From the Inside Out!

Posted on by barturbanski

What’s the MOST important part of a business?

Profits?

Customers?

Sustainability for the long run to ensure a bright future for everyone?

Sure, all of the above…

But the employees are just as important!

Up till now we’ve talked a lot about energizing, engaging, and responding to the market, but we’ve neglected the poor employees! They’re part of the groundswell too!

Apart from being a huge portion of the company structure, employees are a natural pool of social connections with the same common goal as the business: Success.

As your company grows it becomes increasingly difficult for efficient internal communication. Employees will become tired on incessant emails, and information flowing down the corporate ladder flows easily, but communicating insights and ideas going up the ladder become more difficult.

How can we get employees to engage?

The same way we get the market to!…More or less.

Companies will be able to achieve this through internal social networking applications, collaborating wikis, and idea exchanges such as forums. These platforms all connect employees into the groundswell.

(Li & Bernoff, 2011)

razorfish

Companies such as Best Buy and Razorfish have been able to integrate employee engagement through the groundswell.

Blue Shirt Nation was created by two Best Buy employees in order to gather insights on how well their advertising works. With a community building software called Drupal, the marketing management was able to gain new insights from Blue Shirts (a nickname for employees based off the blue polo uniform), which was more honest and useful, as opposed to information collected through corporate visits.

The Blue Shirt Nation not only allowed management new insights to their employees, but also allowed employees to help each other.

(Li & Bernoff, 2011)

Razorfish is dubbed as “one of the largest interactive agencies in the world” (Li & Bernoff, 2011 pg 239 para 2). Razorfish’s internal website, their intranet is set up as one giant wiki. Their internal site includes blogs, collaborative spaces, and is perfect for sharing ideas and insights.

Razorfish has connected its employees to the groundswell so well that it is in their corporate culture.

(Li & Bernoff, 2011)

References

Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2011). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Harvard Business Press.

Images in order of appearance 

TAIMUR. (n.d.). Business productivity – how to optimize it for your employees. Retrieved from Skylight website: http://skylightit.com/blog/

DutcgGorilla. (2012). Youwin.gif. Retrieved from Skylight website: http://imgur.com/gallery/0PoqQMo

Wikipedia. (2014). Best buy. Retrieved from Wikipedia website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Buy

Coffee, P. (2014). Update: Layoffs at razorfish north america. Retrieved from AgencySpy website: http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/we-hear-layoffs-at-razorfish-north-america_b67897

Bendt, S., & Koelling, G. (2008). Best practices in social networking: Best buy’s blue shirt nation. Retrieved from Business Innovation Factory website: http://www.businessinnovationfactory.com/blog/2008/9/best-practices-social-networking-best-buys-blue-shirt-nation#.VIJEd_nF9tM

Tealeshapcott. (2010). Collaboration intranets. Retrieved from tealeshapcott website: http://www.tealeshapcott.com/teale/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Collaboration-intranets.png

Let’s Get ENERGIZED!

Posted on by barturbanski

Do you trust your friends opinions far more than some strange ad you saw on your way home from work?

No? I suggest looking for some new friends…

But for everyone else, of course! Your friends know you better than anyone else! That’s why they made that suggestion to you!

That’s why it’s so important to get your target market excited about your business and products! When people are happy and satisfied they’re far more likely to suggest the experience to a friend.

This method is so popular a company called BzzAgent can sell you a program which creates a word of mouth advertising campaign.

How can you harness the power of word of mouth? 

Well, you have to start climbing the ladder. The social technographics ladder that is! As mentioned previously the ladder consists of Creators, Conversationalists, Critics, Collectors,  Joiners, Spectators,and Inactives.

The main focus should be on the top rung, the Creators. These are individuals who are creating and updating content, these people are the ones who maintain blogs, upload videos, or a webpage and so on.

Creators make content, and you want them to create content based on your company or products. The content will be viewed by Conversationalists, and Critics who will react and pass on information.

The information passed on is viewed as more credible, less biased, and more relevant to you, as it’s passed on by someone who actually has or has had a connection to you.

OK, so let’s assume you’ve found your most enthusiastic customers.

