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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION | A Journey of Discovery .......................................................................................... 3

INSIGHT 1 | A Complex Interplay and a Bright Future Ahead ............................................................ 4

INSIGHT 2 | Expectations and a Melding of Worlds ........................................................................... 5

INSIGHT 3 | Bringing the Brand to Life ............................................................................................... 6

INSIGHT 4 | Clients with a “capital C” and clients with a “little c” ..................................................... 8

INSIGHT 5| Inside Out ......................................................................................................................... 9

Conclusion | An Innately Human Transformation ............................................................................ 10

REFERNECES ...................................................................................................................................... 11

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INTRODUCTION | A Journey of Discovery

As an emerging leader at International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), my career path to date has

been one that has provided early exposure to the power of social technologies. My experience,

however, as a student within SMBA6112 Strategic Use of Social Technologies has rounded out these

vocational experiences with; (i) A robust theoretical underpinning of brand dynamics and how social

technologies can be used by an organisation to achieve strategic goals; (ii) Exposure to a range of

case studies and industry SME’s that have allowed me to see more acutely the benefits and potential

drawbacks that the organisation open themselves up to in applying these technologies; and most

importantly; (iii) The opportunity to build & hone skills in applying social technologies strategically.

As social comes to play an ever increasing role in shaping an organisation’s interactions, both within

the confines of the company, with clients, and as they seek to co-create across their entire value

chain, the learnings, skills & understandings that I leave this course with will serve to differentiate

me as a business leader within the years ahead. This reflective essay seeks to; (i) Highlight the most

important learning points I take away from the unit; (ii) Articulate how these insights impact my

approach & understanding of business issues as they relate to my current organisation, and finally;

(iii) Document specific actions that I will take to apply my new marketing knowledge to deliver

greater value to my organisation and key stakeholders.

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INSIGHT 1 | A Complex Interplay and a Bright Future Ahead

The main insight that I took away from SMBA6112 is that best practice in the strategic use of social

technologies occurs when they are applied to specific organisational challenges or opportunities.

Throughout the course we engaged with case studies and business leaders who brought to life how

organisations are creating & capturing value from these technologies. A consistent theme emerged,

specifically, those who understand their strategic goals and use this knowledge to inform the

selection and application of the most the appropriate social technology(ies) are those who are

reaping disproportionate rewards.

The case studies of; (i) Orabrush who in 2009, were seeking to build widespread awareness that

they possessed a remedy to a universal affliction (i.e. bad breath) on a very limited budget and; (ii)

Old Spice, who were seeking to rejuvenate their brand - thereby building perceptions of relevance

among a younger audience - so as to ensure future revenue growth, were memorable and served to

demonstrate that “social” is no longer about “likes” or “followers” but a transformative opportunity

that is being seized by innovative business leaders throughout the world.

The Orabrush case study generated a large amount of debate among the class, discussion which

served to enhance my understandings of social technologies in key ways. Antagonists within the

group questioned whether or not Orabrush were the beneficiary of being an early-mover. They

argued that the success of the campaign was a “once-off”, attributable to the early “spike in interest”

in YouTube. Employing a similar line of thinking, one could assume that the potential value

delivered from social technologies would likely to have already peaked and that it had all just been a

“passing fad”. McKinsey research, however, highlights that the intensity with which people use

digital devices and platforms has only served to accelerate in recent times (Chappuis, 2011). Use

within Australia, for instance, has reached levels

whereby over 55 % and 50% of Australia’s population

are monthly users of the Facebook and Youtube

platforms respectively (Adcorp, 2013). The statistic that

truly galvanised in my mind that social is fundamentally

transforming modern society were those detailing how

social has grown faster than any other media technology. As a fan of AMC’s popular TV series Mad

Men, engaging with statistics such as these caused me to reflect on what Don Draper would have

thought as TV came to be adopted en-mass in the 1960’s. Like the character, I too, dedicate myself

to taking maximum advantage of the transformative impact and opportunities presented by such a

radical means with through organisations can engage with their clients, their employees and across

their value chain.

How long to 50 M users?

