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Customers Rising
Customer Ambassador Proposal
Social Media Strategy
Magnus Media
Created by: Mark Magnusson
April 8, 2008

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Social Media Strategy
Table of Contents
Introduction ....…..……………………………………………………………………………………........6
So What!s Next? Start small and plan for growth……………………………………………………… 7
How Social Media is changing the Funnel…………………………………………………………… 8-9
How to reach & convert customers by measuring Social Participation……………………………. 10
How the dialogue in Social Media is shaping products and the brand? …………………………... 11
" Listening + Talking = Dialogue
" Customer Integration Leads To Loyalty
How the “Influencer Strategy” affects the success of Social Media initiatives? ….…………….... 12
Conclusion: …...……………………………………………………………………………………........ 13
Appendix: ...…..…………………………………………………………………………………….... 14-20
" People and their level of engagement is the first step to success.
" Social Media ROI Model - Benefit analysis for Blogs
" Supporting Data - Forrester!s U.S. versus UK Social Participation metrics
" Supporting Data - 2008 study of B2C DM marketers
" Trusted Blogs to get more information
" Social Media Glossary
Endnotes ...…..……………………………………………………………………………………......... 21
© Magnus Media | Created by: Mark Magnusson | April 8, 2008
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Social Media Strategy
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Purpose: This Social Media Strategy is primarily a resource to sharpen the focus on current
Social Media initiatives using customer-centric methodologies that can be seamlessly integrated
back into products to achieve core business objectives. Ultimately stepping up the level of
engagement by providing actionable insight into emerging trends in the customer experience.
Proposing guidelines that can be used by Stakeholders (on all levels) when collaborating with
Marketing to measure success and get the envisioned results from Social Media endeavors. This
strategy is not intended as a proposal for a Community but as response to customer needs to
give the enterprise a common approach in order to reach customers in a “Right Here, Right Now”
society. Therefore recognizing the benefits of a convergence strategy that leverages people!s
passion for our products and the ability to collaborate in the social spaces where people live
online.
Top 5 Misconception of Social Media, Customer Experience and Brands
Misconception #1: The Customer Experience starts and lives on the company!s site, therefore
before that customer experience can begin you have to drive customers to the company site.
However the reality is the monumental shift in the customer relationship begins by sharing and
participating in authentic dialogue at social touchpoints that front-loads loyalty into creating a
ubiquitous customer experience.
Misconception #2: Companies think it controls the #pristine! brand and the message that drives
customers through the classic funnel: EYEBALLS > AWARENESS > CONSIDERATION >
PREFERENCE > ACTION > LOYALTY > BUY NOW! Correction, it!s not the old days where three
TV networks and a few newspapers controlled the eyeballs of 80% of the populations. A company
in the new context is only a tool to create value for the brand. Brand companies need to reset
their tolerances, in this way it!s more like Open Source and so management needs to be
prepared to relinquish control that in turn embraces the new relationship with the Customer as
Ambassadors and Co-Creators of the Brand. (See Rethinking The Funnel)
Misconception #3: We need to build a community platform and invest a lot of money in order to
engage customers with a Social Media toolset such as: Wikis, Blogs, Avatars, and Widgets. In
addition a related misconception is that building Social Media tools are costly, time-consuming
effort that draws focus away from our business objectives. Doubly NO, the company does NOT
have to invest any more money, in reality it is only refocusing current initiatives that saves money,
reduces Cost Per Acquisition and shorten Product development lifecycles. Plus strengthens
product visibility!
Misconception #4: Social Media is another “Campaign” driver and is focused on technology
such as: Wikis, Facebook, widgets or Blogs. This couldn!t be further from reality; Social Media is
most engaging when approached as an ongoing collaboration. The best practice is to start by
identifying a customer!s social participation level then identifies business objectives plus strategy.
These factors in turn drive technology choices and reveal long-term touchpoint opportunities.
