Microsoft's vision on social media
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At Eurobest 2009, CMO of Western Europe for Consumer & Online at Microsoft, Alex Dale shared Microsoft's vision on social media.
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Microsoft's vision on social media
- 1. Alex Dale Microsoft Western Europe
- 2. Introduction
- 5. Evolution
- 11. CC Kris Hoet
- 16. Improves my opinion of the brand
- 17. Brand actions rated 4 or 5
Editor's Notes
- Hello. My name is Alex Dale, and am the Consumer & Online Marketing Officer at Microsoft in Western Europe. That means I look after Windows, Windows Phones, Messenger, Hotmail and MSN. I am here today to talk about social media and how Microsoft views the current consumer dynamic. But before we get started I thought I would introduce myself a bit, through the lens of social media: I have worked for Microsoft’s online properties for over three years. Hotmail and Messenger were two of the original network effect businesses and remain extremely popular across Europe and the rest of the world. Like many Microsoftees I have a profile on Facebook, Linked-In and use Twitter for pithy observations I am a music enthusiast and regularly comment on the forums of my favourite artists For closer friends and family, I use Messenger In marketing speak I would probably be classified as a « Silver Surfer » if I had any hair I was asked to talk today about Social Media. I am going to try to place some of the recent trends in social media into context and explain why they are relevant for marketing people. I will also discuss how we are approaching some of these issues in Microsoft, alongside some external examples. And because this is a Microsoft presentation, I will be using power point slides. However, I can assure you that I only have two Excel graphs. I would like to kick off with a short video from Eric Quallmann, the author of Socialnomics.
- So... Revolutionary times or not? There is no doubt the Internet has been a revolutionary force in the developed world. Distance removed – work from anywhere in the world Instant, free communication and access to knowledge Wealth of content and media available online, not all of it true Ruthless price competition through comparison shopping without having to trail up and down the High Street Disintermediation and re-intermediation (Amazon and the High Street Bookseller) New generation of entrepreneurs And within the Internet, social media is becoming even more prevalent. Some facts from Nielsen Global Faces report of March 2009: Nearly 2/3 of the Internet population use a social network or blog every month Social networks now account for nearly 10% of all time online Social networks reach is growing faster than Search, E-mail and other “traditional” online activities
- So... Revolutionary times or not? There is no doubt the Internet has been a revolutionary force in the developed world. Distance removed – work from anywhere in the world Instant, free communication and access to knowledge Wealth of content and media available online, not all of it true Ruthless price competition through comparison shopping without having to trail up and down the High Street Disintermediation and re-intermediation (Amazon and the High Street Bookseller) New generation of entrepreneurs And within the Internet, social media is becoming even more prevalent. Some facts from Nielsen Global Faces report of March 2009: Nearly 2/3 of the Internet population use a social network or blog every month Social networks now account for nearly 10% of all time online Social networks reach is growing faster than Search, E-mail and other “traditional” online activities
- I am not sure however that our social behaviour has really changed. People do what they did before – Chat / Flirt / Shop / Discuss / Invent You used to post pictures into an album – now you post them online My sister used to spend hours on the phone with her friends – now she is on Facebook I used to read music magazines – now I look at the reviews and ratings on Amazon People use to go to the pub and chat about life… they still do .... So in what ways are the online Social Media of today really different? Five key themes
- First, the Internet has always been a social media E-mail, messaging and online forums have always accounted for a huge amount of online usage. The Internet brought down the barriers of time, space and cost in terms of publishing and communicating with friends, family and people who share similar interests. The conversations are about all the things that normally interest people, from personal gossip and the weather to what the Queen is having for tea. And many of the conversations will include the brands that we work with on a day to day basis. The Cluetrain Manifesto started last millennium – it was in 1999 Doc Searls and his co-authors first wrote that "Markets are conversations.... and these conversations are getting smarter and faster than most companies". I remember doing a presentation in 1997 to a UK business conference, explaining how consumers might get together online to talk about their experience with a particular bank. Or they might discuss their real experience with “Motorcar A” or “Motorcar B”, accelerating changes in word of mouth reputation accordingly. It was true 12 years ago and it is still true today – as a commercial organisation you can be part of the conversation or you can stand aloof. I have been part of an African Music forum for almost as long a time. I would not find many fans of African music in my village or my neighbouring town in rural England. But in the forum I can discuss the latest recordings or concert tours before they are even announced in press. These types of Forums and Community Sites have been around since the early days of the Internet. You may remember Geocities as an early innovator in this area. Here is a nice page from Geocities, sadly recently closed down. And in many ways the search algorithms behind Google and the collaborative filtering in Amazon are “social media”, drawing on the actions and recommendations of millions and millions of individual consumers. The biggest recent change has come with the social networks such as Facebook and Bebo. The interesting thing is that they have focused first of all on building relationships between people, rather than on “subject specific” communities such as Tribes.com or Friends Reunited. They have effectively become platforms – once the connection between people is established the network is used to send messages, share photos, play games or join a subject specific group.
