Everyday Influence

Insights on Brand and Reputation Management

I was recently asked a provocative question: “What experiences or insights have shaped your views on brand and reputation management in today’s business environment?”

This is a great question and the more I thought about it, the clearer the answer(s) became.

1. The first insight reflects the The Changing Role of Influence.

There is a great quote by Gary Hamel who says “Influence is like water. Always flowing somewhere.”  This is very true in today's business enviornment as new sources of influence are forming around our companies and industries at an extremely rapid pace.

I have talked with many marketing and communication leaders over the last two years who are rethinking the design of their programs and organizational structures to understand the changes they need to make to be more effective in an evolving business (influence) environment.  The need to become more relevant and relatable to customers are driving much of the change.

The reality is that traditional marketing and communication platforms and one-to-one relationship models that many of us have built our careers on have been disrupted.  Trust in mainstream media and NGOs (for reputation management) and traditional advertising, digital marketing and mass communication tactics have been challenged by how people want to engage with companies.  Most companies today are not approachable and lack a personality or an image that people can relate to.

It's extremely important to understand how customer expectations and influence has changed in our industries and adapt our structures, programs and mindset to allow for balance both in how we influence and how we are influenced.

2. The second insight extends from The Cultural Impact of Social Media.

As much time as we spend talking amongst ourselves as marketing and communication professionals about the technologies, tools, processes and governance of social media, at the end of the day the problem we face is how we adapt to a new cultural imperative. This is what social media is really about - culture and mindset.

The implications of this are high as success requires humility, authenticity and courage to be open to opposing views and discourse in an effort to make progress.

3. The third insight is associated with Brand Empowerment.

In light of a highly disrupted media industry a strong and compelling case can be made that “Every Company Is a Media Company.”

Tom Foremski has been a champion of this idea for several years.  Tom is a former journalist with the FT and maintains a blog called Silicon Valley Watcher.

The notion of every company is a media company does not suggest that companies are the next CNN or FTs. What it does suggest is that companies now have the ability and in many ways a forced accountability to communicate direct with its key audiences – providing greater reach and more influence than traditional media has ever offered as a primary channel in the past. 

Companies no longer have to be intermediated by traditional media or other organizations as technology has opened up direct channels to reach and engage audiences (to an individual level) in meaningful ways.

4. The forth insight is The Power of Experience.

Joseph Pine III and James Gilmore have famously promoted that we now live in an experience economy . I fully buy into this.

Experience is perhaps the single most important and credible factor that influences any individual or community to take action.  This is very hard to buy.

One's experience (good or bad) is authentic and extremely credible.

In this regard, social media provides profound insights about how people think, feel and act as a result of their experiences with a company, product or service.  This represents the trifecta of insight that we all strive for. To understand how our customers truly think, feel and act is priceless.

In today's enviornment, when there is a crises often times it is “the gap” between the Brand that a company has built and stands for and the actions in its Business that people react to and attack.  I call this the battles of the “B”s.  

If not completely aligned, Brand sits on one end and Business on the other. In the middle is the credibility or experience gap.  The credibility or experience gap is one of the biggest liabilities for companies in this new media and business environment and is why all programs must be strongly linked to managing experience.

 

These are some of the most important insights that have shaped much of my thinking and work. 

From understanding the changing role of influence; to adapting to a new cultural imperative for engagement as a result of social media; to adapting to our role as a media company; with full respect for the power of experience.

My question to you: “What experiences or insights have shaped your views on brand and reputation management in today’s business environment?”

mPowering a Change Generation

On February 8th, the United Nations Foundation, Shell, Tribal Brands and members of the entertainment industry came together to celebrate the launch of mPowering Action, a first-of-its-kind worldwide movement and mobile platform designed to inspire, empower and motivate a generation of global citizens to take positive action in their communities, for their families and for themselves.

The initiative was launched at a star-studded event during Grammy Week in Los Angeles, and featured a special appearance by the platform’s first Producer-In-Residence and super-producer Timbaland as well as performances by actor and singer Justin Timberlake, Avicii, Estelle and Indonesian artist, Agnes Monica who alongside Timbaland made the U.S. debut of the first song in support of the initiative.

A Focus on Global Youth

Today, people under 25 make up 43 percent of the world’s population – in some countries, that  number is as high as 70 percent. This amounts to nearly 4 billion young people living on the brink of the greatest technological advances and human progress while also surrounded by intractable public health epidemics, record jobless rates, outdated education systems and historic pressures on the planet’s resources.