Misconception #5: Social Media is hit & miss and can!t be quantified with metrics and therefore
has no direct ROI (waste of money). Wrong, using Forrester!s Social participation metrics we can
measure our customers! tendencies to socially participate on a product-by-product basis. Plus we
can also identify localized opportunities, such as: Bebo!s higher upstream conversion rates in the
UK. Also using customer-centric persuasion methodology we can qualitatively measure the
usefulness of Social Media for the individual products such as: Blogs or widgets for Poker.
© Magnus Media | Created by: Mark Magnusson | April 8, 2008
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Social Media Strategy
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (continued)
The recent messages from a well known CEO is a strong indication of the Customer-Centric
commitment and inline with current Social Computing Strategy trends:
!… probably most importantly I want us to focus back on providing a truly great customer
experience on every visit. We need people saying, “Wow, those guys sure know what I
want”. " Excerpt: CEO, email (Friday, 04.25/08 3:44 PM)
Top 5 Reasons Why a Social Media Strategy meets business objectives:
1. Measure success – using the P.O.S.T method to gain measurable insights into the
level of the customer!s online social participation in existing SNSs, instead of taking
uncalculated risks with unpredictable campaign results. Instead starting with People and
Objectives we identify opportunities that normally would be overlooked, such as
BlackPlanet or Bebo!s higher than average upstream conversion rates to Gambling Sites.
People - Bottom-Up, assess people!s tendencies through metrics (Social Technographics)
Objectives - Identify what goals are on the individual product levels
Strategy - How do you want your 'relationships with your audience to change/evolve
Technologies - What technologies are suited to people, objectives and strategy
2. Increased Customer Reach, Retention and Loyalty – 83% of North American
consumers trust the opinion of a friend or acquaintance. That!s why a Social Media
Strategy is imperative in the new online customer experience and is proven to be
beneficial in Reach and Loyalty relationships. The 2008 Survey state 84% of Digital
Marketers find using Social Technologies to instill loyalty very effective. Plus People are
spending up to 80% more time on Social Networking Sites (Apr/08, YOY)i , and the
company has the opportunity to strategically engage customers where they live online.
3. Cost Benefits – The Cost Per Acquisition is more cost effective with a proper Social Media
Strategy using People-Centric methods. Customers participating throughout the product lifecycle
in dialogue via Blogs bring more value and reduce product development costs by shortening time-
to-market. According to Forrester Research, 69% of U.S. Males aged 18-34 are: reading Blogs or
product reviews and 43% are Critics, posting to Blogs or forums
4. Customer-Centric Product Integration – Customer Ambassadors are already sharing their
ideas and experiences with each other in social spaces and we need to start LISTENING by
integrating these valuable insights to create “great customer experiences” at every touchpoint.
Unlike traditional websites, which offer a single point of contact with customers, Social Media
distribute customer touchpoints across the web that also increases the product!s visibility.
5. Higher Brand Awareness – This is the dramatic shift, customers are the Influencers and
Ambassadors of our Products and Brand Experiences. Brand awareness is propelled by the
Customer Ambassadors that influences the online herd through the use of social technologies
such as: Social Networks (SNSs), Blogs, mini-apps, etc. Trends also reveal over 80% of Digital
Marketers use Social Media Strategies to build brand affinity.
Social Media will continue to change but the one constant is the user!s passion for online
collaboration and this has permanently transformed the customer experience. That!s why
the need for a broad cross-departmental framework to adapt to this evolution by allowing
us to strategically participate in the social web and start to persuade the Influencers.
© Magnus Media | Created by: Mark Magnusson | April 8, 2008
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Social Media Strategy
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (continued)
“We need to turn Customer Experience into a competitive weapon!”
– Bruce Temkin
Next Steps: What can we do right now, in the next weeks and months:
• Setup a Social Media Strategy Task Force (cross-departmental reps.)
