Part V of Social Media’s Future within Global Businesses

Many marketers tout the value of  social media conversation.   But to a business both now and in the future this means little. Really this indicates a focus on tactics rather than strategy and results. It’s like touting the intangibles of endless chatter.

Social media’s true end result is not the over-discussed cliche "conversations" that everyone cites as the primary reason to market with social media. It’s a psychotic, engaged rabid fan base that touts your good tidings. Conversation is just the raw harvest that yields the silk to be weaved into a fine, priceless garment.

The following video (1:30) executed in Europe by Robin Good with Sami Viitamäki, a Social Media specialist for TeliaSonerra, Finland’s main telecom company, is titled, “Social Media: What social media is all about conversations.” It demonstrates both the marketers over reliance or focus on conversation, and the latent true value a company gets through engagement and other intangibles.

For the socially-enabled enterprise or socialprise, the end results of engaging diverse stakeholder communities of customers, partners and employees cannot be valued. Conversation is a process towards personal engagement, just like co-creation, collaboration and crowdsourcing (see Now Is Gone for basic definitions). People want to be a part of something bigger. Let’s look at some examples:

Customers engaging in conversations with brands, and in some cases, crowdsourcing.  This is not new. Consider the many Harley Davidson fans who enjoy customizing and creating their own bikes. They are some of the most loyal customers out there, and they participate in real-life events with the company. Social media just makes it easier to let customers engage with the company by crowdsourcing, talking and co-creating.

Today’s global workforce needs to be engaged and co-created through networks.  Companies like AT&T are forced to find qualified workforce members in other nations. They need to travel through the ether to transcend diverse cultures, timezones and places and effectively function as a business. Businesses like IBM use social tools like Second Life, blogs and microblogging networks to facilitate this kind of globally engaged workforce.

Partners, clients and potential business opportunities are also a critical part of the social networking environment. Recruitment and talent management continues to be one of the new burgeoning areas of social media (See Jim Stroud’s excellent blog on this topic). Again, another form of using these tools to engage the socialprise’s stakeholders.

So you see, for the socialprise of today and tomorrow, they don’t want the conversation, necessarily. It’s the end result of an engaged community that matters. The resulting brand loyalty and commitment from all stakeholders becomes the top benefit of any social media form. That’s not to discount many of the other possible benefits. Here are just a few:

• Increased sales
• Enhanced, viral brand reputation
• Feedback on products and services
• Better customer service
• True understanding of customers’ pain points and needs
• Increased search engine optimization

Etc., etc. Note that none of these results are conversations. Instead the conversation was the process by which they were achieved. Businesses and enterprises will look for these results to measure their communications rather than get caught on nebulous intangibles such as number of comments.

This is the fifth and final part of Social Media’s Role within Global Businesses. Past episodes were:

• Part I: Beyond the Echo Chamber (Social Networks Impact on Business)
• Part II: The Future: Social Networks Will Fly Like a Led Zeppelin
• Part III: Marketing Departments Become Two-Way
• Part IV: The Science of Listening

Please join us for our next Social Media Club DC (SMC-DC) event on Thursday, April 10 at 6:30 pm. We will gather at Viget Labs to hear some insight from Ann Bernard, Founder and CEO of WhyGoSolo.

Ann will show us how a local start-up company has created a social media platform that leverages the web from one click of a button. WhyGoSolo has the solution to bridge our online worlds to offline real world connections but that’s only a small part of the story. The more involved and complex social media becomes, the more critical it is to keep it simple and user-friendly for both businesses and web users to leverage. Ann will explain more about the key factors of creating a platform that is fully integrated in everyone’s online worlds and that works has a hub of information that gathers and delivers information where people want to receive it and view it.

This is a fabulous opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at the perspective of a web start-up CEO and how to develop a platform that is built to meet the social media needs of event promoters, planners and entertainment venues.

More details:

Please RSVP by Tuesday, April 8 to Larissa Fair.

Special thanks to Viget Labs for hosting the event.

Date: Thursday, April 10, 2008

Time: 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Location:

Viget Labs headquarters

400 S. Maple Avenue, Suite 200
Falls Church, VA 22046

WhyGoSolo Group: Join the WhyGoSolo Social Media Club DC Group and find someone to attend this event and future events with you!

Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=29723725382

Part IV of Social Media’s Role within Global Businesses

The “Socialprise” of tomorrow will have so many conversations coming at it that internal communication departments will need to create new systems to handle the veritable barrage of input. In environments where conversations, suggestions and thoughts are aplenty, a good part of the marketing job becomes determining what input to consider relevant.