We need some techniques to connect our message or brand with these enthusiasts.

Here are three basic techniques:

1. Tap into customers’ enthusiasm with ratings and reviews– Works best with retail companies and companies with direct contact to customers. Hint: Try a Net Promoter Score!

2. Create a community to energize your customers– For the most passionate of customers, setting up such as forums and Q&A/FAQ sections on websites. Hint: We’ve been over this!

3. Participate in and energize online communities of your brand enthusiasts– This involves listening to what customers are saying and talking back! Hint: We’ve talked and listened!

Why should I bother with word of mouth?

  • It’s believable
  • It’s self-reinforcing
  • It’s self-spreading

(Li & Bernoff, 2011)

Which companies or industries benefit from word of mouth?

Many financial services are based on trust.

No one would ever deposit money in a bank with one location, which is through a dark alley, in the worst side of town, run by a handful of people out of a mobile home.

“The bank was RIGHT here yesterday!”

But most day to day life decisions aren’t that quick and easy. People spend an enormous amount of time researching what institution could offer the most value for them.

People tend to make many of their important decisions such as where to leave their money by asking and talking to their friends.

People even go to established communities such as internet forums to read real peoples opinions and reviews.

Out of the top five Canadian Banks where would one go to decide who to bank with?

Friends are great, they’ll let you know who they bank with, and share their experiences with you. On the plus side, they’re more likely to be honest and unbiased.

But also companies such as J.D. Power and Associates also rank these companies based on customer satisfaction.

References

Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2011). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Harvard Business Press.

Images in order of appearance 

Wilson, B. (2013). Beyond engagement: Why energized employees get better results. Retrieved from Employee Engagement Network website: http://employeeengagement.ning.com/profiles/blogs/beyond-engagement-why-energized-employees-get-better-results?xg_source=activity

DIYLOL. (2014). Customize meme. Retrieved from DIYLOL website: http://beta.diylol.com/posts/259214-my-god-it-all-makes-sense-now

Teacher Art. (2011). Be really enthusiastic. Retrieved from English Channel website: http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/art/level-c/be-really-enthusiastic/

Entrepreneursky. (n.d.). Retrieved from entrepreneursky website: http://entrepreneursky.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Word_Of_Mouth_marketing.jpg

Huffpost. (n.d.). Darkalley. Retrieved from huffpost website: http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1433931/thumbs/o-DARK-ALLEY-facebook.jpg

J.D. Power And Associates. (2013). J.d.power 2013 canadian retail banking customer satisfaction study. Retrieved from J.D. power and associates website: http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/2013-canadian-retail-banking-customer-satisfaction-study

Time to #Talk about @Twitter

Posted on by barturbanski

How can anyone consistently say anything useful, only using 140 characters?

Some material better than others.

That’s been my attitude about Twitter since I first tried it in 2009.

As time went on, more and more friends began tweeting. Internet community sites such as Reddit, Tickld, 9GAG, and others would routinely post images and excepts from Twitter conversions with great material.

But, what really stands out is how well Twitter allows businesses and people to connect to each other.

Unlike social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter uses a system of ‘followers’. Anyone can follow anyone, but someone who’s being followed has no requirement or obligation to follow a follower.

Users can be found through searches using Hashtags (#). Hashtags refer tweets to specific topics. Topics can trend, meaning the topic or Hashtag are being used in tweets in a high volume.

Tweets are by default public. Unlike a Facebook wall, which is normally only available to friends, anyone can see any users tweets. This is why Hashtags are so useful, but when tweeting to, or about someone, the poster must use mentions by using the @ symbol and following with the Twitter handle. For example @NutShellFinance.

If a user decides to pass on information found in other tweets found through Hashtags, or users they are following, the information can be quickly and easily passed on with a ‘retweet’. The retweet feature allows some of the best ideas, and information to be spread quickly and efficiently.

Tweets also allow the ability to provide links, lists of followers for sharing purposes, and hosts applications and tools. Applications include phone applications (apps) and tools such as TweetDeck, which allow the user to collect mentions and searches into columns, making responding easier.

(Li & Bernoff, 2011)

How does a business use this information for it’s practices?