This generation of millennials are social media savvy and eager to help create real-world change, and for the first time in history, technology has the ability to facilitate change in the palm of their hands.

mPowering Action

mPowering Action incentivizes youth to learn and engage through two popular mediums: the universal language of music and the ubiquity of the mobile phone. Bringing together A-list artists from around the world, a mobile application was developed by Tribal Brands that will offer young people everywhere exclusive content from globally recognized artists, as well as athletes and other celebrities, in exchange for a story or personal commitment to take action in one of five issue areas including: Education; Health; Reproductive and Sexual Rights; Energy Scarcity and Resource Management; and Jobs.

Through the mPowering Action mobile application, young people will be able to explore and articulate the issues that are important to them, search a global database of nonprofit organizations to get involved with, find local meetings and/or events that focus on issues relevant to them and connect with like-minded peers throughout the world.  

UN Foundation and Shell – Leading the Way

By working with organizations like the UN Foundation and Shell, mPowering Action aims to invite people into this process, providing a cross-sector approach to mobilizing 100 million young people to address some of the most pertinent development and resource management issues of our time. As part of the launch event, the UN Foundation and Shell (mPowering Action’s lead corporate partner) expressed a call-to-action to the global nonprofit, entertainment and corporate communities to learn more about the initiative and join efforts to help reach billions of youth around the world, encouraging them to take part in creating a better future for themselves and their communities.

For more information about the platform, please visit mPoweringAction and follow the initiative on Facebook and Twitter.

Insights Into The Social Mind

By Don Bulmer, Vanessa DiMauro and Peter Auditore

Social business is dynamically changing the face of human interaction and communications globally. The emergence of new social behaviors and interrelationships between individuals, organizations, thought leaders and influencers are evolving in new and previously unforeseen ways primarily because of social media networks and peer groups.

A disruption is in the making, but this time, human behavior is the driver, not technology. People want and need to get the information they need at the time they desire it, especially from those they consider to be experts. We are returning to the “apple cart” of yesteryear. However, this time around we are armed with digital devices to extend our global ability to talk with the companies and people who inform our decisions.

This paradigm shift is a major communications innovation in all markets, which is radically changing the way people and organizations engage and behave online. There is also a strong link between social networking and what might be called “a new global anthropology” that is developing because of these new behaviors, interactions and interrelationships between cultures enabled through social business.

Over the past three years Vanessa DiMauro, Peter Auditore and myself, all Society for New Communications Research fellows, have embarked on a series of research studies to understand this new and evolving business platform and its impact on social communications and influence.

The New Symbiosis of Professional Networks

The findings and predictions from our most notable study, the New Symbiosis of Professional Networks research conducted three years ago, (2009), identified what we called a Social Media Peer Group, (SMPG) this is essentially a Web 2.0 community of interest around a specific topic and/or business in the course of this treatise we will refer to them as Social Media Networks (SMNs). SMNs, are not always groups of peers, but are enabled by the new social media human computer interfaces and platforms that facilitate easier information sharing and collaboration. And the second New Symbiosis of Professional Networks study (2010) honed in on the changing role of the online influencer and formatively noted the rise of the “crescendo effect” where content creation and curation was being used as credibility builder in online environments.

The Social Mind

The Social Mind research project was designed to explore and understand interrelationships of global communications and how they impact the consumption of information across social media channels and influence flow. Social Mind findings will enable B2B, B2P, B2C or cause marketers to understand the importance and relevance of content - and - its ultimate impact and influence on behaviors, beliefs, decisions and actions. The Social Mind identifies key characteristics and insights into the engagement behaviors of influencers and individuals, and how organizations can maximize reach and influence to execute on what we call the new "Principals of Engagement in the Millennium."

We surveyed more than 400 mostly professional and highly educated people in North America who actively participate in social media networks. And nearly 50% regularly create content through blogging, the other half engage and share/create content in social media networks.

Our findings show that social media networks have evolved into trusted expert communities that are testing the trust that people have in more traditional news and information sources. This is a huge shift in information and influence flow as nearly 65% of the sample base indicated that SMNs and professional networks are more trust worthy than traditional news and information aggregators (again remember that these are highly educated individuals.)

