2008 TRIBALIZATION OF BUSINESS STUDY How to Achieve Transformational Change through Online Communities and Social Networks

A STUDY PRODUCED BY: Deloitte ( www.deloitte.com ) Beeline Labs ( www.beelinelabs.com ) Society for New Communications Research ( www.sncr.org )

THE FINDINGS IN THIS PRESENTATION ARE BASED ON SURVEYS OF OVER 100 COMPANY OFFICIALS WHO ACTIVELY USE COMMUNITIES THE RESULTS ARE PRELIMINARY AND MAY CHANGE AS THE STUDY PROGRESSES

OVERVIEW: WHAT’S THIS TRIBAL THING ALL ABOUT? WHAT ARE THE MOTIVATIONS ALLOWING THIS TO WORK? WHAT ARE COMPANIES USING THEM FOR? WHO’S IN CHARGE – WHAT ARE THE ORGANIZATIONAL IMPLICATIONS? HOW ARE COMPANIES MEASURING SUCCESS? WHAT MAKES THEM SUCCESSFUL? WHAT ARE THE INHIBITORS + BEST AND WORST PRACTICES? CAN YOU BUILD COMMUNITIES WITH ANY DEGREE OF PREDICTABILITY?

Tribalism is the very first social system that human beings ever lived in, and it has lasted much longer than any other kind of society to date. (Wikipedia) WHAT’S THIS TRIBAL THING ALL ABOUT?

THE MOTIVATIONS ALLOWING THIS TO WORK… People want to connect with people People want to help and be helped People operate either in a SOCIAL framework or a MARKET framework

USAGE SCENARIOS: New Product Development Customer service Idea generation Market research Developer relations Amplifying Word of Mouth Employee communications General Marketing Reputation management Product testing Public relations LONG TAIL SALES CANARY IN THE COALMINE Co-innovation

MAJOR BUSINESS OBJECTIVES: Generate word of mouth Bring outside ideas into the organization faster Increase customer loyalty Increase brand awareness Improve PR effectiveness Reduce market research costs Decrease customer acquisition cost Reduce customer support cost Increase new product success ratios

WHY ARE COMPANIES SETTING UP COMMUNITIES? Speed of innovation Learning organization Reducing cost Building trusted relations Transformational power and game-changing nature of communities

WHO’S IN CHARGE? MARKETING Sales Customer service Finance Public Relations Employee communications IT Product development R&D

ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION… You can start communities without changing the way you work, but successful communities will invariably transform your organizations… New roles New career paths New business processes - NEW ENERGY -

Not in support of any goal…

MEASURING PROGRESS AND SUCCESS – QUALITATIVE Activity levels Tonality Impact on sales Impact on cost Participation rate Sustainability Software downloads engagement Amount of learning Anecdotal stories Growth Sentiment

MEASURING PROGRESS AND SUCCESS… The importance to measure the impact on business processes the same way as those business processes are being measured today The importance of metrics on behavior Beware of rear-view mirror effects The importance of stories

The more CONTENT you have the more MEMBERS you will get. The more MEMBERS you have the more CONTENT you will get. The better you match CONTENT and MEMBERS to MEMBER PROFILES the more MEMBERS and CONTENT you will get. The easier it is to do TRANSACTIONS the more MEMBERS you will attract. WHAT’S GOING ON HERE? THOSE PILLARS CREATE THE DYNAMICS OF INCREASING RETURNS WHICH HELP COMMUNITIES DELIVER GAME CHANGING RESULTS

AND OF COURSE… The Technology Infrastructure of the community is important The Social Infrastructure of the community is MORE important BUT THEY ARE NOT AFFECTING THE ECONOMICS OF INCREASING RETURNS THAT DELIVER GAME CHANGING RESULTS

POTENTIAL COMMUNITY INHIBITORS… Incentives Corporate culture Lack of physical component Community moderator profiles Community social infrastructure

COMMUNITY BEST AND WORST PRACTICES… BEST Clear goals + purpose Right talent Commitment + time Topic engenders passion Social + communal WORST Start with technology Marketing “campaign” Mixing business/consumer motives No facilitation Metrics vs. business measures

CAN YOU BUILD COMMUNITIES WITH PREDICTABLE SUCCESS? Is the focus hitting a pain, interest that people need help, want to give help? Understand the importance of the size of your addressable community If you do not have critical mass – invest in professionally developed content If your community would not succeed in a discussion group – it will not work YOU MIGHT GIVE UP SOME OF THE EFFECTS OF THE DYNAMICS OF INCREASING RETURNS BUT STILL GAIN MORE THAN BY USING INTERRUPT TECHNIQUES

OTHER INTERESTING FINDINGS… Integration of the community with existing public communities – Facebook, twitter The importance of time-based events – innovation jams, events, etc. There are differences in community behavior – mobs, swarms, hives, tourists, fans

CONCLUSION… Communities can be build with predictable success Communities are transformational If done properly, the benefits are not level-setting – they are GAME-CHANGING

QUESTIONS? Contact [email_address] Project web site http://www.communityeffectiveness.com Blog http://www.emergencemarketing.com