The new MINI Countryman just launched thneir first exclusive commercial video. The slogan for their new car: Life is out there. Go live it. And once you have seen the spot you know what mmakes the difference between offline and online.

Reloaded – Personal Web Manager

One of my most popular posts was my vision of the personal web manager. Most of my friends or business cotacts even thought that my next business follows this idea and invitations to next web generation events followed.

And yes, I still think and know from C-level executives that it would solve one of their biggest problems when getting engaged in the social web: Having more time when they need it in the future while staying in contact and up to date in the social web world!

Now the vision of the personal web manager is reloaded. Gina Trapani tries to “work against” the idea in her post Work Smart: Mastering Your Social Media Life with a new solution named “funneling”. And thus, she brings the value of my personal web manager vision back to live. Most comments go against her vision and obviously, I have to disagree as well.

Nevertheless, watch the video and maybe rate her funneling against the personal web manager…

The problem of personal productivity versus being a “perfect” social median remains unsolved. Vision are there, the world wants this problem to be solved and someone will realize the personal web manager business model in the future. Don’t you think?

Is customer-centric business the future?

In the last 12 years, the credo of my business life was “Customer First!”. It surprises and disappoints me when I experience poor customer service. Or when I hear from unhappy friends, colleagues or relatives telling me stories about how companies treat the centre of their business: customers.

Last week, when I was thinking about how to leverage this to a higher level, I came across a modern business strategy vision by Ranjay Gulati, Harvard Business School professor and author of the book “Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business“. In the following video Gulati tells us how to deliver what customers really want.

Reorienting vs. Reorganizing
Ranjay Gulati sees the fundamental changes appropriate for some movement in company processes. Customers have more information, more choices on products while companies are facing global competition. So, businesses have to think about their business (not only marketing or sales efforts!) and how it operates.

Redefining vs. Reinventing
The analysis of the customer base might show that the website is designed for male while the majority of the users might be female. So, we need to ask questions like “Who are my customers?”, “How do my customers shop?”, or “What do they really want?”.

Gulati explains with the latest success of Best Buy how women and men shop. At that point, he also hints to the upsale opportunity of recommendations.

Success for businesses, he believes, comes from “Inside-Out-Perspective”. Companies don’t have to produce everything themselves but need to make the client happy like Apple with the iPhone. 90% of the inputs are not made by Apple. The same occurs to the apps in the Apple store where Apple basically just orchestrates the customers wishes.

“Make this identity shift. I am not here to sell what I produce – I am here to solve a set of customer problems (…) and actually acting on that!”

How to get to a customer-centric business…
1. Shifting mindset: the intention to solve customer problems.
2. Sense of curiosity and humility: the wish to understand your customers.
3. Make a creative leap: the will to understand their needs.
4. Align the elements in the organization: the motivation to live the customer-centric business.

Spot On!
Interested to get your view on this modern business strategy. Let us know what you think about customer-centric business. Or do you think the social web will be leading us towards this business process anyway?

Is e-meeting a trend or the future?

While some signs suggest the economy is stabilizing and the global recession might find an ending, the majority of business travel managers will be looking for alternatives to travel that can be enabled by technology in the future.

A recent survey “2010 Corporate-Travel Spend Plans & Tactics,” conducted by Kotler Marketing Group, in conjunction with the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) provides a detailed analysis of enterprise travel spend plans versus the growing use of electronic alternatives (e.g. web- and video-conferencing) to offset travel.

- 55% of respondents would rely on electronic alternatives more in the future in order to reduce travel expenses.
- More than 40% said their organizations are replacing sales-related travel with conferencing in coming years.
- However, web and video conferencing were not rated as “usually effective” means in accomplishing the goals of their meetings.

Another interesting result of a study by the Palm Springs Desert Resort Communities Convention and Visitors Authority shows that desert hotels lost an estimated $30 million in convention and meetings travel from late 2008 through May.

Now, we might argue and ask the question if executives refrain from going on planes the way they did in the past. And we might ask if spending money for big conferences is ‘out’. So, will department kick-offs with nice trips to the US (or some other interesting places worldwide) be a thing of the past in some years?

Spot On!
Some years ago, one of my partners said: “Can I insert my Miles&More card in our new video conferencing system?” What sounds funny to us has more impact than most of top management members might think. Traveling is a personality statement for a lot of managers. It is also about gestures, mimic, sensual perception, hand-shaking and all that which makes more impression on our business contacts and our deals than some stockholders might think when looking at their shareholder value. Meaning, companies will face a conflict in terms of cost savings and probably embrace the trend of the new technology. Nevertheless, businesses will be trying out alternatives to traveling for meetings with web- or video conferencing. In my opinion meetings need to happen in real life more frequently than online.