• Localized UK Social Media Strategy based on Hitwise UK social participation metrics ii
• Online-Panel (People): SM metrics for Poker, Sportsbook, Casino, Racebook,
• Social Media Growth Framework – start small and plan for growth
• Set Metrics for Word-Of-Mouth (WOM) initiatives
• Identify new customer acquisition opportunities, E.g. BlackPlanet!s higher conversions
• Define objectives for Experience Based Differentiators for Product Channels
• Influencer Strategy – persuading the Influencers (First 500 Members strategy)
• Build a Blog Resolution Guidebook and Identify channel specific Blog-Resolution
Reps
• Social Monitoring iii Monthly Reports
• Integrate Social Media into CRM strategy - Product Blogs
• Explore how to make products socially transportable, such as a Poker Widget
Current and Potential Social Media Initiatives / Concepts
• Product and Cross-Channel Blogs
• Wikipedia posts (E.g. Poker Tips)
• Contextual/Geo-Location Social Media: Live Event Mobile – Micro-Blogging (Twitter),
• eLearning Video Tutorials and modules
• User Generated Content: Photos, Video, Remixes/Mashups, etc.
• Forums
• RSS Feeds
• Social tagging
• Favorites / Lists
• Product Reviews
• Shared Calendars
• Social Media Profile Integration
© Magnus Media | Created by: Mark Magnusson | April 8, 2008
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Social Media Strategy
Introduction
“Brands belong to the customers and the brand is what our
customers say it is!”
Ricardo Guimaråes – Founder of Thymus Branding
Why does the value of the brand belong to the market, and not to the company? A
company in today!s social context is a tool to create value for the brand. In this way it!s
more like Open Source and so management needs to be prepared to relinquish control
that in turn embraces the new Customer as Ambassadors of the Brand. Even Social
Networking Sites (SNSs) are adopting the Open Social framework to address this new
reality and avoid Social Network Fatigue.
Brand Identity Crisis
The realignment of the brand to strategically step away from the playboy-Ambassador
model had the potential for an Identity Crisis for the brand. Due to the fact that one of the
company!s Experience Based Differentiators (EBD) has been that infamous and
authentic human quality. The personality has previously permeated every touchpoint of
the user!s journey such as: products, events, and service.
Customers Get it!
We realize however the ultimate humanizing quality are the Customers and as the
Ambassadors for our brand we have the opportunity to tap into their authentic stories,
original photography, genuine dialogue, humorous perspectives as well as their social
networks. But this humanistic philosophy has the potential to extend further into the
product!s core, brimming with the personality of those customers with deep engaging
experiences such as: Blogs, heart-beat moments, user-generated content, peer-2-peer
eLearning, live-streaming events, geo-mashups, on-site messaging, podcasts, and other
social media. But this is the easy part because the customers and competitors have been
increasingly embracing these social technologies for years. The days of classic marketing
campaign funnel are no longer effective and it!s not enough to try to #Grab Eyeballs! then
hurl monologue #Messaging! at the customer. Customers are already talking to each other
in social ecosystems and getting their information as they choose from their online social
peer groups. It!s our turn to start listening and embrace authentic dialogue. According to
recent statistics and a new 2008 report from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA)
Social Media is changing the way companies are integrating direct and brand marketing.
© Magnus Media | Created by: Mark Magnusson | April 8, 2008
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Social Media Strategy
So What"s Next? Start small and plan for growth.
Social Media continues to change and evolve but the one constant is the customer!s
passion for online collaboration and this has socially transformed the web completely.
That!s why we need a broad framework to strategically adapt to this evolution. In order to
effectively persuade our potential customers to convert to our products we will need to
implement Web 2.0 strategic guidelines when embracing the more disruptive models of
Social Computing and definitively move the brand up the Differentiation Ladder. This will
involve capturing the essence of the company!s social ecosystem and empowering our
users to carry the message forward by “Word of Mouse” beyond the company!s website
itself to the edges of the social web.
