15 Key Trends & Observations for Leaders of Great Brands

Bob PearsonChief Technology & Media Officer, WeissComm Group

Chief Evangelist, Social Media Business CouncilOctober 16, 2009

#1) Customers are co-shaping your reputation everyday

Are you accidently outsourcing the building of your brand?

What is the first impression of your brand?

Customers Shape First Impressions

The 2nd largest search engine

Impressions built for brands often unknown/undesirable (Ex/Zyprexa on YouTube – German site unrelated to company

#2) You know exactly where conversations are occurring, who

has influence and whyPrecision is what matters

Ten Influence Areas Trend Relevance

AudioFavorite of sales force, customers on the go

Podcasts of all types, plus audio tracks of video segments are an undefined area of online, yet have growing utility.

Blogs>200MM; trend is to have multiple blogs, multiple languages

We should know the top influencers by topic who drive relevant share of voice. The numbers of influencers are small, precision is key.

Data / Slides 12MM uniques at SlideShare A great location to share all public presentations.

ForumsThe engine of conversations online; often patient driven

Knowing who is driving conversation in forums is key. We should treat high-volume moderators with the same respect as we do with journalists.

ImagesIs all content tagged to impact natural search?

Companies often forget to tag all content in the 10 languages that reach 95% of the online population.

Micro BloggingAn effective way to alert influencers, help propel news cycles A great opportunity to build a network of influencers who want to share your

news in real time. Twitter is a prime example.

Search Yes, Google is #1, but YouTube is #3 We need to know the influencers on the first screen for our brand and key topics. We also need to understand where people are taken when they search.

Social Media SitesThe communities that are often our “first place” to go online

Our day often starts and ends with Facebook or MySpace or Orkut or other depending where we live.

VideoConsumption habits are starting to favor video vs. copy

There are over 50 video sites to analyze, which sometimes house ratings and reviews of our products.

Wiki’s Places to iterate an idea or process Wiki’s are greatly underutilized, but will continue to grow as folks understand how to use them.

your ecosystem is complex enough…

Wall Street Investors

Key Partners

Patient Groups

Government Healthcare Providers

Traditional Media Online Media

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The value of listening

• A monitoring approach that tells you:– Who is driving share of voice for your brand– What the top issues are that matter to your customers – Where your customers live online– How you can add value for your customers– When you should engage the community– Why customers are passionate on certain topics

• You do not need a monitoring approach that:– Provides fancy pie charts without clear actions– Ratios, sentiment scores & other computer terms without

professional insight on what to actually do as a result

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How you build competitive advantage

• Complete knowledge of where the opportunity really is for your brand– Where are conversations occurring? Who has true influence?

• Clear, brief, actionable insights for your brand– Who are the top influencers? Which keywords matter?

• Knowledge of your competitor’s actions– So that you outsmart them

• Ability to get ahead of issues to improve preparation– See trends emerge before they become public, in some cases

• Capability to integrate your learning’s into all brand activities, e.g. natural search/paid search, use of keywords and much more– Insights delivered so you can easily utilize them

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#3) You know which types of social media are preferred by your

customersBlogs, forums, wikis, social media

sites, micro-blogging and more

AsthmaBy Media Type

Opportunity only 9% of brand mentions were on Forums vs. 43% of the mentions when looking at conversations

around Asthma. Shift your mix to increase share.

Contents are proprietary and confidential.

Facebook growth – 513% increase in ages 55+ (source: Istrategylabs.com)

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#4) You know that leaders will identify issues before they

happen

If you deal with issues when they hit the press, you are using old school techniques

The majority of issues are chronic and known in advance

Patterns are Clues Waiting to Be Found

• Patterns emerge before public awareness – A common problem emerges in a forum in Beijing, a blog

in the UK and a mention on Twitter in the U.S.– Your multi-function hot issues team springs in to action to

analyze what is happening and prepare – When the issue becomes public, you are ready with

answers

• Customers trust us to be smarter on identifying issues• You decide if a hot issue is defined, it must be solved• Your company continuously integrates online learnings

into key parts of your company (institutional memory)

#5) You realize that <1% of a customer’s time is spent purchasing

a product99% of time is spent browsing and

socializingYou build trust by being there when you are needed, not when you need the customer

E-Commerce Will BecomeE-Community

• Reality – <1% of time is spent buying online; 99% is spent browsing & socializing

• Peer Influence – 3 of 4 customers look to their peers for advice on a purchase

• Integration – why would we ask a customer to go to multiple sites? The value is…….?

