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Social Media/Social Business: Strategy and Management
The document outlines the strategies and management approaches necessary for developing an effective social media and social business strategy to build sustained customer and competitive advantage. It emphasizes the importance of alignment with core business goals, the use of KPIs for performance measurement, and the need for a customer-led mindset in social media activities. Additionally, it discusses the shift from traditional marketing to a more customer-engaged approach and highlights the potential business benefits of embracing social technologies.
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Social Media/Social Business: Strategy and Management
- 1. MK804 SOCIAL MEDIA/SOCIAL BUSINESS: STRATEGYAND MANAGEMENT Dr Jim Hamill www.energise2-0.com @DrJimHamill www.linkedin.com/in/drjimhamill
- 2. A note onterminology…. Social Media (External) Social Business (Internal)
- 3. Course Overview The SocialMedia Revolution…… • Key issues involved in developing, implementing and proactively managing an effective Social Media/Social Business Strategy for building sustained customer and competitive advantage • A simplified Balanced Scorecard approach will be used to ensure that social media/social business actions and initiatives are fully aligned with and supportive of core business goals and objectives. A key focus will be the use of agreed KPIs and targets to measure on-going social media performance and business impact
- 4. Learning Outcomes Subject specificknowledge and skills: • Opportunities and threats presented by the Social Media Revolution (Internally/Externally) • Key issues involved in developing an effective Social Media/Social Business Strategy • Steps involved in successful strategy implementation and management • Key social media/social business success factors • Balanced Scorecard approach to measuring social media/social business performance and business impact • Organisation, people and resource issues critical to social media/social business success • Practical case examples of social media/social business in action
- 5. Learning Outcomes Cognitive abilitiesand non-subject specific skills: • Undertake a social media/social business landscape analysis for your organisation • Set up a Social Media Listening System • Develop an agreed Social Media/Social Business Strategy for your organisation • Agree the core business objectives, goals and targets to be achieved • Identify the key social media actions and initiatives to be implemented and an ‘Action Plan’ for getting there • Agree the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), metrics and analytics to be used in measuring social media performance, business impact and ROI • Ensure that all key success factors have been considered
- 6. Teaching and LearningMethods The four main teaching and learning methods used in the class will be: • Lectures and related support material • Open discussion and debate in class • Group work - develop an agreed Social Media Strategy for an organisation of your own choice • Group presentation
- 7. Questions If you haveany questions, don’t bother asking because I don’t really care if you have any questions, what your opinion is or what you think. If you ask a question I will ignore you
- 8. How many companiestreat their customers that way? How ‘social’ is your organisation? Four out of five companies do not respond to customer comments on social channels
- 9. A conversation not abroadcast presentation
- 10. Assignment • The assessmentfor this class will be a group assignment involving a class presentation and preparation of a Social Media Strategy Document for an organisation of the group’s own choice (Word limit: 3,000 words) • Students failing to pass the assignment with a mark of 50% or more will be required to resubmit
- 11. Assignment/Group Work Groups of4/5 students Taking an organisation of your own choice, evaluate the progress made in adopting social media. Your evaluation should cover use of social media on the organisation’s own web site and the extent of their involvement in external social media sites. Make strategic recommendations for improvement
- 12. Agenda • Understanding theBasics - The Social Media Revolution; Social Media in Action – Examples; Key Things to Remember about Social Media; Social Media Listening System • From Social Media to Social Business • ‘Getting There’ – Social Media Planning Pays • Social Media/Social Business Strategy Development • Implementation • Performance Measurement and Business Impact • Group Work
- 13. Timetable Thursday (all day)& Friday (AM) • ‘Lectures’ and class discussion Friday (PM) & Saturday (AM) • Group work Saturday (PM) • Group presentations
- 14. Continue the conversationat www.energise2-0.com
- 15.
- 16.
- 17. Let’s start witha few questions?
- 18. Social Media: TheState of Play Where are we in our use of social media? What progress has been made? Where are we going?
- 19. What road arewe on?
- 20. Our View onProgress Made Interest and enthusiasm has grown rapidly Channels are being set up But lack of strategic planning leads to problems down the line - resourcing, content, customers, performance measurement, business impact and ROI A broadcast mentality prevails…….
- 21. Is there something fundamentallywrong with our approach to Social Media?
- 22. Something Wrong….. Are weusing social media as just another PR/marketing channel for broadcasting messages AT customers telling them how good we are? Is anyone listening anymore? Have the rules of business changed?
