Interview with Cat Douglas

Interview with Cat Douglas

Daemon Two is a social media business which works with companies and organisations to better understand the social web, plan how they can best engage with the medium and how to track the real rewards and ROI from this. www.daemontwo.com

Cat Douglas is the Business Strategy Director from Daemon Two. Cat has worked for Daemon Digital since its inception almost three years ago and prior to that worked as the Associate General Manager at Daemon Group across marketing communications. With over 12 years global communication experience, she has experience across a range of communication techniques and technologies. Imperatively, she understands the bigger game and is results driven.

Social media successes to date include commercial and market share success with clients such as: Warner Home Video; Environment Protection Authority of Victoria; Tourism New South Wales; Austereo; and Biersdorf (Elastoplast).

Question: How many different careers are their in social media?

Cat Douglas: There are a vast number of careers in social media ranging from blogging and micro-blogging (tweeting) if you're into writing or development of iPhone apps and games for Facebook if you're into more technical stuff. Social media also utilises designers, researchers and community managers. It's a big playing field!


Question: How do celebrities make a living out of a career in social media?

Cat Douglas: Celebrities careers are ignited through media in general. Social media is just another channel that allows them to reach their fan base and raise their profile. On a more commercial level, products will get celebrities to endorse them through social channels so they come across as a referral to customers rather than an advertisement. Not exactly hard work!


Question: Why do businesses choose to turn to celebrity endorsements via social media networks?

Cat Douglas: Three reasons: credibility or word of mouth referral is much stronger than an advertisement; reach of social media is far greater and lasts a lot longer than traditional media channels; and it allows fans/customers to have access to a celebrity (and products by association) like no other medium can.


Question; What benefits do celebrity endorsements normally have on a general product?

Cat Douglas: It depends on the product and the celebrity. Where marketers have got it right, and the celebrity effectively represents the brand, there can be a huge benefit. It works in the same way traditional advertising and marketing do but it seems much more genuine because it's coming straight from the celebrity's mouth.


Question: Can having a celebrity endorse a product have a potentially negative return?

Cat Douglas: Of course. Particularly when a celebrity falls out of favour. If a celebrity is linked heavily to your brand and does something fans and the general public don't like, this can have a disastrous effect on sales. This is why you'll often see sponsors removing their products from celebrities when they fall out of favour - Stephanie Rice being dumped by Jaguar Australia due to an anti-gay tweet is a good, current example of just how easy it is to create a negative effect.


Question: How does Mia Freedman create an income from her blog?

Cat Douglas: There are a couple of ways Mia can monetise her blog. It's likely that people pay for real estate on her blog page to post advertisements. It's also probably that Mia is approached by brands, events and products to experience and review products in her blog.


Question: What tips do you have for average Australians who wishes to begin a career in social media?

Cat Douglas: You can learn anything you need to know but you can't teach passion. Work out what you're good at and interested in and then look at the jobs in social media that match your skills. Flexibility and a desire to always know what the next big thing is before it even happens are definite musts.


Question: What does Daemon Two do in terms of social media?

Cat Douglas: Daemon TWO works with clients to grow their brands, increase their customer base, grow sales, educate their staff and manage their reputations in the social media space.


Interview by Brooke Hunter