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Consumers want another kind of company. Now it’s up to YOU to build that company. Internal communications and social media.

Polle de Maagt (@polledemaagt) for BViC Conference Brussels

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Hello. I am Polle de Maagt.

I failed in most things during my

life (including being a rock star) but am still

trying to reach world domination. This time

by helping companies change. Change to

a company that is about consumers and

driving conversations.

Guess that makes me a change agent.

Guess that makes Nike, KLM and Telenet

my clients of change.

Nothing changed. And everything changed.

I guess most companies managed consumer expectations in a bad way. So that people now expect different things from companies than they did before. To name a few …

It’s about un-technoligizing technology, about acting human. Zappos does an amazing job in making

technology invisible and really

understanding consumers.

(Thanks Steven Verbruggen for the tip!)

Realize that everything a company does is communication. KLM surprised customers in a personal way. It wasn’t about talking in a remarkable way, it was about ACTING in a remarkable way. Acts, not ads.

Advocacy is the new retention is the new acquisition. Keeping clients and employees is more important that getting new ones. And activating clients to be an advocates is even more important.

Rethink the way consumers should value their products.. Gym-Pact let’s people pay when they DON’t turn up in their gym.

Realize new employees ask for a new way of cooperation. Working out of home, used to collaboration, frustrated with the fact that it is difficult to find colleagues, more than willing to share expertise.

“ “ There are actually few organizations that

can support passionate employees - even if they say they want them. That’s because the original industrial revolution was designed to support productivity.

David Armano

I love this one, just because it’s so true.

Hygiene levels are getting higher. We have higher expectations of brands, organizations and employers.

The world is getting 24/7 and realtime. KLM helps customers Monday to Sunday from 8AM to 11PM. That

is almost a 24/7/365 realtime customer support center. Imagine the

implications for your organization.

These small things have huge consequences.

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And it’s not about being on Facebook. Or Twitter. Yes, Twitter is huge. And Facebook even bigger. But they are both platforms, not end

goals. So it really is about if and how both can help you reach your end goal. Which is

most likely not about having a Facebook fan page and more about driving

conversations, customer retention, sales or brand value.

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It’s not about being a big brand. With big brands come big problems. Never look

for an excuse in just being a small company with

little budgets. When it comes to connecting with

consumers, real relationships work. And size, for

once, doesn’t matter.

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And it certainly isn’t about being the first mover in adopting new technology. Mobile, augmented reality, location

based services are all just awesome.

And yes, there is PR-value in being the

first Augmented Reality bakery in your

neighborhood. But is that really what

you want your consumers to talk

about?

It really is about another way of approaching consumers and employees.

Every employee is a (potential) ambassador. Some more subtle than others, but

We’re beyond acquisition and retention, we’re about advocacy. At the end of your visit, the owner Eduardo, will ask if everything during your stay was ok. And if you would do him a favor and write a review on

With employees/consumers talking, it’s about stuff worth sharing. Ambassadors just want to tell other, so help them! Choqoa support fans by giving them chocolate bars and highlighting them in their newsletter.

With employees/consumers talking, it’s about company culture. Employees are your ambassadors. The advertising in the world can’t buy you a remarkable company culture. Oh, and read Delivering Happiness.

Co-create with employees and consumers. More than 60% of all consumers and employees want to help to make your product or organization really better. Facilitate them to do so.

Changed focus from products to service. Acts, not ads. It isn’t about communication and products, it’s more and more about service. This has an impact on your organization.

Faster communications. Twitter, Facebook, email and text messages make communication extremely fast.

Simple collaboration and chat tools take it even further.

We’re going from a consumer life cycle to a conversation life cycle. Who are your best customers? The one that pay the most or the ones that talk the most?

So, how can we implement this? I never said it was easy.

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Change on different levels. To implement conversations within a

company you will need to break

down walls between department

(structural), open up (cultural) and

train people (personal).

Personal Personal knowledge and willingness

Cultural Company culture and values

Structural Organization

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Recognize that implementation takes time. Change management is difficult. Implementation of new tools isn’t easy. You will notice

you and your company will go through different phases in social media adoption.

