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Integrate Social Into Your Marketing RaDaRby Nate Elliott, Kim Celestre, and Zachary Reiss-Davis, August 7, 2013

For: Marketing Leadership Professionals

Key TaKeaways

social Marketing Is Ubiquitous, But It’s Not Pulling Its weightNearly all US marketers say they’ll use social media in 2013, spending nearly $5 billion. But many aren’t getting much value from their investments. Some have found that their social efforts are simply a waste of money; others (including Best Buy and Pepsi) have discovered that their social media obsessions were endangering their businesses.

“social exceptionalism” Is The ProblemWhy isn’t social working for marketers? Because rather than recognizing that social is just another marketing channel, many see it as unique. Some marketers keep social completely separate from the rest of their marketing efforts; others ask social to carry the weight of an entire marketing program; most use unproven metrics to track performance.

Use the RaDaR Model To Integrate social Into your Marketing PlanThe key to success is finding ways for social media to support your marketing program rather than vice versa. Social tactics can support reach and depth and relationship, the three layers of what Forrester calls the marketing RaDaR; marketers must determine which part of their RaDaR needs the most help and choose the social tactics to match.

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© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester®, Technographics®, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. To purchase reprints of this document, please email [email protected]. For additional information, go to www.forrester.com.

For Marketing Leadership proFessionaLs

why ReaD ThIs RePoRT

Nearly every marketer uses social media today, but too few use it well. Most marketers treat social as something special and unique, leading them either to separate it completely from the rest of their marketing efforts or to ask social to carry an entire marketing program on its own. But this “social exceptionalism” is more likely to yield failure than success. To unlock the value of social marketing, you’ll need to effectively integrate social into your established marketing plan — and the marketing RaDaR model holds the key. This report of our social marketing playbook lays out Forrester’s vision for how social tactics can supply reach and depth and relationships to your marketing plan.

table of Contents

social Is Now Part of (almost) every Marketing Plan

But social isn’t pulling its Weight

“social exceptionalism” Is The Problem

the solution: integrate social into Your Marketing radar

social Reach Tactics Create Discovery

social Depth Tactics Facilitate exploration

social Relationship Tactics Foster engagement

reCoMMendations

Use The “PosT” Method To Create Great social Marketing Programs

supplemental Material

notes & resources

Forrester used data from the Q4 2012 Us interactive Marketing online survey in writing this report.

related research documents

the Four social Marketing tools You needFebruary 25, 2013

Mix art and science For Marketing successJanuary 14, 2013

global social Media adoptionJune 27, 2012

Integrate social Into your Marketing RaDaRVision: the social Marketing playbookby nate elliott, kim Celestre, and Zachary reiss-daviswith david truog and sarah takvorian

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integrate social into Your Marketing radar 2

© 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited August 7, 2013

soCIal Is Now PaRT oF (alMosT) eveRy MaRKeTING PlaN

It’s been less than ten years since Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook. But today, social networks — as well as blogs, message boards and forums, photo- and video-sharing sites, and other forms of social media — are part of nearly every marketer’s strategy.

■ Almost 100% of marketers will use social media in 2013. In our most recent survey, nine out of 10 marketers said they currently use social marketing, and nearly all the rest said they planned to start using social media in 2013 (see Figure 1). More marketers turn to branded Facebook and Twitter accounts than to any other social tools — but large numbers also create their own blogs and forums, pay for ad placements on social sites, and sponsor online communities.

■ Social media investments continue to rise. More than 60% of marketers say they plan to increase their social budgets this year, many by a significant amount (see Figure 2). Most have hired agencies specifically to execute social media programs, and nearly two-thirds have full-time employees dedicated to social media.1 The result? Forrester forecasts that US marketers alone will spend $4.8 billion on social marketing tactics in 2013, and marketers throughout the rest of the world will add billions more to that figure.2

■ Both business-to-consumer and business-to-business marketers are pursuing social strategies. Fully 100% of the business decision-makers we’ve surveyed use social media for work purposes — which means that social marketing is no longer the domain of only those selling digital cameras and deodorant.3 In fact, more than one-third of business-to-business marketers use public social networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter to generate leads, and nearly as many use on-site communities to nurture leads.4




Figure 1 Nearly Every Marketer Will Use Social Media In 2013

Source: Forrester Research, Inc.73881

“Of the following social marketing tactics, please indicate which you arecurrently using or expect to use in the next 12 months.”

