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Practical IT Research that Drives Measurable Results



                  Leverage Social Media for Customer Interaction




Info-Tech Research Group                                            1
Introduction

• Consumers are rapidly adopting social media, yet adoption of social media by
  organizations is lagging.
• Most organizations are struggling to define a business strategy for social media
  and are unprepared to link it to their CRM strategy.
• IT is unsure of their role and where they can bring value to the table.
• Lack of coordination results in more manual, resource intensive processes that
  are difficult to measure.
• Organizational use of social media can bring benefits to marketing, sales and
  service when implemented properly.


This solution set will help you:

                                                 Assess
Understand Social           Compare Social                        Plan the
                                             Opportunities &
     Media                  Media Vendors                      Implementation
                                               Strategize



 Info-Tech Research Group                                                        2
Executive Summary
• Social media customer interaction opportunities exist for marketing, sales, and service
  gains.
     • Social media provides another channel for organizations to interact with their
       customers and customers with each other.
     • Consider social media as part of the current customer interaction strategy as
       customers will continue to communicate via social media with or without you.
• Link social media to existing customer relationship management solutions.
     • Integration can improve information accuracy, reduce manual effort and provide
       more in-depth customer insights.
• IT has an important role to play in managing social media infrastructure and security.
     • Defining the goals and posting actual content lies with the business side.
• Evaluate vendors in three distinct categories to make sound technology decisions.
     • Consider what goals you want to achieve prior to selecting social media services.
     • Determine if CRM vendors have begun to offer social media integration.
     • Alternatively, pure-play vendors provide social channel aggregators and managers.
• Assess which social media opportunities exist for your organization, build your plan, test
  your theories, and grow your interaction level based on your results.
• Secure privacy and integrity by managing organizational use of social media with a
  policy.

Info-Tech Research Group                                                                  3
Road Map



                            Market         Value to                          Risk
  Understand                                                IT’s Role
                           Overview      Organizations                    Mitigation


     Compare                          Social Media Vendor Segmentation


    Strategize             Opportunity Assessment               Business Plan


   Implement                  Project Planning           Securing Privacy & Integrity




Info-Tech Research Group                                                                4
Social media is big: Consumers are rapidly embracing social
     media services as their communication medium of choice
•      Social media services facilitate the
       creation and dissemination of user-
       generated content.
•      Social media services have experienced                         LinkedIn has users on
       explosive growth during the past five                             every continent
       years; consumers are flocking to services
       such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and     Social networking is now
       YouTube.                                          more popular
•      Social media is ubiquitous: consumers             than e-mail*          Global time spent on
       can access social media services from                                    social media is up
       their computers, smartphones and video                                          82%
       game consoles. This ease of access has             Every minute,           over last year*
       further fuelled social media adoption.               24 hours
•      Adoption of social media began with           of video is uploaded to
       younger consumers, but sustained                      YouTube                  Last year,
       growth is taking place across a range of                                      Tweets grew
       demographic tiers, from young to old.                                           1400%
•      Social media is displacing traditional e-           Facebook’s greatest
       channels, such as e-mail, as consumers’            growth has come from
       preferred method of interacting with one               people aged
       another.                                                  35-49*
•      Businesses need to understand that
       social media is an integral part of their
       customers’ lives.                                                             *Source: Nielson Online

    Info-Tech Research Group                                                                              5
Users interact with networks to create connections with
                individuals with similar interests
• External public social media services, such               Social Networks create the
  as Facebook, Twitter, and                            Friend-of-a friend (FOAF) trust model
  LinkedIn, comprise extensive networks of
  users who are self-organized into groups
  and communities.
• Users establish connections directly with
  other users to form a personal friends
  network.
• Users also join groups and communities that
  are organized around attributes such as
  products, lifestyles, entertainment, institutio
  ns, politics, and geographic locations.
• The Fried-of-a-Friend (FOAF) model
  enables interactions beyond direct
  connections.
• Trust is a function of connection proximity-
  the closer you are, the more trusted you are.


       Info-Tech Insight:
 Organizations need to be aware of the fact that customers are more likely to trust an opinion of a
 product or service of someone within their FOAF model than statements made by the company itself.

 Info-Tech Research Group                                                                        6
Organizations need to move into social media or risk being
         leapfrogged by social-media savvy competitors
                                                           Social media implementation highest in education
•     Over half of the organizations surveyed by                and government organizations surveyed
      Info-Tech are now using at least one social
      media service for marketing, sales or
      customer service.                                          Education                     78%                   22%

•     Organizations are realizing the potential                Government                 65%                   35%
      value of social media; they need to be in the
      same space as their customers and                  Business Services               55%                   45%
      stakeholders.
                                                         Financial Services              54%                   46%
•     Education and government organizations
      have high deployment rates as they use          Trans/Utilities/Comms              53%                   47%
      social media to connect with stakeholders,
      while adoption has been slowest in the                    Healthcare           50%                   50%
      primary sector.
                                                          Wholesale/Retail           50%                   50%
•     As with Web 1.0, firms vary in the degree
      with which they embrace social media.                  Manuf acturing        31%                   69%
•     Organizational size has no impact on
                                                           Primary Industry                       100%
      deployment. Rather, those taking a “wait-
      and-see” approach cited high perceived
                                                                              0%    20%        40%   60%       80% 100%
      risks as the number one reason why they
      have yet to deploy social media.



“
                                                                     Implemented               Not Implemented
                                                                                                                      N=134
    In the old world, I just did a survey. In the new world, I'm listening to every water


                                                                                                         ”
    cooler conversation out there.
    - Jim Sterne, Target Marketing Inc.
Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                               7
Multi-channel customer interaction is not a new concept to
                       organizations

• Over the past decade, new delivery and
  interaction channel options such as e-mail,                     Customers
  chat, Web self-service, kiosks, bulletin
  boards, and discussion forums were added to
  existing channels.
• Customer interaction management evolved
  as a component of larger Customer                      Conversations           Information
  Relationship Management (CRM) strategies
  in order to coordinate customer interactions
  into a hybrid channel strategy, utilizing                  Communication Channels
  multiple interaction channels.                   Face to
• Organizations then embarked on creating                        Phone           E-mail        Web
                                                    Face
  more sophisticated market coverage models
  that employed hybrid channel interaction
  strategies.
• These models were optimized around
  customers’ affinity for different channels and   Marketing             Sales            Service
  the ability of different products and services
  to be marketed, sold, and serviced through          Customer Relationship Management
  these channels.

 Info-Tech Research Group                                                                            8
Social media provides another channel for organizations to
interact with their customers and customers with each other
• Individuals are interacting with each other
  and with organizations in the social cloud.
• Organizations must follow their customers,                      Customers
  prospects and partners into this social
  media world, as they previously followed
  them into the telephony and the 1.0 e-
  channel worlds.
• Management resistance to social media will
  be overcome with time, just as it was with
  e-mail and the Web.                                         Conversations & Information
• The lessons learned from integration of 1.0
  e-channels should be leveraged as                       Communication Channels
  organizations add the social media channel    Face to                                     Social
  into their overall customer interaction                 Phone      E-mail      Web
                                                 Face                                       Media
  management.
• Do not believe those who tell you
  that this will require an entire
  rebuild of your CRM strategy. It is
  simply another interaction channel              Marketing            Sales           Service
  to integrate - as you’ve done in the
  past.                                             Customer Relationship Management
 Info-Tech Research Group                                                                            9
Customers will interact via social media with or without you – be
             aware of the three main implications


                                         “
 3 Main Implications:
                                              Social media is there whether we participate or
      Brand image can now be                  not, therefore participation on our company's


                                                                                                     ”
      heavily influenced by the               part isn't optional.
      entire social cloud,                    - CIO, Manufacturing
      whether the company


                                         “
      participates or not
                                             You can use the people who are passionate about
      Organizations can leverage             your brand effectively, but at the same time, you
      both the positive and                  have to be mindful that there will be others who
      negative feedback for                  will say things that you don’t want. What are you
      marketing, sales and                   going to do? How are you going to deal with that?


                                                                                                 ”
      service                                - Dr. Nicole Haggerty, Associate Professor



                                         “
      IT plays a critical role in
      supporting the                          You have to know what the business model is in
      organizational use of the               order to dictate what you restrict and what you
      social cloud while                      don't along with knowing what the risk to IT and


                                                                                                 ”
      minimizing risks                        the infrastructure environment are.
                                               - Thomas Uyehara, IT Director, Independence First
       Info-Tech Insight:
  Although there are risks that need to be managed when participating, there are also risks to the
  organization if they choose not to participate. Conduct an online search for “Motrin Mom” for a
  popular example of the power of social media in the absence of company involvement.
  Info-Tech Research Group                                                                           10
Organizations can interact with customers via social media to
         achieve marketing, sales, and service gains
• Social media has a number of invaluable              67% of organizations surveyed succeeded in using
  applications in marketing, sales and customer         social media to enhance their brand image and
  service:                                                      increase customer share of mind
  • Marketing: Social media can be used as
     an inexpensive and highly effective              Building positive brand image         14                   53                       12              21

     channel for advertising and creating brand
                                                             Increasing mind share         12                    55                       8              24
     awareness with customers and prospects.
  • Sales: A number of social media services        Improving customer satisfaction    7                    56                            20                  18

     can be used to prospect for potential
                                                         Gaining customer insights          13              38                       15                  24
     clients.
  • Service: Social media can be used as an           Increasing customer retention        10          38                       20                  33
     avenue for providing service to customers.
                                                              Customer acquisition     6           39                      16                   40

• Achieving social media gains is possible in             Reducing cost of service 2              39                       24                       35
  both a B2C, B2B, and G2C context.:
                                                                Increasing revenue     6          31                  17                       46
  • B2C organizations can achieve gains across
     all areas.                                                                       0%         20%         40%                60%            80%                 100%
  • B2B organizations can particularly benefit
     from customer acquisition and the ability           Fully achieved       Partially achieved             Did not achieve                    Not a goal
     to build more meaningful relationships.                                                                                                                       N=64




                                                        “
  • G2C, health care, non-profit and education
     organizations can leverage social media as                 There’s an awful lot of benefit for very



                                                                                                                                                         ”
     an integral channel for effectively reaching
                                                                little cost.
     out to stakeholders and citizens.
                                                                - Carol Voss, Marketing Director,
                                                                Independence First
  Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                                                                    11
CRM is now social: leverage social media to capture more
      customer information and build deeper relationships


                                                     “
•   Social CRM refers to the
    hybridization and merging of social                  Social CRM is taking advantage of
    media with CRM.                                      edge infrastructure (social media)
•   Social media is a powerful tool for                  where we have access to
    communicating with customers, but                    communities of interest by linking
    relatively few organizations are linking             them to the goals of our
    social media to their customer                       infrastructure (CRM) where we
    relationship management.                             have better controls and measures.
•   Social CRM is about using Web 2.0                    Social media strengthens the
    technologies to better understand,                   relationship in an environment
    communicate with and service                         where the customer is comfortable
    customers.                                           and familiar providing us an
•   Information is power, and social CRM                 opportunity to bridge this trust into



                                                                                               ”
    aims to provide companies with the                   our organization.
    most complete picture of the customer                 - IT Director, Public Administration
    available.


     Info-Tech Insight:
Social CRM goes beyond simple databases of customer information - it actively seeks to capture and
analyze customer information and conversations that are available in the social media landscape.

Info-Tech Research Group                                                                         12
Lack of formality results in manual, resource intensive processes
                  that are difficult to measure
  •    Most organizations that have pursued social media initiatives have done so in an ad-hoc fashion
       rather than outlining a formal strategy and deploying software solutions.
  •    Projects are often poorly defined, with little central coordination. In some instances, different
       departments or offices are maintaining separate social media “fiefdoms.”
  •    Outlining a formal social media strategy can enumerate the exact goals to be achieved, illustrate how
       those fit into existing CRM strategies and outline the methods and services that will be used to
       achieve them.
  •    Software solutions that integrate with CRM technology reduce the resource intensive processes
       required for ongoing social media involvement and keeps projects on track by providing reporting
       metrics.

