How to Use Social Currency to Identify Your Brand Influencers

How to Use Social Currency to Identify How to Use Social Currency to Identify Your Brand InfluencersYour Brand Influencers

Oct 5, 8:45am - 9:45am

Dan Ziman and Becky CarrollDan Ziman and Becky Carroll

Engagement is not a fad.Engagement is not a fad.

Where are we?

Stage 1 Experimental

Stage 1 Experimental

Stage 2Operational

Stage 2Operational

Stage 3 Pro

Stage 3 Pro

• No ready to commit to results• Skeptical or no exec sponsor• Silo effort

• No ready to commit to results• Skeptical or no exec sponsor• Silo effort

• Brand monitoring• Executive engagement• Baseline metrics

• Brand monitoring• Executive engagement• Baseline metrics

• Cross-function team & goal• Directly impacting results• Very strong exec support

• Cross-function team & goal• Directly impacting results• Very strong exec support

Business hasn’t changed, but the customer sure has…..

22 hrs/week online5+ hrs/week

in social media

Ave. Facebook user: 130 friends.Ave. Twitter user:

300 followers

74% expect a response from

a company online in 1 hour

A mere 17% of consumers trust

corporate or product advertising

Lost in translation

Fix a problem RantDecide what to buy

Feel listened to Get a deal

Increase sales

Reduce churn

Improve margins

Move faster

Increase

Awareness

Does the customer ever speak your language?

74% of CEOs also say marketers focus too much on the latest trends, such

as social media, but can rarely demonstrate how these trends can help to

generate more business for the company.

- Marketing Week, June 15, 2011

LET’S CHANGE THIS GAME

Capture our beauty

Wherever our clients shop

Breaking down the barriers

WHAT’S A SUPERFAN

Are you managing to the right outcome?

Influ

ence

Passive

Sentiment

Email

Ads

Traffic

Page Views

Posts

Reach

DepartmentObjectives

C-Suite

Order Value, Channel Sales eCommerce Ideas, Reduce Support Costs

Brand, Margins, Revenue, Retention

“I know that company.”

“I checked out their products.”

“I buy from that company.”

“I totally recommend that product.”

Likes Fans Views Heard

INSPIRE YOUR CUSTOMERS•BeautyTalkers spend 2.5x more $$$s•Superfans spend 10x more $$$s•Average superfan spends 36.5hrs/week on BeautyTalk

FOSTER BRAND PRESENCE

•66% increase in likelihood of buying

•44% increase in average amount spent

•Community now attracts 40% of all FICO traffic – and over 850k customers served.

Creating web traffic

And, 40% of the lithium.com unique visitors come from

referring URLs

And, 40% of the lithium.com unique visitors come from

referring URLs

60% of the lithium.com unique visitors come from direct or google organic search

60% of the lithium.com unique visitors come from direct or google organic search

Takeaways

WHAT CUSTOMERS WANT

•Feel important

•My feedback counts

•Appreciate being a brand fan

•Thanked, Loved!

WHAT THEY DON’T

•Part of a campaign

•An end-user

•“Like you” because you want “likes”

So, now what?

• How to be a “customer champion”?

• What is the structure for customer engagement?

• Do customers really ROCK?

Social Media is everywhere

Customers want freebies…

Source: Cone Survey 2010

Social Media is not a

campaign, it’s part of a

strategy to build

relationships

Four Keys to Grow Business Through Brand Advocates

Relevant marketing

Orchestrated customer experience

Customer-focused culture

Killer customer service

Sanuk knows their customers – and loves them back

“We love Sanuk together”

CEMEX

Advocates get involved…

Relevant marketing

Orchestrated customer experience

A coordinated, personalized experience your competitors cannot easily duplicate

Customer-focused culture

Killer customer service

Engaging Brand Advocates

The experience is everything…

Mixing Offline with Online: Domino’s Pizza

Pizza box fliers promote Twitter

Source: Social Media Examiner

Customer poses for photo-op

Engaging Brand Advocates

Relevant marketing

Orchestrated customer experience

Customer-focused cultureCustomers are in the DNA of the business

Killer customer service

It’s about the people…

FreshBooks focuses on customers

“We don’t have a social media strategy, we have a relationship strategy.”

EngagingBrand Advocates

Relevant marketing

Orchestrated customer experience

Customer-focused culture

Killer customer servicePositive interactions that get virally shared

More than just lip service…

Go where your customers are

Delight Your Advocates

Innovate

Verizon Idea ExchangeOpen Innovation: Anyone, Anywhere

http://verizon.com/ideasLaunched: July 2010

424242

Verizon FiOS TV and Customer Collaboration – IMG 1.9 Created a 1.9 Sneak Peek for community members, administered via private discussion board in the forums

IMG 1.9 Customer Verbatims:

“Wow. Impressive.”

“Wow. Impressive.”

“Love the new guide!:)

“Love the new guide!:)

“Whoohoo. The guide is finally in

HD.”

“Whoohoo. The guide is finally in

HD.”

“1.9 FLIES on a 7232”

“1.9 FLIES on a 7232”

“I heart IMG 1.9.”

“I heart IMG 1.9.”

IMG 1.9 Sneak PeekVerbatims

First off, thank you for letting us customers have 1.9 early and offer our sincere feedback. This is truly appreciated and means so much to me and shows Verizon dedication to making FiOS the best!- Email to Joe Ambeault (1/21/11)

But, the best part was getting to work with the people inside of Verizon. It really changed my view of the company in a very positive way.- DSL Reports (4/21/11)

IMG 1.9 Sneak PeekVerbatims

First off, thank you for letting us customers have 1.9 early and offer our sincere feedback. This is truly appreciated and means so much to me and shows Verizon dedication to making FiOS the best!- Email to Joe Ambeault (1/21/11)

But, the best part was getting to work with the people inside of Verizon. It really changed my view of the company in a very positive way.- DSL Reports (4/21/11)

Verizon Ideation ProcessLeverages Social Media We listen to customers We open our product development process

“Over 90% of our latest release has been suggested, or refined by our customers.”

Number of ideas submitted: 1700 Number of ideas in progress: 250 Number of ideas implemented: 31

Since launch… 107% growth in comments 403% growth in votes 555% growth in visitors 

Verizon: Measuring Success

When I get back to the office…

• Make customer engagement a long-term strategy

• Metrics associated to conversions, not volume• Ensure my social media strategy is associated to

a business outcome

BUT• Reward my fans in their language, their interests

& their needs

Let’s have a conversation

Becky CarrollAuthor, The Hidden Power of Your Customers

becky@petraconsultinggroup.com +1.858.481.6373 office+1.858.692.4778 mobile

Business Blog - http://customersrock.net

@bcarroll7

http://www.facebook.com/rebeccacarroll

http://www.linkedin.com/in/beckycarroll

BOOKhttp://facebook.com/

TheHiddenPowerOfYourCustomers

Dan ZimanVP, Corporate Marketing

dan.ziman@lithium.com +1.650.740.2662 mobile

@lostintheflog

www.linkedin.com/in/dziman

Lithosphere Community