It’s actually very simple. It all comes back to two very important things every company involved in the groundswell should be constantly aware of. Listening to the market, and talking to the market.

A few classmates and I began a competition on Twitter, and called it the #TwitterOymplics. The rules were simple, we would find between 3 and 8 companies in one industry send a tweet with a mention to their Twitter handle, with a caption such as “First to respond wins”. This becomes a race to see who is listening, and who is talking to the market.

First Twitter Olympics

Don’t mind the typo!

First Twitter Olympics 2

This was the first post sent before we began using the Hashtag #TwitterOlympics, but the response was amazing! @WestJet responded within a minute, @NAIT, and @MacEwanU, were also reasonably fast, and @UAlberta also responded on the same day.

What was so interesting was the care and attention these organizations take to their social media strategy. Not only do were they listening to mentions in tweets but also actively responding back to the user.

We were able to replicate the results with several industries, such a cell phones, fast food, and coffee companies, celebrities, and social media websites. Some with more positive results than others.

First Twitter Olympics 3In general we found that the level of involvement seemed to coincide with their industry peers. If a company in an industry responded, it was very likely that most if not all companies mentioned would respond as well. While in other industries, companies that had not responded, their peers had not responded either.

There were a few exceptions, such as the automotive industry where 8 companies were mentioned and only one responded. While still adhering to the conclusions made, the general amount of social media involvement was equaled by the companies industry peers.

References

Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2011). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Harvard Business Press.

Images in order of appearance 

Amram, M. (2013). How to be funny on twitter, by expert funny tweeter megan amram. Retrieved from Vulture website: http://www.vulture.com/2013/05/megan-amram-how-to-be-funny-on-twitter.html

Bhasin, K. (2012). Taco bell smacks down old spice on twitter. Retrieved from Business Insider website: http://www.businessinsider.com/taco-bell-smacks-down-old-spice-on-twitter-2012-7

Frankpasquine. (2013). Like literally news. Retrieved from Business Insider website: http://likeliterallynews.com/2013/08/02/scientist-discover-woman-hates-traveling/

Sometimes we just need some support

Posted on by barturbanski

Everyone has a support line horror story.

“I was on hold FOREVER”

“They had no idea what they were talking about!”

…And so on. 

Unfortunately for everyone involved, this tedious task also happens to be quite expensive. Calls to technical support generally cost around $10-$20/call. Considering the volume of calls these centers would take, the eventual cost the company would be in the millions or even billions. That’s just to run these call centers. (Li & Bernoff, 2011)

These costs are so high that it’s become the norm to send these calls over seas. Generally, labor is cheaper and the quality does not tend to decrease.

Although off-shoring is not the best solution to alleviate the call center conundrum.

What could possibly be a better solution than paying less for labor and still receiving the same services with little to no decrease in quality?

Paying little to nothing for labor and still receiving the same services with little to no decrease in quality!

I know what you’re thinking, and no I have yet to the find the holy grail. 

Fortunately, the actual solution involves most of what I’ve been saying though out this blog. Communication is vital.  Users must unite, companies must listen and communicate back.

How does all this create a solution?

Online communities. Your company must connect users together, which will allow them to support each other. People inherently trust other people as opposed to corporations. So naturally, their peers are a great resource for their problem resolutions.

Amazingly it works! Enter any community forum for products and companies. It does not take long to realize there are several people taking time out to help each other.

(Li & Bernoff, 2011)

WordPress itself uses these forums. You’ve probably used these platforms without ever realizing it. Apart from saving you money, these forums add a enormous amount of value to your company. People love helping themselves, and self service has become a staple in our culture.

Many companies have clued in to the importance of online communities and self service. Banks are becoming very in tune with the demands of the people. From ATM’s to Online banking, people have been serving themselves for years.

Also, banks such as TD Canada Trust, which I have mentioned before, have also created ways for individuals to ask questions without the use of Tellers, or call centers. TD Helps allows people to type in their questions, and receive back answers! Although, the answers are still managed by employees, the user does not need to spend a cruel amount of time on the phone or in a line to receive an answer especially non-urgent questions.

