MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER ...

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