Source: Q4 2012 US Interactive Marketing Online SurveyNote: Not all responses are shown.

Base: 71 interactive marketing professionals(percentages may not total 100 because of rounding)

Sponsored communities 25% 15% 59%

Paid placement insocial media 49% 15% 35%

Google Plus account 54% 20% 27%

Created social media(e.g., blogs or forums) 76% 13% 11%

LinkedIn account 85% 7% 8%

4%

Twitter account 93% 3%

4%

Facebook page 93% 3%

No plans to use/don’t know

Plan to start using in thenext 12 months

Currently using




Figure 2 Most Marketers Plan To Increase Their Social Spending


“How will your 2013 social marketing budget compare with the 2012 budget?”

Will increase slightly45%

Will stay the same25%

Will increase signi�cantly17%

Don’t know7%

Will decrease slightly6%

Source: Q4 2012 US Interactive Marketing Online Survey

Base: 69 interactive marketing professionals

But social Isn’t Pulling Its weight

Despite marketers’ excitement about social media, many say the channel simply doesn’t offer enough return on their investment (see Figure 3). The sobering reality is that nearly a decade into the era of social media, more social marketers are failing than succeeding. And, frighteningly, some companies fail with social media without even realizing it. In fact, many high-profile social “success stories” have turned out, on further examination, actually to be failures:

■ Best Buy’s famous engagement levels couldn’t save its business. The electronics retailer encouraged its employees to engage on Twitter and heavily promoted its “Twelpforce” as a way for customers to get answers to their tech questions. Throughout 2009 and 2010, executives basked in praise from the likes of the Harvard Business Review (and yes, from Forrester too).5 But though the company’s strategy generated lots of engagement, it generated too few sales. The result? While its employees were busy helping people on Twitter, the company was losing billions and stores were closing down. By 2012, Best Buy’s CEO and CMO found themselves looking for new jobs.6

■ Pepsi’s bold move collected lots of votes but not enough sales. In 2010, the No. 2 soft drink brand cut its Super Bowl ad budget and instead made social media the centerpiece of its marketing strategy. The Refresh Project let customers choose which community renewal programs should receive grant money and generated more than 80 million votes in its first year.




The campaign was celebrated as an unqualified success for social-media-led marketing — until the sales numbers came in. Despite remarkable engagement rates, Pepsi was losing market share. By the end of 2010, Pepsi’s sales had fallen behind those of Coca-Cola’s Diet Coke for the first time ever.7

■ And the list goes on. Best Buy and Pepsi may be among the most prominent examples of brands that bet on social and lost — but they’re far from the only ones. For instance, multibillion-dollar IT services company CA Technologies invests the effort to update its Facebook page several times per day — but has collected just 10,000 fans, few of whom engage with the company’s posts.8 And American Airlines’ policy of replying to every Twitter comment forced it not only to offer a polite “thanks” to vulgarity-filled insults but also to automatically promote those insults for its other followers to see.9 No matter what category you’re in, you’ve seen competitors waste budget on failed social strategies; perhaps your company has done it as well.

Figure 3 Marketers Remain Unsure Of Whether Social Media Creates Value


ROI 38%

Measurement 35%

Lack of internal resources(e.g., employees) 34%

Lack of budget 25%

Integrating this channelwith other channels 24%

Lack of time 23%

Source: Q4 2012 US Interactive Marketing Online SurveyNote: Not all responses are shown.

Base: 69 interactive marketing professionals

“What are your top three challenges with social marketing?”




“soCIal exCePTIoNalIsM” Is The PRoBleM

Why have so many marketers found social success so hard to come by? Because rather than regarding social media as just another marketing channel, they act as if social is somehow unique:

■ Some treat social media as an island. Too many marketers never connect social to the rest of their marketing programs. For instance, Best Buy’s customer-care-driven social strategy may reflect the company’s 2013 ad campaign — but in 2010, most Best Buy promotions were still focused on price and selection. As Best Buy found, social messages that don’t match the rest of your marketing program are unlikely to contribute much value.