One of the opportunities TD could use if creating a separate community among its clients. As we’ve spoken earlier these clients could use a communities such as a forum, hosted by TD Canada Trust, and share insights, tips, tricks, and experiences with each other.

References

Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2011). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Harvard Business Press.

Images in order of appearance 

Brooks, C. (2014). How to design an ivr phone system that doesn’t annoy your customers. Retrieved from Business News Daily website: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6315-design-ivr-system.html

Shieff Services. (2011). Increase your leads by 68%! Retrieved from Shieff Services website: http://shieffservices.blogspot.ca/2011/04/increase-your-leads-by-68.html

Carter, D. (2014). Monty python and the holy grail (1975). Retrieved from For the love of celluloid website: http://fortheloveofcelluloid.com/2014/07/30/monty-python-and-the-holy-grail-1975/

Hack Forums. (2014). Retrieved from Hack Forums website: http://vfowler.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/self-service-checkout.jpg

Insight. (n.d.). Gas pump top digital signage. Retrieved from Insight Digital Signage website: http://www.insightdigitalsignage.com/products_fuel_gas_pump_signage.html

Yogurt Distribution Company. (n.d.). Your success is in the ydc mix. website: http://www.yogurtdistribution.com/

TD Canada Trust. (2010). Corporate social responsibility report 2010. website: http://www.td.com/corporate-responsibility/crr-2010/customers/provide-support/td-helps-index.jsp

It’s time for the talk

Posted on by barturbanski

I don’t know about you, but nothing grabs my attention more than someone yelling at me.

The message may not come across, but they will have my attention.

What I’m referring to the is ‘Marketing Funnel’. Traditionally, firms and companies focused much of their resources and attention towards traditional advertising. These include commercials, public relations, online banner ads, etc. Now with the saturation of the market, coupled with the alternatives individuals have toward their media outlets, many of these advertising techniques have simply become ‘shouting’.

Advertising generally thrives on repetition. This is measured with reach, and frequency. Reach is how many people have been exposed to the message, while frequency measures how often they are exposed. Mass is incredibly important with advertising.

How this all this ties into the funnel? Advertisers shout a message out to the market hoping to guide consumers into the wide end of the funnel. As the consumers move through the funnel, advertisers engage in a variety of activities to pull the consumer to the narrow end, in hopes of securing a purchase decision.

Since this have become the norm for so many companies, there are so many messages coming across to consumers. Its become increasingly difficult, and far less effective in grabbing the consumer’s attention. The funnel is becoming less and less relevant, as people are now engaging in more word-of-mouth advertising. People tend to trust the opinions of people they already know as opposed to strangers reviews and companies advertisements.

People engaged in the middle of the funnel are now more reliant on one another to lead them to the purchase decision as opposed to the advertiser. Fortunately, the middle of the funnel is a new opportunity to listen and talk to the groundswell.

As before we know how to listen, now we must learn to join the conversation by talking.

There are plenty of ways to tap into and talk to the groundswell, but here are four simple techniques:

  1. Post a viral video– People love sharing content, create an interesting video people want to see and share.
  2. Engage in social networks and user-generated content sites– Create a personality using a social networking platform. Hint: Try using the POST method.
  3. Join the blogosphere– Encourage staff, and executives to create content on blogs. Use these blogs interact with other blogs.
  4. Create a community– Communities such as online company forums, are an effective way to engage in and create value to the consumers.

(Li & Bernoff, 2011)

Two companies who do this well are Blendtec Blenders, and TD Canada Trust.

Both of which were able to create viral videos, engage on social networks, blogs, and at least a small community following.

TD Canada Trust came out this year with ‘Customer Appreciation Day’. One way TD was able to show their clients that they are appreciated was with talking ATM’s which gave clients gifts, and thanked them for their business.

While TD does not have its own stand alone blog, it does create value through their website offering many services and information. Also, clients are able to conveniently do their banking from their home PCs and mobile devices.

Blendtec has become famous for their ‘Will it Blend?’ videos on YouTube, and their website. These videos have increased sales of their rather expensive blenders but showcasing the incredible capabilities of them. Here is how a Blendtec blender interacts with an Apple iPad

Blendtec offers a blog on their website, and has created a community on YouTube sharing videos, humorously blending strange objects.

