Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Role of Leadership in Social Media

We often hear of social media being equated with tools and platforms. But it's really much more than that.

If you're adopting these technologies and behaviors at your company, it's not about the shiny new toys. It's fundamentally about culture change. And that type of transformational change - which may include updating business practices - must come from the top. But more than a top-down dictum, it's got to be part of leadership.

I've previously discussed leadership here - in particular the leadership from Ford's CEO Alan Mulally, who really gets social media. He promotes a culture of transparency and openness that is completely aligned with the way we're trying to engage with consumers online and think about how we do business. Consistency of purpose and of message is key.

The Washington Post's "On Leadership" feature recently did a two-part interview with Alan that captures some of the thinking behind what makes this major culture change at Ford such a success. I thought it was valuable to share these videos with you, since there are broader business lessons here that any marketing, communications or social media professional should understand.

Alan Mulally on catching mistakes

Transcript available here.

Alan Mulally on the "liberating clarity" of his mission

Transcript available here.

This kind of thinking and laser-like focus on our plan is one of the things that continues to set Ford apart. In social media as well as in the industry.

Related:
Paul Gillin's New Media Demands New Leadership
Charlene Li's Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead

Larger Flickr image of ONE Ford available here.

Labels: CEO, Ford, social media, strategy, Video

Posted by Scott Monty at 1:21 PM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Thursday, March 04, 2010

How Ford Uses Social Media [VIDEO

At the risk of giving away too much of what we do (not really - everything we do in social media is in the public, so you just need to pay attention or search around to find out), I'd like to share with you a little bit about Ford Motor Company's approach to social media.

Here's a great video that WebPro News did when we were at Blog World Expo last October. It captures a lot of what Ford is doing in the space.

I keep a clipsheet of coverage of our social media efforts (using Profilactic), which is helpful when speaking to reporters or digital media and they're looking for examples of how our work has resonated. I simply refer them to our links and they can sort through the filters to find what they're looking for.

On his blog, Jeff Bullas gave away The 7 Secrets to Ford's Social Media Marketing Success last month. There are some great takeaways there for any company that's interested in social media and some that are specific to Ford and our efforts. And Slate.com's The Big Money covered the success we've seen from the first wave of the Fiesta Movement.

We're working on a lot more - notably Chapter 2 of the Fiesta Movement, in which there are 20 teams of two in 16 cities across the country, creating mini marketing campaigns through social media as well as offline events and media. And our social media strategy is global, reflecting the growing interest from many areas around the company and around the world.

And we maintain profiles on a number of social networks, including profiles on Twitter: @Ford, @FordCustService, @FordFiesta, @FordAutoShows, @FordLatino, @FordEU, @FordAPA and more. In addition, we've got some employees on Twitter. You can find the full list at http://twitter.com/ScottMonty/ford.

We also have a number of Facebook pages, the most prominent of which are Ford and Mustang. All of our pages are favorited on the Ford page, so you can pick which ones you'd like to become a fan of.

In addition, we're active on Flickr for photo sharing, YouTube for videos, Plancast and Upcoming for events, Delicious for public bookmarking, and Scribd for document sharing (where we're the #5 most followed profile). And if you're ever in doubt where to find us, you can see our profiles on the front of Ford.com or on The Ford Story.

Lots of stuff going on right now that's keeping us really busy. Just thought you'd like a window into what some of it is and why we're doing it.

Disclosure: http://cmp.ly/4

Labels: Ford, social media, Video

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:24 AM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Social Media Marketing Spending Spirals Up

When you start hearing about social media taking up more budget rather than having to struggle for dollars and attention, it's clear that the practice is gaining in legitimacy.

Remember the days of having to gently introduce the concept, or of having to prove that in fact it's something that's a coming trend? We had to deal with skeptics - the same type of people, who maybe less than 10 years ago, doubted that the Internet was going to catch on. And we've had to deal with a struggling economy and limited funding.

Things are a little different now. In fact, you might say that things are actually looking up. I think part of it may be that the tough economy forced marketers to be more savvy and frugal about their efforts, and social media became a natural receptacle for the underfunded. As such, it's grown in stature and maturity, and with the rise of the awareness of social networks in the general public, it's only going to get larger.

Here are a couple of charts from "The CMO Survey" undertaken by the Duke University Fuqua School of Business and the American Marketing Association, as reported by eMarketer:

Social Media Marketing Spending by US B2B and B2C Marketers, August 2009 & February 2010 (% of total) Percent of Marketing Budget Spent on Social Media According to US Marketers, August 2009 & February 2010 (% of total)

When you compare the spending on social media marketing from August 2009 to February 2010, overall there's an increase of 60% in the budgets (from 3.5% to 5.6%). Similarly, the planning for the next one to five years shows a similar level of consideration as well: in August 2009, social media spending was thought to be 6.1% for the next year and 13.7% for the next five years; and now, it's more like 9.9% in the next year and 17.7% in the next five years.

And since this was a survey of CMOs, it's a good indication that these budget predictions may get some traction, rather than just being a fond wish of pundits. It's a relief to see something that doesn't resemble a death spiral in this economy.

Photo credit: emrank (Flickr)

Labels: Marketing, social media, trends

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:36 AM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Monday, March 01, 2010

Study: Most Effective B2B Social Media Tactics are IT ‘Lite’

Guest post by Ben Hanna, VP of Marketing for Business.com, the Web’s leading portal for business owners.

According to a new study involving more than 1,700 small business leaders, companies marketing to small businesses would be well advised to focus on social media tactics requiring little IT investment, such as webinars, podcasts and establishing a presence on top social networking sites, before pursuing more IT resource intensive initiatives such as creating a company-managed online community. The study, conducted by Business.com, finds that that four of the top five most effective social media tactics for engaging small business decision makers do not require significant IT investment or involvement. The exception – company blogs – should be backed by both a strategic content strategy and the resources necessary to create this content on an ongoing basis before it allocating IT resources to blog creation or management.

