MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER ...
MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER ...
MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER ...
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CASE STUDY<br />
SOCIAL MEDIA, INESCAPABLE STAKE<br />
FOR <strong>THE</strong> NATIONAL LOTTERY<br />
<strong>OF</strong> BELGIUM<br />
POWERFUL CONDUITS <strong>OF</strong> MODERNITY, BRAND’S<br />
VALUE AND CONSUMER SATISFACTION<br />
Social Media today are an integral part of the consumer<br />
commodities as well as communication practices and the<br />
gaming world, creating enduring changes with a direct<br />
impact on the players’ expectations, the management of<br />
media influence and the games mechanics.<br />
Social Media present us with formidable opportunities<br />
(an engaged and active cross-generation audience, a<br />
phenomenal viral effect, a great potential for engagement<br />
but also a channel for loyalty and acquisition) as much<br />
as new risks (image management, new legal questions,<br />
super-reactivity, responsible gaming). But the true risk<br />
relates mainly to inability to control these new issues.<br />
Players and stakeholders’ conversations have already begun.<br />
And their powerful impact is substantial. Ignoring<br />
what is being said about us on the Web, being incapable<br />
of responding immediately to stop a budding crisis and,<br />
besides managing the criticism, being incapable of initiating<br />
enthusiastic stories about our brands represent a<br />
huge risk nowadays.<br />
MULTIPLE STAKES THAT DESERVE A DEDI-<br />
CATED EXPERTISE<br />
SinceSeptember2010,themanagementofSocialMediais<br />
being handled internally by the National Lottery through<br />
the creation of a ‘Consumer Dialogue Specialist & eQuality<br />
Control’ position within the Marketing, Sponsoring<br />
& External Communications Department. Its mission:<br />
with the function of supporting Consumer Dialogue, the<br />
question is to define the strategic pillars of Social Media<br />
development in order to create satisfied players communities,<br />
manage the e-reputation of the National Lottery in<br />
the social web, support the optimal integration of Social<br />
Media by existing communication strategies and ensure<br />
the management of cross-channel interests associated<br />
with the development of Social Media (legal issues, team<br />
training, crisis communication, Social Media policy, Social<br />
Media & e-commerce and more). Adding to this new<br />
position, a strong expertise on Social Media enables us to<br />
build a strategic vision adapted to the interests of the National<br />
Lottery, but also to handle internally, in a continued<br />
and transversal manner, the stakes and evolutions associated<br />
with Social Media projects. This internal management<br />
is also reinforced by a Community Manager function<br />
incorporated with the Digital Manager’s mission to<br />
handle, on a daily basis, the Facebook corporate page of<br />
the National Lottery.<br />
GETTING STARTED, TESTING - YES. WITHOUT<br />
STRATEGIC DIRECTION - NO.<br />
Integrating Social Media is an extensive job with numerous<br />
implications (legal, communication, IT, customer<br />
service, sponsoring, promotions, sales, HR, research,<br />
etc.), constant adjustments and steps that must be staged<br />
for a time period (2-year vision). The National Lottery has<br />
defined different strategic tools to conform to that development:<br />
- A ‘Social Media Audit’ to clearly define the risks and opportunities;<br />
- Precise guidelines to describe our development principles<br />
regarding Social Media;<br />
- A ‘Strategic Social Media Framework’ to indicate the<br />
different development stages and the concerned teams<br />
for each step;<br />
LOTTERY & TECHNOLOGY<br />
- A ‘Map of the Social Media Structure’ to organise the<br />
various presences within the different networks, according<br />
to the National Lottery’s interests;<br />
- And finally a ‘Social Media Timeline’ to spread the efforts<br />
over the next 12 to 24 months.<br />
Flexible strategic tools, reiterative and always changing,<br />
centre the efforts around priorities and not according to<br />
the trends or the latest technological innovations.<br />
The development of these tools is on a par with the definition<br />
of corporate and marketing objectives that would<br />
be sustained by Social Media projects. The <strong>2011</strong> priorities<br />
are threefold:<br />
1. Reinforce players’ loyalty while the gaming portfolio is<br />
highly reinvented;<br />
2. Stimulate the relevance and the preference within the<br />
18-34 years old age group;<br />
3. Optimise the positive image associated with the National<br />
Lottery.<br />
FACEBOOK OR TWITTER? THAT IS NOT <strong>THE</strong><br />
QUESTION.<br />
The in-depth study of players and stakeholders’ conversations<br />
has enabled us to apply to each Social Media its<br />
specific potential for the National Lottery.<br />
- Facebook is the central point of our players’ conversa-<br />
13 NEWS 37 <strong>SEPTEMBER</strong> <strong>2011</strong>