Social Business: Selling with my fav Twitter! An IBM example! #socbiz #ls11 #ibm #ibmpartner
Yes, you all know I love Twitter! But did you know that it is a powerful business tool?
In IBM, our ibm.com team must attract a high volume of leads from a new set of customers. Since Social has become a tool for getting information on products and services, we wanted to explore how to leverage word of mouth. For instance, after a Twitter search or deeper conversation in a LinkedIn group or forum, potential buyers might ask companies for more information, but they also often turn to their peers, other clients and trusted advisors.
So our ibm.com team decided to go social. Our inside sellers drove prospects to their Rep Pages –- personalized ibm.com pages that play a “virtual business card” role for inside sellers. These pages have relevant information to clients, enhance the relationship, and give clients one-click access to interact with their reps.
After training on how to engage and nurture potential clients, the ibm.com team built Twitter profiles to establish a presence in the social networking world. The ultimate objective of this pilot was for sellers to use social media to add value to conversations and build a pipeline of leads.
We (IBM) also worked with an outside firm to identify the most prominent influencers in the our space, so sellers could then follow them and comment on or retweet their posts and learn and connect. We developed a unique engagement strategy for each influencer, based on their activity and what they were saying.
To make it easy to maintain their Twitter presence, sellers also have a social message calendar, accessible via the feed reader function within Lotus Notes. The calendar features time-sensitive messages reps can tweet, with enough content for three tweets a day.
Over a 7 month period, these ibm.com teamates increased their Twitter followers by 5X
In the first two weeks of this effort, sellers’ Rep Page visits rose by 106 percent --thanks to a systematic pattern of Twitter mentions. The sellers reached 1.9 million contacts.
As we move ahead, social selling success will be reflected by the rep’s Klout score, that we discussed on yesterday's blog post. which gauges influence in the social world, an increase in the number of direct Twitter followers, and relationships developed with key influencers.
Many thanks to Kelly Meade and Diane Karsch for their work here at IBM on this Social Selling Initiative!!!
Social Business: What do you think about Klout? #socbiz #ls11 #ibm #ibmpartner
There are huge debates on the value of Klout. (Don't know what it is ? Go to Klout.com and check it out!) Klout currently tracks a user’s Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Foursquare activity. It is reportedly looking at Google+ integration!!
My Klout score to date is 61.
I have been reading about it for a while.
From the Klout blog: "We think you are influential. Klout isn’t about figuring out who is on the 'A-list.' We believe that every person who creates content has influence. Our mission is to help every individual understand and leverage their influence."
Do you use Klout? I have noticed some putting their Klout score on their business card (which is interesting as it changes weekly for me!)
Let me hear from you! Sandy
Social Business: CEOs in Social Media; #getsocial11 #ibmpartner #blogher
At Blogher, Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepisco, spoke to 3500 women at Blogher on Saturday. She really set the pace saying that the future of Pepisco is Digital!
Why don't more CEOs leverage Social? Or do they?
A majority 64 percent of CEOs are not using social media to engage with the public and other stakeholders, according to a new study from PR firm Weber Shandwick.
Here's the facts that I gathered on CEOs using Social.
- George Colony, the CEO of Forrester, had an interesting view on CEOs This is taken from his interview withBarb Dybwad . "I polled the audience and asked, “How many people in this audience have a CEO who they think could be social?” And I would say it was about 10%. Yeah. So that’s today — five years from now you put the numbers out. Maybe 20%? And maybe 10 years from now — I think it’s going to be 50% in 10 years. I think boards are going to be looking for people who can be social. Now in crisis, look at Toyota. The CEO of Toyota had a blog, but it was in Japanese. And it was about driving. So, he sells most of his cars to in English-speaking countries, and no one could understand it. That would have been a very good tool for him to use during this crisis, I think, to hear from the CEO in the CEO’s voice. He came and testified in front of U.S. Congress, so he could have preceded it with some talking about it socially, and that would have helped their cause I think."
- On LinkedIn, there are 1.3M people who are listed as CEOs. Many of them are firms that market to CEOs, but I would estimate about 1M CEOs are on linkedIn. I could not tell how active they are.
- From PR firm Weber ShandwickThe study also found that the most admired CEOs had a greater online presence (41 percent) than those who were less admired (28 percent). CEOs with more years on the job tended to be heavier social networkers. And CEOs running American companies proved more socially active online than those in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa), Asia Pacific, and Latin America.Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20019465-93.html#ixzz1UYBtOVore
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Great case examples. I love Bill Marriott's blog, It is sassy, informative, and transparent http://www.blogs.marriott.com/ On Twitter, I love Zappos's Tony's tweets, and on LinkedIn Gary Kelly, the CEO of Southwest Airlines, and his use of Answers. I'd love to know your FAVORITE CEO bloggers, twitters, etc!
