Everyday Influence

Effective Customer Engagement in a Social World - A New Mandate

This is the seventh in a series of posts that Vanessa DiMauro and I have recently published highlighting the more significant findings and excerpts from a forthcoming report based on the The New Symbiosis of Professional Networks study that we conducted as part of our fellowship with The Society for New Communications Research.  Please visit both Vanessa's and my blog regularly for the latest analysis.

"In one’s professional life it becomes even more important to get endorsements or positive user reviews when making a work decision because it is usually a huge ticket item and your credibility relies on it, your job relies on it."  - This quote is from a social media executive at a Fortune 10 company.

Professional networks and business focused on-line communities are quickly becoming a new strategic mandate for many professionals and companies selling in a Business-to-Business environment.  As discussed in previous posts, it has long been known as truth that peer endorsement is the single greatest decision-making accelerant.  Through social media, peer influence cycles are happening at a velocity never before seen, and in many ways, companies are losing the ability to control their messages and their 'sales cycle.'  Decision making is clearly becoming more social.

Effective customer relationships are the core to any successful organization and the strength of any organization is largely dependent upon the company’s ability to deliver the right products and services to its customers in a timely way. Knowing what the customer wants and understanding their current and future needs is paramount to increasing revenue and exceeding customer expectations. Communities provide a prime opportunity for organizations to get to know their customers more intimately and keep the finger on the pulse of their needs and behaviors. The time is now for companies to embrace communities to help them serve their clients better, faster, and in more cost-efficient ways. Through the use of professional networks companies now have an opportunity to forge a dialog with their customers actively throughout the lifecycle -- not just at the point of sale -- to learn what they like and don’t like about a product or service.

There is nothing more dangerous to an organization’s lifeblood than a group of dissatisfied customers. Yet, often times, an organization may not even be aware of clients’ issues until they have incurred reputation damage or a trending loss in revenue. By cultivating meaningful relationships on-line, product development leaders can work with clients to share road-maps and plans -- and to get early input from the people who would be their buyers at a later stage. Marketing can learn what messages are most effective with their constituents and have greater opportunities to educate and inform the customer, not just with shiny white-papers and marketing newsletters but by bringing them into the discussion and process of product and content co-creation. Professional networks also offer opportunities to make heroes out of users, enabling them to share best practice and learn first hand from each other. This is especially effective with enterprise level support when the key buyer is a C-level executive: information sharing could result in strategic growth opportunities for all involved.

In the New Symbiosis of Professional Networks research, we found that many professionals have shown a strong increase in trust and reliance on their professional networks to support their decision making over the last three years.

Through the use of professional networks and on-line communities, decision-makers are connecting and collaborating with peers, experts and colleagues far and wide in an on demand environment, about the issues that keep them up at night.  The impact of these far-reaching business networks is becoming clearer every day as millions of consumers, partners, suppliers and businesses discuss and share their professional experiences with each other with increasing levels of trust and reliance. 

For many companies, a behavior change is required to effectively engage with customers through a Social Media Peer Group setting - dominated by valuable content and genuine contributions, transparent honesty and a commitment to follow where the decision-maker wants to lead. 

One unique finding from the interviews associated with our research was the ways in which professionals used on-line networks to establish or reinforce professional and corporate credibility.  Different social networking tools are used by the sophisticated on-line collaborator to determine various information sets. For example, many commented that LinkedIn is the place to look to reveal someone’s professional background corporate and social affiliations – who are they and where have they been in their professional life. Meanwhile, industry specific on-line communities were frequently cited as the place to learn about what someone or a company thinks – what is their thought leadership footprint or platform?  And, finally, Twitter was often cited as an exemplar place to learn about who a person or company is. What do they stand for? How are they really like as a person or company to work with? 