We found a significant shift in information flow: 

• The role of the expert is rising in importance on the social sphere; 
• And the need for expert content is high among content consumers. 
• Journalists are no longer considered the sole authoritative sources, and traditional media is just a leader to let people know what they need to self-educate about on their own. 
• As an alternative to media-fed information, content consumers find greater value in curated content from experts in order to discover the information they need.

We found that professionals spend approximately 40% of their time online interacting in peer -peer communities closely followed by friends (31%) and then family at (13%.) 

• Twitter and blogs are equally important as the company or organizational website which ranked 2nd in importance to Twitter. This in contrast to research from just three years ago where a majority of respondents indicated that websites were the most important source for information, followed in close second by social media channels. 
• Twitter emerged as the most important social network for professional interaction.
• Facebook was “the friend network” where in-person friendships are reinforced and extended, virtually. 
• Email remained the preferred channel for family to interact online.

Summary

The Social Mind research study clearly defines the characteristics and behavior of social media influencers within social media networks that impact the brand, reputation and potentially the sale of products. Organizations that are socially savvy will and are recognizing the value and enhancements that can be derived in the areas of customer service, CRM and customer experience through social media networks. This is becoming a significant competitive advantage for many companies and organizations as social business evolve and grow globally.

In the coming weeks, Vanessa, Peter and I will blog about the research specifics. We will each take the topics that inform our work practices, and together, this blog-ring will offer our perspectives on the outcomes and offer a platform for engagement. So please, follow-on, ask hard questions and discuss with us your ideas about The Social Mind. You can purchase the study here.

Back to the Future: Social Media at Shell

On February 15th, 2012 Shell launched its first globally integrated Facebook page, representing a significant milestone for the company and its commitment to open communication and community engagement.

In many ways, the learnings and experience (in the first 10 weeks) have clarified our viewpoint on what community and social engagement truly means for a company like Shell. I call it our "Back to the Future" insights and learning moments.

The Need to Engage.

Shell's senior management endorsed the company's progressive entry into social media (starting with Facebook) driven by a need to engage with people in a way that reflects the realities of the world that we operate in today.

Energy is a complex industry that affects every person on the planet.

There are many socioeconomic, environmental and geopolitical issues surrounding the energy industry that require a great deal of education and exchange with people of all ages, cultures and in all countries, to progress.

Although Shell was not the first energy company to embrace social media, we have been the fastest growing and are now leading all others by measure of followers. As we enter the tenth week with our Facebook effort, we have surpassed 900,000 followers and are on track to reach 1 million in the first three months.

We are learning daily as to "why" people are following and engaging with us.  The learning and insights have been tremendous.

Back to the Future.

Modern day public or community relations (circa early 1900s) was famously founded and put into practice by Edward L. Bernays, Ivy Lee and other early public relations pioneers.

The principles were rooted in the need for companies and government to engage with citizens and stakeholders in local communities to make progress on very complex social and economic issues that existed in the U.S. at the time.

The many technical and professional innovations introduced to the world in the 100+ years since (e.g. advancements in radio, press release, telephone, television, facsimile, Internet, email, social media, etc.) have increasingly made communication with people and communities easy and scaleable but arguably less personal.

This has tested societal trust in "the message" as the content that many organizations create has become increasingly generic, technical, fragmented and detached (from everyday people) to compensate for the desire to reach the "masses".

Corporate marketing and communication professionals have worked hard to adapt by tapping into the social phenomena of "word-of-mouth".  The fixation to develop strategies to drive influence with and through specialized audiences of consumers, professionals, voters and citizens (from within) have brought about a more purposeful but vulnerable level of engagement. 

Fast Forward.

The recent advancements to communication through social media has, in many ways, taken us right back to where we started over 100 years ago as a profession.

Social media and its implementation through blogs, and robust communities like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (among other social media peer groups) is one of the greatest advancements and innovations to the "new" modern day public and community relations profession. The principles introduced over 100+years remain the same.

Back to Basics.