Stepping up the level of engagement by never passing up the opportunity for it!s content
and media to be socially transportable to our customer!s Blogs, etc. Frankly we!re just not
there yet where the customers can easily and freely share content. As our customers live
in a #Right Here, Right Now! world they are experiencing our products in the spaces
where they live online such as: Netvibes, YouTube, Twitter or Facebook. Emerging
trends, shown below, reveal that the level of our customer!s participation will be even
more intertwined with our brand and the product lifecycle through the use of social media.
Therefore moving away from the conventional “if you build it they will come” mentality and
really embracing the participatory dialogue and interaction that creates the new, human
and unique experience.
Supporting findings:
Company Poker - Social Participation Levels (May 2008)
The data below for Poker participation levels is favorable for strategic implementation of
Social Media initiatives such as: Blogs and Widgets.
Inline with favourable U.S. Social Technographics (see page 10)
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Social Media Strategy
How Social Media is changing the Funneliv
“Progress doesn’t have a destination. It simply has directions...” ~ Leland Maschmeyer
The Four Components of Engagement: Involvement, Interaction, Intimacy, Influence
http://blogs.forrester.com/marketing/2007/08/new-research-on.html
© Magnus Media | Created by: Mark Magnusson | April 8, 2008
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Social Media Strategy
How Social Media is changing the Funnel
Five Directions:v
1. Specialization – Degree of adaptation to a special function or environment.
2. Socialization – Ability to cooperate with other people and share in mutual benefit.
3. Complexity – Ability to perform increasingly complex activity.
4. Diversity – Ability to exist in a variety of form.
5. Ubiquity – Ability to exist in more places, over longer periods of time.
Leland Maschmeyer’s Proposed New Processvi
From this simple framework for innovation, we can deduce a new process for a new style
of customer experience that is simple and generates constant change and innovation:
Step 1: Identify the normal rules defining the current state/behavior of the subject
(subject being society/culture, category, client, consumer group, product, product
packaging, medium)
These rules may be found on three levels:
1. Personal: Rules unique to the subject; often self-imposed.
Ex: Company rules/guidelines, consumer mentality, products, software
functionality, product functionality.
2. Social: Rules found in the relationships between subjects, often created together.
E.g.: Company relationships, social relationships (people and people), group
dynamics (among group members), group/group relationships, company/customer
relationships, people and products relationships, people/websites experience, etc.
3. Extra-personal: Rules created by a larger body, often imposed on a subject.
E.g.: Culture, networks, language, government, etc.
Step 2: Identify the crisis: the challenge presented by the environment, which the
subject is incapable of solving due to its normal rules.
Step 3: Identify which of five trends the subject wants to progress in and/or needs to
gain more of to overcome the challenge: Specialization, Socialization, Diversity,
Complexity and/or Ubiquity.
Step 4: Identify the weak normal rule(s): the specific rules preventing progress and
challenge resolution.
Step 5: Work with entire team to write possible new rules that create a “powerful
positive good:” progress and challenge resolution.
Step 6: Agree on a new rule(s) and bring it (them) to life along all the dimensions/
actions of effective marketing: invite, enter, engage, commit, depart and extend.
© Magnus Media | Created by: Mark Magnusson | April 8, 2008
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Social Media Strategy
How to reach & convert customers by measuring Social Participation
Metrics & Methodology
1.Collaborate on End-to-End Actionable Insights - Ensure holistic customer experiences at all
touchpoints through seamless cross-departmental collaboration. Use metrics, transparent
methodology and guidelines to drive Social Media and Community initiatives.
ACTIONS: Internet Marketing & UCD are collaborating on preliminary Blog Resolution
guidelines as part an overall Online Influencer Strategy.
2.Implement Social Media Growth Framework - Plan on starting small pilot projects and build
momentum going forward.
3.Customer Centric Methodology – It!s about People and the P.O.S.T. vii method will guide
this.
1. People – Assess peoples tendencies through Social Technographics
2. Objectives - Identify what your goals are
3. Strategy - How do you want your 'relationships with your audience to change/
evolve
4. Technologies - What technologies are suited to the people, objectives and
strategy
4.Measure Our Customers Online Social Participation - Using Social Technographics® to
measure the level of engagement to see which online activities do our customers really
participate in (see example below)? ACTIONS: Currently we are collecting this key
information from the Online Panel for Racebook, Sportsbook and Poker.
