Presentation from a lecture on Groundswell Chatter - how to listen to and talk with the groundswell. The students are working on a case involving and NGO, and their task is to come with suggestions for using the groundswell as an NGO.

1. Line Vittrup
November 2nd, 2009

2.  Where do we find chatter?
 What are the characteristics of chatter?
 How can organizations utilize chatter?
 In our (PIFU) perspective, how could we use
this?
 Creating a social media campaign

3. Technologies…
(Where do we find chatter?)

4.  Twitter
 Facebook
 Blogs
 LinkedIn
 Wikis
 …etc.

5.  Twitter is a microblogging tool, which
allows ‘tweeters’ to send out messages,
or tweets, of up to 140 characters.
 Started in March 2006, and now has six
million unique monthly visitors

8.  Connecting with customers on Twitter - 9 tips for
success
1. Invest – spend time
2. Manage – manage your account
3. Watch – follow ongoing hashtag (#) conversations
4. Listen – us the Twitter search function
5. Speak - create a continuous flow of tweets
6. Optimize for keywords – include relevant key
phrases
7. Identify – make your tweets personal
8. Learn – learn from others and apply to your business
9. Grow – let your customers know you are on twitter

9.  Organizations use Facebook for reaching their target
audience
 ‘Fan pages’ or corporate profiles are used to…
◦ …promote the organizations
◦ …provide updates for fans
◦ …announce competitions
◦ …etc
 Updates from your ‘fan pages’ are posted in your personal
profile, i.e. it becomes yet another channel for
communication

10.  The Cisco fan page…

11.  Coca-Cola’s fan page:

12.  How does LinkedIn compare with other
social networks?
“LinkedIn is the office, Facebook is the
barbecue in the backyard, and MySpace is the
bar”
(Reid Hoffman, CEO of LinkedIn – referring to the three
major social networking sites)

13.  50 million users worldwide
 ‘Company profiles’ on LinkedIn serve a somewhat
different purpose than ‘fan pages’ on FB:
◦ The users of LinkedIn are demographically different than
Facebook
◦ Groups in LinkedIn are concerned with company news,
knowledge sharing, and discussions are more specialized
◦ LinkedIn groups (and profiles) are also highly used for
recruitment
◦ Non-profits make use of LinkedIn (see resources)

14.  We have heard about blogging from a corporate
perspective, but what about personal blogs?
◦ 133 million blogs worldwide
◦ 33% of Danes read blogs, and 18% write blog entries
◦ These are ‘free’ channels, where people can utter their
opinions
◦ Corporations should consider monitoring blogs (search
via Google), and make sure that they are engaging when
necessary

15.  How NOT to use blogs…

16.  Wikis are used for internal knowledge sharing in
corporations globally
◦ Knowledge sharing
◦ Collaboration on projects
◦ Communities
◦ Maintaining relationships
 Dell Enterprise Technology Center
◦ External wiki used for support
◦ Ask the experts or become an expert
◦ Drives down costs in terms of customer service

17.  Public wikis…
◦ Wikis set up by private people
◦ Used to discuss topics of their interest
◦ See a list of public wikis at:
http://www.wikiindex.org
◦ Example of public wiki – Mafia Wars Wiki:

18.  So, what is ‘chatter’?
◦ It is the voice of the groundswell
◦ Objective and honest opinions (good and bad!)
◦ An opportunity for companies to gain an insight
into the minds of their target audience
◦ ‘Chatter’ is often found in social networking
sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn…

19. “Freeconomics”
&
“Social Networking”

20. “Networking is a business, so start
investing now!” (Madeleine Albright)
 Good networking is about being at the right place at
the right time, and being able to provide useful
information and helping others.
 Social capital is the driver behind social networking
sites such as Facebook – they want to communicate
with people, not companies.

