How StarHub broke its 'cold and robotic' image on social media

Telcos don't always have the easiest of times in Singapore winning over the hearts of their consumers. For StarHub, this was no different. While the telco has now invested much of its marketing into building personable content, when it first started its move into social, it came across “cold and robotic” in its interaction with the public, said Melissa Yuen (pictured), social media team lead and content strategist at StarHub.“We did not get it right at the start,” Yuen said, adding that before 2017, content on StarHub’s social media was tactical and promotional in nature.“We were clearly asking [consumers] to buy something from us, asking [them] to shop from us. It was a transaction that we were asking from [consumers],” she added.When StarHub decided to reshape its online personality, Yuen and her team created three main strategic pillars for the team to move forward with. Speaking at the Adobe Symposium at Marina Bay Sands Singapore, she said that the telco “let go” of its social media agency and built an in-house social team as part of the plan.Yuen added that she and her team at StarHub embraced the fact that on social media, people’s reactions about the content were “almost immediate”. This was very unlike her previous roles in broadcast, where there was initially "no way to see or hear what the people have to say about the shows", and the numbers were dependent on the ratings retrieved the next day.“With a social comment, or a thumbs-up, or a share, or if they are really silent, you know it's bad," she said.Steps to humanising interactionsTo allow people to engage with the telco as a brand, the team focused on three pillars - content excellence, community management in terms of social customer care and brand advocacy based on social listening and analytics. The telco also had its in-house editorial team draw up a persona and tone for its social media content such as in ads and its responses to comments.“Social media is really a place for us to be human,” Yuen said, adding that the characteristics drawn up by the editorial team resembled an ordinary person. She added this allowed the brand to access customers “in a more personal and in a more approachable way.” But of course, the move to humanise interaction did not mean tactical ads were ditched completely. Instead they were married with the fun pieces of content.“We don't always have to sell you something. Sometimes we just want to celebrate a particular day be it World Emoji day or Father's day,” Yuen said, adding:We just want to talk to you.In deciding the type of content to put out, Yuen said that there are four pillars to reflect the product and service of its brand. Firstly, the brand needs content to stay relevant with the customers and itself. Secondly, to connect with the customers with the timeliness of the content, also ensuring there is a relevance to the brand. Thirdly, it is to identify what is the value the content is adding for the customer. Lastly, it is point of view as a brand to its audience.She explained that given the Singapore audience is very pragmatic, at the end of the day, with a lot of clutter in social media, people [have] to remember you as a brand and what you stand for.