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Social Media Strategy
How the dialogue in Social Media is shaping products and the brand?
Listening + Talking = Dialogue
Brand Monitoring viii – Monthly or Quarterly Reports that give actionable insights to the Executive
Stakeholders by capturing key online conversation of how customers are (re)defining the brand
including it!s products. Specifically monitoring the social ecosystem on what influences our
(potential) customers! preferences, actions and loyalty. For example: it!s easy just search “UR Co.
+sucks” on Youtube or Google and you!ll identify very quickly reoccurring themes from our
customers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seGovYTIaeM&feature=related
Counter-Googling - One other source is to monitor potential Customer Ambassadors to gain
insights into their online social preferences, participation and habits. Start by identifying 10
customers that match our guidelines and strategy then you can Google these names to gather
initial information that can then be verified through surveys.
Customer Integration Leads To Loyalty
Source: Forrester!s three principles of Experience Based Differentiation
1.Identify Blog Resolutionix Representatives and Build a Blog Resolution Guidebook – The
contracted representatives would authentically address current and potential customers
on internal and external Blogs and Forums. Make it a company goal to answer and/or
read every piece of online communication from customers and embracing authentic
dialogue.
2.Product Blogs - Create a dialogue through the use of Blogs and forums with customers and
embrace their ideas in the product lifecycle.
ACTIONS: Recent consultation with the Creative Producers of Poker, Sportsbook and
Racebook has generated key opportunities where this strategy should be beneficial to
these gambling products. Such as Poker public beta release and the UK Sportsbook.
3.Crowdsourcing x - this is the trend of outsourcing to your customers or the crowd. It involves
using incentives to motivate customers on SNSs to define creative content that can
become part of the brand identity. Plus this content can be easily and authentically
shared and then lets the social ecosystem rate it. ACTIONS: The Video Production team
has in-depth experience in Crowdsourcing concepts. Previous pilot projects and forays
have gleaned valuable knowledge that we can match with Social Media strategies that
place these initiatives in social ecosystems where they can thrive.
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Social Media Strategy
How the “Influencer Strategy” affects the success of Social Media initiatives?
1. The First 500 members define any Social Network and/or Community. That!s why it!s
imperative to first invite and involve the kind of users you want to set the tone for your Blog
or Community. These first 500 will be the Influencers and any other who joins the
community after that will find themselves being #policed! by the inaugural members.
2. Peer-2-Peer Help/Support - Set up social sites and tools to help our customers support
each other. Enable the most passionate customers to become eTutors for our core
gambling products and use them to influence the social ecosystem through “Word of
Mouse”.
3. Storytelling - Authentically tell the story of our customers and employees. Empowering
Customer Ambassadors and/or employees to tell their story about the core products (within
guidelines). They have more cool stories to tell than we can ever imagine. #How To! videos
on YouTube, Micro-Blogging (Twitter) Live Events, or the Designer!s #Behind The Scenes!
articles about how are these products created and sharing about the inspiration for our cool
products.
4. Share it Forward - Let customers “Share” – Current plans to update the company!s media
player and other content to standard Social Media conventions will allow users to more
easily embed content on their Blogs and Social Networking Sites. This is paramount in
“Word of Mouse” Social Strategies.
5. The Cut and Paste Web of Widgets – Customers live in a Right Here, Right Now
ecosystem and we should allow customers to experience the elements of the brand and
products whenever and wherever possible. Emerging trends reveal that the website as a
destination is becoming less relevant as the web is transformed through shared widgets.
Examples include: Badges, Videos, RSS Content Widgets, Ring Tones, Mini-apps,
eMarketplace widgets, etc.