Do meetings not have a deeper meaning for business? What is your perception about the effectiveness of these new meeting technologies as travel replacements?

BreakingPoint: Insights in their social media strategy

Yesterday, I was refering to the case study by BreakingPoint to show the impact of social media for lead generation. And I promised to get some feedback from the responsible person at BreakingPoint on how they made these results happen. Kyle Flaherty gave me some insights in BreakiingPoint Systems social media strategy which I am allowed to share with you.

In his eyes, the succes of companies with social media needs to follow a company’s philosophy in a way that “social media should not be a separate entity in the marketing or communications strategy, in fact it must be part of your company DNA if it is to be successful.”

The main question I was asking myself was how they at BreakingPoint organize their social media activities and content production. Kyle told me that it was a long learning curve. Today, he is working with a team of eight bloggers (all highly technical) who fill their Twitter program (nearly 25% of company members are on Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn Groups, corporate blog, etc. And he describes the content production process as follows:

“For our blog it is a very organic process, which I believe works best. I send notes out to potential bloggers each month discussing certain themes and asking if folks are working on anything in particular. This sparks some thoughts around blog posts, which they send my way for editing and SEO. As for LinkedIn, every member is put through a qualification process and given very clear engagement rules for the group. I enforce these from time to time by explaining to people how they should engage, kicking out spammers, etc. I also will go into the group on a daily basis and pose a question to start up conversation and ask particular members to respond in order to facilitate communication.”

The question of people who want to involved in social media is always: What is the overall investment in starting social media activities? Kyle responds that the investment was not massive spendings. Although it has to be said that Kyle managed web development projects for years in his last job which probably saved the company some dollars.

“Two specific areas we spend money when it comes to social media. First is with equipment for podcasts and video, which is an important element of our social media strategy. In 2009 I spent only $2,000 (U.S) for equipment. The other element is our website and the development of a new blog (debuting in February!). This is obviously a more substantial cost, but one we would have done no matter what. In my opinion a good site development, depending on what you are doing, can be done for around $15,000 (note that I managed web dev projects for years in my last job). Otherwise our budget is spent on “traditional” marketing areas such as drip email marketing, events, demand gen, etc. But it is important to note that we integrate social media with each of these elements.“

From a sustainability point of view it is often argued that social media can save money as a positive factor compared to traditional marketing. Kyle tells me that using social media is not a tactic to save money but that the budgets spent follow the same KPI rules of traditional marketing efforts.

“We worry less about saving money and more about making our activities work for us. For example, we map nearly every dollar spent back to sales. If a marketing activity, whether traditional or social media focused, is not brining in sales we do not engage in that activity for much longer.”

Today, 30% of their generated leads are coming from social media activities – and all leads are new contacts.

Kyle Flaherty is Director Marketing and Communications and manages external communications, community relationships and influencer marketing at BreakingPoint. He also blogs on b2b marketing topics on his personal blog Dance with strangers.

2010: Online ROI – a challenge for companies

The solution to the following question is complex: How should companies measure online ROI in future? In times of display, affiliate and search advertising the measure of success has been kept very simple. Page impressions, clicks, leads, sales – that was it. With the evolution of social media the topic of online measurement has become more complex.

In the Pre-Web 2.0 era, there was a formula that has put everything else into the shadows. It was based on the clic. Obviously still many CMOs see this as the crucial measurement factor of their online activities. The click was considered the basis of the digital marketing manifesto.

The formula of the previous online ROI went something like this…

Page impressions and clicks to convert click-through rate that generates leads and ultimately (hopefully) sales.

And this formula also corresponded to the value in the online marketing of cost-per-mile (CMP), cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-lead (CPL), cost-per-sale (CPO). Simple, clear, pragmatic.

Marketers were satisfied, the sales man less (mostly) due to inferior leads and associated fluctuating revenues. There was a lack of transparency. The management is considered to be overstretched. 2010 everything will be different.

In 2009, the main German association for publishers and buyers, the IVW, killed the power of the page impression, the visit is the ‘Golden Surfer’ from now on. An English study by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) is following suit and strengthens the effectiveness of the ’silent click’ and the value of the context.

Moreover Eyeblaster invents, and especially Dean Donaldson promotes this, the Dwell Time. Efficiency measurement of web activity becomes a challenge for companies. And if we take it to the top companies do need an eye-movement study to measure the time-based attention, the way we know it from the print era (similar to copy-test).