The small business social media study examined the social networks and other social media resources small business owners and managers turn to for business-relevant information. In contrast to the common perception of social media as inherently “social” or interactive, study participants using social media for business were much more likely to use resources which don’t require interaction, such as webinars and podcasts (67%) or reading product reviews (63%), than they were to participate in online discussions (29%). The top five social media resources used by small business leaders are:

Webinars / Podcasts – small business leaders consider webinars and podcasts to great resources for professional development, industry research and learning about potentially-relevant products and services, saving them the time and expense of attending in-person training.
Ratings & Reviews – provide useful input into the business buying process, particularly those ratings or reviews provided by other small businesses using the product or service.
Company / Brand Pages on Social Networking Sites – social network participation is now mainstream for U.S. adults, with 46% using sites such as Facebook and 25% participating weekly. Small business leaders are increasingly turning to these sites to find the latest information about important vendors, products and services.
Company Blogs – small business leaders praise company blogs – at least, those that are “well written, current and with good thought leadership articles” – as great sources of information about business-relevant products, services and the underlying character of a company.
Social Media Search – while some of the business-relevant information on social media sites can be found through general search engines, a great deal cannot. Realizing this, over half of small business leaders using social media search for business-relevant information directly on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Business.com Answers, SlideShare and many more.

B2B social media marketing initiatives require Marketing and IT to work closely together to prioritize projects, allocate resources, manage execution and maintain new systems and features. One key implication from this study for companies marketing to small businesses is that Marketing can, and should, actively pursue B2B social media initiatives which require little IT investment before taking on more resource-intensive projects.

For example, rather than placing a company-managed online community the core of the emerging social media strategy – a community where, according to this research, it will be very challenging to build participation by small business leaders – establish a company presence on one or more social networking sites and focus initial community development efforts on those sites. By focusing first on external, IT ‘lite’ social media opportunities, companies marketing to small businesses are more likely to reach a far larger portion of their target audience in the short run, begin developing a following and learn key lessons that inform what social media features and functionality are actually necessary on the company web site.

For more details, the complete research report, “Engaging Small Business Decision Makers Through Social Media,” can be downloaded from the Business.com web site at http://www.business.com/info/engaging-small-business-through-social-media.

Photo credit: p_kirn

Ben Hanna most recently led the Business.com 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study, and is a specialist in B2B online social media and marketing solutions.

Labels: b2b, corporate blogging, guest post, social media, study

Posted by Scott Monty at 4:20 PM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Sunday, January 24, 2010

2010 Digital Marketing Outlook

The Society of Digital Agencies - a group that serves as a worldwide voice of digital marketing professionals with a mission to advance the industry through best practices, education, and advocacy - recently sent me the results of a large survey they conducted. SoDA solicited feedback from over 1,000 digital marketing executives from agency and client-side worldwide and captured some solid insights worth sharing here.

There is no question that digital marketing continues its upward trend. Certainly, when a company like Ford - from the historically lethargic automotive industry - spends 25% of our marketing budget on digital and social media, you know there's a significant movement afoot. And across all industries in 2009, budgets were impacted by the economy, forcing marketers to be more ruthless about seeking efficient results. It should be no surprise to anyone that the rise of digital is a sure thing.

The 2010 Digital Marketing Outlook contains some 70 pages of particularly poignant facts for the U.S. and abroad (Russia, South America and Mexico), emerging trends, changing platforms, social media and more. Here are some key takeaways worth calling out:

Online Marketing Spending

In 2010, two-thirds expect to spend the same or more than in 2009.
Approximately 70% plan to increase (1-30%) or significantly increase (30%+) their unpaid/earned/proprietary media.
The top priorities in 2010 will be social networks/applications and digital infrastructure.

Emerging Trends

Customer experience will be more important than ever.
Storytelling will evolve - location will become a key component; the speed at which stories are developed is crucial; and above all, emotional connections matter.
The beginning of the end of the banner ad.
Branded content syndication will replace some paid media.
40% of opportunity is mobile

Social Media

Social is becoming increasingly mobile.
Measurement will be more important than ever.
Real-time search is inextricably linked to the "statusphere."
Forms of content consumption will continue to be fractured; the nimble marketer will need to be in as many places as possible.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, I think you'll recognize a number of the themes mentioned in the report. But there's also much more - not to mention really smart - stuff in the entire report. Take a look for yourself.

Two Thousand and Ten Digital Marketing Outlook

Photo credit: Will Lion

Labels: Marketing, social media, trends

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:22 AM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Saturday, January 02, 2010

Social Media Predictions for 2010

I'm sure you've seen your fair share of social media predictions for 2010 by now. And while my posting is a little late, I hope I'm note treading too fine a line by waiting until 2010 hits before I make my predictions.

Before I get into what I think will be worth watching this year, let's see how well I fared with the results from the predictions I made for 2009. Those included:

Twitter will continue to achieve legitimacy. Check. There's no question that Twitter became mainstream in 2009. I won't rehash all of the examples, but suffice it to say that when your local news outlets are suggesting you follow them on Twitter, it's mainstream.
Online video will come into its own. Check. YouTube has started to show some signs of revenue generation, and Hulu was advertised during the Super Bowl. Video became more and more important in 2009.
Customers insist on custoMEr service. Check. More interaction on Facebook pages, Twitter, Get Satisfaction and similar sites has customers looking for solutions wherever they can find it, not just via 800 numbers.

Okay, so where does that leave us for 2010? What new trends or changes from last year can we expect?

There's Power in (Smaller) Numbers

Although this new technology has allowed us to connect more quickly and more transparently across the globe, the collective cacophony is simply too much. It's impossible to actively see what all of your followers are saying on Twitter after you've topped 300 or so.