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Social Media Strategy
Conclusion:
The key accelerator in an over saturated market is identifying the company!s Customer
Ambassadors and understanding their major influence as a cornerstone in building higher market
share; because of their authority to reach the herd in social ecosystems. We already have
positive indicators from our latest Social research of Online Poker Panel in the core
demographics
(U.S. Males, aged 25-35):
• 80% are Spectators that read Blogs, product reviews and watch youtube Videos
• 51% are Joiners of Social Networking Sites
• 43% are Influencers, posting to Blogs that drive the overall audience
• Customers participating throughout the product lifecycle in dialogue via Blogs bring more
value and reduce product development costs by shortening time-to-market
• The Cost Per Acquisition is more cost effective with a proper Social Media Strategy using
People-Centric methods
In contrast the major inhibitor to greater market- and mind-share is failing to react to this new
reality. Simply we need to stop ignoring our Customer Ambassadors! insights and their influence
on the company!s products that is shared with the herd. We need to start LISTENING by
integrating these valuable insights in order to create “great customer experiences” at every
touchpoint. Customers! Social collaboration behaviour have transformed the old Marketing
Funnel. Social Media now distributes customer touchpoints across the web that also increases
the product!s visibility in a Right Here, Right Now society. How will we capture mindshare? And
are we ready for this new reality?
$
Going forward we will need to sharpen its Social Media Strategy when embracing the current and
emerging trends. Starting small and planning for growth which is why we recommend a cross-
departmental Task Force to strategically adapt to this evolution. One area to start is the untapped
opportunities with our Poker players and it!s favorable social participation levels. Unfortunately if
we don!t engage our customers and don!t tactically use Social Media as an Competitive
Weapon… Our Competitors surely will.
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Social Media Strategy
Appendix: Social Media ROI Model - Benefit analysis for Blogs
There is no generic formula for estimating the company’s ROI on Social Media however it can be
assessed based on the Channel and it’s initiative. There are many factors that affect the value of
Social Media such as: Demographics, Social Engagement Levels, Planning, KPIs/Goals,
Strategy, etc. However as an example if we want to estimate the value of a Poker Blog it might
look something like this:
• ROI Calculation: Estimated Blog
costs - Value of Blog Benefits =
Blog’s ROI
Cost Analysis (annual)
• Estimate Start-up costs: Planning,
development, training
• Estimate on-going costs such as:
Platform, Brand-monitoring services,
IT support, Content production,
Reviews
Benefit Analysis (annual)
• Advertising Value: visibility/traffic
(estimate the daily page views at a
$2.50 cost per thousand)
• PR Value; press stories about/driven
from Blog content (estimate number
of stories at a value of $10 each)
• Word-of-Mouth value: referring
posts on other medium- to high-
profile Blogs (estimate number of
posts at a value of $100 each)
• Support value: support calls avoided because of information on Blog (estimate number of
daily support calls avoided at $5.50 per call)
• Research value: customer insights (estimate comments/feedback equivalent to 5 focus
groups at $8000 each)
• Other Value Propositions: Dependant on Initiative
ROI Case Examples
• P&G beinggirl.com Blog: estimated the value of this Social Media initiative at four times
more effective at reaching its target audience, worth $480 per customer
• Lego Adult (AFOLs) Ambassadors: used a $200,000 investment to increase sales by
$500,000
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Social Media Strategy
Appendix: People and their level of engagement is the first key to success.
Supporting Dataxi - 2008 Hitwise stats reveal influential Social Media trends
The upstream and downstream statistics give indicators of new Gambling customers potentially in
the ethnic demographics (African Americans) on SNSs like BlackPlanet.
• Facebook ranked second by the market share of visits, with 14.80 percent, followed by
MyYearbook, which received 1.33 percent.
• US traffic to MySpace and Bebo, among the top 5, decreased 5 percent and 13 percent,
respectively, compared with April 2007.
• MyYearbook had the largest gain in market share in April 2008, increasing 475 percent
compared with April 2007.
• In April, the average time spent among all social networking websites increased 73 percent
compared with April 2007.
