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Road safety campaign with PLUS, Kuala Lumpur (The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd, Malaysia). |
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Project name |
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PLUS Channel Social Media Engagement Campaign
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General Publication Info |
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Established in 1845, The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad (affectionately known as NSTP) is Malaysia's oldest and largest newspaper publisher.
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Idea and Implementation of your special project |
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UEM Group Berhad (UEM) commissioned the NSTP e-Media Sdn Bhd to design, manage and monitor an online campaign in anticipation of the PLUS Expressways Berhad acquisition. The official announcement of the joint acquisition by UEM and the Employees Provident Fund (EFP) was made on 16th November 2011. The campaign named PLUS Channel ran for a month, starting from the day of the announcement.
e-Media had designed a website (www.pluschannel.com.my) to anchor and disseminate all information about the acquisition. The site contained brief and succinct explanation on the benefits of the revised terms of the new concession agreement, the cost and operation of expressway maintenance as well as the making of the historic North-South Expressway.
We employed several methods to present the information including four infographics, two videos and two iPad advertisments. The infographics and videos were disseminated via Twitter, facebook and NSTP’s online assets especially the New Straits Times (nst.com.my), Berita Harian (bharian.com.my) and Harian Metro (hmetro.com.my).
We closely monitored Twitter using the @pluschannel account. We tracked conversions on Twitter using several keywords which were plus expressways, plus highway, uem, epf, toll concession and Penang Bridge. The main purpose of the @pluschannel profile was to monitor and when necessary engage fellow Twitterers who had queries about the impact of the new acquisition and to debunk misinformation. We also reached out to the rakyat via the New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Harian Metro’s facebook accounts.
We kept an eye on blogs, forums and the alternative media and responded accordingly.
The first four days following the announcement were ‘hot’ with many people taking to the alternative media and Twitter to air their displeasure and views on the acquisition. Conversation cooled off until the third week when talk resumed because of articles published by the alternative media.
Talk mainly centred on articles published by the alternative media with disgruntled readers leaving comments. The same articles were also usually retweeted via Twitter. But it was generally quiet on forums and blogs.
Topics discussed consistently were often politically motivated or about the perceived corruption within the Government and government-linked companies (GLCs). The Penang Bridge toll concession was also brought up several times by Pakatan Rakyat leaders which the alternative media happily published.
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Project results and results monitoring |
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By engaging the rakyat in an open, friendly and educational manner via the PLUS Channel campaign, co-owners UEM and EPF had successfully cushioned the public’s negative reaction. The campaign also gave UEM and EPF a presence in the social media circle to explain and rebut misinformation and half-truths about the acquisition.
It is important for UEM- EPF to continue to engage the rakyat especially the younger generation using the social media (facebook, Twitter, blogs and forums) tools. The two-way communication with them will improve UEM-EPF’s image in the public standing. The trust gained will also be critical when the time comes for future announcement.
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Additional comments |
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We opted for a more selective and careful approach when disseminating information and in our response on the social media networks as requested by the client. We believe this approach worked following the neutral response from the general public.
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LINKS |
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http://www.pluschannel.com.my/
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