Convergence is led by convenienceConvergence is led by convenienceConvergence is led by convenienceConvergence is led by convenience

#6) You are a student of how the world is changing

Via languageVia choice of community

Via style of learning

10 Languages Reach >90%Hindi & Russian are Next

Top 23 Online Countries (source: Internet World Stats)

• China – 298MM Italy – 28MM• U.S. – 220MM Mexico – 27MM• Japan – 94MM Spain – 27MM• India – 81MM Turkey – 26MM• Brazil – 67MM Indonesia – 25MM• Germany – 55MM Argentina – 20MM• UK – 43MM Poland – 20MM• France – 41MM Philippines – 20MM• Russia – 38MM Vietnam – 20MM• Korea – 36MM Australia – 17MM• Canada – 28MM (&Colombia & Pakistan )

Latin America Online (source: Internet World Stats, Sept, 09)

• I1. Brazil: 67,510,400 (34.0% of the population in the country)2. Argentina: 20,000,000 (48.9%)

• 3. Mexico: 27,400,00 (24.6%)4. Colombia: 18,234,822 (41.7%)5. Chile: 8,368,719 (50.4%)6. Peru: 7,636,400 (25.8%)7. Venezuela: 7,552,570 (28.2%)8. Dominican Republic: 3,000,000 (31.1%)

• 9. Ecuador: 1,634,828 (11.2%)10. Costa Rica: 1,500,000 (35.3%)

Why YouTube is Important

• Scope -- #3 website in world• Traffic -- 489,059 links to site• Consumption Patterns -- average viewing time is 22.5

minutes per day• Global Presence -- 20% of global internet users surf

YouTube • Mainstream -- Up to age 44, users mirror average

person on internet• Skewing Older with Time -- 44 to 65+, less people on

YouTube, on average, but expected to trend up

#7) You realize that media has already changed

Old school media drives share of voice

Share of conversation is what is important

The Media World isn’t Changing…it Changed

• Media Outlets – 74 of top 100 outlets for Techmeme are blogs/online sites

• Bloggers – 3 of 4 look to each other for their next story

• Customers – 3 of 4 look to each other for purchase advice

• Conversations – Are the driver of SOV, influence and recommendations

Don’t define it as offline or online. It’s all one media world. Just Don’t define it as offline or online. It’s all one media world. Just

know which conversations are defining your brand.know which conversations are defining your brand.Don’t define it as offline or online. It’s all one media world. Just Don’t define it as offline or online. It’s all one media world. Just

know which conversations are defining your brand.know which conversations are defining your brand.

The New Media

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Share of Voice vs. Share of Conversation

• Share of Voice (your competitors)– XPS M1330 (13.4MM results)

Vs.

• Share of Conversation (the marketplace)– Laptop (158MM results)– Technology (717MM results)

Your Broadcast StationIncreasingly, the 1st choice for learning

#8) You build websites that fully utilize social media functionality

Traffic is decreasingly relevant

Links and total share of conversation are the keys

The Top Missed Opportunities for Corporate Websites

• Lack of “share this” capability• Lack of linking to brand sites, e.g. YouTube, Flickr• Lack of desire to model after best blog sites, rather

than “brochure-oriented” traditional sites• Poor navigation choices• Over-reliance on flash• Lack of embeddable video (multiple tiles)• Low transference to a strong mobile experience• Over-reliance on RSS vs. email and preference-based

subscription…..• …….and so on……….

