The document discusses 15 key trends and observations for leaders of great brands based on changes in how customers interact with brands online. Some of the key points summarized are: 1) Customers are shaping brand reputations through online conversations and reviews. 2) Precision is important in understanding where conversations are occurring, who has influence, and driving relevant discussions. 3) Different types of social media are preferred for different brands and topics. Data should inform strategies.

1. 15 Key Trends & Observations for Leaders of Great Brands Bob Pearson Chief Technology & Media Officer, WeissComm Group Chief Evangelist, Social Media Business Council October 16, 2009

2. #1) Customers are co-shaping your reputation everyday Are you accidently outsourcing the building of your brand? What is the first impression of your brand?

3. Customers Shape First Impressions

4. The 2 nd largest search engine

5. Impressions built for brands often unknown/undesirable (Ex/Zyprexa on YouTube – German site unrelated to company

6. #2) You know exactly where conversations are occurring, who has influence and why Precision is what matters

7. Ten Influence Areas Trend Relevance Audio Favorite of sales force, customers on the go Podcasts of all types, plus audio tracks of video segments are an undefined area of online, yet have growing utility. Blogs >200MM; trend is to have multiple blogs, multiple languages We should know the top influencers by topic who drive relevant share of voice. The numbers of influencers are small, precision is key. Data / Slides 12MM uniques at SlideShare A great location to share all public presentations. Forums The engine of conversations online; often patient driven Knowing who is driving conversation in forums is key. We should treat high-volume moderators with the same respect as we do with journalists. Images Is all content tagged to impact natural search? Companies often forget to tag all content in the 10 languages that reach 95% of the online population. Micro Blogging An effective way to alert influencers, help propel news cycles A great opportunity to build a network of influencers who want to share your news in real time. Twitter is a prime example. Search Yes, Google is #1, but YouTube is #3 We need to know the influencers on the first screen for our brand and key topics. We also need to understand where people are taken when they search. Social Media Sites The communities that are often our “first place” to go online Our day often starts and ends with Facebook or MySpace or Orkut or other depending where we live. Video Consumption habits are starting to favor video vs. copy There are over 50 video sites to analyze, which sometimes house ratings and reviews of our products. Wiki’s Places to iterate an idea or process Wiki’s are greatly underutilized, but will continue to grow as folks understand how to use them.

8. your ecosystem is complex enough… Wall Street Investors Key Partners Patient Groups Government Healthcare Providers Traditional Media Online Media

9. The value of listening A monitoring approach that tells you: Who is driving share of voice for your brand What the top issues are that matter to your customers Where your customers live online How you can add value for your customers When you should engage the community Why customers are passionate on certain topics You do not need a monitoring approach that: Provides fancy pie charts without clear actions Ratios, sentiment scores & other computer terms without professional insight on what to actually do as a result

10. How you build competitive advantage Complete knowledge of where the opportunity really is for your brand Where are conversations occurring? Who has true influence? Clear, brief, actionable insights for your brand Who are the top influencers? Which keywords matter? Knowledge of your competitor’s actions So that you outsmart them Ability to get ahead of issues to improve preparation See trends emerge before they become public, in some cases Capability to integrate your learning’s into all brand activities, e.g. natural search/paid search, use of keywords and much more Insights delivered so you can easily utilize them

11. #3) You know which types of social media are preferred by your customers Blogs, forums, wikis, social media sites, micro-blogging and more

12. Asthma By Media Type Opportunity only 9% of brand mentions were on Forums vs. 43% of the mentions when looking at conversations around Asthma. Shift your mix to increase share. Contents are proprietary and confidential.

13. Facebook growth – 513% increase in ages 55+ (source: Istrategylabs.com)

14. #4) You know that leaders will identify issues before they happen If you deal with issues when they hit the press, you are using old school techniques The majority of issues are chronic and known in advance

15. Patterns are Clues Waiting to Be Found Patterns emerge before public awareness A common problem emerges in a forum in Beijing, a blog in the UK and a mention on Twitter in the U.S. Your multi-function hot issues team springs in to action to analyze what is happening and prepare When the issue becomes public, you are ready with answers Customers trust us to be smarter on identifying issues You decide if a hot issue is defined, it must be solved Your company continuously integrates online learnings into key parts of your company (institutional memory)

16. #5) You realize that <1% of a customer’s time is spent purchasing a product 99% of time is spent browsing and socializing You build trust by being there when you are needed, not when you need the customer

17. E-Commerce Will Become E-Community Reality – <1% of time is spent buying online; 99% is spent browsing & socializing Peer Influence – 3 of 4 customers look to their peers for advice on a purchase Integration – why would we ask a customer to go to multiple sites? The value is…….? Convergence is led by convenience

18. #6) You are a student of how the world is changing Via language Via choice of community Via style of learning

19. 10 Languages Reach >90% Hindi & Russian are Next

20. Top 23 Online Countries (source: Internet World Stats) China – 298MM Italy – 28MM U.S. – 220MM Mexico – 27MM Japan – 94MM Spain – 27MM India – 81MM Turkey – 26MM Brazil – 67MM Indonesia – 25MM Germany – 55MM Argentina – 20MM UK – 43MM Poland – 20MM France – 41MM Philippines – 20MM Russia – 38MM Vietnam – 20MM Korea – 36MM Australia – 17MM Canada – 28MM (&Colombia & Pakistan )

21. Latin America Online (source: Internet World Stats, Sept, 09) I1. Brazil : 67,510,400 (34.0% of the population in the country) 2. Argentina : 20,000,000 (48.9%) 3. Mexico: 27,400,00 (24.6%) 4. Colombia : 18,234,822 (41.7%) 5. Chile : 8,368,719 (50.4%) 6. Peru: 7,636,400 (25.8%) 7. Venezuela : 7,552,570 (28.2%) 8. Dominican Republic: 3,000,000 (31.1%) 9. Ecuador: 1,634,828 (11.2%) 10. Costa Rica: 1,500,000 (35.3%)

