1. your social media
strategy won’t save you
by tara ‘missrogue’ hunt
&$*#@@%&*!!!

2. twitter isn’t the answer.

3. facebook isn’t the answer.

4. blogs, vlogs, photosharing, text messaging and IM
aren’t the answer.

5. none of these are guaranteed to

9. 1. social media doesn’t scale
2. social media is only a band-aid
3. social networks are about...being social
4. trust is at an all-time low
why?

10. 1. it doesn’t scale

11. craigslist.org

13. “Craigslist gets more traffic than either eBay or
Amazon .com. eBay has more than 16,000
employees. Amazon has more than 20,000.
Craigslist has 30.” sept 2009, wired magazine

14. craig’s social media strategy #1

15. craig’s social media strategy #2

16. Craig understands that what scales is creating a
useful, working site that listens to its users...

17. "The truth is that a lot of people complain about
craigslist...few of them complain about the
design...They seldom complain about amazing
new features they imagine they might possibly
want to use, because they are too busy
complaining about the simple features they depend
on that don't work as well as they'd like. By
eliminating marketing, sales, and business
development, craigslist's programmers have
cut out all the cushioning layers that separate
them from the users they serve..." sept 2009, wired

18. 30 staff members.

19. 30!

20. number of social media gurus?

21. 0.

22. 2. it’s just a band-aid

24. http://twitter.com/missrogue/status/5624792674

25. http://twitter.com/RogersMary/status/5628358318
“We’re not here to replace existing channels
of communications and customer care...
(which channels would those be?)
...but to complement them.”
hmmmmm....

26. “Tip for Rogers: instead of hiring ppl for Twitter,
why not try hiring ppl to answer your phones?”

28. "For all the good that @comcastcares does on
Twitter in order to help unhappy customers
Comcast is still reviled for its lousy service." Steven
Hodson, The Inquisitor, September 5, 2009

29. impressive! but wait...

30. ah...comcast cares is a charity!

31. results of a more likely search...

32. @comcastcares is a victim of our nepotism. We
desire to validate ourselves so strongly, that we will
idolize less than lofty examples.

33. "Customers wouldn’t feel the need to embarrass
us en masse, if our customer service channels
weren’t so completely broken." Bob Knorpp, The Beancast

34. why it’s a band-aid
• not everyone that is having trouble with the company is going to be on twitter
• the comcast staff on twitter don’t answer every complaint (I checked thru the
last 3 days of complaints and only 1/3rd were addressed)
• for those they DID answer, many people didn’t engage their ‘Can I help?’
dialogue
• competitors also troll for the same keywords and take advantage of this
• what happens when customers start asking, “WTF don’t you fix the problem
instead of just being my Twitter buddy?”

35. 3. social networks are about...being social!

36. we probably don’t need research to tell us this,
but...

38. “we are wired to connect” Goleman on the findings of his research.

39. reasons why adults & teens use online networks
adults teens
Stay in touch with friends 89% 91%
Make plans with friends 57 72
Make new friends 49 49
Organize with others for an event, issue or cause 43 n/a
Make new business or professional contacts 28 n/a
Promote yourself or your work 28 n/a
Flirt 20 17
http://www.pewinternet.org/topics/Social-Networking.aspx

40. nowhere even close to the top of that list is the
desire to be sold to...or find interesting new
products to buy...or have a chit chat with a brand
representative...

42. our friends’ behaviors influence our behavior

43. wired mag: 12 sep 09 http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-10/ff_christakis

44. the social networks aren’t really changing us that
much...
• around the world, studies have shown people maintain between 4 and 7 close
friends at any given time
• in 2007, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, discussing the social graph,
showed that the average user had about 110 ‘friends’
• social scientists wondered whether the web had changed our ability to have
more close friends
• Christakis and Fowler analyzed a universities data (students who had 110
average friends) and looked at close vs ‘internet’ friends
• Christakis and Fowler found that the average Facebook user actually had 6.6
close friends

45. 4. trust is at an all-time low

46. Google News
search results
for articles
with
“rebuilding
trust” in the
title in 2009:
4,500

47. so...who can we trust?