■ Others ask social to carry the weight of the world. Pepsi was smart to tap into its young audience’s love for social media — but no matter how social your audience, no one channel can shoulder the load of an entire marketing program on its own. Successful marketing always relies on finding the right mix of platforms and tactics; when Pepsi slashed the budget it dedicated to proven channels and put its sole focus on social media, the results were predictably dire.

■ Most use unproven metrics to track performance. Marketers have mostly moved past tracking only fans and followers — but few have gotten much further. Too many social measurement strategies revolve around “engagement,” a recently invented metric that’s never been proven as a proxy for any business objective. Few track the brand impact or conversion rate of social programs. No wonder just 20% of marketers are confident in their ability to measure social media.10

Social exceptionalism is a path to failure. To make social media work, marketers must stop treating it as something new and different and must look for ways to blend it effectively with TV, search, email, and other established marketing channels.

The solution: Integrate social Into your Marketing RaDaR

To succeed with social media, marketers must understand how it supports each part of the customer journey — not just offering engagement but also enabling discovery and supporting exploration and purchase. In fact, social marketing tools and tactics can offer value at every stage of the customer life cycle and can support reach and depth and relationship — the three layers of what Forrester calls the marketing RaDaR (see Figure 4):11

■ Social reach tactics help people discover your brands, products, and promotions. People can’t discover what you’re selling if they’re never exposed to it — and that requires you to use tactics that help your messages reach your target audience. Most people say the No. 1 way they learn about new brands, products, and services is from friends and family and that paid ads can create discovery as well.12 And there are social tactics that can help on those two fronts: Both word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing and paid social advertising can deliver reach for your marketing programs.




■ Social depth tactics help prospects explore and buy your products. Your audience is looking for depth when they explore your offerings. And the place to which people most commonly turn for such detailed information is a brand’s own website. Weaving social tools into your own site — including blogs and communities as well as ratings and reviews — can extend the site’s value beyond run-of-the-mill product specifications by offering detail about what your brand stands for and exposing prospects to real customer experiences.

■ Social relationship tactics build stronger engagement with your best customers. After people buy from a company, there are many ways they stay in touch — and they frequently prefer relationship channels such as email, postal mail, and loyalty programs. But social has a valuable role to play here, too: In particular, branded profiles on public social sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter can foster stronger relationships with the customers you’ve already acquired.




Figure 4 Social Tactics Can Support Each Layer Of The Marketing RaDaR


In-store

Postal Mail

Email

TV

Store

Radio

Loyaltyprogram

SalesStore

Sales

Print

Social adsPhone

Reviews Site

CommunityTwitter

Brandedpro�les

Facebook

Word ofmouth

Mobile app

SearchApps

MobileSMS

Non-social channel

Social channel

soCIal ReaCh TaCTICs CReaTe DIsCoveRy

The first step in the customer life cycle is typically to help people discover that you offer a solution to one of their problems. When your prospects first begin this discovery process, they don’t actively seek your brand; they come across it only through sources they already engage with. For example, 80% rely on their friends and family to inform their discovery, and many say paid ads in their favorite channels perform a similar role. 13 This means that social tools such as word of mouth and social advertising can help you:




■ Tap your audience’s peers to advocate for you. Many customers already recommend your solutions to their friends and peers outside the realm of social media. And social word-of-mouth marketing tactics can increase the number of customers who recommend you and amplify those recommendations to a much larger audience. For example, restaurant chain Chili’s encouraged self-reported top advocates to post reviews on Yelp and reaped 50,000 new reviews, with an average rating of 4.7 out of 5.14 And web content management vendor Ektron successfully asked advocates to create video testimonials — broadcasting those fans’ personal recommendations to a much larger audience.15

■ Inspire the voices your audience respects to influence on your behalf. Advocates aren’t the only way to create word of mouth; category influencers also shape the market and perspectives about your product. Cultivating relationships with them can help you “influence the influencers” and generate more positive mentions. For example, Microsoft identified its audience’s influencers and sent them topical content that matched what they were writing about.16 In a similar vein, Jeep invited top online auto influencers to test drive their cars in Moab, Utah — sparking many to write about their experiences with the cars.17

