How Sony PlayStation manages its 20-blog network

“Their entire program started five-and-a-half, six years ago, with one-quarter of one person’s job description being social media,” Hallett told an audience at Ragan Communications’ Social Media for PR and Corporate Communications Conference at Walt Disney World Resort. “By having a plan and structure in place, executing that plan, and showing performance, they were able to scale that program over time.”

The engine of Sony’s social media machine is a network of about 20 blogs that update in dozens of languages and which have content directed to audiences worldwide. Each blog generates hundreds of pieces of content every week.

How does the PlayStation brand manage it all? With six P’s: planning, production, publishing, promotion, participation, and performance.

Planning

PlayStation maintains one huge editorial calendar for all its blogs, which editors and contributors can drill into for details on what’s coming in the next days or weeks. Editors have to find the sweet spot between what the company wants to promote and what customers are looking for, Hallett said.

“We have a very passionate fan base,” he said. “They want to hear the stories behind how these games are being developed.”