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This past week, I attended the 2-day Social Media World Forum Europe conference. It was absolutely impossible to attend every relevant and interesting session across the two days. Try as I might, I missed some of the highlights from the conference but captured some great sound bites on Social Business strategy and community management from the Social Business and Social Media Marketing tracks on Day 2. Tweeting from my own account (@jacqui_flemimg) and @TweetLevel, here are my “notes” from Olympia from day 2.
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Before we get into the day’s session, I have to share the #BuzzBear from Meltwater. How cute?! He is now hanging out with an Intel space man on my desk… riding a camel.
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“Just had a lovely chat with @DanPurvis from @mBuzzUK at #SMWF and he’s handed me a #BuzzBear… how cute!
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I spent much of day 2 in the Social Business track. This isn’t particularly relevant to my work with @TweetLevel, but is more of a personal interest of mine (and the topic of my husband’s Masters’ dissertation). I took A LOT of notes on Wednesday, so here are just some of the highlights.
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“‘Creating a social business’ panel at #SMWF #SocialBiz talking about the journey from social media strategy to social biz strategy. Yes!
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There’s me on the left at the ‘Creating a social business’ panel with Kyle Thorne (Social Media Relationships Manager, Virgin Atlantic), Peter Parkes (Head of Social Media, EMEA, Expedia), Karina Buch (COO, Crowdengineering), Pieter van Nuenen (Director of Corporate Communications, NXP Semiconductors) and
Ben Padley (Global Digital Engagement Director, Barclaycard). -
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“#SMWF #SocialBiz @BenPadley ‘s biggest piece of advice “Get everyone much closer to it” with content creation and executive buy-in.
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“Rules of engagement for #socialbiz? No – empowering employees needs training and coaching, not command and control “rules”. #smwf
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“Great sound bites coming out of #SMWF Day 2. I’m at the #SocialBiz track today, follow #SMWF for snippets on brand measurement & mobile.
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“Biggest mistakes in #SocialBiz? “Endless debate in social ownership” says Kyle Thorne @VirginAtlantic >> Completely agree.
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“#SMWF @peterparkes, It’s easy to think #SocialBiz is about Policy (HR), Process (Mkting/ PR) and Platforms (Geeks)… Don’t forget PEOPLE.
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“Asked #SocialBiz panel about social support. @VirginAtlantic aims to make it part of cust experience, @BenPadley humanising responses #smwf
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I think it is important to note here that I’ve omitted some notes I took in relation to Kyle’s answer about social support at Virgin Atlantic. Kyle and I continued the conversation after the session and I don’t think he meant what he said about “queue jumping” to come across quite as it did.
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“Couple of great questions about how to engage with C-suite #digitalmuppets. @BenPadley brought teens in for reverse mentoring. #smwf
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I’ve heard that Edelman (my employer) has done reverse mentoring as well – what a great idea!
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“Next #SocialBiz panel, internal communications & employee engagement. @j_flem would love this! (I’ll take notes for you) #smwf
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(@j-flem: Here are the notes)
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“I have yet to hear anyone at #smwf #SocialBiz mention ‘empowering’ employees. It’s not all just about education and support. Not top-down.
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“Education, support, process. These are all words reflecting command and control biz culture, #SocialBiz is about letting go, I think. #smwf
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Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business is a great book by Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler that I would urge anyone interested in Social Business to read.
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“I think this is what @andreasmav1 from Aviva is trying to say… #SocialBiz is a learning exercise & sharing internally is important. #smwf
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“Aviva’s @adreasmav1 talking up importance of conversational tone/ style in comms, driven internally by younger employees #SocialBiz #smwf
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“Panel agreeing that #SocialBiz internal collaboration is not ‘Facebook for the enterprise.’ When have you uploaded a doc to Facebook? #smwf
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“#SMWF @abarendrecht @ApacheCorp does not do ROI analysis on their social investments because #socbiz just makes sense [to mgt/the org] #sm
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Now I must admit that I almost didn’t stay for enterprise social media case study presented by Jennifer Dixon (Head of Internal Communication) and Nick Crawford (Social Media Strategist) at BUPA, and that would have been a huge mistake! What a great and inspirational case study. One of the most important points I took away from this session; by slowly engaging top executives in internal social media, BUPA were able to earn buy-in for their external social media strategies and influence cultural change within the business.I am not sure Nick Crawford meant to say this in so many words — and it does contradict the core message of Jenny’s presentation — but this is too funny not to share:
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“BUPA’s @nick_crawford presenting a #SocialBiz case study: “This is coming from the CEO, so you might not want to get in our way”. #smwf LOL
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BUPA Live is the internal social network/ collaboration tool BUPA brought in to replace their ageing Intranet. Here are some sound bites from @Jennidixon on the project:
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““I sent [MD] to go talk to his kids about Facebook” – BUPA’s @jennydixon on getting her MD comfortable with blogging #SocialBiz #smwf
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“Internal communication tools/ strategies help execs appreciate how external social strategies work/ meet biz needs. #SocialBiz #smwf
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How did you get BUPA’s top execs comfortable with writing a blog for the first time?
