pete scott | @prscott the business of social media: how to turn opportunities and risks into...

Pete Scott | @prscott

The Business of Social Media: How to Turn Opportunities and Risks into Business Success

Pete Scott, APRVP, IZEA

[email protected]@prscott


What do you want to cover?


What is Social Media?


or Media?


It’s Both

Platforms + Media = 2=Way Conversation


Combined with Devices


Makes everyone is a publisher.


All this creates massive scalability that makes it relevant to everyone this room


The Internet is Growing Up

• It’s about 17 years old

• It’s been hanging out with friends and going to parties since it was about 11

• Now it’s really getting into the whole socializing thing

• It’s not quite as awkward, and it’s more mature….

• But it can still get in big trouble.


The Internet is Growing Up

• When the Internet got social, it started with sharing thoughts in blogs

• Over the next couple of years, it became important to make friends and connections

• With those friends and connections, it was cool to share fun pictures and videos

• After a while, short updates made keeping in touch with your connections easier than sharing your thoughts

• Today, while all of these are still important, the Internet is growing up mobile, and with that comes geo-social - Foursquare, Gowalla, WeReward, Scavngr, etc.


We are facing hurdles

• No one has the time

• Everyone is distracted

• Trust is harder to come by

• Expectations are out of line

• One blogger can overshadow your media budget


We also question…

• Are we doing this right?

• How do we get more fans?

• How can we get more engagement?

• How do we get noticed?


It’s easy to be busy with social media, but it’s hard to be strategic


Social media goes far beyond communications, marketing, & pr


HR, Employee Engagement, Product Development, Customer Service, Sales and others can gain value


LinkedIn

83,000+join each day.


Facebook

618,500,000active users

SocialBakers & Facebook: Feb 1, 2011


Facebook

830,000+join each week

SocialBakers & Facebook: Feb 1, 2011


Facebook

55minutes spent each day

Facebook: Feb 2011


66%Brand touchpoints generated

by consumers

McKinsey: 2009


0.19%Clickthrough

rate for average banner

Forrester & Vitrue

6.49%Clickthrough

rate for Facebook post


What Consumers Feel is Important 2006Quality ProductsCustomer Service Financial Performance Fair Pricing Well Known Brand Visible CEO

2010Transparent Business

Practices Company I Can Trust High Quality ProductsCommunicates Frequently Treats Employees Well Good Corporate Citizen


Social channels enable us to build trust & affinity - moving from audiences to advocates


To Affinity & Beyond


“I’ll use social media to push my marketing messages to millions of people for free!”


From Audience to Advocate

Study >> Listen >> Engage >> Influence >>Advocacy


A goal for your social media initiatives should be to have a community of advocates on issues that directly align to business objectives.


1Study

This can apply to both internal and external social media programs

• Look internally at your product and experience - are you ready for social media?

• Look internally for the right initial team (might not be you final team)

• Find your passion• Secure your name on every platform• Read other industry and social media blogs • Become familiar with your competition and identify

key influencers and advocates • Know the law - FTC, FINRA, HR, Pharma, etc.


2Listen

• Start learning to really listen – Mentions, sentient, employees, stakeholders,

competitors• Use free tools and use trial versions of paid tools • Determine and track basic metrics • Establish a Social Media Policy • Train key staff on policy • Communicate generational differences behind social

media adoption • Recruit an executive champion • Seek outside help if necessary to build the

foundation


2Listen

• Begin to understand and ask questions such as: – Who are your customers? – Where they are online? – What do they like and dislike?– What do they talk about? – What do they think of you? – How are your competitors? – What are they doing? – Where are they on the path?– What are people saying about them?