Radio: 38 years

Television: 13 years

Internet: 3 years

Facebook: 2 years

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66% AP CxOs used Social

Media for B2B Purchase Decisions

INSIGHT 2 | Expectations and a Melding of Worlds

Social media is growing fast, adoption rates are increasing and intensity of use of digital devices

accelerating. The SMBA6112 experience has helped me to more fully appreciate that this very same

dynamic exists across individuals’ professional and personal lives. Seeking out the latest research

that IBM have undertaken, a key finding is that, use of social

technologies among our clients is not limited to their personal

lives but they are increasingly making use of these technologies

for their job. Furthermore, this very same dynamic exists within

both Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business

(B2B) settings (IBM, 2014). The trend is particularly

pronounced within what we identify as the Line-of-Business

(LOB) buyer, a classification applied to job roles such as

Marketing, Finance, Operations and Procurement.

This dynamic presents a significant strategic opportunity for our

organisation. To fully understand the criticality of our business becoming an enterprise that is

eminent in the application of social technologies, one must consider three key points:

Firstly, selling primarily to the IT function (e.g. IT Manger, Chief Information Officer) only

taps a fraction of the total market potential, as 61% of Enterprise Technology projects are

funded by the LOB Buyer.

Secondly, LOB Buyers delay talking to salespeople for longer. They don't talk to salespeople

until the purchase process is 48% complete vs 40% for IT buyers;

Thirdly, online social networks (i.e. LinkedIn) are the preferred information source during the

final stage of the purchase decision, ranking far above the corporate website, case studies or

white-papers. Microblog (i.e. Twitter) is extremely popular during exploration stage.

Technology buying then is clearly changing. IT buyers are social and self-educated and LOB buyers

are driving IT spending (IBM, 2014).

What then, could be the drivers underpinning the modern professionals’ desire to make increasing

use of social media as part of their job? In reflecting on this question, in light of the learnings I take

away from SMBA6112, I believe that it could well be related to the awesome penetration that social

technologies have achieved in Australia. With reference to the statistics detailed within Appendix

1.1, its reasonable to argue that, having experienced the value delivered from social technologies in

their personal lives, professionals are bringing these same expectations, behaviours and

communication preferences to the workplace. Some of the comments that Steve Cadigan made

about LinkedIn’s growth strategy, specifically how they were seeking to build out a capability that

facilitates for sales people to obtain a “warm lead” reinforces the view that professionals will likely

make increasing use of social technologies as part of their jobs throughout the years ahead. That our

business make the strategic use of social technologies an organisational priority is absolutely clear.

As an emerging leader, with specialist skills developed throughout SMBA6112, the onus is on me to

lead IBM locally in this regard.

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INSIGHT 3 | Bringing the Brand to Life

At IBM, we have a very strong brand. So strong in fact, that it holds the #4 ranking on Interbrand’s

2014 Best Global Brands list (Interbrand, 2014). Whilst I was aware of this prior to commencing

SMBA6112, the experience has developed my skills in key ways. Few managers, after all, are able to

step back and assess their brand’s particular strengths and weaknesses objectively (Keller, 2014).

The Brand Report Card developed by Kevin Keller is a tremendous asset and one that I will continue

to make use of throughout the years ahead. As a professional with leadership aspirations, the onus is

on me to take the understandings developed in the classroom and apply them within my own

organisation. In the context of SMBA6112, this process must first start by applying my new

understandings to more effectively analyse the brand strategy that the IBM Corporation is

employing globally.

For many years, this strategy was Smarter Planet. Launched in 2008, in the midst of a global

recession and a business environment looking for answers to many of its’ most pressing problems,

this brand platform received widespread praise among influential commentators. It came to be

regarded as a brilliant piece of corporate positioning (Boches, 2013). Eberle (2011), lends further

insight:

IBM has to be applauded for how serious it is about the Smarter Planet campaign. It’s much

more than shiny logos and catchy tag lines. IBM is explaining its strategy in hundreds of

customer examples and case studies. Smarter Planet has become a unifying theme and an

effective way for IBM’s business units to explain their missions.

In addition to the praise received for the ingenuity of the brand position adopted, IBM won much

applause for turning toward social media, initially via paid & owned channels but with the intent,

and ultimate success of, activating employees, clients and the general public to share the content

with their own networks. This dramatically extended brand reach across earned channels (Boches,

2013). Returning to the Brand Report Card, one can immediately see that the organisation has

excelled on several key elements, including; (i) The brand is given proper support and that support is

sustained over the long run; (ii) The brand stays relevant; (iii) The brand is properly positioned, and;

(iv) The brand makes use of and coordinates a full repertoire of marketing activities to build equity.

