In understanding how the Telstra Corporation Limited (Telstra) utilizes social media for public relations (PR), two key concepts to need to be clarified first. These concepts are: social media and search engine optimization (SEO).
PR aims to effectively and creatively communicate a business' story, build its brand, create awareness and enhance stakeholder relationships. We are in the business of telling great stories for our clients.
Then and now, PR is a discipline of communication that guides management to disseminate information about itself to and influence the perceptions of its target publics using media as tool. (Cowley)
The media available to PR practitioners have now expanded to include social media. These new media have made the radical changes in the world of communication. They not only deliver information at almost real time but also allows interaction between company and audiences. It allows a company to do reputation management and research at the same time. It is also global and inexpensive. (Agrawal)
Social media in itself would not have much use if a company does not do any SEO. There are two important things involved in doing SEO: content writing and site linkages. Content writing refers to the way texts of internet sites are written. They should be written in a way so that search engines could easily find the key words and the sites. To increase the visits and for the site to rank higher in search engines, the web and other sites should have as many links or mentions in other sites as possible. The sites may be developed and owned by the company itself or by others. Thus, doing SEO can help increase the ranking of any site in searches on the net. (Kent)
Telstra is one company that seems to have done very well in maximizing its PR in the social media because of its deep understanding of social media and its practice of SEO.
Overview of Telstra, social media they use and why
Telstra is Australia's leading provider of mobile phones, mobile devices, home phones and broadband Internet. As such, it should be able to demonstrate its power and leadership in all these areas. The way they can do that is to maximized their use of the internet, primarily through the use of social media.
Telstra uses the following social media in different ways to reach all its target audiences. The choice of the media and the corresponding design and content clearly show that the company is trying to appeal to all types of demographics. The design of every page in each site is distinct from each other yet at the same time recognizable as part of unified identity of one brand or corporations—that of Telstra.
The social media that Telstra uses include: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Bebo, Friendster, and even personal blogs. In Faceook alone, it has at least seven pages, and in Twitter, three.
The Social—3Rs of Social Media Engagement also provides insight into exactly how it wants the social to be used by itself within the company and by its stakeholders that may want to promote Telstra.
Telstra is a big presence in micro-blogging sites like Facebook and Twitter. It also encourages further linkages by other people to these pages. (Tlestra, Social Media)
The policy also encourages video and photo sharing on web sites like Flickr and YouTube (Telstra, Social Media). Such sharing provides Telstra with a way to show itself in a very tangible way. Such platforms allow Telstra to communicate its message in a more effective, audio and visual fashion where appropriate.
Telstra encourages the use of other web sites—including forums and personal sites—where users may publish or post their promotions (Telstra, Social Media)
Telstra uses these media obviously to maximize its PR mileage and it SEO. All the sites that Telstra uses are all interconnected somewhow. For instance, its site in Option City on Telstra Careers is connected to its web site, a Telstra Careers page in Facebook and a Telstra Career account in Twitter. Maintaining such interconnection among numerous accounts, many of which are updated frequently, can result in higher page ranking in search engines (Kent). Aside from promoting Telstra and its products and services, the strategy protects Telstra to pro protect itself from negative publicity. The sites allow them to respond quickly to any issue—using both internal and independent, external authors and sites, but also dominate the search engine results. One can easily observe all in the use of search engines. A search for “Telstra” on Bing, Google and Yahoo! would yield pages of links to different accounts, pages or sites maintained by the company.
Observations on how Telstra maximizes its use of some social media are discussed below.
Facebook is the largest and perhaps the most important social networking site. It has more than 900 million users worldwide. About 52% of its users are from the age group 18–25 years old. It is clearly the media that no corporation doing PR should ignore. (Curtin) Telstra clearly understands this and utilizes Facebook to the fullest.
Telstra has at least seven pages in Facebook. These are: Telstra main corporate page (Telstra, Facebook), Careers, pre-paid, 24x7 app (24x7 app, Facebook)), 24x7 products and services (Telstra products and services, Faebook), Telecommunications (Telstra telecommunications, Facebook) and Exchange Blog (Telstra exchange blog, Facebook). The pages appear as separate and independent blogs. They are not directly connected to each other but are linked with the other sites in Telstra’s social media network.
The main page covers has the broadest and most general content. It is essentially a web site in quick reference form in Facebook. The rest of the pages are very product specific. One page, Exchange Blog, is simply a gateway or a link to an external blog of the same name.
With the exception of the Exchange Blog page, all the pages allow sharing and discussion of the specific topic of the page. Meanwhile, the 24x7 app is an innovative application for customers on Facebook. It is a quick and easy-to-access self-service support. The development of the app is supposed to be a first in the industry and a major innovation. (Murphy) While the company is encouraging employees to blog about it, Telstra also has strict rules governing employee behavior on the net (Oakes)
After Facebook, Twitter is perhaps the next most important social networking site. It connects businesses to customers in real time. Business also find Twitter useful to quickly share information with people interested in their products and services, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and influencers. From brand lift to CRM to direct sales, Twitter offers businesses an easy way to reach an engaged audience.
Twitter however allows only very short messages. Like many of its users, Telstra uses Twitter to provide links to sites where longer discussions of certain topics are allowed.
Telstra maintains at least three accounts on Twitter: Telstra—its main corporate account (Telstra, Twitter), Telstra careers (Telstra careers, Twitter) and Telstra News (Telstra new, Twitter). Using Twitters connection protocol of @Telstra would the customer to its main page which provides customer support service 24 hours daily. Telstra News are brief announcements and reports about the company. It also provides links to any news about Telstra that may appear in other media (like newspapers). Telstra Careers is a job recruitment page almost identical to the one on Facebook.