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“Coaching, not rewriting and not ghost writing. Write as you speak or video blog. @jennidixon ‘s tips for how to get execs onboard. #smwf
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“How did BUPA choose @jivesoftware? Long list of requirements, outcomes, Gartner/ Forrester research and a 6-month pilot. #SocialBiz #smwf
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“Employees who use internal social network are demonstrably more productive and satisfied with work, says Bupa. #SMWF
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“How to justify budget for internal network tool? Link it to business outcomes. @jennidixon gave 30 execs back time, ROI. #SocialBiz #smwf
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So the next panel session was not my favourite, sorry. Nick Stringer (Director of Regulatory Affairs, IAB UK), Andrew Gerrad (Head of Social Business,Like Minds), James Firth (CEO, Open Digital Policy Org), Guy Stephens (Strategy Consultant, Capgemini & Chair of the Social Media Governance Forum) debated social media governance. The panel was supposed to address the importance of governance in developing a successful strategy for social media, however they talked more about governance and less about actual strategy. Here are a couple of sound bites:
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“How do you prevent yourself from over governing/ under governing? Great Qu to #SocialBiz #smwf panel. Important to get the balance right.
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““If you get the philosophy right the plumbing will follow.” Great quote from #SocialBiz #smwf audience. Bit oversimplified, but good idea!!
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“Who owns the Twitter account? The company or the person? We need more than 10 minutes to debate this! #SocialBiz #smwf Depends on brand?
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“@JimAnning Like it. Most companies are struggling with the philosophy and over complicating it. Sometimes you just have to get stuck in.
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Next, I attended a fabulous afternoon keynote on the ‘Socialisation of Business’ by Joshua Graff (Marekting Solutions Director EMEA, LinkedIn). Disclaimer: LinkedIn is a client.
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“#SocialBiz requires business culture that is open to feedback and open to customers… Social media is not about control. @joshgraff #smwf
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“. @joshgraff @LinkedInUK now showing a video case study about how HP PSG uses the platform. (Client, DM for case study!) #SocialBiz #smwf
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Here is the case study video shown during the keynote:
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““You don’t want your Saturday night to meet your Monday morning, it can get messy.” @JoshGraff on why context matters. #SocialBiz #smwf
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I’m going to stop there with notes on the Social Business track. It was a great track with some pretty good speakers and a packed audience. The best thing about the Social Business track, no doubt:
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“Best thing about the Social Business track has definitely been the Chair. Bit of a Clive Anderson with hair. #Smwf
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Finally, I’d like to leave you with some of my favourite sound bites and insights from day 2 – these are from Social Media marketing and Social Biz tracks:
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““Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” #SocialBiz #smwf Worth tweeting @thomaspower but what’s for lunch? Platform tech, metrics, people?
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“Pinterest works great in a B2B channel, you have to be creative and think about the medium before creating content #buttloadoftraffic #smwf
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“Reach out to your audience, don’t expect them to come // #SMWF Strategies on developing online communities
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““It’s not about klout. It’s about their social capital. It’s about their social influence.” #socialcrm @SocialMediaWF #SMWF
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“Blogs/ posts that don’t “go up at the end” don’t get engagement — no call to action! Great point from the #SMWF panel moderator.
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““Don’t be afraid of being niche. If you have scientists, let them be scientists.. don’t try to be 2 things at once.” @nickreynoldsatw #SMWF
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“@ScottMonty says: consumers trust less, peer recommendation key when we buy big-ticket items. Interesting pres by #Ford. #SMWF
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“LEGO at #SMWF: “Time to penis” is how long it takes before somebody comes up with something obscene with new LEGOs.
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That’s all folks!
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April 5, 2012
April 5, 2012
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This past week, I attended the 2-day Social Media World Forum Europe conference. It was absolutely impossible to attend every relevant and interesting session across the two days. Try as I might, I missed some of the highlights from the conference but captured some great sound bites on influence and measurement from the Social Media Marketing track on Day 1 and the Social Business track on Day 2. Tweeting from my own account (@jacqui_flemimg) and @TweetLevel, here are my “notes” from Olympia from Day 1.
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Chris Brogan, of Human Business Works, kicked-off Day 1 and I must admit I was a little gutted I missed this as it turns out he is regarded as a social media rock star who says stuff like this:
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The first session I attended was a panel discussion on the evolution of conversation. The panel lacked a solid narrative, but I was impressed with Benjamin Ellis (blogger/author), Delphine Remy-Boutang (WW Social Media Director, IBM Software Group) and Kerry Bridge (Social Media Manager, Global MB , Dell) and their insights on conversation and social media strategy.
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“Listening to @DelphineRB and @KerryatDell on ‘the evolution of the conversation’ panel at #smwf currently on the role of internal training
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“.@DelphineRB: A tweet only last 8 seconds. We have to convert that conversation into a transaction’ for sticky marketing.
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“An old saying, but still very true: “Think global but act locally.” @DelphineRB on global strategies, and use best practice #smwf
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“Social media is becoming “less about platforms, more about how companies adapt internally” and organisesays, @benjaminellis #smwf
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Benjamin brought up a very good point here — social media isn’t just about platforms and “engagement” but rather how a business adapts to the era of the social customer. This supports the idea that most brands are looking at social media and influence backwards, replying on scores and fan numbers rather than business goals and objectives. More on that later.
