Swanson Russell

A few weeks ago, a group of Swanson Russell employees attended ThinkTank 2012, a one-day communications workshop hosted by University Communications and held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. ThinkTank’s tagline is “Big Day - Big Brains - Big Ten,” and because the event was a great learning experience, we have added a fourth item to that list – “Big Takeaways.” We tried our best to cover the event by listing the lessons we learned below, but we were bound to miss something. Fortunately, other attendees were tweeting throughout the event, and you can check out their tweets at #UNLB1G. 

While ThinkTank speakers from across the country covered many ideas and topics, they focused heavily on three specific areas: digital communications, analytics/measurement and social media.

Digital Communications

Greg Andersen, UNL graduate and current CEO of BBH New York, spoke on the concept “Brand Engagement in a Digital World.” His hour-long presentation centered on a few case studies from his agency, including Google Chrome, intern projects and pro bono work to raise awareness for the homeless population. The key ideas from his presentation included:

Brands have to be thinking in real time.

• We’re in the age where the fast are beating up on the slow.
• We’re practicing “Agile Branding” (quickly adjusting a brand much like managing a stock portfolio).
• Ride the momentum of what is happening right now; real-time data plays well to social media and social reaction.

The digital realm is creating a world of direct dialogue between brands and consumers.

• In this world, brand ownership is shared.
• It’s not all about social media—it’s about social business design. If you decide to venture into the social media landscape, you must integrate it into all aspects of your business.
  • PR/Crisis Management
  • Product Innovation
  • Customer Service

Analytics/Measurement

Corey Johnson of Solve opened his presentation with a Winston Churchill quote: “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” Johnson reminded attendees to think through the “scientific method” when planning a project. The key components of the method are to “observe, hypothesize, test, experiment and measure.” By implementing each of these components, we can make sure we don’t just deliver a campaign of great creative strategy, but one that also has clear, measurable objectives. Johnson reminded us that we must invest in measurement to allow us to look to the past and learn, so that we don’t just repeat it.

The third ThinkTank speaker, Caleb Whitemore of Analytics Pros, said, “If you can’t measure, you can’t manage.” His presentation, “Making Google Analytics Your Digital Analytics and Marketing Hub,” reminded us of the common issues and the keys to success.

Common issues:

• Data overload
• Analysis paralysis
• Trustworthy figures (understanding what you are looking at within analytics)
• Information dissemination (getting data to the right person at the right time)
• Taking action (nice to know these statistics, but are you doing anything useful with them?)

Keys to Success

• Proper Planning
  • Plan ahead
  • Ensure data quality

• Set measureable goals
  • Implementation
  • Track campaigns
  • Optimize

Social Media

Ken Christie of 543 Group and Matt Waite of PoltiFact both spoke on the topic of social media. While both had their own unique perspectives, there were a few key overlapping trends in each of their presentations.

• Limit the number of “pens” when it comes to social media. Having one designated voice makes all the sense in the world.
• Engagement is a contact sport. It may be fun, it may be dirty. Stick with it, follow through and stay on top of it.
• Walk before you run, crawl before you walk if necessary.
• Let the players play.
• Be humble, be human.
• If agencies create campaigns designed to appeal to “everyone,” we’re actually appealing to no one. It’s really about the value of customizing messages for unique audiences.

ThinkTank 2012 was only a one-day conference, but we took away a ton of applicable lessons. Digital communications is becoming more and more important for our clients, and opportunities like ThinkTank allow us to better develop, implement and measure our strategies in a digital world.

Did you attend ThinkTank and leave with your own unique takeaways? Do you have questions about the lessons we learned? If so, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below.