1.Travel Channel Case Study: The Trifecta of Building Online Communities with Influencer ID, Social Community Engagement to Launching Viral Applications

2. WHATS UP FACEBOOK FANS!!!! 3. What Comes First? Platforms People or 4. POST PROCESS

P People

• Influencer ID

• Target Segmentation

O - Objectives

• Listen or Talk with Audience?

• Support or Energize to Evangelize to Others?

• Collaboration?

• Pick the Objective Before the Technology

S Strategy

• Closer 2-way relx with audience?

• Talking about our shows?

• Community for testing?

T Technology

• Blog, Facebook, Digg, YouTube, MySpace

P

O

S

T

POST Forrester Research Methodology

5. Breaking it Down 6. Monitor

Online Conversation Tracking Based On:

• Keywords

• Travel Channel brand

• Show names

• Host names

• TC executives

Workflow

• Response to topic-related posts

• Filtering for engaged influencers

Insights

• Conversational trends

• Topic comparisons

• Discussion clouds

7. Influencer ID

Objective

• Improve interaction and viral distribution of TC content

• Target behind-the-scenes influencers who most affect viewing decisions

• These influencers rarely contacted or targeted by marketing

• Have large influential online presence

Outcome

• Improve awareness of TC content increasing the likelihood of positive advocacy

• New routes to market via influencers

Process

• ID via monitoring tools

• Establish 1-to-1 relationship

• Understand their views and willingness to participate

8. Facebook/MySpace Mining

Mine Fans of Competitive Shows on Facebook

• Create Affinity Maps

• Who has large influential online presence

Affinity to Travel Channel

• Look at pre-existing groups

• Overlay competitive maps to Travel Channel Groups

Target Outreach

• Establish 1-to-1 relationship

• Understand their views and willingness to participate

9. Pick the Platforms

Travel Channel Brand and Fan Pages

Facebook pages

MySpace pages

YouTube

Twitter

Blog Sites

10. Influencer Outreach

One to One Communication

• Sneak Peaks

• Q&A

• Live Events

• Video Embeds

• Show Merchandise

• Contests

Ghost Adventures

• Online WOM Only

• 2 ndMost Successful New Show Launch in Travel Channel history

11. Connecting with Hosts Fans want to engage directly with the show talent. Nothing drives WOM like it!!! 12. Custom Video Messages 13. Live Chats

One-to-Many-to-One

• Fan participation

• Q&A

• Insights

• Behind the scenes

Drive Viral Awareness

• Fans can embed live chat player directly into site

• Facebook events drives awareness

14. Twitter

Host Updates

• When traveling

• On location

• Behind the scenes

Differentiate with Photos

• Train hosts on mobile applications such as TwitterFon

• Upload photos

• Respond to fans

Track Everything

• Custom Bit.ly links

Total Followers

15. Extension

Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps.

The sleeper must awaken

Frank Herbert

16. Widgets

Viral Distribution

• 100s of platforms

• Ongoing visibility with active influencers

• More content than :30 video clips

• Trackable

Visibility

• 4 Widgets

• 1.9 million views

• 1.2 million unique visitors

• 4,500 installs

Cross Promotions

• Drive visibility for Sweepstakes

• Mobile Fan Club

• Applications

• Games

17. Kidnap!

Viral Game

• Drive interest and traffic to Travel Channel

• Not about the shows

Game Theory

• Leaderboards

• Points

• Rankings

Visibility

• 1.8 million active users

• 232 million Naps

Kidnap! built by Rapp Collins

18. Private Community

High-Touch

• Facilitation inspires trust and helps community members feel valued

• Drives higher quality insights, greater interaction and candor

Influencer Recruitment

• Travel Channel Influencers

• Non-Travel Channel influencers

Community built on Communispace

19. What We Got

Understanding Affinities

• Connection between fans and shows

Building the Tribe

• Who our fans and followers are

Feedback on Shows

• Whats working, what isnt

New Advertising Revenue

• Better data to engage potential advertisers

• More traffic to website for current advertisers

• Large and growing installed fan base to leverage insights for ad programming

Launch Platform

• Quickly inform on new shows and apps

Image provided by Rapp Collins

20. Results in 6 Months

Social Media Traffic Drivers

• Facebook Top 10 Referring Source

Fan Base

• 375,000 Community Members

• 1.8 Million Kidnap! Users

Fan Base

• 375,000 Community Members

• 1.8 Million Kidnap! App Users

• 350,000 Uniques to I Have The Bug

• 81,000 Hungry for More App Users

• Over 40,000 online conversations about Travel Channel

• 80% Positive Sentiment

• 150 1,500 Live Chat Participants

21. Questions?

James Clark, Room 214

Twitter: @jamesoclark

Twitter: @room_214

Email:[email_address]

303-444-9214 x100