There are many "back to basics" realities that companies must employ to be successful, today.  Early lessons from our work at Shell reinforce that success (in part) is driven by leadership discipline and conviction to:

• Understand and acknowledge the difference between audiences, influencers and stakeholders and how to communicate with each. There is a big difference between them. Here is a great articulation of the difference. 
• Seek to understand what your general or specific stakeholder audience cares about and adapt your message to relate to them. In doing so, it's important strip away corporate, technical and/or buzz words that often annoy and turn people away. 
• Invest the time and human resources to support constant, active engagement. Simple gestures of responding to someone is sometimes enough to move them from concerned, to informed and to advocate.  We witness this on a regular basis. 
• Minimize the complexity of your organizational structure in how you represent yourself to the world. The general public does not see you for how you're organized, rather they see you for your behavior (past and present) and the impact and value that your products and services provide to them. 
• Provide simple and easy ways for people learn and experience (or share experiences) with your brand. 
• Create shareable moments, experiences, view points and insights associated with your brand (products and services) that allow people to engage and develop informed viewpoints. The shareable moments should be visual and allow people to be informed and inform their own perspectives. 
• Don't be afraid of controversy or adverse view points from the public. Trust and progress happen when you accept contrary viewpoints and adapt or take action accordingly.

These are just a few of the lessons we have used to guide the design of Shell's social media strategy to build and sustain a community of followers (not just "fans"). We are constantly learning, testing and adapting the content and practices to increase informed view points (two-way) and build authentic advocacy, loyalty and social-economic results.

New Perspectives and Research on The Social Mind

Numerous research studies have shown that people don’t want to be marketed to in social media.

However, in business, many brands seek to build robust fan bases in both large and specialized on-line communities to support marketing, sales, advocacy and influence efforts. 

Some companies use gimmicks and creative offers to attract "fans" - which is more about marketing tactics than a desire to build relationships or loyalty.  Other companies use compelling information to add value to people based on issues, concerns or topics that they care about. 

The latter is something that I relate to.  

The value of communities like facebook (for me personally) is the ability to build and maintain relationships and stay informed about "what's happening" in the lives of friends, family, colleagues and even companies or causes that are important to me. It’s through these relationships that I learn, engage and share information about issues, news and events.  It’s an important and influential channel for me.

Build it and they will come.

There's a very profound and fascinating notion that information (if important or relevant) will find you through your network.

I was exposed to this idea when my boss shared a conversation that he recently had with his teenage son where he suggested (to his son) that he should read more newspapers.  The response that my boss received was "if information or news is important, it will find me."  My bosses initial reaction was "well, that's arrogant" but then realized that it makes a lot of sense...and it does.  His son has been brought up in an era where people are so connected (through devices and social media) that information and news is circulated, filtered and curated in a way that if relevant it will indeed "find" you. 

This speaks to an important dimension of social media and trust that extends from our relationships. It's something that most people often forget in a business context when looking to adapt to managing communication and business in a new world.  People are inherently influenced by others in their network and to information/things that they can relate to.

The Social Mind Research Study.

Without a doubt, interrelationships between individuals, organizations, thought leaders and influencers are evolving in new and previously unforeseen ways. This shift represents a major communications innovation in all markets, and is radically changing the way people and organizations engage and behave on-line.

In order to explore this topic Vanessa DiMauro, Peter Auditore and I are conducting a new study called The Social Mind as part of our fellowship with The Society of New Communications Research (SNCR) .   

The Social Mind research project is designed to explore and understand these interrelationships and how they impact the consumption of information across social media channels and influence flow. Our hope is that the findings of the Social Mind research will enable B2B, B2P, B2C or Cause marketers to understand the importance and relevance of content - and - its ultimate impact and influence on behaviors, beliefs, decisions and actions.

To this end, we are endeavoring to identify key characteristics and insights into the engagement behaviors of individuals and how organizations can maximize reach and influence to execute on what we call the new Principals of Engagement In the Millennium. 

We invite you to participate in this study by taking a brief survey.  We will share the full results of the research with all who respond. We also invite you to forward the survey to a peer, retweet it, G+ it or share it however you see fit.  This is an open study intended to bring full value back to all who respond.

Thank you very much for supporting The Social Mind research project!

About SNCR.

Through The Society of New Communication Research (SNCR), we are endeavoring to contribute to the industry learning and best practices with much needed research data. 

We are a group of researchers and practitioners who come together to help further the understanding and best practices of social media, social business and social influence.  We volunteer our time to further the industry and help raise awareness of social media function in business and society.

Theory of Relate(ivity) - Part One

At the end of the day, it’s relationships that matter most.  Right?

