November 1, 2010

BASF launches social media newsroom

BASF is offering a new online information service for journalists, bloggers and brand fans timed to coincide with publication of the third quarter report.

The Social Media Newsroom bundles all Web 2.0 information about the company on an easy-to-navigate central platform (http://www.newsroom.basf.com). With just one click, visitors can comment on, rate or recommend content. This makes BASF one of the first DAX 30 companies with a Corporate Social Media Newsroom.

The Newsroom also offers content subscriptions via RSS (Really Simple Syndication). This allows interested users to receive the latest information about BASF in Web 2.0. The aim of the service platform is to strengthen dialogue on BASF topics online through integration with social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.

"This extension of our traditional news section on basf.com takes into account the huge increase in the use of social media. At the same time, we are offering our target groups an up-to-date dialogue platform," said Anke Schmidt, Vice President Corporate Communications at BASF.

The Newsroom assembles in real time press releases plus reports and comments from BASF's accounts on the social networks Facebook, Flickr, Slideshare, Twitter and YouTube. The Corporate Newsroom also includes an online press review as well as royalty-free images, videos and podcasts. All content is connected via a helpful keyword indexing, known as tagging. This makes it easier and faster to find BASF specific content on established search engines.

BASF sees the growing importance of communication 2.0: starting in August 2010 the company has set up centralised corporate profiles on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Slideshare and received positive feedback. After three months, BASF has more than 8,000 Likes on Facebook and over 6,000 followers on Twitter.

BASF's presence in social media is integrated in the broad communication mix on a target group driven and target group specific basis. YouTube and Flickr, for example, are mainly used for corporate video and photo material. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is used more for recruitment and contact with business partners. Facebook is intended to help position the BASF brand, with reports on sustainable solutions and products as well as events.