21.  “Freeconomics” is a term used to describe the
business of making business by giving things away
for free…
◦ “Give away 90% and charge 100% for the remaining 10%”
 As with social networking, ‘freeconomics’ is the idea
that you need to give, in order to receive
 PIFU’s mantra is ‘Pay It Forward’ and may therefore
be able to tap into this idea of ‘freeconomics’ and
social capital

22.  Monty Python – in response to the many poor
quality versions being uploaded to Youtube –
decided to make most of their shows “free”
 They uploaded their videos in HD quality
 Result – a major (23000%) increase in sales
of their more than 30 year old movies!

23. Utilizing the chatter…

24.  We can talk to our target audience, we can listen to
tem, but most importantly, we can engage them. So…
◦ How do we listen to them?
◦ How do we talk to them?
◦ How do we engage them?
 Keywords to remember:
◦ Credibility
◦ Authenticity
◦ Relevance

25.  Almost 20% of all updates on Twitter are
concerned with a specific brand/company
◦ A search function in Twitter allows you to track tweets
 By listening to your consumers (future and
current), you will gain an insight into your brand
and products
 It is a free insight into your target audience – no
need for expensive focus groups and surveys

26.  Important to listen…

27. “Customers…are engaged in conversations on blogs, in
discussion forums, and in social networking sites. Your
company can participate in these places, but shouting
doesn’t work. Conversations do.” (Li & Bernoff, p. 102)
 Talking to the groundswell entails a good deal of listening
first:
◦ Find out where they are talking, listen to them, and then start
talking to them
◦ Exclude all commercial talk – remember, the driver behind social
networking is social capital (people-to-people conversations)

28.  Four ways to talk to the groundswell
(Li & Bernoff, p. 102.103):
1. Post a viral video
2. Engage in social networks and user-generated
content sites (conversations vs. shouting)
3. Join the blogosphere (start your own blog as well as
listen to and respond to other blogs)
4. Create a community (social capital)

29.  WIFM – What’s in it for me?
◦ A key point to remember when trying to engage
your target audience
 Salesforce.com have engaged their customers in
the development of their product (CRM)
◦ Customers are asked to post ideas on their website,
vote for good ideas and comment on them as well
◦ WIFM? A better product…

30.  IdeaExhcange at Salesforce.com:

31.  MyStarbucksIdea…

32.  HOWEVER, engaging with your target audience also means to
go where they are:
◦ Find them on Twitter, social networking sites and in discussion fora
◦ Listen to them and their concerns, questions and ideas, and
engage yourself in a conversation with them
 In response to Starbuck’s FB fan page, Chris Bruzzo (VP of brand,
content and online) said:
“If you approach it as a marketing channel, you can only go so far.
If you approach it as a customer relationship and as a multi-
faceted human connection between Starbucks and customers, we
can have more than a conversation about products – it can be a
customer-insight channel and we can learn things from them.”

33. PIFU…

34. Suggestions from the class – discussion:
 PIFU is in need of increased awareness. How can
we utilize groundswell chatter?
◦ Blog?
◦ Twitter?
◦ Facebook?
◦ LinkedIn?

35.  LinkedIn:
◦ LinkedIn Learning Center
◦ Free webinar on using LinkedIn for non-profits
 Twitter:
◦ “10 popular hashtags for non-profits”

36. Creating a social media
campaign…

37. Four parts to a social media campaign:
1. Know your costumers (who are they, where and why
do they use social media?)
2. What is your goal? Do you want to listen or engage?
3. Does your campaign have a well defined role compared
to your overall communications strategy?
4. Which technology supports your goal, strategy and
target audience?

38. It is important for organizations…
◦ …to accept the open dialogue we find in social media
◦ …to understand that social capital is the driver behind
social networking sites such as Facebook – they want to
communicate with people, not companies
◦ …to remember that if you give a lot, you will receive a lot
(freeconomics)

39. More resources…

40.  Good books to read:
◦ Anderson: “Free”
◦ Anderson: “The long tail”
◦ Tapscott & Williams: “Wikinomics”

41.  Burston-Marsteller report:
http://www.burson-marsteller.com/
Innovation_and_insights/blogs_and_podcasts/BM_Blog/
Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=128
 ”Markedsføring” 27.10.09 (p. 12-18)
 Wikinomics
 Groundswell
 WARC.com – news updates on advertising trends (daily)