Social Media Trends -- View from the World!
As I have traveled around the world, I am seeing the following top Social Media Trends. I'd love your thoughts on these as core topics! I call them my crazy 8's!
1) Mobility and social networking are biggest (most influential and highly visible) emerging trends related to Internet usage. The bar is now set as basic communications like voice or internet access and other than voice growing faster outside the US as far as I can see. The US runs the risk of being left behind in this core market since growth of mobility and user expectations are being set outside of the US!!! Safety and security are large reasons why the up-and-coming Tweens users are increasingly accessing mobile devices since their view security and privacy issues in social media environments.
I predict that key to mobile, social networking, and cloud will be security, and location based services like I saw in Japan. As walking downtown Tokyo, my cell lit up with coupons and offers based on stores I passed. Location awareness will increase in importance with the rise of mobile Internet and mobile social networking applications.
2) Social media is on the rise especially outside the US. Some of the most rapidly growing countries are South Korea, Brazil and the Philippines. In fact, when the power went out in Brazil, I used Twitter to find out what happened and if my hotel had a generator. In general, there is a youth movement driving much of the initial mobile Internet and social networking usage (particular in mature markets).
3) Mobile-friendly websites are required to leverage the power of the mobile Internet. Pictures are worth a 1000 words and therefore online video has a meaningful impact on purchase decisions. I believe the future of video is on mobile devices. Most of the world is ahead of the US in mobile. (P.S. I'd love some social mobile case studies!)
4) Continuation of a focus on relationship. The best in class companies will not place the focus of social media on the bottom line revenue but focus instead on building relationship and continuous improvement. One of the biggest influences on purchases will continue to be colleague word of mouth -- which as we know, grows exponentially with social media. I see countries like India and China will a focus on this relationship element vs just ROI.
5) WorldWide, I continue to hear the biggest fear from all size companies on how to protect their company's brand. Reputation management is an increasingly important trend. Social media drives concerns related to brand management as well as implications for personal information.
6) Resume 2.0. And speaking of personal information, I think that the majority of resumes will be links to facebook, linkedin, podcasts, youtube, etc. The U.S. is leading this trend right now but I see other countries following.
7) Keep up the pace with search engine optimization. I predict that search engine optimization will continue to evolve. For instance, twitter will be searchable and will impact the search ratings and more changes will be coming WW. I see this impact changing the way companies in multiple countries do business.
8) Cross pollination will accelerate in the future starting in the US first. In the future, there will be more linkage between social media tools. Using Twitter to drive reads of blogs, LinkedIn to facebook, for example... add the blog link application so your posts are prominently displayed on your LinkedIn profile.
So this is my view from visiting about 58 countries. What did I miss?
Listening is 50% of the value of a Social Business!
- A high-profile online event
- 16 weeks of event preparation (based on IBM's Jam experience)
- Requires support of senior business executives (e.g., CEO, Board-level, Business Unit leader)
- Requires client to marshall support from across the enterprise
- Specific in duration, typically ranging from 72+ consecutive hours
- A defined agenda, focused on strategic & critical enterprise issues
- A real-time discussion database with ideas, best practices & employee sentiment
- A disciplined "behind the scenes" human planning and orchestration effort
- Real-time text mining & analysis to surface and steer live discussion trends
- Robust event hosting infrastructure (same as US open, Wimbledon)
- 2-3 weeks post-event research & analysis
- An event report with key conclusions and an action plan
Jams have been strategic to IBM in multiple ways
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- Enabling culture change: catalyze a culture of individual empowerment, trust and innovation; strengthen employees' feelings of opportunity and connection to the company; route around middle-management territoriality and controls; unleash the employee population.
- Improving operations: socialize best practices; lower the center of gravity; change policies and processes, aligning them with our values.
- Shaping and operationalizing core values: ValuesJam, WorldJam 2004 (Recent update on WJ2004 results ; Recent update on ValuesJam outcome )
- Introducing a new level of collaborative innovation: new approach to EBO/new business creation - InnovationJam.
- Laying the path - culturally, operationally and strategically - for IBM's strong move into Web 2.0 and virtual worlds: Show IBMers how safe and easy it is to collaborate more openly; IBM went from perceived irrelevance to perceived leadership in Web 2.0 over five months in 2005
- Differentiate IBM from competition: Unique, home-grown brand and expertise in Web 2.0 and social software/social networking.
