In her latest Social Business column, ZDNet’s Jennifer Leggio takes us behind the scenes at Cirque du Soleil to show how the Montreal-based company has embraced customer relationship management and social media to engage its customers and drive continued demand for its shows.
When one thinks of Cirque du Soleil, beautiful imagery and athleticism come to mind long before the nitty gritty business operations. The team at Cirque du Soleil works hard to maintain these images and the mystique that go with every one of its shows. However, just as many businesses are these days, the company is using a mix of blogger relations and social network outreach to help grow attendance for all of its home and traveling shows.
Jessica Berlin, Cirque du Soleil’s social media manager, first came onto the social media radar after Chris Brogan sang her praises 18 months ago for her keen view of blogger relations, and how endearing bloggers to the Cirque brand eventually helped publicity for the show. Previously a publicist for Cirque, she had long been networking online and made a point of meeting as many influencers in person as she could.
“I think one of the biggest mistakes companies make is trying to just pitch bloggers,” she said. “Social media doesn’t work like traditional public relations. You have to form a relationship with someone first and foremost before they are interested in blogging about you and your brand.”
A bit of a pioneer for Cirque du Soleil, Berlin says that her current position was created after she became an advocate for giving bloggers the same access that Cirque would give to any mainstream media outlet.
I’ve been a fan of Cirque du Soleil’s performances for many years, making sure that I attended every show that brought the big blue-and-yellow tent to Fair Park here in Dallas. If you’ve never seen a Cirque show, please take the next opportunity to do so. You won’t regret it.
Jennifer’s column is a fascinating look at what one passionate person with an effective voice can do to drive a company to embrace alternative marketing techniques. There’s a lesson here.
David Swinney helps businesses implement social media strategies and plans in order to identify customers and their influencers, engage them in conversation, and leverage those connections to improve the bottom line.
As a technologist with a background in social media, corporate communications, technical and customer support, vendor relationship and project management, he is able to comfortably discuss various social media topics with managers, individual contributors, and just plain folks.
Contact David if you're looking for someone to create, build, and enhance your customer relationships using social media tools and technologies. 