- 23. Be Social New ‘mindsets’are required to be successful in social media ‘BE SOCIAL BEFORE DOING SOCIAL’
- 24. Be ‘Customer Led’ TalkingWITH rather than AT your customers is the core foundation of a successful social media strategy The basis of a good conversation is to listen first
- 25.
- 28. Social Media An Overview »Applications »Featuresand Characteristics »Implications
- 29. Social Media Impact –Wikibusiness Applications Mindset Business Intelligence Customer Insight and Understanding Customer Interaction Enhanced Customer Experience – Rich Internet Applications Reputation Management Sales and Marketing Product Development and R&D e.g. engage and co-create IT/Software/Applications Operations, Internal Processes and HRM Open source Online Applications/ Web Services Social/ Prof Network Sites Social Bookmarking Internal Social Technologies Blogs or Weblogs Wikis Podcasts/ Vodcasts Virtual Realities Mash Ups RSS Feeds Mobile Web; Internet Telephony Twitter Characteristics Communities and Networks Openness Sharing Peering Hosted Services – online applications; the Internet as the platform Interactivity Social Element Mass Collaboration Empowerment Global
- 30. Social Media inPlain English
- 31. How important has itbecome?
- 32. The Social MediaRevolution
- 33. Social Media –Big in MENA ENERGISE2-0.COM
- 34. Potential Business Benefits ofSocial Media
- 35. Potential Business Benefits •Market Knowledge • Customer Insight and Understanding • Customer Interaction/Service • Enhanced Customer Experience • Business Intelligence • Reputation Management
- 36. Potential Business Benefits •Improved Sales and Marketing • Identify and network with high value, high growth prospects • Product Development and R&D e.g. engage and co-create • Internal cost savings • Improved Operations/Internal Process Efficiency/Collaboration • Increased ROI
- 37. Potential Business Benefits 5main areas: • Market/Customer Knowledge & Insight • Engagement & Reputation Management • Enhanced Customer Experience and Loyalty • Sales/Marketing Effectiveness, Efficiency and ROI • Internal – efficiency, knowledge exchange etc
- 38. Social Media inAction – Some Quick Examples
- 39. In a SocialMedia Era, the Brand Becomes the Customer Experience of the Brand A quick ‘personal experience’ Dubai Hotel (will be shown live in class)
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- 43.
- 44. The rules ofthe game have changed The 5 key things to remember about Social Media
- 45. 1. It’s aRevolution A fundamental and revolutionary change in online behaviour, expectations and the online customer experience. The end of the ‘read only’ internet Content generated by the network for the network We are no longer passive consumers of content/brand messages
- 46. 2. It’s Social Aconversation not a broadcast platform Conversations are taking place relevant to your brand – are you listening?
- 47.
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- 55.
- 56.
- 57. Social Report (Twitter)– www.socialreport.com
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- 59.
- 60. 3. Power Shift Socialmedia empowers customers, empowers the network We no longer control the brand The brand becomes the customer experience of the brand – experiences that are widely shared online
- 62. Social Customer Service •Positive word of mouth spreads quickly; negative word of mouth even more quickly • Social Customer Service is the next major frontier………..
- 63. 4. Declining Effectiveness Decliningeffectiveness of traditional approaches to sales and marketing Does anyone listen any more? We are no longer passive sheep waiting to be ‘driven’ to your web site If you treat us like sheep, we will tell you to ‘flock off’.
- 64. Do You Listen? Source:The Future of Advertising, APA, 17/02/09 as published on Slideshare (www.slideshare.com)
- 65.
- 66. 5. The Endof Business as Usual New ‘mindsets’, new business approaches and new performance measures are required NOT a broadcast medium. Its about listening to and engaging with customers, partners, your community, your tribe This is something we are not very good at doing. We prefer telling people how good we are
- 67.