Despite the success of the Smart Planet campaign, my participation within SMBA6112 allows me to

see that the strategy led to some deleterious, yet unintended outcomes. After all, what is a “smarter

planet” and how does this relate to a typical client of mine; for instance, a midsized retail store? For

many, the abstract nature of the platform resulted in many failing to appreciate that IBM possessed

a portfolio of solutions relevant to their organisation. Such was the significance of the problem and

the frequency at which our local executives were being asked the question by our clients, in 2013,

IBM in Australia & New Zealand launched a YouTube video entitled; “What does IBM Actually Do?”

(IBM, 2012). I was privy to the cataclysmic response of corporate headquarters who, in becoming

aware of the video were utterly outraged. The global custodians of the brand rightly claimed that the

social tactic had failed on one of the most critical elements of the brand report card, namely; The

brand stays consistent. The issue was exacerbated by a key drawback inherent to the application of

these technologies, specifically that their speed and reach applies to both those instances when you

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get the positioning right and when you get it wrong. The video however, came to be a bellwether in

some ways for what would follow.

In 2014, IBM launched the next stage of their corporate brand strategy. IBM’s Senior Vice-President

for Marketing, Jon Iwota, explains the strategy underpinning the move;

We call this next phase “Made With IBM.” It is both a harvest of insights and an invitation to

take this transformational journey with our company. We mean to show through hard

evidence that IBM can be an essential partner in providing the technology and conceptual

building blocks for the new world of work. We’re making a case for action (Iwota 2014).

The campaign was launched at the 2014 US Master’s golf tournament via a massive series of TV

advertisements (paid). The advertisements featured clients speaking of the real business outcomes

they achieved through partnering with IBM. Our company also developed and launched a

multimedia hub (owned) to host the content and promoted it across the corporation’s social

channels (owned). When one visits the hub you can immediately see that enhancing “shareablility”

is a key design element (earned). This latter point is commendable as we learnt throughout the

course that developing content that inspires customers to help stretch your marketing budget, and

making this process as seamless as possible, is considered best practice (Edelman, 2010).

In analysing the success of the campaign, many commentators applauded IBM for “shedding light on

its generally opaque relevance in ways that are tangible” (Beltrone, 2014). That the business has

identified that their previous brand platform’s effectiveness was tapering off, and that they

responded, speaks volumes to their eminence on another aspect of the brand report card, namely;

The company monitors sources of brand equity. As a future business leader I too will seek to achieve

the same, the particular way in which I will go about this, however, will be to develop an in-depth

understanding of social media analytics and sentiment analysis.

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INSIGHT 4 | Clients with a “capital C” and clients with a “little c”

A resounding message that my business mentor at IBM planted in my consciousness many years ago

was the importance of managing both your clients with a “capital C” and your clients with a “little c”.

By this he meant to infer that business success is as much about delivering value to your external

clients as it is about delivering value – and being visible in going about this – to your internal

stakeholders. In reflecting on my SMBA6112 experience, I can see much potential in the role that

social media can play in realising this very objective.

Using social media, including LinkedIn, Twitter and increasingly our internal IBM Connections

platform are all “no-brainers” in terms of helping to position oneself as professional, connected and

possessing an informed point-of-view. What I’ve come to appreciate, however, is that social

technologies can be leveraged to lend strategic value in other domains that underpin a businesses’

competitiveness. One such element is attracting and retaining top talent.

LinkedIn’s former VP of Talent Steve Cadigan, asserted that a company’s brand can extend beyond

what they offer to their clients to what they offer prospective employees. Cadigan spoke of how he

leveraged the very same value proposition that his organisation offered its clients when engaged

with a prospective employee evaluating an offer of employment. Reflecting on my own career

journey, it was a Smarter Planet advertisement on a bus shelter that galvanised in my mind that it

was IBM rather than Commonwealth Bank who I truly wanted to work for. Whilst Cadigan’s example

was in face-to-face interaction and mine was a print advertisement in the physical world, when one

looks to the tremendous growth in social media over the past years or current statistics such as

those detailed in Appendix 1.1, the criticality of an organisation having a presence on social media so

as to locate, educate, inform and influence prospective high-potential candidates is readily apparent.