Another challenge is that there are numerous social media activities added, and here we are looking for a reliable measurement method to justify the expenses. In Germany the Association of Social Media and Social Media is quickly introducing a new currency: share of voice or share of buzz. A conceptually coherent model , but in practice is questionable in its feasibility, management and marketing relevance. A similar measure as the CTR won’t be found in the social media industry, probably still for a long time. Probably not even 2010…

Let’s illustrate the complexity of measuring social media ROI at a viral campaign, the buzz generated by social media coverage and results. Previously, the click was relevant. It was a unique short-term assessment without measurement of long-term effect. With the ended of the campaign the measurement time was over. Whether the click came from the desired target group of bookers ranked in it’s relevance secondary.

In a viral campaign, however, due to the target-transparency, the question of efficiency measurement is completely different. All these values are quite different in context and only win in their semantic and concluding statement its relevance for the advertiser.

Questions arise such as …

How much time commitment gives the user his social activities and the commitment to the company?
How do I rate detailed comments on blogs, micro-blogs or social networks?
How to evaluate an Re-Tweet in this context?
From whom are the comments and actions coming?
How does buzz spread via this person and to whom?
How relevant is the target audience about the distribution for the advertisers?
How to integrate ratings in the measurement methog on video- or evaluation platforms?
What about the statements that I can not even see, because a front door at Social Networks is obstructing my access to the results?

Without individual-subjective definion of measuring units, each company, every Social Media ROI measurement is worthless, and social media marketing measurement fortiori. The metric must be defined in the relevant context of the desired outcome best possible – in other words the individual needs of the corporate strategy or intention of each social media activity has to be adjusted from case to case. Increase in visits to the website? Generation of Fans or Followers? Couponing on a community? Knowledge on brand confessions obtained? Or actually generate online sales?

Each profile of an active social median, its social graph, in its sustainability and its recommended value of inside and outside “of his” social community has different weight. Determine where the true relevant measurement is the responsibility of the advertiser. At the Webcific I have called the new monetary views as “cost-per-commitment” to provide the relativity of the word in question and to make clear the relevance of the word, but for the future.

Commitment begins with the communication to customers and does not stop when clients order at the company’s shop. However, maintaining the commitment of campaign spending via email or traditional online activities still is essential. As customers loyalty runs outside the social media spheres, too. Defining commitment as a measure of social media may be based different on the company blog than on Facebook or Twitter.

A crucial factor in the social web is always forgotten: Traditional marketing campaigns have a beginning and an end. That’s when Social Web communication starts…

The CPI formula in times of social web might be …

Reach and engagement convert to social activities that lead to multipliers, and (probably generate) revenues from sales.

The future of online ROI measurement should be driven on the basis of how much communication output must a company deliver through a variety of social media, until the customers brand promise is gaining credibility and creates customer communications. This leads to commitment, which I have just referred to as “social activities” that need to be defined. They are the drivers of the talks for the multiplication of messages from the public relations, marketing and sales department.

Spot On!
Measuring the Social Web ROI is a long term process. Metrics from shares, posts, comments, ratings or Tweets replace the old click-metric. For the new metrics remain the web’s property, thanks to social search integration. Communication is dynamic and it may be that the pure bookmark result of yesterday, generates many social activities and conversations tomorrow.
Who dominates social communication that generates brand-vangelist peers (as I always like to call it). From anonymous platforms users become now fans, followers, blog readers and community members. They all have names that are transparent, a huge advantage of today’s web-talks. In the decisive moment, when they start participating in the discussing companies can find important multipliers of the message of a brand or a company, and therefore define important parameters. But companies should remember that communication can take place anywhere and adjust according to their web strategy. This modern weaving culture should incorporate engagement metrics or policies between sales and marketing. Otherwise, the effort of monitoring, measuring, analyzing is worth nothing, and will not meet the result of the challenge of 2010.

News Update – Best of the Day

What happens when you ask SMB’s on their social media usage?. Here is the answer: A report interviewed 1,000 small business owners with fewer than 100 employees and wanted to know their attitudes and marketing plans for 2010. The key findings…

31% don’t use social media because their customers don’t use social media.
29% don’t have the time or staff available to do it properly (a well-know problem)
52% plan to devote more resources to cause marketing in 2010.

H&M finds itself in the social media critics after it came out that they are destroying and discarding clothes that they cannot sell. The official H&M Facebook page is quite successful and has nearly 1.5 mio fans. It will be interesting to see how they react and what social media experts will be telling them to do – and how they are working around this “social media storm”. Here are some tips for companies…

Trying to find a retrospective for 2009 was a challenge. But I finally found this great video by Rob Cottingham, looking back at 2009 in doodles…

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