      Social media and CRM are often being done         Many processes related to social media are being done
              without a defined strategy                manually, despite the existence of software solutions




                                                                                                           N=64

  Info-Tech Research Group                                                                               13
Formally integrating social media and CRM technology pays off
              big dividends in goal achievement
 •   Linking social media to existing customer          Organizations that integrated their social
     relationship management solutions can                   media and CRM technology with
     improve information accuracy, reduce manual          software realized more of their goals
     effort and provide more in-depth customer
     insights.                                                                           69
       • Organizations Info-Tech surveyed that
           integrated their solutions achieved more                           +68%
           goals as a result.
 •   Several major CRM vendors are now offering
     products that integrate with popular social
     networking services (either natively or by
                                                                   41
     providing support for third-party add-ons)
       • For example, Salesforce.com now allows
           for native integration with Twitter, while
           an add-on available for Oracle gathers
           real-time information about prospects
           by pulling their extended information
           from publicly available LinkedIn profiles.
 •   For companies that have not formally
     integrated social media with customer
     relationship management, IT should develop
     the business case in conjunction with the               No Integration     Software Integration
     applicable “business-side” partner (marketing,
     sales etc.).                                               Social Media & CRM Technology        N=64

 Info-Tech Research Group                                                                            14
IT has an important role to play in managing social media
                     infrastructure and security
•    IT’s primary role lies in providing                        IT manages infrastructure and security, while
     necessary infrastructure and identifying                    social media goals and content are typically
     and mitigating security concerns.                                   handled by the business side
      •   Infrastructure support is particularly
                                                        Social media technology support                         69%                           25%     7%
          important for businesses looking to link                                                                                                            IT
          social media platforms with compatible          Managing social media security                       62%                       24%         14%

          CRM software solutions.                           Social media content archival               40%                 28%                32%
      •   While social media services can be
                                                         Providing social media reporting               40%                19%                41%
          indispensible tools, the services can
          propagate malware – requiring IT to          Social media and CRM integration                 38%                      45%                18%

          manage security closely. Employees may            Monitoring social media sites         20%               35%                      44%
          inadvertently disclose privileged
                                                       Def ining the goals of social media    14%             29%                       57%
          information over social networks.                                                                                                                  Business
      •   IT needs to set policies and access        Posting content to social media sites    11%        26%                           64%

          privileges for social media usage.                                                 0%         20%          40%         60%          80%     100%
•    Archiving content, providing reporting,                                            IT          Both            Business                                  N=64
     managing integration and monitoring



                                                     “
     sites may be joint responsibilities or held
                                                              On IT’s role: It’s like having a lawyer in the
     by either side.
                                                              room… their job is to tell you about the


                                                                                                                                                           ”
•    The push for adoption usually comes
                                                              risks and dangers.
     from the business (for example, the
     marketing or communications                              - Jim Sterne, Marketing Consultant, Target
     department) and thus defining the goals                  Marketing Inc.
     and posting actual content lies with the
     business side.                                    Our Social Media Acceptable Use Policy can be found in
                                                              the Implement section of this storyboard.
    Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                                                                 15
Security and privacy top risks of social media
                      that warrant IT involvement
•   Social media exposes a certain                                 Security and privacy top concerns of
    amount of information that can be                               organizational use of social media
    visible to friends of friends.                                      Security              38%                        44%           14% 4%

•   While this exposure is a key                                        Privacy               36%                       44%         14%    6%
    mechanism driving value, it can
                                                        Inappropriate Content             29%                      49%              18%    4%
    also create an inappropriate conduit
    for information to pass between             Time Wastage By Employees                24%                      52%              18%     6%

    personal and business contacts.                Control Over Brand Image               26%                     46%            20%       8%

•   Tools to establish barriers between                            Bandwidth            16%           29%                 39%           16%
    personal and private networks and
    tools to centrally manage accounts                       Increased Costs        5%          31%                      50%             14%

    are only beginning to emerge.           Competitors Poaching Client Lists       12%         22%                36%             30%

•   IT involvement for security, privacy,
                                                                                   0%          20%          40%          60%    80%        100%
    and bandwidth concerns is of
    utmost importance.                           Signif icant concern       Moderate concern            Minimal concern         Not a concern




                                            “
•   The business should define a                                                                                                       N=132

    strategy that illustrates appropriate       The genie is out of the bottle - IT needs to learn what
    conduit for content, time wastage,          to do to better manage social media usage and work
    and brand image concerns.                   with the business needs to get there; similar to basic


                                                                                                                                         ”
                                                'internet access' 10 years ago.
                                                 - CIO, Financial Services
     Info-Tech Insight:
Implementation maturity impacted perceived risks - organizations that had no social media strategy
rated concerns 28% higher than those with a defined strategy.
Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                                              16
Take steps to mitigate potential risks to ensure they
                      don’t impede project approval
 High perceived risks and lack of management buy-in were the top two reasons organizations cited they
have not implemented social media. Take these mitigation steps to safeguard your business plan approval.

   Risk
                  Probability                       Risk                                             Mitigation Strategy
 Category
                                Risk of employees downloading malware,             -   Implement policies that indicate appropriate conduct by
Security             High
                                viruses, etc from social media services.               employees.
                                                                                   -   Implement separate social network accounts for business.
                                Risk of inappropriate exchange of
                                                                                   -   Train employees to never use personal accounts to interact
Privacy              High       information between personal and business
                                                                                       with business contacts and never use their business
                                contacts.
                                                                                       account to interact with personal contacts.
                                Employees representing the organization on         -   Select the team carefully and ensure they are fully trained
Inappropriate
                     High       social media channels may post something               on both official company policy and social media etiquette.
Content
                                inappropriate to the nature of your business.      -   Ensure consistent monitoring by business units.
                                Use of social media for business is linked
Time Wastage                                                                       -   Process for accounting for time spent focused on
                    Medium      intrinsically to personal use and time spent
by Employees                                                                           organization objectives must be documented.
                                may not be optimized to meet goals.
                                Fully participating in social media means          -   Train every person charged with interacting with customers
Control Over
                    Medium      relying on front-line staff for dissemination of       and prospects via social media regarding what constitutes
Brand Image
                                positive branding.                                     acceptable brand presentation.
                                Increase in bandwidth needs to support
Bandwidth             Low       social media efforts, particularly when using      -   Plan for any bandwidth requirements with IT network staff.
                                video social media such as YouTube.
                                                                                   -   In a public social network, you cannot prevent this. Monitor
Competitors                     The ability for a competitor to view lists of          your own brand as well as monitor competitors. If client
Poaching Client       Low       clients that have joined your organization’s           secrecy must be maintained, then you should use a private
Lists                           social media groups.                                   social network, not a public network. (SocialText, Lithium,
                                                                                       private SharePoint site, etc.)
                                                                                   -   Augment existing customer service responsibilities with
Increased Cost                                                                         social media requests.
                                Additional resources may be allocated to
of Servicing          Low                                                          -   If a dedicated resource is not available, dedicate a specific
                                social media without seeing immediate ROI.
Customers                                                                              amount of time per employee to be spent addressing
                                                                                       customer concerns via social media.

 Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                                                      17
Road Map



                            Market         Value to                          Risk
  Understand                                                IT’s Role
                           Overview      Organizations                    Mitigation


     Compare                          Social Media Vendor Segmentation


    Strategize             Opportunity Assessment               Business Plan


   Implement                  Project Planning           Securing Privacy & Integrity




Info-Tech Research Group                                                                18
Social CRM vendors fit into three distinct categories
                                            CRM Suites with            Social Channel Aggregators
         Social Media Services
                                        Social Media Integration              and Managers




   Social CRM vendors can be categorized into three silos: social media services (i.e. Facebook,
   Twitter), CRM suites that feature social media integration (i.e. Oracle, Salesforce.com), and pure-
   play social channel aggregators and managers (such as TweetDeck and Socialware). Different
   products from the three silos can be brought together to create a cohesive social CRM platform.
Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                 19
Social media services allow consumers to create, manage and
                share content with each other
                                                                                        Social Multimedia
                                  Social media services facilitate the creation and dissemination of user-generated
  Social networking



                                  content. These services rely heavily on social interaction and content sharing
                                  between users. While all social media services share a dependence on consumer-
                                  driven content, they can be grouped according to their purpose and functionality.
                                  There are four main types of services: social networking, blogging, micro-blogging
                                  and social multimedia.
                                  Social Networking: Social networking services allow users to communicate with
                                  their personal networks. These services rely on the “friend-of-a-friend” model of
                                  social interaction. Users can share a wide variety of information and media with
                                  one another. Prominent social networking sites include Facebook and LinkedIn.
  Blogging




                                  Blogging: Blogs (a portmanteau of “web log”) are websites that allow users to
                                  upload text entries and media. Entries are typically displayed in reverse-
                                  chronological order, and often contain ongoing commentary and discussion of
                                  recent events. Prominent blogging services include Blogger and WordPress.
                                  Micro-Blogging: Micro-blogging services are similar to blogging websites, with
                                  the exception that written content is typically limited to a set number of characters.
                                  For example, the popular micro-blogging service Twitter allows users to post
Blogging
 Micro-




                                  messages up to 140 characters in length.
                                  Social Multimedia: Social multimedia sites provide an easy way for users to
                                  upload and share multimedia content (i.e. pictures and video) with both their
                                  personal contacts as well as the wider community. YouTube is extremely popular
                                  for video sharing, while Flickr is popular for sharing photo albums.
Multimedia




                                  In many cases, each service does not fit neatly into each category. While Facebook
  Social




                                  is focused on social networking, it also provides tools for sharing photo and videos.
                                  Conversely, YouTube includes basic social networking capabilities insofar as users
                                  can add each other as friends. With minor exceptions, creating an account on a
                                  social media service is free… this makes using these services extremely cost
                                  effective.
       Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                      20
Facebook is the world’s most popular social networking service;
 it is an indispensible tool for connecting with your customers
                                                                      Facebook has the highest organizational
                                                                     adoption of any social networking service


                                                                 Marketing                                30%


      • Launched in 2004, Facebook is now the world’s most
        popular social networking service, boasting over 400         Sales               13%

        million users worldwide. If Facebook were a
        country, it would be the third largest in the world.
                                                                   Service               13%
      • Users on Facebook can exchange messages, share
        photos and video, create event invitations and build
                                                                             0%    10%         20%     30%
        pages dedicated to specific topics or products.
      • Many companies have found that maintaining a
        presence on Facebook is essential for connecting with
        both current and prospective customers.
      • As the site’s popularity continues to grow, companies
        must follow their customers to the service.
      • Companies are also monitoring Facebook to gather
        consumer thoughts and perceptions about their
        brands. The site can be an invaluable tool for gaining
        product marketing insights.



  Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                   21
Twitter is a versatile communication channel; the service is
  extremely useful for pushing out real-time information
                                                                   Although relatively new, Twitter has seen
                                                                      widespread adoption by businesses

                                                                Marketing                           22%

    • Launched in 2006, Twitter is a popular micro-
      blogging website that allows users to post short              Sales            10%
      messages up to 140 characters in length.
    • Users can “follow” one another on the site. When a          Service               13%
      user updates his or her Twitter feed, a notification is
      pushed out to everyone following the account. This
                                                                            0%    10%         20%         30%
      makes Twitter an indispensible tool for quickly
      disseminating information.
    • Twitter has rapidly gained traction as a viable service
      for pushing out real-time updates about products and
      services, corporate news and information bulletins.
    • Many organizations are opening Twitter accounts in
      order to better communicate with their customer
      bases. Several forward-thinking businesses (such as
      Dell) are now using Twitter as an additional avenue
      for customer service.




Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                   22
LinkedIn is the “business formal” of social networking; the
service is valuable for B2B lead generation and prospecting
                                                                             LinkedIn is particularly useful for sales and
                                                                                marketing, especially in a B2B context


    • LinkedIn is a social networking service targeted at        Marketing                  10%
      working professionals. The site is geared towards
      building and communicating with professional
                                                                     Sales             7%
      networks (as opposed to services such as
      Facebook, which emphasize staying in touch with
      family and friends).                                         Service        2%
    • LinkedIn features group pages where users can
      associate with one another based on characteristics                    0%         10%         20%         30%
      like career interest or alumni affiliation.
    • In addition to giving users the ability to create
      individual profiles, the site also maintains several
      company profile pages. Users can view company
      details such as industry and demographics.
    • The site features “LinkedIn Answers”, where users
      can pose questions and receive answers from other
      members of the LinkedIn community.
    • LinkedIn’s rich collection of business profiles makes
      it a valuable service for sales prospecting. The site is
      also popular as a recruitment tool.


Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                         23
YouTube is the leading video sharing service; it is the unrivalled
   medium for building awareness through viral advertising
                                                                          YouTube is used predominantly for
                                                                            raising marketing awareness

      • Since its inception in 2005, YouTube has rapidly grown
                                                                    Marketing                   11%
        to become one of the most popular websites in the
        world. The service allows users to upload and publish
        video content free-of-charge. Content on YouTube                Sales        3%
        ranges from home videos to movie trailers to viral
        advertising campaigns.
                                                                      Service        4%
      • User accounts on YouTube are referred to as
        “channels”. The site provides comprehensive tools for
        managing video content, including basic video and                       0%        10%         20%   30%
        audio editing.
      • The site provides a free analytics tool called “YouTube
        Insights” that can be used to track the referrers and
        demographics of those viewing a video. This makes the
        site useful for gathering customer insights.
      • YouTube is extremely valuable for hosting video
        content such as viral advertisements; because the site is
        free, hosting video content on YouTube is more
        bandwidth-effective than hosting it locally.
      • YouTube provides a channel for distributing video
        content for smaller organizations lacking the media
        budgets to purchase TV airtime.

  Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                        24
Not all social networking services are created equal: some are
      more useful than others for achieving certain goals
  Different social media services are more effective than others for reaching different
goals. For example, YouTube is useful as an avenue for distributing marketing campaigns,
         but it’s of substantially less use for sales functions like lead generation.

Domain      Opportunity                 Facebook   Twitter   LinkedIn   YouTube

            Building Positive Brand
            Image                                                       
                                                                                            Proven
Marketing   Increasing Mind Share                                                       Useful*
                                                                                      Potentially
            Gaining Customer Insights                                            Useful
            Gaining Sales Insights                           
Sales       Increasing Revenue                               
            Customer Acquisition                             
            Customer Satisfaction                                      
            Increasing Customer
Service
            Retention                                        
                                                                                  *Proven useful by statistical
            Reducing Cost of Service                                           analysis of real-world
                                                                                  implementations

 Info-Tech Research Group                                                                              25
Incumbent CRM vendors are rapidly integrating social media
                         with their solutions as they realize its potential value
CRM Suites with Social Media Integration




                                                  •   Rapid adoption of social media by consumers has driven
                                                      most large vendors of CRM solutions to integrate social
                                                      media functionality into their products.
                                                  •   Some vendors (such as Oracle) natively support social
                                                      channels, while others (such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM
                                                      and SugarCRM) are dependant on third-party tools (like
                                                      InsideView) to enable social media functionality.
                                                  •   While social media integration has been proceeding
                                                      quickly, it is still a relatively new direction for most CRM
                                                      vendors. As a result, integration hasn’t reached full
                                                      maturity yet. This is an area where further development
                                                      and refinement can be expected.



                                                      Info-Tech Insight:
                                                  Due to the rapid adoption of social media by incumbent CRM vendors, the
                                                  market for pure-play social channel aggregators and managers will be
                                                  smaller than the market for similar Web 1.0 services.

                       Info-Tech Research Group                                                                        26
Oracle and Salesforce.com are leading vendors that have
        integrated social media into their CRM products
        Oracle leverages social media to                         Salesforce.com provides
           drive sales performance.                            cloud-native CRM solutions.
•    Oracle has incorporated social media into its   •   Salesforce.com provides a comprehensive
     sales prospecting and automation solutions.         tool set for managing customer conversations
•    Currently, Oracle’s Sales Prospector On-            in social media space.
     Demand pulls potential clients from both        •   Salesforce can link to Facebook and Twitter.
     internal and external data sources.                 Currently, social media can be used as a
•    Third-party plug-ins allow Oracle’s Social          channel for lead generation and sales
     CRM suites to integrate with services like          management, as well as customer service.
     LinkedIn, pulling contact information such as
     job title and background.




Info-Tech Research Group                                                                        27
Pure-play vendors provide social channel aggregators and
managers that can be used to harness the power of social media
 Social channel aggregators



                                           •   With the proliferation of different social media services, a
                                               number of vendors have begun offering pure-play social channel
                                               aggregators and social channel management solutions.
                                           •   Social channel aggregators collate and summarize
                                               information from several social media services (for example,
                                               Facebook and Twitter) and allow users to simultaneously update
                                               multiple social media accounts across multiple services. This can
                                               be a tremendous time-saver for both collecting customer insights
                                               as well as publishing information to social media services.
                                           •   Social channel managers are applications and vendors that
                                               provide services for managing social channels. For example,
 Social channel managers




                                               social channel managers may monitor social media services for
                                               consumer thoughts and perceptions about a particular brand, or
                                               they may provide on-demand analytics for tracking how
                                               consumers are clicking through to the firm’s social media pages.

                                                   Info-Tech Insight:
                                               Using a combination of social channel aggregators and managers can
                                               simplify social media campaigns while accumulating useful analytics
                                               and archiving content to meet security needs.


                Info-Tech Research Group                                                                             28
TweetDeck and Socialware are breaking new ground in the
       pure-play social channel aggregator and manager market
TweetDeck makes managing multiple services easy           Socialware provides numerous value-added
  by aggregating Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn                social channel management services
  •    TweetDeck aggregates feeds from several        •     Socialware bills itself as the “first social
       popular social networking services, and              middleware company”, an accurate label
       displays them in a unified manner. This              given the range of social channel
       eliminates having to continuously check              management solutions it provides.
       multiple social networking sites.
  •    Presently, TweetDeck supports Facebook,        •     Socialware Compass is a product that allows
       MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn.                       companies to implement and automate their
  •    TweetDeck can also be used to                        social media policies by providing internal
       simultaneously update multiple user                  access controls, content archival and back-up,
       accounts across several different services.          content moderation, and analytics for
  •    TweetDeck’s ability to aggregate and sort            monitoring and tracking use of social media
       information – combined with its update               usage.
       functionality – make it a versatile tool for   •     Subscriptions to Socialware’s services start at
       managing social media initiatives.                   $100 per month.




  Info-Tech Research Group                                                                           29
Insource Performance Solutions uses InsideView to monitor
          and gather information from social media channels
• Insource is a business-to-business organization that provides labor and staffing
  solutions to companies – primarily focused on manufacturing and distribution.
  They employ approximately 2,000 people.
• Instead of approaching social media as a task for individuals, they chose a
  monitoring solution that enables their entire sales and business development
  teams to deliver a specific message.

    Summary:



•     Insource was looking for a tool to streamline their sales force’s efforts to gather online information
      about prospects and customers.
•     They chose InsideView to aggregate information within SugarCRM in a meaningful way that
      complements how they go to market. This enables Insource to expand client relationships, search for
      new opportunities, and leverage data from social media for prospecting.
•     In addition to monitoring brand mentions and actions, InsideView compiles reference connectors that
      link Insource’s customers and prospects through LinkedIn, providing insight into relationships that
      may be leveraged to increase sales.



      “    As we talk with prospects and customers we’re engaging in conversations that are relevant to them
           because we are better informed.
           These tools are enabling sales and they also, in my view - and I don’t think I’m alone, help us serve
           our customers better.




                                                                         ”
           And anything that does that is a good investment on our part.
           - Chip Meyers, Sales Operation Manager, Insource
     Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                      30
Insource relies on InsideView within SugarCRM to provide
            the most complete picture of a customer




                                              • Monitoring company name
                                                mentions provides insight
                                                into your clients’ activities and
                                                the conversations in which
                                                they are engaged.




• Information harvested from
  social media channels is
  integrated into client
  records for easy access
  without the manual task
  of searching across multiple
  channels.

 Info-Tech Research Group                                                   31
InsideView uses LinkedIn to display the connections associated
        with members of Insource’s customer database




• LinkedIn network
  connections are related to
  clients already in your
  database for easier
  prospecting.


   Info-Tech Research Group                                32
Road Map



                            Market         Value to                          Risk
  Understand                                                IT’s Role
                           Overview      Organizations                    Mitigation


     Compare                          Social Media Vendor Segmentation


    Strategize             Opportunity Assessment               Business Plan


   Implement                  Project Planning           Securing Privacy & Integrity




Info-Tech Research Group                                                                33
Social media opportunities exist in marketing, sales and service



              1. Build Positive Brand Image                     Customers
  Marketing




              2. Increase Mind Share
              3. Gain Marketing Customer
                 Insights

              1. Increase Revenue                           Conversations & Information
  Sales




              2. Customer Acquisition
              3. Gain Sales Insights                    Communication Channels
                                              Face to                                     Social
                                                        Phone      E-mail      Web
                                               Face                                       Media
              1. Improve Customer
                 Satisfaction
  Service




              2. Increase Customer
                 Retention
              3. Reduce Cost of Service         Marketing            Sales           Service

                                                  Customer Relationship Management

  Info-Tech Research Group                                                                  34
Share information and listen to customers to improve
                 brand image and increase mind share
•      Social media can be effectively used for
       marketing purposes when target customer
       segments overlap user demographics.
                                                                     Customers
The top 3 marketing opportunities are:


1         Positive Brand Image: Organizations can use
          social media to promote a positive brand image.
          This is particularly important for organizations
          generally vulnerable to negative press or
          consumer discontent.                                        Interaction Goals:




2
                                                                      Positive Brand Image
                                                                      Increased Mind Share
          Increased Mind Share. Social media can reach                 Customer Insights
          large audiences at very low monetary cost,
          giving organizations another medium to promote         Communication Channels
          their organization/brand to increase awareness.
          Related Research: Getting Social with E-Mail                   Social Media
          Marketing Campaigns



3         Customer Insights: Users discuss experiences
          with products/services via social media.
          Monitoring social media can provide valuable
          feedback on your products as well as on those of
                                                                          Marketing

          competitors for product intelligence.              Customer Relationship Management
    Info-Tech Research Group                                                                 35
Connect with new prospects for customer acquisition
                         and revenue generation
•      Social media can be exploited for a variety of
       sales purposes when acquisition and sales
       can be linked to existing sales processes.
The top 3 sales opportunities are:                                   Customers


1         Increased Revenue: An additional channel for
          organizations to provide product and service
          information that can convert consumers
          researching a product/service into a sale or
          encourage future purchases with coupons.                    Interaction Goals:




2
                                                                       Increased Revenue
          Customer Acquisition: Social media can be                   Customer Acquisition
                                                                       Customer Insights
          exploited for lead generation, particularly by
          leveraging the FOAF model in B2B scenarios.
          Many CRM Vendors are linking platforms like            Communication Channels
          LinkedIn and Facebook to its sales automation                 Social Media
          software to enable sales to leverage referrals
          through their business and personal networks.




3         Customer Insights: Consumer buying behaviors
          and patterns can be gathered by monitoring
          social media sites and then used to design sales
          delivery models.
                                                                            Sales

                                                             Customer Relationship Management
    Info-Tech Research Group                                                                 36
Engage with your customers via social media to provide more
meaningful service and support for satisfaction and retention
•   Social media provides another channel
    for organizations to respond to customer
    inquiries or service issues.                                   Customers
The top 3 service opportunities include:


1     Improving Customer Satisfaction: Customers
      that receive more timely and personal service in
      the medium that they prefer will be more
      satisfied.                                                    Interaction Goals:




2
                                                              Improving Customer Satisfaction
                                                               Increasing Customer Retention
      Increasing Customer Retention. Using social                 Reducing Cost of Service
      media with customers builds barriers to exit
      since customers are engaged using a medium
                                                             Communication Channels
      they prefer – something the organization needs
      to offer to remain competitive.                                 Social Media



3     Reducing Cost of Service: Organizations use
      social media to quickly and efficiently respond
      to customer service issues. The answer to the
      problem can be public, making it searchable by               Customer Service
      other customers that have the same request.
                                                         Customer Relationship Management
Info-Tech Research Group                                                                        37
Info-Tech evaluated real-world implementations
            across the nine social media opportunity areas
The following slides provide social media cases at a
                                                          The Social Media Scorecard:
variety of organizational types. Each case is evaluated
using Info-Tech’s social media scorecard to help you        Area of
                                                          Opportunity     Social Media Goals
understand how success looks for different
organizations.
                                                            Marketing     Build a positive brand image
We evaluated four organizations across all major            Marketing     Increase mind share
social media platforms:
  • Dell                                                    Marketing     Gain customer insights
  • H & R Block                                               Sales       Increase revenue per customer
  • Scripps Health
                                                              Sales       Acquire customers
  • State of Vermont
                                                              Sales       Gain customer insights
The effectiveness of their social media campaigns is
                                                             Service      Increase customer retention
directly related to goals in the social media
scorecard.                                                   Service      Increase customer satisfaction
                                                                          Reduce cost of serving
We also looked at exemplary cases in individual social       Service
                                                                          customers
media channels:
 • The Coffee Groundz (Facebook)
                                                            These cases are meant to illustrate how
 • CME Group (Twitter)
                                                           social media can be applied to a variety of
 • Zappos (Twitter)                                        organizations. An opportunity assessment
 • BooneOakley (YouTube)                                    follows so that you can determine what
 • Control Engineering (LinkedIN)                            areas exist for your specific situation.
Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                 38
Dell is used as the standard by which other social media
                      campaigns are measured
 • Dell Inc. is a multinational information technology corporation that develops, sells and supports
   computers and related products and services.
 • They are extremely successful across all platforms.
 • Their focus is on driving sales and building relationships through enhanced customer service.
 • One of the most notable companies to successfully monetize their initiatives, Dell reported
   achieving $3 million in revenue directly through Twitter since 2007.

Cross-platform summary:

          • Dell’s page includes an app that enables a user to configure a custom laptop, share the resulting
            product, and then connect seamlessly with Dell’s online store.
          • Also includes an app that connects Facebook fans directly with Dell customer service.

          • 27 Twitter accounts include geo-targeted offers for consumers, offers for business, tech support,
            customer support, and customer insight aggregation.
          • They engage in extensive brand monitoring and customer engagement.

          • The videos on Dell’s YouTube channel have been viewed over 4.3 million times.
          • Videos are created for both consumer and business audiences, and are used cross-platform with
            integration into Facebook and referrals from Twitter.

