So one of the big headaches that comes with social media inside large companies is that you often have too many departments that are each operating various platforms and activities, most of which have feedback channels enabled (comments, messaging systems, etc). So, true story: a large business software company had a blog, a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a YouTube channel — all of which were being run through different departments — and all of which were receiving AND answering the same exact questions (sometimes from the same people) in all four places. I mean, I’m all for good customer service, folks, but this is a great example of good intentions working against your business. And it’s exactly this sort of thing that amplifies the challenge of decentralized strategies and programs.
Updates from April, 2009
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The Inefficiency of Social Media
mike manuel
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Community Platforms vs. Community Consultants
mike manuel
Alright, as if there wasn’t enough confusion in the marketplace right now regarding community-building tools, techniques and technicians, we now have the platform makers up-selling ‘community consulting services’ with their wares, and that has left many a company scratching its head and asking…
So, uh, what exactly is the difference between a platform provider’s consulting services, versus, say, an independent consultant’s?
A few months ago, in an effort to help a client of mine find this line and answer this question, I took a crack at a version of the following comparison chart. Was it helpful? Yeah, I think so. Is it exhaustive? Nah, frankly, I think it’s really just scratching the surface of things, but let me know what you think and what your experience has been on either side of the chart here, and maybe it’s something worth iterating further….
Update: A great related post on community managers, and that thing they do, from Brian Oberkirch.
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The Perception Warp of Customer Chatter Online
mike manuel
Alright, so there’s all sorts of assumptions companies make about social media these days, one of the most dangerous of which is the assumption that the feedback, opinions and insights people share online are absolutely representative of their customer base.
Be careful about walking into this particular perception warp, it’s very easy to fall into and terribly difficult to escape.
Yeah, there’s a ton of valuable customer feedback to be gathered and analyzed on the web, however, more often than not, that feedback is coming from what’s best described as, well, a vocal minority. The perception warp is believing this group of customers online reflects the opinions, attitudes and experiences of *all* your customers (e.g., the much, much larger silent majority).
I was reminded of this recently on a client project where we were analyzing commenter registrations on the company’s blog. Our WordPress admin page showed thousands of comments and thousands of registrants, but as we chopped up the user data, we found that about *40* commenters accounted for nearly a third of the total comments.
I’ve seen very similar patterns on other projects, and generally speaking, I think there’s plenty of evidence to support the fact that the ratio of writers to readers online is wildly disproportionate. And unfortunately, once again, it’s one of those unique challenges that falls onto the laps of those who manage social media programs to determine just how much weight to put on the collective customer feedback culled from the web; also I suppose, how influential (or not) your vocal minority of customers are to your silent majority of customers.
[cross-posted on Voce Nation]
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Two Quick Tips for Corporate Participation Online
mike manuel
Alright, so here’s the deal, what we call “corporate participation” online can be incredibly valuable, and hell, at times, even a little fun, but it’s a messy, messy art. A few recommendations to consider if you’re a marketer about to dig into the new trenches of business:
First, remember, it’s about the purposeful conversation.
Too many bloggers, too many book authors and too many expert speakers have over-inflated the value of the proverbial “online conversation.” For that, I’m guilty too. The plain truth is that some conversations are indeed important for your business, but let’s face it, many of them are not.
As social technologies and tools saturate every corner of the web, you’ve got to be painfully realistic about calculating where you spend your time, energy and money — and making sure you’re purposefully investing it in those conversations where you’ll likely see the best return. For some, that return is a relationship formed, for others it’s the substantiation of a position or the change of an opinion. You have to decide.
Second, it’s about finding contextual conversations.
Over the last several years, I and many others have advised folks to simply seek out conversations about their clients, companies or products, and to watch and engage in this dialogue as appropriate. Do I still think this is a good practice? Yeah, sure, I think monitoring for mentions is pretty important, but I think we all need to take a step forward and look at conversational contexts much more closely.
Finding on an on-topic conversation is very, very easy, nowadays, however, determining which conversational context will *likely* illicit a desired action (e.g., a purchase, a recommendation, etc.), is much, much more difficult, but critical for those companies who want to squeeze the most value from their efforts.
