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SxSW Interactive: Day Five

It’s the final day of the 2012 SxSW Interactive Festival. It’s been a whirlwind and though very exciting, I am looking forward to getting back to Boston.

As we wrap things up here in Austin, I wanted to share some insights from a great session I attended called “Drugs, Milk and Money: Social In Regulated Industries.” The conversation was led by Glenn Engler, CEO of Digital Influence Group. I say conversation rather than presentation because the session was truly interactive. Some of the best insights came from audience members dealing with social  media issues in real time.

The three main takeaways from this session were:

  • Make legal your friend
  • Think content
  • Go where the conversations are

Likely the biggest obstacles companies in regulated industries face when looking to engage via social media is their internal legal team. There was a resounding chorus of laughs in the room when Engler relayed an anecdote about a client’s tweet taking a week to get posted because it had to be vetted through their legal department. As digital practitioners we’ve all been there. We’ve all seen the client who has a complex approval process for every instance of engagement and we know that doesn’t work. Engler’s advice is to integrate legal into your social team as much as possible,  whether social comes from Marketing, PR or is a department all on its own. The more you involve them the more quickly the process will move. That’s not to say there still won’t be delays in certain circumstances, but from Engler’s point of view, this is how companies have successfully overcome this barrier to engagement.

The second point, a focus on content, seems obvious enough but a common theme emerged in the session: many regulated companies (hospitals, financial institutions) seem to believe that they don’t have valuable content to offer. Our job as digital practitioners is to get them to evaluate the assets they do have (a white paper; a clinical study that may be in progress, but may have portions that are complete; a chatty CEO ripe for a “fireside chat” style video) and open their eyes to existing content.

Which brings us to Engler’s third point: go where the conversations are. It’s great to start a company blog, but the fastest way to become part of the conversation is to look at what’s being said and then analyze how your content matches up to that. For example, one of Engler’s clients, Glidden Paints, was frustrated that “no one is talking to us.” People just weren’t interested in conversing about a paint brand. But people do talk about choosing paint colors and interior design inspiration. Once Engler/Glidden were able to identify where those conversations were taking place, Glidden was suddenly popular. They had something valuable to contribute and they’d found the right home for it.

Sometimes it’s not a matter of just putting your product out there. Not a lot of people want to read a blog post on the ins and outs of purchasing life insurance. But people who’ve just had a baby are interested (and voraciously searching the Internet) for information on  estate planning, which purchasing insurance is certainly part of. So take your conversation to the new parent blogs and message boards.

A few additional tips:

All in all, a great way to wrap up a great conference. Check back Thursday for a summary post on my experience and some tips for those looking to attend next year’s event.

from BostInno http://bostinno.com/channels/sxsw-interactive-day-five/