          • Dell uses LinkedIN for employee collaboration and communication as well as recruiting for
            global operations. Groups for Dell Certified Specialists are open for networking and discussion.


  Info-Tech Research Group                                                                               39
Dell’s Facebook apps integrate with online sales
                         and customer service
                                             • Generate brand awareness
                                               through community endorsement by
                                               building apps that are easy to share.

                                             • Increase sales with direct
                                               integration of the app and your
                                               online store.




 • A dedicated support team is
   recommended to ensure timely
   responses to service requests.

 • Our testing with Dell revealed
   response times of thirty minutes or
   less.


Info-Tech Research Group                                                          40
Dell’s Twitter streams drive sales and provide customer service




   • Measure conversion from each social
     media source by providing links to
     tracked landing pages.

   • Analytics through a URL -shortner such
     as http://bit.ly offer insight into
     clickthrough rates.

 Info-Tech Research Group                                   41
Dell’s comprehensive social media strategy produces wins for
               marketing, sales, and service
  Dell’s approach of incorporating sales, marketing/branding, and customer service into their social media
                          initiatives makes their campaigns remarkably successful.

Social Media Goals                     Associated Activities                                      Achieved
                                       Extensive brand monitoring and rapid response to
Building positive brand image
                                       potentially inflammatory comments

Increasing mind share                  Outreach activities that keep Dell top-of-mind

                                       Authority granted to CSRs to resolve customer issues via
Improving customer satisfaction
                                       Social Media

Gaining customer insights              Aggressively solicit customer opinions

Increasing customer retention          Maintains focus on conversation post-sale

Increasing revenue per customer        Uptake on special offers is high

Customer acquisition                   Seamless integration with online store

                                       Unknown; customer service and sales are dominant drivers
Reducing cost of servicing customers
                                       of Dell’s strategy


      Info-Tech Insight:
 Many of your prospective buyers may already be using web channels; if you neglect to address those
 customers using social media, your audience is likely to choose a competitor who is established in
 this space.
 Info-Tech Research Group                                                                              42
H&R Block’s approach to social media is driven by service
• H&R Block is a tax preparation company in the United States claiming more than 22
  million customers worldwide. They operate offices in Canada, Australia and the United
  Kingdom.
• H&R Block relies on social media as an avenue for providing comprehensive customer service.
• They interact with customers by answering tax questions and offering advice.
• They are quick to address and resolve negative experiences people are discussing via social media.

Cross-platform summary:


        •    H&R Block’s Facebook page has over 14,000 fans and is built around customer service and
             client engagement.
        •    They have created apps that are interactive, informative, and easy-to-share.
        •    Reps quickly and directly respond to both positive and negative comments posted on their wall.

        •    H&R Block uses Twitter as a powerful customer service tool, engaging in brand monitoring to
             ensure that no mention of H&R Block goes unanswered.
        •    Multiple customer service reps are authorized to use this account to create one stream of
             ongoing support.

        •    Branding and marketing are the primary objectives of H&R Block’s YouTube channel.
        •    Their videos, a combination of commercials and instructional videos, have been viewed over 1.7
             million times.
        •    They have also completely customized the YouTube interface to be branded consistently with
             their website.

  Info-Tech Research Group                                                                             43
H&R Block’s Facebook page is interactive and
                   motivates users to share content
                                           • Use the tabs of your page as a
                                             mini-website that addresses
                                             user experience first and
                                             branding second.

                                           • Make your tabs relevant to the
                                             problem your customer is
                                             trying to solve.




 • Creating a quiz and adding it to
   your page requires no special
   programming ability.

 • This is a quick way to provide fans
   with an interactive experience
   while promoting your brand in
   their news feed.

Info-Tech Research Group                                                      44
H&R Block answers questions and solves complaints via Twitter




                                        • Number of followers is an obvious
                                          metric but often is not the meter by
                                          which success on Twitter should
                                          be measured.

                                        • Monitor mentions of your brand so you
                                          can address comments or concerns
                                          whenever people are tweeting about you,
                                          whether they are a follower or not.



                                     • Direct messages can only be seen by
                                       the sender and recipient.

                                     • Communicate via DM sparingly, or
                                       when sensitive information is being
                                       shared, so the rest of the community
                                       can see how engaged and attentive your
                                       organization is.

 Info-Tech Research Group                                                       45
H&R Block successfully achieves marketing and service goals
   H&R Block’s extensive brand monitoring and employee customer service outreach make social media a
         powerful tool to reach current and potential customers, as well as increase mind share.

Social Media Goals                     Associated Activities                                        Achieved
                                       Extensive brand monitoring and rapid response to negative
Building positive brand image
                                       or damaging remarks to alleviate potential brand impact
                                       Social outreach activities that keep H&R Block top-of-mind
Increasing mind share
                                       when customers are searching for tax advice/information
                                       Authority granted to CSRs to resolve customer issues via
Improving customer satisfaction
                                       Social Media
                                       Provide opportunities for customer interaction and solicit
Gaining customer insights
                                       opinions
                                       Timely responses to customer questions increases the
Increasing customer retention
                                       likelihood of repeat business
                                       Revenue affected indirectly through customer satisfaction;
Increasing revenue per customer
                                       initiative is not sales-driven
                                       Unknown; although unproven, it is likely that positive
Customer acquisition
                                       branding will affect customers not already engaged
                                       Unknown; customer service is the driver behind H&R Block’s
Reducing cost of servicing customers
                                       strategy

      Info-Tech Insight:
 Organizations whose primary social media driver is improved service can still leverage customer
 interaction to increase customer acquisition through shareable content and viral special offers.

 Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                46
Scripps Health uses social media to connect
                           patients and employees
• Scripps Health is a nonprofit health care system based in San Diego, California.
• The system includes four hospitals and 19 outpatient facilities, and treats a half-million
  patients annually through 2,600 affiliated physicians.
• The social media strategy employed by Scripps Health is centered on inviting conversation between patients
  and employees, fostering community and generating positive branding opportunities.

Cross-platform summary:

         •   Scripps Health’s Facebook page is intended for both employees and patients.
         •   The comments on their wall include open-ended discussion questions about medical issues with
             responses from employees to encourage debate, as well as posts highlighting employee
             contributions and achievements.
         •   Scripps Health’s twitter account has over 5,000 followers.
         •   A recent sample showed that approximately 50% of their tweets are in direct reply to someone
             who has mentioned Scripps Health in a tweet, with the remainder split between sharing
             company news and promoting local events.
         •   The videos on Scripps Health’s YouTube channel have been viewed more than 79,000 times and
             offer a combination of health care news, patient stories, and company news and PR.
         •   They have created a YouTube group for health-care professionals, a technique that shows
             promise in connecting similar-minded organizations for the purpose of increasing visibility.




  “
         I do consider [our social media efforts] successful, and growing more so everyday. It's a slow
         process, but there have been numerous examples of patient experiences that have been made



                                                                                                   ”
         better because we were listening, and then reaching out.
         - G. Anderson, Marketing & Communications, Scripps Health
  Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                47
Scripps Health’s Facebook page encourages patient interaction

                                         • Raise the profile of your
                                           organization for visitors to your
                                           Facebook page by highlighting
                                           employee contributions and
                                           company news.




                                        • Encourage employees to become
                                          fans of your page and contribute
                                          to the discussion to enrich the
                                          patient experience.




                                        • Leverage your content across
                                          social media platform by
                                          syndicating content via RSS.


 Info-Tech Research Group                                                      48
Scripps Health builds community on Twitter and YouTube

                                               • Customer (patient) stories and
                                                 testimonials posted on your
                                                 YouTube channel are a
                                                 natural fit for social media
                                                 and should be shared with
                                                 your fans/followers across all
                                                 social media channels.




• Encourage employees who are tasked
  with manning your social media
  initiatives to inject personal comments to
  add dimension to the conversation.
  People follow/friend other people, not
  organizations.




  Info-Tech Research Group                                                 49
Scripps Health demonstrates a solid health-care
                        social media strategy
 Scripps Health’s use of social media to connect patients and employees creates opportunities for effective
                   conflict resolution and for positive branding within their community.
Social Media Goals                     Associated Activities                                           Achieved
                                       Focuses on community activities and positive contributions by
Building positive brand image
                                       employees
                                       Seeks out people who are discussing Scripps Health and
Increasing mind share
                                       initiates conversation, highlights positive comments
                                       The team manning their social media initiatives is able to
Improving customer satisfaction
                                       provide conflict resolution or refer to someone who can

Gaining customer insights              Offers insight into community needs through open discussion

                                       Little indication of follow-up with patients past the initial
Increasing customer retention
                                       conversation
                                       Building awareness and employee retention are more
Increasing revenue per customer
                                       significant

Customer acquisition                   Unknown; recruiting given high priority

                                       Unlikely; numerous comments from patients are initiated
Reducing cost of servicing customers   because the medium is available and are unlikely to have
                                       prompted a phone call or other contact

     Info-Tech Insight:
Building community via social media helps connect patients and health care support services for
improved patient satisfaction.
Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                    50
The State of Vermont joined the social media conversation
                      for marketing gains
•  The State of Vermont employs over 7,000 people.
•  It had to deal with social media initiatives that were being created independently and without
  standard process.
• Their audience was already interacting with non-sanctioned pages and accounts. While the
  conversation happening in the social arena was largely positive, it did not leave recourse in the
  event of questionable postings.
• The state CIO worked with the Chief Marketing Officer to develop a plan for official pages that
  include administrators who monitor communications for objectionable content 365 days a year.
Cross-platform summary:

           •   Official Vermont marketing pages have been created around tourism and state parks, with
               3,000 to 5,000 fans.
           •   The unsanctioned Vermont fan page has over 21,000 fans who are passionate about sharing
               their opinions. They are a very engaged community that should be leveraged and not excluded
               from official communications.
           •   Two notable official Twitter streams (VermontGov and VermontTourism) are run by their
               respective agencies, with the official account having almost 1,800 followers. This account is
               used purely as a broadcast medium.
           •   Vermont Tourism has 4,400 followers, is following 3,500 people, and is actively engaging in
               two-way conversation as well as promotion.
           •   The videos on Vermont Tourism’s YouTube channel have been viewed over 17,000 times.
           •   Videos include traditional television commercials and long-form promotional videos created
               specifically for this medium.
           •   In addition to casual browsers, the channel has 59 followers who are attentive and interested:
               one recent video garnered 25 views in the first three hours .
    Info-Tech Research Group                                                                               51
Vermont’s Facebook presence is overshadowed
                      by a pre-existing fan page
                                             Note: This is a fan page in the
                                             original sense of the word: this
                                             page was created, not by
                                             government agencies, but by a fan.




                                               • Harness the motivation of
                                                 independent fans who are
                                                 inclined to help you with
                                                 positive branding.

                                               • Acknowledge their efforts
                                                 even when they lie outside
                                                 your official strategy.

                                               • Having a sanctioned and
                                                 official page satisfies your
                                                 need for quality control, but
                                                 gaining customer insight
                                                 is easier when the
                                                 conversation is already
                                                 started.




Info-Tech Research Group                                                 52
Vermont’s government Twitter account is a one-sided affair,
              which limits its effectiveness

                                           • Following a low number of people
                                             limits the amount of noise you
                                             have to filter when interacting
                                             with your audience.

                                           • This is common when a Twitter
                                             account is automated to publish
                                             updates (via RSS, for example)


                                           • The absence of “RT” (re-tweet) or
                                             “@name” tweets indicates that this
                                             account is not interacting with
                                             anyone.

                                           • Use Twitter as a communication
                                             facilitator, not a broadcast
                                             medium for press releases.

                                            Info-Tech Insight:
                                        Limiting the amount of interaction
                                        you have with your audience also
                                        restricts the benefits you can
                                        expect when participating in social
                                        media.
Info-Tech Research Group                                                  53
Vermont’s conservative strategy is a safe approach
                       for positive branding
Limiting the amount of interaction they have with their audience also restricts the benefits Vermont can
expect when participating in social media. They have a solid foundation on which to build.

Social Media Goals                     Associated Activities                                        Achieved

Building positive brand image          Actively positioning Vermont in a positive light

                                       Social media content is increasingly showing up in search
Increasing mind share                  engines, so it is probable that someone searching for
                                       Vermont will also have access to this content

Improving customer satisfaction        When present, fan/follower interaction is prompt

Gaining customer insights              Conversation is largely promotional

Increasing customer retention          Focus is on brand building

Increasing revenue per customer        N/A

Customer acquisition                   Interactions are occurring with current fans and followers

                                       Unknown; savings may be present if social media is
Reducing cost of servicing customers
                                       replacing traditional advertising


      Info-Tech Insight:
 Developing a social media presence is not an all-or-nothing endeavor. Assess each medium on its own
 merits and dedicate resources accordingly.

 Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                54
The Coffee Groundz gives their audience an
                    online gathering place on Facebook
•    The Coffee Groundz is a small business in
     Houston, Texas. It has built a strong
     Facebook following by promoting in-store
     and community events, along with
     advertising exclusive special offers for
     Facebook fans.
•    They currently have over 1,650 fans.
•    Their fans are extremely active, posting
     photos and videos of events hosted at The
     Coffee Groundz.

