Selling Social Media
to Senior Management
Micah Laney
Digital Communications, Walmart
Who is this guy?
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I work at Walmart
On the Global Associate Communications Team
As part of the Digital Strategy Team
The result: A techie on a comms team in a retail company
What have you done?
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3rd iteration of the extranet, walmartone.com, launched last
month
More than 1 million employees are registered and visiting every
month
Everything in this presentation, three times
Part 1: What you see
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More social, more fun, more collaboration means it’s more better
Increased communication and productivity
Happy employees and clients
Puppy dogs and rainbows
Part 2: What they see
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Risk, expenses and loss of control
Worst case scenarios
General doom and gloom
Part 3: The goal
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Communicate what you want
Understand what they want
Move from “you” to “us”
Part 4: What it takes
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Storytelling
In-depth planning and analysis
Partnership
Then we’re done
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Cool?
But first...
Part 1: What you see
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It’s awesome
Everyone is doing it
Seriously, it’s awesome
Games
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Improved engagement because people want to participate
It’s sticky, because people want to win
My Sustainability Plan
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The idea:
Let’s get employees to engage in a wellness program
The how:
Make it fun! Make it a website! Make it a fun website!
Collaboration
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Ideas all over the place
The best will organically bubble up to the top
The customer is invested
Dub the Dew
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The idea:
Let’s get more customers engaged with our brand
The how:
Let customers vote on the name of the new flavor of Dew!
Local Conversations
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They are already happening, with or without you
You now get to participate in a way that matters
Not as a faceless evil, but as a part of the community
Like your local Walmart
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The idea:
Let’s get more customers to engage with our brand
The how:
Bring in a celebrity and let customers vote!
Part 2: What they see
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Things that could will go wrong
The results of that wrong
How you will ruin everything
My Sustainability Plan
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The idea:
Let’s get employees to engage in a wellness program
The how:
Make it fun! Make it a website! Make it a fun website!
The mistake:
It’s on the internet
Dub the Dew
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The idea:
Let’s get more customers engaged with our brand
The how:
Let customers vote on the name of the new flavor of Dew!
The mistake:
It’s on the internet
Like your local Walmart
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The idea:
Let’s get more customers to engage with our brand on a local
level
The how:
Bring in a celebrity and let customers vote!
The mistake:
It’s on the internet
Part 3: The goal
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Build a partnership with your leadership
Build a partnership with your legal and privacy teams
Your job
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Identify risks before anyone else
Be your own nemesis
Have proactive and reactive plans
It’s going to be a disaster
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Build a worst case scenario survival handbook
Document impact vs. likelihood
http://www.altimetergroup.com/research/reports/social-media-risk-management
Protocols and reviews
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This is boring
This is 100% crucial
You must have a plan for governance (prevention)
You must have a plan for disaster (recovery)
You must review this plan regularly (because things change)
Something will go wrong
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Be ok with that, by being ready
How many typos are in this presentation?
Sell the story
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Make it positive
Make it personal
Make it personalized
Share the risk
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What’s going to happen
What we’re going to do about it
How they are going to help
Shoot skeet
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Review the risk matrix
Review protocols and policies
Adjust
My Sustainability Plan
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The idea:
Let’s get employees to engage in a wellness program
The how:
Make it fun! Make it a website! Make it a fun website!
The mistake:
It’s on the internet
The recovery:
Keep it simple, know what you’re up against
Dub the Dew
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The idea:
Let’s get more customers engaged with our brand
The how:
Let customers vote on the name of the new flavor of Dew!
The mistake:
It’s on the internet
The recovery:
None. Dead.
Like your local Walmart
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The idea:
Let’s get more customers to engage with our brand
The how:
Bring in a celebrity and let customers vote!
The mistake:
It’s on the internet
The recovery
Roll with it
Part 4: What it takes
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Storytelling
Partnership
Openness
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Research
Planning
Analysis
Part last:
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Other resources:
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Guarding the Social Gates
http://www.altimetergroup.com/research/reports/social-media-risk-management
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Facebook Stories
http://www.facebookstories.com/
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27 Things to Know
http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/12118.aspx
Questions?
Micah Laney
micah.laney@wal-mart.com
@micahlaney
Thank you.