Iridium and Social Media

Since the widely successful launch of its new brand in 2008, Iridium Communications Inc. has been working nonstop promoting its position as global leader in the satellite communications industry. A key player in the Iridium brand has been one of its star products – the Iridium 9555 satellite phone. With a lightweight design, industrial ruggedness, and unmatched truly global coverage, continually building awareness of the Iridium 9555 is paramount in cementing the company as an industry leader.

BSL devised a highly integrated strategy that supports Iridium’s work to establish a visible presence across popular social media platforms and generate a strong following while addressing public perception and keeping various key audiences engaged. To prepare for this significant social media effort, BSL focused on helping Iridium uncover current brand perceptions among audiences. Through use of online social measurement tools such as Radian6, SWIX and Google Analytics, we are able to delve into the social sphere and identify common sentiments of what people were saying about Iridium, as well as who is saying it. These tools have allowed BSL and Iridium to gain valuable customer insights and therefore continue to refine and enhance the communications strategy.

Twitter
Visual elements from the Iridium website have been applied to a dedicated Twitter page. The strategy has Iridium following groups and individuals within the verticals that it serves, while those same groups and individuals have now turned around to follow Iridium. All of Iridium’s posts on Facebook and YouTube are automatically fed through Twitter.

Facebook
BSL helped Iridium develop three branded fan pages, with embedded images and video. One for Iridium Communications – which includes high-level information such as the announcement of Iridium NEXT, the largest commercial space venture in history. We have also constructed a fan page for the Iridium 9555 that promotes its features, includes real testimonials and success stories from Iridium customers, and links to the official microsite, where customers can make a purchase. There also exists a third page for Test Your Satellite Phone, so users can ensure their phone is working before an emergency strikes – this also helps to promote the reliability of the product in the minds of users.

YouTube
BSL has created a branded Iridium Communications YouTube account, segmenting it into channels/playlists dedicated to each product or service. BSL has embedded this channel on the Iridium 9555 microsite and on the Facebook fan page, to help Iridium achieve further integration into its online efforts. Iridium Channel Partners are also able to access the videos and easily embed them into their own sites.

Flickr
In addition to the above platforms, BSL has centralized Iridium’s photo library to Flickr. These images are looped in a slideshow and embedded into microsite web banners and Facebook fan pages.

Iridium Online Community
The Iridium corporate website is the central location for the Iridium Online Community, developed by BSL, which provides access to all social assets including a live Twitter feed, and and Facebook updates, as well as access to YouTube and Flickr content.

Efforts on all of these sites are seamlessly integrated with one another. This social network connection is also extended to all campaign collateral materials, providing a robust and well-rounded presence within these popular audience environments. Iridium has engaged BSL to lead the development and nourishment of this social media integration strategy.

Results
Since the launch of the Iridium Social Media Strategy, our teams have received positive feedback through our monitoring on Radian6. We have learned that the 50 most mentioned words in conjunction with Iridium include mobile and global (the very essence of the Iridium brand), as well as several other key words relative to the network. Radian6 has also informed us that Iridium is gaining on the competition, Inmarsat. This satellite company has been in the lead for brand mentions (approximately 500 monthly), but since the Iridium Social Media Strategy has been initiated, Iridium brand mentions have increased from approximately 250 to 400 monthly.