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Indra Nooyi Sets Pace at Blogher. I found that Indra set the pace for other CEOs at Blogher on Saturday by recognizing that her company's future is tied to digital!
What do you think? Should CEOs be Social ? Or not?
Social Business: Top 5 Tips on Video Blogging Success! #getsocial11 #ls11 #ibm #ibmsocialbiz #blogher
I am at BlogHer today -- Saturday -- and in the session on Video Blogging! BlogHer was held in San Diego this week with nearly 3,500 woman bloggers in attendance!! Women who blog are influencing purchasing
Vidoe in blogs could be as simple as adding video to a current blog, or hosting a show online using video. Video is the most trusted media online today so experiment with this form of communication!
For Social Business, here is one of my first videos. Your comments?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l48k8YfTkFc&feature=related]
Top 5 Tips I learned in the session:
1. Tools. Make sure you use a good camera and great audio system. People will tolerate an ok picture but the audio must be understandable. While many people use the iPhone for video, most said the best was the Canon 5U
2. Great links that were discussed that I was not aware of! Biglive -- for charging for your videos, youtube.com/playbook for great video tips like SEO; trafficgeiser.com & Tubemobile both for ways to watch traffic. Also use "smoosh it" plugin on @wordpress to smoosh your older and current photos on blog to complement your videos. Cool one! Steps to get your link right for promotion of all your videos, not other recommended videos from YouTube: upload viceo to youtube, go to your channel, click on the video you want to promote within your channel, and then use the url at the top from that click, not the suggested url.
3. Drive to integration of your online prescence. For the videos, have consistent opening and closing and include where you "live online". So your twitter id or your blog. Unless you "live" in YouTube, make sure you are getting them over to your homebase! At the end of a lot of videos, it freezes on the last screen. So give them something to remember.
4. People Driven. Remember, there are people behind all these networks. It is all about understanding what people are looking for, and how you can assist them. You have to engage people 1:1. Add value, provide good content consistently, and have active engagement w/ audience & reach.
5. Livestreaming. Using gaming techniques -- like join the conversation at 2PM, create a scarcity to your livesteam. Check out ustream and livestream.
We concluded with the monetization of videos. For example, in beta, there is an application, so that you can get paid for your videos. One example was a person who does training and in a private password protected site, she posts her training videos for those who attend her class as a differentiation! There was a discussion of using blip as well to make money.
Anyone out there with more tips of videos?
Social Business: 3 Common Mistakes I see #socbiz #ls11 #getsocial11 #ibmsocialbiz
All: I have been doing a LOT of meetings with companies starting their Social Business journey and the top 3 mistakes that I see people begging advice on is the below!
1. Social Media and building communities is not a PR, Communications and Marketing task only. It needs commitment and engagement from the whole team. That's why it is Social Business, not just Social Media!
2. Social Media is risky. How do I eliminate the risk? The answer is, you can't! There are ways to mitigate the risk but the risk is there as it is in many cases. I recommend a Repuation Manage proactively monitor this online but that you have a Risk management plan.
3. You can not outsource Social. Some of our leaders asked me "who writes your blog?" They wanted to hire external ghostwriters for a blog etc. I recommended not to do it because the success of the Social channels depend on personality and authentic writing & communication. This needs to be personal.
Social Business Word of the Week: Engagement: The Energy of Social! #socbiz #getsocial11 #ibmsocialbiz #ls11
Today, our Social Business word of the week is Engagement.
My thought is that Engagement is the Energy of Social Business.
Engagement is about your connection with your clients, influencers, and others. Your emotional connection with your client or employee usually created by exceptional experiences that are integrated, interactive and identifying. A Social Business connects people to expertise. It connects individuals whether customers, partners or employees as networks of people to generate new sources of innovation, foster creativity, and establish greater reach and exposure to new business opportunities.
It establishes a foundational level of trust across these business networks and thus a willingness to openly share information, developing a deeper sense of loyalty among customers and employees. It empowers these networks with the collaborative, gaming and analytical tools needed to engage each other and creatively solve business challenges.
How do you engage?