Another great example is what the IBM Lotus team launched exciting, innovative and new "Lotus Knows" marketing initiative targeting the influential end-user audience to broaden and deepen enthusiasm for Lotus collaboration technology. (You can follow the campaign at #LotusKnows).
The goal of the campaign is to reach a key audience -- the pacesetter users -- key influencers in collaboration. On August 19th, in order to see what the tippers and key clients and partners had to say, they held an IdeaJam. It was an opportunity for all to share their thoughts, ideas and experiences to help shape our strategy and communications around the Lotus Knows campaign.
The Jam was divided into four core themes:
1. “Lotus knows working smarter depends on great technology…” - Cool features of Lotus technology that you cannot live without, or that people do not know about
2. “Lotus knows marketing is key to technology adoption…” - Ideas on how you would build awareness and evangelism in our market
3. “Lotus knows technology is only great with client success…” Customer success stories (roll out strategy, communications, education, etc.)
4. “Lotus knows the world is getting smaller, flatter and smarter...” Ideas about how end-users have benefitted from Lotus offerings around the world
Jammers were able to vote and promote ideas so that hot topics would bubble to the top. Jammers were able to vote and promote ideas so that hot topicbubble to the top. After the Jam, the top ideas in each theme will be collected and evaluated for potential use during the campaign.
I love Jams and the power they bring in helping crowdsourcing innovative ideas!!
Wake the Beast - I love it!
“Wake The Beast” -- OK, well, I just got around to writing this since my trip to Ireland a month ago!!!
I think the Honda Civic campaign called “Wake The Beast” is super cool!
Did you see it? It was launced in Ireland -- where I just was for a meeting in Dublin with partners! I saw it on a large billboard featuring Honda Civic R image with a tagline ‘Wake the Beast’.
The beauty of this campaign is that people can send a sms message “Text START to the short code 51500″ to start interactions with the bill board advertisement, this call to action (sending sms) will trigger the lights on the car to light up and smoke to billow from the exhaust of the car on the poster while user gets a link to Honda Civic R Mobile website so they can browse for more information and can receive the ring tone of engine roar.
Below is the video showing, how people can interact with the billboard display:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pavdx5O66iw&feature=player_embedded]
This is social media at its Max! It is a way to ENGAGE the user, CONNECT with the texter, and CREATE a new image for Honda!
I love it!
Google to use Twitter Posts in their Standard Search! Woot!
Google is planning to soon return Twitter posts in their standard search results. This will have HUGE implications for companies! It sounds like from Google's announcement that they will sift and sort years worth of previous twitter posts into search results related to keyword searches.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220900052&subSection=News
(Note that the twitter announcement is at the bottom of the article.)
Talking to Dave McCoy at Gartner it seems that the more important announcement rather than the general social media search returns mentioned because the social media returns require that a searcher have a Google account and profile, be logged in, and have a previous database of searchable social content that is connected with their Google’s contacts list. Since twitter posts are essentially a public microblog, they won’t require these prerequisites in order to show up in the returns.
Faberge and the Inner Sanctum!
I am here in Europe for a few sessions with Partners! One of the funniest ones was with Louise Grey, the CEO of MVM on a luxury goods, personalization and social media panel. I spoke on the panel using our IBM customer, Faberge, as an example.
Our Story! Faberge is a boutique that designs and sells one of a kind works of art and jewellery. The company wanted to revitalize their business model, establish itself as a premiere world luxury brand, and define an online approach to selling its high-value luxury items that avoided the usual mass market, self service format of the web. Their aim was to make the experience truly interactive by providing each client with a real life personal sales advisor as they would find in a traditional, high end boutique. The new site would also become the hub around which all client interactions would be constructed, thereby providing global reach and accessibility without the constraints or cost of a physical store network.
The key was to free the client to choose how, where and when they purchase. With the new on-line experience, Faberge creates the impression of depth: of a multitude of shops and products accessible to their connoisseur clients, backed with the quality of 1:1 VIP experience found in a private salon.
