Listening to the Conversation — The New Communications Imperative

PRSA Digital Impact Conference Listening to the Conversation — The New Communications Imperative Rob Key, CEO, Converseon April 30, 2009

Who is Converseon?
Only leading provider of Conversation Mining with “end-to-end capabilities” -- from listening and reporting, to social media strategy development, technology and implementation
Governing members of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association
Clients include some of the world’s largest and most influential brands including Dow Chemical, Siemens, Samsung, Graco Baby, Palm, etc.
Multiple award-winner for a range of social media programs

Marketing Funnel 1.0

Conversation Funnel 2.0

Increasing Investment in Social Media

Converseon’s Social Media Process A Best Practice Approach to Joining the Conversation Build foundation for effective social media engagement Participate and ignite conversations Report on established engagement metrics and KPIs Map the landscape

Conversation Miner™
Listen: Converseon’s Conversation Miner ™ scours online discussion areas to capture, understand and report the products, issues and opinions that consumers share between and among themselves. This includes newsgroups, blogs, podcasts, social media and other forms of user-generated media.

Search Engine Visibility
How We View the Social Media World Enterprise Generated Content Mainstream Media Consumer Generated Content Podcasts Corporate blog Corporate website MSM blogs Online media vehicles Analyst forums the waterline visibility control Social media Newsgroups Detractor sites Professional blogs Affiliates Reviews Personal blogs

Mining the Conversation The Conversations Converseon Mines and Reports (Each venue has its own cultural norms which should be kept in mind) SOCIAL NETWORKS WIKIS PHOTO SHARING BLOGS 100+ million MICROBLOGS FORUMS/NEWSGROUPS 120+ million VIDEO SHARING Twitter: 4-5 million users (Q4 2008) Facebook: 200+ million users (Mar 09) 35% of adult Internet users has a social networking profile (Dec 08) SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS AGGREGATORS Wikipedia: 272 million unique visitors (Sept 08)) YouTube:200+ million viewers (Mar2009)

Monitoring vs. Mining Volume Word counts/tag cloud Entry timeline High-level topics Multi-level sentiment Venue analysis Influence Drill-down to entries Real-time Monitoring Mining Sentiment Topics and subtopics Human analysis Voices/participants Key influentials Incident-level reporting Limited sources (gen.) Custom reporting elements Daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly

Some Solutions
Free monitoring
Google Alerts, Bloglines, Technorati, Icerocket, Tweetscan, Tweetbeep,Twitter Search
(“For fee”) monitoring
Radian6, Scoutlabs, Conversation Monitor ™, etc.
Conversation Mining
Converseon Miner™, Cymfony, Neilson Online (“Buzz Metrics”), Motivequest
Engagement Platforms
Converseon eResponder, Visible Technologies, etc.

We Combine Advanced Technology + Human Analysis to Provide More Accurate, Reliable and Meaningful Data [Negative for Treximet Cardio Side Effects] “I did a little research of my own, and was a bit alarmed to come upon a forum of migraine sufferers who had tried the drug and reported tightness in the chest and other indications of cardiac disturbance . I decided to leave the Treximet in the desk, untouched. “ Blog.lazyharpy.com , published on 18-02-2009 [Positive for Treximet Effectiveness] “…I popped a Treximet , slanted my shades, closed and locked my office door, and put my head down for fifteen minutes. When my alarm went off, my head was perfectly clear . That was four hours ago.” Blog.lazyharpy.com , published on 18-02-2009 [Positive for Cardio Side Effects] “For some reason, today I picked it up. I did a quick web search for adverse side effects of Imitrex , which I have used for years, and felt surprised to see the very same descriptions as those accompanying the Treximet . Since Imitrex has never bothered me,..” Blog.lazyharpy.com , published on 18-02-2009 Automated sentiment systems score at record level, missing important details Automated systems would have scored the entire message negative for Treximet because of the ‘cardiac disturbance’ and side effect mentions, completely missing the point that the author found the drug highly effective and would likely use again

Multi-Level Sentiment We’ve had our 2006 Pontiac Vibe for about two and a half years now and we recently passed 80,000km (just shy of 50,000 miles). Overall the car has been working well for us. We’ve had no mechanical issues with the car and the only real cost has been regular oil changes. Our average fuel consumption for 2008 is currently at 8.34L/100km (~ 28 MPG). This isn’t very good in my opinion but it does include winter driving with the snow tires on. One other gripe about the car is that there is a very thin layer of paint. It seems that everything causes a small paint chip. I think if you sneezed while standing within 10 feet of the car it would get a paint chip.