    Social Media Goal
    Positive brand image
    Increased mind share
    Increase customer satisfaction
    Gain customer insights
    Increase customer retention
    Increase revenue per customer
                                                 • Encourage participation and
    Acquire customers                              feedback by publishing
                                                   photo/video contributions on
    Reduce cost of serving customers
                                                   your wall.

Info-Tech Research Group                                                          55
CME empowers a team of employees relative in size
                    to their number of followers
•    With over 750,000 followers, CME
     Group tweets about global economic and
     financial news. They are diligent about
     responding to their followers and engaging in
     conversation despite the volume of tweets.
•    They have posted an impressive 6,600 tweets
     – and have empowered their employees to
     work in a variety of Twitter clients, including
     HootSuite, TweetDeck, Twitter for
     Blackberry, and OpenBeak.

       Social Media Goal
       Positive brand image
       Increased mind share
       Increase customer satisfaction
       Gain customer insights
       Increase customer retention
       Increase revenue per customer
       Acquire customers                               • Reciprocate positive
                                                         sentiments by calling out by
       Reduce cost of serving customers                  @name those who are contributing
                                                         to your conversation.

    Info-Tech Research Group                                                                56
Zappos.com has almost 500 employees on Twitter dedicated to
              customer service and retention
 •    Approx 500 Zappos employees are on
      Twitter, including the CEO, tasked with
      providing exceptional customer service and
      positive brand representation.
 •    Customers can talk directly to a customer
      service representative about a previous,
      current or future purchase, issues with the
      Zappos.com website, or ideas for future
      products and improvements.

     Social Media Goal
     Positive brand image
     Increased mind share
     Increase customer satisfaction
     Gain customer insights
     Increase customer retention
                                                    • Be transparent about who is tweeting.
     Increase revenue per customer
                                                    • Zappos.com CEO, Tony Hsieh, has
     Acquire customers                                gained over 1.6 million followers by
     Reduce cost of serving customers                 being open about his position and
                                                      sharing unvarnished thoughts about his
                                                      company.
 Info-Tech Research Group                                                                  57
BooneOakley builds on the aspects of YouTube’s interactivity
        that go virtually untapped by most users
•    Ad agency BooneOakley has taken the
     interactivity potential of YouTube and turned
     it into their website.
•    www.BooneOakley.com points to their main
     YouTube video, which utilizes the Flash
     component of YouTube to link to other videos
     that correspond with the different traditional
     “pages” of their website.


    Social Media Goal
    Positive brand image
    Increased mind share
    Increase customer satisfaction
    Gain customer insights
    Increase customer retention                       • Create collateral that takes advantage of the
    Increase revenue per customer                       capabilities of each medium.

    Acquire customers                                 • BooneOakley’s site demonstrates the capabilities
                                                        YouTube has to transform videos into full-fledged
    Reduce cost of serving customers
                                                        web content that interacts seamlessly with other
                                                        components of your website.
Info-Tech Research Group                                                                                58
Control Engineering uses LinkedIn groups to connect
                        and discuss, not to sell
•      B-to-B magazine Control Engineering built a
       community for engineers that focuses on
       members' needs for expertise and in-depth
       advice, both from their peers and from easy
       access to editorial content.
•      The most interesting discussions were then
       used as articles in their print publication,
       which encouraged subscribers to find and use
       the LinkedIn group.


       Social Media Goal
       Positive brand image
       Increased mind share
       Increase customer satisfaction
       Gain customer insights
       Increase customer retention
       Increase revenue per customer
                                                      • Start a discussion that sparks interaction
       Acquire customers                                with your employee representatives.
       Reduce cost of serving customers               • If your group gets off track, moderate with
                                                        discretion. You may still find valuable
                                                        insights in the conversation.
    Info-Tech Research Group                                                                          59
Assess which social media opportunities exist for your
                organization with Info-Tech’s tool
 Not all organizations will strive to achieve
 results in all three areas of opportunity. Use
 Info-Tech’s “Social Media Opportunity
 Assessment Tool” to determine, based on
 your unique criteria, where opportunity
 exists for your organization in marketing,
 sales and service.

Info-Tech Advice:
1.   Remember that departmental goals
     will overlap; gaining customer
     insight is valuable to sales,
     marketing and customer service.
2.   The social media benefits you can
     expect to achieve will evolve as your
     processes mature.
3.   Often, organizations jump into
     social media because they feel they
     have to. Use this assessment to
     identify early on what your drivers
     should be.

Info-Tech Research Group                                       60
Leverage social media for customer interaction
Leverage social media for customer interaction
Leverage social media for customer interaction
Leverage social media for customer interaction
Leverage social media for customer interaction
Leverage social media for customer interaction
Leverage social media for customer interaction

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Leverage social media for customer interaction