22. Why YouTube is Important Scope -- #3 website in world Traffic -- 489,059 links to site Consumption Patterns -- average viewing time is 22.5 minutes per day Global Presence -- 20% of global internet users surf YouTube Mainstream -- Up to age 44, users mirror average person on internet Skewing Older with Time -- 44 to 65+, less people on YouTube, on average, but expected to trend up

23. #7) You realize that media has already changed Old school media drives share of voice Share of conversation is what is important

24. The Media World isn’t Changing…it Changed Media Outlets – 74 of top 100 outlets for Techmeme are blogs/online sites Bloggers – 3 of 4 look to each other for their next story Customers – 3 of 4 look to each other for purchase advice Conversations – Are the driver of SOV, influence and recommendations Don’t define it as offline or online. It’s all one media world. Just know which conversations are defining your brand.

25. The New Media

26. Share of Voice vs. Share of Conversation Share of Voice (your competitors) XPS M1330 (13.4MM results) Vs. Share of Conversation (the marketplace) Laptop (158MM results) Technology (717MM results)

27. Your Broadcast Station Increasingly, the 1 st choice for learning

28. #8) You build websites that fully utilize social media functionality Traffic is decreasingly relevant Links and total share of conversation are the keys

29. The Top Missed Opportunities for Corporate Websites Lack of “share this” capability Lack of linking to brand sites, e.g. YouTube, Flickr Lack of desire to model after best blog sites, rather than “brochure-oriented” traditional sites Poor navigation choices Over-reliance on flash Lack of embeddable video (multiple tiles) Low transference to a strong mobile experience Over-reliance on RSS vs. email and preference-based subscription….. …… .and so on……….

30. Inbound links tell you if customers care Company Global web ranking Links Microsoft 15 248,494 Dell 157 12,894 Wal-Mart 259 10,336 IBM 391 26,300 Nokia 564 12,254 Cisco 1,349 16,432 GE 11,988 4,405 P&G 16,108 3,423 Coca Cola 20,123 2,819 Chevron 28,615 1,851

31. Easy ways to improve search Keyword dictionary for each brand/master brand Tag all content, images in all languages Identify the words that are related to information seeking behavior, not the obvious phrases only Identify the long-tail search opportunities where there is white space and passion

32. #9) You know that customers gravitate to the content they desire Customers have “liquid networks” Customers could care less about your objective to drive them to your site

33. How does your customer discuss your brand? Do you know with precision? Asthma Contents are proprietary and confidential.

34. A community-driven site

35. #10) You embrace the fact that <10% of your customers will contact you in a good year The majority of your customers utilize search and peer to peer contact to answer their questions Where can you start to become a peer?

36. Yahoo! Answers

37. Think Big -- Empower Customers to Share Knowledge and Benefit the World Solved button added to Original Post; clicking it will take user to AS AS Post Turns Green and logo added

38. #11) You realize customers want to do three things to help each other You build trust by being part of this process

39. Ideas, Knowledge, Solutions Share ideas – Let’s improve the next product or service together Share product knowledge – Here is what I know…hope it helps you Help peers with problems – I had the same problem, here is what I did

40. Over 11,000 Ideas & 325+ Implemented

41. Partnering with Customers Recycling Kit and “Plant A Tree for Me” [add $2] Support Reforestation: “Plant A Tree for Me” [add $2] Free Recycling add $0

42. #12) You leverage the world’s greatest operating system – the web -- internally Access for employees is real

43. Employee 2.0 Ideas Idea Communities – ask your employees for ideas; accelerate R&D decision-making Prediction Markets – wisdom of crowds for specific ideas Community Forums – empower teams Ratings & Reviews – to improve within the company Private B2B Communities – unlock the teams between your company and your partners, in support of Account Leaders Competitive Sites – bring competitive knowledge direct to your desktop Smart Phone Ideas – build new way to share news direct via phones to reach salesforce

44. Employees Don’t Change When They Arrive for Work They prefer blogs They like to share ideas and comments They want real-life video, not canned productions They want to help each other, not be polite to senior management and hold in their thoughts

45. #13) You know preparing for yesterday is ineffective Old models and habits hold back innovation Watch for “antibodies”

46. Observations on the Old School They are old school, but don’t realize it They think tweaking the media mix will work They wear ties, sound smart and have an answer for everything and often represent yesterday’s thinking They are planning to succeed in a world that won’t exist in a few years They like to “content dump” to get rid of their messages in hopes someone will find it

47. #14) You understand ethical behavior is a key part of maintaining trust Online policies & training We would never create a fake ad, so why a fake blog post?

48. #15) You know that Leaders will Enter and Become Relevant in Conversations that Occur Everyday in Every Language All Around the World in Communities of Importance to our Customers Companies that cling to the past may not realize it, but they will lose relevance

49. MESSAGE EXPERIENCE CONVERSATION RELATIONSHIPS AFFINITY & TRUST WE BECOME CONVERSATION ARCHITECTS

50. What You Can Do Analyze Traffic Leading to Plan Of Action Plan for 10 Areas of Online Influence Expand News Flow Create Media & Influencer Memes Proactive Issues Management Create New Distribution Channels Training, Education & Policies Roadmap for Content Syndication Build Brand Value Improve Natural Search Custom Community Plans Leverage Existing Content

51. Key Coordinates The Social Media Business Council -- www.socialmedia.org Common Sense blog -- www.csmg.us Twitter -- www.twitter.com/bobpearson1845 and www.twitter.com/jangles