In 2010, I believe we'll begin to see a contraction of networked relationships. We saw a forced version of this last year with Burger King's Whopper Sacrifice, but the proliferation of "friends" on various platforms will have people rethinking the true reason they're involved in these places to begin with. So as users reassess who and why they're connecting, what will hold the most interest for them?

People still trust people like themselves; but the ones they know best are the ones they're most likely to trust. Therefore, it will be the people in their close networks - particularly from a geographic perspective - that will remain the closest. Brands will also realize that they can't be all things to all people, and will focus on those influencers who are the best fit for them.

Note I didn't say "those influencers with the most followers or the highest readership." Long ago, I noted the difference between the theories of Malcolm Gladwell and Duncan Watts, the latter of whom notes that it's the network, not the individual influencer, that makes a difference in how ideas are spread. Expect to see a focus on fewer and stronger relationships in our own networks and in influencer/media relations.

All Social Media is Local
This next trend is one that is relative to the above. The former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill once famously said "All politics is local," meaning that ultimately, people care most about what's going on in communities around them. Social media is no different.

When you follow the recent rise of location-based services like Foursquare or Tripit, it's clear that people want to connect with others by location, as well as share experiences and seek recommendations by those who are well informed. And whether that means connecting in the communities in which they live or those to which they travel, people will begin to use more of these kinds of services. As an adjunct to location-based social networks, expect location-based search to blossom as well.

Related: see Matt Singley's post on Why Foursquare is the next Social Network.

Silent E
If you're of a certain generation in America, you may recall The Adventures of Letterman, a varsity-sweater wearing superhero who rescued victims of alphabet assault-and-battery by the Spellbinder. As Letterman appeared, the voice-over noted that he was "Stronger that a silent E..."

In this case, the E is for email. Yes, email, that seemingly forgotten poor stepchild of social media, that gateway to the online space, that workhorse of digital media. Email is alive and well and living in everyone's inbox. According to ShareThis, 46% of people share content by email - larger than any other social platform. And StrongMail's Social Influence Benchmark Report shows nearly 37% share by email, with 21% sharing by embedded badges.

When you add to this the fact that many in the mainstream still don't know what an RSS feed is or how to use an RSS reader (or that they simply don't use one), it's clear that email subscriptions still rule the roost. Not to mention that email is ubiquitous. It's just generally accepted that everyone has an email address. Despite the hype of social media and social networks as the latest way to connect, every single platform has a common denominator: you need an email address to register.

Expect to see a renewed effort on email marketing, with a nod toward integrating with social media applications and campaigns. With a good content strategy, email is simply the vehicle best suited to share the content.

Related: Users Still Sharing by E-Mail (eMarketer)

Other Trends
While I won't go into as much detail in these, keep your eyes on the mobile space, on fuller integration of PR and marketing, and more focus on quality content in 2010. Overall, the space will begin to show some signs of maturation, and will begin a future trend of being integrated as a part of day-to-day business in many organizations.

Oh, last year I also predicted that social media gurus would continue to self-promote. I see no need to change that this year. ;-)

How about you - any predictions or trends that you'd care to share? Drop a comment in below.

You might want to check out these related posts as well:
Brian Solis says that Mobile is the Next Frontier for Brand Engagement.
Pete Cashmore predicts 10 Web trends to watch in 2010.

eMarketer Weighs in on 2010 Trends and compiles a 2010 Roundup of Predictions
Chris Brogan looks notes that 2010 Will See Consolidations and Fold-ups
Forrester predicts 2010: The Year Marketing Dies
Read Write Web tell us about 10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2010
MediaPost says that 2010 Is the Year Social Media Gets Serious

Photo credit: Stefan

Labels: social media, strategy, trends

Posted by Scott Monty at 5:35 PM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Friday, December 04, 2009

Ford's Got a Reason to Fiesta

Last week, I wrote about how Ford was so thankful to the Fiesta Agents who were in 100 of our vehicles as part of the Fiesta Movement, and how some of them began to show their thanks as they wrapped up their experience.

This week, it got even better.

On Tuesday evening, Ford hosted a tweetup in Hollywood at the famed Palladium, where we brought together more than 90% of the Fiesta Agents in person, their friends, and fans of the Fiesta Movement to celebrate the conclusion of 6 months of activity by these social influencers. It was a remarkable event - check it out on Current - featuring the band Parachute, a short awards ceremony hosted by Jake & Amir, mobile tweeting food vehicles (including the famed KogiBBQ and Coolhaus), and the first reveal of the 2011 Fiesta.

We even managed to score the World's Largest Tweetup according to Guinness World Records, which is now getting into the social media record-keeping business.

And when we were done with that, we brought all of the nearly 100 agents out on the floor of the Los Angeles Auto Show to help us unveil the new cars. You can check the video out on The Ford Story.

And Now, For Something Completely Different

We've completed the first phase of the Fiesta Movement. The numbers were great. But lost in a lot of that was the fact that the pool of 100+ drivers acted as something of a focus group for six months. The agents gave feedback to our design & engineering team so the North American version could be made with drivers like them in mind.

Not only that, but here's the cool part: they've been creating content nonstop for 6 months. And really good content too. So here we have the making for consumer generated media as the cornerstone for some of our early advertising for the 2011 Fiesta:

Now What?

Since the Fiesta won't be delivered until the spring of 2010, there are still a few months to go to continue the online buzz. But how will that happen now that the program is over? The good news is there's a Chapter 2 to this evolving story.

If you liked what you saw over the last six months, now you'll have the opportunity to get involved yourself and apply to be one of the 20 teams of two that will be part of the Fiesta Movement Chapter 2. Just head over to FiestaMovement.com and check out the rules.

And in the meantime, Ford will be continuing to nurture the relationships with the 100 or so agents who had to give their cars back. They'll be part of @FordFiestaAsk, which is being set up to answer questions from people who want to know about the car or the reservation process. You can see the "Real Answers" interface here or follow the hashtag #FiestaAsk.