■ Deliver advertising messages into social channels. Most marketers think that word of mouth is the only way that social media can help them reach new audiences. But social content can itself be a medium in which to embed advertising — offering you the guaranteed reach and precise targeting that WOM can’t. For instance, Facebook can ensure that a million women in Germany hear about your new retirement accounts; LinkedIn can guarantee that 10,000 product managers see ads for your latest white paper; and Twitter can promote your special-edition DVD to 100,000 Bollywood aficionados. Brands such as HP, Levi’s, and Sears already use social advertising to reach such precise audiences.

soCIal DePTh TaCTICs FaCIlITaTe exPloRaTIoN

When people want to learn about your brand and products, they’re most likely to head to your website. But they expect more than an online marketing brochure — and social tactics can deliver. How? On-site social tools such as blogs, forums, and reviews provide prospective buyers with current, relevant, and credible content and conversations to inform their decisions. Weaving in these social features will:

■ Deliver more-credible detail about your brand and what it stands for. Buyers visit your website hoping to see what you are really all about. Traditional, nonsocial content can inform them, but brand-managed social content — such as company blog posts — shapes perceptions more deeply about your brand and your ability to deliver. For example, IBM’s Big Data Hub thought-leadership website features a blog alongside other topical content and was named one of SAP’s 2012 top 10 news/blog sites for big data.18 Likewise, Philips supports its DirectLife line of personal health devices — and shows its commitment to customers’ well-being — with a blog featuring tips from personal trainers and advice collected from around the Web.19




■ Expose prospects to customer feedback that accelerates consideration. Half of all online shoppers prefer to buy products or services from sites that feature customer reviews.20 Why? Because ratings and reviews written by real customers help buyers choose the right product from your lineup and convince them of your offerings’ quality. For instance, customers of the UK online retailer Kiddicare have added more than 80,000 product reviews to its site; offering feedback from real customers has decreased shopping cart abandonment by 8%.21 And by hosting reviews on your own site, you give yourself an easier way to monitor the feedback and respond when necessary.

■ Connect people to others who can answer their questions. Communities and discussion forums are social platforms that let prospects connect with customers and employees to get answers to their questions. For instance, the SAP Community Network includes more than 2.5 million members who go to the community to ask questions, share ideas, and connect with others — and as a result, the community draws prospects who wish to tap into this expert crowd for their opinions.22 And Fotomoto, an eCommerce engine for photographers, launched an online community where people could get answers on how the service works. The result? A 300% increase in Fotomoto’s customer base and a fivefold surge in order volume.23

soCIal RelaTIoNshIP TaCTICs FosTeR eNGaGeMeNT

When your customers are happy, many of them stay in touch using relationship channels such as email, postal mail, and loyalty programs — and “like” your branded profiles on public social networks. But remember: The people who like you on Facebook or follow you on Twitter aren’t strangers learning about your brand for the first time, nor are they in-market buyers trying to make purchase decisions. They’re your own best existing customers (or would like to be). Treat them as such by using branded profiles on public social networks to:

■ Keep customers up to date. The most common reason that people engage with brands on sites such as Facebook and Twitter is to hear more about what companies have to offer. In fact, more than 20% of customers that Forrester surveyed said they engage post-purchase to learn more about companies’ latest product offerings.24 For instance, Philips Healthcare uses LinkedIn to let physicians and hospital administrators know about product advancements and to highlight innovative uses of its technology.25 Similarly, fashion retailer H&M promotes new looks and items to its millions of Facebook fans and Google Plus followers.26

■ Inspire them to get more value from their favorite products. One in five customers say they engage after a purchase to make sure they’re getting as much value as possible from their purchases. Kraft Foods makes the most of this desire with its “Recipes and Tips” Facebook page: It offers a new recipe every day to fans hungry for more ways to use Kraft products.27 And paint purveyor Benjamin Moore uses branded Pinterest pin boards to inspire customers with trendy new colors and fun painting projects.28




■ Bring them exclusive content and deals. Discounts remain the top reason that people engage with brands after purchase. Dell cracked this code early on and has made millions offering discounts on remaindered and refurbished items on Twitter since 2007.29 Meanwhile, 12% of customers say they engage with firms post-purchase to access exclusive content and information from those companies. 30 For instance, Paramount Pictures used Twitter to distribute exclusive previews of its film Super 8 — including inviting followers to exclusive real-world screenings.31 Likewise, Sony set up a treasure hunt on its PlayStation YouTube channel that gave fans a chance to unlock exclusive video game content.32