Experience from our Visioning Session! The online experience delivered by IBM translates the key elements of the traditional high end luxury good shopping process into an online paradigm that reflects traditional VIP private selling methods based on highly interactive and personal service. Prospective clients are required to pass through a filtering process in order to access the exclusive ‘inner sanctum’ where they can explore and interact with Faberge products. As the customer builds trust and explores, more of the product catalogue is progressively revealed. Access to a personal agent is provided, avoiding mass market self service, and at the client’s discretion, can conduct a unique interactive dialogue via the medium of the web and assist by pushing items to the client’s browser and exploring them with the client. The result is multi-layered access, detail and exploration -Initial access to all via website. Access to inner sanctum is via agent enablement, inivitation or mentor recommendation.
Trust Builds! As the customer explores or returns to the site, rules unlock further elements making it a constantly developing experience -Agent may remotely(off line) or interactively expose further elements of the catalogue for a customer at any time and determine if they are VIP. VIP status is progressivey earned or can be given by agent. Pretty impressive and innovative use of social tools to match the company's goals.
Launch in Sept 2009! The launch of Faberge’s site was a huge success, giving clients wishing to purchase their own personal sales advisor who provides a live 1:1 interactive sales service via video, telephone or live conversation text. The interactive platform model allows continuing development and the addition of further capabilities. These include the ability to involve other parties in the on line interaction and ensure the collection can be refreshed with new pieces.
Serious Gaming goes to the next level in Social Media!
Innov8 as a social media training element is really taking off at universities and business too! Here are the latest in the university area!
At San Jose State, students are leveraging social media game, INNOV8:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj-tU2LJ4rY]
USC is now using INNOV8 as part of their core curriculum- training 700 business school students this semester alone!!!
We are not alone! Intel teamed with Buddy Media
Project: InTru 3D application for Facebook
Goal: Generate awareness of Intel’s new cinematic 3D technology. You create an avatar, play the game and earn points to upgrade. You can invite your friends in Facebook to participate (share the message)!
What are you doing in gaming? I'd love to see case studies of other gaming usees.
Social Media -- Lethal Generosity ? Your thoughts?
I just read this very interesting article on lethal generosity!
"Lethal generosity," is the concept that the most generous members of any social media company are the most credible and influential and as such, they can compete more effectively!
In short, the company whose representative posts the most tips, links, advice, case studies, best practices that followers find useful will always rises to the top, not just in influence but also in search results."
This is exactly what we observe in open source communities.... the communities that 'scratch the most itches' win. Hibernate is a good example of a project with GOOD social traction. OpenJPA is technically strong, but the project has very limited social traction. The open source projects that attract just a few passionate subject matter experts who like to talk/blog/tweet are generally much more successful than the others.
So relating this to your business and mine! Every single time a question is answered about your product, the original problem/question and the answer needs to be findable (via google, twitter, or...). No exceptions.
There is too much good information get lost inside internal email chains. Although the customer is made whole, but the experience only lives in archived internal emails and in participants heads.
You need to start thinking about you get your best information to the public!
http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2008/10/using-lethal-ge.html
Update on Gaming in the Social World!
We talked about using gaming to train and drive demand in the new world.
Web Traffic/Metrics
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Traffic has doubled since May! Thousands are playing per week
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>75% avg clickthrough of eNurture emails (avg in industry is 25%)
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Over 3.5M gamers used the Proactive LivePerson chat offering more information from the game on our products -- an 4000% & uptick in the use of the tool.
Usage Beyond Web
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Our Serious Game is now in Widespread use in our Briefing Centers Worldwide
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Innov8 2.0 is featured in our lobbies
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We also have heavy standalone usage by our enablement teams in many geos
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Many of our events feature a Gaming Competition!
I am sold on Serious Gaming. What are your thoughts?
We wanted to take the serious game and take it outside the web as well.
BlogHer - My Top 10 as a First Timer!
My first time at BlogHer!
I had the great pleasure to attend BlogHer for the first time this year. How did I get to attend? A perfect storm really. 3 things happened that allowed me to attend: first, a customer had asked me to support them in their session and to talk about how my book on social media helped them with their strategy, second, I spoke with Charlene Li at the WITI conference and she knew the founders and secured me a ticket and then finally, I was asked to speak on how to leverage social media as the only real IBM presence at the conference.
So what is BlogHer?