- 68. The End ofBusiness as Usual ‘Winners’ will be those organisations who fully utilise the interactive power of Social Media for engaging with and energising customer and network relationships
- 69. New Performance Measures •Business success depends on the quality of your customer base; the strength of the relationship you have with quality customers; and your ability to leverage that relationship • In a social media era, business success depends on the • Quality of your network • Relationship strength • Ability to leverage The 6Is Approach
- 70. Performance Measurement Involvement– network/community numbers/quality, time spent, frequency, geography Interaction – actions they take – read, post, comment, reviews, recommendations Intimacy – affection or aversion to the brand ; community sentiments, opinions expressed etc Influence – advocacy, viral forwards, referrals and recommendations, social bookmarking Insight – customer insight Impact – business impact Social Media Monitoring Tools –Audit, Assess, Impact
- 71. The 6 IsApproach
- 72. Lag and LeadMeasures
- 73. Bob Dylan Come gather'round people Wherever you roam And don’t criticise What you can't understand Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command Your old road is Rapidly agin‘ Then you better start swimmin’ Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin’
- 74. A note onInbound/ Content Marketing
- 75. Rethinking Marketing &PR • Unlearn marketing • New ‘mindset’ required • Stop telling people how good we are. Prove it. • A shift from Outbound Marketing to Inbound/Content Based Marketing
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- 77. Old Marketing (Outbound) •Propaganda marketing – this is how great our product/service is, now buy it • Interruption marketing – direct mail, advertising • One way shouting AT customers • Short term sales/campaign driven • Channels – Print Ads: TV/Radio Ads; Cold Calling; eMail Blasts; Online Advertising; Web Sites that talk AT you
- 78. Reality Check Customers areno longer passive sheep
- 79. Inbound/Content Marketing • Contentis King! – But content is only ‘great’ if it adds value to the customer so…. • Customer is King! Adopt a customer led approach • Produce great content that is ‘Customer Led’; Authentic; Compelling; Entertaining; Surprising; Valuable; Interesting • Establish your company as a ‘thought leader’ – a ‘trusted resource’ • Produce great content and your customer will come to you. Produce really great content and they will share it • Key channels are ……………..
- 80.
- 81. Inbound/Content Marketing • Overallobjective is to ignite or elevate your business through great content • Sell without selling • Build a quality online network – a quality customer base through high value content and engagement • Great content drives conversation. Conversation drives engagement. Engagement drives sales Great, customer led content is a Competitive Advantage
- 82. The Elevation Principle GreatContent + + Other People – Marketing Messages = Growth
- 83. Great Content IgnitesYour Business
- 84. Create Music NotNoise
- 85. The Importance ofKey Influencers
- 86.
- 87. The times theyare a changin' • Current leading-edge thinking is that we are on the verge of another tectonic shift: from Social Media to Social Business • A Social Business is one that develops innovative new work methods and processes by applying social thinking, social strategy, social culture, social organisation and social technologies to everything it does (internally as well as externally) • Organisations who ‘get this’ will survive and prosper those who don’t will become 21st century dinosaurs
- 88. Theme for ThisSession Business & Personal Success in an Era of Disruptive Technologies
- 89. What do thefollowing companies/products have in common?
- 90.
- 91. What about theseones?
- 92. Digital Dinosaurs All havebecome (or could become) Digital Dinosaurs due to their failure to adapt to Disruptive Technologies
- 93. What Does HMVStand For?
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- 95.
- 96. Who Will BeThe Next Dinosaur?
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- 98.
- 99. Who Will BeNext?
- 100.
- 101. The Future ofEducation
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- 103. The Future ofHigher Education?
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- 110.
- 111. Why Now? Social Media+ Mobile + The Cloud + Big Data + Gen C = The End of Business as Usual
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- 113. The Connected Customeris also the Connected Employee
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- 115. Social Media –Big in MENA
- 116. No organisation toobig to fail, nor too small to succeed
- 117. Do we needto adapt or die?
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- 119. Customer empowerment andthe declining effectiveness of traditional approaches to sales and marketing
- 120. Power Shift Social mediaempowers customers, empowers the network We no longer control the brand The brand becomes the customer experience of the brand – experiences that are widely shared online
- 121.
- 122. Brian Solis -Ultimate Moment of Truth
- 123. Constantly connected customers (especiallyDigital Natives) require constantly connected Social Customer Service Excellence
- 124.
- 125. Rupert Did NotAssimilate Too Well - $580m Failed Acquisition
- 126.
- 127.
- 128.
- 129. Email has becomea productivity buster – there is a better way of doing business ………become a Social Business
- 130. Do You Needto Become Social? • Are you struggling with too many emails? • Attending too many meaningless meetings? • Wasting time looking for that file/information you know you have? • Dealing with more discerning and demanding customers? • Do you feel disengaged?
- 131. Do You Needto Become Social? • Can improvements be made in internal communications? • Improvements in knowledge sharing and business processes? • Improvements in external communications? • Faster response times? • Is your organisational structure too hierarchical? Does it encourage innovation?