■ Offer them a way to express affinity. A full 20% of customers engage after the point of purchase simply to express their affinity for the brand or product.33 Recognizing this, the Jack Daniel’s brand uses Facebook to bring its 4 million fans beautiful photos of whiskey bottles and cocktails — and tens of thousands of those fans regularly like and share the images.34 And while most Ferrari fans are more likely to have bought a branded mouse pad than a Testarossa, the company’s Facebook page gives nearly 12 million such aficionados a chance to express their affinity for the brand.35

R e c o m m e n d at i o n s

Use The “PosT” MeThoD To CReaTe GReaT soCIal MaRKeTING PRoGRaMs

Every successful social program starts with a plan. Since 2006, we’ve helped many hundreds of companies create better social marketing initiatives by using our four-step POST framework:

■ Study your people and how they use social tools. Start any social marketing plan by studying the social behaviors of your target audiences. Forrester’s Social Technographics® will tell you both how social your audience is and the types of social behaviors in which they engage.36

■ Find the right objectives for your business. Next, determine what you’re hoping your social program will achieve. Will you use social marketing to create reach? To provide depth? Or to build relationships? If you focus each social initiative on a single objective, you’ll improve that program’s focus and increase its chances of success.

■ Set a winning strategy for using social media. Third, you’ll need to decide on the right strategy and plan for your social program. Spark your imagination and draw inspiration from the award-winning strategies of global brands such as Adobe, Cisco, and others we’ve recognized in our annual Forrester Groundswell Awards.37

■ Select the best technology for your needs. Finally, choose the vendors and technologies that can help you succeed. Every type of social marketing tactic — whether for reach, depth, or relationship — supports its own vendor ecosystem.38 Forrester’s Wave™ evaluations on social relationship platforms and social depth platforms are a great place to start your selection process.39




sUPPleMeNTal MaTeRIal

Methodology

Forrester fielded its Q4 2012 US Interactive Marketing Online Survey to 71 US online interactive marketing professionals; however, only a portion of survey results are illustrated in this document.

Forrester fielded the survey during November and December 2012. Exact sample sizes are provided in this report on a question-by-question basis. Panels are not guaranteed to be representative of the population. Unless otherwise noted, statistical data is intended to be used for descriptive and not inferential purposes.

eNDNoTes1 Source: Q4 2012 US Interactive Marketing Online Survey.

2 Source: Forrester Research Social Media Forecast, 2013 To 2018 (US).

3 As a B2B marketer, you need to engage your customers and prospects throughout a complex customer life cycle, which frequently lasts longer than a B2C life cycle. Social marketing can provide a rich and interactive way to engage those buyers, but first, you need to understand how your customers and prospects use social media for business purposes so you can then determine what social objectives and strategy will be most effective. See the July 17, 2013, “The Social Behaviors Of Your B2B Customers” report.

4 Our data shows that social channels are key to the decision processes of your business-to-business (B2B) customers and prospects, so to avoid falling behind or missing emerging trends, you should stay on top of how other B2B marketers do their social marketing. See the May 13, 2013, “How B2B Marketers Use Social Now” report.

5 Yes, we invited Best Buy’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Barry Judge, to keynote Forrester’s 2009 Consumer Forum. His response when we asked how he measured the value of his company’s social programs? “We have millions of Facebook fans!” Source: Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/forresterresearchinc/4052383203/).

6 CMO Barry Judge left Best Buy in July 2012; seven months later he became CMO of troubled daily deals site LivingSocial. And while it was a romantic relationship with an employee that ultimately cost CEO Brian Dunn his job, investors and industry watchers — citing the company’s poor performance — were already asking for his head. Source: Tricia Duryee, “Former Best Buy CMO Barry Judge Joins LivingSocial to Head Marketing,” AllThingsD.com, January 8, 2013 (http://allthingsd.com/20130108/former-best-buy-cmo-barry-judge-joins-livingsocial-to-head-marketing/) and Eric Savitz, “Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn Responds To Forbes.com Article,” Forbes, January 8, 2012 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2012/01/08/best-buy-ceo-brian-dunn-responds-to-forbes-com-article/).