Consider co-creation, crowdsourcing, blog conversations, wikis, etc. Which conversations are the right ones to listen to (above image by gari.baldi)?  It’s important to acknowledge and respect every conversation, really this is the customer service element of social media many have discussed. Yet there is a difference between hearing and listening.

As we discussed in part III not all feedback and suggestions can be adapted by a socialized company for a wide variety of reasons. The idea suggested may not be profitable. It could be outside of the company’s core competency. The suggestion could be those of a troll. Or the concept doesn’t reflect the needs of a vast majority of a company’s customer base.

That doesn’t mean the suggestion isn’t valid or that the idea can’t be profitable. But it may not be right for that particular business.  How many suggestions in Starbucks’ crowd-sourcing initiative are actually going to make it to market?

Short Term Remarks vs. Long Term Trends

Measuring and monitoring are critical. To successfully understand the conversation in its many forms, corporations need to effectively mine data.  For larger companies this can include databases of information stored up over extended periods of time. This enables a company to see trends evolve over months, even years.

Many say that feedback through blogs and crowdsourcing initiatives represent the ultimate, unsolicited focus group. But extrapolated overtime data received from customers, employees and other stakeholders can be analyzed in a scientific manner. This becomes true market research.

Learning to take harvested information to effectively gage the marketplace’s needs for competitive advantage is a different skill.  It requires intelligent analysis and understanding that there may be a latent need. On an individual day some feedback may not be recognized as valuable, but taken into a larger context that feedback may be part of a critical trend.

Starbucks customers complaining about large coffee sizes may be disregarded today.  Repeated suggestions seen over months on blogs as well as My Starbucks Ideas may cause the company to actively promote Shorts, in addition to Talls, Grandes, and Ventis. 

Innovation and new product ideas can be garnered from intelligent research based on feedback.  It’s just a question of perceiving the value, and then heeding the conversation.

On Monday, the fifth and final part of this series will examine the end result of conversations, co-creation and crowd-sourcing initiatives. Past episodes of Social Media’s Role within Global Businesses:

• Part I: Beyond the Echo Chamber (Social Networks Impact on Business)
• Part II: The Future: Social Networks Will Fly Like a Led Zeppelin
• Part III: Marketing Departments Become Two-Way

Last week we introduced Qui Diaz as the Director of Strategy for Livingston Communications. We decided to share a little more about this rockstar.

BB: We noticed that you belong to various online social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Which one is your favorite and why?

QD: I used to be skeptical about online social networks and was a total late bloomer. Now they provide an outlet for my fascination with sociological behavior in the workplace.

LinkedIn is becoming more versatile; it’s evident they’re aiming to adapt to user desires. I like that something new is happening every day that isn’t too divergent from the network’s core objective.

But in truth, my heart belongs to Idealist.org. There’s this joke that my blood type is 501(3)(3), and Idealist (and the many other do good social networks) feed that need for hundreds of thousands of people.

BB: As an avid blogger and social media enthusiast, what inspires you to engage?

QD: Smart people and ideas that compel me to action. The promise of change and the boundless catalysts offered in the digital space. The possibility that something I say might help someone else. And not wanting to be left out.

BB: For up and coming communicators, why do you think they should embrace Web 2.0? Any advice?

QD: As with anything, there is a lot of hype and pressure in the online space. Perspective is key. Take what you need and want, share it with others, and know that you’ve acquired transferable and highly marketable qualities necessary for today’s integrated communications world.

BB: One of your charges is integrating digital strategies into larger public relations campaigns. What’s the key to success?

QD: Admitting that both approaches go together! Public relations has always been about relationships. Strategic PR flourishes through endeavors that create and cultivate two-way affiliations and connection points between your target audience and you (your goal). An integrated approach must meet your audience where it’s at, online or off-line.

Anything you plan that doesn’t do this is probably off the mark, excessive, and/or for your own entertainment. Not that there’s anything wrong with having some fun.

BB: What was your favorite communications experience?

QD: One that has to do with discovery and adaptation. While with 360° Digital Influence, I was heavily involved with developing and promoting the Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog with the Department of Health and Human Services. It was a 5-week blog intended to help start the conversation about pandemic preparedness among high-profile national leaders and others.