References

Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2011). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Harvard Business Press.

Images in order of appearance 

Parmar, B. (2014). My ego is bigger than yours. Retrieved from BeejalParmar.com website: http://www.beejalparmar.com/my-ego-is-bigger-than-yours/woman-yelling-in-megaphone/

Massey, B. (n.d.). Drilling in on social conversion strategies. Retrieved from Conversion Scientist website: http://conversionscientist.com/audio-available/drilling-in-on-social-conversion-strategies/

Suda, S. (n.d.). Listen to your customers. Retrieved from Thoughts on Business website: http://thoughtsonbusiness.org/2013/04/01/listen-to-your-customers/

Deja Vu a new POST for you!

Posted on by barturbanski

You are a large company, investing thousands, maybe millions into advertising. You’re listening to the market, you’re talking back, and yet you’re not quite squeezing all the information you’re looking for out.

“Why? What could possibly be the problem? I’ve done everything!”

Well, how long have you searched for a social media platform? and how much research and thought have you put into the platform chosen?

This is where the POST method comes in handy. Comprised of people, objectives, strategy, and technologies. 

Freedom 55 founded as a division of London Life, has many advisers who could benefit greatly from an online presence, which could be achieved using the POST method.

It is incredibly important to first discover who you are targeting.

People: Discover who your message is important to and most likely to be received by. This can be discovered using the Technographic Profile. As I’ve touched on earlier this tool will allow you to discover just how your target market is interacting with the groundswell. The target market may seem obvious and simple, yet one may be surprised by the results of the participants. Understanding just who is most involved, will allow for better penetration into the market.

Objectives: Ask yourself, what is the purpose of going into the online social media realm? Are you looking to tap in by listening to the groundswell? Or, connecting to the groundswell directly? or possibly you are looking to energize, support, or embrace customers.

  • Energizing- Includes using the most enthusiastic customers and use the groundswell to increase their word of mouth advertising.
  • Supporting- Setting up groundswell tools, such as forums to connect clients who may be interested in direct contact with one another.
  • Embracing- This requires you to integrate customers into the way your business works.

From the standpoint of an adviser focus should be set on listening, talking, and energizing their clients through the groundswell, these three are the most feasible and efficient ways for the adviser to connect with their clients through the groundswell.

Strategy: How would you like your relationship with your clients to change? This is what must be addressed through the strategy. Creating an online presence will allow for more frequent contact with a larger amount of clients. This will also allow for a new channel for existing and new prospective clients to come into contact with you. This new channel is share able between your clients and their connections as well, even furthering your reach.

Technology: Once the people, objectives, and strategy have been decided, you are now able to finally decide on which platform fits your criteria the most.

(Li & Bernoff, 2011)

For an adviser at Freedom 55, Twitter, as well as a blog, would be strong choices to reach out and communicate with the clients in the groundswell. The information can be shared and accessible to many while also creating value for the adviser and the clients.

References

Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2011). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Harvard Business Press.

Freedom 55. (2013). About freedom 55 financial. Retrieved from Freedom 55 Financial website: http://www.freedom55financial.com/freedom55/english/ab.asp

Images in order of appearance 

Admin. (2010). Best of office weekend roundup 8. Retrieved from Shoplet Blog website: http://blog.shoplet.com/office-supplies/best-of-office-weekend-roundup-8/attachment/tumblr_l7cm9rk9wl1qb6i5xo1_500/

Reddit. (2014). I’ve tried everything and it still wont work! Retrieved from Reddit website: http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FpNCbLji.png&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Ftalesfromtechsupport%2Fcomments%2F1z4d8z%2Five_tried_everything_and_it_still_wont_work%2F&h=484&w=640&tbnid=y0WWExVF0ZaYhM%3A&zoom=1&docid=KI163nmJXSt38M&ei=-C1VVKbZBdWzyATOo4CoAg&tbm=isch&ved=0CBsQMygAMAA&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=1615&page=1&start=0&ndsp=26

The Financial Blogger. (2010, ). Freedom 75? Retrieved from Reddit website: http://www.thefinancialblogger.com/freedom-75/

Connecting your company to the groundswell

Posted on by barturbanski

Quick! What’s the quickest and easiest way to connect your company to the groundswell?

