This document summarizes the key findings of a 2009 study on the tribalization of business conducted by Deloitte, Beeline Labs and the Society for New Communications Research. The study surveyed over 400 companies and found that most see online communities as important for increasing word-of-mouth, loyalty and awareness. However, many communities are not well integrated with business goals and processes. Successful companies treat communities as networks and focus on customer needs over company priorities. To fully leverage communities, companies need new management strategies and integrated processes.

1. 2009 TRIBALIZATION OF BUSINESS STUDY SPONSORED BY BEELINE LABS, DELOITTE AND THE SOCIETY FOR NEW COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH 09/30/09

4. SURVEY DEMOGRAPHICS

5. Type of Organization Q. My Organization is best described as:

6. Annual Revenues Q. What are your company's annual revenues?

7. Number of Active Members Q. How many active members do you have in your community?

8. Length of time oldest community has been up and running Q. How long has your oldest community been up and running?

9. SELECTED RESULTS

10. Despite the perceived risks associated with participating in online communities, organizations’ continued and enhanced investment in online communities underscores the value they provide to the enterprise.

11. 94 percent of enterprises continue to invest in online communities and social media Q. Over the next 12 months, what will happen to your investment in community?

13. 32 percent of companies are capturing data on “lurkers” on their communities Q. Are you actively capturing data on lurkers (i.e., people who observe online community activity but don't participate in overt manner by posting, contributing, communicating with the members in the community)?

14. 20 percent of respondents have a formal external “ambassador” program Q. Do you have a formal external "ambassador" program? (a program in which outsiders receive preferential treatment in return for being more active in the community)

15. More full-time people are being deployed to manage communities Q. How many full time people from your company manage this community?

17. Increasing word-of-mouth, customer loyalty and brand awareness continue to be the top business objectives of online communities Note: Participants could chose one or more responses Q. Which of the following business objectives does your community have?

18. 36% of the companies state that marketing manages their communities Q. Which department manages your community?

19. While the biggest obstacles to creating a successful community include getting people to join, stay engaged, and keep returning, many companies are not taking the steps necessary to overcome these challenges such as partnering and new management practices.

20. The biggest obstacles to creating successful communities are getting people to engage and participate, and getting people to keep coming back Q. What are the biggest obstacles to making your communities work ?

21. 55 percent of companies that evaluated a partnership did not actually partner Q. If you did evaluate a partnership to develop your community, did you actually partner?

22. The survey revealed significant gaps between community goals (including generating word-of mouth, customer loyalty and brand awareness) and how success is being measured. The top analytics for measuring success continue to be participation-related rather than metrics more aligned with the stated goals.

23. Number of active users and how often people post/comment are the most frequently used measures of success Q. What analytics do you use to measuring progress and success for your community?

26. To understand how to do business in a 2.0 world You do not need to understand the Web 2.0 technologies You are better off understanding Human 1.0 – not as individuals, but as hyper-social creatures

30. Process Before After Benefits Case Studies Sales One-to-one Many-to-many Sales is social networking Tibco, Zappos Product Innovation Constraint to a department Includes all employees, customers, prospects and detractors Reduce product failure rates (now at 80%) Cisco, Netflix Lead generation Interrupt-driven Become findable, be generally helpful in public conversation Leads that actually want to buy something EMC, Dell Customer Service Conducted by employees Conducted by employees and other customers Customers service as a revenue source instead of cost center SAP, Zappos Knowledge Management Top down process Federated and user-driven process KM that works, changes in work habits IBM Customer Communications Mostly between companies and customers Primarily among customers, detractors and prospects Reduced cost and increased effectiveness Best Buy, Dassault Systemes, Fiskars Talent Acquisition and Development Board, interrupt-driven and based on weak ties WOM Endorsed by the tribes people belong to Social context provides better matches Monster.com Employee Communications Mostly within silos Cross enterprise Increased serendipity, increased support IBM, FedEx, Cisco Market research Based on small groups and financial incentives Based on tribes and social contract Much more accurate market data and increased succes Eli Lilly, Pfizer, IBM, Fiskars PR & Thought leadership Rolodex based and focused on traditional media Community/tribe based and focused on social media Much more amplification of the messages Microsoft, Intuit

32. Any questions? Francois Gossieaux Partner, Beeline Labs e. [email_address] w. http://www.beelinelabs.com b. http://www.emergencemarketing.com c. http://www.marketingtwo.net p. http:// www.cmotwo.com Jen McClure President, Society for New Communications Research e. [email_address] w. http://www.sncr.org Ed Moran Director of New Product Innovation, Deloitte e. [email_address] w. http://www.deloitte.com 2009 Tribalization Site http://www.tribalizationofbusiness.com