Molson and Social Media

Exploring…Innovating…Communicating

Meet Our Team

Twitter:

• @MolsonMoffat

• @MolsonFerg

• @MolsonBryan

• @toniahammer

A Road Map...

• Where we started

• Where we are

• Where we’re going

• Making it work

• How we evaluate our efforts

• Lessons learned

• Let’s chat

Who ‘owns’ Molson’s Social Media?

Marketing Assets

Marketing

Public Relations

Government Relations

Legal

Where we started…

• First website launched 1995

• Content focused on music & sports

• Unique engagement elements

Where we are now…

19 Websites

Innovative EngagementMolson Insider

Database:

One of the largest

brand email and mobile database in

Canada

Where we are now…

• Communicating across platforms– Molson blog– YouTube Channel and

VLOGS– Photosharing– Twitter – Google Analytics – Social media releases– Social bookmarking

Molson in the Community Blog

• Launched 2 years ago • Re-launched January

2008 • Focus is on Molson in

the community

blog.molson.com/community

• Engaged with H&K for strategy and advice

• Driven by PR/GR in Legal and Public Affairs

• Joined Blog Council of North America

Where we’re going…

• Dialogue not monologue• Spin is a sin• Understanding - listening for relevance and

interest• Contribute to the community and provide value

Brew 2.0

• Fundamental outreach #Brew 2.0

• Building relationships• Learn the space• Sell more beer

#Brew2.0 Results

• Both events: 40+ individual blog posts about event

• Over 150 tweets• FIR Podcast

discussion• 2008 SNCR

Blogger Relations Award

“Leaving the brewery we were handed taxi vouchers as well as some lovely parting gifts from Molson – beer glasses and 1GB thumb drives loaded with promo materials, logos and videos. I always disclose on my site that, for events and promotions like these, I maintain the full editorial right to express my honest opinion (did I like it, did I have a good time etc.) and I have to say that Molson did this event right. Truthfully I’m more inclined to drink Molson now than I ever was before after meeting such kind and knowledgeable folks as Kerry Scarsbrook and Gord Rickard.”

Building Relationships

“All in all, I was immensely impressed by not only the event, but my overall opinion of Molson has changed quite a bit. Of course, they were generous hosts, but even Geoff Molson, the great-great-great-great-grandson of founder John Molson, was there to give us a great history of the brewery in Vancouver.”

Building Relationships

Listening and Learning

“I’m not very clear what Molson was aiming to achieve.  By all means look at bloggers as important influencers, where that is really the case.  But having a blogger outreach initiative purely for the sake of it doesn’t seem like good return on investment.” 

“Brew 2.0 was one of the best examples of blogger outreach I’ve experienced for one simple reason: it was mostly the company doing

the outreach!…It’s so refreshing to see Adam and Tonia actively participating in the community. We’re a friendly bunch (even when we’re critical). It’s much smarter and safer for the Molson’s PR team to learn

how to engage in this space with us first before branching out.”

Listening and Learning

Community Building

• Building community by participating directly through partnerships and sponsorships– WordCampWhistler, PodCampToronto,

#Twestival

#PodCampToronto“My single most gratifying moment, and one that to me summed up a combination of both the business side, the social media, the gathering itself, was the result of a challenge I threw out to a rep from Molson's via Twitter about a week ago…..I threw out the challenge of having a cold bottle of Molson Stock Ale waiting when I got to the party. Thinking that, at best, it would be the prompt for some ribbing and casual conversation upon getting there (and quite honestly not even knowing if Molson Stock Ale was still being bottled) imagine my surprise when @molsonferg went behind the bar and pulled out the Stock Ale for myself and a couple of new acquaintances - those of us over 35 remember the original "Blue" with nostalgic reverence. So cheers to Molson for doing up the event right.”

Engagement

• Listening for questions, comments, suggestions– Simple conversations can lead to meaningful

brand experiences

“Through a contact (made on Twitter) at Molson Brewing in Canada I was sent about 20 labels and neck-bands for Molson Export, a beer I truly enjoyed when I had it, but cannot get here in Vegas. I had tossed around the idea of decoupaging Molson labels on this bass for years, but through a move or two I had lost my collection. This fresh new batch of labels was just the spark I needed! Here is a picture set from my refinishing project. Enjoy!”

Engagement Results

Engagement

Online PR

• Sharing Molson’s brand activities through social media

• From large brand initiatives to local community relations activities– The Molson Canadian

Mural Project– The Molson Barrie

Community Fund

#2010MolsonMural

• Largest photo mosaic mural in Canada

• Local bloggers invited to launch

• Tools: Blog, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr, Facebook

• 120+ blog posts, videos, tweets

• Valuable feedback, prompting changes to site

Molson Barrie Community Fund

• Molson fund supporting community of Barrie, ON

• Started with one tweet• Resulted in twitter meet -

up to discuss fund opportunities in Barrie

• Results = Increased application submissions

Evaluating our Efforts

• We set out our own objectives and go out and measure

• We look for increases in post volume, sentiment scores, traffic sources, comments, subscriptions

Measuring and Acting

• Measurement and Monitoring tools– Radian6/ICUC– Google Analytics– TweetDeck– Twitter Search and Alerts

Set yourself up for success

You need a champion

How do you get people to embrace

internally?

Began as Corporate Initiative

Now simply the way we do business

BOTTOM LINE:

REQUIRES TIME AND INVESTMENT

Lessons Learned and Best Practices

• Engagement and Disclosure– Be transparent, add value to conversations

• Support and learning– Blog council, H&K, 58 Ninety

• Share– Successes, failures, news, insights, connections

• Try a lot of stuff

Just Do It!

A summary in 140 characters

Embrace, learn, listen and contribute. Be relevant, thoughtful, add value

and don't spin. Have fun. Enjoy the ride.

Let’s Chat