Inbound links tell you if customers careCompany Global web

rankingLinks

Microsoft 15 248,494

Dell 157 12,894

Wal-Mart 259 10,336

IBM 391 26,300

Nokia 564 12,254

Cisco 1,349 16,432

GE 11,988 4,405

P&G 16,108 3,423

Coca Cola 20,123 2,819

Chevron 28,615 1,851

Easy ways to improve search

• Keyword dictionary for each brand/master brand

• Tag all content, images in all languages• Identify the words that are related to

information seeking behavior, not the obvious phrases only

• Identify the long-tail search opportunities where there is white space and passion

#9) You know that customers gravitate to the content they desire

Customers have “liquid networks”

Customers could care less about your objective to drive them to your site

How does your customer discuss your brand? Do you know with precision?

Asthma

Contents are proprietary and confidential.

A community-driven site

#10) You embrace the fact that <10% of your customers will contact

you in a good yearThe majority of your customers utilize search and peer

to peer contact to answer their questions

Where can you start to become a peer?

Yahoo! Answers

Think Big -- Empower Customers toShare Knowledge and Benefit the World

Solved button added to Original Post; clicking it will take user to AS

Solved button added to Original Post; clicking it will take user to AS

AS Post Turns Green and logo added

AS Post Turns Green and logo added

#11) You realize customers want to do three things to help each other

You build trust by being part of this process

Ideas, Knowledge, Solutions

• Share ideas – Let’s improve the next product or service together

• Share product knowledge – Here is what I know…hope it helps you

• Help peers with problems – I had the same problem, here is what I did

Over 11,000 Ideas & 325+ Implemented

Partnering with Customers

Recycling Kit and “Plant A Tree for Me” [add $2]

Support Reforestation: “Plant A Tree for Me” [add $2]Free Recycling add $0

#12) You leverage the world’s greatest operating system – the web

-- internallyAccess for employees is real

Employee 2.0 Ideas• Idea Communities – ask your employees for ideas;

accelerate R&D decision-making• Prediction Markets – wisdom of crowds for specific ideas• Community Forums – empower teams• Ratings & Reviews – to improve within the company• Private B2B Communities – unlock the teams between

your company and your partners, in support of Account Leaders

• Competitive Sites – bring competitive knowledge direct to your desktop

• Smart Phone Ideas – build new way to share news direct via phones to reach salesforce

Employees Don’t Change WhenThey Arrive for Work

• They prefer blogs• They like to share ideas and comments• They want real-life video, not canned

productions• They want to help each other, not be polite to

senior management and hold in their thoughts

#13) You know preparing for yesterday is ineffective

Old models and habits hold back innovation

Watch for “antibodies”

Observations on the Old School

• They are old school, but don’t realize it • They think tweaking the media mix will work• They wear ties, sound smart and have an

answer for everything and often represent yesterday’s thinking

• They are planning to succeed in a world that won’t exist in a few years

• They like to “content dump” to get rid of their messages in hopes someone will find it

#14) You understand ethical behavior is a key part of maintaining

trustOnline policies & training

We would never create a fake ad, so why a fake blog post?

#15) You know that Leaders will Enter andBecome Relevant in Conversations

that Occur Everyday in Every Language All Around the World in Communities

of Importance to our Customers

Companies that cling to the past may not realize it, but they will lose relevance

MESSAGE

EXPERIENCE

CONVERSATION

RELATIONSHIPS

AFFINITY&

TRUST

WE BECOME CONVERSATION ARCHITECTS

WE BECOME CONVERSATION ARCHITECTS

What You Can Do

Analyze TrafficLeading to PlanOf Action

Plan for 10Areas of Online Influence

Expand News Flow

Create Media &Influencer Memes

ProactiveIssues Management

Create New DistributionChannels

Training,Education &Policies

Roadmap forContent Syndication

Build BrandValue

Improve NaturalSearch

CustomCommunityPlans

LeverageExistingContent

Key Coordinates

• The Social Media Business Council -- www.socialmedia.org

• Common Sense blog -- www.csmg.us

• Twitter -- www.twitter.com/bobpearson1845 and www.twitter.com/jangles