YouTube and Flickr
Telstra has three accounts on YouTube: Welcome to Telstra (Telstra, Welcome to Telstra) and KnowhowThe corporate account contains mainly publicity videos of the company. These are coverages of events , advertisements, customer case studies, and interviews with top executives and employees. Knowhow is a compilation of videos focusing on problem solving of product- or service-related matters and other tutorials including those related to Telstra Next G™ powered SmartPhones. Enterprise and Government is a compilation of videos that include customer case studies and network-based solutions and service to enterprise and governments in Australia and New Zealand. It is the video counterpart of Telstra’s blog of the same name (TelstraKnowHow Channel, Youtube)..
Telstra uses Flickr like Facebook but uploads mainly publicity pictures of its events and other activities (Telstra Business Awards, Flickr).
Blogs, discussion boards and forums
Telstra maintains several blogs, forums or discussion boards either under its domain name or in popular blog sites. The content are very similar. They cover topics mainly about the company including news updates, customer service on-line support and clarification of issues. Many of the blogs seem to be actually owned or maintained by Telstra itself.
The blogs may seem repetitive. However, they seem to be useful in targeting audience on a regional basis as there are blogs or forums followed by audiences in different countries. Again, these blogs provide links that help Telstra efficiently do SEO. Some of the blogs are: Be Involved (Telstra, Be involved), CrowdSupport (Telstra, CrowdSupport),, Option city (Telstra, OpenCity), Telstra Exchange (Telstra, exchange), Telstra global connections (Telstra, Global connections), and Telstra Smarter Business Ideas (Telstra, Smart business ideas).
Conclusion
Telstra has clearly kept itself up-to-date with social media trends. Not only has it maintained accounts or pages in the most relevant sites, it has been developing ways to help its customers provide themselves with support service. The 24x7 app in Facebook is an example. The self-service support on the blog and forums is another example.
Telstra has also shown its strength in SEO efficiency. Almost all of its sites and blogs rank highly than any other post about the company. It is notable that its own sites come ahead than any negative comments or publicity. Thus, Telstra is not only able to promote itself on social media, it has also kept itself protected from any adverse publicity.
References
Agrawal, Harsh (2012). Benefits of using social media for business. Shout Me Loud. Retrieved on 20 Nov 2012 from
Cowley, Gemma (2012). The benefits of online public relations for businesses. Dennis Rutzou Public Relation. Retrieved on 15 Dec 2012 from
Curtin, Stacy (2012, Nov 29). Facebook effect: how the social network changed the world. 29 November 2012. Retrieved on 10 Dec 2012 from http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/facebook-effect-social-network-changed-world-122656206.html/
Kent, Peter (2011). Search engine optimization for dummies. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing.
Murphy, Peter (2012, Jul 31). Telstra delivers industry-first customer service app via Facebook. About Telstra. Retrieved on 17 Dec 2012 from
Oakes, Dan (2009, April 20). Telstra lays down rules on worker web use. The Age. Retrieved on 17 Dec 2012 from .
Telstra. Company policy: Social media— Telstra’s 3 Rs of social media Engagement. Retrieved on 20 Nov 2012 from
Links to Telstra blogs, social media pages and sites
Official website
Telstra. Telstra. Retrieved on 15 Dec from Dec http://www.telstra.com.au/
Blogs, discussion groups and forums
Telstra. Be Involved. Retrieved on 17 Dec 2012 from https://www.beinvolved.com.au/
Telstra. Crowdsupport.Telstra. Retrived on 17 Dec 2012 from
Telstra. Global connections. Retrieved on 15 Dec from http://www.telstraglobalblog.com/
Telstra. Telstra exchange. Retrieved on 15 Dec from http://exchange.telstra.com.au/
Telstra. Smarter Business Ideas. Retrieved on 15 Dec from http://smarter.telstrabusiness.com/can-you-make-money-from-a-blog.htm
Telstra. Telstra 3Rs of Social Media. Retrieved on 15 Dec from
Telstra. Telstra careers. Option City. Retrieved on 15 Dec from http://www.optioncity.com.au/blog-intro.html
Facebook
Telstra. Telstra 24x7 (app). Facebook. Retrieved on 15 Dec from http://www.facebook.com/appcenter/mytelstra?fb_source=search&redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fapps.facebook.com%2Fmytelstra%2F%3Ffb_source%3Dsearch&fref=ts
Telstra. Telstra 24X7 (product and service). Facebook. Retrieved on 15 Dec from http://www.facebook.com/Telstra24x7?fref=ts
Telstra. Telstra careers. Facebook. Retrieved on 15 Dec from http://www.facebook.com/telstracareers
Telstra. Telstra exchange. Facebook. Retrieved on 15 Dec from Dec http://www.facebook.com/Telstra/app_316058691815306
Telstra. My Telstra pre-paid. Facebook. Retrieved on 15 Dec from http://www.facebook.com/appcenter/telstraprepaid?fb_source=search&redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fapps.facebook.com%2Ftelstraprepaid%2F%3Ffb_source%3Dsearch&fref=ts
Twitter
Telstra. Telstra (corporate). Twitter. Retrieved on 15 Dec from Dec https://twitter.com/Telstra
Telstra. Telstra careers. Twitter. Retrieved on 15 Dec from
Telstra. Telstra news. Twitter. Retrieved on 15 Dec from
Youtube and Flickr
Telstra. Telstra Business Awards. Flickr. Retrieved on 15 Dec 2012 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/45066723@N06/collections/
Telstra. TelstraKnowHow’s channel. YouTube. Retrieved on 15 Dec 2012 from
Telstra. Welcome to Telstra. Youtube. Retrieved on 15 Dec 2012 from
Others
Wikipedia. Telstra. Wikipedia. Retrieved on 15 Dec 2012 from