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- 136. A Better Wayto Collaborate
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- 138. A Better Wayto Collaborate
- 139. What is SocialBusiness and why has it become ‘mission critical’?
- 140. What Is SocialBusiness? • A Social Business is one that develops innovative new work methods and processes by applying social thinking, social strategy, social culture, social organisation and social technologies to everything it does – to all value chain activities (sales, customer service, finance, logistics, HRM, quality, marketing, operations, internal processes, administration etc) • Potential business benefits include improved efficiency; agility and speed of response to rapidly changing market conditions; lower costs; increased sales; enhanced customer loyalty; employee engagement; enhanced partner and stakeholder relationships
- 141. What Is SocialBusiness? • Social Business involves work methods, organisational structures and ‘mindsets’ which are radically different from the ‘Industrial Age’ command and control structures still used by the majority of organisations. The use of social media and the adoption of a social ‘mindset’ moves from the periphery to the core of your organisation • It is no longer just about Twitter and Facebook. The key challenge is the way in which your organisation embraces and cultivates a spirit of collaboration based on open communications, internally and externally. Being lean, nimble and responsive to dynamic change based on engagement and transparency
- 142. What Is SocialBusiness? • A ‘4Cs Model’ can be used to explain the business benefits of ‘being social’ • The key question to address is how can your organisation best use social technologies to build relationships and derive tangible business benefits from four main customer groups: • • • • Existing Customers Potential Customers Internal Customers (Staff) External Customers (Business Partners)
- 143. Potential Business Benefits Basedon an in-depth analysis of 4 key sectors representing 20% of global sales, McKinsey found that social technologies could potentially contribute $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in annual value across the four sectors
- 144. Potential Business Benefits •Two thirds of the improvement would be from better collaboration and communication within and across enterprises • The average knowledge worker spends an estimated 28% of the workweek managing e-mail and nearly 20% searching information or finding colleagues to help with specific tasks. Using social media can cut down this time spent searching for information and people by 35% • Companies have an opportunity to raise the productivity high-skill knowledge workers by 20 to 25%
- 145.
- 146. Not Just ProductivityImprovements • Social Marketing – more cost effective and efficient • Social Customer Service – enhanced reputation and brand advocacy • Social HRM – improved staff engagement and loyalty • Social NPD – crowdsource NPD, faster speed to market acceptance, more cost effective • Social Relationships - enhanced partner and stakeholder relationships • Flexibility and speed of response • Etc
- 147. Some Videos (Available onYouTube) Also – blog post on Energise http://energise2-0.com/2013/01/07/best-social-businesvideos/
- 148. Videos Social Business –Rethinking Innovation, Organization and Leadership (from LeaderLab) • Business is changing but much of our management is still rooted in the Industrial Revolution. Why do we keep educating our leaders in old paradigms? Tear down the internal Berlin walls. Social software delivers a new paradigm for collaboration, sharing and crowdsourcing. The time has come to rethink the way we do business. Is your organisation ready?
- 149.
- 150. Videos The Difference BetweenSocial Media and Social Business, Sandy Carter of IBM • In the age of Social Customers and Social Employees, becoming a Social Business is not an option, it is a mandate
- 151. Social Media v.Social Business
- 152. Videos Social Media Revolution2013 Why Social Business has become mission critical?
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- 154. Don Tapscott Gov2.0 Don Tapscott Gov 2.0
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- 157.
- 158. What are theBarriers?
- 159. Barriers and Obstacles •Changing Organisational Culture and Work Processes is the biggest challenge NOT technology • Requires leadership and Social Business Champions • A range of technologies are available
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- 165. Social Media/Social Business StrategyDevelopment and Implementation
- 166. Practical Advice and NextSteps to Avoid the Road to Nowhere ‘Social Media/Social Business Planning Pays’
- 167. Social Media/Social Business Strategy andAction Plans
- 168. Use a SimplifiedBalanced Scorecard • Will ensure that the social media/social business actions and initiatives you take are fully aligned with and supportive of your overall business goals and objectives; that KPIs are agreed for monitoring and evaluating social media/social business performance, business impact and ROI; and all key success factors are considered, especially the organization, people and resource aspects critical to successful strategy implementation • A Scorecard approach can also be very useful for internal and external communications – a simple framework to present social media/social business goals, objectives, key actions and initiatives to colleagues, partners and other stakeholders
- 169. Social Media/Social Business BSC •Not ‘paralysis by analysis’. By providing an agreed framework to follow, the Balanced Scorecard considerably speeds up strategy development and implementation • The steps involved can be captured in a Social Media/Social Business Strategy Map • Five key questions to address……
- 170. Social Media/Social Business BSC •What is the overall social media/social business vision for your organization? • What are the key objectives and targets to be achieved? • Who are your customers? • Key Actions and Initiatives • Organisation, Resource and People Issues
- 171.
