using social media for competitive advantage final
DESCRIPTION
The second lecture I gave the class at the Schulich MBA Program in India, Schulich School of Business, York University, Mumbai CampusTRANSCRIPT
Using Social Media for Competitive Advantage
The conversation will happen,
with or without you
@shiraabel
Who Am I?
Shira Abel Business Development & Marketing Abel Communications@shiraabel
What is Social Media?
• Participatory online media where comments, conversation, news, photos, videos and podcasts are made public
• An effective guidepost• Connect post-purchase experiences with potential
customers• Social media is an activity that is based on the notion
of influence• Integrated marketing
@shiraabel
Competitive Advantage
• Competing on cost is bad
• Conversation is happening regardless
• Information is power
• Building loyalty with customer
@shiraabel
GAP@shiraabel
Ford is Building a Community@shiraabel
From Seth Godin’s Blog
It's marketing when my friend and I are talking about how the thing we bought from you changed us.
@shiraabel
Low Interaction@shiraabel
No One Cares@shiraabel
Hot For Words@shiraabel
People Care & She Responds
Spam on Page
Where’s the Conversation?@shiraabel
The One Interactive Tool is Too Complicated
@shiraabel
Brands are Reaching Out@shiraabel
And People are Responding@shiraabel
Social Dell – Niche to Masses@shiraabel
Finding People Where They Play
@shiraabel
Welcoming them In@shiraabel
Giving a Platform to Complain@shiraabel
Another Example (different niche)
@shiraabel
Not Just for Niche Players@shiraabel
Better Than Campaign Sites?
• Coke is using social media sites from now forward – no more one-off campaign sites
• Building presence on Facebook and YouTube instead
• Coca-Cola stated that their social media and SEO presence is a better homepage than Coke.com
@shiraabel
YouTube is 2nd Largest Search@shiraabel
Be Where Your Fans Are@shiraabel
It’s Not About The Numbers
It’s about getting the right people followingyou, not about gettingeveryone to follow.
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Give Traditional Media Campaigns Longer Life
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Ping.Fm – Blasting Info@shiraabel
Social Media Mixed With Traditional Media
@shiraabel
H & R Block App on Facebook@shiraabel
Honesty Box – Popular App@shiraabel
H&R Block
“The social-media strategy includes a Twitter account, widgets, blogs, a YouTube channel and a Facebook fan page and apps -- a recent one in the form of a quiz asks, "How deductible are you?“… The core of the social-media plan is a 1,000-member tax-professional team, chosen from 100,000 H&R employees across the country, who have been "social-media-qualified." “
@shiraabel
Social Media Works@shiraabel
Where is Your Brand?@shiraabel
Dilemma
• Email isn’t as effective as it once was
• Social Networks are gaining web traffic
• People are on social networks to interact with people, not brands
• Push marketing is not as effective (especially in social media)
• Google personalized search has injured SEO
@shiraabel
Who Has More Mind Share?@shiraabel
The Future@shiraabel
Fast Accurate Information
• Immediate feedback from your target market• Allows for instant adjustment to business model /
marketing • Deepened social relationships • Engage audiences energy in success • Create more "touchpoints" to affect customer's
brand experience (without annoying them) • Engage customer / market in co-creating value • Help create competitive advantage
@shiraabel
Twitter Moms – The Midol Debacle
Wearing your baby seems to be in fashion. I mean, in theory it’s a great idea. There’s the front baby carrier, sling, schwing, wrap, pouch. And who knows what else they’ve come up with. Wear your baby on your side, your front, go hands free. Supposedly, it’s a real bonding experience. They say that babies carried close to the body tend to cry less than others. But what about me? Do moms that wear their babies cry more than those who don’t. I sure do! These things put a ton of strain on your back, your neck, your shoulders. Did I mention your back? I mean, I’ll put up with the pain because it’s a good kind of pain; it’s for my kid. Plus, it totally makes me look like an official mom. And so if I look tired and crazy, people will understand why.
– THE OFFENDING AD ON YOUTUBE
@shiraabel
Immediate Response
• Mothers were insulted
• Let their voices be heard
• Blogs were written
• Twitter was “on fire”
• Midol took down ads and sent a very public apology
@shiraabel
USES
@shiraabel
Co-creative IP Development
• Bearingpoint uses a wiki to engage its customer base (over 16,000 users worldwide)
• Evolve open source data architecture model • Open collective work to public leads to greater
standardization • Increases credibility and market awareness • Building competitive advantage on their deep
understanding of the intricacies of the evolving standard
• Customers collaborate with them in building this technical resource for the entire industry to use
• Enriches customer relationships.
@shiraabel
Product Development
• "Idea Sites" used by Starbucks and Dell to solicit and prioritize customer input
• Companies can structure deep dialogs with their large customer bases and invite them into the product development process
• Truly crowdsourced companies like Threadless, however, go even farther and outsource pieces of the development and design process to customers who participate free of charge or for non fee-based reward
@shiraabel
Customer Support & Engagement
• National Instruments' "Nerd Network" engages over 110,000 users to answer 46% of their customer support questions while also engaging them in new product discussions and student mentoring programs.
@shiraabel
Partner Collaboration
• IBM uses social technologies, inviting its 100,000 partner network to collaborate with its employees and with each other to help grow their collective business success.
@shiraabel
Employee Engagement
• Intranets are transforming into socially empowered centers of value creation, morale building and brand reinforcement.
• Example: Best Buy's BlueShirtNation. Employee programs are being transformed by the social participation of the employees
• Yammer – Twitter for the office
@shiraabel
Basics
• Identify and clearly state business objectives before deciding on specific elements of a social media program
• Behaviors of your target audience are key in setting the strategy and identifying the metrics
• Measure conversational content:– Who is talking about you – What are they saying
• Metrics collected near and within your purchase process link the conversations to the actual impact on conversions
@shiraabel
Thank you
Shira Abel-Shvo
Abel Communications
http://www.abel-communications.com
@shiraabel
@shiraabel
References• Coke Abandons Plans for Campaign Websites to Invest in Social Media
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5487/Coke-Abandons-Plans-for-Campaign-Websites-to-Invest-in-Social-Media.aspx?source=Blog_Email_[Coke+Abandons+Plans+]
• http://www.tgdaily.com/trendwatch-features/39777-youtube-surpasses-yahoo-as-world’s-2-search-engine
• Article: A CMO's Guide to Social Media http://magusconsulting.com/Capabilities/SocialMediaStrategies/CMOsGuidetoSocialMedia/tabid/73/Default.aspx
• Dell Says It Has Earned $3 Million From Twitter http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/dell-has-earned-3-million-from-twitter/
• Army of Tweeting Tax Pros Leads H&R Block Social Push http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=141236
• Part I: Chapter 03 "What is Social Media“ http://www.readthis.com/part-i-chapter-3-what-is-social-media.html
• Pearl Jam Gives A Song Away For A Tweet http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/04/free-pearl-jam-song/?utm_source=MartinOrton&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+Techcrunch+(TechCrunch)&utm_content=Twitter
• Life on the list – Amil Dash http://dashes.com/anil/2009/12/life-on-the-list.html • Social Media Moves Product http://www.thedigitalroyalty.com/2009/social-media-monetization/ • Moms and Motrin http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/moms-and-motrin/ • BearingPoint Enterprise Wiki has over 16000 users
http://www.customware.net/repository/display/CustomWare/2008/11/20/BearingPoint+Enterprise+Wiki+has+over+16000+users
• http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/01/in-between-frames.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+typepad/sethsmainblog+(Seth's+Blog)
@shiraabel