Hallmark‟s Journey into

Social Media

Experiences and Learnings

LISTENING

J.C. Hall

(1891 - 1982)

Social Media Listening

2000 - launched first consumer community for the purpose of

research.

2005 – pilot w/ Umbria to understand the Hallmark brand in the

social space.

2007 - pilot with Spiral 16 to understand Influential Bloggers.

2009 - major RFP with 8 vendors – find partner for research

and marketing.

2010 - consulted with Ben Smithee; contracted with Collective

Intellect for a look into holidays, ornaments.

1 Hard Question

“Is there a framework we can use to

understand social media data?”

3 “Simple” Questions

1. “Can we use social media sources to get

new product ideas?”

2. “Can we use social media data to create

marketing interventions „in season?‟”

3. “Could we use social media data to help

understand people and their lives?”

Hard Question

“Is there a framework we can use to

understand social media data?”

Discovery

Monitoring

Specific

Topic Open

Search

“Ocean”

of Data

Small “pond”

of data

Ways of approaching the data

Wh

at y

ou

’re

tryi

ng

to a

cco

mp

lish

Brand Reputation

KPI‟s

Understanding people

Uncovering white

space

Topics + dashboard

Social Media

Analysis

Space?

Source: Hallmark CU&I, 2010

Hallmark Social Media “Listening” Activities

Focus

We

Lead

Consumer

Leads

Breadth of Learning

Single

Stakeholder

Multiple

Stakeholders

Listening audit showed that

activities are many and varied

Hallmark

Initiated

Conversation

Consumer

Initiated

Conversation

Breadth of Learning

Single Stakeholder Multiple Stakeholders

Focus of Conversation

9

Dimensions of listening

Feedback is more about

the brand and rational

Discovery is more about the

consumer and emotional

Source: CEB

Listening activities tend to fall

towards feedback and tactical

Source: CEB

Research Landscape

Qualitative Quantitative

Structured Data – it is what we made it

Unstructured Data – it is what it is

Focus

Groups

Communities Ethnography

Observation

PA‟s

Multivariate

Trackers

……

Social Media

Where does social media data play in the research landscape?

3 “Simple” Questions

1. “Can we use social media sources to

get new product ideas?”

2. “Can we use social media data to

create marketing interventions „in

season?‟”

3. “Can we use social media data to help

understand people and their lives?”

What Did We Conclude?

• Getting “New” Product ideas is very hard!

• If you do lots of traditional research and ideation, chances are you’ve heard of thought of everything you will uncover through social media.

Some Thoughts on In-Season

Marketing

• Twitter promotional sweepstakes generated

major spikes in Hallmark Ornament Mentions

• Hallmark Gold Crown store visits emerged as

a conversational theme - how could that be

leveraged?

• Emotional connection to Hallmark brand

ornaments vs. those bought in Wal-Mart or

Target – how could that be leveraged?

• Focus on connecting the troops and their

families – what would that look like?

What Did We Conclude?

• Beware of making any marketing suggestions without having Marketing in the design and analysis discussions!

• Research in social media begins to “rub up against” Marketing and can create friction!

Thoughts Going Forward

What Have We Learned

About Social Media?

• There are new vendors emerging daily in

the social media listening space.

• Most vendors provide the same

capabilities – it is hard to find

differentiation.

What Have We Learned

About Social Media? • Social media data is messy (spam, advertising, porn,

context) and requires significant validation and cleaning – suppliers are getting better and better at this, but it is still an issue.

• Text analysis capabilities vary from vendor to vendor – you have to know what questions to ask to know what you‟re getting.

• Sentiment analysis is about 75-85% accurate (based on external research) and everybody does it at some level. It is of limited value.

• It is difficult to classify individual contributors – but not impossible, and it costs more. This capability is still emerging.

What Have We Learned

About Social Media?

• Clear and specific listening objectives are essential to getting meaningful data and information from listening efforts.

• Social media conversations can be very rich and could support many different aspects of our business.

• Getting meaningful learnings and insights is very time and labor intensive, despite the software tools. There is a learning curve!

Social Media Data is…

- Self-selecting/Opt-in –

- Participants who create social media content

must opt-in or choose to participate.

- They may or may not represent your target

consumer.

- They do not necessarily constitute a “probability

sample” of the population.

- The researcher is not establishing the topic and

controlling the conversation, but rather listening

to whatever is posted.

Social Media Data is…

+ Not recall-based –

– Recall data is known to be the least reliable

source of data.

– Recall is usually the result of some stimulus

(question, prototype) that can affect what the

respondent recalls (due to priming).

• Social media data is less subject to recall

biases and errors, as it usually represents

comments and observations made “in the

moment” or shortly thereafter.

Social Media Data is…

+ Longitudinal and Instance-based –

– Tradtional MR is usually instance-based

feedback/insights, social media research can

represent “flow of life.”

– There is a constant stream, or flow, of social

media data continually being created.

Social Media Data is…

+ Self-recording/Archival –

– Conversations, both public and private, within

the social media environment are archived and

available for others to consume at will.

– Conversations with people in traditional

research methods are recorded, but are

generally only available to permission-based

viewers/listeners.

– This creates an interesting blend of liability and

value to researchers and brands.

• Data Transparency –

• Data Ownership –

• Blurring Boundaries between Research and

Other Divisions –

Paradigm Shifts for the World of

Market Research

• Control of the Environment –

• Blurring of Qualitative and Quantitative –

• Re-thinking Sampling –

• Disproportionate Influence of Respondents

Paradigm Shifts for the World

of Market Research

• Shrinking space between brands and

people.

Social media has “leveled” the playing

field for both consumers and brands.

• Relationships are the Ultimate Sources of

Insights within Social Media –

Paradigm Shifts for the World of

Market Research

Food for Thought

Just as Technology is NOT an Idea, so Social

Media Listening is NOT an Idea! Both are

means to achieving whatever it is we want to

achieve!

Spectrum of Desired Outcomes

Protect the Brand

Understand People‟s Lives

Grow Revenue This Quarter

Resources:

People,

Time, &

Money

Food for Thought

http://www.slideshare.net/CuratingPixels/utilizing-social-media-

to-understand-people

http://bit.ly/UnderstandingPeople

Social Media Research White Paper

QUESTIONS? Tom Brailsford – Hallmark Cards, Inc.

tbrail@hallmark.com

816-274-3989

Presented at:

Market Research in the Mobile World 2nd International Conference | July 19 & 20, 2011 Atlanta

Organized by: Thank you to sponsors:

LinkedIn Group: Mobile MR

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