- 172. Key Questions toAddress • What is the overall social media/social business vision for your organisation? • What are the key objectives and targets to be achieved from social media/social business? Are these fully aligned with and supportive of your overall business goals and objectives? • Who are your customers? Where do you find them ‘hanging out’ on social media? How can you best engage with them? • What are the main Social Media/Social Business Actions and Initiatives you need to take – short, medium and longer term? • What generic social media/social business strategy should you follow (number of channels used/ depth of engagement in each channel)?
- 173. Key Questions toAddress • For each priority Social Media/Social Business Channel, what are your core objectives for that channel; what KPIs will be used for measuring on-going channel performance; what are your targets for each KPI; what key tasks are needed to achieve these targets? • Do we have the right organisational ‘culture’ and ‘mindset’ for Social Media/Social Business? ‘Be social before doing social! Is the right organisational and decision-making structure in place? • Has agreement been reached on resource allocation? • Who will be responsible for your social media/social business activities? What balance has been agreed between internal and external roles and responsibilities?
- 174. Key Questions toAddress • Who is the Social Media/Social Business Champion? • Do you have agreed Social Media/Social Business Policies and Guidelines in place covering ‘Proper Use’, ‘Content Management’, ‘Customer Response Times/Quality’ and ‘Legal’ aspects? • Performance evaluation and business impact
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- 176. Be Customer Led •Who are our customers, community, tribe? • Where do they hang out in social media? • How can we best use Social Media/Social Business to deliver an exceptional customer experience at all stages of the customer life cycle?
- 177.
- 178. Implementation and Performance Measurement •Channel Action Plans • Performance Measurement • Organisation, Resource, People
- 179. Channel Action Plans •Once your Social Media/Social Business Strategy has been agreed, brief Action Plans should be developed for each priority SM channel • Cascade the Balanced Scorecard approach to each priority channel e.g. Twitter, Blog, Facebook, Linkedin, Internal Community etc • But not ‘Paralysis by Analysis’ • The Action Plan for each channel should include a clear statement of…..
- 180. Channel Action Plans • • • • • • • • • Vision ChannelObjectives KPIs and Targets Customers Key Channel Actions and Initiatives for ‘getting there Organisation, resource and people Tools and applications Performance measurement Do’s and Don’t’s
- 181. Performance Measurement Should beundertaken at four main levels: 1. Individual social media channels 2. Overall ‘buzz’ 3. Internal Social 4. Business Impact Using the 6Is approach
- 182. Performance Measurement Tools A rangeof tools are available at each level: • Individual Channels – e.g. Facebook Insights; Twitter Analytics; Blog Stats; LinkedIn Analytics etc • Overall ‘Buzz’ e.g. Topsy; Social Mention; Klout; Kred; Social Report; Radian 6 etc • Business Impact e.g. Google (Social) Analytics; SCRM
- 183. Organization, Resource and PeopleIssues • Organization, resource and people issues sit at the bottom of your SM/SB Balanced Scorecard NOT because they are the least important issues to address. In fact, the exact opposite is true. The success of your Social Media/Social Business Strategy is very much dependent upon appropriate decisions being made in the areas listed:
- 184. Organization, Resource and PeopleIssues • Do we have the right organisational ‘culture’ and ‘mindset’ for Social Media/Social Business? ‘Be social before doing social!’ Is the right organisational and decision-making structure in place? • Has agreement been reached on resource allocation? • Who will be responsible for your social media/social business activities? • Do you have agreed Social Media/Social Business Policies and Guidelines in place covering ‘Proper Use’, ‘Content Management’, ‘Customer Response Times/Quality’ and ‘Legal’ aspects?
- 185.
- 186. Social Media Management Tools ‘Notas time consuming as you think’
- 187. Social Media ManagementTools • Feedly and Pocket - for Social Media Listening • Buffer - for scheduling posts • Hootsuite – for managing channels • Wordpress – for blogging • • Mention - for brand sentiment analysis Social Report - for social media performance measurement • Yammer - for internal social business
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- 200. ‘Social Media Planning Pays’ StrategyDrives Tactics: Never the Other Way Round
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- 202. What road arewe on?
