Trends

How Social Media Affects the Consumer’s Decision to Buy

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Retail, Return on Investment, SEO, Social Media, Social Media Consulting, Trends | Leave a comment

Google recently came out with some research called Zero Moment of Truth that very clearly and convincingly lays out the business case for social media and how it impacts the consumer’s buying journey.

Google states that the Zero Moment of Truth is the moment when a consumer picks up a laptop, mobile phone or other wired device to research a product or serve and then decide what to buy.   The research shows that more and more, people are making their buying decisions well before they get to the store.

Recently, I’ve been telling anyone who will listen (ad nauseum, perhaps) that there’s been a fundamental shift in how consumers gather data and how they’re using that data to make buying decisions for products from new cars to ball point pens.

They are increasingly turning to online social interactions to check out ratings and reviews (which is a form of social sharing) for opinions on products and services and searching what a brand’s Facebook Pages or Twitter account has for deals and insights as to what’s new.  They’re also using sites like YouTube and Vimeo to research how-to videos or demos on how products are used. Here’s some interesting stats that highlight this behavior:

  • 70% of Americans now say they look at product reviews before making a purchase
  • 79% of consumers now say they use a smartphone to help with shopping
  • 83% of moms say they do online research after seeing TV commercials for products that interest them

All these social interactions can be quickly and easily found using search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. For a long time the conventional wisdom was that people won’t go out of their way to research things like laundry detergent and butter but in fact they do.  Google’s research clearly shows they do.

The graphic below shows when those Zero Moments of Truth are happening:

Average purchase cycles for three diverse categories

If you don’t believe what Google’s saying, the Harvard Business Review came out with some research from McKinsey & Company that supports Google’s thinking. (See my recent article Consumer Decision Journey in the Digital Age)  They’ve actually documented this behavior in 2009 and Google backs up their assertion that brands need to be at that digital evaluation process or Zero Moment of Truth when the consumer looks for information.  If a brand isn’t showing up when consumers do their search, they are losing sales.

Where social media really makes its impact is in the advocacy phase of the consumer’s buying journey after they’ve taken advantage of a service or brought a product home and used it.  If they like it (or not) they will go on Facebook, Amazon.com, Twitter, blogs, Consumer Reports, or brand website and let you know what they think.  And for the first time in history, this word-of-mouth communication is being digitally archived making one person’s advocacy someone else’s Zero Moment of Truth.

I highly recommend you check out Google’s research (it’s free), watch all the videos and read it in its entirety.  This Zero Moment of Truth will become, if it’s not already, the most important impetus for a customer to buy your company’s goods and/or services.

Aligning Social Media Insights with Consumer Buying Habits – CMOs Are Missing the Boat

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Return on Investment, Social Media, Social Media Consulting, Trends | Leave a comment

IBM Global CMO Study

IBM has recently released their IBM Global CMO Study for 2011 and once again, social media comes up very high in what CMOs see as an area of concern for the future of their business. Other areas of concern were the data explosion, proliferation of channels and devices and shifting consumer demographics; all of which tie into social media.

The one tidbit I found most interesting in this study was CMOs are still predominantly relying on traditional sources of information such as focus groups and studies that focus on understanding markets rather than individuals. It seems that most are still ignoring what people are saying about them through social channels. Case in point:

  • 26 percent are tracking blogs
  • 42 percent are tracking third-party reviews
  • 48 percent are tracking consumer reviews

In a past blog post, called Consumer Decision Journey in the Digital Age, I highlight a McKinsey & Company study that shows how more and more consumers are using these social channels to make their buying decisions. However, organizations have yet to leverage these tools which can provide crucial insights into how customers and influencers think and behave.

The graph below shows the sources of information CMOs are using to make strategic marketing decisions and as you can see most are paying more attention to markets than individuals. The key sources to understanding individuals (highlighted in yellow) still are ranked relatively low:


It’s quite obvious that CMO’s have not yet aligned their strategies with how consumers are behaving today and aren’t keeping up with the trends in technology.  Therefore, I see a big role for social media going forward and the companies that embrace this trend will be well positioned to be leaders in their industries.

 

Enterprise Social Media With Radian6 & Salesforce.com

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, Reputation Monitoring, Return on Investment, Social Media, Social Media Consulting, Trends | 3 Comments

This week I attended Salesforce.com’s CloudForce conference where, for the first time, they presented their new functionality with Radian6.  With the ink barely dry on their purchase agreement with Radian6, Salesforce has come up with some great integrated functionality that will enable the combination of social data with a CRM that can truly measure ROI.   Others have made clumsy attempts at this but I think this partnership really has some legs since this is a cloud based platform as opposed to software CRMs.