Talk about a tough message, and when we started, HHS was still very conservative when it came to the online space. Through it all, we found a community of potential advocates and engaged them in a conversation through the blog. HHS has continued to evolve their efforts and identify clever ways to build trust with the online pandemic flu community. And incorporate what they’re learning into their larger strategies on a holistic level. That takes courage, perseverance and time. Every organization and marcomm professional can learn from their experience.

BB: Your least favorite?

QD: Most small-group discussions. I have this ongoing paranoia that everyone in the room thinks I’m a moron. It keeps me humble, and gives me a personal communications obstacle to overcome – everybody has their hurdle.

BB: What’s your biggest hope?

QD: Perhaps it’s because I’m a complete bleeding heart – feel like I’m in training to contribute my all to a great cause. To me, the greatest cause is kicking poverty’s A. The hope is that we’ll all do something to help. Start here.

Spring is finally here. Sports fanatics create their March Madness brackets, spring cleaning gets bumped to the top of the priority list and college students prepare to graduate.

Most of these students –anxious to finally end their college career – are left with one door that leads to the world of employment. As a graduate who was recently hired, a few pre-graduation tips on how to get through that door would have been helpful. This is the first of a series of posts that will offer tips to others who are searching for advice on the transition from college to the infamous entry-level job.

Three tips to think about before graduating:
(Photo Credit: Flickr)

1. Create a profile on a few online job search engines like Careerbuilder, Monster and Craigslist. According to Careerbuilder, out of their 21 million users, 11.4% are within the ages of 18-24. Two million users are already getting their foot in the door just by uploading their resumes.

2. Network Online. Those not on social networks, such as Facebook or LinkedIn, can deem themselves as laggards. Joining these platforms allows people to build relationships with others and enhances networking within an online community of professionals. It’s all about who you know! A recent document from Careerbuilder on the industry trends stated that many employers are starting to screen candidates via the internet:

To ensure they are recruiting the right talent, more employers are leveraging the Internet as a vehicle for screening potential employees. Thirteen percent of employers report they always or usually use online search engines and social networking sites to research job candidates while 33 percent report they do so on occasion. Nearly one-in-five (19 percent) say they are likely to start using or increase their use of these resources to research job candidates in 2008.

3. Read. Whether it’s a book or a blog, reading will help fill your brain with knowledge; and as most know, knowledge is power. Many books and blogs offer tips and insights into the professional world. What better way to hear about the ups and downs of a job hunt than right from the horses’ mouths? Justin Driscoll’s 7 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Graduated provides excellent advice specifically for graduates.

These three tips are no-brainers. The real challenge is to set yourself apart from others by strategically using the resources available. Learn the new applications on LinkedIn. Read company blogs to fill your mind with more information about the person interviewing you. Use that “Google Juice” to research and embrace all that the internet has to offer because once that college door closes, all that’s left is to turn the knob on the next door.

This is an old hat, but it hasn’t been worn in a while (image: twistedtigger).  Apparently it needs to be dusted off.  See many people these days just publish and don’t cross-link. All push, no pull.

So what’s the difference between an email newsletter and one published on a blog platform? Nothing.  Even if the words social or blog are in the effort… Talking at people is the old way. It’s inherently antisocial.

See, without cross-links companies, entities, organizations are not engaging in communities. It’s what Doc Searls called the generous web:

- Morality of self-interest. This gives us “owning”, “domination”, etc. The Old School. Industrial Age shit. Still prevails in many business plans that are just for killing other companies.

- Morality of accounting. We balance everything. “Paying debts”, “owing favors”. This is our system of justice, by the way. It’s all about accounting. (Note the scales of justice symbol.)

- Morality of generosity. We give. We are open. We love without expectation of reward, or even accounting. (In fact, when you bring in accounting, you compromise it.) Think about how we give to our spouses, our children, without strings. It pays off, too. But that’s fundamentally not what it’s about.

And Doc’s right, it does pay off. Virally.  Because we engage in the larger conversation and participate, creating dramatic new venues for engagement with our stakeholders and key influencers (those you link towards).  But if people keep talking without cross-linking outside their company SEVERAL times in each post, they’ll never find that out. They are ungenerous and have bad social karma.

Liveblogging can really augment widely followed conferences, and also support casual uses such as updating sports statistics. How many people sit at work or home constantly refreshing websites to make sure the numbers are accurate for their fantasy leagues or other pools?

Last week, Geoff and I attended the first round of the NCAA tournament here in Washington, D.C. As I watched the men and women sitting on the sidelines with their laptops updating game statistics in a fury, it got me thinking about the old debate of bloggers vs. journalists.