• Facebook and BlackPlanet, increased 32 and 15 percent, respectively.
• Among the top five most-visited websites, MyYearbook led with users spending an average of
32 minutes and 54 seconds on the website.
• Facebook had the largest growth in average time spent, increasing 57 percent in April 2008, to
20 minutes and 52 seconds, from 13 minutes and 19 seconds in April 2007.
Source: http://www.marketingvox.com/april-us-social-networking-traffic-down-16-from-07-038460/
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Appendix: Putting people’s level of engagement first is the first step to success.
Supporting Data - Forrester"s U.S. versus UK Social Participation metrics
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Social Media Strategy
Appendix:
Supporting findings:xii
Despite being relatively new, Social Media (Web 2.0) technologies are recognized as a
brand-building channel.
• 84% of respondents use it to raise brand awareness.
• 82% use Web 2.0 tools to increase brand preference.
• 83% use Web 2.0 to generate sales.
• 80% use it to generate leads.
• 85% of respondents use Web 2.0 to engage their customers and rate it as a highly effective
mechanism for customer engagement (average rating is 5.3)
• 84% of our respondents use Web 2.0 to create a community of loyal customers, and they
find it very effective for doing so (the average rating is 5.0).
• 82% of respondents allocated a quarter or less of their marketing budget toward Web 2.0
• 70% of those who report that they are experts in interactive marketing also allocate about a
quarter of their budget to Web 2.0.
Source: Web 2.0 Awesome for Integrating Brand and Direct Marketing
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Social Media Strategy
Appendix: Open questions currently being explored
Do we have a clear strategy for online social engagement with customers?
What objectives are set? How can we make our products more relevant to customers?
What metrics do we currently use to measure the value of the following
kinds of Social Media:
o Participation in large Social Networks?
o Advertising within a large Social Networks?
o Private Community, discussions, forum or SNSs?
o Podcasts?
o Company generated videos in YouTube or other similar sites?
o Ratings and/or Reviews on site?
o Blog or Blogs by people in the company?
o Brand Ambassador program
o Widgets?
Are the company!s Social applications customer-centric? Why or Why not?
Do we have a Social Media growth framework?
Does the company currently have an Influencer Strategy – persuading the Influencers?
How are we currently measuring Social Media participation?
How are we currently Monitoring Social Media dialogue about our brand experience?
What guidelines do we currently use to resolve dialogues on Blogs and Forums?
How does the information/dialogue on Blogs, forums or SNSs get integrated back into
products?
How do we identify new customer acquisition opportunities? E.g. BlackPlanet!s higher
upstream conversion rates
How do we integrate Social Media into our CRM strategy?
How do we plan on making products socially transportable? E.g. Widgets
How are we currently measuring the ROI on Social Media initiatives?
How Socially transportable is our current products and media content?
How do we determine the value of our social media/applications? E.g. Online Marketing
research/surveys? Focus Groups? Web Analytics? Brand Monitoring?
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Appendix:
Trusted Blogs to get more information:
O’Reilly Radar
http://radar.oreilly.com/
Forrester Blog – Turning Customer Experience into a Competitive Weapon
http://blogs.forrester.com/marketing/2007/06/turning-custome.html
Going Social Now
http://www.goingsocialnow.com/
MicroPersuasion.com
http://micropersuasion.com/
Mashable.com
http://mashable.com/
Groundswell.forrester.com
http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell
Social Media Today
http://www.socialmediatoday.com/
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Appendix:
Social Media Glossary
Authentic – refers to genuine and trustworthy dialogue or experiences that go against the superficial trend
of classic advertising. Embracing Web 2.0 technologies such as: Blogs, Wikis and Forums, etc.
Blog Resolution - the concept of listening and answering potential and current customers on Blogs in order
to form authentic dialogue with our customers. Potential vendors include: ConstantContact, Communispace
Brand Monitoring Monthly Reports from either a vendor or internal company resource that give actionable
insights to the Executive team by capturing key online conversations of how customers are (re)defining the
brand including it’s products. Vendors include: MotiveQuest, Buzzmetrics, Hitwise, TNS Cymfony, ComScore
Communities are social networks defined by a common shared passion and the community connects with
each other around that passion.
