The document outlines Hallmark's experiences with social media listening from 2000 to 2010, detailing various projects aimed at understanding consumer sentiment and brand reputation. It highlights the complexities of utilizing social media data for marketing and product development, emphasizing the need for clear objectives, the challenges of data accuracy, and the emerging dynamics between brands and consumers. Key takeaways include the importance of integrating marketing insights with research and recognizing the unique nature of social media data compared to traditional market research methods.

1. Hallmark’s Journey into Social MediaExperiences and Learnings

2. LISTENINGJ.C. Hall(1891 - 1982)

3. Social Media Listening2000 - launched first consumer community for the purpose of research. 2005 – pilot w/ Umbria to understand the Hallmark brand in the social space. 2007 - pilot with Spiral 16 to understand Influential Bloggers. 2009 - major RFP with 8 vendors – find partner for research and marketing. 2010 - consulted with Ben Smithee; contracted with Collective Intellect for a look into holidays, ornaments.

4. 1 Hard Question“Is there a framework we can use to understand social media data?”3 “Simple” Questions“Can we use social media sources to get new product ideas?”“Can we use social media data to create marketing interventions ‘in season?’”“Could we use social media data to help understand people and their lives?”

5. Hard Question“Is there a framework we can use to understand social media data?”

6. Social Media Analysis Space?DiscoveryUnderstanding peopleUncovering white spaceTopics + dashboardWhat you’re trying to accomplishSpecific TopicOpen SearchWays of approaching the data“Ocean” of DataSmall “pond” of dataBrand ReputationKPI’sMonitoringSource: Hallmark CU&I, 2010

7. Consumer LeadsFocusWe LeadSingle StakeholderMultiple StakeholdersBreadth of LearningHallmark Social Media “Listening” Activities

8. Consumer Initiated ConversationHallmark Initiated ConversationSingle StakeholderMultiple StakeholdersBreadth of LearningListening audit showed that activities are many and variedFocus of Conversation

9. 9Dimensions of listeningFeedback is more about the brand and rationalDiscovery is more about the consumer and emotionalSource: CEB

10. Listening activities tend to fall towards feedback and tacticalSource: CEB

11. Research LandscapeStructured Data – it is what we made itPA’sMultivariateTrackers……FocusGroupsCommunitiesEthnographyObservationQualitativeQuantitativeSocial MediaUnstructured Data – it is what it isWhere does social media data play in the research landscape?

12. 3 “Simple” Questions“Can we use social media sources to get new product ideas?”“Can we use social media data to create marketing interventions ‘in season?’”“Can we use social media data to help understand people and their lives?”

13. What Did We Conclude?Getting “New” Product ideas is very hard!If you do lots of traditional research and ideation, chances are you’ve heard of thought of everything you will uncover through social media.

14. Some Thoughts on In-Season MarketingTwitter promotional sweepstakes generated major spikes in Hallmark Ornament MentionsHallmark Gold Crown store visits emerged as a conversational theme - how could that be leveraged?Emotional connection to Hallmark brand ornaments vs. those bought in Wal-Mart or Target – how could that be leveraged?Focus on connecting the troops and their families – what would that look like?

15. What Did We Conclude?Beware of making any marketing suggestions without having Marketing in the design and analysis discussions!Research in social media begins to “rub up against” Marketing and can create friction!

16. Thoughts Going Forward

17. What Have We Learned About Social Media?There are new vendors emerging daily in the social media listening space. Most vendors provide the same capabilities – it is hard to find differentiation.

18. What Have We Learned About Social Media?Social media data is messy (spam, advertising, porn, context) and requires significant validation and cleaning – suppliers are getting better and better at this, but it is still an issue. Text analysis capabilities vary from vendor to vendor – you have to know what questions to ask to know what you’re getting.Sentiment analysis is about 75-85% accurate (based on external research) and everybody does it at some level. It is of limited value.It is difficult to classify individual contributors – but not impossible, and it costs more. This capability is still emerging.

19. What Have We Learned About Social Media?Clear and specific listening objectives are essential to getting meaningful data and information from listening efforts.Social media conversations can be very rich and could support many different aspects of our business.Getting meaningful learnings and insights is very time and labor intensive, despite the software tools. There is a learning curve!

20. Social Media Data is…Self-selecting/Opt-in–

21. Participants who create social media content must opt-in or choose to participate.

22. They may or may not represent your target consumer.

23. They do not necessarily constitute a “probability sample” of the population.

24. The researcher is not establishing the topic and controlling the conversation, but rather listening to whatever is posted. Social Media Data is…+ Not recall-based – Recall data is known to be the least reliable source of data. Recall is usually the result of some stimulus (question, prototype) that can affect what the respondent recalls (due to priming). Social media data is less subject to recall biases and errors, as it usually represents comments and observations made “in the moment” or shortly thereafter.

25. Social Media Data is…+ Longitudinal and Instance-based – Tradtional MR is usually instance-based feedback/insights, social media research can represent “flow of life.” There is a constant stream, or flow, of social media data continually being created.

26. Social Media Data is…+ Self-recording/Archival – Conversations, both public and private, within the social media environment are archived and available for others to consume at will.Conversations with people in traditional research methods are recorded, but are generally only available to permission-based viewers/listeners. This creates an interesting blend of liability and value to researchers and brands.

27. Paradigm Shifts for the World of Market ResearchData Transparency – Data Ownership –

28. Blurring Boundaries between Research and Other Divisions – Paradigm Shifts for the World of Market ResearchControl of the Environment –

29. Blurring of Qualitative and Quantitative –

30. Re-thinking Sampling –

31. Disproportionate Influence of Respondents Paradigm Shifts for the World of Market ResearchShrinking space between brands and people.

32. Social media has “leveled” the playing field for both consumers and brands. Relationships are the Ultimate Sources of Insights within Social Media –Food for ThoughtJust as Technology is NOT an Idea, so Social Media Listening is NOT an Idea! Both are means to achieving whatever it is we want to achieve!

33. Food for ThoughtResources: People, Time, & MoneySpectrum of Desired Outcomes

34. Social Media Research White Paperhttp://www.slideshare.net/CuratingPixels/utilizing-social-media-to-understand-peoplehttp://bit.ly/UnderstandingPeople

35. QUESTIONS?Tom Brailsford – Hallmark Cards, Inc.tbrail@hallmark.com816-274-3989