2Listen

Listening Objectives: • Obtain intelligence from everywhere and everything

– You can scale back later

• Identify specific friends and foes

• Determine volume and conversations, share of voice, sentiment, topics tied to your company and industry

• Identify potential crisis communications issues early

• Identify misperceptions and inaccuracies

• Identify correct and inappropriate employee behavior (training issue)


3Engage

• Start creating content and finding your voice• Begin to experiment - but do so carefully • Begin to engage

– Share the love – Correct misperceptions and inaccuracies – Initially, respond to everything - the good and

the bad – Add value - not noise

• Answer questions • Provide Tips • Selflessly help people

• Formally align social media activities to business objectives

• Develop metrics that demonstrate the value of social media

• Develop a formal plan/strategy and include relevant aspects in strategic plans of business units impacted


4Influence

• Expand content and platforms – Consider video, podcasts, mobile

• Increase level of engagement – Editorial calendar - consistency is key

• 3 - 5X per week on long form content (blogs, videos, podcasts)

• As necessary for short form content – Establish Service Level Agreements

• Who and how quickly will you respond• Begin to find ways to co-create with your customers and

fans • Train everyone on the social media policy• Build Crisis Communications into Social Media Plan/Strategy • Establish more formal reporting to senior management• Establish funding requirements going forward


4Influence

What’s an Engaging Post?

• Ask open ended questions – If you were in Orlando this weekend, what would

you like to do the most?

• Prompt people to Like and Follow you – Like us if you wish you had the best sushi ever

right now

• Fill in the blank – My favorite pizza topping is ___________

• Either/Or – Which dessert for Mothers Day - Apple Pie or

Crème Brule?


4Influence

Content that Builds Trust

• Proof Points – External voices, expert interviews (all formats)

• Testimonials – Yelp reviews, customer testimonials, employee

interviews

• Behind the Scenes– Webcams, tours, advocate trips

• Employee Perspectives – Video interviews, human elements, employee

blogs

• Management – Thought Leadership, CEO podcast, videos, blogs


Online Reputational Response

Source: Ant’s Eye View


BP & Social MediaOil spill is tragic and people will talk, but how BP responded drove more mentions

Source: Radian 6 & Ant’s Eye View


What BP should have done

• Be Timely– First messages were to avoid guilt and to control

• Be Honest– Admit that size of spill is not understood in the beginning

• Be Responsible, But don’t Control– Ask for help– Invite ideas

• Be Transparent– Talk about the who is working on the ideas, what you are doing

with the ideas submitted by ordinary citizens• Be Human

– Empathetic, apologetic, disgusted, angry– NO whining

• Real content


5Advocacy

• Integrate social and personalization into your Website/Intranet

• Integrate social media activities into a variety of on and

offline programs

• Focus more on quality of engagements and not numbers

• Develop special programs for advocates

• Conduct offline events to deepen relationships across the board

• Develop a more robust staffing and organizational model

• Incorporate social media into annual budgets and forecasts


In order to foster advocates, there has to be an idea that moves them.


QUESTION


Which is more accurate? Social Media is a great equalizer Social Media is a great differentiator


It’s impossible to have a great community that thrives on an mediocre experience.


AJ Bombers

• Amazing Experience • Know Their Audience and Their Situation • They Listen to Their Audience • They Know Where Their Audience Hangs Out Online • They Co-Create with Their Customers• They Added Value to the Conversation • They Have Fun! • They Engage, Turning Their Audience into Customers, their Customers

into Fans, their Fans into Friends and their Friends into Advocates • They not only built a community, but more importantly, built a great

business.

Pete Scott | @prscotthttp://sporkmedia.com/2010/08/aj-bombers/


AJ Bombers, a burger joint in Milwaukee, joined up with FourSquare last summer by promising a free burger and fries to anyone who dethroned its "mayor"—a title FourSquare bestows upon the person who "checks in" to an establishment the most via the free mobile application.

The restaurant also ran a promotion where customers could get a free cookie by posting a recommendation to their FourSquare profiles of a menu item or something to do while they're at the eatery, such as play a board game.

AJ co-owner Joe Sorge says sales of menu items promoted on FourSquare have risen roughly 30%.began using the service.