Community Platforms – vendor turnkey solutions that include the toolset and core tasks that
enable companies to engage a predetermined social audience. Such as: Communispace, Pringo,
Crowdsourcing – Taking tasks traditionally done by employees, contractors, vendors and outsourcing it to
larger online audience, the crowd. Such as: having YouTube members generating videos for a campaign.
Customer Ambassadors – these are your loyal customers who understand your brand and act as a conduit
to potential customers and have exponentially more influence on acquisition of new customers
Customer Centric – The process of designing a product or service based on users’ goals, tasks and
strategy.
Cut and Paste Web – The term from Steve Ruebel that refers to content being socially transportable by
automating the copying of code to any other site or desktop. That can be indefinitely copied and pasted into
many other space on the web.
Experience Based Differentiators xiii (EBD) - This enterprisewide effort focuses on three principles: obsess about
customer needs; reinforce brands with every interaction; and treat customer experience as a competence, not a
function.
Influencer – a user in any given online social space that is proactively participating in dialogue with other
online peers and is seen as trustworthy. Normally the Influencer fits as “Creator or Critic” on the Social
Technographics ladder.
Social Ecosystem – any website or space on a site that enable users to interact and share content, etc.
Social Computing – The broader concept of sharing content to be used on a variety of devices such as:
mobiles, computer and the Internet
Social Media – any online information, content, mini-application, that can be indefinitely allowed to be
shared with a wider audience or can be embedded in other websites and mobile devices.
Social Networking Sites (SNS) - are defined by a common toolset and encompasses many
People who use that toolset to connect with each other.
Social Technographics – Forrester’s standard method for measuring the level of engagement to see which
of these online activities do our customers participate in? From the top rung the levels are: Creators, Critics,
Collectors, Joiners, Spectators and at the bottom is Inactives
Word of Mouse – Similar to word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing except it refers the online action of
identifying a loyal group of customers to endorse via the sharing of links, content, etc. through
social tools and email. Sometimes also referred to as Viral Marketing
© Magnus Media | Created by: Mark Magnusson | April 8, 2008
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Social Media Strategy
Endnotes (Sources)
© Magnus Media | Created by: Mark Magnusson | April 8, 2008
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i VOX Marketing Article: http://www.marketingvox.com/april-us-social-networking-traffic-down-16-from-07-038460
ii Hitwise - UK Data on Social Participation, Forrester UK Social Technogrpahics (Males, 2
iii Groundswell – Winning in a world transformed by social technologies, Brand Monitoring, p. ??
iv New Research On Engagement, Forrester - http://blogs.forrester.com/marketing/2007/08/new-research-on.html
v The Hacking of Modern Day Marketing – L. Maschmeyer p. 10-12 - http://www.whistlethroughyourcomb.blogspot.com/
vi The Hacking of Modern Day Marketing – L. Maschmeyer p. 10-12 - http://www.whistlethroughyourcomb.blogspot.com/
vii Groundswell – Winning in a world transformed by social technologies, POST method, p. 67-68
viii Groundswell – Winning in a world transformed by social technologies, Brand Monitoring, p.??
ix Groundswell – Winning in a world transformed by social technologies, Blog Resolution, p. ??
x Groundswell – Winning in a world transformed by social technologies, Crowdsourcing, p. ??
xi VOX Marketing Article: http://www.marketingvox.com/april-us-social-networking-traffic-down-16-from-07-038460
xii Study: Study: Web 2.0 Awesome for Integrating Brand and Direct Marketing http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/
study-web-20-awesome-for-integrating-brand-and-direct-marketing-4429/
xiii Forrester Research article: http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,40656,00.html
http://blogs.forrester.com/marketing/2007/06/turning-custome.html