Boomers and Social Media

Social Media is Like… • “Social media is like water…” • “Social media is like ice cream…” • “Social media is like the Matrix…” • “Social media is like punk music…” • “Social media is like working out…” • “Social media is like speechwriting…” • “Social media is like a box of weather…” • “Social media is like a Mr. Bubble Pool Party…” • “Social media is like visiting a good hair stylist…” • “Social media is like Bam-Bam [of the Flintstones]…” • “Social media is CB radio (& Twitter is just one channel)…” • “Social media is like recess…” • “Social media is like the seventh grade…” • “Social media is a lot like high school…” • “Social media is like parenting…” Page 3 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Social…Media, Networking, Technology Email Profiles Blogs Ratings Forums Reviews Chat/IM Rankings (reputation) Wikis Tagging Podcasts Kudos Videos “Most Ideas popular…” Wisdom of Crowds People + Content + Tools + Opinions + Goals Page 4 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Snapshot: Social Networking Services Service/Site Founded Members Countries Other Information LinkedIn 2002 37 million 200 Half outside US; execs from all F500 Plaxo 2002 20 million Ryze 2001 500,000 200 Spoke 2002 40 million 2.3 million companies Bebo 2005 N/A AOL (2008) Facebook 2004 175 million Friendster 2002 90 million 90% of traffic from Asia Hi-5 2003 80 million 200 Latin America, Europe, Africa Orkut 2004 Google; 50% Brazil; ~ 4% Boomers MySpace 2003 > 100 million Twitter 2006 ~ 6 million ~ 55 million monthly visitors Flickr 2004 Yahoo (2005); 3 billion images YouTube 2005 Google (2006); 100+ videos/day eHarmony 2000 20 million ~ 236 marriages/day Match.com 1994 15 million 37 Page 5 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Boomers, the Internet, and Social Media • >90% of Boomers use email • 70-80% of Boomers are online • Boomers make up ~35% of the Internet population • Since 2005, broadband access for Boomers has tripled (still only in the 50%-65% range) • About half a million Boomers have Twitter accounts (8-9% of ~6 million) Source: Pew Research Center Page 6 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Goals/Benefits to the “Sponsor” • Awareness Google is your Home Page – Buzz/PR/Branding – Education – Lead-Generation • Information, Knowledge, Insight – R&D – Marketing Messages – Publicity (early warning) – Competitive Landscape • Customer Loyalty, Satisfaction – Long-term Relationships • Revenue – Direct Sales / Upsell – Referrals – Advertising and Sponsorship • Savings – Support (e.g., call deflection) – PR (see above) – Customer Insight (see above) Page 11 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

What’s Not New about Social Media • What Is New – Scale (Many-to-Many) • Network Effects • Customer Visibility – Ease (Low-Cost Technology + Connectivity) • What’s Not New about Social Media – Human Behavior – Human Needs – Good Business Practices • What’s Essential – Jumping in – Being part of the conversation – Understanding needs and providing value – Being authentic and transparent Page 18 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Goals/Benefits to Customers I want to… • Strut my stuff • Express myself • Find answers • Solve problems • Learn • Get access to experts and insiders • Help others (and feel good about it) • Find out about things before everyone else • Help me do my job (better, faster, cheaper…) • Connect with others who have similar needs and interests • Have fun! Page 19 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Examples of Boomer Customer Scenarios I want to… • Learn how others are using a particular new medication. • Connect with others who are caring for an elderly parent. • Educate others about my experience with a surgical procedure. • Make smart financial decisions (learning, saving, investing, etc.). • Have an impact / make a difference / share my experience. • Pursue the hobby I have been putting off. • Get travel tips and ideas. your omes from helping Your success c • Meet someone. s ) be ospective customer customers (or pr • Find a job. … ing their objectives v successful in achie Page 20 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Boomers Contributing through Social Media # of Posts: 6,224 # of Files Created: 51 # of File Downloads (in past 30 days): 7,732 Average Rating (scale of 1-5): 4.7 File Exchange Rank (3,539 members): 17 ~ 20 hours/week Page 21 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Boomers Contributing through Social Media “I retired a few years ago. When I did, I thought of doing some sort of charity work; perhaps Habitat for Humanity. But I realized that the best thing was to use my skills in mathematics to teach others. While I'm not bad with a hammer, I'm arguably very good at mathematics…” “So what I do is multi-fold… • Review submissions on the File Exchange. • Submit my own tools as I find time to develop them. • Answer questions on optimization, modeling, curvefitting, splines, and numerical analysis in general. •Answer questions that arrive directly from e-mail.” Page 22 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Boomers Contributing through Social Media “All of these things have some teaching aspect. I'd like to see people learn to write high quality software in less time than the years it took me to learn. When I review a submission, I try to go into great detail on what is wrong, what can be improved, what I like about it.” “I learn stuff “And of course, its always all the time.” nice to see when one of my tools gets a reference in a doctoral thesis or a paper or book somewhere. Really though, I just see what I do as a way to give back to the world, now that I can do so.” Page 23 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Boomers and Social Media (1) CATEGORY BEHAVIOR APPROACH Media Awareness Old-media savvy; more aware of Think long-term relationships, not (only) campaigns being marketed to Ask (for content, input, data, etc.), but be transparent, provide value, take action, and communicate results Consuming Content More comfortable consuming than Make it easy not just to search, but also to find creating; grew up on analog media what they’re looking for Creating Content Will create when (a) it’s easy, and Provide a low barrier to entry; make everything (b) there is need/value quick and easy (but not simplistic) Lean toward being more articulate Boomer content is higher value content (SEO) (slower, higher quality) Reach out to active users and influencers Page 26 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Boomers and Social Media (2) CATEGORY BEHAVIOR APPROACH Social Purpose More willing to help others (“do Provide ways to let Boomers help others (answer well while doing good”) questions, solve problems, share experiences) Social Identity More context aware; less Respect privacy; ask only for information that has a comfortable mixing private and purpose for them; give them control over their public, personal and professional identity (esp. who can see what) Social Interactions Grew up with face-to-face; build Make it easy to find others and share content virtual networks more slowly (more (within and without); reach out and touch someone incestuous?); value personal interaction Social Currency High premium on reputation and Support credible reputations and trusted content trust; take seriously giving/receiving recommendations Page 27 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Challenges • The Network Effect – Value prop comes from the size of the network itself – Cannibalization how many networks and communities can people realistically participate? – Don’t have to DIY • Organizational – Social media is extremely cross-organizational – Common hindrance: organizational culture – “Shared” control (not “loss” of control) – Relatively inexpensive, but still takes financial and human resources • Fear of “Undesirable” conversations – Legal and PR risk – Relationship risk (airing dirty laundry) • Measurement and Attribution – Can be tough to identify clear ROI Page 28 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Key Takeaways • It’s still new, but it’s not going away; join the conversation • Adoption among the 78/79 million Boomers will only increase (both social media consumption and creation) • Business is still business • Google is your home page • Help your customers/prospective customers succeed in their goals Page 29 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

The Patricia Seybold Group dia cial Me n: So NEW - r Co-Desig e a Custom r social medi u Plan yo with your y strateg s. er custom Matthew Lees Patty Seybold mlees@customers.com pseybold@customers.com Twitter: @mlees Twitter: @pattyinboothbay “Outside Innovation is a landmark book in its revelations on customer-led innovation.” -- Tom Stemberg, Founder/Former CEO of Staples Page 30 © 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Boomers and Social Media

by Matthew Lees

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