  • 1. Practical IT Research that Drives Measurable Results Leverage Social Media for Customer Interaction Info-Tech Research Group 1
  • 2. Introduction • Consumers are rapidly adopting social media, yet adoption of social media by organizations is lagging. • Most organizations are struggling to define a business strategy for social media and are unprepared to link it to their CRM strategy. • IT is unsure of their role and where they can bring value to the table. • Lack of coordination results in more manual, resource intensive processes that are difficult to measure. • Organizational use of social media can bring benefits to marketing, sales and service when implemented properly. This solution set will help you: Assess Understand Social Compare Social Plan the Opportunities & Media Media Vendors Implementation Strategize Info-Tech Research Group 2
  • 3. Executive Summary • Social media customer interaction opportunities exist for marketing, sales, and service gains. • Social media provides another channel for organizations to interact with their customers and customers with each other. • Consider social media as part of the current customer interaction strategy as customers will continue to communicate via social media with or without you. • Link social media to existing customer relationship management solutions. • Integration can improve information accuracy, reduce manual effort and provide more in-depth customer insights. • IT has an important role to play in managing social media infrastructure and security. • Defining the goals and posting actual content lies with the business side. • Evaluate vendors in three distinct categories to make sound technology decisions. • Consider what goals you want to achieve prior to selecting social media services. • Determine if CRM vendors have begun to offer social media integration. • Alternatively, pure-play vendors provide social channel aggregators and managers. • Assess which social media opportunities exist for your organization, build your plan, test your theories, and grow your interaction level based on your results. • Secure privacy and integrity by managing organizational use of social media with a policy. Info-Tech Research Group 3
  • 4. Road Map Market Value to Risk Understand IT’s Role Overview Organizations Mitigation Compare Social Media Vendor Segmentation Strategize Opportunity Assessment Business Plan Implement Project Planning Securing Privacy & Integrity Info-Tech Research Group 4
  • 5. Social media is big: Consumers are rapidly embracing social media services as their communication medium of choice • Social media services facilitate the creation and dissemination of user- generated content. • Social media services have experienced LinkedIn has users on explosive growth during the past five every continent years; consumers are flocking to services such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Social networking is now YouTube. more popular • Social media is ubiquitous: consumers than e-mail* Global time spent on can access social media services from social media is up their computers, smartphones and video 82% game consoles. This ease of access has Every minute, over last year* further fuelled social media adoption. 24 hours • Adoption of social media began with of video is uploaded to younger consumers, but sustained YouTube Last year, growth is taking place across a range of Tweets grew demographic tiers, from young to old. 1400% • Social media is displacing traditional e- Facebook’s greatest channels, such as e-mail, as consumers’ growth has come from preferred method of interacting with one people aged another. 35-49* • Businesses need to understand that social media is an integral part of their customers’ lives. *Source: Nielson Online Info-Tech Research Group 5
  • 6. Users interact with networks to create connections with individuals with similar interests • External public social media services, such Social Networks create the as Facebook, Twitter, and Friend-of-a friend (FOAF) trust model LinkedIn, comprise extensive networks of users who are self-organized into groups and communities. • Users establish connections directly with other users to form a personal friends network. • Users also join groups and communities that are organized around attributes such as products, lifestyles, entertainment, institutio ns, politics, and geographic locations. • The Fried-of-a-Friend (FOAF) model enables interactions beyond direct connections. • Trust is a function of connection proximity- the closer you are, the more trusted you are. Info-Tech Insight: Organizations need to be aware of the fact that customers are more likely to trust an opinion of a product or service of someone within their FOAF model than statements made by the company itself. Info-Tech Research Group 6
  • 7. Organizations need to move into social media or risk being leapfrogged by social-media savvy competitors Social media implementation highest in education • Over half of the organizations surveyed by and government organizations surveyed Info-Tech are now using at least one social media service for marketing, sales or customer service. Education 78% 22% • Organizations are realizing the potential Government 65% 35% value of social media; they need to be in the same space as their customers and Business Services 55% 45% stakeholders. Financial Services 54% 46% • Education and government organizations have high deployment rates as they use Trans/Utilities/Comms 53% 47% social media to connect with stakeholders, while adoption has been slowest in the Healthcare 50% 50% primary sector. Wholesale/Retail 50% 50% • As with Web 1.0, firms vary in the degree with which they embrace social media. Manuf acturing 31% 69% • Organizational size has no impact on Primary Industry 100% deployment. Rather, those taking a “wait- and-see” approach cited high perceived 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% risks as the number one reason why they have yet to deploy social media. “ Implemented Not Implemented N=134 In the old world, I just did a survey. In the new world, I'm listening to every water ” cooler conversation out there. - Jim Sterne, Target Marketing Inc. Info-Tech Research Group 7
  • 8. Multi-channel customer interaction is not a new concept to organizations • Over the past decade, new delivery and interaction channel options such as e-mail, Customers chat, Web self-service, kiosks, bulletin boards, and discussion forums were added to existing channels. • Customer interaction management evolved as a component of larger Customer Conversations Information Relationship Management (CRM) strategies in order to coordinate customer interactions into a hybrid channel strategy, utilizing Communication Channels multiple interaction channels. Face to • Organizations then embarked on creating Phone E-mail Web Face more sophisticated market coverage models that employed hybrid channel interaction strategies. • These models were optimized around customers’ affinity for different channels and Marketing Sales Service the ability of different products and services to be marketed, sold, and serviced through Customer Relationship Management these channels. Info-Tech Research Group 8
  • 9. Social media provides another channel for organizations to interact with their customers and customers with each other • Individuals are interacting with each other and with organizations in the social cloud. • Organizations must follow their customers, Customers prospects and partners into this social media world, as they previously followed them into the telephony and the 1.0 e- channel worlds. • Management resistance to social media will be overcome with time, just as it was with e-mail and the Web. Conversations & Information • The lessons learned from integration of 1.0 e-channels should be leveraged as Communication Channels organizations add the social media channel Face to Social into their overall customer interaction Phone E-mail Web Face Media management. • Do not believe those who tell you that this will require an entire rebuild of your CRM strategy. It is simply another interaction channel Marketing Sales Service to integrate - as you’ve done in the past. Customer Relationship Management Info-Tech Research Group 9
  • 10. Customers will interact via social media with or without you – be aware of the three main implications “ 3 Main Implications: Social media is there whether we participate or Brand image can now be not, therefore participation on our company's ” heavily influenced by the part isn't optional. entire social cloud, - CIO, Manufacturing whether the company “ participates or not You can use the people who are passionate about Organizations can leverage your brand effectively, but at the same time, you both the positive and have to be mindful that there will be others who negative feedback for will say things that you don’t want. What are you marketing, sales and going to do? How are you going to deal with that? ” service - Dr. Nicole Haggerty, Associate Professor “ IT plays a critical role in supporting the You have to know what the business model is in organizational use of the order to dictate what you restrict and what you social cloud while don't along with knowing what the risk to IT and ” minimizing risks the infrastructure environment are. - Thomas Uyehara, IT Director, Independence First Info-Tech Insight: Although there are risks that need to be managed when participating, there are also risks to the organization if they choose not to participate. Conduct an online search for “Motrin Mom” for a popular example of the power of social media in the absence of company involvement. Info-Tech Research Group 10
  • 11. Organizations can interact with customers via social media to achieve marketing, sales, and service gains • Social media has a number of invaluable 67% of organizations surveyed succeeded in using applications in marketing, sales and customer social media to enhance their brand image and service: increase customer share of mind • Marketing: Social media can be used as an inexpensive and highly effective Building positive brand image 14 53 12 21 channel for advertising and creating brand Increasing mind share 12 55 8 24 awareness with customers and prospects. • Sales: A number of social media services Improving customer satisfaction 7 56 20 18 can be used to prospect for potential Gaining customer insights 13 38 15 24 clients. • Service: Social media can be used as an Increasing customer retention 10 38 20 33 avenue for providing service to customers. Customer acquisition 6 39 16 40 • Achieving social media gains is possible in Reducing cost of service 2 39 24 35 both a B2C, B2B, and G2C context.: Increasing revenue 6 31 17 46 • B2C organizations can achieve gains across all areas. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% • B2B organizations can particularly benefit from customer acquisition and the ability Fully achieved Partially achieved Did not achieve Not a goal to build more meaningful relationships. N=64 “ • G2C, health care, non-profit and education organizations can leverage social media as There’s an awful lot of benefit for very ” an integral channel for effectively reaching little cost. out to stakeholders and citizens. - Carol Voss, Marketing Director, Independence First Info-Tech Research Group 11
  • 12. CRM is now social: leverage social media to capture more customer information and build deeper relationships “ • Social CRM refers to the hybridization and merging of social Social CRM is taking advantage of media with CRM. edge infrastructure (social media) • Social media is a powerful tool for where we have access to communicating with customers, but communities of interest by linking relatively few organizations are linking them to the goals of our social media to their customer infrastructure (CRM) where we relationship management. have better controls and measures. • Social CRM is about using Web 2.0 Social media strengthens the technologies to better understand, relationship in an environment communicate with and service where the customer is comfortable customers. and familiar providing us an • Information is power, and social CRM opportunity to bridge this trust into ” aims to provide companies with the our organization. most complete picture of the customer - IT Director, Public Administration available. Info-Tech Insight: Social CRM goes beyond simple databases of customer information - it actively seeks to capture and analyze customer information and conversations that are available in the social media landscape. Info-Tech Research Group 12
  • 13. Lack of formality results in manual, resource intensive processes that are difficult to measure • Most organizations that have pursued social media initiatives have done so in an ad-hoc fashion rather than outlining a formal strategy and deploying software solutions. • Projects are often poorly defined, with little central coordination. In some instances, different departments or offices are maintaining separate social media “fiefdoms.” • Outlining a formal social media strategy can enumerate the exact goals to be achieved, illustrate how those fit into existing CRM strategies and outline the methods and services that will be used to achieve them. • Software solutions that integrate with CRM technology reduce the resource intensive processes required for ongoing social media involvement and keeps projects on track by providing reporting metrics. Social media and CRM are often being done Many processes related to social media are being done without a defined strategy manually, despite the existence of software solutions N=64 Info-Tech Research Group 13
  • 14. Formally integrating social media and CRM technology pays off big dividends in goal achievement • Linking social media to existing customer Organizations that integrated their social relationship management solutions can media and CRM technology with improve information accuracy, reduce manual software realized more of their goals effort and provide more in-depth customer insights. 69 • Organizations Info-Tech surveyed that integrated their solutions achieved more +68% goals as a result. • Several major CRM vendors are now offering products that integrate with popular social networking services (either natively or by 41 providing support for third-party add-ons) • For example, Salesforce.com now allows for native integration with Twitter, while an add-on available for Oracle gathers real-time information about prospects by pulling their extended information from publicly available LinkedIn profiles. • For companies that have not formally integrated social media with customer relationship management, IT should develop the business case in conjunction with the No Integration Software Integration applicable “business-side” partner (marketing, sales etc.). Social Media & CRM Technology N=64 Info-Tech Research Group 14
  • 15. IT has an important role to play in managing social media infrastructure and security • IT’s primary role lies in providing IT manages infrastructure and security, while necessary infrastructure and identifying social media goals and content are typically and mitigating security concerns. handled by the business side • Infrastructure support is particularly Social media technology support 69% 25% 7% important for businesses looking to link IT social media platforms with compatible Managing social media security 62% 24% 14% CRM software solutions. Social media content archival 40% 28% 32% • While social media services can be Providing social media reporting 40% 19% 41% indispensible tools, the services can propagate malware – requiring IT to Social media and CRM integration 38% 45% 18% manage security closely. Employees may Monitoring social media sites 20% 35% 44% inadvertently disclose privileged Def ining the goals of social media 14% 29% 57% information over social networks. Business • IT needs to set policies and access Posting content to social media sites 11% 26% 64% privileges for social media usage. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% • Archiving content, providing reporting, IT Both Business N=64 managing integration and monitoring “ sites may be joint responsibilities or held On IT’s role: It’s like having a lawyer in the by either side. room… their job is to tell you about the ” • The push for adoption usually comes risks and dangers. from the business (for example, the marketing or communications - Jim Sterne, Marketing Consultant, Target department) and thus defining the goals Marketing Inc. and posting actual content lies with the business side. Our Social Media Acceptable Use Policy can be found in the Implement section of this storyboard. Info-Tech Research Group 15
  • 16. Security and privacy top risks of social media that warrant IT involvement • Social media exposes a certain Security and privacy top concerns of amount of information that can be organizational use of social media visible to friends of friends. Security 38% 44% 14% 4% • While this exposure is a key Privacy 36% 44% 14% 6% mechanism driving value, it can Inappropriate Content 29% 49% 18% 4% also create an inappropriate conduit for information to pass between Time Wastage By Employees 24% 52% 18% 6% personal and business contacts. Control Over Brand Image 26% 46% 20% 8% • Tools to establish barriers between Bandwidth 16% 29% 39% 16% personal and private networks and tools to centrally manage accounts Increased Costs 5% 31% 50% 14% are only beginning to emerge. Competitors Poaching Client Lists 12% 22% 36% 30% • IT involvement for security, privacy, 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% and bandwidth concerns is of utmost importance. Signif icant concern Moderate concern Minimal concern Not a concern “ • The business should define a N=132 strategy that illustrates appropriate The genie is out of the bottle - IT needs to learn what conduit for content, time wastage, to do to better manage social media usage and work and brand image concerns. with the business needs to get there; similar to basic ” 'internet access' 10 years ago. - CIO, Financial Services Info-Tech Insight: Implementation maturity impacted perceived risks - organizations that had no social media strategy rated concerns 28% higher than those with a defined strategy. Info-Tech Research Group 16
  • 17. Take steps to mitigate potential risks to ensure they don’t impede project approval High perceived risks and lack of management buy-in were the top two reasons organizations cited they have not implemented social media. Take these mitigation steps to safeguard your business plan approval. Risk Probability Risk Mitigation Strategy Category Risk of employees downloading malware, - Implement policies that indicate appropriate conduct by Security High viruses, etc from social media services. employees. - Implement separate social network accounts for business. Risk of inappropriate exchange of - Train employees to never use personal accounts to interact Privacy High information between personal and business with business contacts and never use their business contacts. account to interact with personal contacts. Employees representing the organization on - Select the team carefully and ensure they are fully trained Inappropriate High social media channels may post something on both official company policy and social media etiquette. Content inappropriate to the nature of your business. - Ensure consistent monitoring by business units. Use of social media for business is linked Time Wastage - Process for accounting for time spent focused on Medium intrinsically to personal use and time spent by Employees organization objectives must be documented. may not be optimized to meet goals. Fully participating in social media means - Train every person charged with interacting with customers Control Over Medium relying on front-line staff for dissemination of and prospects via social media regarding what constitutes Brand Image positive branding. acceptable brand presentation. Increase in bandwidth needs to support Bandwidth Low social media efforts, particularly when using - Plan for any bandwidth requirements with IT network staff. video social media such as YouTube. - In a public social network, you cannot prevent this. Monitor Competitors The ability for a competitor to view lists of your own brand as well as monitor competitors. If client Poaching Client Low clients that have joined your organization’s secrecy must be maintained, then you should use a private Lists social media groups. social network, not a public network. (SocialText, Lithium, private SharePoint site, etc.) - Augment existing customer service responsibilities with Increased Cost social media requests. Additional resources may be allocated to of Servicing Low - If a dedicated resource is not available, dedicate a specific social media without seeing immediate ROI. Customers amount of time per employee to be spent addressing customer concerns via social media. Info-Tech Research Group 17