And on the shopping site, we're giving people a chance to totally customize their car and get some pretty sweet features and a customer experience that are unmatched in this segment. Once your reservation is complete, you'll be able to share it on Twitter and Facebook to tell your friends about it - and show them the design you've chosen.

So that's where we are at this point. Lots of information, I know. But it's exciting stuff. And there's more to come.

Ford is Fiesta Movement's Big Winner

Crushing Doubts About Social Media Marketing

Ford Update: Automaker Launches Chapter 2 of 'Fiesta Movement'

Labels: Ford, fun, social media

Posted by Scott Monty at 9:05 AM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Friday, November 27, 2009

On Giving Thanks

For those of us in the U.S., we have just celebrated Thanksgiving. It's a time of year when we gather with friends and loved ones to celebrate and give thanks for all that we have and all that we are.

I thought it was entirely appropriate then, to mention that the first segments of Ford's famed Fiesta Movement is coming to a close. And Ford has a lot to be thankful for. A bit of background, just in case you're not familiar with the program.

The Beginning of a Movement

First of all, why the term "movement"? The Brand & Content Alliance team that put this program together likened it to a social movement - which as defined by dictionary.com is a diffusely organized or heterogeneous group of people or organizations tending toward or favoring a generalized common goal. The collective awareness of and excitement around this new vehicle would be the goal.

In late 2008, Ford re-launched the Fiesta as an all-new vehicle in Europe. The name had been around for some 30 years, but the new Fiesta was to be something special indeed. This would Ford's first truly global platform car, which means that it will be nearly identical in any country you find it. Since the car was already available in Europe and would not launch in the U.S. until the spring of 2010, there was a unique opportunity at hand.

So, earlier this year, Ford announced that we would be making 100 Euro-spec Fiestas available to individuals or teams who proved they were socially vibrant and could take part in a 6-month long experiment, during which we would loan them a vehicle. The only requirement was that they would have to produce one video a month based on a theme (Travel, Technology, Style/Design, Social Activism, Adventure, Entertainment). Other than that, the Fiesta Agents (they received assignments, or "missions," from Mission Control) could say whatever they wanted about the vehicle. And we aggregated all of their content on fiestamovement.com - unedited, uncensored, in real time.

In addition to building buzz, we solicited feedback from the agents as to what they liked and didn't like about the vehicle. We shared that input directly with our engineering team and they were able to make a few tweaks to the North American version of the Fiesta before production was locked down.

Results
The program is just winding to a close, but the output has been impressive.

Of the 700 or so videos that the agents have produced, we've seen 6.5 million views on YouTube.
Their Flickr photos have been viewed more than 670,000 times
There have been over 3.4 million impressions of Fiesta Movement on Twitter.
Over 50,000 hand-raisers have indicated that they want more information about the vehicle as it goes on sale
97% of those 50,000 do not own Ford vehicles.
There is a 58% level of awareness of the Fiesta - for a vehicle that's not even available in this country yet, which is the equivalent of the awareness of some of our vehicles that have been in market for 2-3 years.
All with $0 in traditional advertising.

More information on the vehicle and the program can be found on Ford's Media site.

It's a Celebration

To help celebrate the success of our agents, Ford is throwing a little party - a fiesta of sorts, you might say - in Hollywood on Tuesday, December 1. We're hoping to make it the world's largest tweetup - and you're invited. Not only that, but as a community, we can work together to make the record a possibility. More on that in a moment.

The event will salute the agents - some 90% of whom will be in attendance - with awards. The band Parachute will perform and music will be spun by DJ Pesce, all while Current TV roams around, giving you a chance to be seen on television. Not to mention that the North American Ford Fiesta will be revealed for the first time. Add to that some celebrities, weblebrities and lots of interaction, and you've got a rockin' party.

Here's Where You Come In

We'd love to see you at the party. Here are the details:

Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Time: 8:00 p.m.

Location: Hollywood Palladium, 6215 W. Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, CA (map)

You can RSVP on Eventbrite if you think you'll be in California next week. If not, please share the link with anyone in your network who might be in the area and encourage them to attend. There are a number of social networks built into Eventbrite, or you can tweet out something like this:

Ford Invites You To a Hollywood Fiesta! http://bit.ly/FiestaParty

We'd like to make sure we've got lots of people there who are connected to the program, the agents, or to our extended networks in some way. This is a great way to show the power of social media.

Giving Thanks

As I intoned in the opening paragraph, this time of year is about giving thanks and also about reflecting on what's happened in the past year. I'm reminded of Thornton Wilder's play "Our Town," in which the characters were reminded that it's important to stop and consider the little things in life. One of them lamented:

"It goes so fast. We don't have time to look at one another."

You can imagine that the Fiesta Agents, with their frenetic schedules over the last six months, have had little time to reflect. But already, even before the program is over, I've already seen a few of them stop to acknowledge how lucky they've been to be part of the program. Notably Hilary McHone (aka @BrooklynHilary) and Natasha Wescoat (@natasha). There may be others; these are the ones I recall seeing in a blur last week.

We have a lot to be thankful for at Ford this year. But that will be another post. Until then, I hope I'll be able to see you in Hollywood. If you can't be there, follow the #fiestamovement hashtag on Twitter on Tuesday night. It'll be a real fiesta.

Related article: Ford's Got a Reason to Fiesta

Labels: Ford, fun, social media

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:30 AM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Thursday, October 29, 2009

What's a Brand to Do?

Say you work for a brand. Customers have more access to you than ever - and you've got a wealth of choices as far as channels go: traditional marketing, online & interactive, gaming, mobile, social media, etc.

But for your customers that are interested in interacting online, what do you think they want from you? And what should you do when you connect with them? Look no further! eMarketer Daily has very helpfully published a piece on Lightspeed Research's "Global Web Index."