- 204. The End ofBusiness as Usual ‘Winners’ will be those organisations who fully utilise the interactive power of social technologies for engaging with and energising customer, employee and partner relationships
- 205. Appendix to theClass Social media and career development: build your own personal brand online
- 206. SM for CareerDevelopment Effective use of Social Media is becoming ‘mission critical’ to your career development: Employers are increasingly using SM in recruitment Brand differentiation – innovative use of SM will help you stand out from the crowd A new approach to recruitment/career development based on relationships and networking Improves the effectiveness and efficiency of your efforts through ‘attraction based’ marketing v. the traditional approach to applying for jobs
- 207. Traditional Approach • Developa resume/CV and covering letter • Search/find vacancies • Submit CV/covering letter for available job or ‘on spec’ • Wait for the phone call/email that never comes because the job market is becoming increasingly competitive Same as above but go through an agency/online job site
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- 209. Social Media forRecruitment http://mashable.com/2011/08/28/social-media-recruiting-infographic
- 210. A New ApproachBuilt Around Your Online Brand Identity/Digital Footprint
- 211. Suggested Approach Use SocialMedia to: • Search/listen/keep an ear to the ground • Build your personal brand, differentiate, stand out from the crowd • Identify, join, lurk, participate in relevant forums, groups • Actively engage/network – build relationships • Leverage ‘attraction’ based marketing • Monitor performance and ‘buzz’
- 212. Build your PersonalBrand, Differentiate, Stand Out from the Crowd
- 213. Main Channels • • • • • • • Personal blogfor ‘telling your story’ Twitter for conversations Linkedin for professional networking Facebook for personal stuff (but be careful, very careful) Google + - the ‘new kid on the block’ Develop a Youtube Channel including your own video e.g. presentations Your resume/CV as an Infographic
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- 217. Follow Best Practice • • • • • • • • • • Addvalue Don’t SHOUT Talk WITH rather than AT Listen first Don’t be a show off Don’t get angry or respond in an aggressive way Be careful of your ‘digital footprint’ Don’t spam or over post Don’t underestimate the power of the network Hang out in the right places with the right people
- 218. Be Social ‘Be SocialBefore Doing Social’
- 219. SM Skills aMust for MBAs
Editor's Notes
- #36 Market Knowledge: Competitors, Suppliers, Buyers, Influencers; Google insight, Google Alerts will provide a view on most companies within an industry. Also, there are a range of blogs and networks where amateurs and professionals will share their knowledge of a market. Customer Insight and Understanding: Listening to customers and prospects through the range of channels they inhabit; comments on YouTube, Networks where they ‘hang out’ Customer Interaction: the tools exist to not only listen and observe but also to discuss and converseBusiness Intelligence: media monitoring, alerts and related analysis tools provide a great source of structured Business Intelligence. You need not pay £600/month for the privilege, SocialMention and Google Alerts can keep you informed where you need to be. Reputation Management: one of the key aspects of web 2.0 is that it is Real Time. You can see and respond to comments as they arise and often, where the response is efficient and effective, create a positive effect. Consider, the Ethiopian Growers that challenged the coffee used by Starbucks in a video posted on YouTube. This video was viewed by 10,000 people. The CEO posted a response within 24 hours on YouTube, the response was viewed by several million.
- #37 We believe there is a strong correlation between positive word of mouth, online buzz and sales and marketing. Needless to say there are now numerous means of getting your message out there, growing followers (through sites like Twitter, and energising your customer base). Web 2.0 is immediate and direct. The example I like to use is of a safety harness company based in Edinburgh who considered using a traditional approach to International Sales and Marketing – find an agent, find prospects, etc. An alternative approach we suggested, used LinkedIn to find the Health And Safety Director of the largest Construction Project in the world. Now it is not a leap to suggest filming the harness on YouTube and sending an email with a link saying you are in Saudi Arabia and would he like to meet up. Numerous examples of customer insight and feedback leading to product improvement. Many car companies use Second Life to test their designs. A site called eBags sends out the latest designs to their top raters on the site. Internal cost savings. No 10 Downing Street example…Improved Operations and internal processes. There are applications for literally anything – wikis that compete with licenced intranets, email freeware that is better than Outlook, hosted network sites for £20/month that would cost £thousands to replicate. Increased Return on Investment. The holy grail or the achiles heal of Web 2.0. How do you make money from this thing…there is a growing level of evidence to suggest that it works.