Some Key Mining Dimensions
Volume
Sentiment
Voices
Speakers
Influence
Topics
Subtopic
Velocity

How Do We Find Meaning from Measurement?

The Most Effective Listening Requires an Organizational Approach
Social Media Listening is an engine of organizational transformation, and requires recognition that social media is not just a marketing/communications issue, but an organizational issue
Infusing listening into specific organizational use-cases helps companies become “Listening Organizations.”

Don’t Forget: Cultural Listening…

Cultural Listening

We Believe…
As marketers and brands increasingly penetrate social media communities, backlash will grow in many venues
Driving factors, such as tagging and increasing personalization, will further diversify, not homogenize, community norms
Offline rule norms don’t always apply
Effective engagement requires an altruistic approach that understands, respects and gives to the community without the expectation of specific immediate commercial outcome

“Karmic Communication”
The effects of all deeds actively create past, present and future experiences
“ Ask not what the community can do for you, but what you can do for the community.”

Conversation Mining™ Typical Use Cases/Campaign Scenarios
Identify influentials who are defining your brand…and category
Inform creative by capturing the “real” conversation by and between your customers and prospects…in near real time
Manage reputation
Improve and enhance product launches
Manage customer service
More effective, “real-time” marketing research
Inform search/content development
Measure campaign effectiveness
Inform media by understanding where relevant conversations are actually occurring
Competitive intelligence
Inform an overall social media strategy

Use Case: Brand Health Report
Purpose: Provide brands with full assessment of their current position in the online conversation
Analyzes 60 days of data (generally 30 days retroactively)
Full analysis and go-forward engagement recommendations delivered approximately 45 days after engagement (includes go-forward resource recommendations)
Analysis includes volume, sentiment, topic/subtopic, influence, voices
Can include competitive intelligence

Customer Service
“ For companies that don't tend to their customers, the consequences can be dire. Consumers frustrated by the regular fix-it channels are increasingly employing vigilante tactics. Whether they're making YouTube, Google videos or posting account numbers on blogs filled with digital rants, more and more consumers are getting companies to respond on their terms.”
Business Week, February 21, 2008

Use Case: Identify Potential Customers
Takes supplements as a part of overall wellness routine; likely part of online diet club
Better informed than the average consumer about dietary needs, specific nutrients and the effect on the body
Has few health problems overall; likely to focus on cosmetic or general benefits like increased energy as opposed to specifics
May have tried multiple brands of OTC fish oil/Omega-3 supplements
My naturopath suggested to increase weight loss you have too increase your metabolism . to do that he suggests to eat small snacks during the day and not to avoid the good fats like the omega 3,6 and to use things like flax oil or flax seeds ground up on salads or in soups and salmon is a good source of the good fats. Webmd.com Karen, middle age female Current weight 200; goal 135

Use Case: Reputation Management
Purpose: To enable brands to quickly identify and address potential reputation challenges
Approach:
Utilization of eResponder platform to capture “hot” relevant conversation near real-time
Configuration of rules-based engagement platform for potential engagement
Engagement database to profile key venues and trending

Use Case: Inform Media Planning A A C A A C C B C B B A A C C B A C B A A A C B A C C A A A A A A B A A A A A C Conversation Top Domains March 2009
Main Findings:
Given the highly technical and specific nature of broadband technology conversation, forums are the most common venues, since they allow participants to find others that share their interests and ask/answer questions
Search-friendly blogs are common venues of conversation for consumer-friendly topics, such as hi-def TV
Given that broadband technology availability is highly linked to geographical location and service provider offerings, top venues of conversation are commonly geographically/service provider specific
Brand Discussion Mobile Broadband Fixed Broadband Hi-Def TV through Broadband Domain Rank Domain Rank Domain Rank Domain Rank twitter.com A howardforums.com B whirlpool.net.au A whirlpool.net.au A whirlpool.net.au A forums.dpreview.com A digg.com A dslreports.com A menstennisforums.com C whirlpool.net.au A hardforum.com C tgdaily.com A answers.yahoo.com A exetel.com.au C forum.lowyat.net B digitalhome.ca B forum.gsmhosting.com A evdoforums.com C p2pnet.net A twitter.com A forums.hardwarezone.com C forum.lowyat.net B 3.8mustang.com C digitalspy.co.uk wiili.org C twitter.com A overclockers.co.uk C forum.videolan.org A forum.lowyat.net B mybroadband.com.za C forums.digitalpoint.com A webwire.com A megite.com C vodafone.co.uk B twitter.com A investorshub.advfn.com A eu.playstation.com B forums.crackberry.com A dslreports.com A tvover.net C Domain Influence Scores - Ranks: A Venue falls in the top 1% of highest trafficked, most influential sites B Venue falls in the top 10% of high trafficked sites C Venue falls in the bottom 90% of trafficked sites Blog Forum Micro-blogging platform Wiki News Aggregator Common top domains Twitter.com Whirlpool.net Forum.lowyat.net Dslreports.com

