach to outsourcing and training helps organisations to:

§ Identify what resources, skills, knowledge and capabilities it requires to manage social media activity effectively

§ Embed the right social media skills, knowledge and capabilities within the organisation to create an effective team and drive cost savings within the organisation

§ Ensure that whilst the organisation is finding and training the required employees to manage its social media activities, it can rely on our outsourced services to maintain its service levels

1.3 Who we’ve helped

Community management:

§ We helped Samsung Mobile spread the word about its new BEAT range of music handsets, establishing an online community around its dance-a-thon event, ‘The Last Call’.

§ Red Bull Music Academy asked us to help it understand and become involved in relevant, online music discussions. We trained up their music experts to talk and collaborate with existing online music communities across Europe.

§ We worked with the British Council to manage and train a team of online ambassadors to answer questions about UK higher education across forums and social media networks in The US, India and Malaysia.

Buzz monitoring:

§ We worked with Mozilla to measure the impact of its ‘Open to Choice’ campaign using monitoring tools. Our weekly findings informed campaign content and social activities.

§ Capgemini UK asked us to measure and analyse conversations around some of their key business areas. Our findings helped define the improvements made to Capgemini’s website and digital content.

§ We helped Coventry University avoid negative PR by tracking and flagging negative online reactions to a pay dispute with teaching staff.

Infl

We help organisations manage their social media activities, namely community management, buzz monitoring and influencer relations.

We do this by training internal teams to perform these activities, creating the guidelines, workflows and assets that the teams will require. Following an initial training period, we support the teams on an ongoing basis and in specific situations when additional support is required. We can also help teams recruit the individuals they need to perform these activities.

Our recommendation is for clients to have their own internal resources for these activities. These activities are normally performed on an ongoing basis, which makes internal resource more cost effective. Additionally, given their requirement for in-depth knowledge on the organisation, they are normally most effectively performed by the people closest to the organisation.

We can also provide short-term, outsourced resource to complete these tasks. We typically do this when an organisation needs to start performing these activities prior to the hiring and training of a team, or during a spike in activity when more assistance is temporarily required.

Typically we offer outsourcing and training services for:

• Community management: managing an organisation’s communities on Facebook, Twitter, forums, blogs, innovation hubs and myriad other social platforms
• Buzz monitoring: selecting, setting up and optimising conversation monitoring tools; monitoring online conversations of interest to the organisation (its brands, competitors, trends, key issues etc.); reporting key data and associated insights to the relevant teams within the organisation.
• Influencer relations: developing relationships with authoritative and influential social media communities or individuals to increase positive word-of-mouth around their brands, products or services.

1.1             How we do it

We work with organisations to understand the resources, skills, knowledge and capabilities they require, what already exists within the organisation. Once this information has been analysed, we create a training plan that details the most effective way to meet these requirements. We then action this plan.

Finally, we offer ongoing support to the team, we monitor their progress and effectiveness and offer advice on how to improve their performance.

1.2             What are the benefits to your organisation?

Our approach to outsourcing and training helps organisations to:

• Identify what resources, skills, knowledge and capabilities it requires to manage social media activity effectively
• Embed the right social media skills, knowledge and capabilities within the organisation to create an effective team and drive cost savings within the organisation
• Ensure that whilst the organisation is finding and training the required employees to manage its social media activities, it can rely on our outsourced services to maintain its service levels

1.3             Who we’ve helped

Community management:

• We helped Samsung Mobile spread the word about its new BEAT range of music handsets, establishing an online community around its dance-a-thon event, ‘The Last Call’.
• Red Bull Music Academy asked us to help it understand and become involved in relevant, online music discussions. We trained up their music experts to talk and collaborate with existing online music communities across Europe.
• We worked with the British Council to manage and train a team of online ambassadors to answer questions about UK higher education across forums and social media networks in The US, India and Malaysia.

Buzz monitoring:

• We worked with Mozilla to measure the impact of its ‘Open to Choice’ campaign using monitoring tools. Our weekly findings informed campaign content and social activities.
• Capgemini UK asked us to measure and analyse conversations around some of their key business areas. Our findings helped define the improvements made to Capgemini’s website and digital content.
• We helped Coventry University avoid negative PR by tracking and flagging negative online reactions to a pay dispute with teaching staff.

Influencer relations:[I1]

• We helped Virgin Media promote its Shorts film competition by communicating with and feeding content to independent film communities, online media and bloggers.
• To fuel online interest around Sony BRAVIA’s famous ‘Balls’ advertising campaign, we shared exclusive videos and behind-the-scenes material with selected bloggers.
• We worked with Renew to start online conversations about its hi-tech recycling units in London among influential tech and media communities.

---

[I1]Hyperlinks for these case studies?

uencer relations:[I1]

§ We helped Virgin Media promote its Shorts film competition by communicating with and feeding content to independent film communities, online media and bloggers.

§ To fuel online interest around Sony BRAVIA’s famous ‘Balls’ advertising campaign, we shared exclusive videos and behind-the-scenes material with selected bloggers.

§ We worked with Renew to start online conversations about its hi-tech recycling units in London among influential tech and media communities.