7 Despite losing market share during The Refresh Project’s first twelve months, Pepsi kept the program running for a second year — and still defends the program as successful. The sales figures suggest otherwise.







Source: Natalie Zmuda, “How Pepsi Blinked, Fell Behind Diet Coke,” Ad Age, March 21, 2011 (http://adage.com/article/news/pepsi-blinked-fell-diet-coke/149496/).

8 As we researched this report, CA’s 10 most recent Facebook posts combined had generated a grand total of 63 likes and 12 comments. Source: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/CATechnologies).

9 When a customer tweeted a strongly worded insult, American Airlines’ official Twitter account replied, “Thanks for your support!” Source: Jim Edwards, “The 10 Worst Social Media Fails Of The Year So Far, ” Business Insider, March, 8, 2013 (http://www.businessinsider.com/worst-social-media-fails-of-the-year-so-far-2013-3#6-in-mid-february-american-airlines-policy-of-replying-politely-to-every-tweet-no-matter-what-backfired-people-began-tweeting-insults-at-the-company-scripted-tweeting-just-doesnt-work-5).

10 Source: Q4 2012 US Interactive Marketing Online Survey.

11 The explosion of marketing options — and marketers’ drive to foster customer relationships beyond a single purchase — means that you must see marketing as an ongoing story. Rather than fixate on the now-obsolete funnel, marketers are beginning to embrace a customer life cycle that starts with discovery, continues with exploration, leads to a purchase, and extends into customers’ post-purchase engagement with the marketer and with other customers. Smart marketers recognize that their customers turn to different channels — such as reach channels, depth channels, and relationship channels — at different stages of the life cycle. See the January 14, 2013, “Mix Art And Science For Marketing Success” report.

12 Source: North American Technographics Consumer Deep Dive: Investigating The Customer Life Cycle (Discover Phase) Survey, Q3 2012 (US).

13 Source: North American Technographics Consumer Deep Dive: Investigating The Customer Life Cycle (Discover Phase) Survey, Q3 2012 (US).

14 Chili’s partnered with Zuberance for this initiative. Source: Zuberance (http://resources.zuberance.com/cs-chilis-peppers-in-brand-advocacy.html).

15 Ektron partnered with Influitive to build a community for its top advocates and get them to promote Ektron content. Source: (http://influitive.com/blog/2013/01/23/influitive-case-study-ektron/).

16 Microsoft partnered with Onalytica to identify “opportunities to influence/engage influencers,” as Mary Perisic, senior audience marketing at Microsoft, stated in a discussion of the program with Forrester.

17 Ignite Social Media’s founder, Jim Tobin, discussed with Forrester how it worked with Jeep on this initiative to find the Jeep influencers and advocates and invite them into the program.

18 SAP recognized the top ten news blog sites that cover the topic of big data. IBM’s “Smarter Computing Big Data Blog” came in second. Source: Jen Cohen Crompton, “Top 10 News/Blog Sites for Big Data,” SAP, May 10, 2012 (https://blogs.sap.com/innovation/big-data/top-10-newsblog-sites-for-big-data-05702).

19 The Philips DirectLife Coach Blog is updated about twice each week by two dedicated coaches and a rotating collection of guest coaches. Source: Phillips DirectLife Coach Blog (http://blog.directlife.philips.com/).





20 Fifty percent of US online adults who have used customer ratings/reviews indicated they agree with the statement, “I prefer to buy products/services from websites that allow customers to post ratings/reviews.” Agreement is 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 [strongly disagree] to 5 [strongly agree]. Source: North American Technographics Retail Online Benchmark Recontact Survey, Q3 2012 (US).

21 After Kiddicare deployed its online community, about 2,700 customers signed up during the first eight weeks and were posting questions, reporting problems, and responding to other customers. Source: Get Satisfaction (https://getsatisfaction.com/corp/download/case-study/gs_casestudy_kiddicare.pdf).

Another benefit to Kiddicare’s online community? A decrease in online shopping cart abandonment. Source: Get Satisfaction (https://getsatisfaction.com/corp/customers/).