Some political groups have made exceptions for bloggers, welcoming them to events such as town hall meetings, conventions, and even special gatherings just for bloggers. Many corporate conferences also allow bloggers to attend and cover events. Where would we be without liveblogging from large events such as MacWorld and the Consumer Electronics Show?

But, what about sports?

A recent chat with sports writer Michael Wilbon on the Mark Cuban debate brought up the topic:

Washington, D.C.: Mark Cuban has banned a Dallas Morning News blogger from his locker room. Says a blog is a blog is a blog and he doesn’t have space for all the bloggers. Do you agree with this?
How long before Steinberg has to wait outside the Redskins locker room?
Michael Wilbon: I’m not going to rail against bloggers or assess their rights to access. But I’m not going to defend all the bloggers either. I see stuff in blogs that is incomprehensibly stupid and uninformed, and blogs that are well-written and very well done…I need to know more about this situation, who the blogger is, etc. I know Mark Cuban reasonably well…I know how open he is, how accessible he is…He talked to reporters all the time with whom he disagrees…I want to know more about this situation.

It appears that even though Mark Cuban has a very well-read and respected blog, he doesn’t see the need for bloggers to be active in covering live events. He is right in questioning if bloggers should be considered journalists and granted access. Many bloggers don’t have the same background, experience, importance and influence as traditional media, but what about those who do?

Blogger Influence

The truth is, bloggers are important to traditional media.

1. They have the potential to influence traditional media. Even Forbes has changed its tune: “There is no denying the growing importance and influence of blogs within the media landscape,” said Forbes.com President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Spanfeller.
2. Bloggers can start viral messages that call the general public to action.
3. Bloggers can break open stories that traditional media picks up.

Although many Americans have not yet accepted blogs as a significant news source, user-generated content is at a high according to a recent report, State of the News Media, which gives this statistic:

…Sources for stories tended to differ from the mainstream press. Blogs by non-journalists proved to be the most popular source, making up 40% of the stories. Nearly 31% of stories originated on sites such as YouTube and Technorati that also offer citizen-generated content.

So What?

Perhaps the relationship between bloggers, corporations, and media are changing; but for this particular altercation, one step in the right direction would be for sports teams and organizations to invite prominent local bloggers (from publications and personal blogs) and relevant national ones to attend games as members of the press. This will show that the industry recognizes the importance of, and is open to relationships with bloggers.

(Photo Credit: Joe Mason)

From liveblogging events that are important to the general public to influencing traditional media, there is no question that bloggers are changing the game when it comes to reporting and (citizen) journalism. Let’s make sure that when respect is due, we’re giving it.

Greetings from one scattered, multi-media bound Internet user to another!

Since we’re all caught up exploiting various digital tools for personal use - and for our organizations - it might be worthwhile to explore how to manage the toy box. If you’re juggling more than one company-branded, digital property (a blog, a forum, feeds, multimedia assets, social network profiles and so on), then it’s time to drop a little Elfa in the equation.

The benchmark: Dell Community. This site aggregates every available opportunity for engagement and feedback regarding Dell offerings. Checking them off: customer testimonials and reviews, discussion forums, blogs, co-creation points (i.e., IdeaStorm), podcasts, videos, RSS, and Dell’s Information Portal, TechCenter wiki, and Second Life presence. All that housed in one spot, eliminating the need to dig through tedious layers site navigation to find connection points.

All that’s missing is information about how to directly connect with employees online -an undertaking that’s probably more manageable for smaller shops like ours.

Not to suggest that we have our ducks in a row. On this blog alone, a visitor has his/her pick of many options to keep in touch with our team - but half of what we offer isn’t available, and the channels available are strewn across several pages. Did you know that you can follow/friend Larissa, Geoff, Marinel and me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn? You would have if you’d visited the Buzz Bin’s About page. But that still won’t get you to Geoff’s podcast or events we host, like Blog Potomac. We have work to do, too.

Viget Labs got this spot on with their recent website makeover. Staff profiles feature their latest tweets along with links to their latest blog posts and personal blogs - not just links to individual social network accounts.

Viget also nailed multiple blog management. The group offers four distinct blogs, one for each of Viget’s “labs” (strategy, design, development and marketing), all of which are re-capped on a fifth (and founding) company blog - The Four Labs Blog.

Each blog has unique content, bloggers, and aesthetics, and attracts visitors independently of one another. To keep it together, the blogs are integrated through 1) the company blog and 2) each other - in a consistent fashion.