Social Business: Lifecasting, Crowdsourcing, and ?! #socbiz #
Thinking through the "uses" of social, the list below came from a worksession in DC where we were more focused on the use of Social Tools vs just the Tool itself.!
Did we leave anything out?
- Lifecasting - like blogs where you document your activities or thoughts
- Crowdsourcing - like ideation --> innovating!
- Gaming Dynamics -- to make everyting funner!
- Real time communication -- the most common I think! like IBM connections, Twitter, Facebook!
- Social Commerce like groupon, Gilt -- Timed offers that will run out if the group doesn't come together!
- Social Review - going shopping with your 1000 best friends! Like amazon, yelp, tripadvisor!
- File/Content Sharing - like Slideshare and Youtube!
Questions that you should think through!
- In what ways is your company doing a great job of unleashing human potential to creat value
- Which human drives or behaviors patterns could you tap into more?
- What are your greatest opportunities?
- Which social Tech can help you amplify and accelerate those opportunities?
- How will you activate your organization an dothers to do this?
Social Business: Future of Marketing 2.0 Challenge! #socbiz #ibmsocialbiz #icsfsa
I cannot wait for the Future of Marketing today at July 28th at 1pm ET (10am PT/6pm BST). The event kicks off the story of Sarah DeLash, a fictional senior marketer who's trying to reinvent her brand for a rapidly evolving world.
Sarah's challenge: to launch an integrated marketing campaign, across multiple channels and platforms, that not only engages customers and stakeholders in a real-time conversation--but also grows the business at the same time.
See how the experts like Guy Kawasaki, Chris Brogan, and Brian Solis, and brands such as American Express, IBM, Coca-Cola, provide her advice!!! In VIDEO!!!!
To register, go here: http://futureofmarketing.com/registration/
Social Business: What does it mean to be HUMAN and SOCIAL?! #socbiz #getsocial11 #icsfsa
I am here in DC with Keith Yamashita and SY Partners!
With a group of companies, he led us through the What does it mean to be human and social!? The bottom line: Don't fight both! You are human -- don't lose that when you go online!!
We first answered a question "If you were with friends, and told a joke that hurt someone. How would you respond? When would you respond? and "How would your friends feel?" No one finds this difficult because you are "human".
However when we walk through the doors of the office and we forget these basic rules. Being Responsive, Quick, heartfelt is important. We know how to respond.
Why do we change in the social media world?
The example they gave was from J&J, where when they launched their Motrin campaign offended moms. The Moms took to Twitter, Facebook, and mommy blogs. This continued through the weekend, and Motrin did not respond until Monday, when it removed the ad, and released a statement that Seth Godwin commited sounded like "it had been put together by a committee."
Points:
1. People Gossip and Listen to Gossip! We are expressing this same behavior from the 17th century but social is amplifying it.
2. People want recognition. Example - Foursquare with the badges.
3. people seek outlets for their creativity. Youtube example with 6M people watching someone build a lego version of Marion on video!
4. People define themselves by the groups they belong to. Networks of people.
5. People fiercely defend their beliefs. Example: Nestle campaign about the "proposed" deforestation.
6. People seek redress for their grievances. People want to restore a sense of equity. Example: Maytag from mommy bloggers.
7. People join forces with strangers to achieve a common goal. Example: Raising money for Haiti online.
8. People defy authority. Example: LibyanYouthMovement fueled the "gathering" in the streets.
9. People try to make boring sites fun. Example: Keos healthcase game.
Social Business: David Beats Goliath #socibiz #ls11 #getsocial11
I had asked my team to share with me stories where they had leverage Social Tools. Here's a pretty cool real world example of that philosophy in action told to me in Dallas Texas by Duffy Fron!
"David beat Goliath in Cary, NC this week" - that was the headline after a small band of concerned citizens blocked the US Government from operating an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center adjacent to a NC neighborhood.
This small band of citizens was able to do so much in so little time because we used social software to inform and mobilize an army of people to call and e-mail their Congressmen and Senators. Using Social Software such as Twitter, Facebook, and a Portal website (www.stopcaryicenow.org) our community successfully blocked the US Government's plans. The GSA posted a press release on July 12th informing us of their decision to terminate their current SFO in Cary, NC This press release came out exactly three weeks from the day that we vowed to stop this project.
What makes something like this work in speaking your mind?
- Multiple networks assisting in the message
- Someone is listening ( i tweeted with 1000's about US Air incident - and no response!)
- Don't give up -- more than just one or two articles blogged, or tweets
What else? How can you help others use this media to make a differnce?