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“Qu. to the panel, will visual content change anything? Simplicity, agility, stay true to tone of voice, curation… #smwf
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The raging popularity of visual content is really no different when it comes to strategies for bringing relevant content to communities. This point was emphasised by Delphine who felt that it was most important for brands to say true to their established tone of voice through visual elements.Instagram, Pintrest… What does the panel think will be the killer technology for 2012 for social media marketing? A lacklustre question, but it yielded perhaps the best quote and tip of the two days:
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““Who has studied storytelling…?! The killer tech for 2012 is storytelling” @benjaminellis #smwf Find the story >> best tip yet today
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Second panel of the day now on Social media engagement measurement and metrics with Allister Frost (Head of Digital Marketing Strategy, Microsoft), Reggie Bradford (CEO, Vitrue), Jonathan Bean (COO, Mynewsdesk) and Patrick Salyer (CEO, Gigya); there were just a few too many vendors on this panel for my taste. The panel skirted around the role of business objectives in social media measurement, perhaps due to the fact that the vendors wanted to talk about real-time analytics and data science?
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“Social media engagement measurement and metrics panel now at #smwf; what are the killer metrics? KPI – how about business objectives?
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“CMO dashboard is becoming more important for the industry… Err, not just CMO function, #socialbiz is everyone’s responsibility, no? #smwf
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““What do you do with that data and how do you execute against that?” very relevant point at #smwf by measurement panel
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“Human beings want to engage with other human beings… real engagement is about listening & responding no matter the channel. #smwf
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Fair enough, but how do you measure “real engagement” and what do you measure? How do you engage with “hyper social customers” and translate this into sales/ ROI?
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““Not sure I buy into hyper social customers” driving sharing says @AllisterF, it’s about the useful value exchange, if not we reject #smwf
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“Measurement and metrics #smwf panel talking about SEO, search, ROI and optimised websites. Still no mention of business objective metrics.
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“‘Behavioural modelling with real rigger and science is the future’ of social media ROI, says @AllisterF #smwf
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“Is engagement is the thing we should be measuring? Should we be looking at biz objectives to drive metrics? Great ?@vikkichowney #smwf
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Finally, eConsultancy’s Vikki Chowney asked the killer question! Business objectives are as unique as your business and should drive metrics and KPIs, said Allister, however we still need to look at engagement metrics, though he agreed we need to move beyond this. Some wise advice:
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“From @AllisterF “As unique as your business. We should be measuring engagement metrics… but we need to move beyond this.” #smwf
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“.@AllisterF urges us to ‘step away from the screens and use this data in a way that will make our business stronger.’ #smwf #smmeasure
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“. @allisterf says DO measure engagement, it’s easy, but real value is when you get business people to apply econometric data modelling #smwf
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Given that we are in an age where every company is a media company, I find it interesting that #SMWF Europe invited a publishing company to present a case study on measurement, but I can’t fault Cathy’s presentation. She was perhaps one of the best speakers of the two days.
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“Next up in the engagement and measurement session, a case study from @cathyma from IPC Media #smwf
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Here is a link to Cathy’s slides:
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“@cathyma #SMWF Social strategy and measuring success presentation slides dl.dropbox.com/u/67488/IPC…
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“The holy grail of social media success… how does your business make money? Business objectives, user needs, tech drives everything. #smwf
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Yes! Now we are getting somewhere. Start at the beginning – what do you want to achieve?
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“Three core metrics from @CathyMa, acquisition, retention and monetisation. Very basic, but core before you begin the tracking journey #smwf
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“#SMWF love it, keep in mind: ” Not everything that can be counted counts, & not everything that counts can be counted” Einstein #socialmedia
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“IPC connect social brand experiences with their print publications (product). #smwf
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“Final points from @CathyMa, IPC; getting the right people is a starting point. Tools like #TweetLevel help w/ metrics
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This is a VERY important point from Cathy and a cheeky plug from me. Altimeter’s recent report on The Rise of Digital Influence dives into this further. I strongly recommend ; -)
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After a networking break (read: quick snooze in one of the event’s FatBoy beanbag chairs) Twitter’s
Bruce Daisley (UK Sales Director) took to the stage for the afternoon keynote. I believe it’s fair to say that we were all expecting something a little different from the keynote. -
“#SMWF Afternoon keynote now from @brucedaisley, UK sales director at Twitter.
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The view from the back of the room…
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““When we talk about Twitter at Twitter, we talk about it as an information network, not a social network.” @brucedaisley #smwf
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(This comment sparked an uproar on Twitter.)
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“.@brucedaisley Hashtags are the new URL, the glue holding the community and information together. #smwf
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“People are interested in some sort of reciprocation online. @brucedaisley #smwf If you can’t give something free, offer something of value.