  • 18. Road Map Market Value to Risk Understand IT’s Role Overview Organizations Mitigation Compare Social Media Vendor Segmentation Strategize Opportunity Assessment Business Plan Implement Project Planning Securing Privacy & Integrity Info-Tech Research Group 18
  • 19. Social CRM vendors fit into three distinct categories CRM Suites with Social Channel Aggregators Social Media Services Social Media Integration and Managers Social CRM vendors can be categorized into three silos: social media services (i.e. Facebook, Twitter), CRM suites that feature social media integration (i.e. Oracle, Salesforce.com), and pure- play social channel aggregators and managers (such as TweetDeck and Socialware). Different products from the three silos can be brought together to create a cohesive social CRM platform. Info-Tech Research Group 19
  • 20. Social media services allow consumers to create, manage and share content with each other Social Multimedia Social media services facilitate the creation and dissemination of user-generated Social networking content. These services rely heavily on social interaction and content sharing between users. While all social media services share a dependence on consumer- driven content, they can be grouped according to their purpose and functionality. There are four main types of services: social networking, blogging, micro-blogging and social multimedia. Social Networking: Social networking services allow users to communicate with their personal networks. These services rely on the “friend-of-a-friend” model of social interaction. Users can share a wide variety of information and media with one another. Prominent social networking sites include Facebook and LinkedIn. Blogging Blogging: Blogs (a portmanteau of “web log”) are websites that allow users to upload text entries and media. Entries are typically displayed in reverse- chronological order, and often contain ongoing commentary and discussion of recent events. Prominent blogging services include Blogger and WordPress. Micro-Blogging: Micro-blogging services are similar to blogging websites, with the exception that written content is typically limited to a set number of characters. For example, the popular micro-blogging service Twitter allows users to post Blogging Micro- messages up to 140 characters in length. Social Multimedia: Social multimedia sites provide an easy way for users to upload and share multimedia content (i.e. pictures and video) with both their personal contacts as well as the wider community. YouTube is extremely popular for video sharing, while Flickr is popular for sharing photo albums. Multimedia In many cases, each service does not fit neatly into each category. While Facebook Social is focused on social networking, it also provides tools for sharing photo and videos. Conversely, YouTube includes basic social networking capabilities insofar as users can add each other as friends. With minor exceptions, creating an account on a social media service is free… this makes using these services extremely cost effective. Info-Tech Research Group 20
  • 21. Facebook is the world’s most popular social networking service; it is an indispensible tool for connecting with your customers Facebook has the highest organizational adoption of any social networking service Marketing 30% • Launched in 2004, Facebook is now the world’s most popular social networking service, boasting over 400 Sales 13% million users worldwide. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world. Service 13% • Users on Facebook can exchange messages, share photos and video, create event invitations and build 0% 10% 20% 30% pages dedicated to specific topics or products. • Many companies have found that maintaining a presence on Facebook is essential for connecting with both current and prospective customers. • As the site’s popularity continues to grow, companies must follow their customers to the service. • Companies are also monitoring Facebook to gather consumer thoughts and perceptions about their brands. The site can be an invaluable tool for gaining product marketing insights. Info-Tech Research Group 21
  • 22. Twitter is a versatile communication channel; the service is extremely useful for pushing out real-time information Although relatively new, Twitter has seen widespread adoption by businesses Marketing 22% • Launched in 2006, Twitter is a popular micro- blogging website that allows users to post short Sales 10% messages up to 140 characters in length. • Users can “follow” one another on the site. When a Service 13% user updates his or her Twitter feed, a notification is pushed out to everyone following the account. This 0% 10% 20% 30% makes Twitter an indispensible tool for quickly disseminating information. • Twitter has rapidly gained traction as a viable service for pushing out real-time updates about products and services, corporate news and information bulletins. • Many organizations are opening Twitter accounts in order to better communicate with their customer bases. Several forward-thinking businesses (such as Dell) are now using Twitter as an additional avenue for customer service. Info-Tech Research Group 22
  • 23. LinkedIn is the “business formal” of social networking; the service is valuable for B2B lead generation and prospecting LinkedIn is particularly useful for sales and marketing, especially in a B2B context • LinkedIn is a social networking service targeted at Marketing 10% working professionals. The site is geared towards building and communicating with professional Sales 7% networks (as opposed to services such as Facebook, which emphasize staying in touch with family and friends). Service 2% • LinkedIn features group pages where users can associate with one another based on characteristics 0% 10% 20% 30% like career interest or alumni affiliation. • In addition to giving users the ability to create individual profiles, the site also maintains several company profile pages. Users can view company details such as industry and demographics. • The site features “LinkedIn Answers”, where users can pose questions and receive answers from other members of the LinkedIn community. • LinkedIn’s rich collection of business profiles makes it a valuable service for sales prospecting. The site is also popular as a recruitment tool. Info-Tech Research Group 23
  • 24. YouTube is the leading video sharing service; it is the unrivalled medium for building awareness through viral advertising YouTube is used predominantly for raising marketing awareness • Since its inception in 2005, YouTube has rapidly grown Marketing 11% to become one of the most popular websites in the world. The service allows users to upload and publish video content free-of-charge. Content on YouTube Sales 3% ranges from home videos to movie trailers to viral advertising campaigns. Service 4% • User accounts on YouTube are referred to as “channels”. The site provides comprehensive tools for managing video content, including basic video and 0% 10% 20% 30% audio editing. • The site provides a free analytics tool called “YouTube Insights” that can be used to track the referrers and demographics of those viewing a video. This makes the site useful for gathering customer insights. • YouTube is extremely valuable for hosting video content such as viral advertisements; because the site is free, hosting video content on YouTube is more bandwidth-effective than hosting it locally. • YouTube provides a channel for distributing video content for smaller organizations lacking the media budgets to purchase TV airtime. Info-Tech Research Group 24
  • 25. Not all social networking services are created equal: some are more useful than others for achieving certain goals Different social media services are more effective than others for reaching different goals. For example, YouTube is useful as an avenue for distributing marketing campaigns, but it’s of substantially less use for sales functions like lead generation. Domain Opportunity Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Building Positive Brand Image    Proven Marketing Increasing Mind Share     Useful* Potentially Gaining Customer Insights      Useful Gaining Sales Insights    Sales Increasing Revenue    Customer Acquisition    Customer Satisfaction     Increasing Customer Service Retention    *Proven useful by statistical Reducing Cost of Service    analysis of real-world implementations Info-Tech Research Group 25
  • 26. Incumbent CRM vendors are rapidly integrating social media with their solutions as they realize its potential value CRM Suites with Social Media Integration • Rapid adoption of social media by consumers has driven most large vendors of CRM solutions to integrate social media functionality into their products. • Some vendors (such as Oracle) natively support social channels, while others (such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM and SugarCRM) are dependant on third-party tools (like InsideView) to enable social media functionality. • While social media integration has been proceeding quickly, it is still a relatively new direction for most CRM vendors. As a result, integration hasn’t reached full maturity yet. This is an area where further development and refinement can be expected. Info-Tech Insight: Due to the rapid adoption of social media by incumbent CRM vendors, the market for pure-play social channel aggregators and managers will be smaller than the market for similar Web 1.0 services. Info-Tech Research Group 26
  • 27. Oracle and Salesforce.com are leading vendors that have integrated social media into their CRM products Oracle leverages social media to Salesforce.com provides drive sales performance. cloud-native CRM solutions. • Oracle has incorporated social media into its • Salesforce.com provides a comprehensive sales prospecting and automation solutions. tool set for managing customer conversations • Currently, Oracle’s Sales Prospector On- in social media space. Demand pulls potential clients from both • Salesforce can link to Facebook and Twitter. internal and external data sources. Currently, social media can be used as a • Third-party plug-ins allow Oracle’s Social channel for lead generation and sales CRM suites to integrate with services like management, as well as customer service. LinkedIn, pulling contact information such as job title and background. Info-Tech Research Group 27
  • 28. Pure-play vendors provide social channel aggregators and managers that can be used to harness the power of social media Social channel aggregators • With the proliferation of different social media services, a number of vendors have begun offering pure-play social channel aggregators and social channel management solutions. • Social channel aggregators collate and summarize information from several social media services (for example, Facebook and Twitter) and allow users to simultaneously update multiple social media accounts across multiple services. This can be a tremendous time-saver for both collecting customer insights as well as publishing information to social media services. • Social channel managers are applications and vendors that provide services for managing social channels. For example, Social channel managers social channel managers may monitor social media services for consumer thoughts and perceptions about a particular brand, or they may provide on-demand analytics for tracking how consumers are clicking through to the firm’s social media pages. Info-Tech Insight: Using a combination of social channel aggregators and managers can simplify social media campaigns while accumulating useful analytics and archiving content to meet security needs. Info-Tech Research Group 28
  • 29. TweetDeck and Socialware are breaking new ground in the pure-play social channel aggregator and manager market TweetDeck makes managing multiple services easy Socialware provides numerous value-added by aggregating Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn social channel management services • TweetDeck aggregates feeds from several • Socialware bills itself as the “first social popular social networking services, and middleware company”, an accurate label displays them in a unified manner. This given the range of social channel eliminates having to continuously check management solutions it provides. multiple social networking sites. • Presently, TweetDeck supports Facebook, • Socialware Compass is a product that allows MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn. companies to implement and automate their • TweetDeck can also be used to social media policies by providing internal simultaneously update multiple user access controls, content archival and back-up, accounts across several different services. content moderation, and analytics for • TweetDeck’s ability to aggregate and sort monitoring and tracking use of social media information – combined with its update usage. functionality – make it a versatile tool for • Subscriptions to Socialware’s services start at managing social media initiatives. $100 per month. Info-Tech Research Group 29
  • 30. Insource Performance Solutions uses InsideView to monitor and gather information from social media channels • Insource is a business-to-business organization that provides labor and staffing solutions to companies – primarily focused on manufacturing and distribution. They employ approximately 2,000 people. • Instead of approaching social media as a task for individuals, they chose a monitoring solution that enables their entire sales and business development teams to deliver a specific message. Summary: • Insource was looking for a tool to streamline their sales force’s efforts to gather online information about prospects and customers. • They chose InsideView to aggregate information within SugarCRM in a meaningful way that complements how they go to market. This enables Insource to expand client relationships, search for new opportunities, and leverage data from social media for prospecting. • In addition to monitoring brand mentions and actions, InsideView compiles reference connectors that link Insource’s customers and prospects through LinkedIn, providing insight into relationships that may be leveraged to increase sales. “ As we talk with prospects and customers we’re engaging in conversations that are relevant to them because we are better informed. These tools are enabling sales and they also, in my view - and I don’t think I’m alone, help us serve our customers better. ” And anything that does that is a good investment on our part. - Chip Meyers, Sales Operation Manager, Insource Info-Tech Research Group 30
  • 31. Insource relies on InsideView within SugarCRM to provide the most complete picture of a customer • Monitoring company name mentions provides insight into your clients’ activities and the conversations in which they are engaged. • Information harvested from social media channels is integrated into client records for easy access without the manual task of searching across multiple channels. Info-Tech Research Group 31
  • 32. InsideView uses LinkedIn to display the connections associated with members of Insource’s customer database • LinkedIn network connections are related to clients already in your database for easier prospecting. Info-Tech Research Group 32
  • 33. Road Map Market Value to Risk Understand IT’s Role Overview Organizations Mitigation Compare Social Media Vendor Segmentation Strategize Opportunity Assessment Business Plan Implement Project Planning Securing Privacy & Integrity Info-Tech Research Group 33
  • 34. Social media opportunities exist in marketing, sales and service 1. Build Positive Brand Image Customers Marketing 2. Increase Mind Share 3. Gain Marketing Customer Insights 1. Increase Revenue Conversations & Information Sales 2. Customer Acquisition 3. Gain Sales Insights Communication Channels Face to Social Phone E-mail Web Face Media 1. Improve Customer Satisfaction Service 2. Increase Customer Retention 3. Reduce Cost of Service Marketing Sales Service Customer Relationship Management Info-Tech Research Group 34
  • 35. Share information and listen to customers to improve brand image and increase mind share • Social media can be effectively used for marketing purposes when target customer segments overlap user demographics. Customers The top 3 marketing opportunities are: 1 Positive Brand Image: Organizations can use social media to promote a positive brand image. This is particularly important for organizations generally vulnerable to negative press or consumer discontent. Interaction Goals: 2 Positive Brand Image Increased Mind Share Increased Mind Share. Social media can reach Customer Insights large audiences at very low monetary cost, giving organizations another medium to promote Communication Channels their organization/brand to increase awareness. Related Research: Getting Social with E-Mail Social Media Marketing Campaigns 3 Customer Insights: Users discuss experiences with products/services via social media. Monitoring social media can provide valuable feedback on your products as well as on those of Marketing competitors for product intelligence. Customer Relationship Management Info-Tech Research Group 35
  • 36. Connect with new prospects for customer acquisition and revenue generation • Social media can be exploited for a variety of sales purposes when acquisition and sales can be linked to existing sales processes. The top 3 sales opportunities are: Customers 1 Increased Revenue: An additional channel for organizations to provide product and service information that can convert consumers researching a product/service into a sale or encourage future purchases with coupons. Interaction Goals: 2 Increased Revenue Customer Acquisition: Social media can be Customer Acquisition Customer Insights exploited for lead generation, particularly by leveraging the FOAF model in B2B scenarios. Many CRM Vendors are linking platforms like Communication Channels LinkedIn and Facebook to its sales automation Social Media software to enable sales to leverage referrals through their business and personal networks. 3 Customer Insights: Consumer buying behaviors and patterns can be gathered by monitoring social media sites and then used to design sales delivery models. Sales Customer Relationship Management Info-Tech Research Group 36
  • 37. Engage with your customers via social media to provide more meaningful service and support for satisfaction and retention • Social media provides another channel for organizations to respond to customer inquiries or service issues. Customers The top 3 service opportunities include: 1 Improving Customer Satisfaction: Customers that receive more timely and personal service in the medium that they prefer will be more satisfied. Interaction Goals: 2 Improving Customer Satisfaction Increasing Customer Retention Increasing Customer Retention. Using social Reducing Cost of Service media with customers builds barriers to exit since customers are engaged using a medium Communication Channels they prefer – something the organization needs to offer to remain competitive. Social Media 3 Reducing Cost of Service: Organizations use social media to quickly and efficiently respond to customer service issues. The answer to the problem can be public, making it searchable by Customer Service other customers that have the same request. Customer Relationship Management Info-Tech Research Group 37
  • 38. Info-Tech evaluated real-world implementations across the nine social media opportunity areas The following slides provide social media cases at a The Social Media Scorecard: variety of organizational types. Each case is evaluated using Info-Tech’s social media scorecard to help you Area of Opportunity Social Media Goals understand how success looks for different organizations. Marketing Build a positive brand image We evaluated four organizations across all major Marketing Increase mind share social media platforms: • Dell Marketing Gain customer insights • H & R Block Sales Increase revenue per customer • Scripps Health Sales Acquire customers • State of Vermont Sales Gain customer insights The effectiveness of their social media campaigns is Service Increase customer retention directly related to goals in the social media scorecard. Service Increase customer satisfaction Reduce cost of serving We also looked at exemplary cases in individual social Service customers media channels: • The Coffee Groundz (Facebook) These cases are meant to illustrate how • CME Group (Twitter) social media can be applied to a variety of • Zappos (Twitter) organizations. An opportunity assessment • BooneOakley (YouTube) follows so that you can determine what • Control Engineering (LinkedIN) areas exist for your specific situation. Info-Tech Research Group 38
