your social media strategy won’t save you

by tara ‘missrogue’ hunt

&$*#@@%&*!!!

twitter isn’t the answer.

facebook isn’t the answer.

blogs, vlogs, photosharing, text messaging and IM aren’t the answer.

none of these are guaranteed to

1. social media doesn’t scale

2. social media is only a band-aid

3. social networks are about...being social

4. trust is at an all-time low

why?

1. it doesn’t scale

craigslist.org

“Craigslist gets more traffic than either eBay or Amazon .com. eBay has more than 16,000 employees. Amazon has more than 20,000. Craigslist has 30.” sept 2009, wired magazine

craig’s social media strategy #1

craig’s social media strategy #2

Craig understands that what scales is creating a useful, working site that listens to its users...

"The truth is that a lot of people complain about craigslist...few of them complain about the design...They seldom complain about amazing new features they imagine they might possibly want to use, because they are too busy complaining about the simple features they depend on that don't work as well as they'd like. By eliminating marketing, sales, and business development, craigslist's programmers have cut out all the cushioning layers that separate them from the users they serve..." sept 2009, wired

30 staff members.

30!

number of social media gurus?

0.

2. it’s just a band-aid

http://twitter.com/missrogue/status/5624792674

http://twitter.com/RogersMary/status/5628358318

“We’re not here to replace existing channelsof communications and customer care...

(which channels would those be?)...but to complement them.”

hmmmmm....

“Tip for Rogers: instead of hiring ppl for Twitter, why not try hiring ppl to answer your phones?”

"For all the good that @comcastcares does on Twitter in order to help unhappy customers Comcast is still reviled for its lousy service." Steven Hodson, The Inquisitor, September 5, 2009

impressive! but wait...

ah...comcast cares is a charity!

results of a more likely search...

@comcastcares is a victim of our nepotism. We desire to validate ourselves so strongly, that we will idolize less than lofty examples.

"Customers wouldn’t feel the need to embarrass us en masse, if our customer service channels weren’t so completely broken." Bob Knorpp, The Beancast

why it’s a band-aid

• not everyone that is having trouble with the company is going to be on twitter

• the comcast staff on twitter don’t answer every complaint (I checked thru the last 3 days of complaints and only 1/3rd were addressed)

• for those they DID answer, many people didn’t engage their ‘Can I help?’ dialogue

• competitors also troll for the same keywords and take advantage of this

• what happens when customers start asking, “WTF don’t you fix the problem instead of just being my Twitter buddy?”

3. social networks are about...being social!

we probably don’t need research to tell us this, but...

“we are wired to connect” Goleman on the findings of his research.

reasons why adults & teens use online networksadults teens

Stay in touch with friends 89% 91%

Make plans with friends 57 72

Make new friends 49 49

Organize with others for an event, issue or cause 43 n/a

Make new business or professional contacts 28 n/a

Promote yourself or your work 28 n/a

Flirt 20 17

http://www.pewinternet.org/topics/Social-Networking.aspx

nowhere even close to the top of that list is the desire to be sold to...or find interesting new products to buy...or have a chit chat with a brand representative...

our friends’ behaviors influence our behavior

wired mag: 12 sep 09 http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-10/ff_christakis

the social networks aren’t really changing us that much...

• around the world, studies have shown people maintain between 4 and 7 close friends at any given time

• in 2007, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, discussing the social graph, showed that the average user had about 110 ‘friends’

• social scientists wondered whether the web had changed our ability to have more close friends

• Christakis and Fowler analyzed a universities data (students who had 110 average friends) and looked at close vs ‘internet’ friends

• Christakis and Fowler found that the average Facebook user actually had 6.6 close friends

4. trust is at an all-time low

Google Newssearch results

for articleswith

“rebuildingtrust” in thetitle in 2009:

4,500

so...who can we trust?

the myth of super-connectors

the realities

• the path of influence is not predictable

• a burst in traffic sent by an influential blog/event is not usually sustained

• our influences change frequently as do our needs

• influence can grow fast or slow, but can disappear fast or slow as well

• there is a big difference between ‘DISCOVERY’ and ‘BUYING DECISIONS’

discovery decision

• super-nodes/influencers

• friends/family• word of mouth• branding outcome

(cool, I’ll remember that for a time when I need it)

• rarely a purchase• may be connected to a

decision later on

• friends/family• product reviews (to a

lesser extent now)• sales agents (influence

depends on experience - helpful?)

• multiple other factors, including cost

• purchase outcome

close to wide network influence

close network has higher influence

in other words...I may learn about something cool from Tim O’Reilly (kinda famous dude), but I may actually BUY something completely different based on the experience and advice of Carol Ellen (BFF).

buying decision process (AIUAPR)

• awareness - this is where marketing comes into play. Getting the message out that a product exists. Could be WOM, could be SM, could be an ad.

• interest - aka “sexiness” is this something that piques my curiosity? Usually where branding comes into play.

• understanding - is it relevant to my needs? what is this all about? Good copy goes a long way, but so does good product design and usability.

• attitudes - does it do what it says it does? is it really all that? This is where friends/family come into play as well as consumer reviews. Trust is core here.

• purchase - this may take a while if it’s a big ticket item, but the analysis isn’t over yet. User experience is key here.

• repeat purchase - loyalty or recommendations to others...if the product hasn’t lived up to it’s expectations, this can really influence attitudes going forward.

http://futureobservatory.dyndns.org/9432.htm#AIUAPR

this is all way more complicated than simply opening a twitter account or making a facebook fan page...

you should be happy that it’s complicated. it makes our work MUCH more interesting.

if merely setting up a Facebook page or providing customer service on Twitter were the answer...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/allaboutgeorge/335788165

where do we begin?

