Social Terrain

Understanding and exploiting the channels

anup_chandrakeerthi

Introduction and intent of this work

Web2.0 is synonymous with user generated content, social graphing and accessibility over smart devices. Empowered netizens have depleted the power bases occupied by incumbent Governing agencies and corporate houses.

Information equipped citizens/economic participants are changing the dynamics of daily transactions conducted.

The following work focuses on possible means of engaging with businesses (B2B) as opposed to consumers (B2C) and the means available

Key terms and numbersConvenience, conformance, necessity and other factors

have made online presence an extension of the individual

Behavioral traits like self expression, collaboration, credibility, influence & affiliation are emerging clearer, stronger and getting quantified1 better.

What is left of privacy is being owned up voluntarily or is getting prised out.

While businesses are able to hyper-localize2 their offerings to customers, the same customer can turn to multiple sources of information to take a stand or make a purchase decision.

Relevant infographics

Source: Advertisement Age

every Spend has a Story…

Analysis of the sociological steps converging on a buy decision

Consumer Business

Consumer is the actual beneficiary of the good

Purchase is made on behalf of the company

The good should satisfy cognitive and material needs

Should meet the intended business outcome

Consumer is the sole decision making authority. Possible exception is when the purchase is done on behalf of a dependent or significant others

Purchase process is elaborate - shouldmeet business criteria like budget, ROI, recommended price, fitment to existing environment, legal, power blocs etc

Online social connects and information sources help shape opinion about the good. But a known person will bear more influence in the final decision. Physical proximity scores over online ‘like’

Business customers will have to rely more on the information present in the social space to back up the data provided by the vendor and other partners

Greater influencing capability resides in an online authority who has the following of communities and reputed peers

How a business discovers and expresses needStimulus:A business makes investments that are driven by internal needs like

expansion or operational mandates. It may also be in response to externalities like competition, regulation or macro conditions

Depending on how deep seated the need is or how endemic a problem is, the company may engage internal talent or go for external consultants to provide best of breed approaches

Expression:The journey toward a solution may begin with internal conversations,

running long tail queries on search engines, sifting through blogs, interactions on forum, site visits, downloading literature and so forth

Reaction:Online activities like these serve as progressively stronger signal to a

vendor who may wish to engage the prospective business

A prospect’s typical course of action could be -

RFI RFS RFP RFQ

SearchBlogs

lookupCommunity submission

Download literature

Reference exhibit: #3

The other side of the story: How a vendor tries to engage the prospects

Exposure

Response

Interaction

Participation

Discussion

Advocacy

Source: Ogilvy Australia4

Intent

Vendor’ story

Audience’s reaction

Interest in the brand

Long term commitment to thebrand

Campaign’s progress

Identification of promoters

Online Action

…being part of the social story

Rules of engagementA social media actor may be an individual or a designated ‘handle’ of a company. The actor has multitude of platforms to participate in. While a syndicated blog at a reputed site gives instant audience to share a detailed opinion, the same user might choose to tweet her formative thoughts. For soliciting expert opinion, she might post her question on a moderated Linkedin community. To reflect her ‘buy-in’ from other contributors, she may share, comment on or re-tweet the online posting

1 – Relationship exist between persons and not an abstract entity. Hence for online conversations with customers, it would be appropriate for an individual to respond than having a group alias

2 – For broadcast type outbound communication with consistent message, company’s designated post should be the choice. Lends itself to branding, crisis communication, announcements, endorsements etc

3 –Sharing can happen just as effectively between groups as amongst individuals. However, collaboration works best between keyed-in individuals.Therefore, sharing techniques like curation, mashups, stumble submissions can be left to an account. A nuanced sharing strategy wins following and tacitly signals the intent of sharing by the company. Mindshare and thought leadership can be projected in a smart curated site5

4 – Bulletin boards (commons), Moderated communities and Invitation- only forums are spaces with increasing signal to noise ratio. Better conversations happen in such forums where there are synergistic thoughts and collaboration between individuals. For a B2B organization, good quality leads emerge from such close collaborators. Nurturing prolific contributors and collaborators is a corner stone to good social media plan

5 – Basic tenet in social media is to-listen than to-be-heard (pull opposed to push). A listening post can be set up at the corporate level or at a lower level guided mostly by where the incoming signals can be best responded to. However amplification of a external collaborator’s voice is gained most by broadcasting at the company post. Doing so makes relationships trickle down to the company’s level than at an individual’s level. Company’s share of conversationmetric gets a lift

Rules of engagement (contd)

Standard measurements

• Friends/followers/fans – a base measure• Composite score – a weighted average score covering duration of

following, channels followed on, passive & active interactions• Sharing – Number of times an asset has been shared across

channels. A corollary measure, number of sharing by a single user• Sentiment gauge – discreet count of likes and dislikes. Inferential

scoring based on select words• Click through on promoted links and URL shortners• Search ranking• # tag popularity• Comments & re-entrant comments• Incoming links• Content ageing (inverse of shelf time measured by visits dropping

to a set threshold)• Reach

Reference exhibit: 6

a handy checklistHygiene Regular outbound dispatches

Monitor listening post with a clear response plan to actionable chatter A closed loop system spanning outreach channels viz. SEO/mail/#tag/... and inbound information viz analytics/click-thru/re-tweet/… Regular Plan->Do->Check->Act

New conquests Quantify influence, credibility, reach Identify the influencers by connecting the dots around their various social avatars Use them as pivotal point for campaigns Inject thought leadership at the right place and time Differentiated services for other constituents like alumni, investors, analysts, trade body etc.

Further out Leverage emerging technologies in semantic search & social search An integrated social media strategy with partner in the value chain

Challenges in consuming social data into enterprise systems

Often social participants use handles that are not personally identifiable hence tough to follow through across other channels

Deluge of interesting data has to be qualified, enriched & scored. Process steps7, scoring criteria8 and gating conditions will have to be defined and applied consistently

Unstructured conversations in the social space will need a schematic for conversion into actionable pursuits

…a closing note

In the social space, conversations happen spontaneously. Opportunities surface unannounced and the first responder can be anyone in the organization. Malleability in the structure and ability to convene the right people for a quick response should help exploit this new front

Annotated references1. klout score, peer Index

2. Location services - Groupon, 4Sq

3. http://www.negotiations.com/articles/procurement-terms

4. http://www.slideshare.net/360digitalinfluence/ogilvy-on-social-media-for-b2b-companies

5. http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/

6. http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1704205/easy-roi-metrics-social-media-marketing

7. Aberdeen PACE framework for lead scoring

8. Lead scoring dimensions: http://digitalbodylanguage.blogspot.com/2008/12/dimensions-of-lead-scoring.html

Appendix: A candidate criteria list for b2b leads scoring

1. Firmographics (Industry, company size, location)2. Demographics (Contact’s title, job function)3. Contactability (Phone number, email address)4. Action taken (Attended webinar, downloaded whitepaper, requested pricing, spent

time on certain Web pages)5. Need for your product or service6. Fit (Your products or services meet or exceed their technical, performance, reliability

requirements)7. Competition (What other competitors are involved and can you win against them? )8. Contact’s role in the purchase decision process (Recommender, influencer, decision

maker)9. Timing (Purchase decision timing, implementation timing)10. Availability of funding for the purchase (Has budget, can get budget)11. Size of the opportunity (Quantity needed, revenue potential)

Credit: Mac McIntosh http://www.sales-lead-insights.com/2009/a-list-of-b2b-lead-qualification-criteria-by-category/