For example, if you’re a consumer tech company, I’d be looking at the context of brand-related discussions and reviews on Amazon with *a lot* more interest, intensity and priority than, say, most of the random posts and comment trails that might surface across the web. Why? Because the conversations happening on Amazon are far more likely to influence opinions and perceptions and ultimately, the decisions of would-be buyers given the context and purpose for people visiting Amazon in the first place (i.e., they’re researching, they’re shopping…)
Again, keep in mind, participating online is a messy business, and navigating the mores takes a lot of time and patience and most importantly, a steady focus on what you’re hoping to accomplish. Sadly, most companies aren’t capable of throwing a lot of weight and resources behind these efforts (right now), which is why focus is so important.
Also, remember, there’s no single way of doing this successfully, but hopefully this gives folks in the trenches a little something to chew on….
Update: Rich Reader writes: “A guideline that Sylvia Marino shares is that the right time to jump in to the rightly purposed conversation is when your contribution either solves a problem or relieves pain.”
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The Blog [Buzz] Bump
mike manuel
Ross Mayfield nails one of the biggest problems of marketing to bloggers:
“The initial target market of almost every consumer internet startup these days is blogspace. Smart companies were doing this a couple of years ago. The cost is nominal, reach expansive and early adopters are exposing their preferences post by post. Most any company that can carry a conversation can get the blog bump and gain overnight growth of up to 1 million users. However, bloggers abandon tools as quick as they adopt. Making it over the hump after the blog bump into the mainstream is a real challenge. But heck, at least it can get you a first venture round.”
Amen. Almost any startup can boost its short-term pool of beta testers with smart, conversational blog marketing — the trick is how you groom and grow these testers into paying customers over the long term, once you’re over the blog bump, once all the blog buzz subsides. Some would say, “just blog more.” Do yourself a favor, before you buy into that, take a long hard look at your communications game plan and ask just one question: is blogging the *best* use of your (your team’s) time?
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On Listening to Customers…
mike manuel
Ken Norton shares some sound advice on how best to listen to and work with a mix of customers to help with the product development process. A brief excerpt:
So how do you hone in on what users really
need? You talk to people who represent a heterogeneous
cross-section of your target population, consider their built-in biases
and perspectives and triangulate from there. In my experience,
I’ve found it helpful to talk to users who represent the leading,
middle and trailing adoption populations in my market as well as
influential observers.It’s interesting to look at Norton’s post from a marketing
perspective. Personally, I think there tends to be too much emphasis
on the two categories Norton identifies as influential observers and
leading adopters, and certainly not enough on the middle and late
adopters. Why? Because for marketers, the head’s sexier
than the tail (more here
and wow, that last sentence is just rife with innuendo). Anyway,
long story short: You can’t expect to create buzz, build
enthusiasm and drive interest in a product with the middle and late
adopters. But, to Norton’s point, you can’t expect to create a great
product without them. The best companies and the best products
are those that can balance the needs and desires of a broader customer
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User Opinion Rules This Holiday Season
mike manuel
We’re now officially in the thick of the holiday gift-buying season and as expected, most of the major consumer trades have roundup reviews of this year’s hottest gadgets and products. With every year that passes, consumers grow smarter in their purchasing decisions – well, at least I’d like to think so – and user rating systems are just one of the enablers of better decision making.
According to some stats released today by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 33 million American Internet users (about 26%) have reviewed or rated someone or something as part of an online rating system:
These systems, also referred to as "reputation systems," are interactive word-of-mouth networks that assist people in making decisions about which users to trust, or to compare their opinions with the opinions expressed by others.
Additional findings include:
About 30% of Generation Y Internet users (ages 18-27) have posted a rating, compared to 23% of Baby Boomers.
About 33% of users who live in a household with an income of more that $75,000 have added a rating compared to only 22% of those who live in a household with an income of less than $30,000.
These findings suggest a continued trend of the growth of the Web as a two-way communication network where people create and share content online, rather than acting as mere content consumers.
For PR folks it also underscores
how increasingly influential user opinion is in the decision making process. A five star review may attract attention to your product, but it no longer seals the deal like it used to — user opinion does.