it's not about being on social, it's about being social

IT’S NOT ABOUT BEING ON SOCIAL IT’S ABOUT BEING SOCIAL

Indian School of Business February 3, 2012 Prof. Chris Dellarocas Boston University www.dellarocas.com

Digital marketing is the future

But 50% of projects fail to produce tangible results

Because they approach social media in the wrong way

A revolution is underway

But it’s not (mainly) about the technologies

In the beginning - all business was social

Then business started scaling Then business starting scaling

But social could not scale so it disappeared from business

Corporations started to develop some really bad habits

Targeting people

Segmenting people

“Campaigning”

It‘s like companies are at war with customers

It‘s like companies are at war with customers

Then came the Internet and Social media

And because humans are hardwired to be social

Social re-entered business and commerce with a vengeance

So to understand how to do business in a world of social media

You do not need to understand the technologies…

…as much as you need to understand humans – not as consumers, but as

social creatures

People need a sense of purpose and have an innate desire to be helpful to others

People value fairness and are willing to spend a lot of effort to punish unfair treatment

United breaks guitars

People like to do what others do

Iphone 4 debut, Paris

Ipad 2 debut, Beijing

Some people love status more than money

Homo economicus is dead Long live homo sociologicus

People want a sense of purpose

People want to help and be helped

People want to be treated fairly

People want to do what others do

People crave for recognition and status

So, to survive and thrive in the world of social media, you need to…

Transform your business processes into social processes

Accept that consumers are now (re)empowered to act as social beings

So, you need to…

A social process is NOT…

Running traditional programs using social media platforms

A social process IS…

Engaging human passion, reciprocity and sense of fairness to get others, whose “job” it isn’t to do so, to help you do your job

For example…

Twelp Force Video

How to design a social process?

Find your tribes

Both inside and outside the org

And get them to help one another

Across functional areas

Find your tribes

Both inside and outside the org

And get them to help one another

Across functional areas

How to find your tribes

Identify passions, lifestyles or needs that people form groups (tribes) around and where your products can play a useful role

The product

The tribe

The store

The tribe

The company

The tribe

Find your tribes

Both inside and outside the org

And get them to help one another

Across functional areas

Find your tribes

Both inside and outside the org

And get them to help one another

Across functional areas

And get them to help one another

Provide proper incentives

Identify genuine needs

Manage interactions among incentive features

Incentive design framework [Dellarocas 2012]

Feeling of purpose

Reciprocity

Fairness

Relationships

Sheer Fun

Competitions

Points and ratings

Membership levels

Honor badges

Leaderboards and rankings

Monetary rewards

Virtual currencies

Perks and privileges

Design intrinsic

incentives

Design status

incentives

Design material

incentives

“Love” “Glory” “Money”

Gamification and badges

The SAP Developer Network

Source: Francois Gossieaux

Stats:

1.4 M users

400K+ business experts

Original Incentive System:

Point system leading to personal rewards

Results:

Bullying behavior in the community

New Incentive System:

Point system leading to donation to good cause

Results:

No more bullying in the community

Find your tribes

Both inside and outside the org

And get them to help one another

Across functional areas

Is this marketing?

Is this customer support?

Is this knowledge management?

Is this recruiting?

Social media is not

just about marketing

Social media are blurring the lines across many previously distinct functions

Marketing

Public Relations

Sales

Customer Service

Product Development

Consumer Research

Recruiting

Knowledge Management

…

And yet…

Source: Tribalization of business study, (Beeline Labs, Deloitte et al. 2009)

Find your tribes

Both inside and outside the org

And get them to help one another

Across functional areas

To summarize…

Designing social processes requires a leap of faith for most

organizations

Where do you start from?

My suggested social pilot project approach

Step 1: Think tribes (not segments) - their passions and needs beyond just your products

Step 2: Think how you can help them (not sell to them, not get them to do something you think is worthwhile, even if it’s charity)

Step 3: Figure out how you can best offer this help through online communities, twitter, facebook, youtube etc.

Step 4: Assign joint responsibility for this project across departments (marketing and customer support is a good start)

Remember It’s not about being on social It’s about being social

Inspiration – Further Reading

Questions?