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“Twitter’s @brucedaisley showing paid for and earned media via Twitter and ROI. Twitter is just one channel, not used in isolation?! #smwf
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I mentioned earlier that the audience seemed to expect something a little different from Bruce Daisley. Speaking with those sitting around me (and on Twitter) there was a palatable sense his keynote was bit too “salesy” and that he was preaching to the choir.
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The final session in ‘Engagement and Measurement’ included Lee Griffin (Commercial Director, TBG Digital), Dr Simone Kurtzke (Social Media Manager, Visitscotland), Henry Juszkiewicz (Chairman and CEO, Gibson Guitar Corporation) and Azeem Azhar (CEO, Peer Index) talking about monitoring and measurement. It would be impossible to sum up this panel discussion… it was very odd. The two practitioners, Henry and Simone, appeared to agree that it is impossible to pay attention to all social media data, but you do the best you can. Lee and Azeem meanwhile had their own agenda.
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“Monitoring and measurement panel now discussing the value of data and insights to inform strategy and spend #smwf
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““Not all data is equal, you can ignore some stuff… It’s important to evaluate qualitative data” and insight. @socialscotland #smwf
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“Gibson Guitar’s @heneryej explains that data is bad and confusing, screen out data and get to the meat of things, that one idea! #smwf
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“Crunching data in a sensible way is about looking for the signal in the noise says Lee Griffin, TBG Digital (via the data geek) #smwf
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So I think we’ll leave it there for day 1. To be continued… (on day 2, that is).
March 13, 2012
Agency’s Hotspot Campaign Under Fire at SXSW
Posted by thenakedpheasant under Brand, Business, Consumer, Data, Digital, Entertainment, Influence, Media, Technology, TweetLevel, Twitter | Tags: BBH, Habitat for Humanity, Homeless Hotspot, social, SXSW, TweetLevel, Wi-Fi |Leave a Comment
One of the most talked about pieces of news to come out of this year’s SXSW was not shiny new tech but the “Homeless Hotspot” campaign by BBH Labs, the innovation unit of the international marketing agency BBH. According to Jenna Wortham writing for The New York Times, BBH outfitted 13 ‘volunteers’ from a homeless shelter with Wi-Fi hotspot devices and T-shirts bearing their names: “I’m Clarence, a 4G Hotspot.” They were reportedly paid $20/ day (£13) to go to the most densely packed areas of the conference and were allowed to keep whatever customers donated in exchange for the wireless service. What BBH dubbed a “charitable experiment” has undeniably backfired with industry pundits and media calling the campaign “exploitive” and “tasteless.” Wired magazine even described “Homeless Hotspots” as something which sounds like it is out of a “darkly satirical science-fiction dystopia.” But is it really all that bad?
BBH has defended its thinking framing the initiative as an attempt to “modernise the Street Newspaper (similar to the UK’s Big Issue) model employed to support the homeless populations”. This has only triggered further criticism. In the past 24 hours, an official response from BBH has been released: “Obviously, there’s an insane amount of chatter about this, which although certainly villainizes us, in many ways is very good for the homeless people we’re trying to help: homelessness is actually a subject being discussed at SXSW and these people are no longer invisible… we wanted to share a few key facts: We are not selling anything. There is no brand involved. There is no commercial benefit whatsoever.” You can read the full comment on BBH’s Homeless Hotspots website.
The campaign for SXSW has failed so spectacularly and so publically. Using Edelman’s TweetLevel tool to evaluate Twitter buzz over the past couple of days, the campaign’s hashtag "#HomelessHotspot" was itself virtually invisible until hybrid media picked up on story on Monday (12/02/2012). The most shared links for the topic, again from TweetLevel, reflect the fierce criticism and debate this campaign has triggered in social and hybrid media since the close of SXSW (interesting to note here that articles by traditional media (BBC, Telegraph, The New York Times) are not fuelling the debate but are only reporting on it.
So why has this initiative failed so spectacularly and so publically? It’s mostly a matter of perception. Countless social programmes promote jobs for the homeless and encourage (and/ or require) the benefactors to participate rather than give hand-outs; the Street Newspaper/ The Big Issue and Habitat for Humanity, for example. But this wasn’t a social programme, let’s be frank here, this was a PR campaign by a marketing agency and the agency failed on one of the most critical principles of any digital marketing campaign; context. As a result, the campaign left users and pundits feeling uncomfortable and with a negative perception of the BBH brand.
The objectives of this campaign were mostly sound and pretty good – connect the visiting SXSW technology community with the local Austin community by highlighting the social problem of an ‘invisible’ homeless population – but the context, and some of the content, was all wrong. BBH lacked a fundamental link connecting the plight of Austin’s homeless with the core audience and objective for the marketing agency. Instead if feeling like they’ve done something for good, users said they felt awkward about the whole thing. That’s not good at all.
You may argue that this was a CSR or even a local community support initiative (BBH does) however contextually BBH – a UK-based agency – did not have a building block of sustained social credibility local market/ community to support such a campaign. We all know that context is king. BBH failed to question; what kind of marketing message are conference goers receptive to in this context? And, is the platform (in this case the homeless participants) contextually relevant to our business and our customers. If this campaign initiative was run by a local charitable organization or local city of Austin chamber of commerce type organization, it’s quite possible we’d be talking about an ingenious campaign designed to promote the local community with the technology elite who descend on Austin once a year. But why an agency? What is the connection?