22 The SAP Community had about 2.5 million members already in 2011, including customers, partners, developers, and SAP employees. Source: SAP Community Network (SCN) Executive Backgrounder, SAP, February 1, 2011 (http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/index?rid=/library/uuid/e079a049-9719-2e10-f3b1-91901d0d40fc).

23 Since the launch of Fotomoto’s online community, the company has achieved 300% growth in its customer base, a fivefold increase in order volume, and a 30% decrease in weekly support contacts. Source: Get Satisfaction (https://getsatisfaction.com/corp/download/case-study/gs_casestudy_fotomoto.pdf).

24 Source: North American Technographics Consumer Deep Dive: Investigating The Customer Life Cycle (Engage Phase) Survey, Q2 2012 (US).

25 One recent update touted how Philips’ imaging equipment could reduce radiation levels while also improving image quality. Source: LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/company/2482113/comments?topic=5752384010814750721&type=U&scope=2482113&stype=C&a=7S-1&page=1&goback=%2Ebzo_*1_*1_*1_

*1_*1_*1_%2Fphilipshealthcare).

26 Apparently, fashionable shades are a great way to make your outfit pop. Source: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/hm) and Google Plus (https://plus.google.com/+HM/).

27 The first person to deliver a batch of JELL-O chocolate pudding fudge to Nate Elliott at Forrester’s New York office wins an autographed copy of this report. Source: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151432784051345&set=a.195795656344.133431.56805881344&type=1).

28 Benjamin Moore’s ideas for how to use chalkboard paint are especially inspired. Source: Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/benjamin_moore/chalk-it-up/).

29 When Dell needed to sell an unpredictable stream of returned products, it found that the immediacy of Twitter could help it get the word out and move inventory quickly. The computer maker has driven millions of dollars in US sales since 2007 through its @DellOutlet Twitter account and is now using a similar strategy to target customers in international markets. See the February 3, 2010, “Case Study: Dell Profits By Integrating Twitter Into Its Business Strategy” report.

30 Source: North American Technographics Consumer Deep Dive: Investigating The Customer Life Cycle (Engage Phase) Survey, Q2 2012 (US).






31 Paramount credits the Twitter sneak preview with $1 million in box office sales. Source: Twitter (https://business.twitter.com/success-stories/paramount-pictures).

32 And unusually, the Playstation YouTube channel actually has some subscribers — more than 1.4 million as we went to press. Source: YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/playstation).

33 Affinity is valuable for so many reasons. In fact, if you add up people’s affinity-focused behaviors, you can create what we call a “database of affinity”: a catalog of people’s tastes and preferences, collected by observing their social behaviors. This pool of affinities is the Holy Grail for powering more-accurate brand advertising. See the April 15, 2013, “How To Exploit The Database Of Affinity” report.

34 As we went to press, 50,000 people had “liked” a simple photo of the Jack Daniel’s family of whiskeys — and 10,000 more had shared that photo with their friends. (We’d prefer to “like” a photo of Smooth Ambler Spirits’ Old Scout bourbon… but we’d be hesitant to share.) Source: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151444443172301&set=a.108054422300.105905.105868097300&type=1).

35 A Ferrari? If we’re being honest, we’d be perfectly happy with one of those Jeeps we mentioned in endnote 17. Source: Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Ferrari).

36 For marketers, the question is no longer whether or where to use social media, but how best to use social media — and our latest Social Technographics data holds many of the answers. See the June 27, 2012,

“Global Social Media Adoption” report.

37 Outstanding business-to-business (B2B) community and social marketers took a variety of approaches to community marketing in Forrester’s 2012 B2B Groundswell Awards, and each of them has demonstrated strong and measurable business results. See the April 22, 2013, “B2B Groundswell Awards For Communities” report.

38 To select the right tools and technology for their social plans, marketers must classify and choose vendors based not on the characteristics of their technologies but instead on the distinct business value those technologies offer. See the February 25, 2013, “The Four Social Marketing Tools You Need” report.

39 We’ve already evaluated some of the many vendors that stand ready to help you use social for depth or relationship strategies. See the April 16, 2013, “The Forrester Wave™: Social Relationship Platforms, Q2 2013” report and see the July 9, 2013, “The Forrester Wave™: Social Depth Platforms, Q3 2013” report.


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