blogwell dallas social media case study: level 3 communications, presented by ben bacon
DESCRIPTION
In his BlogWell Dallas presentation, Level 3's Digital & Social Media Manager, Ben Bacon, shares how they took the "blah" out of corporate blogging. Watch the video of this presentation here: https://vimeo.com/38791245TRANSCRIPT
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How We Took the “Blah” Out of Corporate Blogging
BlogWell Dallas – January 24th, 2012
© Level 3 Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Level 3, Level 3 Communications and the Level 3 Communications Logo are either registered service marks or service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC and/or one of its Affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. Level 3 services are provided by wholly owned subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc. Any other service names, product names, company names or logos included herein are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
@level3@benjaminbacon
blog.level3.com
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Starting social media from scratch
January 2011
What are we going to say? What tone should we say it in? Where should we say it?
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Step #1 – Look at our business and how we compete
What do we do? B2B Telecom Internet access, VPNs, phone
service to companies
How do we compete? Intimate customer experience Collaborate/2-way dialogue Challenge the status quo Enjoyable to do business with
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Step #2 – Listen to customers and how they speak
Who do we sell to? Network engineers Telecom managers Solution architects IT organizations
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Step #2 – Listen to customers and how they speak
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Step #2 – Listen to customers and how they speak
Who do we sell to? Network engineers Telecom managers Solution architects IT organizations
What are they like? Mostly male Self-identified “geeks” Eclectic, super opinionated Contrarian viewpoints Great BS detectors
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Step #3: Let the sum of those things set your tone and content
How do we compete? Intimate customer experience Collaborate/2-way dialogue Challenge the status quo Enjoyable to do business with
What are they like? Mostly male Self-identified “geeks” Eclectic, super opinionated Contrarian viewpoints Great BS detectors
QuirkySelf-Deprecating
EdgyTransparent
HumanNot “Telecomplicated”
Approachable/InquisitiveFriendly/Humorous
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Step #4: Find employees that embody that tone and can create that content
Search for storytellers not titles
Go way beyond product…who talks to customers and who does what our customers do
Look for long articulate emails, people that tell great stories at happy hours
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Step #5: Help train and empower them to do it
We had engineers…not bloggers Blogging not a skillset, weekly emails with tips
on how to write blog content Long leadup time – Jan to June to find and
train folks Leverage listening tool, twitter feed, VOC
research to find potential stories
Avoid brochure speak like the plague
Short, punchy > long, technical
Would someone share this?
They write…then we do the rest - titles, punch it up, legal approval and post on their behalf
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Beyond Bandwidth – blog.level3.comLaunched June 2011
~100 posts~20 writers
~20 categories
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Things that have worked for us in blogging
Analogies – How can we help engineers communicate XYZ solution? Network = lawnmowing, teenage girls, learning languages, kitchen renovations Uncomplicating telecom
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Things that have worked for us in blogging
Global Events/Current News Overpopulation, Borders closing, cord cutting, Arab Spring You can’t have thought leadership without readership
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Things that have worked for us in blogging
Group Posts # Things That Take You Beyond Bandwidth Showcases our diverse thinking, easy to assemble
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Things that have worked for us in blogging
Nostalgia/Company History Help customers build an emotional/personal connection to Level 3
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Things that have worked for us in blogging
Look in the Mirror Posts How can we be as transparent as possible? What have we done wrong? Can we pass those learnings to customers?
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Talk about the Taboo Death, taxes…fiber cuts; How can we educate our customers on outages? Single tweet picked up by Telecom News…then GigaOm and Gizmodo…then
Yahoo News and The Atlantic…the Der Spiegel, etc etc.
• This article rocks. I’m the guy that says “well, according to the traceroute, it’s the ISP’s sh*t.” Thoroughly enjoyed it.
• Dude. I fricking love you. Level3 is my world. Everything I use, I know wherethe pingtrace runs. Without level3, I have no internet. Level3 is the sh*t.
Things that have worked for us in blogging
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Fun has spread across all social media
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Light content, serious results
Blog Traffic 100,000 page views by 3rd month Readers from 178 different countries
YouTube #1 organic result for “Data Center Networking” Top 3 for “Unified Communications” Top 5 for “SIP Trunking”
Twitter From 0 to 8,000 followers Klout score – from 0 to 50+
• Influential in Broadband, Video, Cloud Computing, etc.
Google – 3,000 different keyword combos driving blog visits CDN architecture, why Ethernet better, concurrent call paths, culture at Level 3
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Blog management tips
Monthly recaps in the form of a blog
Assignments – not editorial calendars
Find self-motivated bloggers
Get up, walk around the office and always carry a camera phone
Don’t be afraid of the red pen, especially on the title and first 2 paragraphs
Roll up your sleeves and write some yourself
Everyone thinks a.) their job is boring and b.) they’d be awful bloggers - you need to get people out of their comfort zones
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Come see us in Colorado!
Ben Bacon - @benjaminbacon
Twitter - @level3
Facebook.com/level3
Blog.level3.com
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