Conversations with customers are happening online through blogs, social media, and user reviews. Brands must listen to these conversations and engage customers through online communities to build trust. Successful online communities provide a plausible promise to customers, effective tools for participation, and ensure an acceptable value exchange for both the brand and customers.

1. Conversations with close personal friends: thousands of them

2. Conversation Plan Customers have changed the rules It takes a village community – build one for your customers Aussie examples It’s not just friending

3. Coca Cola, MSI presentation May 2008

4. Coca Cola, MSI presentation May 2008

5. And they prefer to talk to each other… What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook… There are over 200,000,000 Blogs 54% = Number of bloggers who post content or tweet daily Because of the speed in which social media enables, word of mouth now becomes world of mouth 25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content 34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands People care more about how their social graph ranks products and services than how Google ranks them 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations, only 14% trust ads

7. Effective Tool

8. Acceptable exchange“Prior to the internet, the last technology that had any real effect on the way people sat down and talked together was the table.” Prof. Clay Shirky

9. On the web, It is their space, you have to be invited in. And you better bring a plate if you want to be invited back.

10. Listening: Focus Groups

11. Talking

12. Energising

13. Support

14. Embracing – co-creation

15. 8 of the top 11…

16. Good sample

17. Woolworths’ Everyday Matters Fuel dockets Convert the dockets to a card with online account Launch an online community Community drives Qantas Frequent Flyer alliance 2005 2007 September 2007 August 2009 Fuel dockets cents per litre offers. Convert the dockets to a card with online account Launch an online community Community drives Qantas Frequent Flyer loyalty program alliance with Twitter support. Competitor – Coles and Fly Buys “At the Caltex Woolworths…sites there has been an average 80% increase in petrol sales” “When the offer is 12 cents, sales go through the roof” * Card links the customer transaction. Registered customers addressable. 50,000 members of online community 100,000 members of online community 3.8 million Everyday rewards card customers (1 in 6 Aussies) 4th quarter Woolworths sales rose 5.4 % * Source : “Petrol Price Discounts: the new pull” Australian Convenience Store News March/April 2005

18. Talking with teenage boys, rating nuggets

19. Rigour as much as conversation

20. Idea popularity & Importance by segment Know who you are talking to… …and what they care about

23. www.resonatesolutions.com.auwww.strikeachord.com.auwww.twitter.com/timwtyler0413 857 907 Like a conversation?