Surly, as a marketing agency BBH should have known better? Question what you will about the motivations for the campaign, the truth of the matter is that contextually, the language of the campaign was all wrong as well. The mechanics of the campaign gave observers an impression that the initiative lacked purpose and therefore the language used fell flat and communicated exploitation of the homeless participants instead of municipal support. Speaking about the criticism detailed in media reports, journalist and freelance writer Mic Wright said, “It was all in the language. [The homeless participants] WERE the hotspots.”
Behind the scenes and once you visit the BBH website, you might feel otherwise, but as digital marketers we know that the first 5 seconds is what counts. Saneel Radia, the director of innovation at BBH Labs who oversaw the project, told one reporter that the company was not taking advantage of the homeless volunteers. He said, “We saw it as a means to raise awareness by giving homeless people a way to engage with mainstream society and talk to people,” he said. “The hot spot is a way for them to tell their story.” But giving a homeless man a t-shirt that effectively says “I am a homeless hotspot” – where is the tact in that?
If BBH had employed events staff to wander around the show broadcasting wireless hotspots, we would have had no problem with this. It is that fact that they felt the need to make a point with employing the homeless and made it so visible that impacted reception of the campaign. Within the context of SXSW, this simply didn’t gel and the experience left users and pundits feeling uncomfortable. Better, BBH should have employed local community members and activists/ influencers with a message to SXSW attendees to get to know local Austin, the good and the bad. In fact, we’ve used TweetLevel to find a simple list of influencers in the Austin, TX area talking about the homeless. In terms of delivery, a cleanly designed app would have neatly connected SXSW conference goers with stories about their adopted home for the long-weekend. In the right context, with some killer content, this could have been a powerful campaign.
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March 8, 2012
Privacy & Security: The New Drivers of Brand, Reputation and Action
Posted by thenakedpheasant under Brand, Business, Consumer, Content, Data, Engagement, Enterprise, Enterprise IT, Influence, Social media, Technology | Tags: computers, Data, Google, Privacy&Security: The New Drivers of Brand, Reputation and Action, Security, Sony, Stanford University, tablets, threat |Leave a Comment
Corporate data breaches and security incidents pose a growing threat to businesses around the world. Such events are increasingly common, with companies and organizations from Google to Sony to the Stanford University Hospital falling prey to data breaches, news of which was subsequently splashed across national headlines.
Incidents like these, combined with the increasing number of ways to track what people are doing online, are affecting consumer attitudes. Edelman’s new global study, Privacy & Security: The New Drivers of Brand, Reputation and Action Global Insights 2012, reveals that seven in ten people globally are more concerned about data security and privacy than they were five years ago, and a full 68% believe that consumers have lost control over how online personal information is shared and used by companies.
Businesses, however, are not doing enough to meet these concerns. A majority of people (57%) report either no change or a decline in the security of their personal information in the last five years. This is problematic, because consumers think that businesses should be grappling with these issues and that it is their responsibility to do so. The vast majority (85%) say businesses must take data security and privacy more seriously, and a plurality say businesses – as opposed to governments or individuals – are responsible for protecting the security of their personal information.
Edelman’s study also indicates that data security and privacy issues have the potential to affect a businesses’ bottom line. Customers are taking data security and privacy into account at the checkout counter; surprisingly, when it comes to smartphones, personal computers and tablet computers, data security and privacy are as important to them as a product’s design, style and size.
Businesses are also suffering from a trust deficit due to peoples’ concerns about data security and privacy, particularly in the financial and retail sectors. While 92% of people say security is important to them in when doing business with the financial sectors, just 69% trust the industry to protect their personal information – trust lags by 23 points. In online retail, the gap is even more dramatic. While security is important to 84% of those doing business with online retailers, just 33% trust them to protect personal information – a 51 point gap.
To earn people’s trust in their ability to protect data security and privacy, businesses must manage these issues like a core competency, engaging with them in a meaningful way on a daily basis. Businesses that ignore data security and privacy do so at their own peril, because consumers will abandon companies they do not trust to protect their personal information. Those that prove willing and able to manage data security and privacy effectively, however, will bring unexpected value to consumers around the world by demonstrating that they understand the importance of protecting the information people hold most valuable.
Read the full study here. We’re keen to hear your thoughts…
March 7, 2012
Back to the drawing board with social media
Posted by thenakedpheasant under Brand, Business, Consumer, Content, DERT, Digital, Engagement, Entertainment, facebook, Influence, Social media, Technology, Trust, Twitter, Women | Tags: Adele, Brands, Dell, discounts, facebook, KLM, Mortons, Social media, The Grammys, Twitter, Unisys |Leave a Comment
In today’s social media driven world it seems like all companies are using social media and are trying to be the experts in the field. But as we all know creating a Facebook page or Twitter handle and frequently shouting about your brand is not likely to make you an expert in social media.