Have an answer? Congratulations read no further!

Have trouble coming up with an answer? Perfect, that means you’ve been paying attention.

There is no simple quick solution to connecting a company to the groundswell. It happens to be quite the process. Many companies have tried and succeeded, while others have struggled and failed. Genuine interest, and involvement of the organization are crucial. As mentioned before you must talk to, and listen to the groundswell as opposed to simply talking at it.

Connecting a company to the groundswell has three essential elements.

The first element is to take it step by step. Trying to complete everything all at once is a date with disaster. Starting small and taking natural steps to the integration of a new strategy, and new way of thinking requires a steady implementation of small steps. This slow and steady process will also allow for an opportunity for the people of the organization to adjust to the changes.

The second element is to ensure you have a vision. Each stepping stone should move naturally to the next. Create a plan centered around your vision, and you will be able to create a solid foundation which will allow your organization to reach the next level of groundswell thinking.

The third element requires executive support. The stepping stones will create a small foundation on which you can create a basis of how to sell your idea to the upper management of the organization. The successes of groundswell thinking on a smaller scale evidenced by projects and undertakings in the early steps will solidify your pitch to the executive staff.

(Li & Bernoff, 2011)

Failure is not the end. It is crucial to learn from all mistakes that lead to the non-success of the project. Unfortunately, companies do struggle and some fail.

Dell is an example of a company who was not able to stay on top of the groundswell. Dell heavily relied on their online and over the phone customer service as a staple of their organization. This gave Dell a competitive advantage over others. In 2001 Dell has outsourced it’s customer service offshore, lowering it’s customer satisfaction greatly by 2005 (Li & Bernoff, 2011).

Dell was not sufficiently involved in the groundswell. Problems with products and poor responses to the groundswell lead to declines in consumer confidence, and turned into a public relations nightmare for Dell.

Dell used this crisis to begin a new social strategy. They began using forums and communities to support customers. The new initiatives were used outside of the day to day operations of Dell.

The first stepping stone of Dell was to start listening. Naturally the next step was to talk, this was managed through the community forums, and blogs. Dell developed a transparent company approach. Dell was able to gain back consumer confidence, by changing the company form the inside out, one person at a time (Li & Bernoff, 2011).

References

Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2011). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Harvard Business Press.

Images in order of appearance.

Sanket Biswal. (n.d.). Learn social media etiquette for social networking. Retrieved from fedobe website: http://fedobe.com/learn-some-social-media-etiquette-in-social-networks/

Team Builders Plus. (n.d.). Leaders must be effective communicators if they are to be successful. the foundation of good communication is creating a supportive environment that encourages the free and open exchange of ideas, thoughts, and opinions. Retrieved from Team Builders Plus website: http://teambuildersplus.com/leadership-development/foundations-of-communication

BlogBoldy. (n.d.). Build your online business one step at a time. Retrieved from blogboldy website: http://blogboldly.com/build-your-online-business-one-step-at-a-time/

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Dell. Retrieved from Wikipedia website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell

Have you spoken with your market?

Posted on by barturbanski

If market research were Blockbuster, then listening to the groundswell is Netflix. While market research is still useful, listening to the groundswell and being involved in the online community is cheaper and more effective. Market research is excellent at answering questions, but lacks in ability to generate insight. This is where we must listen (Li & Bernoff, 2011).

How do we listen to the groundswell? It’s surprisingly simple. The two main strategies include setting up your own private community and begin brand monitoring.

Setting up a private community can be done through Communispace. These private communities are like focus groups which are always running, these communities offer an easy and natural interaction space for your markets. The information disclosed is incredibly valuable a company.

Alternatively, beginning brand monitoring is a possible solution. This can be accomplished by hiring a a company to listen in on blogs, discussion forums, Twitter, and other social media platforms. These companies then submit reports, and can push results out to specific departments. There are several companies that allow you to do this, but one of the most popular happens to be Nielson’s BuzzMetrics.

(Li & Bernoff, 2011).

But what does listening to the groundswell mean to you?