I believe this is one of the first attempts to truly tie in social media at an enterprise level with CRM, sales and customer service. I especially love the fact that their platform has the ability to calculate ROI for social customer service; as it isn’t just a function of revenue.

I think they still have some kinks to iron out as far as pricing is concerned because of the separate pricing for the Radian6 integration.  Radian6’s pricing models are a bit convoluted compared with the straight forward pricing of Salesforce but  I think once they have this figured out they’ll see companies flocking to use the service.

Having experience with both Salesforce and Radian6 I’m excited to see how these two platforms evolve. Below is a video of Salesforce.com’s CEO Marc Benioff discussing the three steps to becoming a social enterprise.

Can Google’s +1 Rival Facebook’s “Like”

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, Marketing Strategy, SEO, Social Media, Trends, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Looks like Google is attempting to match Facebook’s “like” with their own version called +1.  I can’t think of a more confusing name but I’ll wait to see it before passing judgment.  Google has yet to release it so here’s a brief preview of what +1 will do and what it looks like:

[facebook_ilike]

How to Hire for Social Media Positions

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With more and more companies looking to social media to drive business goals  many are having a difficult time hiring for social media positions.  Their desire to ramp up a social presence is outpacing their ability to hire the proper staff to do the job effectively.  This, combined with the myriad of people with varying degrees of social media expertise, is creating confusion among executives on who to hire, what compensation level is appropriate and what title to bestow.

Many companies are going for the quick fix in hiring the young marketing coordinator or intern who definitely knows the technology but doesn’t necessarily understand the business aspect and the role social media needs to play in an overall marketing strategy.  This can create frustration on the part of executives, who may have trouble grasping why social media is important and are looking for ways to prove its ROI.

Two distinct positions are becoming prominent with forward thinking corporations; the community manager and corporate social strategist.  Many companies are looking to fill these roles with one position but it’s quite apparent that these two roles require very different skill sets. Here’s why:

Community Manager

Community managers are on the front line in a customer facing role and are the ones trusted by your audience. They’re the people that are the voice of your brand and are having online conversations with your potential customers every day. They have a passion (or should have) for the organization or brand and this shows in their discussions.  The strange thing is that this person usually is not working in the marketing or PR department.  They may be in customer support or a regional manager or cashier or may even be the janitor.  They point is they have a passion for the brand, they know it backwards and forwards and when they speak to people about it their passion shows through.  Finding the right person who has the online skills plus the passion is a critical component to a brand’s social strategy.  (see Duluth Pack)

Altimeter Group

Corporate Social Strategist

This position is responsible for the overall social media program and is focused on deciding which listening and engagement platforms to use, educating executives on why social is important, integrating a brand’s social presence with customer service, marketing, PR, partners,  stakeholders and most importantly delivers on the ROI question.  A social media strategy won’t get off the ground without measurement therefore it’s important to find someone who has business experience who can tie in a brand’s social media efforts to overall business objectives.  The difficultly lies in finding a person who knows the business side of things but also has a deep understanding for social technologies. Aim high when hiring for this role as it’s critical to your brand and customer relationships.

For a deeper dive into hiring for this position check out this article: Career Path for the Corporate Social Strategist.

The truth is that until social media begins to play a larger role in a company’s overall business strategy, these roles will be wrapping up into one job or is a part of an existing position. However, this won’t be the case for long as corporations are planning significant increases in social media staffing and platforms for 2011.

Altimeter Group

Standards for Hiring

So how should a company move forward in hiring a community manager or corporate social strategist? One social media’s thought leaders and the one I admire most is Jeremiah Owyang from the Altimeter Group who’s done a great deal of research into social media strategy and how companies can ramp up their social media presence.  I combined his suggestions with some of mine in laying out standards for hiring and supporting the community manager and corporate social strategist:

Community Manager

  • Find someone who has a genuine passion for your brand, organization or industry.
  • Look for someone who’s fun, creative and has an engaging personality
  • Stay away from anyone calling themselves a “Ninja” “Guru” or “Rock Star”
  • Ensure a cultural fit, as the community manager will be the voice of your brand
  • Scrutinize how they have used social media in the past
  • Find a natural born connector – both internally and externally
  • Life experience trumps youthful enthusiasm so look for the former