  • 39. Dell is used as the standard by which other social media campaigns are measured • Dell Inc. is a multinational information technology corporation that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. • They are extremely successful across all platforms. • Their focus is on driving sales and building relationships through enhanced customer service. • One of the most notable companies to successfully monetize their initiatives, Dell reported achieving $3 million in revenue directly through Twitter since 2007. Cross-platform summary: • Dell’s page includes an app that enables a user to configure a custom laptop, share the resulting product, and then connect seamlessly with Dell’s online store. • Also includes an app that connects Facebook fans directly with Dell customer service. • 27 Twitter accounts include geo-targeted offers for consumers, offers for business, tech support, customer support, and customer insight aggregation. • They engage in extensive brand monitoring and customer engagement. • The videos on Dell’s YouTube channel have been viewed over 4.3 million times. • Videos are created for both consumer and business audiences, and are used cross-platform with integration into Facebook and referrals from Twitter. • Dell uses LinkedIN for employee collaboration and communication as well as recruiting for global operations. Groups for Dell Certified Specialists are open for networking and discussion. Info-Tech Research Group 39
  • 40. Dell’s Facebook apps integrate with online sales and customer service • Generate brand awareness through community endorsement by building apps that are easy to share. • Increase sales with direct integration of the app and your online store. • A dedicated support team is recommended to ensure timely responses to service requests. • Our testing with Dell revealed response times of thirty minutes or less. Info-Tech Research Group 40
  • 41. Dell’s Twitter streams drive sales and provide customer service • Measure conversion from each social media source by providing links to tracked landing pages. • Analytics through a URL -shortner such as http://bit.ly offer insight into clickthrough rates. Info-Tech Research Group 41
  • 42. Dell’s comprehensive social media strategy produces wins for marketing, sales, and service Dell’s approach of incorporating sales, marketing/branding, and customer service into their social media initiatives makes their campaigns remarkably successful. Social Media Goals Associated Activities Achieved Extensive brand monitoring and rapid response to Building positive brand image potentially inflammatory comments Increasing mind share Outreach activities that keep Dell top-of-mind Authority granted to CSRs to resolve customer issues via Improving customer satisfaction Social Media Gaining customer insights Aggressively solicit customer opinions Increasing customer retention Maintains focus on conversation post-sale Increasing revenue per customer Uptake on special offers is high Customer acquisition Seamless integration with online store Unknown; customer service and sales are dominant drivers Reducing cost of servicing customers of Dell’s strategy Info-Tech Insight: Many of your prospective buyers may already be using web channels; if you neglect to address those customers using social media, your audience is likely to choose a competitor who is established in this space. Info-Tech Research Group 42
  • 43. H&R Block’s approach to social media is driven by service • H&R Block is a tax preparation company in the United States claiming more than 22 million customers worldwide. They operate offices in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. • H&R Block relies on social media as an avenue for providing comprehensive customer service. • They interact with customers by answering tax questions and offering advice. • They are quick to address and resolve negative experiences people are discussing via social media. Cross-platform summary: • H&R Block’s Facebook page has over 14,000 fans and is built around customer service and client engagement. • They have created apps that are interactive, informative, and easy-to-share. • Reps quickly and directly respond to both positive and negative comments posted on their wall. • H&R Block uses Twitter as a powerful customer service tool, engaging in brand monitoring to ensure that no mention of H&R Block goes unanswered. • Multiple customer service reps are authorized to use this account to create one stream of ongoing support. • Branding and marketing are the primary objectives of H&R Block’s YouTube channel. • Their videos, a combination of commercials and instructional videos, have been viewed over 1.7 million times. • They have also completely customized the YouTube interface to be branded consistently with their website. Info-Tech Research Group 43
  • 44. H&R Block’s Facebook page is interactive and motivates users to share content • Use the tabs of your page as a mini-website that addresses user experience first and branding second. • Make your tabs relevant to the problem your customer is trying to solve. • Creating a quiz and adding it to your page requires no special programming ability. • This is a quick way to provide fans with an interactive experience while promoting your brand in their news feed. Info-Tech Research Group 44
  • 45. H&R Block answers questions and solves complaints via Twitter • Number of followers is an obvious metric but often is not the meter by which success on Twitter should be measured. • Monitor mentions of your brand so you can address comments or concerns whenever people are tweeting about you, whether they are a follower or not. • Direct messages can only be seen by the sender and recipient. • Communicate via DM sparingly, or when sensitive information is being shared, so the rest of the community can see how engaged and attentive your organization is. Info-Tech Research Group 45
  • 46. H&R Block successfully achieves marketing and service goals H&R Block’s extensive brand monitoring and employee customer service outreach make social media a powerful tool to reach current and potential customers, as well as increase mind share. Social Media Goals Associated Activities Achieved Extensive brand monitoring and rapid response to negative Building positive brand image or damaging remarks to alleviate potential brand impact Social outreach activities that keep H&R Block top-of-mind Increasing mind share when customers are searching for tax advice/information Authority granted to CSRs to resolve customer issues via Improving customer satisfaction Social Media Provide opportunities for customer interaction and solicit Gaining customer insights opinions Timely responses to customer questions increases the Increasing customer retention likelihood of repeat business Revenue affected indirectly through customer satisfaction; Increasing revenue per customer initiative is not sales-driven Unknown; although unproven, it is likely that positive Customer acquisition branding will affect customers not already engaged Unknown; customer service is the driver behind H&R Block’s Reducing cost of servicing customers strategy Info-Tech Insight: Organizations whose primary social media driver is improved service can still leverage customer interaction to increase customer acquisition through shareable content and viral special offers. Info-Tech Research Group 46
  • 47. Scripps Health uses social media to connect patients and employees • Scripps Health is a nonprofit health care system based in San Diego, California. • The system includes four hospitals and 19 outpatient facilities, and treats a half-million patients annually through 2,600 affiliated physicians. • The social media strategy employed by Scripps Health is centered on inviting conversation between patients and employees, fostering community and generating positive branding opportunities. Cross-platform summary: • Scripps Health’s Facebook page is intended for both employees and patients. • The comments on their wall include open-ended discussion questions about medical issues with responses from employees to encourage debate, as well as posts highlighting employee contributions and achievements. • Scripps Health’s twitter account has over 5,000 followers. • A recent sample showed that approximately 50% of their tweets are in direct reply to someone who has mentioned Scripps Health in a tweet, with the remainder split between sharing company news and promoting local events. • The videos on Scripps Health’s YouTube channel have been viewed more than 79,000 times and offer a combination of health care news, patient stories, and company news and PR. • They have created a YouTube group for health-care professionals, a technique that shows promise in connecting similar-minded organizations for the purpose of increasing visibility. “ I do consider [our social media efforts] successful, and growing more so everyday. It's a slow process, but there have been numerous examples of patient experiences that have been made ” better because we were listening, and then reaching out. - G. Anderson, Marketing & Communications, Scripps Health Info-Tech Research Group 47
  • 48. Scripps Health’s Facebook page encourages patient interaction • Raise the profile of your organization for visitors to your Facebook page by highlighting employee contributions and company news. • Encourage employees to become fans of your page and contribute to the discussion to enrich the patient experience. • Leverage your content across social media platform by syndicating content via RSS. Info-Tech Research Group 48
  • 49. Scripps Health builds community on Twitter and YouTube • Customer (patient) stories and testimonials posted on your YouTube channel are a natural fit for social media and should be shared with your fans/followers across all social media channels. • Encourage employees who are tasked with manning your social media initiatives to inject personal comments to add dimension to the conversation. People follow/friend other people, not organizations. Info-Tech Research Group 49
  • 50. Scripps Health demonstrates a solid health-care social media strategy Scripps Health’s use of social media to connect patients and employees creates opportunities for effective conflict resolution and for positive branding within their community. Social Media Goals Associated Activities Achieved Focuses on community activities and positive contributions by Building positive brand image employees Seeks out people who are discussing Scripps Health and Increasing mind share initiates conversation, highlights positive comments The team manning their social media initiatives is able to Improving customer satisfaction provide conflict resolution or refer to someone who can Gaining customer insights Offers insight into community needs through open discussion Little indication of follow-up with patients past the initial Increasing customer retention conversation Building awareness and employee retention are more Increasing revenue per customer significant Customer acquisition Unknown; recruiting given high priority Unlikely; numerous comments from patients are initiated Reducing cost of servicing customers because the medium is available and are unlikely to have prompted a phone call or other contact Info-Tech Insight: Building community via social media helps connect patients and health care support services for improved patient satisfaction. Info-Tech Research Group 50
  • 51. The State of Vermont joined the social media conversation for marketing gains • The State of Vermont employs over 7,000 people. • It had to deal with social media initiatives that were being created independently and without standard process. • Their audience was already interacting with non-sanctioned pages and accounts. While the conversation happening in the social arena was largely positive, it did not leave recourse in the event of questionable postings. • The state CIO worked with the Chief Marketing Officer to develop a plan for official pages that include administrators who monitor communications for objectionable content 365 days a year. Cross-platform summary: • Official Vermont marketing pages have been created around tourism and state parks, with 3,000 to 5,000 fans. • The unsanctioned Vermont fan page has over 21,000 fans who are passionate about sharing their opinions. They are a very engaged community that should be leveraged and not excluded from official communications. • Two notable official Twitter streams (VermontGov and VermontTourism) are run by their respective agencies, with the official account having almost 1,800 followers. This account is used purely as a broadcast medium. • Vermont Tourism has 4,400 followers, is following 3,500 people, and is actively engaging in two-way conversation as well as promotion. • The videos on Vermont Tourism’s YouTube channel have been viewed over 17,000 times. • Videos include traditional television commercials and long-form promotional videos created specifically for this medium. • In addition to casual browsers, the channel has 59 followers who are attentive and interested: one recent video garnered 25 views in the first three hours . Info-Tech Research Group 51
  • 52. Vermont’s Facebook presence is overshadowed by a pre-existing fan page Note: This is a fan page in the original sense of the word: this page was created, not by government agencies, but by a fan. • Harness the motivation of independent fans who are inclined to help you with positive branding. • Acknowledge their efforts even when they lie outside your official strategy. • Having a sanctioned and official page satisfies your need for quality control, but gaining customer insight is easier when the conversation is already started. Info-Tech Research Group 52
  • 53. Vermont’s government Twitter account is a one-sided affair, which limits its effectiveness • Following a low number of people limits the amount of noise you have to filter when interacting with your audience. • This is common when a Twitter account is automated to publish updates (via RSS, for example) • The absence of “RT” (re-tweet) or “@name” tweets indicates that this account is not interacting with anyone. • Use Twitter as a communication facilitator, not a broadcast medium for press releases. Info-Tech Insight: Limiting the amount of interaction you have with your audience also restricts the benefits you can expect when participating in social media. Info-Tech Research Group 53
  • 54. Vermont’s conservative strategy is a safe approach for positive branding Limiting the amount of interaction they have with their audience also restricts the benefits Vermont can expect when participating in social media. They have a solid foundation on which to build. Social Media Goals Associated Activities Achieved Building positive brand image Actively positioning Vermont in a positive light Social media content is increasingly showing up in search Increasing mind share engines, so it is probable that someone searching for Vermont will also have access to this content Improving customer satisfaction When present, fan/follower interaction is prompt Gaining customer insights Conversation is largely promotional Increasing customer retention Focus is on brand building Increasing revenue per customer N/A Customer acquisition Interactions are occurring with current fans and followers Unknown; savings may be present if social media is Reducing cost of servicing customers replacing traditional advertising Info-Tech Insight: Developing a social media presence is not an all-or-nothing endeavor. Assess each medium on its own merits and dedicate resources accordingly. Info-Tech Research Group 54
  • 55. The Coffee Groundz gives their audience an online gathering place on Facebook • The Coffee Groundz is a small business in Houston, Texas. It has built a strong Facebook following by promoting in-store and community events, along with advertising exclusive special offers for Facebook fans. • They currently have over 1,650 fans. • Their fans are extremely active, posting photos and videos of events hosted at The Coffee Groundz. Social Media Goal Positive brand image Increased mind share Increase customer satisfaction Gain customer insights Increase customer retention Increase revenue per customer • Encourage participation and Acquire customers feedback by publishing photo/video contributions on Reduce cost of serving customers your wall. Info-Tech Research Group 55
  • 56. CME empowers a team of employees relative in size to their number of followers • With over 750,000 followers, CME Group tweets about global economic and financial news. They are diligent about responding to their followers and engaging in conversation despite the volume of tweets. • They have posted an impressive 6,600 tweets – and have empowered their employees to work in a variety of Twitter clients, including HootSuite, TweetDeck, Twitter for Blackberry, and OpenBeak. Social Media Goal Positive brand image Increased mind share Increase customer satisfaction Gain customer insights Increase customer retention Increase revenue per customer Acquire customers • Reciprocate positive sentiments by calling out by Reduce cost of serving customers @name those who are contributing to your conversation. Info-Tech Research Group 56
  • 57. Zappos.com has almost 500 employees on Twitter dedicated to customer service and retention • Approx 500 Zappos employees are on Twitter, including the CEO, tasked with providing exceptional customer service and positive brand representation. • Customers can talk directly to a customer service representative about a previous, current or future purchase, issues with the Zappos.com website, or ideas for future products and improvements. Social Media Goal Positive brand image Increased mind share Increase customer satisfaction Gain customer insights Increase customer retention • Be transparent about who is tweeting. Increase revenue per customer • Zappos.com CEO, Tony Hsieh, has Acquire customers gained over 1.6 million followers by Reduce cost of serving customers being open about his position and sharing unvarnished thoughts about his company. Info-Tech Research Group 57
  • 58. BooneOakley builds on the aspects of YouTube’s interactivity that go virtually untapped by most users • Ad agency BooneOakley has taken the interactivity potential of YouTube and turned it into their website. • www.BooneOakley.com points to their main YouTube video, which utilizes the Flash component of YouTube to link to other videos that correspond with the different traditional “pages” of their website. Social Media Goal Positive brand image Increased mind share Increase customer satisfaction Gain customer insights Increase customer retention • Create collateral that takes advantage of the Increase revenue per customer capabilities of each medium. Acquire customers • BooneOakley’s site demonstrates the capabilities YouTube has to transform videos into full-fledged Reduce cost of serving customers web content that interacts seamlessly with other components of your website. Info-Tech Research Group 58
  • 59. Control Engineering uses LinkedIn groups to connect and discuss, not to sell • B-to-B magazine Control Engineering built a community for engineers that focuses on members' needs for expertise and in-depth advice, both from their peers and from easy access to editorial content. • The most interesting discussions were then used as articles in their print publication, which encouraged subscribers to find and use the LinkedIn group. Social Media Goal Positive brand image Increased mind share Increase customer satisfaction Gain customer insights Increase customer retention Increase revenue per customer • Start a discussion that sparks interaction Acquire customers with your employee representatives. Reduce cost of serving customers • If your group gets off track, moderate with discretion. You may still find valuable insights in the conversation. Info-Tech Research Group 59
  • 60. Assess which social media opportunities exist for your organization with Info-Tech’s tool Not all organizations will strive to achieve results in all three areas of opportunity. Use Info-Tech’s “Social Media Opportunity Assessment Tool” to determine, based on your unique criteria, where opportunity exists for your organization in marketing, sales and service. Info-Tech Advice: 1. Remember that departmental goals will overlap; gaining customer insight is valuable to sales, marketing and customer service. 2. The social media benefits you can expect to achieve will evolve as your processes mature. 3. Often, organizations jump into social media because they feel they have to. Use this assessment to identify early on what your drivers should be. Info-Tech Research Group 60