Social Media from the Island of the Gods

What do you envision when you think of Bali? Surf? Sun? Rice fields?
Now you can add to that list Social Media Marketing. Bali firms
water&stone and ClearWhiteSpace have joined forces to launch Bali’s
first social media marketing service targeting the travel industry.

The rapid growth and rise in effectiveness of content channels such
as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and specialty sites like TripAdvisor
create exciting new opportunities for companies to reach out to their
target markets. These new media present not only fresh channels to
distribute information but more importantly they also provide a forum
for engaging the world in a two-way dialogue.

Traditional marketing and PR don’t provide the immediacy, specific
target marketing, or detailed reporting that is achieved by online
channels. The nature of social media provides marketers and PR
personnel with a much richer way to interact with people. Because the
media is simultaneously one-to-one and one-to-many, companies can
extend their reach while still maintaining a personal and persuasive
voice.

For those new to the world of social media, tracking, responding and
engaging users can be a daunting task that includes not only technical
challenges, but also a new type of strategic execution. The combined
services of ClearWhiteSpace and water&stone solve both of these
problems with a turnkey social media marketing service. Ric Shreves of
water&stone adds: “By combining cutting edge technology tools with a
deep and experienced understanding of the marketing mix, we provide
our clients with access to this new way of reaching out to the world.
By putting it all together in a turnkey package, our clients will gain
a competitive advantage over those slower to react and engage social
media users.”

Complimenting each other in their areas of expertise, water&stone
brings technical experience to the table and ClearWhiteSpace the
client communication and PR skills. ClearWhiteSpace and water&stone
work by first tailoring a social media strategy to a client’s needs
and then by providing the execution skills to get the job done. They
offer strategic planning, monitoring, engagement and escalation
services, and also include the creation and maintenance of online
profiles to raise brand awareness and product recognition. Jo
McFarlane of CWS states: “Our traditional sales and marketing
experience allows us to understand client strategy, to educate
ourselves quickly about brands and to communicate on their behalf in a
language that compliments the brand, the product and the specific
channel audience.”

Near real time monitoring and accurate tracking means that clients
gain the ability to test their target market and evaluate results
almost immediately. The team’s monitoring systems give tremendous
reach and enable them to receive all online postings relevant to the
client and track the dialogue that results. Postings are measured by
both their influence and their sentiment, thereby enabling clients to
identify and track the most influential voices and to follow trends in
market sentiment. Jo adds, “With social media tracking you can find
out who is talking about your brand and what they are saying. You can
also identify areas of concern and spot issues before they evolve into
problems. It’s the new PR and so much more.”