Product > Studied > Listened > Engaged > Influenced > Advocacy

AJ Bombers

Measured & Adjusted


Key Takeaways

• It is possible to replicate this level of success, people and businesses are doing it every day

• It is not easy - and is not the job of the intern (sorry interns).

• It takes time - how much?

• It takes commitment, consistency, and focus

• It’s not free - while many of the tools are free, your time is not

• It has made an incredible difference in his business


We are talking about a burger joint in Milwaukee


Nobody cares how awesome you say you are.


They sort of care how awesome their friends say you are.


They care how awesome you actually are.


But they really love when you tell them how awesome they are.


To be successful in social media, you really need to be relentlessly passionate about your product and the people around it.


And you are always trying to find genuine ways to connect and care for both of them.


It’s not about selling, it’s about telling great stories.


But bad things can happen.


Key Social Media Risks

• Failing to Listen to the Conversation

• Failing to Respond when Expected

• Blocking Access to Social Media Sites

• No Alignment with Business Objectives

• Lack of a Social Media Strategy

• Lack of a Social Media Policy (with semi-annual review)

• Not Training All Staff on Policy (with continual training)

Source: Institute of Internal Auditors


Key Social Media Risks

• Intellectual Property Issues ( and Creative Commons)

• Liability Issues

• Human Resource Issues

• Lack of Metrics

• Compliance with Applicable Laws

• Focusing on numbers, not engagements

• Crisis Communications

• Failure to Train All Employees on Social Media Policy



Social Media Policy Questions

• Will the organization block access to social media sites?

• Will employees be allowed to post comments on external sites?

• Will employees be allowed to post comments on internal sites? – Will those comments be moderated?

• Are employees allowed to become subject matter experts?

• Are there different rules for senior management, designated spokespeople, and employees?

• Is their trust in “use common sense” or is there a lack of trust in this area?



Social Media Policy Questions

• What (and where) is the disclosure requirement for employees?

• How will employee account differ from individual accounts?

• What data can never be shared or discussed? Even if public (stock price and earnings)

• Are employees allowed to become subject matter experts?

• What are the consequences of violating the policy?

• Will the policy also be incorporated into other policies such as HR, IT security, privacy policies, etc.



3 Good Examples

• IBM Social Computing Guidelines

• Kodak Social Media Tips

• Intel Social Media Guidelines


Employees & Your Policy

• Educate. – Most people fall down due to lack of education. – Commit to ongoing workshops and extend the conversation.

• Extend the conversation. – Make sure to create a space where people can find you and ask

questions. – It can be an internal blog, wiki, or an internal discussion group.

• Empower. – Highlight the “Dos” over the “Don’ts” from your policy. – Make sure to focus the discussion on positive behaviors in your

governance.

Source: Mashable



• Create a solid process. – This is the part that takes the most time, so don’t despair if it

doesn’t work on the first try. – Make sure that every part of the organization is looped in.

• Tune into “WIIFM”. – Make sure to address how proper social media training is good for

employees’ individual careers.

• Address problems proactively and gently. – There will be things that go awry.– It’s always better to politely point out the problematic tweet or

blog comment in private. – Most people want to do the right thing even if they make mistakes.

Source: Mashable



• Address internal social too. – Make sure that your governance extends to your internal

collaboration groups and networks. – One of such issue is to not repost private discussions into public

forums.

• “These thoughts are my own.” – Encourage people to speak for themselves, not the brand, even

when they are talking about the space and the company. – Make sure that your employees as well as official spokespeople

have access to brand documents and Q&As.

Source: Mashable


The best quote there is that just about sums it all up:

“You can’t take something off the Internet. That’s like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.”

-Joe Ragan, NewsradioAs quoted in “Groundswell”


Thanks

Pete [email protected]

@prscott


Photo Credits

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/127044964/sizes/z/in/photostream/

pete scott | @prscott the business of social media: how to turn opportunities and risks into...

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