I pulled this from the BlogHer site. It was founded in February 2005 by Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone. BlogHer’s mission is to create opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community and economic empowerment. BlogHer is the leading participatory news, entertainment and information network for women online and creates opportunities for its members via a community hub (http://blogher.com), annual conferences and a publishing network of more than 2,500 qualified, contextually targeted blog affiliates. BlogHer provides the highest quality content on a range of topics, with all blogs continually edited to meet strict editorial standards, including content quality, category relevance and blog frequency
The Top 10 Ah Ha's
1. The Business BlogHer had a lot of great case studies. While not sold out on the business side, I found the case studies innovative and best practices. I have blogged on the specific case studies that I heard ... Allstate, Tropicana, Pepsi, Sprint, Coach and many others.
2. Lots of Geek Labs - Hands on! I love the hands on labs. You could set up a new blog here with step by step instructions to learning HTML and PHP.
3. Networking The conference was setup to network. They did speeddating in a new and innovative way, and arranged the sessions and breaks to stimulate discussion.
4. Community keynote I attend a lot of corporate events and shows. Usually the keynoter is the CEO or GM in charge of the work. While powerful, I have not experienced a more moving and powerful keynote that BlogHer did on Friday night. It was a community keynote where bloggers were selected to read their blog entries. It was amazing. I am glad someone who had been here before told me to make sure I didn't miss it!
5. Swag. Again, going to CeBit or GiTex is an experience and everyone gives away their toys. But I have never seen the swag that was at BlogHer. From products, to free services on site, to designer scarfs, and vendors printers, servers, and phones. If you come, be prepared. This shows me that the vendors view this show as an important way to reach the tippers. One of our competitors was here for Small Business and I saw the bump in blogs on their products in the GB space go up 3x over the last 3 days.
6. Panels. Most of the sessions here were in a set of tracks on Geek Labs, Business, Leadership, Room of your own, Identity and Passions. But most of the sessions were panels. If you don't learn this way, it may not be the way for you!
7. Q&A's are LONG! Another culture here at BlogHer is to learn from a Q&A session. The sessions here are meant for learning not gaining exposure. I would say that in the sessions over 1/2 the time was spent answering questions from the audience.
8. Amazing Women in New Media. The BlogHer team brought out the stars. From Lisa Stone to GM of CBS, to Donna Bryne, etc. This is the place for the new adventurers in the social media world!
9. Purpose I was truly impressed by the purpose that I felt from all these women and men. These guys, while looking to monetize, are truly dedicated to their mission. I heard about blogs on the homeless, soberity, raising disabled kids, traveling, shyness, and the list goes on. Everyone I met loved what they blogged on. A great lesson in you do more of what you love -- for employers getting people into the right roles.
10. Fun I loved it. It was energeric, and fun. It energized me and showed me that one with a purpose can accomplish more than you can imagine! There were over 1999 parties. That's right.. suites to teach photography, small busines skills, word of mouth marketing, silk screening, etc.
Next Year:
Next year the conference will be in NYC in August. Will I go? Absolutely.
The Future - Generation C
This is the future. Everything is going online. 53% of women WW are online. Generation C -- which I have defined as the next generation who wants to co create, collaboration, and use their creavitiy. They are going to be around for a while. Join the exploration and see what works for you!
BlogHer Keynote -- A Group of Self Taught Geeks who are doing amazing things!
The keynote kicked off in Chicago with an amazing group of women! BlogHer was totally sold out! In today's world of travel cut backs, and reduced expenses this is amazing to see over 2K women!
Some of the key points:
- Women are the majority of internet usage now - 53%
- Women who are on the internet trust the internet information more than other sources
- Women Online - Frugalistas and Hard News Junkies. The tops are those on frugal shopping and politics (the Obama/Clinton campaign took the number of women politics blogs went from 300 to over 2000!)
- Strongest social users are those who blog.
- The Economist - The Story of Women Online! Lisa discussed her decision to leave CNN and start BlogHer. An amazing insightful decision!
- BlogHer is about the people! Velveteen Mind
There are multiple tracks!!!
Business of blogging, Geek Labs, Leadership, Passions, and room of your own! Oh, also the Mommy bloggers too.
Every major company is here.....Microsoft, HP, Sprint, etc.
