Case Study: Bite Latvija pioneering in social media
1. Baltic PR Awards 2010
Category: Digital communication
Bite Latvija pioneering in social media
Situation
The third mobile operator Bite Latvija came into Latvian telco market in year 2005 when 2
leading mobile operators had already established their positions. In order to stand out among
the competition, a positioning of innovative company with highly personal and tailor-made
approach to each client was chosen. In order to communicate that, becoming pioneers of
using social media in corporate communication was included in the PR strategy of the
company in 2009. Consultancy and client quite simultaneously came with an idea to develop
a help-line on Twitter for Bite clients and implement blogger engagement program. While the
strategic guidelines of Twitter account usage were prepared and education activities for Bite
staff carried out, a fake @Bitelv account appeared creating significant threat to the initial plan.
Being a company that preaches honest and transparent communication, Bite mentored by
Consultancy turned to Twitter administration and solved this problem official way providing a
first case of Twitter account infringement in Latvia.
Research
A tailor-made Twitter educational seminar was prepared for Bite Latvia staff by Consultancy
focusing on the research carried out on the state-of-the-art examples of corporate
communication on social media, especially Twitter. A Do’s and Don’ts list was prepared after
this seminar.
Both Consultancy and Bite staff monitored on Twitter some corporate accounts that provide
help-lines for their clients. Their style of communication and interaction with the existent
clients, as well as way of handling negative feedback and technical problems was
investigated.
Different Twitter tools such as Tweetstats and Tweetreach were used to evaluate the
effectiveness of communication of already existent Twitter accounts, to check their success
factors.
Twitter applications like Seesmich, Tweetdeck and others were tested to find the best solution
for communication, when Twitter account is handled by 2 people simultaneously.
2. After start-up ongoing monitoring of Twitter carried out using RSS feed and Twitter keyword
search, evaluating the communication with available online tools for Twitter, gaining new
followers and also keeping track on the development of social media.
As social media program involved not only Twitter account, but also building relationship with
active bloggers, a research on most popular Latvian blogs on IT and gadget issues was
carried out. Blogs were evaluated based on their subscribers, provided content and
engagement in comments after posting.
Strategy
Target groups
- Existent and potential Bite clients that actively use social media
- Secondary stakeholders – media, PR, marketing and social media,
professionals, bloggers
Objectives
- Bite recognized as social media pioneer and expert among opinion leaders,
media
- Bite mentioned as best-practice example in media if an article is on social
media usage, Twitter
- Twitter account as functional help-line – existent Bite clients chose to solve
their problems or ask questions on Twitter, potential clients engage in
discussion on cost-plans etc
- Positive and active relationship established with at least 3 key bloggers and
active Twitter users
Strategy
- Engage in Twitter communication by providing a functional help-line for Bite
clients
- Give a feeling there is a real person behind the Twitter account to symbolize
the tailor-made and personal attitude of the client service of Bite
- Combine help-line, marketing and lifestyle news to create a lively and
interesting Twitter account
- Treat key bloggers as prioritized audience providing fresh news and mobile
phones for testing to them first
Tactics
- the infringement issue was solved officially and openly, it was used as a
content for traditional media communication;
- two employees of Bite Latvia were chosen for Twitter account operators – a
client-service staff representative to deal with help-line issues and Bite PR
3. specialist to handle other topics, communicate corporate and marketing info.
Both were thoroughly selected and educated on Twitter.
- special emphasis was put on implementing active two-way communication –
any complaints on Twitter answered timely and openly, new clients were
greeted online, telco topics were monitored and proactive answers given
when possible
- bloggers and other opinion leaders were involved in the preparatory process
of Twitter account
In April a decision was taken to create a Twitter account for the company. However, few days
after a fake @Bitelv Twitter profile appeared. Going the official way through Twitter
administration, the takeover of the fake profile took more than 2 months and the company
could recover the profile and start the communication on Twitter only in July.
Meanwhile other activities linked to the strategic step of building relationship with key
bloggers were carried out.
Selected key bloggers were treated as prioritized stakeholders and were the first ones to
receive phones and gadgets for testing (HTC and BlackBerry phones, as well as mobile
internet device). Regular feed-back from them was asked in order to tailor any further
information according to their needs and interests.
Active communication with blogger Krizdabz grew into a joint project for promoting HTC
mobile phones – a special blog platform for HTC phones was created, active internet users
and gadget fans involved in content creation.
Relationship building with bloggers brought not only blog posts even competition envied, but
also lots of support in communication on Twitter.
Results
- @Bitelv Twitter account (in comparison – competitor LMT is not on Twitter at
all, Tele2 has significantly less activity and not more than 300 followers):
1012 tweets and 463 direct messages
837 followers
On average 5 tweets per day
More than 70% communication is dialogue with people
(@replies)
- Well established relationship with 5 key bloggers and active Twitter users;
- Regular mentions and quotes in business and professional media, on key
blogs on Bite pioneering in social media;
- Media proactively seek Bite Latvia expert commentaries on corporate
communication in social media at least monthly;
4. - Social media seminar organized by Bite and Agency for the Association of
PR Professionals in Latvia among more than 10 others voted the most
valuable best-praxis event of the year by Association members;
- Positive feedback from:
existent clients (commentary: “Respect to Bite for active
Twitter usage. Had problems with connection – one Direct
Message on Twitter and the problem was solved within half
an hour”),
opinion leaders (Blogger Arturs Mednis: “The good thing
about Bite Twitter account is that they’re really helping
clients online”),
clients to be (a Twitter user: “wish my operator were on
Twitter so I could solve the problem, Bite’s activities makes
me think that maybe it’s time for a change”).
- In independent and only research on Twitter usage in Latvia, Bite mentioned
as one out of two best practices in active engagement in communication with
followers and monitoring on the general trends and topics on Twitter. [Full
research available online on: http://www.scribd.com/doc/28549025/Latvijas-
Tviterverss]
5. BITE LATVIJA PIONEERING in SOCIAL MEDIA
Ooops - and we're on
Twitter already
via @krizdabz and @marisrelins
Bloggers invited to
Bite birthday event
Bite Twitter help-line:
> 830 followers
> 1000 tweets
Blogger Arturs Mednis: “The good thing about Bite Twitter account is
that they’re really helping clients online”
Commentary from internet portal:
Twitter user: “wish my operator were on Twitter so I could solve the
problem, Bite’s activities makes me think that maybe it’s time for a change” “Respect to Bite for active
Twitter usage. Had problems
with connection – one
Direct Message on Twitter
and the problem was solved
Enjoy the social media revolution! within half an hour”
6. Bite mentioned as one of best
practices in using social media
for corporate communication;
business monthly “Kapitals”
More than 70% of Bite
communication on Twitter
Bite Twitter account is a dialogue with people,
infringement case covered in including existent clients
business daily "Dienas Bizness" and bloggers
PR professionals listen
to Bite's experience
on social media and
...and vote this seminar
to be the best event of
2009 for PR Association