How Nokia used social to become the talk of the world’s largest mobile tech event
Nokia’s social media approach at Mobile World Congress 2017 made them the event’s top social influencer—generating kudos for the tech brand’s social team from Nokia customers and staff alike.
How Nokia used social to become the talk of the world’s largest mobile tech event
Nokia’s social media approach at Mobile World Congress 2017 made them the event’s top social influencer—generating kudos for the tech brand’s social team from Nokia customers and staff alike.
2016 was an exceptional year for Nokia. It was all about integrating two powerful companies—Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia—into one combined operation that would become a new market leader. During this period of change, the social media team had to not only create a new combined social media strategy, but also prepare for the biggest event in the mobile tech calendar, Mobile World Congress.
- 9Msocial media impressions in five days
- 48,000new social media followers in five days
- No.1share of voice at the biggest event of the year
What they did
Delivering a consistent social voice
With over 100 global brand channels between Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent, on over 10 different platforms, Nokia’s social team had to work fast to ensure they had the right tools, processes, and people in place for Mobile World Congress (MWC17) in Barcelona from February 27 to March 2, 2017.In just a few months the team had to:
Define the social media strategy and objectives for the whole company, draft a social media playbook, and set up new ways of working
Merge both companies’ 100+ global social media channels into one consistent social media presence
Plan and execute their social media strategy for MWC17
Using Hootsuite, they scheduled selected content in advance, focusing on three areas:
Leverage their awards by announcing them in advance and celebrating them on the day
Promote their speakers in advance to make them shine on social media before, during, and after the event
Showcase their products by identifying the key message in each of their demos and focusing on that to cut through the noise
"We posted images of our Nokia speakers during their presentations with key quotes, so that their thought leadership lives longer on social media.", said Head of corporate social Päivi Kalske.
Active engagement through social
At the conference, Nokia used Hootsuite to monitor what people were saying online in real time and generate two-way conversations. They also increased engagement by creating “tweetable demos”—focusing on the most noteworthy aspect of each demo—to cut through the noise and encourage more interaction with their brand.Nokia also made effective use of video, hosting three streamed Facebook Live events where they showed “behind the scenes” footage of the venue and interviewed their speakers at the conference.
The social media team is now being invited to the tables—not just marketing and communications, but also sales and different business group leadership teams. We’ve moved from push to pull.The results
Nokia’s innovative use of social media helped them achieve outstanding results. They received nine million impressions and 48 thousand followers in five days—and became the most talked about brand at the conference, according to Brandwatch.
However, this isn’t just a success story about one event. With the right tools and strategies firmly in place, Nokia has successfully integrated social across the organization since MWC17, including all business groups, innovation teams, and human resources.Just as importantly, Nokia’s social media efforts are now more highly valued internally after executives saw the results firsthand at MWC17.
Instead of having to push for inclusion in high-level meetings with other departments, the social team is now being invited to participate. This helps them to engage internally with important audiences who see that social can have a business impact. All of which should help Nokia take advantage of other social opportunities in future—from digital marketing transformation to employee advocacy—and enable the team to make an even bigger splash at Mobile World Congress 2018.
Products used in this study