Well, as it turns out listening is one the most neglected skills in business. Particularly due to it’s difficulty from a business standpoint. Traditionally has been market research the easiest, yet most narrow form of listening to the customer base. Fortunately now it is easier than ever to participate and listen to the groundswell. There are six important reasons companies need to be involved.

  • To find out what your brand stands for
  • Understand how buzz is shifting
  • Save research money/increase research responsiveness
  • Find the sources that influence your market
  • Manage public relations crises
  • Generate new product and marketing ideas

(Li & Bernoff, 2011)

Well that’s great, but how do we get started?

Begin with a technographics profile on your customer base. As I’ve mention in a previous post the techno graphics profile will help you decisively find your target market.

Start small, but think big. Particularly with larger corporations with many brands, monitoring everything and rolling out a new strategy all at once is daunting and expensive. These large companies must create private communities, and start with one brand at a time.

Make sure the team dedicated to the your efforts are competent and experienced. It’s likely the idea of undertaking a new strategy of listening will be presented by a senior executive. This individual will themselves be bright and experienced, but this does not guarantee the team will be able to understand the results.

Choose a senior to interpret the information and to integrate it with other sources. When considering the amount of resources invested in the new strategy it is vital that an experienced person is responsible for the implementation of the strategy and the interpretation of information.

(Li & Bernoff, 2011)

Which companies could benefit from listening to the groundswell?

Many if not all companies who advertise could benefit from listening. Visa uses many financial institutions to sell and distribute their credit cards, and also offer several different reward programs for the use of their cards. These benefits include travel points, travel insurance, drivers rewards, money back, etc. Visa has many channels through which they distribute, but also must advertise to their markets.

As such a large corporation they could further understand what their brand stands for, and how the buzz is shifting, also save money on research and increase responsiveness. Ultimately this will result in finding new sources to influence their market, and generate new product ideas.

Even as such a large and already established global corporation, Visa still has strong competitors such as MasterCard and American Express, among others they must compete with. The difference of value generated from listening as opposed to asking questions could give Visa the edge against it’s competitors simply by using the groundswell.

References

Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2011). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Harvard Business Press.

Images in order of appearance 

Dang, D. (2013). Listening to the groundswell (chapter 5). website: http://davisdang25.wordpress.com/page/2/

Lebeau. (n.d.). Blockbuster vs. netflix. website: http://lebeauleblog.com/2011/10/06/blockbuster-vs-netflix/

Goldstein, D. (n.d.). Facebook ads for market research and testing ideas. website: http://neumarkets.com/facebook-ads-for-market-research-and-testing-ideas/

Focus. (n.d.). Visa travel money cards. website: https://www.focusok.com/discover/visa-travel-money-cards/

The Social Technographics Profile

Posted on by barturbanski

Have you ever sat down and wondered what the social technographics profile is? No? Neither have I, but as it turns out it is an incredibly useful tool! The social technographics profile is method to group people who participate in the groundswell  (Li & Bernoff, 2011).

The participants can be classified by their activities like rungs on a ladder

[groundswell_ladder.jpg]

The first rung we see is the Creators. Creators are online participants who maintain either a webpage, blog, or upload videos or audio among other online activities at least once a month.

The second rung, are Conversationalists. These are the consumers who participate in more frequent dialogue, such as Facebook status updates and tweet on Twitter. These participants must update at least weekly.

Third step down we see Critics. These are the consumers who react to online content. Instead of creating as creators and conversationalists do, they simply contribute. The participation includes commenting, editing, and posting to online forums.

Fourth step we see Collectors. These participants save URLs, and tags on social bookmarking services, use RSS feeds, and vote on sites such as Digg. The actions of collectors are important for organizing the content produced by creators and critics.

Next we see Joiners. Joiners are among the fastest growing groups, joiners represent social media participants on websites such as Facebook.

The sixth rung are Spectators. These are the participants who consume what is produced by rest, but don’t contribute.

The seventh and final rung is the Inactives. These are the non-participants of social technologies.

(Li & Bernoff, 2011)

Now what does all this mean? Well, these classifications help the user understand how social technologies are being used by different groups of people. This is important because it allows the user to understand how their target market (customers/consumers) are using social technologies. This will help the user create an appropriate strategy.

