How Social Media is

Revolutionizing Business
Communications

Paul Gillin
Presentation to Mars
Communications
July 9, 2008
The Only Constant is
Change
“The media world has changed more
in the last five years that it has in the
last 50 and it will change at that rate
again in the next five…The largest
force shaping 2008 will be the steady
flow of readers, viewers and users
away from traditional media to digital
options of all kinds.”
Wenda Harris Millard
President, Media, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Feb. 12, 2008
AOL Hell
 AOL Hell
June 20 Vincent Ferrari

June 21

June 23

June 24

June 26

July 14

Today
 Key Points
 Sophisticated patterns of influence
emerging
 Influence is more than just traffic or
visitors – consider referrals, comments,
citations, mainstream media coverage
 Business-customer interaction changes
forever
 If you obfuscate, confuse, evade or
deceive you will be found out
 The new influencers know a lot about you
business and your market – account for
 Influence 2.0

•18 million monthly

visitors
•30-40 daily articles
•Full-time staff of
seven Ben Popken
•500 references in Editor in chief
Wall Street Journal &
New York Times
•More than 34,000
references on
Digg.com •30 million monthly
visitors
•322,000 published
reports
Ed Magedson •More than 30
Founder lawsuits
Customers in control
The New Consumer
Reports
“Customer angst sites are no
longer just shouting
‘YourCompanySucks’ into the
cyberdarkness, but acting as
gathering spots for sharing call-
center secrets and trouble-
shooting tips. And as the
audience for more blogs and
social-media sites such as Digg
reach critical mass, it's easier
than ever for consumers to
wallpaper the Web with their
customer-service nightmares.”
-BusinessWeek, March 3, 2008
Old Tactics No Longer
Work
June 14, 2007

“Please remove the posting located at the following link:

http://consumerist.com/consumer/insiders/22-...
It contains information that is confidential and proprietary to Dell.”

Dell's 23 Confessions
Now's not the time to mince words, so let me just say it... we
blew it…. instead of trying to control information that was
made public, we should have simply corrected anything that
was inaccurate. We didn't do that, and now we're paying for it.

June 16, 2007

 No Time to Waste
Oct. 26, 2007, 9:41 a.m.

Oct. 26, 2007, 3:41 p.m.

 New Influencers are
Passionate – Both Pro and
Con
Active Traditional Influencers
Authoritative 3rd parties, community leaders, press, gov’t.

Haters Lovers

Desire to
Influence Critics Enthusiasts

Others Skeptic Mainstream

s
Passive

Dismisser Followers
s
Reject Favor

Brand Engagement
Source: Sean Moffitt, BuzzCanuck
 Why now?
 Cheap technology
 Fast networks
 Google
 “The Long Tail”
Source: Pew Research

It’s now cheaper to keep

information than it is to
throw it away. It’s also
easier to publish
information than ever
before. This is an explosive
new combination.
 Whom Do Consumers
Trust?
Percent who trust each source

Other consumers 78%

Chat/discussion comments 63%

Blogs 61%

Brand sites 60%

TV/magazine 56%

Radio 54%
Sponsorships 49%
Search ads 34%
Banner ads 26% Source: Nielsen, Oct., 2007
Shopping Socially

User ratings or reviews are

the most desired website
functionality by US Internet
users, with 64 percent
requesting the function.
Forrester Research
Customer service is a weak
link
Traditional
communications
New reality
 Types of Social Media
 Discussion forums
 Blogs
 Microblogs
 Podcasts
 Social networks Cost to
 Social bookmarking

sites
Social shopping sites
user = $0
 Online video
 Recommendation
engines
 Social search
 Wikis
 The Many Arms of Social
Media

From Robert Scoble

Courtesy RightNow Technologies

 The Numbers
 Active blogs on the Internet: 35 million
 MySpace/Facebook members: 190 million
 Number of videos on YouTube: 66 million
 Number of new Flickr photos/day: 1.5 million
 Growth in Sunday circulation of top 10 US
newspapers, 1Q08: -635,000
 Average age of a network evening news viewer:
60
 Year Internet ad spending is forecast to overtake
all other media: 2011
International flavor

