In our previous episodes with Ellen Stone / Senior Vice president of Marketing for Bravo Networks, she talked about the work that she and her team undertake to make sure the Bravo brand is well connected to the audience.
In the first episode, she talked about how they endeavor to make their content inventive and influential enough so that their “tech savvy and forward-leaning” audience takes the conversation offline with their 
friends. In our last episode Ellen describes some of the metrics they use and how they came to create the Bravo “Talkbubble”, which is a mashup of various social media components all working in concert to provide a virtual ‘TV Viewing Party’ around Bravo show premiers.
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In this episode, Guy recognized that, like other participants in our interview series, Bravo has found that the use of social media has supported interactions that allows brands to connect more often with their audience and to increase their exposure without overwhelming them.
In an example of this power to increase the touch points with viewers via social media, Ellen points out that of the 92 messages posted during a Talkbubble session, it is very possible that those messages will be reposted / re-tweeted over 400,000 times around the world and that the audience will not think that they are being spammed or feel overwhelmed in the flow of messages.
Nonetheless, the Bravo Team does try to space the messages and make them relevant. One of the ways they do so is to enlist the help of the Bravo-lebritites to drive even more engagement, all of which satisfies the consumers desire to feel like they’re involved with the lives of the people they see on the screen.
Ellen expands on the increase in the messaging that is possible with a social presence and we ask “How much Bravo can one person get?”, and if it is even possible to satiate the desire of the consumer or fan to engage with a brand like Bravo? It’s a serious question that she and her team work hard to make sure they understand the answer to so they do not overwhelm a fan.
Where is social media going for Bravo though? Social is part of their DNA and social is a critical outlet for the brand to ‘make the conversations happen’ is what Ellen tells us. They are always on the lookout for new ways to connect to the audience, regardless of platform. Social is likely an urgent part of the Bravo tool set and will be a part of everything they do from now on. It lets you touch base and talk to the audience which is so important to the Bravo brand; it’s a part of everything they do.
Right now everything is new and exciting in social media and with the level of engagement for the team, the real challenge is understanding what the audience is saying about the brand in the social media eco-sphere qualitatively and giving fan what they want in the social channel. As new platforms come along, they want give their fans what they want – an exciting interaction.
They watch the conversation closely looking for cues to see what they need to act on to support their fans and increase ‘the brand width of engagement’ or range of interaction with the audience with their fans. You can find Bravo online, mobile and offline – they want to wrap the consumer with as much Bravo as they want, anywhere they want.
Play / Download Ellen Stone / Bravo Networks – Episode 3 Podcast Here
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This is the final episode in our interview with Ellen Stone / Senior Vice President of Marketing with Bravo Media, an NBC Universal company. Guy Powell, Jerry Dimos and I want to thank her; we appreciate her perspective and taking the time to share it with us in our podcast interview!
For an MP3 file of the entire episode and (eventually) the transcript of the podcast, we invite you to visit and join our community site relating to the book at www.TheROIofSocialMedia.com and to explore best-practices in the ROI in Social Media.
We’re very interested in your perspective on the topic and, if you have a great interview who can add to the conversation, please let us know – we’re looking to interview them and put it up here!
Thank you again to you our listeners – hope you enjoyed the effort and work we put into it!
The Podcast and Credit For Where Credit is Due – This podcast / transcript was developed from a live recorded interview on April 7, 2010 between Ellen Stone Ellen Stone / Senior Vice President of Marketing with Bravo Media, Guy Powell and Steven Groves.
The podcast interview was downloaded and processes in Audacity, which is available from SourceForge.net, and with ‘4toFloor.wav’ music loop from member ‘Rooks’ and posted at SoundSnap.com.
The transcripts are sponsored by Social Marketing Conversations and the introduction Voice Talent is Ms. Cynthia Propst.
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