Actions Brands Can Take that Are Most Relevant to US Internet Users, August-September 2009 (scale of 1-5*)

What do customer want from the brands they love? Information, mostly (well, after a good discount, anyway). Ultimately, they want value. They're not there to be "friends," or to get your time-wasting app - they want something that's relevant to them that helps push the relationship forward.

Something to think about when thinking about your online strategy.

Chart courtesy of eMarketer.

Posted via web from The Full Monty

Labels: brand, customer relations, social media, strategy

Posted by Scott Monty at 12:03 PM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Fear and Loathing in Social Media

You would think at this point that we'd be up to curiosity or even playful experimentation.

But it seems that, according to the e-tailing group and PowerReviews' survey earlier this month that brands are still hesitant to entirely give over to the power of social media for fear of (what else?) loss of control of their brand and concerns about their competence. A secondary fear is that consumers might find social sites more engaging than the brands' sites, and therefore stop visiting the brands'

sites.

I may be oversimplifying this a bit, but if I were at a brand that was concerned customers might leave my site for a better site I might, oh, I don't know...maybe BUILD A MORE ENGAGING SITE?!?!?!

That's only a start. Another course is to engage with consumers where they want to be reached. When the surveyed companies state that their goals of using social media are: to increase engagement, build brand loyalty, and spur word of mouth. If that's the case, you don't get there by (a) ignoring where the rest of the world is going; or (b) burying your head in the sand in terms of these sites.

The good news is that half of the suggested activities/sites mentioned in the survey (Facebook page, Twitter, customer reviews, blogs and viral [sic] videos) are already accepted or used by more than half of the respondents. That's a great start, but there's more potential.

Before I make a recommendation, I'd like to review a crude approximation that I've been working on - it's how some brands and agencies approach social media with trepidation. Because it's not unlike how humans deal with grief, I've developed a similar model for marketers:

The 5 Stages of Social Media Grief

(With apologies to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.)

Denial - first stage of social media grief in which the marketer refuses to acknowledge the existence of social media. This was the case early on in the industry's development. Luckily, I don't think there are many companies left that think like this.
Common phrases: "It's just a kid's thing," or "It's just a fad."
Common behaviors: avoiding the Internet, putting hands over ears and singing "I can't heeeeeaaaarr yoooouuuuu. La la laaaaa."

Anger - In the second stage, jealousy and rage are misplaced and rage ensues.
Common phrases: "This is stupid," "I've got better things to do with my time."
Common behaviors: full-fledged slave to work email; increase in print or television media buy to show effectiveness and superiority.

Bargaining -Anger gives way to hope that incremental adoption of social media will be enough to make a difference.
Common phrases: "If we have a Facebook page, we should be covered," "Let's just create a blog," or "Let the agency figure it out."
Common behaviors: the use of social media only in time-limited campaigns; half-hearted efforts on a limited number of social sites.

Depression -The fourth stage manifests itself in an understanding that the inevitable cannot be delayed and the marketer becomes doleful.
Common phrases: "Twitter/Google/Facebook is taking over the world," or "We're overwhelmed with choices."
Common behaviors: moping; pacing; complaining to friends on Facebook.

Acceptance -With the final stage, the marketer finally realizes that social media is here to stay and begins to determine ways to integrate activities and craft strategies that are truly integrated.
Common phrases: "Let's craft a comprehensive social media strategy," or "Let's spend some time listening to what consumers are saying about us."
Common behaviors: integration of marketing and communications functions, determination of measurement goals, online and offline alignment from the beginning of projects.

As we know in dealing with emotional grief, you can't skip steps - you have to go through them. Some folks may be stubborn and may take a while, while others may be ahead of the curve and breeze through them quickly. [Aside: in 2004, when I heard Elisabeth Kubler-Ross died, my grieving went as follows: "No that can't be true. Curse you, Lord, no just God would take her from us. I wish she was back. Geez, life stinks. Oh, well, that's the circle of life."].

Now, in order to address those fears and to get on with the acceptance, why not start by aligning your social media activities with your business plan and your overall marketing and communications objectives? A second step would be to listen, listen and listen - get a sense as to what's being said about your brand and how people engage on these social platforms.

And then if you'd like to make a more engaging site for customers, consider integrating or aggregating content from third party social sites or services right there on your own web page. Give people a chance to find contextually relevant material from other sources on your site. We've done it on the Fiesta Movement site and we continue to do it in a variety of ways on The Ford Story.

The thinking there is that people will go out and search for other peoples' opinions on your products anyway. Why not give them something contextually relevant while they're on your site and provide value? It's an acknowledgment - dare I say acceptance? - that the world around us is changing.

Photo credit: tavopp on Flickr

Chart credit: eMarketer

Labels: enterprise, social media, strategy

Posted by Scott Monty at 2:14 AM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Are You Really Satisfying Your Customers?

We all know that social media plays a part in customer service.

As business becomes more fierce, margins shrink and barriers to entry are almost nonexistent in some areas, the competitive advantage that many companies can leverage exists in an often-overlooked but absolutely essential part of the marketing team: customer service.

And for every new company that springs up to supply solutions to problems we didn't know we had, there are many companies that already exist and are competing in a commoditized market. "There is nothing new under the sun," the quote goes. And for those organizations, one of the accepted methods of differentiation is customer service. This itself isn't (or shouldn't be) news. Brian Solis and Valeria Maltoni both wrote that customer service is the new marketing a while back.

Examples abound

Because this is not a new concept, there are countless instances of companies stepping up their customer service efforts, particularly in the social media space. Here are a few to note:

Comcast is the shining example of customer service on Twitter, led primarily through the efforts of the head of their digital team, Frank Eliason (aka @comcastcares on Twitter).
Recently, Best Buy ran national TV spots promoting their Twelpforce - a legion of their "blue shirts" available to help people who submit questions for Best Buy via Twitter.
And Zappos bills themselves as "a customer service company" as they train every single employee on customer service and even have Twitter baked into their corporate site.
Get Satisfaction has become a place where consumers and industry alike monitor and comment on, in an effort for more transparent dialog.