Source: Technorati, April, 2007

 The New Mandate
“A company’s true character is expressed by
its people. The strongest opinions – good or
bad – about a company are shaped by the
words and deeds of its employees…It is the
responsibility of corporate communications to
support each employee’s capability and
desire to be an honest, knowledgeable
ambassador to customers, friends,
shareowners and public officials.”
--From The Authentic Enterprise: Relationships,
Values And The Evolution Of Corporate Communications
Arthur W. Page Society, Dec., 2007
 Tools at Your Disposal
 Discussion forums – tactical and
impersonal
 Blogs – The online equivalent to
publications
 Microblogs – Short, fast and frequent
 Podcasts – Add depth, lose interactivity
 Social networks – Listening posts
 Social bookmarking sites – Drive
awareness
 Online video – Flexible but complex
Cultural Norms of Social
Media
 “Transparency”
 Conversation
 Individual
 Courteous
 Sharing
 Attribution
 Suspicion of marketers
Blogs – Global Podium
The 7 types of business
blogs
CEO blog
The 7 types of business
blogs
Executiv
e
blogs
The 7 types of business
blogs
Group
blog
The 7 types of business
blogs
Employe
e
blogs
The 7 types of business
blogs
Advocac
y
blog
The 7 types of business
blogs
Promotiona
l
blog
The 7 types of business
blogs
Advice
blog
Case in point - Southwest
Case in point - TSA
Podcasts: Audio
Personality
 Podcasts Reach Buyers
U.S. podcast audience (millions)

6.5 •Twice as many

2007
18.5 Active audience* podcast listeners
2008 10.0
28.0 Total audience
have advanced
14.0
degrees as non-
2009
38.0 listeners
2010 17.5 •Podcast listeners
47.0
users are twice as
21.5
2011
56.0 likely to have
2012 25.0 incomes over
65.0
$100,000
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0

Souce: eMarketer, Jan., 2008

*Listens weekly or more

Online Video: Customer TV
Gold From Sawdust
New Kids On The Block
 Whom Do Consumers
Trust?
Percent who trust each source

Other consumers 78%

Chat/discussion comments 63%

Blogs 61%

Brand sites 60%

TV/magazine 56%

Radio 54%
Sponsorships 49%
Search ads 34%
Banner ads 26% Source: Nielsen, Oct., 2007
Shopping Socially

User ratings or reviews are

the most desired website
functionality by US Internet
users, with 64 percent
requesting the function.
Forrester Research
 The Power of Friending
Profile Friends

Groups
 Why People Love Them
 Efficiency
Active social network
 Connectedness users typically
 Advice maintain 3X to 5X as
many casual
 Answers relationships as they
did before the online
 Referrals
tools were available
 Discovery
Self-
Appointed
Celebrities
 Tap in to Conversations

Action: Listen Tools: Google, Technorati,

Bloglines, Facebook

Objective: Find out what’s being

said; learn the language and the
culture

Result: Understand
Use the Tools
IBM’s internal podcasting
library has more than
100,000 unique members and
12,000 files. It has had no
internal promotion.
“This isn’t about knowledge-
sharing; it’s about
community-building,” says
George Faulkner, who leads
the initiative.

“Many organizations will build a shared

repository of information about the
organization. By 2010, wikis will be the
natural vehicle for such ‘internal
wikipedias.”
-David Ferris, Ferris Research

Source: CIO Insight, 8/27/07

Hearing aids

Use these tools to mine online conversations

and identify prospective customers and
communities that are receptive to your
message
 Little-known Gems

Social bookmarking
sites

Meta Search

Specialized Search
 Engage

Action: Talk to the influencers

Tools: Comments, groups, blogs, “friends”

Objective: Identify brand

advocates; contain and educate
critics

Result: Influence the conversation

Opportunity in Ready-made market
Case in Point - Wispa

“This is the first time

we are going to give
the Internet a chance
to prove itself and see
whether it is all hype
or genuine."
Cadbury spokesman
Quoted in the U.K.’s Telegraph
 Engagement Tactics
•Invite them into the club
•Offer links or small promotions
•Use discounts, giveaways, contests,
free trials
•Never edit or censor what they say
•Consider affiliate programs
 Personalize the Experience
Customers couldn’t care less if they are high- or
low-value.
You have to accommodate even low-value
customers because they will hurt you if you don’t
That means mapping every interaction
Give them to the tools to manage their own
experience
Give them information to make informed,
empowering choices
Source: Paul Greenberg, author, CRM at the Speed of Light
 Enabling Conversations

Woot Community

Jockey’s Customer Reviews

Artful Homes Community

Tap customer innnovation
Tap customer innovation
 Personalize the Experience
Customers couldn’t care less if they are high- or
low-value.
You have to accommodate even low-value
customers because they will hurt you if you don’t
That means mapping every interaction
Give them to the tools to manage their own
experience
Give them information to make informed,
empowering choices
Source: Paul Greenberg, author, CRM at the Speed of Light
 Brand Ambassadors

Disney’s Mickey Moms

Fiskars Fiskateers

Starwoods’ The Lobby

P&G’s Capessa
 In Summary…
 At the very least, these are the greatest
market research tools ever invented
 Audience engagement is the goal;
message delivery is declining in
importance
 Markets will become more segmented,
focused and conversational
 Leadership will be difficult to sustain
online because of low entry/exist costs
 Content and credibility are king
Brand Promoters
Discussion