it's not about being on social, it's about being social
DESCRIPTION
Keynote address, 1st Digital Marketing Conference, Indian School of Business, February 3, 2012, Hyderabad, IndiaTRANSCRIPT
IT’S NOT ABOUT BEING ON SOCIAL IT’S ABOUT BEING SOCIAL
Indian School of Business February 3, 2012 Prof. Chris Dellarocas Boston University www.dellarocas.com
Digital marketing is the future
But 50% of projects fail to produce tangible results
Because they approach social media in the wrong way
A revolution is underway
But it’s not (mainly) about the technologies
In the beginning - all business was social
Then business started scaling Then business starting scaling
But social could not scale so it disappeared from business
Corporations started to develop some really bad habits
Targeting people
Segmenting people
“Campaigning”
It‘s like companies are at war with customers
It‘s like companies are at war with customers
Then came the Internet and Social media
And because humans are hardwired to be social
Social re-entered business and commerce with a vengeance
So to understand how to do business in a world of social media
You do not need to understand the technologies…
…as much as you need to understand humans – not as consumers, but as
social creatures
People need a sense of purpose and have an innate desire to be helpful to others
People value fairness and are willing to spend a lot of effort to punish unfair treatment
United breaks guitars
People like to do what others do
Iphone 4 debut, Paris
Ipad 2 debut, Beijing
Some people love status more than money
Homo economicus is dead Long live homo sociologicus
People want a sense of purpose
People want to help and be helped
People want to be treated fairly
People want to do what others do
People crave for recognition and status
So, to survive and thrive in the world of social media, you need to…
Transform your business processes into social processes
Accept that consumers are now (re)empowered to act as social beings
So, you need to…
A social process is NOT…
Running traditional programs using social media platforms
A social process IS…
Engaging human passion, reciprocity and sense of fairness to get others, whose “job” it isn’t to do so, to help you do your job
For example…
Twelp Force Video
How to design a social process?
Find your tribes
Both inside and outside the org
And get them to help one another
Across functional areas
Find your tribes
Both inside and outside the org
And get them to help one another
Across functional areas
How to find your tribes
Identify passions, lifestyles or needs that people form groups (tribes) around and where your products can play a useful role
The product
The tribe
The store
The tribe
The company
The tribe
Find your tribes
Both inside and outside the org
And get them to help one another
Across functional areas
Find your tribes
Both inside and outside the org
And get them to help one another
Across functional areas
And get them to help one another
Provide proper incentives
Identify genuine needs
Manage interactions among incentive features
Incentive design framework [Dellarocas 2012]
Feeling of purpose
Reciprocity
Fairness
Relationships
Sheer Fun
Competitions
Points and ratings
Membership levels
Honor badges
Leaderboards and rankings
Monetary rewards
Virtual currencies
Perks and privileges
Design intrinsic
incentives
Design status
incentives
Design material
incentives
“Love” “Glory” “Money”
Gamification and badges
The SAP Developer Network
Source: Francois Gossieaux
Stats:
1.4 M users
400K+ business experts
Original Incentive System:
Point system leading to personal rewards
Results:
Bullying behavior in the community
New Incentive System:
Point system leading to donation to good cause
Results:
No more bullying in the community
Find your tribes
Both inside and outside the org
And get them to help one another
Across functional areas
Is this marketing?
Is this customer support?
Is this knowledge management?
Is this recruiting?
Social media is not
just about marketing
Social media are blurring the lines across many previously distinct functions
Marketing
Public Relations
Sales
Customer Service
Product Development
Consumer Research
Recruiting
Knowledge Management
…
And yet…
Source: Tribalization of business study, (Beeline Labs, Deloitte et al. 2009)
Find your tribes
Both inside and outside the org
And get them to help one another
Across functional areas
To summarize…
Designing social processes requires a leap of faith for most
organizations
Where do you start from?
My suggested social pilot project approach
Step 1: Think tribes (not segments) - their passions and needs beyond just your products
Step 2: Think how you can help them (not sell to them, not get them to do something you think is worthwhile, even if it’s charity)
Step 3: Figure out how you can best offer this help through online communities, twitter, facebook, youtube etc.
Step 4: Assign joint responsibility for this project across departments (marketing and customer support is a good start)
Remember It’s not about being on social It’s about being social
Inspiration – Further Reading
Questions?