1. forget ‘social media strategies’ -- think people-centric business strategies

2. forget marketing -- think customer happiness

3. forget influencers -- think enthusiasts

4. forget campaigns -- think learning cycles

5. go deeper than trust -- raise whuffie

thinking bigger

people-centric

social media isn’t a strategy, it’s one of the communication tools available. It’s a great and potentially personal tool, but don’t stop there.

think people-centrically instead - for the entire experience...

not people-centric• Thinking about every

person as a consumer - someone who either consumes or doesn’t consume your product

• Only seeing your customers through the lens of their behaviour around your product or service

• Trying to get people to ‘fan’ you - celebrate you and your company. Making it all about how awesome your product and/or service is.

• Thinking in terms of sending the right signals and reaching the right influencers.

people-centric• Thinking about people in

a complex manner. Whether it is buying or their personal lives. Not slicing to suit a specific sales goal.

• Being concerned about serving your existing customers - helping them really rock. Helping them achieve their goals.

• Being less concerned with influencers and more concerned with how you can make your customers influential.

• Listening. Collaborating. Integrating feedback. Learning and innovating with all of the great feedback and interaction.

...if it doesn’t help your customers rock first and foremost, it isn’t people-centric.

creating customer happiness

what makes people happy?

•autonomy (feeling that your activities are self-chosen and self-endorsed)

•competence (feeling that you are effective in your activities)

•relatedness (feeling a sense of closeness with others)

•self-esteem (set-point, or the person’s natural propensity to happiness)

from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

rewarding enthusiasts

Influencers Enthusiasts

probably haven’t tried your product

have tried and LOVE your product

are really busy and have multiple companies trying to

get their attention

are dying to get YOUR attention

have a sizable audiencehave an audience of various

sizes, but with your help could grow that audience

will move onto the next product review tomorrow

will remain loyal as long as you rock their world

aren’t guaranteed to give you a good review

have already sung your praises

rewarding your enthusiasts

(be careful of creating the wrong incentives - too much free stuff and commissions = trouble)

• refer a friend codes for their blog/twitter followers

• thank you note with a small gift

• passing along journalists that are doing a story on your company to the enthusiasts

• give them a backstage tour of your facility (zappos does this - it’s awesome)

• name a feature that came from his/her feedback after him/her

• blog a success story about that customer

• send a birthday/Christmas/Hanukkah/thank you card

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2829219697/

versus

launch learn

limited time campaign ongoing process - no end

lots of planning up front, leading up to the big launch

less planning up front and more putting stuff out to

customers, getting feedback, learning, tweaking, rinse,

repeat.

pushpull (with a small amount of

push)

about customer acquisition about customer satisfaction

if the word grows slowly, campaign may be over b4

people catch wind.

lots of time for grassroots growing of buzz - and by the

time it tips, it’ll be better!

whuffie

whuffie is...

• reputation

• trust

• reach

• positive sentiment

• influence

• number of people you know

• number of people who know you

• number of people you can count on to bring you soup when you are sick

• current and potential access to ideas, talent and resources

• saved up favors (reciprocity)

• your known accomplishments

whuffie is more complex than trust and may or may not care about influence, network size and popularity, but does care about whether or not you deliver on your promises.

people could give a flying snake about brand consistency or frequency of posting (unless you are spamming), but they will pay attention to consistency in listening, community contributions, relationships and caring...

andsocial media?

social media tools are great. they’ve raised the bar and they’ve empowered customers.

AND we can work them into an overall strategy to help direct customers make a good buying decision.

social media tools and AIUAPR

• awareness - help spread the word that our products exist - ‘post this to Facebook’, following keywords and getting in front of potential customers, search engine optimization, blogging, tweeting, attending social functions/BarCamps, publishing valuable information and reports

• interest - focus on design, blogging/tweeting behind the scenes, telling your story, posting videos and photos of our product in action, ‘follow us on twitter’/’become a fan on Facebook’, get involved in the customer community

• understanding - good copy/content, posting videos and photos, collecting feedback/having conversations with people who are potential customers

social media tools and AIUAPR (2)

• attitudes - learning from customer reviews, allowing for customer reviews and ratings, following keywords to improve/put back into your product, allow people to ask for others’ opinions on social networks, responding to let people know you’re listening, collaboration, making it simple to give feedback

• purchase - make it super simple to discover, share and purchase, creating multiple distribution channels, share decisions on social networks, sharing purchases on FB/twitter, posting photos to Flickr, following up with simple return policy

• repurchase - creating badges, tell-a-friend referral programs, keeping track of preferences, deep web monitoring of feedback, tracking & recording and putting lessons back into the learning/improving

social media won’t make our companies better or make people love us, however...

we are lucky that these tools allow our customers to connect, speak out, talk back and share more readily with their friends.

if we are doing our job right - i.e. thinking people-centrically, putting happiness first, rewarding enthusiasts, learning not launching and raising whuffie - those connections, conversations and some of that sharing will lead to our success.

Order Whuffietoday!

http://www.thewhuffiefactor.com

licensing:

share/remix/spread ... but don’t forget to attribute.

http://slideshare.net/missrogue

contact me:

Tara ‘missrogue’ Hunthorsepigcow@gmail.com@missroguemontreal, quebec, canada514-679-2951

http://www.horsepigcow.com