Use Case: Creative and Insights
Captures the “real” language utilizes by consumers within conversations about specific products and services
Also captures where the conversation is happening for better/more efficient media targeting
Specific insights can be important for R&D/product development

Use Case: Search Engine Reputation Management

Inform Search
What is the sentiment and makeup of top search results?
Where are the social media engagement opportunities to maximize Search Engine Results Page visibility?

Identify Opportunities to Inform a Social Media Strategy
Conversation Topics/Solutions Matrix
Health risks Price/cost Availability Effectiveness Pre-Treatment Procedure Environmental Impact Home/Family Impact ReEvaluation Value Insurance Opportunity for content creation

Trending
Changes in Conversation
Increases in sentiment, volume, “share of conversation,” etc.
Cost per action
Sign up, view video, application usage, sales, etc.
Downstream behavior
Correlative impact for eventual econometric modeling

Where this Goes Next? Predictive Modeling
Overlay all relevant data sets for correlative analysis and, eventually, to enable predictive modeling
Conversation Mining Traffic Conversion/Analytics Sales Brand Tracking

Graco: Listen, Plan, Engage
We Listened first
Conversation Mining report to set benchmark & inform strategy
Assessed social media traffic
Continually listening with Conversation Miner
Planning & training process lasted several months

Graco: Listen, Plan, Engage
Our Goal: Relationships
Graco doesn’t just blog, it enhances the community
Read & comment at others, link to their blogs, meet them in person
Host Graco Get-Together events around the country

Graco: Joining the Community

Graco: Ongoing Relationships She IS Graco , that Lindsay. And Master Recon Specialist. The girl misses nothing. -- Mommy Needs a Cocktail Another company getting it right- Graco . I’ve chatting with Lindsay on Twitter, watched as they crafted a MOMblog that actually is written by Moms about things Moms write about. It’s not just product discussion. I’m thrilled to say the Graco blog, it’s bloggers, and the other people involved in the effort are part of our community. That’s right, they did it-we gave them the secret handshake and everything. Why? They’ve engaged bloggers in conversations, events, and they kept it REAL. -- Queen of Spain

Graco Case Study: Parenting 1 st , Products 2 nd As a (relatively) new parent, the Graco brand certainly has made a footprint in our household. Through a new Twitter friend, I found out about the new(ish) Graco blog . As a corporate blog, this is one of the best I’ve seen yet. That’s pretty impressive considering the role the Graco Legal Department probably played in this launch, and ongoing maintenance! Here’s a few reasons why Graco is rocking this blog… -- Community Guy, Jake McKee

Results
Volume of the online conversation for the Graco Brand nearly doubled, while positive sentiment increases from 68% 2007 to 83% in 2008
GracoBaby blog featured on Today Show and as a case study at BlogHer Business conference
In just 6 months, blog is ranked as the 59th top parenting blog in the hundreds strong Parent Power Index
Positive reviews from industry commentators and parenting bloggers alike including the 5th highest ever score in Mack Collier's series of Corporate Blog Reviews
Named to Mashable’s “Smartest Big Brands in Social Media.”

What is Myth vs. Reality re: Social Media?
Listening is a luxury
Social Media is for consumer goods companies only
Social media is just another channel
Social media is easy
Social media belongs to a particular marketing discipline
Listening and acting on what you hear should be integrated across the enterprise, including R&D, product development, communications/marketing and customer service
Some of the greatest beneficiaries and innovators in social media are other types of companies
Social Media is a primary driver of organizational transformation that transcends marketing-communication
Culturally it can be very difficult
Social media transcends marketing disciplines – and most brands are not organized effectively to act

Thank You [email_address] 212 213-4297 ext 301 Twitter.com/converseon Blog.converseon.com www.converseon.com

Listening to the Conversation — The New Communications Imperative

by Converseon on May 05, 2009

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Listening to the Conversation — The New Communications Imperative — Presentation Transcript