Customers now expect an immediate answer online - something I see every day through the @Ford and @FordCustService accounts on Twitter.

Speed isn't everything

But a recent survey written up by Dave Dougherty and Ajay Murthy in the Harvard Business Review called What Service Customers Really Want demonstrates that speed isn't necessarily the answer. According to the survey,

Evidence shows that customers will no longer tolerate the rushed and inconvenient service that has become all too common. Instead, they are looking for a satisfying experience. Companies that provide it will win their loyalty.

The question is no longer how quickly can you provide customer service, but how effectively?

When people are crunched for time (as nearly all of us are these days), the experience you give them on their first effort to reach you had better be the way you want them to remember you. Because, like the old cliche "you never get a second chance to make a first impression," their primary expectations are (1) that your front line representatives to have answers, and (2) that their needs are addressed on the first call. And as the article indicates, those two categories aren't even on the measurement dashboard for most customer service entities - they're still measuring time on hold and minutes per call.

If anything, your customer service operation needs to be aligned not only with your marketing and communications organizations, but more importantly, with your customers. For customer service areas that simply field complaints and don't impact customer loyalty really aren't doing your organization any favors.

Photo credit: libraryman on Flickr

Labels: customer relations, social media, study

Posted by Scott Monty at 7:27 PM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Social Media Books & Experts

One thing that has always puzzled me is the sheer number of books about social media. When your industry changes almost daily - not to mention that it's one rooted in the digital space - is it helpful to read (or write) books about it?

At the same time we've seen the rise of the social media "expert," we've seen a proliferation of books on the topic. From a business perspective, it's not surprising: it's a hot topic; everyone is trying to make sense of it; and people will cash in while they have the chance. But someone new to this space needs to be aware of who's the true leader and who is the charlatan.

Calling oneself an expert does not an expert make;

that label is usually granted by peers who recognize talent.

A good place to start as you try to figure this stuff out is to see who's following whom. While the social media space tends to be filled with a lot of people who are reciprocal in their follows, you can easily see who some of the stand-outs are. Check the blogrolls (links to other blogs) that are recommended by your favorite bloggers. See who pops as a thought leader. See who resonates with you.

Another way is to see how many of them have written a book. There's a great list of the Top 100 Best Social Media Books Ever (well at least as of the writing of that particular blog post) that I can recommend. But again, that's quite a list. And some of the newer books don't appear on it.

Here are six of the latest titles by people whom I respect, with links to their blogs:

Chris Brogan, Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust. Chris is a prolific writer, cranking out multiple posts a day, all while running New Media Labs and tweeting until his fingers are raw. There's a lot of common sense in his work. And his book is all about trust. I trust Chris and can recommend his work highly.

Shel Israel, Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods. Shel has been in the communications field for a long time. But his insights are as fresh as ever. He co-authored Naked Conversations with Robert Scoble and his latest book is all about Twitter. Fair warning: it's longer than 140 characters.

Mitch Joel, Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone. Mitch is a super smart guy who has been chronicling the development of the online vs. offline world for quite some time. His blog and podcast are always thoughtful and inspirational. And he's one of the four bald guys who seem to haunt the new marketing world, yet whom we never see all in one place at one time. Weird, I know.

David Meerman Scott, World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories. David is probably one of the best public speakers I know. But his talents don't stop at the spoken word. He clearly demonstrates his ideas with case studies - and ones that aren't expected. After reading his stuff, you'll rave too.

Seth Godin, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. If you don't know Seth Godin, you should. Or perhaps I should say, you will. He has rocketed every one of his books to the top of the charts in creative and innovative ways. His blog is filled with observations about Marketing and marketing - by that I mean the craft as well as daily thoughts about how companies and individuals can differentiate themselves. And yes, he's one of those bald guys.

Gary Vaynerchuk, Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion. Say it with me: VAY-ner-chuk! Gary is a force of nature. Host of the amazing Wine Library TV, Gary has amassed a mini empire on his way to eventually owning the New York Jets. His keynotes and speeches are filled with the fire that comes straight from his belly, and his book will no doubt inspire the same level of commitment that his appearances do.

If anything, the takeaway from these authors is: if you want

a successful book, make sure you've got a colon in the title. ;-)

Feel free to click around and check out their writing in whichever format appeals to you. And pass along those that resonate with you. Share them with you coworkers, your boss, your friends. Have you got other reading recommendations? I'd love to hear from you in the comment section below.

Amazon.com Widgets

Photo credit: Patrick Gage (Flickr)

Labels: blogs, books, social media

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:48 PM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

A Year @Ford - Part 1

Today marks exactly one year since I joined Ford Motor Company to head up social media efforts. You'd be surprised at how much has happened in such a short period of time.

The last year has marked some of the most turbulent not only in our economy overall, but in the entire history of the global automotive market. Since last December alone, we've witnessed bankruptcies filed, quarterly and annual losses not seen in decades (if ever), and emergency government support of some of our most iconic brands.

And I decided to move my family to Michigan just before it all began. Exciting times, huh?

I've written occasionally here about my Ford experiences, wanting to keep this blog as wide-ranging as possible for my readers. But more than a few people have asked to hear a little more about some of our activities. I thought my one year anniversary was the appropriate time to reflect on what's happened during that time.

This is the first part of a multi-part series - and it's rather long. I beg your indulgence.

The Beginning
I announced my intention to join Ford a little over a year ago. In re-reading that post, I notice that I spent time thinking about what I was leaving behind rather than what was in front of me, which in retrospect (do you sense the irony?) didn't really give much of an impression of what lay before me. The job opportunity with Ford was pretty exciting - running social media for a Fortune 10 company and an American and global icon. Enough to get any social media strategist excited, right? Well, the notion of moving to Detroit didn't really sit well with me (chalk it up to an East coast elitism) and I wasn't totally convinced.

