Understand Your Customers' Social Behaviors

1. 1 Understand Your Customers‟ Social Behaviors Charlene Li Altimeter Group January 2010 Jeremiah Owyang Altimeter Group #socialgraphics

2. 2 A 2-part series  Research is the foundation of any strategy – without it, you‟re just “fondling the hammer.”  This webinar (Part 1) will focus on how to use socialgraphics to create your own Engagement Pyramid.  Part 2 will focus on developing a social strategy based on goals, and getting your company ready. © 2010 Altimeter Group

3. 3 The Old Way? Carpet Bombing A company who sells „snackums‟ is trying to reach moms.  Brands would find out who has the biggest number of moms, HGTV, Food Network.  Apply traditional demographics, and broadcast marketing  Yet brands miss out on the specific behaviors of consumers –and their intricate relationships online.  © 2010 Altimeter Group

4. 4 Socialgraphics Demographic Geographic Psychographic Behavioral Socialgraphic © 2010 Altimeter Group

5. 5 Socialgraphics asks key questions 1. Where are your customers online? 2. What are your customers‟ social behaviors online? 3. What social information or people do your customers rely on? 4. What is your customers‟ social influence? Who trusts them? 5. How do your customers use social technologies in the context of your products. © 2010 Altimeter Group

6. 6 90-9-1 Principle “In social groups, some people actively participate more than others… Social participation tends to follow a 90-9-1 rule where:” © 2010 Altimeter Group

7. 7 An updated framework  Social technology adoption by consumers is no longer nascent – it‟s nearly a mainstream activity.  To be accurate in your social strategy, you must know the specific behaviors of your customer base.  This updated framework provides a modern approach to social strategy. © 2010 Altimeter Group

8. 8 The Engagement Pyramid Curating Producing Commenting Sharing Watching © 2010 Altimeter Group

9. 9 Watching Curating Producing Commenting Sharing Watching © 2010 Altimeter Group

10. 10 Watching  What?: Consume content only, e.g. visit social networking sites, read blogs, watch videos, or listen to podcasts  Why?: Seeking social-created content to help with making decisions, learning from peers, or entertainment © 2010 Altimeter Group

11. 11 Watching Most people watch videos on YouTube – very few upload. © 2010 Altimeter Group

12. 12 Tactics: Engaging Watching  How to Engage?: • First, understand the content that they are currently consuming. • Be relevant - what do customers want to read, watch, or hear? • Create content that engages Watching, based upon existing habits. © 2010 Altimeter Group

13. 13 Sharing Curating Producing Commenting Sharing Watching © 2010 Altimeter Group

14. 14 Sharing  What?: Update status on social sites or Twitter, upload/forward photos, videos, articles, etc.  Why?: Want to share the information they have with peers, both to support others, and demonstrate knowledge © 2010 Altimeter Group

15. 15 Sharing Twitter enables real-time sharing. © 2010 Altimeter Group

16. 16 Sharing ShareThis reported a 200% increase in sharing through the ShareThis button in 2009. Overall, sharing is growing. © 2010 Altimeter Group

17. 17 Tactics: Engaging Sharing  How to Engage?: • Simplify and innovate sharing tools, see “ShareThis.com” and “AddThis.com” • Advanced should seek Gigya*, Pluck, Kickapps. • Recognition and rewards • Allow Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter connect features * Disclosure: An Altimeter Group client. © 2010 Altimeter Group

18. 18 Commenting Curating Producing Commenting Sharing Watching © 2010 Altimeter Group

19. 19 Commenting  What?: Respond to others‟ content, for e.g. comment on blogs or news stories, review or rate products  Why?: Actively participate, support, or contribute ideas/opinions, but usually one-off‟s © 2010 Altimeter Group

20. 20 Commenting Facebook commenting and “Likes” simplified how users responded to other people‟s content. © 2010 Altimeter Group

21. 21 Commenting Retail sites encourage ratings and reviews by shoppers. © 2010 Altimeter Group

22. 22 Tactics: Engaging Commenting  How to Engage?: • Allow every webpage to have commenting features • Develop a community policy • Foster an open and friendly environment (and discourage spammers and trolls) • Seek community vendors like Lithium*, Jive, Mzinga, Awareness, LiveWorld*, Kickapps, Pluck. * Disclosure: An Altimeter Group client. © 2010 Altimeter Group

23. 23 Producing Curating Producing Commenting Sharing Watching © 2010 Altimeter Group

24. 24 Producing  What?: Create and publish their own content, for e.g. websites, blogs, or podcasts  Why?: Want to express identity, own content, be heard, or be recognized © 2010 Altimeter Group

25. 25 Producing © 2010 Altimeter Group

26. 26 Producing © 2010 Altimeter Group

27. 27 Tactics: Engaging Producing  How to Engage?: • Become a platform for the voice of your customers. • Provide public recognition for most helpful community members. • Sponsored Discussions: Intel Insiders, Microsoft MVP, Walmart Elevenmoms - Note: Understand and abide by FTC Guidelines © 2010 Altimeter Group