Be it in business, in one’s personal life, politics, or otherwise - the best relationships (when managed well) keep you grounded and honest.  They offer learning experiences.  They are influential and provide support in unusual ways that overtime can sustain even the toughest of challenges.

Casual, social, formal or personal – the connections that people make start with how they relate to one another or to a cause, an issue, a religion, a culture, a belief, a principle or even to a company.

Seven billion actions.

I've had many great learning experiences over the past year but none greater than my role as an adviser to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). 

In February, I was part of a small group of professionals invited to help the UNFPA develop a communication campaign that would raise awareness and inspire people to take action around the many issues associated with global population reaching the staggering milestone of seven billion people. 

As outlined in a previous post, seven billion is a big number. It's a number that most people simply can't grasp nor relate to.

In population terms, however, there are many harsh realities that impact people in one form or another - every day.  These realities concern employment, health, safety, adequate and affordable access to education, energy, food, water and housing (among other things).

The campaign is called 7 Billion Actions and is driven by a desire to engage people, corporations and governments in a movement to address issues of humanity. To support this, we developed an environment that would be educational and allow people to share their individual stories, challenges, feelings and commitments to take action on issues - at a local and global level. 

Through combining education and the shared experiences of others, we felt that we could indeed inspire a movement that would bring with it positive change.  Once people relate to an issue on an emotional, intellectual and experiential level - amazing things can happen.  Further to this, when people can see the possibilities and the benefits of change - the power of "relate" can be transformative.

The use of social media is significant in this campaign.

Since world population reached seven billion on the ceremonial day of October 31st, the community developed on facebook has grown to 11,600 people (increasing by hundreds per day) and more than 630 stories from people around the world have been shared and hundreds of blogs and stories from mainstream media have been produced.  Many corporations, media companies and NGOs are also supporting the effort in direct and meaningful ways.

Although it’s too early to declare success of the campaign in creating a movement, the early signs are inspiring.  As population will continue to grow at an extremely high rate, the cadence of this campaign and the issues associated with it will continue to be important for months and years to come.

The lessons of this experience have been incredibly clarifying to me.

A Social Movement for Seven Billion People

In February of this year I was invited to participate in a workshop at Columbia University School of Journalism in support of the the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The UNFPA is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programs to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

The workshop brought together 40+ communication and social media experts and thought leaders from several companies (across industry segments), NGOs, media firms, agencies, and academia. The workshop was organized to help the UNFPA brainstorm a communication and social media strategy to raise awareness and action around the many issues associated with global population.

On October 31st, 2011 the planet will reach a milestone of seven billion people.

A big number

Seven billion is a big number. It's a number that most people simply can't grasp. However, in population terms, it represents many harsh realities that affect people every day.

 

Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, the newly appointed Executive Director of the UNFPA hosted the workshop and put forth a challenge to the group to devise a collective strategy that would support the UNFPA in its mission to accelerate education around the issues associated with population AND to inspire a global movement that would invite people, corporations and governments alike to take action (in meaningful ways) to address the very serious human and societal issues associated with the population reaching this milestone.

Given the make-up of the group, social media, internet and technology enabled communication and influence strategies were at the core of the plan.

Social media's role in influencing behavior

Social media (as I have written before) is an extremely powerful and influential medium for people to express emotion (how I feel) context (where I am/what I am doing) and experience (what I did/what I will do as a result of) - instantly and with amazing global reach.

There are numerous examples of recent events where social media (via services like facebook, twitter, youtube, etc) have been central in supporting efforts to mobilize people to establish powerful 'flash' movements.

Central to creating these movements are igniting the emotional and intellectual spirit of people in communities (in all sizes) focused on a single mission to create change.

The power of storytelling and shared experiences

Again, it's difficult for many people to grasp the significance and impact of seven billion people on the planet. It certainly was for me.

Throughout the workshop, Dr. Babatunde and others shared powerful stories of their experiences with issues like infant mortality, women's health, impact on the aging population, education, disease, climate and environment, etc. It was through the stories shared both visually and verbally that people in the room were able to 'collectively' understand the issues and implications of population - intellectually and emotionally.

The emotional connection became powerful as people in the room were able to relate and connect their own life experiences to what was shared. This was the start of creating a movement in the room!