How can this be achieved and what is the potential upside? Hall (2014) within the August edition of

Harvard Business Review authored an editorial entitled; “Your Content Strategy is also a Recruiting

Strategy”, Within the article, Hall paints a rich picture of how this dynamic manifests and the role

that social media plays:

It’s simple: Great content attracts great people, and it encourages the people who are

creating it to stick around. Imagine that the ideal candidate finds an article that you

published in an outside publication. As she reads the article, she develops a deeper

understanding of your industry niche. Clicking through to your social media presence, she

finds herself immersed in your team’s content. Your blog posts, LinkedIn discussions, and

tweets come together to create a clear picture of what it’s like to work at your company. The

candidate feels a sense of connection to your corporate culture and decides to send in her

résumé.

A company’s brand than, as brought to life through paid, owned and earned social channels, can

influence a potential candidate’s decisions to seek employment at your organisation or that of one

of your key competitors. Whilst attracting the best people is a “no-brainer”, recent research suggests

that the arrival of a star employee not only increases department level output by 54% but a

significant fraction of the “star effect” is indirect; after removing the direct contribution of the star,

department level output still increases by 48% (Frick, 2014). Clearly then, the strategic implications

of doing this and doing it well are critically important.

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INSIGHT 5| Inside Out

Whilst a large part of the course was devoted to exploring how technology could assist organisations

outside of the confines of their own business, Professor Kai Reimer’s guest lecture provided many

insights into how the very same technologies could be employed internally. In contextualising the

drivers for this change, Reimer raised several interesting findings:

Firstly, that he was very aware that if the enterprise failed to provision their staff with a

social platform through which they could collaborate with their peers they would quite often

source and implement an alternative unilaterally.

Secondly, in analysing the nature of interactions on enterprise social networks at the

National Australia Bank, a significant degree of what occurred on the platform was not

primarily of a “working” nature. Remier reiterated, however, that the non-work related

volumes are essential enablers for the really valuable outcomes (e.g. innovation, idea-

generation etc.).

Raimer’s findings powerfully substantiate a key point made previously. Specifically, individuals in

experiencing the benefits of social media in their personal lives, are bringing these same

communications and collaboration preferences to the workplace.

Whilst increasing collaboration is a worthy ideal in and of itself, quantifying the impact of increased

collaboration via social technologies is no longer a dark art. McKinsey, assert that social technologies

can raise the productivity of knowledge workers in large organisations by 20 to 25% (McKinsey,

2012, p. 10). Given the step-change the social enterprise represents, necessitating change in

practices, policies and organisational culture, it is not surprising to note that Mckinsey believe that it

could take years for the benefits to be fully realised (McKinsey 2012, p. 4). With this being the case,

how then, could an emerging business leader lead widespread adoption within their own

organisation so as to unlock a source of comparative competitive advantage? In this regard, my

participation within SMBA6112 has been incredibly useful. Re-envisaging the change management

process into distinct phases, such as those identified within the Social Network Emergence Process

(SNEP) Model (Riemer et al 2012), facilitates for the business leader to develop a phased approach

to the roll-out of a social technology. Through starting at a point of increased empathy with and

understanding the thought-process of the end user, one can more effectively modify their approach

to provide the specific types of messages, reinforcement or support to the user at any particular

time. This model will be the lens through which I go about planning future deployment and

enablement plans with my staff.

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Conclusion | An Innately Human Transformation

The SMBA6112 experience has been an insightful and enjoyable journey. In reflecting on the

experience in its entirety, however, there is one resounding insight that I leave with. This insight

relates to the innately human drivers that underpin the emergence, uptake and adoption of social

technologies.

Exploring this reflection in greater detail has

unearthed some fascinating insights that serve

to explain some of these motivations.

Professor Briley introduced research

undertaken at Harvard’s Department of

Psychology that demonstrated that disclosing

information about one’s self activates the

same pleasure zones usually associated with

primary rewards such as food and sex (Tamir &

Mitchell, 2012). Furthermore, other studies

have found that sharing information and

receiving feedback on social media satiate human’s innate desire to belong (Tobin et al, 2013).

Given the scale, speed and reach of social media, its position as both a platform from which

individuals can share information about themselves and through which they can receive immediate

feedback from their peers is without precedent in human existence. That it serves to satiate these

human drivers so effectively speaks volumes to its widespread appeal. When one understands these

drivers, it is very difficult to envisage anything other than continued growth in social media use

moving forward. This, in turn, will serve to continually increase the importance for modern

organisations to respond to the changing times if they are to remain relevant and successful in the

years ahead. On a personal level, the SMBA6112 experience has galvanised in my mind that

dedicating myself to achieving eminence in the strategic use of social technologies will serve to

differentiate me as an emerging business leader and allow me to deliver unique value to my

organisation. For this, I am very grateful.