- Three, there are clear differences between the generations – for the moment For the younger generations who have grown up with Internet communication, staying in touch with family and friends is the on of the most important reasons for going online. For their parents, task based activities such as researching a holiday destination or a new car are the most important reason for going online. From Global Web Index 2009: 60% 16-24 year olds went online in the last month to stay in touch vs. 35% 35-44 year olds 80% 16-24 year olds manage a social network vs. 40% of the 35-44 year olds Clearly some of these differences will be due to life stage – the attractions of arranging to go out with your mates instead of staying in to look after the kids. And the older generation are catching up – pretty soon the demographics of Facebook will mirror those of the Internet as a whole. But there are a couple of core differences amongst the generation who have grown up with the Internet, particularly in terms of attitudes to privacy and the sharing of personal stories, images and friends. All day. Every day. At the risk of appearing to be a grumpy old man, I will move onto my fourth theme
- Three, there are clear differences between the generations – for the moment For the younger generations who have grown up with Internet communication, staying in touch with family and friends is the on of the most important reasons for going online. For their parents, task based activities such as researching a holiday destination or a new car are the most important reason for going online. From Global Web Index 2009: 60% 16-24 year olds went online in the last month to stay in touch vs. 35% 35-44 year olds 80% 16-24 year olds manage a social network vs. 40% of the 35-44 year olds Clearly some of these differences will be due to life stage – the attractions of arranging to go out with your mates instead of staying in to look after the kids. And the older generation are catching up – pretty soon the demographics of Facebook will mirror those of the Internet as a whole. But there are a couple of core differences amongst the generation who have grown up with the Internet, particularly in terms of attitudes to privacy and the sharing of personal stories, images and friends. All day. Every day. At the risk of appearing to be a grumpy old man, I will move onto my fourth theme
- Four, physical location is beginning to become as important as virtual location Over the last couple of year sales of smart phones and netbooks have grown rapidly. Consumers really value the portability and convenience of these devices. Most smart phones contain GPS capability. It is also a standard capability on a Windows 7 netbook. This means that consumers can share their location with their contacts wherever they are. We have only just begun to scratch the surface of location based applications.
- Five, social media is taking us into the unknown in terms of privacy, libel, the norms of journalism and the use of data As some of you may know, the UK has relatively strong libel laws. It is possible for lawyers to issue super injunctions not just restricting the ability of the media to report on a particular point but also restricting the media from reporting the fact that an injunction has been issued in the first place. In the words of former US Secretary of State for Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, in the context of such as “super injunction” the reader would be dealing only with “Unknown Unknowns”. Last month lawyers acting for Trafigura, an oil trading company accused of seriously polluting the West Coast of Africa, attempted to force the UK media from reporting discussion in the UK Parliament about the case. But the story and documentation was already widely available on the Internet. Twitter users (US site) were able to point their followers to the relevant URL on Wikileaks, a site hosted in Sweden for whistle-blowers to post relevant information. This was beyond the control of the UK law firm. This story relates primarily to just libel. Similar issues will be found as the participants in social media a drawn from countries where diverse rules on privacy, personal data and copyright apply. Where are the journalistic or ethical rules that have grown up over decades in the traditional media? You now have situations where amateur photographers and professional photographers alike will post their work on Twitter or Flickr. What are the boundaries and norms against which citizen journalism should work?
