The client:

Nokia is a global technology leader. From enabling infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things, to shaping the future of technology to transform the human experience, Nokia serves communications service providers, governments, large enterprises, and consumers with the industry’s most complete end-to-end portfolio of products, services, and licensing.

The challenge:

Following a merge of Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia, a new operation had to be developed and social media was part of that process. 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 2017 (MWC17).

The solution:

Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent merged both companies’ 100+ global social media channels into one consistent presence which resulted in migrating and rebranding particular channels as well as closing and opening others. This was not only important for long-term goals, but with MWC17 rapidly approaching, Nokia’s social team had to act fast and adopt the right tools.

The team successfully defined the social media strategy, objective and ecosystem for the whole company and drafted a social media playbook. When working on the playbook and strategy, the company had to determine what its social voice would be, alongside its common social objective since the merger. Both companies had to come together to learn about the different practices that already existed, and work on a way to bring them together in a coherent and strategic manner, using the same platform for efficiency and governance.

After a thorough vetting process, Nokia decided to adopt Hootsuite for its versatile enterprise-strength features, dedicated and knowledgeable support team, and built-in brand protection capabilities. With social media teams distributed in multiple countries, it needed a platform that could provide social channel owners around the world the ability to schedule and monitor content across its numerous channels. However, the platform also needed to be flexible with access, as Nokia’s corporate team required unfettered insight into social activity to ensure it was consistently aligned to wider strategic objectives. Hootsuite’s platform enabled Nokia to achieve its desired new ways of working in this regard, and offered assistance and guidance to the corporate team at a time when MWC17 was rapidly approaching.

The result:

At Mobile World Congress 2016, Nokia was one of the top five social influencers at the show, so naturally the team wanted to perform even better in 2017. With the new and improved social strategy, coupled with Hootsuite’s platform, the social team were able to maximise engagement with Nokia’s awards by announcing them in advance, and celebrating them on the same day.

They also did the same with their speakers, drumming up interest and associated buzz before their respective sessions, as well as during and after the event. Nokia’s Head of Corporate Social, Päivi Kalske said “We posted images of our Nokia speakers during their presentations with key quotes, so that their thought leadership lives longer on social media.” Nokia also showcased its products via its respective social channels as well, identifying key messages in each of its demos to help cut through the noise of a crowded event like MWC17.

Nokia received nine million impressions, and gained 48 thousand followers in five days—and became the most talked about brand at the conference, according to Brandwatch. The success of its social impact around MWC17 was not limited to just the event, but has also had a longer tail positive impact throughout the organisation. Nokia has successfully integrated social across the company including all business groups, innovation teams and throughout human resources.

As a result, the senior executives now value social media more highly than before, after witnessing the business results first hand. Moreover, the Nokia team defended their title against heavy competition and repeated the stellar success by being the #1 social media influencer also at MWC18.