Deregistration rate constantly in focus

Swissinfo.ch, the SRG business unit then known as Schweizer Radio International, was already using unusual broadcasting channels with its various shortwave stations. Today, the "Voice of Switzerland" is present on the Internet and relies not only on websites with up-to-date information in nine languages, but also on communities in the social networks. And it does so in a very targeted manner and with a view to sustainability, as becomes clear in conversation with Christophe Bruttin, who is responsible for online communication and therefore also for the social media campaigns. Like others, he also looks at the fan numbers on Facebook, but a low unsubscribe rate is much more important to him. After all, anyone who has clicked on "Like" and thus become a fan of a page can later rule out that new posts on this page will be displayed on their page in the future and remain registered as a fan. If fans unsubscribe in this way, they are lost, as they can no longer be reached. For other media, an unsubscribe rate of 30 percent is considered normal, says Bruttin and is satisfied that it is around one percent at Swissinfo.ch. We also pay close attention to how many people come back with comments. If there is a lack of feedback or an increase in unsubscribes, "we take this as an alarm signal that we are starting to bore the fans - and that is the last thing we want, because then they will perceive us as spam and stop contributing."

For Bruttin, it is therefore clear that social media should not simply be used as another distribution channel through which all kinds of messages are sent to as many people as possible. "Once you realize that social media invades users' privacy, you start to think about it in a completely different way." In total, Swissinfo.ch publishes news and information about Switzerland in nine languages. It was therefore important for the social media presence to study the various markets carefully in order to choose the right platforms. Pages were set up on Facebook for the different language groups. One for English, German, French, Italian and Spanish (with around 110,000 fans) and one each for Arabic (94,000 fans) and Japanese (3,800 fans). As Facebook is not accessible in China, Kaixin is used, which is aimed at a well-to-do younger audience (34,000 fans). There are also four Swissinfo. ch channels on YouTube and one account per language on Twitter with an automatic feed with a total of around 5,000 followers.

In this way, targeted information can be provided: A report on the deployment of the Swiss Disaster Relief Corps in the Japanese disaster area is only mentioned on the Japanese Facebook page. And on the Arabic page, there are in-depth reports on the blocking of Mubarak's or Ben Ali's accounts. On the Chinese channel, there is mainly soft news, such as information about the Swiss pavilion at Expo Shanghai last year. A separate community was set up on Facebook for a few months around the "Border Stories" project (the American mountaineer and journalist John Harlin circumnavigates Switzerland on foot, by bike and kayak and sends texts, pictures and videos). Swissinfo.ch also uses the geo-targeting and language targeting options offered by Facebook. "When we publish a story about Ecuador, we only send it to people in Ecuador or who we think might be interested." The targeting options on Facebook are "fantastic", for example, only users in Switzerland who speak Spanish can be targeted. "This way, we are 'one hundred percent sure' that there is interest," says Bruttin and would like to be able to select content by nationality and age of the user, just as with advertising on Facebook. "That would be brilliant, then we could also target articles for senior citizens, for example."

Social media is becoming increasingly important, and Bruttin estimates that up to ten percent of the audience today comes via social media channels. When it comes to increasing reach, search engine optimization (SEO) methods are still the backbone. But even if there is no link to an article and 500 readers re-tweet the story, this can lead to certain articles taking off. However, Swissinfo.ch not only uses social media channels to reach communities, but also does a lot to get something back from them - in other words, to maintain a lively dialog. Take the Ticino dossier, for example, which documents the lives of emigrants from southern Switzerland and their descendants and for which users have sent numerous pictures of their ancestors. Because this project has shown the rich possibilities of user-generated content, 2011 is set to be a key year in this respect. "We are now talking to journalists primarily about social media." Unlike a few years ago, it is now much easier to convince editors that social media and SEO work and that a little extra effort is therefore justified. "But it's still not easy." The Ticino dossier in particular helped to change many views in-house, as it became clear that material had been obtained that would otherwise not have been accessible. This shows new paths for journalism at a time when many believe it is dead.

In future, Swissinfo.ch would like to reach new users with targeted projects. For example, a business channel on Twitter in English is being considered. "The demand is there, it could work," says Bruttin, but it has to be a real product with full commitment behind it. And this is also Bruttin's insight from his social media efforts to date: Do it right and don't invest in half-baked projects that aren't fully thought through and aren't supported, or otherwise better leave it alone because otherwise the brand could be damaged.
Christoph J. Walther

Mini-Case Studies
Topics relating to the professional use of social media are omnipresent. Much is new and proven recipes for success are in short supply. This is why Werbewoche is publishing a series of mini case studies to provide insights into the daily work with social media channels and thus contrast the pure statistics on fans and followers. These articles have appeared in the social media portrait series so far:
-Slow down. Take it easy": Werbewoche 06/1.4.2011, page 31 
- "Ovomaltine": Advertising Week 07/15.4.2011, page 27
- "Swiss": Advertising Week 08/ 29.4.2011, page 29