This post comes as a result of the Twitter storm that was sparked around Adele the night of the Grammys. This suggests that personalities work better than brands with online conversations often backfiring on brands and advertising often taking over true conversations. Instead, it is about being able to create content which users can discuss, share and recommend while also supporting customer service and experience.
There is no doubt that brands must embrace social media. The fast-changing landscape means that many companies remain confused about exactly why they are on social media sites – beyond the usual talk about building a fan base there are many ways that brands can interact with customers using social media including handling customer complaints, offering discounts and listening to online conversations.
There are only a small number of brands that are using social media to really connect and interact with customers. For example Dell, has a social media ‘listening command centre’ that identifies customer service issues along with brand evangelists. KLM also is using social media to improve customer service and gleam customer insights. They have a unique 24hr customer service platform on Facebook and Twitter, employees held up large poster with individual letters and created a living alphabet that was videoed and sent to customers to spell out customer questions. Unisys also has a social knowledge sharing platform for employees to network and share information.
Another great example of a brand excelling in their use of social media is American Steak house ‘Morton’s’, who identified that a social media guru tweeted about craving a @Mortons steak after a long flight. Morton Steak House acted quickly and used this as a media opportunity organising a number of employees to greet the influencer with a juicy steak at the arrivals gate. This highlights the importance of noticing a PR opportunity and acting fast.
Looking at these brands examples gives useful insights into why these companies are succeeding in social media.The small handful that really are using social media successfully are listening and communicating with their customers by two way communication that is not overly brand biased. Improving customer service is a key theme flowing through the above examples; customers who feel like they are listened too and understood are likely to be more loyal to the brand. Successful brands are talking to customers about what they actually care about.
Brands who demonstrate understanding, creativity and innovative thinking which moves them out of their comfort zones seems to be winning ingredient.
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March 6, 2012
Big data: Are we following in the footsteps of an ancient civilisation?
Posted by thenakedpheasant under Analyst relations, Brand, Business, Cloud, Content, Data, Engagement, Enterprise IT, Influence, Technology | Tags: ancient, big data cloud, CERN, Data, IDC, macro-social, Mayans, McKinsey Group |Leave a Comment
The ancient Mayans are often accredited for their ability to investigate celestial objects in the night sky with primitive tools. Archaeologists have found tablets, which provide evidence of their ability to accurately predict positions of objects, lunar and solar eclipses, often many years ahead.
However much of what the ancient Mayans were practicing bear remarkable similarities to what we now refer to as ‘big data analysis’.
In 2008, the McKinsey Group described the trend towards big data – the technology and practice of handling unconventionally large datasets which, after years of experimentation, has recently seen rising prominence.
One of the earliest adopters of big data analysis is that of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, CERN. As a matter of fact, the internet was invented as a method to collaborate and handle the vast amounts of data generated at the facility. Yet what started off as technology for scientific investigations, big data analysis soon quickly found itself in areas such as finance and banking.
Today’s organisations are beginning to recognise that by analysing petabyte upon petabyte of data, meaningful insights and predictions can be accurately made. Yet over 1,700 years ago, Mayans were already analysing data from the observable universe – an unstructured database with 93 billion years’ worth of data.
The Mayan’s obsession of analysing astronomical ‘data’ was not centred around scientific investigation, but more on predictions and justifying rituals. The decision to engage in military conflict was based almost entirely on the movements of Venus and Jupiter.
Interestingly, the modern day practice of analysing big data suggest that we could be following similar movement.
Today big data analysis is being used to help justify macro-social and economic decisions – from investments, economic policy to crime directives and healthcare provision.
Earlier this year, analyst firm IDC even reported that the US Army has implemented a big data cloud program to collect data from unmanned aerial vehicles, to gather intelligence information in near-real time and relay it back to its troops stationed in Afghanistan.
The life of the ancient Mayans revolved around their religion, which they supported through their obsession with astronomical data. This influenced their culture, their every decision and provided what they believed were predictions for the future.
Are we creating a technology-led religion of our own through our obsession with big data and what legacy will we be remembered for when future archaeologists discover our civilisation?
March 2, 2012
Compare the Cloudstore.com
Posted by thenakedpheasant under Brand, Business, Cloud, Content, Data, Digital, Enterprise, Technology | Tags: Amazon, Apple, Cloud computing, Cloudstore, Government, meerkat, procurement, SME, Software |Leave a Comment
The UK Govt could be kick-starting a revolution. Its motives are sincere, but has it laid down clear enough ground rules?
I’m not sure why but the arrival of the Government’s Cloudstore, a new portal for public sector bodies to procure software, got me thinking about the “Comparethemeerkats” campaign. Bear with me…
Even if you are suffering ‘meerkat fatigue’ I don’t think many would argue this campaign has made a dull subject (price comparison websites) somewhat entertaining.
And without wishing to offend those who spend their lives processing public sector tenders I wonder whether there is something to be learnt from this approach. Many people would agree that the mere mention of ‘Government Procurement’ would be a powerful sedative. I’m not sure what the Cloudstore equivalent of meerkats would be, but surely greater emphasis should be placed on properly promoting the service so that both buyers and the SMEs who are meant to benefit from access to Government procurement maximise the opportunity?