As an example:

• We all have (or had) grandparents or aging relatives and have witnessed the affects and special needs associated with aging to maintain health.
• Those who have children (biological or adopted) have been exposed in one form or another to infants/children with special needs where without proper care...mortality is impacted.
• Many people have family members or friends who are suffering or have suffered from diseases such as cancer, aids, malaria, etc.
• We witness daily the peculiar patterns in climate due to pollution and inefficiencies in energy use.
• Many people have witnessed firsthand the nature of poverty on a global level.
• The list goes on.

Seven Billion Actions for Seven Billion People

After 2 1/2 days of amazing brainstorming and work, the group resolved that success in supporting Dr. Babatunde's challenge would come from a keen focus on organizing a campaign and movement on the importance for a 'recommitment to humanity.'

The global campaign outlined during the workshop is "Seven Billion Actions for Seven Billion People." And boy has it taken great shape since then!  The campaign will launch formally, in July.

The goal of this effort is reach and involve many of the 2+ billion people who have access to the Internet via computers and the 4+ billion people who have access to the Internet or basic communication via mobile phones - around the world.

Through focused social and mainstream media and influencer engagement, the intent is to generate massive education about the issues associated with population growth and offer a platform for people to share their individual experiences (making an emotional connection) that inspire others to take action. 

The actions will be unique to what each individual or corporation is able to do, such as: donations, volunteerism, advocacy for policy change, education of issues, etc.

The founding organizations and companies supporting the effort include National Geographic, IBM, SAP (my former employer), Facebook, Thompson-Reuters, Deutsche Telekom, foursquare, blogtalkradio, Google, Edelman, and Mars - to name a few.  Celebrities such as Alicia Keys and Shakira (via their foundations) are also onboard as are NGOs such as idealist, Wikimedia Foundation and Jumo.

A call to action for the private sector

Coming from the private sector, I appreciate the critical importance for corporations to universally get involved (particularly those companies with global concerns).

Uneducated, unhealthy, impoverished and resource stricken communities or countries offer little to no prospect for economic growth. Corporations offer abundant and unique resources to support this movement for positive social change and economic benefit.

The ability for companies to mobilize and empower employees (within their respective communities) to become active in issues through volunteerism and also through corporate donation of innovative technology and services, and investment in education systems are among the ways companies can get involved. It's called doing good while doing good business! IBM has already set an early example!

This is something that has largely been viewed as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within many companies, which will quickly become a core tenant of corporate strategy as the world becomes increasingly interconnected.

Based on 2006 numbers, Fortune 500 companies employ (collectively) over 25 million people and generate 9.1 trillion dollars in revenue - operating in 200+ countries. Harnessing just one percent of these resources (alone) is enough to spawn an amazing movement of change. 

My commitment

As a core member of the UNFPA task force for this campaign, I have personally committed my expertise and position of influence at my company(s) to commit significant resources (at SAP and soon to be Royal Dutch Shell) to the effort.  I have also tapped the nonprofit organizations that I am affiliated with - The Churchill Club and the The Society for New Communication Research to commit great support. This is a very small part in the bigger picture...and an even smaller part of what is truly needed.

I invite you to spend 10 min to learn about the issues at www.7billionactions.org and how you can support individually and/or through your company or organization.

The campaign will launch in July of this year. Through the remainder of 2011 and 2012, a powerful cadence of high-profile activity will hopefully create a groundswell of viral support from the 6+ billion 'connected' people around the world.  The isues are real and the time to (re)Commit to Humanity is now!

You are one of seven billion. How will you commit yourself to humanity?

 

Influencers to Brand Advocates

I had the great opportunity to participate in a panel discussion this morning, hosted by BrightTALK in coordination with Think Influence. 

BrightTALK is a San Francisco-based company that specializes in providing online events for professionals and their communities. Think Influence is a grassroots community of peers (across industries) focused on the exchange of ideas and best practices on the role of influence in business.

The panel discussion was focused on the topic of 'influence' with particular focus on what influence is and how to identify, create and harness it in a world heavily dominated by all things social (social media, social networks, and social business).

The panelists included:

• Don Bulmer (me), Vice President of Global Communications, SAP AG
• Guy Kawasaki, Co-founder, Alltop
• Michael Fauscette, Group Vice President, Software Business Solutions, IDC
• Moderated by Barbara French, Senior Director of Analyst Relations at Juniper Networks & Co-founder Think Influence

Many thanks to Barbara French and Morgan Cantrell at BrightTALK for organizing and hosting the  panel and breakfast reception.  Below is a full video replay of the discussion (60 min).