48. the myth of super-connectors

49. the realities
• the path of influence is not predictable
• a burst in traffic sent by an influential blog/event is not usually sustained
• our influences change frequently as do our needs
• influence can grow fast or slow, but can disappear fast or slow as well
• there is a big difference between ‘DISCOVERY’ and ‘BUYING DECISIONS’

50. discovery decision
• super-nodes/
influencers
• friends/family
• word of mouth
• branding outcome
(cool, I’ll remember that
for a time when I need
it)
• rarely a purchase
• may be connected to a
decision later on
• friends/family
• product reviews (to a
lesser extent now)
• sales agents (influence
depends on experience
- helpful?)
• multiple other factors,
including cost
• purchase outcome
close to wide network
influence
close network has higher
influence

51. in other words...
I may learn about something cool from Tim O’Reilly
(kinda famous dude), but I may actually BUY
something completely different based on the
experience and advice of Carol Ellen (BFF).

52. buying decision process (AIUAPR)
• awareness - this is where marketing comes into play. Getting the message
out that a product exists. Could be WOM, could be SM, could be an ad.
• interest - aka “sexiness” is this something that piques my curiosity? Usually
where branding comes into play.
• understanding - is it relevant to my needs? what is this all about? Good copy
goes a long way, but so does good product design and usability.
• attitudes - does it do what it says it does? is it really all that? This is where
friends/family come into play as well as consumer reviews. Trust is core here.
• purchase - this may take a while if it’s a big ticket item, but the analysis isn’t
over yet. User experience is key here.
• repeat purchase - loyalty or recommendations to others...if the product
hasn’t lived up to it’s expectations, this can really influence attitudes going
forward.
http://futureobservatory.dyndns.org/9432.htm#AIUAPR

53. this is all way more complicated than simply
opening a twitter account or making a facebook
fan page...

55. you should be happy that it’s complicated. it
makes our work MUCH more interesting.

56. if merely setting up a Facebook page or providing
customer service on Twitter were the answer...

57. http://www.flickr.com/photos/allaboutgeorge/335788165

58. where do we begin?

59. 1. forget ‘social media strategies’ -- think people-centric business strategies
2. forget marketing -- think customer happiness
3. forget influencers -- think enthusiasts
4. forget campaigns -- think learning cycles
5. go deeper than trust -- raise whuffie
thinking bigger

60. people-centric

61. social media isn’t a strategy, it’s one of the
communication tools available. It’s a great and
potentially personal tool, but don’t stop there.

62. think people-centrically instead - for the entire
experience...

63. not people-centric
• Thinking about every
person as a consumer
- someone who either
consumes or doesn’t
consume your product
• Only seeing your
customers through the
lens of their behaviour
around your product or
service
• Trying to get people to
‘fan’ you - celebrate
you and your
company. Making it all
about how awesome
your product and/or
service is.
• Thinking in terms of
sending the right
signals and reaching
the right influencers.

64. people-centric
• Thinking about people in
a complex manner.
Whether it is buying or
their personal lives. Not
slicing to suit a specific
sales goal.
• Being concerned about
serving your existing
customers - helping
them really rock. Helping
them achieve their goals.
• Being less concerned
with influencers and
more concerned with
how you can make your
customers influential.
• Listening. Collaborating.
Integrating feedback.
Learning and innovating
with all of the great
feedback and
interaction.

65. ...if it doesn’t help your customers rock first and
foremost, it isn’t people-centric.