For example, from VigetEngage, the firm’s online marketing blog, you can access a menu of other blogs through icons in the top right corner (see image at left). It’s the same on every blog - graceful flow, great design.

In case you need the case, re-organizing digital properties is smart for several reasons:

• It’s Alive! Getting your assets in one place will force your team to keep fresh content on the table. Stagnant content should be revived or archived.
• It Multiplies! However you index your digital offerings, the catalog of content will make you want more, and ultimately encourage the addition of more corporate and staff assets.
• It’s All In One Place! One-stop shopping is good for journalists, potential clients/partners/employees and others - and that’s good for business.
• It’s Searchilicious! Start syncing your content and watch the machine work it’s Pacman magic. You’ll find that stronger assets will help deliver additional hits to other offerings through increased web traffic, downloads, blog hits and more. The rising tide lifts all boats.

A few cautionary words in closing, inspired by a frank remark by Viget Lab’s newest employee, Ryan Moede (Digital Media Strategist and VigetEngage blogger): don’t waste you’re time arranging and re-arranging the puzzle if you’re going to half-ass it, or if you have weak content. You won’t master the jigsaw without the right pieces in play.

Regulators, mount up.

The more popular you are on Twitter, the more likely you are to get hit with an influx of spam, at least according to Mashable. Hopefully, a CAPTCHA filter is in the works.

A picture says a thousand words.  This one from Paull Young illustrates the question, does your brand have substance or spin?

B.L. Ochman brings up advertising on blogs, and how mainstream media still doesn’t get it. The real secret to a successful blog ad is truly understanding social media and how social networks interact.

If you’re still questioning online advertising, take a look at this case study from SearchRank. SEO efforts beat PPC (AdWords) with a result of cutting external spending by 13% and web traffic increasing up to 60% to 600,000 visits.

John Cass shows us how feedback leads to influence, and companies should take note. It’s not about "pitching" a message, it’s about listening to customers, and acting on that intelligence.

Interested in how videos go viral on the Internet? Check out these tips from Technobabble 2.0.

If you’re more into audio than video, then consider the review of this study from Scott Clark, which shows that Internet radio listeners are two times as likely to be social media users. From an advertiser’s perspective, this means that social media participants, often the sneezers in social media, are listening online.

Part III of Social Media’s Role within Global Businesses

As socialized feedback becomes increasing prevalent across a wide variety of business functions, enterprises will need to better absorb external information. This new listening “socialprise” (a term coined by Sarah Perez last week) will change from an outbound marketing communications machine to an organism interacting with a larger community of stakeholders.

In turn, the marketing department will also have to incorporate feedback. Consider the above chart, which demonstrates the usual business activity of executives determining strategy, followed by an outbound marketing push.  Hopefully, the CxOs determine product direction based on research.

In the social enabled environment, a majority of marketing department activities can and will receive direct impact from its customers.  As a result, the structure of communications will change.  Not only will marketing communicate outwardly, but ideally it will also serve as an ombudsman reflecting stakeholders’ input.

Here’s another chart that demonstrates this two-way feedback with various marketing functions (please forgive my photoshop skills):

Notice that almost all of the marketing functions have two-way feedback.  Even advertising and direct marketing can inspire conversation within a larger stakeholder community.  This feedback should be received through other vehicles, such as a social media monitoring program.

Just a disclaimer: Some may place different tools under the control of another function like PR or product marketing.  This is particularly true in the case of social media, which is often fought over by different departments within marketing, in large part because it combines aspects of many disciplines.

Used in the right way, external feedback can affect the very core of a business’s strategy.  Consider Dell’s change in customer service, or it’s decision to offer Linux services. How about Southwest’s decision to postpone assigned seating? The trend is spreading, too.  Sarah Perez’s already referenced post discusses several new tools that companies can use to harvest customer conversations.

More importantly this movement opens Pandora’s box…  Which conversations are the right ones to listen to?  Not all feedback and suggestions can be adapted by the company for a wide variety of reasons. How can a company harvest those conversations to effectively gage the marketplace before its too late?  In some cases, feedback may not be recognized as valuable, but taken into a larger context that feedback may be part of a critical trend.

On Friday, Part IV will further examine the listening conundrum that socially catalyzed enterprises face.  Past episodes of Social Media’s Role within Global Businesses:

• Part I: Beyond the Echo Chamber (Social Networks Impact on Business)
• Part II: The Future: Social Networks Will Fly Like a Led Zeppelin