While the tone is generally positive there are outstanding questions. Mark Say’s article in the Guardian worryingly saw an admission from Phil Pavitt, CIO at HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC): “How big departments are going to use it (Cloudstore) has not been fully thought through…"
At the very least the Cloudstore signals an intention from Government to act upon long harboured aspirations to move away from expensive, long-term IT contracts and enable more UK small businesses to overcome the bureaucratic nightmare that is Government procurement.
As Stuart Lauchlan suggested this could be a quiet revolution. Yes many of the well-known vendors have made it onto the list, but the message is fairly clear. Be prepared to deliver short-term contracts and strip away the complex implementation costs or we have alternatives. It could be argued that the mere suggestion of alternative is enough to focus minds and deliver greater efficiencies for the public sector (and us taxpayers).
Perhaps when we look back on it we’ll see this decision as one of those moments when Government intervention sparked a truly revolutionary moment.
Question marks
However, the Government’s approach does leave a few questions unanswered. Stuart pointed to learnings from the US’ project on Cloud Computing, which shows there is a lot more to consider than simply listing an application or service on a portal. Likewise Clive Longbottom welcomes Cloudstore, but recognises that the public sector has to embrace it if it is to be successful.
From my perspective the key questions are:
Buyer/end user education and empowerment:
Using a service from Cloudstore will never be quite as simple as Amazon or the Apple iStore, but it will be consigned to history as another Government-backed dodo without significant investment in buyer education. If we look at SaaS adoption it has often seen end users circumventing frustrating IT policies to use the software they want. While I’m sure central and local Government departments will have checks in place to prevent a ‘free-for-all’ Cloud Computing should empower users and buyers to make choices. But how do they choose between the solutions on offer? What considerations should affect their decision?
Integration:
Of the 250 vendors already registered on the Cloudstore 50% are supposed to be small businesses often providing just a point solution or at best a suite of similar products. In the main they will be built on one platform, such as Solidsoft on the Microsoft Azure platform. They do not have the resources to integrate their offerings with those of all the major vendors. That is a problem, because central and local Government have invested heavily in IT and cannot afford to discard these legacy systems. So how does the Cloudstore administration ensure smaller vendors can integrate as effectively with existing solutions to ensure the playing field is truly level?
Marketing:
In any industry if a buyer has to choose between a known entity and an unknown one it is no surprise they usually go for the safe option. With Cloudstore there has already been some debate about how the vendors present their offerings, because it is clearly not uniform. That makes marketing these solutions hard and obviously it is going to be harder for the smaller vendors to compete against recognised brands. With culture of risk-aversion heightened by all the high profile IT failures how is Cloudstore going to help to promote the ‘Davids’ to ensure the Whitehall politicos don’t just pick the ‘Goliaths’ they know?
I do believe the Cloudstore can deliver significant value, but as Michael Krigsman has said many times successful IT implementations are a combination of the software working, the implementation sticking to a mutually agreed schedule using the right resources and the customer understanding exactly what goals they want to achieve through the adoption of IT.
While the Cloudstore could be the start of something the spectre of the ‘IT Devil’s Triangle’ still looms large and these fundamental issues have to be addressed for it to a long-term success
February 29, 2012
#smwldn–mapping analysis of social media week London
Posted by Jonny Bentwood under Digital, Influence, Social media, TweetLevel, Twitter | Tags: Edelman, Influence, influentials, social media week |Leave a Comment
Social media week in London provided an excellent opportunity to analyse influence. Too often when there is a breaking story, I whish I could have turned back the clocks by a few days to see how the story originated and spread whilst focussing on who the key people were in the conversation and what they did to help propagate it.
This blog post will illustrate several key concepts that are unique to TweetLevel and Edelman.
- Conversation map analysis shouldn’t be conducted post event but through real time metrics allowing you to understand what time of engagement behaviour an influential person has. After all what’s the point of a static map when conversations aren’t the end result but a flow of information over time.
- The key players in a conversation are not just the most popular but those who start the ideas, spread and curate them. We call these people the new influentials.
- Timing is critical. This isn’t just about what time of the day they tweet, but when they take part in the conversation. For example many of the idea starters initiated the dialogue a few weeks before #smldn even started. As a marketer if I could know who these people were in advance, then it would have been the perfect opportunity to engage with them.
Dynamic conversation map
Red dots: idea starters, Yellow dots: curators, Blue and Green dots: Commentators. Some idea starters are also amplifiers (as shown by the size of the bubble) Source: University of Southampton–Web Science Team (Ramine Tinati) in collaboration with Jonny Bentwood at Edelman
What we can learn from this..
- Idea starters engage early in the conversation (often weeks before the event)
- A good three weeks prior to the event starting the people who would eventually be the thought leaders in social media week has initiated the conversations around the topics they were going to be pushing. Not surprisingly they were doing their own marketing.
- From an objective point of view, they hadn’t managed to engage a large number of other people into this dialogue as they were instead waiting until the event started.
- As a marketer I would if I was aiming to influence people, I would look to see who is engaging early and seek to interact then – if we wait till later then the conversation is too saturated to be heard.