66. creating customer happiness

67. what makes people happy?
•autonomy (feeling that your activities are self-chosen and
self-endorsed)
•competence (feeling that you are effective in your
activities)
•relatedness (feeling a sense of closeness with others)
•self-esteem (set-point, or the person’s natural propensity
to happiness)
from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

68. rewarding enthusiasts

69. Influencers Enthusiasts
probably haven’t tried your
product
have tried and LOVE your
product
are really busy and have
multiple companies trying to
get their attention
are dying to get YOUR
attention
have a sizable audience
have an audience of various
sizes, but with your help
could grow that audience
will move onto the next
product review tomorrow
will remain loyal as long as
you rock their world
aren’t guaranteed to give
you a good review
have already sung your
praises

70. rewarding your enthusiasts
(be careful of creating the wrong incentives - too much free stuff and commissions
= trouble)
• refer a friend codes for their blog/twitter followers
• thank you note with a small gift
• passing along journalists that are doing a story on your company to the
enthusiasts
• give them a backstage tour of your facility (zappos does this - it’s awesome)
• name a feature that came from his/her feedback after him/her
• blog a success story about that customer
• send a birthday/Christmas/Hanukkah/thank you card

71. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2829219697/
versus

72. launch learn
limited time campaign ongoing process - no end
lots of planning up front,
leading up to the big launch
less planning up front and
more putting stuff out to
customers, getting feedback,
learning, tweaking, rinse,
repeat.
push
pull (with a small amount of
push)
about customer acquisition about customer satisfaction
if the word grows slowly,
campaign may be over b4
people catch wind.
lots of time for grassroots
growing of buzz - and by the
time it tips, it’ll be better!

73. whuffie

74. whuffie is...
• reputation
• trust
• reach
• positive sentiment
• influence
• number of people you know
• number of people who know you
• number of people you can count on
to bring you soup when you are
sick
• current and potential access to
ideas, talent and resources
• saved up favors (reciprocity)
• your known accomplishments

75. whuffie is more complex than trust and may or
may not care about influence, network size and
popularity, but does care about whether or not you
deliver on your promises.

76. people could give a flying snake about brand
consistency or frequency of posting (unless you are
spamming), but they will pay attention to
consistency in listening, community contributions,
relationships and caring...

77. and
social media?

78. social media tools are great. they’ve raised the bar
and they’ve empowered customers.

79. AND we can work them into an overall strategy to
help direct customers make a good buying
decision.

80. social media tools and AIUAPR
• awareness - help spread the word that our products exist - ‘post this to
Facebook’, following keywords and getting in front of potential
customers, search engine optimization, blogging, tweeting, attending
social functions/BarCamps, publishing valuable information and reports
• interest - focus on design, blogging/tweeting behind the scenes, telling
your story, posting videos and photos of our product in action, ‘follow
us on twitter’/’become a fan on Facebook’, get involved in the customer
community
• understanding - good copy/content, posting videos and photos,
collecting feedback/having conversations with people who are potential
customers

81. social media tools and AIUAPR (2)
• attitudes - learning from customer reviews, allowing for customer reviews
and ratings, following keywords to improve/put back into your product,
allow people to ask for others’ opinions on social networks, responding to
let people know you’re listening, collaboration, making it simple to give
feedback
• purchase - make it super simple to discover, share and purchase, creating
multiple distribution channels, share decisions on social networks, sharing
purchases on FB/twitter, posting photos to Flickr, following up with simple
return policy
• repurchase - creating badges, tell-a-friend referral programs, keeping
track of preferences, deep web monitoring of feedback, tracking &
recording and putting lessons back into the learning/improving

82. social media won’t make our companies better or
make people love us, however...

83. we are lucky that these tools allow our customers
to connect, speak out, talk back and share more
readily with their friends.

84. if we are doing our job right - i.e. thinking people-
centrically, putting happiness first, rewarding
enthusiasts, learning not launching and raising
whuffie - those connections, conversations and
some of that sharing will lead to our success.

86. Order
Whuffie
today!
http://www.thewhuffiefactor.com

87. licensing:
share/remix/spread ... but don’t forget to attribute.
http://slideshare.net/missrogue

88. contact me:
Tara ‘missrogue’ Hunt
horsepigcow@gmail.com
@missrogue
montreal, quebec, canada
514-679-2951
http://www.horsepigcow.com