Lets use Sun Life Financial as an example.Sun Life Financial

The technographics profile will allow the user to better understand their target markets activities with social technologies, but does not create an understanding of who the target market is.

(Sun Life Financial, 2014)

For this the user can use Alexa. Alexa.com allows the user to view how popular a website is, how it’s being used, and the audience demographics. For the purpose of the example we will only use the demographic.

Alexa Sunlife Financial(Alexa, 2014)

Here we see the demographics of those who visit the Sun Life Financial website. Women visiting are well above the internet average users, the average visitors vary from the very well educated to those with no college education, and that more often than not the website is visited from the workplace.

Now from here the user may want to see which rung of the technographic ladder would be most useful to focus on. Here the user can use the empowered tool by Forrester.

Forrester Empowered

The criteria chosen for the demographic was ages 45-54, under the assumption that many of people seeking financial advice and services would be individuals closer to retirement, whose children have likely moved out, and find themselves with more income. Also, the gender selected is female in accordance with the results from Alexa, which showed that woman were the above average visitors of the Sun Life Financial website.

The results show that women in Canada within the age range most likely to visit the Sun Life Financial website are predominantly spectators and joiners. This information is valuable to the user, in this case Sun Life, as to where to direct marketing resources on social technology.

Text References:

Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2011). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Harvard Business Press.

Image References:

Sun Life Financial. (2014). Home. website: http://www.sunlife.ca/

Alexa. (2014) Competitive intelligence. Retrieved from Alexa.com website: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/sunlife.ca

Forrester. (2014). What’s the social technographics profile of your customers? Retrieved from Empowered website: http://empowered.forrester.com/tool_consumer.html

Users of the World Unite

Posted on by barturbanski

(Friedman, 2013)

Social media, is one of the greatest tools available to businesses and individuals for communication. The reach created by these platforms is outstanding, but how do you know which  platform is right for you and your business? Users of the World Unite, by Andreas M. Kaplan and Michael Haenlein, provides us with tips and insights into the new medias.

Users of the world unite generously provides five points about being social. These are to be active, be interesting, be humble, be unprofessional, Be honest. (Kaplan & Haenlein, n.d.) These points are all important for any company in any industry, the activity of the platform is what will keep the audiences attention. For financial professionals relationship building is the backbone of their practice, and in order to build a relationship with anyone including a target market it is important to engage consistently and keep a channel of information streaming.

Be interesting. It’s so simple it seems almost obvious, yet it needs to be mentioned. No one will pay attention to the information presented if it’s bland and dry. Professionals need to leave room for interactions and memorable content in order to make an impression on their audience. Remember, finance can be very dry, and complicated. Many people will lose interest in the content if they don’t understand what is presented.

Be humble social media has functioned before your involvement and will continue after. People may be turned off if they believe they are simply being advertised to, and will not continue browse though the information.

Be unprofessional, this one really resonated with me, in my opinion it ties in well with be interesting and be humble. While this particular point may not work for every company and every industry, but it is important for the content to be relatable. People may lose interest if they find the information dry and difficult to read. While in some industries such as Finance professionalism creates credibility, it may be difficult to be relatable. This is where be interesting ties in well, if you cannot create a more relatable tone without tarnishing credibility, it is crucial to create and present interesting content.

Finally, be honest. Transparency in recent years had become a hot topic for many corporations, and tech savvy individuals are able to discover information that could be unfavorable to your company. It’s easier for your audience to hold trust in your company if you are able to hold yourself accountable, rather than trying to rectify a bad situation later on.

Kaplan, A. M., & Michael Haenlein, M. (n.d.). Users of the world, unite! the challenges and opportunities of social media. Retrieved from: http://moodle.nait.ca/pluginfile.php/2235476/mod_resource/content/1/Kaplan%2C%20Andreas%20-%20Users%20of%20the%20world%2C%20unite.pdf

Friedman, B. (2013, ). Financial advisors: These social media stats are for you. Retrieved from examiner website: http://www.examiner.com/article/financial-advisors-these-social-media-stats-are-for-you