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REFERNECES

Chui M, Manyika J, Bughinm J, Dobbs R, Roxburh C, Sarrazin H, Sands G & Westergren M 2012,

Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies, McKinsey Global Institute

Belton, G 2014, Ad of the Day: IBM Ran 62 Different Spots on the Masters. So, How Did That Go?

Incredible series by Ogilvy, retrieved on 5th December 2014 from:

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-ibm-ran-62-different-spots-masters-

so-how-did-go-157018

Boches, Edward, IBM's Smarter Planet: A belief, a purpose, a behaviour, and an advertising

campaign, retireved on 5th December 2014 from: https://storify.com/edwardboches/smarter-planet

Chappuis, B 2011, Are your customers becoming digital junkies? McKinsey Quarterly, 00475394,

2011, Issue 3

Eberle, E 2011, IBM’s Smarter Planet – More Than a Smart Marketing Campaign?, Retieved on

Decmber 5th 2014 from: http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/04/ibm-smarter-planet-smart-

marketing/

Edelman, D.C 2010, Four Ways to get more value from digital marketing, McKinsey Quarterly, March

2010

Frick W 2014, The Big Reason to Hire Superstar Employees Isn’t the Work They Do, Retieved on

Decmber 5th 2014 from: https://hbr.org/2014/04/the-big-reason-to-hire-superstar-employees-isnt-

the-work-they-do/

Hall R 2014, Your Content Strategy Is Also a Recruiting Strategy, retived on 5th December 2014 from:

https://hbr.org/2014/08/your-content-strategy-is-also-a-recruiting-strategy

Interbrand, 2014, Best Global Brands, retrieved on December 5th 2014 from:

http://bestglobalbrands.com/2014/ibm/

IBM 2014, Understanding the Evolving Buyers for Revenue Growth (WIP), report prepared by IBM

Asia Pacific Market Development & Insights, 2014.

IBM 2013, What does IBM do? Retrieved on 5th December 2014 from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQvNfPTQMkk

Iwota, J 2014, The Next Phase of A Smarter Planet: Made With IBM, retrieved on December 5th 2014

from: http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2014/04/next-phase-smarter-planet-made-ibm.html

Keller, K.L 2000, The Brand Report Card, Harvard Business Review 78(1) 2000 pp.147-157.

Kirby, N.J. 2013, Social Media Statistics, report for Adcorp, retrieced on 5th December 2014 from:

http://www.adcorp.com.au/news-blog/Social-Media-Statistics-%E2%80%93-November-2013

Tamir D.I & Mitchell, J.P, Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding, Department

of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, retrieved on December 5th from:

http://wjh.harvard.edu/~dtamir/Tamir-PNAS-2012.pdf

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Tobin, S.J, Vanman, J, Verrynne, M & Saeri, A 2014, Threats to belonging on Facebook: lurking and

ostracism, published in Social Influence, Volume 10, Issue 1, 2015, retrived on December 5th 2014

from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15534510.2014.893924#.VIbCBjGUcrU

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Appendix 1.1 | Social Media Use Statics, September 2014

Source: http://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-statistics-australia-september-2014/

1. Facebook – 13,600,000 users (up 200,000)

2. YouTube – 13,100,000 UAVs

3. WordPress.com – 6,000,000

4. Tumblr – 4,600,000

5. Instagram – 4,000,000 Active Australian Users

6. LinkedIn – 3,900,000

7. Blogspot – 3,100,000

8. Twitter – 2,791,300 Active Australian Users

9. TripAdvisor – 1,650,000

10. Yelp – 1,300,000

11. Tinder – 1,250,000 Australian users

12. Snapchat - 1,070,000 Active Australian Users

13. Flickr – 730,000

14. Pinterest – 370,000

15. Reddit – 160,000

16. MySpace – 150,000

17. Google Plus – approx 60,000 monthly active Australian users

18. StumbleUpon – 51,000

19. Foursquare – 29,000

20. Digg – 19,500

21. Delicious – 19,000

(All figures represent the number of Unique Australian Visitors [UAVs] to that website over the

monthly period unless otherwise stated).