 

Research Findings Highlight the Evolution of Social Business

I am proud to release the results of the 2nd annual New Symbiosis of Professional Networks research study by The Society for New Communications Research (SNCR); a benchmark on the impact of social media on enterprise decision-making.

The study is a result of collaboration between me and Vanessa DiMauro as part of our fellowship with SNCR.  My colleague at SAP and Senior Fellow at SNCR, Peter Auditore, also contributed to the analysis.

In the first study we focused on professionals’ use of social media—and it all comes back to the strength of the relationship. Human relationships and peer-to-peer decision-making are inherently interrelated.  Professional networks facilitate vast interactions, connections, and networks of people by enabling collaboration anywhere and at any time. 

Communities of practice, professional networks, social media, email, and SMS are among the tools that enable multi-channel access for individuals (employees, customers, partners, and suppliers).

In this second study, we further examined the role of social media on decision-making among enterprise users and explored the dynamics of trust as well as the value of engagement and collaboration to support decision making and innovation across company operations for internal and external purposes.

Specifically, we sought to explore the following questions:

• Is social media regarded as a trustworthy source of information for professionals? 
• What do enterprise decision makers value most when interacting with peers through social media and social networks?
• How do enterprise decision makers use social media to gather information, advice and support peer collaboration; and how do they compare to traditional off-line networking and knowledge share?
• What tools and sources of social media are relied upon by professionals to make decisions?
• Will social media change the business and practice of enterprise-level operations (internal and external)?
• How do business leaders use social media for customer engagement/support; innovation of products and service; employee engagement; strategy development; sales and marketing?
• What has changed since 2009 in terms of social media usage and trust among professional decision-makers?

The study was supported by quantitative data gathered via online survey of 114 professionals to understand their perceptions and experiences with social media in support of their decision-making.

Key demographics of the research:

• Close to two in ten (18%) respondents identified themselves as the CEO of their organization, with close to half identifying themselves as a “Director” (20%) or “Manager” (24%).
• Company size ranged from less than 100 to over 50,000 full-time employees.
• Age was well distributed with the greatest proportion in the 36-45 range.
• 10 countries were represented, with 76% of respondents living in the US.
• All respondents were either the decision makers or influenced the decision maker.

Below are key findings of the research.  A presentation of the detailed findings can be found here.

Four key findings from the research include:

Open Registration for Think Influence Panel: Influencers to Advocates

I am very happy to be part of a dynamic panel of marketing experts and thought leaders, gathering in San Francisco on March 17th, for an active discussion about influence and advocacy in a world of social business.   

The panel is a joint production between BrightTALK and Think Influence. 

BrightTALK is a company that provides online events for professionals and their communities. Think Influence is a grassroots community of peers (across industries) focused on the exchange of ideas and best practices on the role of influence in business.

Barbara French is the inspiration behind the Think Influence community of which I am fortunate to be a founding member.

Below are details about the panel and how to register.

WHAT: Social media has enabled business professionals to quickly grow large spheres of influence in targeted industries. These power users hold the key for marketers trying to gain access to their niche audiences. The question is how to identify who the key B2B influencers are, how do you rise above the noise to capture their attention, and how do you encourage them to become advocates for your brand.

 

WHEN: March 17, 2011, 8:00-8:45am PDT. Also available for replay.

PARTICIPATE: Participate from anywhere, by watching the live streamed video webcast and posting questions/comments via Twitter. Or watch the replay. Register at http://www.brighttalk.com/r/kZS

Attend onsite in the panel audience or for a breakfast reception afterwards with the panelists. By invitation only. Space is limited. Join theThink Influence group on LinkedIn to request an invitation.

PANELISTS:

• Don Bulmer, Vice President of Global Communications, SAP AG
• Guy Kawasaki, Co-founder, Alltop
• Michael Fauscette, Group Vice President, Software Business Solutions, IDC
• Moderated by Barbara French, President & Managing Editor, Tekrati & Co-founder Think Influence

COST: Free, however registration is required for the live webcast and replays. Onsite event is by invitation only.

SPONSORSHIPS: Contact Barbara French for info on sponsoring Think Influence events. Contact BrightTALK for sponsoring their Social Media Marketing Summit.

ABOUT: This event is a joint production of Think Influence and BrightTALK. Think Influence is a grassroots community of peers discussing the role of influence in business.