- Suggestion 1: Participate in the conversation The conversation is going to happen anyway. You have to be there. At the very least you can “Participate” in the conversation How to make the ROI case to your board to free up the $ and time necessary to do this properly? - Sales: Customer satisfaction, maintain the cost to serve down (1 answer, relayed prevent as many calls) Marketing: consumer insight, free research, real time feedback PR: manage crisis early to avoid snowballing effect Decide who in your organisation is going to participate, make sure they understand both the social etiquette and your product positioning and then get involved in the blogs and the conversations. Don’t use a 3 rd party agency to post the comments – they should come from the organisation itself Do use a tracking service to see what people are saying about you and your competitors Take a child like approach – try to actually enjoy getting involved in these conversations...
- Five themes... The long history of online social interaction and the new social platforms The growth of the real time Internet The differences between the generations The importance of location And the sense of moving into the unknown What do all this mean for marketing people? Three things mean you need to get involved People are spending more and more time with social media. This adds to overall media fragmentation vs. TV / Newspaper / Online. But it also makes the advertising process more complex – there is no traditional “Publisher Provides the Content, Agency Provides the Advertisement, Reader Enjoys the Experience” formula in operation here. Consumers are increasingly ignoring traditional advertising where they can, regardless of media. Social networks are by definition fairly intimate or personal creations – these are my friends and my photos and my messages and I don’t want someone planting their logo all over them. In essence, the advertiser needs to be invited in. Social Media massively amplify normal word-of-mouth – both positive and negative – this is a great opportunity
- Suggestion 2: Think about the points of Influence This is a map of the relationships between members of an interest group on a popular social networking site. You can see at least three distinct shapes; long finger-like chains where one member knows another, fan shapes where one member recruits several other members, and highly central clumps at the centre of the graph where it's impossible to infer any direction at all The point of this image is that it reminds you that some people influence and some people are more influenced Good word of mouth marketing means that you need to get to know the influencers and being to have an open and constructive conversation with them.
- Suggestion 3: Grow from participation in the conversation to fuelling the conversation There is no point in trying to drive a conversation with a traditional top down Megaphone advertising approach. Consumers will ignore you or just treat you like an unwelcome gatecrasher You need to have something genuine and of interest to say. Social networks are ultimately about friendships, where members add value to each other’s lives through interaction. Marketeers should follow the same philosophy of adding value through interaction and consultation. Much like a normal relationship, marketing on social networks requires continual investment – in terms of time and effort as opposed to financial – to be of value to both parties. You can either fuel the conversation directly or offer up something to stimulate discussion Hugh McLeod, the author of this cartoon, talks about “Social Objects”. These are things (an applet, a piece of music, a video clip) that become something people talk about. There have been some great “Social Objects” from advertising agencies over the last couple of years (example....)
- Suggestion 4: Use existing platforms to host your conversation The temptation is often then to build an Internet experience from the ground up so that it can match your vision exactly. But a great Internet site without an active audience is like an empty shell. The reality is that not all businesses are set up to be content providers, social platforms or multi-media experiences. Unless these are core competencies, I would strongly advise partnership with a media owner or online service provider rather than the DIY approach. Unilever story:
- The conversation I said that I would only use two Excel graphs in this presentation. Here is the first. It is from Global Web Index, a survey of over 32,000 Internet users across the 16 largest online markets. The research was published in September of this year and was carried out over the Summer. It is one of the largest and most detailed consumer Internet surveys ever carried out. This first graph shows the activities that a brand might engage in online and how many of the respondents in the UK think that those activities would improve their opinion of the brand. What is very clear from this chart is that “Listening” and supporting “Direct Contact” are seen as extremely important by both the younger and older demographics. Consumers want brands to listen and they want to be able to have the conversation.
- The conversation The second Excel graph is from the same survey, again highlighting the UK. Consumers have rated the relevancy of activities that a brand might undertake both online and offline. Discounts rate highest of all but consumers are also interested in useful online applications, content downloads, new ideas and news itself. These are all what might be termed “social objects”.
- To conclude: Significant changes for the marketing world due to the rise of social media (speed, open) Need to get involved, social currency required Social object e.g. RULive in NL Hand over to Jacqueline