It wasn't until I started doing my research and understanding where the company was headed that I started seriously considering it. After all, the company turned a profit in April 2008 - a year ahead of Alan Mulally's plan to turn the company profitable, and based on the product lineup I saw, this wasn't the Ford that I assumed I knew. Cool designs, interiors that rivaled foreign brands, hybrid technology, and an engine in the works that would boost fuel efficiency across almost the whole fleet - not to mention a commitment to being leaders in digital communications - this is the Ford I discovered. And when I paid a visit to the company, every person I met - every person - was intelligent, dedicated and passionate about Ford.

In short, my perceptions were the only thing holding me back - something that Detroit and Ford experience on a daily basis. And - now that I've lived here for a year - I can say my long-held perceptions were incorrect.

Early Progress
Typically when a leader assumes a new role, he or she is judged based on how much they accomplish in the first 30, 60, or 90 days. And I knew that our lofty goal at Ford - to be become a leader in digital communications in four years and to become the world's leading social automotive brand - was one that would require a lot of teamwork. So, I quickly set out to meet as many people as I could, understand the processes in place, and start to work on our social media strategy.

I should mention that in addition to my social media responsibilities (my title is officially Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager), I also manage a team of people who are responsible for our TV & radio broadcast coverage, as well as our digital publishing team that maintains our Media site, among others. These teams really do a great job in keeping Ford in the spotlight. [I should note that I lost the only social media person on my team last August and still haven't replaced her - that's about to be rectified.]

Some of the assets that we had at our disposal early on included:

Ford's Social Media Press Releases (SMPR) - our social media agency - aptly named the Social Media Group - created 15 separate SMPRs dedicated to corporate and product issues, updated regularly, built on WordPress with RSS feeds, fed by Flickr photos and YouTube videos.
A Flickr channel - one in which we used a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution 2.0 Generic license, meaning that our photos are free to be used as long as we're attributed and they're not used for a profit-making venture.
A YouTube channel, mostly used for b-roll, but creating content that generally wasn't available elsewhere.

The early results were impressive: SMPR material used in over 5,000 posts and articles, Flickr photos viewed over 120,000 times, and over 500 subscribers on the YouTube channel with over 1.2 million views of 140 videos.

Expanding the Activity / Strategy Development

While we were fine-tuning the strategy (and I had a pretty good instinct as to what it was going to look like), we expanded our presence: we developed a number of Twitter feeds (@Ford, @FordDriveGreen, @FordMustang, @FordCustService, to name a few), we got more active on Facebook, and we interacted on blogs. These activities were intentional, for I knew as an outsider to the industry that Ford didn't have a face to the general public and we needed to begin humanizing the company by getting faces out from behind the Blue Oval. I went so far as to leverage my own personal brand - not because it was convenient, but because I believed so firmly in the direction of the company, and because that's the network I had build up before I came to Ford. It seemed natural to extend it.

Twitter made a lot of sense for Ford because it did a number of things for the company: it showed that we were listening; we were able to have 1:1 communication with consumers - but also in the very public setting that Twitter provides (i.e., everyone else is watching it happen); and it showed that Ford understood social media and was hip & cool.

As we developed the strategy, we spoke to people around the company, from managers to senior executives, in offices from all over the world. In the end, we realized we had to have a strategy that was flexible enough to:

Allow us to speak to customers, employees, retirees, dealers, enthusiasts, shareholders;
Apply to whatever department within the organization would like to use social media (HR, communications, IT, marketing, product development, customer service, etc.);
Change according to the regional differences in social media adoption and technology saturation.

Ultimately, Ford's social media strategy looked something like this:

Humanizing the company by connecting Ford employees with our stakeholders, allowing them to connect with each other when appropriate, and providing value in the process.

At about the same time that we created the strategy, the company was engaged in the hearings in Washington - not to ask for funding ourselves (Ford had wisely borrowed against its own assets some two years earlier) but to support the industry. We quickly found out that we were lumped in with our crosstown rivals, despite our intentions. I spent day and night defending our position on blogs, forums and on Twitter, until I finally created a post of my own to help the cause. We realized that a scattershot and one-off approach wasn't sustainable; a better solution had to be created.

The Ford Story
So, in a massive flurry of activity and cross-departmental coordination, in the five days over Thanksgiving weekend, we created The Ford Story.

It was a huge win for us, as it demonstrated the One Ford mission that drives the company, and it got a lot of coverage and attention for its design and good content. We wanted to ensure that we were true to our strategy, so we led with faces on every page - our executives speaking unscripted and plainly (albeit staged) about what Ford stood for. And because we had a number of documents to share - our comprehensive plan, a number of fact sheets - we decided to use an innovative site called Scribd for document sharing. And because we built it on WordPress, it resulted in an easy to understand and robust site that can be easily changed over time.

Since we seemed to be enjoying more media attention than before, I decided to have a little fun at an event I was attending with Alan Mulally. On a whim, I got a few moments of his time and took live questions via Twitter. However, just to show you that it's important to stay focused on what matters and to not get overly optimistic, during that time there was a little digital crisis communications effort that we had to deal with. I've covered that before - you can check it out here.

One bright spot, though: at the end of 2008, according to Vitrue's ranking of the 100 Most Social Brands, Ford managed to snag the #12 spot - the highest rank of any automaker on the list. It was safe to say that we were on our way.

Stay tuned for Part 2, in which I'll talk about some pitfalls along the way, our 2009 progress to date, as well as plans for the future.

Is there anything so far that I didn't cover you'd like to know?