Time jump conversation map
The following slide show takes you from 29 Jan where just a few people were discussing the event to a screen shot every few days up till the end of 17 Feb.
What I believe this shows you is that some of the key people in conversations are not the those who normally jump out. Namely, the person who creates the ideas or the person who has the huge audience that helps spread them. It is in fact the “yellow dots” in the above images. These influentials are curators – those who are niche experts and connected to idea starters and amplifiers. This group helps to link and grow conversations even though most tools in the market would ignore them {this is why TweetLevel puts a high focus on how information flows, its origin, connectedness and NOT just popularity]
Taking another example from the WC3 event last year, if you look at the final map you would hardly notice some of the key individuals who make this topic travel so far.
In this instance you may think that Tim Berners-Lee and Google Research were the key folks involved.
Instead what you can also find is that early in the dialogue an individual who has relatively few followers is instrumental in making the conversation spread.
Timing is everything
if you also analyse when people tweeted about the event, the amount conversation does closely mirror the actual main conference itself. Nevertheless, the thousand tweets in advance were as we already know populated by who we would know to be the idea starters and leaders of the event.
The second analysis focussed on the time in the day when the tweets were made. These also coincided with keynotes and social gatherings post event.
Quoting a favourite adage of mine, we need to fish where the fish are. If we hope to have any chance of engaging with the people that count, we need to make sure we engage at the right time.
Who is influential – link to top influencers on TweetLevel for #smwldn
What you can clearly see is that this list isn’t biased to the most popular but instead draws its focus on:
- Context
- How important they are to the flow of information
- Timing
What does this mean?
As we continually look to identify and understand influence, we must instead look to understand engagement behaviours. This means looking to engage early in the conversation with the people that count knowing that they will be the idea starters as the milestone continues. We need to also build relationships with the curators, knowing that even though they have a limited audience, their connections are vital to enable a conversation to flow.
originally published on Technobabble 2.0
February 13, 2012
A day in the life of an Edelman Technology Intern
Posted by thenakedpheasant under Analyst relations, Brand, Business, Consumer, DERT, Digital, Engagement, facebook, Influence, Media, Social media, Technology, Twitter | Tags: Analyst relations, BBC, brand strategy, crisis management, Edelman, Guetta, HP, journalists, linkedin, media industry, news, Norton, Prime Minister, SocialVibe, Technology |Leave a Comment
Being a member of the Edelman Tech Team provides a constant challenge, no two days are ever the same and you will learn to expect the unexpected.
You need to always be up to date with the latest industry news and developments. My favourite part of the day is the morning paper rounds, reminiscent of BBC Breakfast’s news round up, which helps to keep you up to date with all the latest industry news and development. Part of my daily role also includes account support, liaising with journalists, pitching media stories, proactively news jacking and reporting.
Since I have been here I have worked with a broad range of clients including HP, LinkedIn, SocialVibe and Norton. Because of the range of clients that the Edelman Technology team represents, the work is very varied. So far I have worked on social media programmes, proactively sourced product placement opportunities and helped to introduce start ups to the UK media. The diverse interests and partnerships of our clients mean that although you will be based at the centre of technology you will begin to learn about other aspects of the media industry, from mainstream consumer PR to public affairs and digital. Last week was particularly busy and part of my role included inviting press to a David Guetta event and following up on some work we had undertaken with the Prime Minister.
Edelman takes the development of their employees seriously and the company runs some great training sessions with industry experts. So far, I’ve attended session on issues as far reaching as crisis management, analyst relations and brand strategy which has helped to provide me with invaluable insight into the media industry.
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February 9, 2012
The etail revolution has begun
Posted by thenakedpheasant under Art, Brand, Business, Consumer, Design, Engagement, Fashion, Influence, Media, Technology, Trust, Women | Tags: blog, Brands, Bruno Pieters, etail, Fashion, FT, manufacturing, mistrust, opacity, transparent |Leave a Comment
A very interesting blog post on the FT about changes in the fashion industry caught my attention and I wanted to share the most subversive etail initiative I have ever heard about.
www.honestby.com is the brainchild of Belgian designer Bruno Pieters. The site will sell a collection of 56 pieces for men and women. But what is groundbreaking about it is its transparency. It is transparent both financially and in terms of manufacturing.
By the time you press “buy” you will know exactly what you are paying for – everything from the material used, weight, who spun it, whether it is organic, a website for the supplier and so on – and you will find this for the fabric, the zipper, the lining, the trim, the label, the buttons, the thread etc. Under “price information” you will find out the cost per meter of the fabric, how much was ordered, how much was used, how much labour was involved, what the mark-up was, and how the profit was used.
High-end fashion has historically been a business built on opacity. Things cost what they cost and the less the consumer knows about the literal value of these, the better off the brands are and the more they can charge. It is precisely this attitude that Bruno wants to change as he thinks it breeds consumer mistrust – and why he wanted absolute clarity in his own brand. He has even gone so far to have said that if orders go up and he achieves economies of scale, his prices will come down.
It seems to me this has the potential to be a real game-changer in fashion, because if consumers get used to having this sort of information available, who knows, maybe they could start demanding it from other brands…
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