But: there are tools and techniques to help.

Expectation

Over-delivery Makes positive conversations

Over-the-top-delivery Makes negative conversations

Under-delivery Makes negative conversations

Delivery Gives no reason to talk

Be maniacal about managing expectations. Under-promise, over-deliver in everything you do. Not only towards customers but

also to your colleagues.

Put your money where your mouth is. Measure. Build proof that social media works. Try measuring the Net Promoter

Score to see how likely it is that your

colleagues will recommend your

company.

People Content

Touchpoints

InSites Consulting

PEOPLE + TOUCHPOINTS Where do your employees

interact with consumers and how

can you optimize these

interactions?

CONTENT + TOUCHPOINTS What content can you use to enrich

the different touchpoints?

How can you use different

touchpoints to put a spotlight on

your content?

PEOPLE + CONTENT Which people are content

developers and which are content

sharers? How can you stimulate

both to either mine for content or

build reach?

TOUCHPOINTS Consider the consumer journey.

What are all relevant contacts

(touchpoints) you have with

consumers?

PEOPLE What are the different employees,

fans, positives, negatives, haters

and other stakeholders you can

define?

CONTENT Capitalize on the content you

already produce. What content do

your employees and fans

produce? How can you leverage

this and plan for it?

Let internal communications act as conversation manager. Manage your company resources: content, people and touchpoints.

Capitalize on the things you’re already doing. Kay Mook gained the Antwerp Zoo 300K extra visitors and almost became product of the year 2009. More at http://polle.me/ccjSNL

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Good cop, bad cop. Use social media policies to set the boundaries, use pilot projects and best practices

to inspire.

Don’t be stupid.

Find your ambassadors. There’s a group of customers/employees who are happy with your services but

don’t share their feeling with others. The pot of gold, a whopping 28%.

Empower your employees. Meet Richard Lennon, book

publisher at Penguin books in

London.

He reaches out and contacts

bloggers and other influentials.

The results? New ideas, new

authors and high advocacy.

Don’t be a slave of technology. Let technology work for you. Technology is a means, not a goal. Technology might blind you, but it can

certainly help you.

Use pilot projects to drive change. Pilot projects are a great way to learn and discover boundaries. Define intrinsic,

learning AND change management KPI’s for every project.

Not convinced? We asked 500 European marketers how they perform in terms of return on investment, turnover growth, profitability, market share and customer satisfaction.

InSites Consulting

The best performing marketers do three things that make them stand out. * Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers

Offline WoM Road map

WoM

Product improvement

So, let’s reflect on this and see how this translates to your own organisation. Try to map your organization onto our touchpoint-people-content model.

People Content

Touchpoints

InSites Consulting

PEOPLE + TOUCHPOINTS Where do your employees

interact with consumers and how

can you optimize these

interactions?

CONTENT + TOUCHPOINTS What content can you use to enrich

the different touchpoints?

How can you use different

touchpoints to put a spotlight on

your content?

PEOPLE + CONTENT Which people are content

developers and which are content

sharers? How can you stimulate

both to either mine for content or

build reach?

TOUCHPOINTS Consider the consumer journey.

What are all relevant contacts

(touchpoints) you have with

consumers?

PEOPLE What are the different employees,

fans, positives, negatives, haters

and other stakeholders you can

define?

CONTENT Capitalize on the content you

already produce. What content do

your employees and fans

produce? How can you leverage

this and plan for it?

Stop and think for a moment. 1) What has the key takeaway of this

presentation? 2) What is the main barrier in

implementing this? 3) What will YOU do in the next 48

hours?

You can forget most of the things I said in this introduction. But please, remember these 3 things.

Nothing changed, but everything changed. Consumers have changed expectations towards companies. Act on that, don’t advertise on that.

1)

Capitalize on the things you are already doing and empower your employees. Use your existing resources to work with you, not against you.

2)

Use smart pilots to drive change. Learn and change.

3)

Read the manual.

Seriously.

Read it.

I hope I was worth sharing. If so, spread the word. Send me an email at polle@insites.eu

or find me on twitter at

@polledemaagt.

Find the presentation at

http://polle.me/bvic11