Special thanks to: Maggie Fox, John Bell, Leona Hobbs, Kaitlyn Wilkins, the entire Communications and Marketing teams at Ford, Aaron Strout (for spurring this post on), Phil Johnson for his cheerleading and for setting me free, Joseph Jaffe for his inspiration, and C.C. Chapman for his friendship, as well as the following people who were kind enough to acknowledge my anniversary today:
@prblog, @nadhiyamali, @cloudspark, @elliotschimel, @eileen53, @clairecelsi, @PingTweets, @ChrisCree, @AdeleMcAlear, @nmalin, @DougMeacham, @HotLabRescue, @Gvision1, @bschestnutt, @KelByrd, vcspenn, @BiOH4ALLjk, @woodlandalyssa, @SandyspringFord, @KellyeCrane, @LionelAtDell, @LindaJacobson, vpfanderson, @tamaratam, @bigguyd, @MikeDriehorst, @Girlfriendology, @tvdeegan, @paullyoung, @jlicciardi, @sgetgood, @TdRamsey, @Jen_Harvey, @Military_Mom, @theartofimpact, @billgilliam, @Tiggr, @BryanPerson, @russu, @DanaSingleton, @JulieeSmith, @robgt2, @ayat, @chatterboxapp, @KyleRohde, @jak2rocks, @FordThunder, @DIRTFORGE, @MustangMatters, @Jericles, @CMajor, @gradontripp, @BethHarte, @Armano, @tomob, @eperry, @defcon_5, @DutchieDude, @ischafer, @stlfordguy, @kbuczko, @GeekMommy, @rhappe, @Stealx, @JonBurg, @acowboyswife, @DJLitten

You - and many others like you - make a difference every day. Thank you for being part of what inspires me.

Photo credit: Ford Motor Company (Flickr)

Labels: Ford, social media

Posted by Scott Monty at 10:09 PM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The Herculean Effort to Stop Ignoring Customers

via The Buzz Bin by Geoff Livingston on 6/30/09

Note: this is somewhat of a guest post by Geoff Livingston. I saved it to my Posterous page with the intent of bookmarking it; evidently, it resulted in a posting to my blog here. Full credit goes to Geoff.

If social is but a channel, then the real issue for companies lies in embracing feedback from their most important stakeholders: Their customers.
That was the focus of the Forrester Customer Experience Forum last week in New York City (photos here).

Organizations struggle with corporate barriers to moving towards their customers. Controlling the experience has long been the domain of various departments from product marketing to customer service. Giving stakeholders a voice in that process — via phones, email, mail, participation and yes, social media — has been the antithesis of many corporate cultures for decades. Yet according to Forrester, by failing to embrace their customers and bulwarking their experience, companies are denying themselves serious benefits:

14.4% of customers would purchase more
15.8% of customers would be less likely to switch brands
16.6% of customers would refer the brand more often

Yet in spite of these beneficial numbers, progress seems daunting. During the Chief Customer Officer panel (yes, this is apparently a title), two panelists indicated they were making progress, meeting with company executives as often as once a month or more… Once a month? That’s it?

But for every ten companies haltingly talking to and listening to their customers, there is a Virgin America. The entire company seems to be built around creating the ultimate, enjoyable (gulp) airline experience. As CEO David Cush went through his session, you couldn’t help but smile and admire the audacious brilliance of Richard Branson as he turns the American airline industry on its ear. This is how companies should be built.

Barriers to Adoption

We’ve discussed this before here on the Buzz Bin. There are serious cultural barriers to adopting social media, and in general, customer feedback (find a link to a white paper here). Siloed corporate structures prevent companies from listening to and embracing their customers.

Forrester outlined a five stage process that organizations need to go through to foster the evolutionary change towards a customer-centric organization:

1) Interest - Discuss that there may be a problem with customer interaction and that the company may need to research its stakeholders

2) Invest - Upon realizing that there is a lack of understanding about customer needs, get the company to invest in a “voice of the customer” program

3) Commit - This is where getting C-Suite buy-in is absolutely necessary for success. The company must commit to responding to customer feedback.

4) Engage - Take the feedback from customers, and apply it across the line. Change the experience.

5) Embed - Make the customer experience feedback loop and product innovation part of the actual cultural lifeblood of the organization.

According to Forrester, most American companies are either in stage one or two of the five stages. I think part of the failure to adapt has to do with the tendency to use old ways to affect change. Consider the siloesque idea of a customer department or initiative, rather than realizing customer centric behavior affects a company across the line.

Consider how David Armano and the team at Dachis are starting to address the challenges of cultural barriers to customer interaction (pictured above). They see multiple nodes touching hubs throughout an organization. Similarly, Charlene Li’s latest research is focusing on how companies embrace their customers to become socialprises.

The challenge to becoming a customer-centric organization is not as easy as simply listening. It involves reinventing many an organization’s actual structure and workflow. Cultural barriers to success cannot be underestimated.

The Social Backlash

Throughout the conference there was a very clear and present resistance to social media hype. Every single discussion around our new media certainly recognized its value as a great way to converse with customers. Every successful company featured at the Forum had some kind of social component, even if it was just listening to feedback.

But more and more, you heard executives rejecting social media as a panacea for customer ills and feedback. In fact, there were discussions about the viability of Twitter in the long term as a scaleable tool, and whether it really could supplant news organizations for information.

While companies recognize social media for its value as a toolset, they don’t see it as the cure all for an actual experience, and don’t see it as the alpha and omega for customer contact points. Instead it is one of several ways customers discuss their experiences from calls, web site chats, email, etc. There was a huge emphasis on multichannel integration of customer voices throughout the conference.

This backlash seems to me be a result of overhype. A smart communicator can see this. Customers don’t touch a company in one, singular channel. They have many touches from ads, news, web sites (standard and mobile) and packaging all the way through to the actual product experience. To think that social media is it for a company is a horrific error. And the implication of the current hype cycle would only have companies communicating in 140 character sound bytes. Thus the very natural backlash.

Related Buzz Bin Posts

Posted via email from The Full Monty

Labels: customer relations, enterprise, social media

Posted by Scott Monty at 8:36 AM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |