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Social Media Portal interview with Samantha Pearlson at MEC

Tim Gibbon (Social Media Portal (SMP)) - 02 February 2012

Social Media Portal interview with Samantha Pearlson at MEC


Profiled - Samantha Pearlson from MEC the media agency guest speaking at Integrated Social Media Marketing Asia


MEC Global logoAn interview with Samantha Pearlson, Regional Search Director, APAC at media agency MEC



Social Media Portal (SMP): What is your name and role at MEC?


Samantha Pearlson (SP): Samantha Pearlson, Regional Search Director, APAC

SMP: Briefly, tell us about MEC, what is it and what does the organisation do?

SP: MEC is one of the world?s top media agencies and employs over 4,400 people in more than 150 offices across 84 countries.

We have a strong and consistent geographic footprint and a cohesive global network, led from our regional HQs in London, New York, Singapore and Miami. MEC manages more international media assignments than any other network, coordinated by our Global Solutions teams through twelve worldwide client hubs.

We deliver value by creating, implementing and measuring communication solutions that actively engage people with brands.  Our services include: Media planning and buying ~ Digital ~ Search ~ Social ~ Mobile ~ Performance marketing ~ Analytics and Insight ~ Sport, Entertainment, Cause & Content (MEC Access) ~ Multi-cultural (MEC Bravo) ~ Retail ~ Integrated planning.

Photograph of Samantha Pearlson, Regional Search Director, APAC at media agency MECSMP: Can you tell us what event you?re guest speaking at (please provide details of date, day, time and location if possible ? what is your presentation entitled)?

SP: I'm guest speaking at Integrated Social Media Marketing on 6-7 February ? Singapore and 9-10 February ? Hong Kong and my presentation is entitled Social Search Optimisation for Increased Brand Presence

SMP: Who are your target audience and what can they hope to take away from your presentation?

SP: Anyone involved in digital marketing strategy or execution, website developers and media planners. I am hoping they come away with a renewed excitement about both the branding and commercial potential that integrating Social and Search is able to bring their brand or clients

SMP :What role does search have upon social media and vice versa?


SP: Social Media is shaping the search results more every day, this is especially prevalent in the recent launch of Google?s ?search plus your world? and in Bing?s ongoing relationship with Facebook. As long as users are signed in, search engines are offering results that are increasingly personalised with results based on activity from the users? network.

Similarly, because of the way the results pages are changing, search is becoming an increasingly important gateway to brands social media pages.

SMP: How and why is the Asia Pacific region developing to address social media and what may the future hold (how is search having an impact upon this)?

SP: Brands across Asia Pacific are starting to realise the growing importance of having a presence in social media and are developing strategies to build on their customer service, generate complimentary sales channels and compete with their competitors. The future holds an even more personalised search experience; search engines are actively linking more social content into the search results, which is only fuelling the importance of brands having a presence.

SMP: What other regions should businesses be preparing for and why?


SP: Mobile is fast becoming the new desktop with faster growth year on year than any other channel. APAC markets, including Indonesia and India are leading the way in adoption and are prompting brands and agencies alike to develop new and engaging mobile assets.

SMP: What are the most important things businesses need to consider in using search with social media?

SP: The two are inherently linked, are complimentary and should not work in silo.

SMP: Briefly, what are the top steps for using search with social media?

SP: Use social media listening tools to understand what people are saying about your brand and test creative in your sponsored search copy and other assets accordingly.
Make your social media assets engaging, likeable and share-worthy as this helps your assets to rank more highly in the search results.

SMP: What are the low moments of what you have been doing so far?


SP: In my career so far, I have been lucky and low moments have been few and far between. I find them challenging so when a client is averse to trying new things I see it as an opportunity and work towards helping them to see the potential.

SMP: What are the high moments of what you have been doing so far?

SP: Good results! I thrive on making a positive difference to our client?s business.

SMP: What do you see as your biggest challenges and opportunities around digital and especially social media?


SP: The opportunities are numerous and include; reaching new audiences, building brands, having direct access to influencers, gaining feedback from real buyers and building a deeper understanding of consumers.

Challenges to all of the above include; resource restrictions, sourcing relevant quality content, lack of control in what gets said by consumers, resistance and/or lack of understanding from colleagues and measuring ROI.

SMP: What are the next moves for MEC in terms of social media (and in relation to what you do)?


SP: We are continuing to work closely with our clients on ways to integrate both search and social activities. Social listening projects are on the rise and we are looking forward to launching new tests armed with a plethora of real-time data.

SMP: What?s the next big step for social media and networks such as Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter et al?

SP: Facebook on the go!
Mercedes has integrated a simplified version of Facebook into its SL-Class, which comes pre-loaded with mbrace 2 software. Mbrace brings web browsing, cloud computing and apps right onto its dashboard with access to Facebook, Google Local Search and others that are specifically designed for in-vehicle use.

SMP: What?s going to be the most interesting aspect regarding social media and technology throughout 2012?


SP: With the launch of the Mercedes partnership with Facebook and the new TomTom app, social navigation is going to be a growing trend in 2012. It is going to be interesting to see how these developments influence people?s social habits.

SMP: What are your top five predictions for social media throughout 2012 (please use one to two sentences for each prediction, or write more if you wish)?

SP:  Samantha Pearlson replies with:

1. Social habits on mobile will continue to grow and will be further spurred by the launch of new devices

2. Smart TV and online TV shows will increasingly integrate social media elements to make them more interactive.

3. Search will become increasingly reliant on social media listings for up the minute relevancy.

4. Social Media analytics tools will continue to evolve; ensuring brands have even more detailed data providing them with a deeper understanding of the data and ability to measure success

5. Large companies will move away from using Social Media purely as a marketing channel and will evolve it to a communications channel

SMP: What are your top five social media tips (please use one to two sentences for each tip, or write more if you wish)?

SP:  If you don?t already have a Social Media platform, get one

1. Listen to what your audience is saying about your brand and respond accordingly.  A constructive response to a negative comment can be very valuable long term

2. Actively promote your social media assets

3. Setup a Mobile landing page as mobile usage is showing no signs of slowing down

4. Put Like & +1 buttons on your web pages

5. Encourage sharing through innovative and engaging content

SMP: Best way to contact you and MEC (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn Twitter, YouTube etc)?

SP: http://twitter.com/MECideas
https://www.facebook.com/MECGlobal
http://www.linkedin.com/company/4703?trk=tyah
http://www.linkedin.com/company/164905?trk=tyah
http://www.linkedin.com/in/sampearlson

Now some questions for fun

SMP: What did you have for breakfast / lunch?

SP:
For lunch I had a mixed chicken salad with butternut soup from the hawker centre over the road from our office

SMP: How many hours to you work a week?

SP: Considerably more than the standard 40 hours!

SMP: If you weren?t running MEC?s Search Team what would you be doing?

SP: Helping in an elephant sanctuary in Thailand or Kenya

SMP: When and where did you go on your last holiday?

SP: I went home to Cape Town, South Africa to spend Christmas with my family

SMP: What?s the first thing you do when you get into the office of a morning?

SP: Go through my RSS feeds over a cup of coffee

SMP: If you had a superpower what would it be and why?

SP: Teleportation, without a doubt! I spend far too much time in taxi?s or planes wishing I were there already.

If you're interested in doing a Social Media Portal (SMP) interview, get in touch.









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