28. 28 Curating Curating Producing Commenting Sharing Watching © 2010 Altimeter Group

29. 29 Curating  What?: Moderate or are heavily involved in online communities, for ex. Wikipedia, fan pages, or discussion boards  Why?: Invested in success of a product, service, or community, want to give back, or be recognized © 2010 Altimeter Group

30. 30 Curating The Coca-Cola Facebook fan page was started, and continues to be administered, by two regular fans. © 2010 Altimeter Group

31. 31 Curating Dell Community Ambassadors help manage and support customer forums. © 2010 Altimeter Group

32. 32 Tactics: Engaging Curating  How to Engage?: • Rely on them as trusted advisors, consider them non-paid partners • Identify influencers or community builders, recognize them in public. © 2010 Altimeter Group

33. 33 The Twitter Problem  Read tweets (Watching)  Re-tweet (Sharing)  @reply (Commenting)  Tweet (Sharing/Producing)  #hashtag (Curating) © 2010 Altimeter Group

34. 34 Engagement Pyramid Data United Kingdom United States South Korea Curating <1% <1% <1% Producing 24.2% 52.8% 18.6% Commenting 36.2% 74.3% 31.9% Sharing 61.2% 62.9% 57.6% Watching 79.8% 91.1% 77.1% Source: Global Wave Index Wave 1, Trendstream.net, July 2009 © 2010 Altimeter Group

35. 35 Putting it to work  Conduct research to identify the social behaviors of your customer base – before you do anything  Also identify: • Where are they online: Surveys or brand monitoring • Who do they trust: Surveys • Who do they influence: Survey or brand monitoring • How they use these tools in context of your products: Most often surveys.  When you first understand your customers, your marketing efforts will naturally unfold. © 2010 Altimeter Group

36. 36 Socialgraphics makes you actionable 1) Where are your customers online?  Action: Don‟t aimlessly approach social networks without knowing if they are there, if they are in Hyves, go there. • 2) What are your customers‟ social behaviors online?  Action: Which social features should we deploy? Example: if they are commenters, allow them to comment. • 3) What social information or people do your customers rely on?  Action: If they rely on their friends, facilitate a marketing program that encourages customers to share with friends. • 4) What is your customers‟ social influence? Who trusts them?  Action: If your customers are trusted by others, highlight your customers in front of their community. Example: Intercontintental Hotel features the photos created by top guests. • 5) How do your customers use social in regards to your brand?  Action: Understand how customers use these tools in researching new products, decision making, and support • © 2010 Altimeter Group

37. 37 New Way: Learning about Moms Situation: A healthy snack food company trying to reach moms, and their goal is to introduce them to a new product called “Snackums”. (fictional) Where are they online today?   Use monitoring tools to find hot spots of conversations • Use survey to find specific URL locations through and open ended questions • - Example: The data found that a third of the targeted moms visited Facebook at least weekly, and more than half visited at least monthly. Conduct qualitative analysis to find out what topics moms are talking about. • - Example: Brand monitoring indicated that the most talked about topic when discussing health foods was price and convenience. What are their online social behaviors?  They deployed a survey, and found they are mainly watching and sharing, very few producers • But those that are producing are highly involved • © 2010 Altimeter Group

38. 38 Example: Activating Moms  Findings: • Through the survey, found that most moms don‟t talk about the product. • However a smaller group did influence those that are watchers, • Yet those watchers, don‟t share in that greater community, they share it with their immediate friends in Facebook.  Action • With this, this company was able to identify, who the influencers were, how to reach them, and to spur on word of mouth to the „average‟ moms reaching a greater segment of customers. © 2010 Altimeter Group

39. 39 Summary  Understand the socialgraphics of your customers by conducting surveys or obtaining secondary research.  You‟ll need to get the data from multiple sources –we don‟t have all the data.  We believe in „Open Research‟ and we want to share –so the industry can advance together.  Couple with your existing profiles or personas of customers, create an engagement pyramid for each persona.  Next, identify what social goals your organization will take on (covered in our next webinar). © 2010 Altimeter Group

40. 40 Success in the Groundswell requires Open Leadership When people get what they need from each other Have the confidence to let go and still inspire results © 2010 Altimeter Group

41. Thank you 41 41 Charlene Li Jeremiah Owyang charlene@altimetergroup.com jeremiah@altimetergroup.com blog.altimetergroup.com web-strategist.com/blog Twitter: charleneli Twitter: jowyang Follow the conversation at #socialgraphics Slides and recording will be available at altimetergroup.com © 2010 Altimeter Group

42. 42 About Us Altimeter Group is a strategy consulting firm that provides companies with a pragmatic approach to disruptive technologies. We have four areas of focus: Leadership and Management, Customer Strategy, Enterprise Strategy, and Innovation and Practice. Visit us at http://www.altimetergroup.com or contact info@altimetergroup.com. © 2010 Altimeter Group