Facebook Groups for Generating Connections, Insights & Sales

Facebook Groups in Business Facebook Groups for Generating Connections, Insights & Sales Learning from a Peer-to-Peer Action Research Initiative Generator Forum Friedman Foundation December 11, 2008 Jenny Ambrozek Facebook Group in Business Investigation Convener

Facebook Groups in Business Investigation

Facebook Groups in Business
What, When, Why, How & Who?
What we learned
3. Network Analysis &
Weaving

Investigation Time Line

Facebook Takes Off- 2008 Percent of global Internet users who visit this site May 25 Facebook open platform to developers

Network Effects 1973- Metcalfe’s Law 1965-Gordon E. Moore “ ..through the complexity of silicon chips doubling every year,the cost of computing power will accordingly decrease” Reed, 1999 “ (n]etworks that support the construction of communicating groups, create value that scales exponentially with network size”

Starting Premise “ Facebook may, but also may not, become THE enterprise social networking platform, but it's here, use is growing, so we need to understand the phenomenon and learn from it.” Study Description 2008-02-08

OUR FACES

Activity Data Tracked

Investigation T ools Ecosystem Email Main means of group participant communications Private Wiki Stored participant information, data, reflections & industry information Private Facebook Group Posted updates. Related links 21 st Century Organization Facebook Group A participant. Study updates posted. 21 st Century Organization & Praxis101 blogs Google Docs Project announced here . Tried sharing activity data with investigation team members

What We Learned Together

We also wanted to know about group member ties ...but Facebook does not readily provide

Participant Group Membership Growth All Groups Grew

Number 7 in member growth, up 31% Activities & Patterns Varied Across Groups

Number 3 in member growth, up 124% Sustainable Energy - Innovation & Technology Facebook Group

Number 1 in member growth, up 434% Owner Dave Duarte appears in this video Sample Group Activity

Dave Duarte- Huddlemind
Effective & free Vendor Relationship Management Software
Give stakeholders control of information and communication preferences with organizations they choose.
Help put faces to organizations previously hidden behind logos & nameless mailing lists.
Provide easy way to stay in touch with interested stakeholders
Groups only work if curated : participation must be stimulated & moderated, content & communications kept up-to-date.

Eric Edelstein eSquared Retail Chain
Have to be active to make the Group active
Moved from Facebook Groups to Fan Clubs. Better marketing vehicle to overcome Group communication limits
FB is one channel/medium of many; need to use them all
Try it . Be prepared to make mistakes
Experimenting with Twitter
“ Facebook can offer rewards, can result in sales, but is not an easy marketing avenue for beginners to Internet Marketing”.

Kimberly Samaha – Bordeaux Colloquium Objectives
An on-line platform to connect ‘off-line’ members of the Bordeaux Energy Colloquium for exchanges during the year.
Outreach to ‘concerned citizens’ – a link between policy makers and consumers
Network with other energy professionals
Find interesting energy projects & technologies

Created 5 Facebook Groups
Bordeaux Energy Colloquium : closed, private – members of Colloquium only
Sustainable Energy: 3 topics, open to public, used ‘advertising’ to attract new members
Innovation & Technology
Case Studies
Universal Access
Sustainable Energy Futures : event page for a ‘virtual tradeshow’ and on-line case study competition
open to public used ‘advertising’ and word-of-mouth recruiting to attract new members

Find other ‘like-minded’ individuals and ask for help
Actively facilitate group and group page
Members don’t check group pages often
Members do respond to ‘message all members’ emails
Weave a larger network
Reach into non-affiliated groups: establish presence and ‘friends’ to create ‘weak links’
Strengthen weak links around common areas of interest among other groups using surveys, links, etc.
Important Strategies to be Learned No easy way: High time level involvement required

Facebook Groups in Business Investigation – The Bottom Line

Requirements for Creating Value from Facebook Groups
Clear purpose tied to a business objective
You have to work it
Content is essential
Events drive participation
Measure, monitor and act
Pay attention to your tools ecosystem
Evolve and adapt
Ambrozek, J.. Anderson, W.L. & Axelrod V.G. 2008 “Placing Faces on Knowledge, Inside Knowledge Magazine September pp27-30

Facebook Groups in Business Network Analysis & Weaving

Network Analysis- Patti Anklam
Each Group owner asked:
Which other participants they personally knew prior to the study
Which participants they interacted with during the study

Before and After – Full Group Conveners play a key role in connecting the people in the network

Network Weaving in Facebook- Hellenes Educators Intervention
Moderator’s Role
Team leader
Empathic
Motivator
Facilitator
Coordinator
Co-Creator
Supporter
Collaborative activities
Shared interest
Shared experiences
Co-creativity
Idea generation
Idea sharing
Idea discussion
Idea implementation
Slide provided by Hellenes Educators Administrator Niki Lambropoulos

Facebook Today: What’s Next? Extracted Alexa.com 2008-12-08

The Organizational Challenge Social Technology Control Time Degree Enterprise systems , Blogs Wikis Podcasting , Social Networking Tagging Ethernet 1973 Web 1.0 1991 Web 2.0 Web 3.0 Search Links Authoring Tags Extensions Signals as social technology INCREASES Direct control DECREASES Web 3.0

net ∞ WORK ™ Thinking & Acting Understanding your organization as human networks AND How to strategically connect in and across to innovate and create value.

To Continue the Conversation Visit The 21 st Century Organization Blog http://c21org.typepad.com TheAppGap Blog www.theappgap.com Join the 21stCenturyOrganization Facebook Group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2436782733 Email jenny at sageway.com Twitter Sagenet

Facebook Groups for Generating Connections, Insights & Sales

by Jenny Ambrozek on Dec 15, 2008

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