Corporate Social Strategist

  • Hire a program manager rather than a social media “Ninja” “Guru” or “Rock Star”
  • Seek candidates with a track record of early technology adoption in their careers
  • Seek backgrounds that demonstrate the ability manage dotted-line resources and agency partners
  • Look for a corporate entrepreneur,comfortable with “calculated risks”
  • Ensure a cultural fit, as the social strategist will tack change management
  • Find a natural born connector – both internally and externally
  • Celebrate those risks by enabling them to “fail forward,” while clearing their obstacles
  • Enable them to connect to peers and invest in their knowledge and career growth
  • Protect your investment by providing new challenges, and compensate well – they are highly coveted
[facebook_ilike]

2011 Social Media Trend – eCommerce & Facebook

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, eCommerce, Social Media, Social Media Consulting, Trends | 1 Comment

Just a few months ago, you’d have had to argue why your business should have a Facebook store; today you’d probably have to justify any decision not to have an e-commerce function on Facebook.  It is becoming so big now that it is enabling a huge shift how people shop and how they are influenced. Facebook is coming up on 600,000,000 users which is about 8.7% of the world population. That’s an astronomical number and seems to be growing at ever increasing speeds.

Hence, it comes as no surprise that new f-commerce pages from major brands and retailers are beginning to gain traction and actually generate revenue. Actual ROI. This new function allows people to shop directly from Facebook tabs without leaving the site, which is huge in that Facebook users prefer not to leave the site.

Facebook commerce (f-commerce) is the newest trend for 2011 and by 2014 I would imagine that most consumer packaged goods, airlines and retailers will be seriously considering this functionality on their Facebook pages.  It should be an interesting year.

Here is a very insightful study by Altimeter Group, one of the most influential thought leaders in the area of social media strategy and social commerce. A must-read for anyone seriously considering utilizing social media and e-commerce.

Rise of Social Commerce

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Social Media & Retail Marketing

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, eCommerce, Retail, Social Media, Trends, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

RetailI recently attended a very interesting Twin Cities Social Media Breakfast (@SMBMSP) panel discussion at the Mall of America on the subject of social media & retail. The four panelists included

It was good to see such a broad range of retail experience and each panelist brought up some interesting points on how they approached social media. It was surprising to see that Best Buy, Izzy and MOA didn’t really have a social media strategy before engaging on social channels but it made sense considering they were early adopters of the technology.

Jennifer admitted that it would have been preferable for Best Buy to first build a social networking strategy around their business objectives but there really wasn’t a roadmap for them to follow. The same was true for Mall of America in that they just started tweeting and building a Facebook fan base before considering how it was going to be integrated with their more traditional efforts.

I greatly appreciate these companies for being early adopters and I believe other companies can learn a great deal from their efforts. All panelist admitted to making mistakes but they learned from them and have incorporated those insights into their communication efforts which has greatly enhanced engagement with their key audiences.

Social media has now matured enough were companies can now learn from these early adopters and build a social strategy that has a foundation in overall business goals and objectives. Just imagine if these companies knew then what they know now; I imagine they’d be able to come up with an incredibly effective marketing strategy.

My advice for retail companies considering a social media marketing strategy is to learn from these companies and build on their best practices.

C-Suite Expecting Social Media To Do Some Heavy Lifting in 2010

Posted on by in Corporate Social Strategy, Return on Investment, Social Media, Trends | 1 Comment

chief-executiveJust this last week I had the opportunity to attend the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Event where attendance was around 600 people with a large contingent of executives from companies such as Xcel Energy, 3M, Ecolab, US Bank, Comcast, and Securian. I had the opportunity to chat with a few of them and when I mentioned my experience with social media and interactive technologies they all immediately asked me the ROI question.

That elusive social media return on investment question that until recently had not been answered to anyone’s satisfaction. Especially those chief marketing officers (CMOs) whose lifespan at a company averages around 28 months. That’s not much time to make a difference so it’s no wonder their focus is on getting results….and fast.

A recent CMO study by Bazaarvoice (CMOs Plan for Higher Social Media Measurability in 2010) recently came out with some interesting stats on how they see social media in 2010. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Only 36% of CMOs measured social media’s impact on conversion
  • Only 22% measured social media’s impact on revenues in 2009
  • 72% CMOs who answered that they did not attach revenue to social commerce in 2009 said they would create such a link in 2010
  • 81% expect to link up to 10% of their annual revenues to their social media investment in 2010
  • The fastest-growing metrics to be tracked in 2010 include revenue, conversion, and average order value

Things have started to change and marketers are starting to find ways to effectively gauge and measure their social presence but there’s still some work to do. It’s not all about the conversation anymore; it’s about how the conversation can influence bottom line sales. Social networking now has the attention of the C-suite so it’s now time for social media to step up, start doing some heavy lifting and show its true business value.