SNW INTERVIEW - Jan 26 - Ben Stroud was social media manager at Ministry of Sound and now works for GMG Radio. He blogs at thewhatnoise.blogspot.com. - Mark Brooks
What social media initiatives are you most proud of?
When I started at Ministry of Sound, the keys to the social media cupboard were dusty to say the least. I felt as a Content Coordinator (as I was at the time), it was my responsibility to start engaging with our audience on social platforms. I was blown away by the response, especially when the club was threatened with closure in 2010. Now, thanks to the great, hard work they've put in there, they have a global community on their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
What are the biggest challenges you've had with social media recently?
I'm at GMG Radio, and the challenges were completely different to those of Ministry of Sound, which is what drew me to the role. The people here really get social from the top down, and how social media fits into the radio eco-system. Radio is a fundamentally social medium which reaches people in their cars, kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms. My challenge is to ensure that our social content creates conversation, and that the great content we produce not only reaches our audience, but that it is relevant, and involves them.
Social is not a broadcast medium, and neither is radio. It's a constantly evolving conversation between the audience and us, and we have to make sure they are involved. And that will always be my biggest challenge.
What social media have you had the best 'results' with, and how do you define your results?
Definition is everything in social media. Some people define their success by the number of followers or fans that they have, but personally and professionally I prefer to measure how active the audience is on a social media site, and build on that number.
Success for a business can be conversation, monetisation, or both - but Facebook is in my opinion still the place to go if you want to build an army of loyal followers. It may be a walled garden, but it's a very valuable one due to the massive user base.
What tools do you use to leverage your time and communicate more easily across core social media and for social media monitoring?
Sprout Social. I've been using it for about a year now, and I have to say, for both top-level reporting, scheduling, real time updating and monitoring, it's the best platform out there.
I do however use Tweetdeck daily, more as an information feed for the accounts I monitor for GMG Radio. It enables me to respond quickly to any situation that arises, although it is far from perfect.
What emerging social media sites are you most excited about?
I believe that we are entering into the age of the 'niche' social network. Users have reached a level of maturity; Facebook and Twitter are the norm. If you are a brand, you are expected to be there - it's no longer a surprise.
LinkedIn is not new, but it is really leveraging and emerging as a credible source for crowdsourced, relevant news stories with it's LinkedIn Today feature.
Pinterest is really gaining some serious traction, and is a great site because it works on so many levels. It appeals to planners, designers, artists, shoppers - it's a great platform to quickly find and share interesting stuff and join a real community of like-minded individuals. I'd love to know what Etsy's web traffic has been like since Pinterest launched - I bet it's rocketed.
There are quite a few that I use daily that I think will continue to grow - Google+, Instagram, Diaspora - but what I really think about when I think of social is how exciting the merging of search and recommendation is. Google Search Plus Your World has ruffled a lot of feathers - but it's necessary from a user perspective. Whether brands like it or not, we rely mainly on friends recommendations - so making your content useful, relevant and shareable in the next few months will be key. SEO and social have always gone hand in hand - now they are inseparable.