No longer do companies need to guess what the decision-makers want, or engage twice-removed customer research projects to find out what the customer thinks.  In trusted on-line environments where audience is vetted and the rules of engagement are clear, as is the case with most professional networks and on-line communities for business, companies have an opportunity to make informed decisions for the future- collaboratively with the constituents that matter the most to them.  The implementation of collaborative influence strategies designed to interact with customers and prospects will find better results in using social networks to effectively build brand experience, opportunities for innovation and sales opportunities.

High Expectations for Increased Use of Social Media Within Companies!

This is the fifth in a series of posts that Vanessa DiMauro and I will publish over the next few weeks, highlighting the more significant findings from The New Symbiosis of Professional Networks study that we recently conducted as part of our fellowship with The Society for New Communications Research.  Please visit both Vanessa's and my blog regularly for the latest analysis.

“We use social networking tools to build internal peer groups and social communities to maintain a level of engagement with and among employees. As companies look to reduce operations costs in travel and operations it is important to improve employee community and engagement.  We use wikis, collaborative technologies effectively for this.”

The above quote came from an interview with a senior executive from the IT industry that we conducted as part of the New Symbiosis of Professional Networks study.

Through the New Symbiosis of Professional Networks research we explored the expectations that professionals have for the use of internal social media tools within their companies to increase over the next two years.  We identified a clear expectation that social media tools (formal or informal) will see increased adoption with more than half of respondents expecting their companies to increase social media use to share more content and do more company-wide communications over the next 1-2 years. Less than one in ten respondents expect to see no increase in their company’s internal use of social media tools.

Not surprisingly, we found that those respondents with more networks are more likely to predict a number of changes. They believe that their company will increase its use of social media for forums and discussion use, greater competitive intelligence, as a replacement for email, and for more content-sharing.

In what ways do you see your company’s use of internal social media tools increasing over the next  1-2 years? (select all that apply)

N=356

Finally, our research suggests that many professionals are collaborating more outside of their organizations (as a result of social media) than within their organizations. 

This is a significant and sad realization for many companies and executives who do not fully understand nor appreciate the value that can be derived via the adoption of social media tools and strategies - for internal use.  Companies would be wise to embrace the desire and expectations by their employees to collaborate by implementing social media tools for internal (behind the firewall) purposes to enable greater connection between employees; encourage sharing of practices and experiences; and streamline communication. 

The complete findings of the research can be found here.

The methodology for this study involved a mixed methods approach supported by quantitative data gathered via online survey of 356 professionals to understand their perceptions and experiences with social media in support of their decision-making. Select interviews of 12 professionals were also conducted using a semi-structured interview guide as part of the second phase of the study. Key demographics of the research include:

• Close to a quarter (23%) of respondents identified themselves as CEO of their organization; 50% as “Director” (24%) “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
• 25 countries were represented, with 58% of respondents living in the US
• All respondents were either the decision makers or influenced the decision process within their company or business unit

Mobile Is Emerging As A Frequent Professional Networking Access Point

This is the third in a series of posts that Vanessa DiMauro and I will publish over the next few weeks, highlighting the more significant findings from The New Symbiosis of Professional Networks study that we recently conducted as part of our fellowship with The Society for New Communications Research.  Please visit both Vanessa's and my blog regularly for the latest analysis.

The convergence of the Internet, Web 2.0 and mobile technologies has taken significant shape over the last 18 months as people increasingly rely on 24x7 (anywhere) access to information, relationships and networks - around the world.

In today’s global environment of a vast network of seamlessly connected devices (one billion people connected to internet and 4 billion mobile phones) information has the capacity to travel at a business velocity never before seen. 400+ million people are sharing billions of pieces of content and experiences each week through online exchanges.  Communities of practice, professional networks, e-mail, SMS are the sort of tools that enable multi channel access for individuals (employees, customers, partners and suppliers).  We are finally a part of the long-promised global virtual and collaborative work environment.

As smart phone technology, wireless bandwidth and mobile applications evolve, the impact on social and professional networking will be dramatic.  Decision making has indeed become social. Add the ability to seamlessly integrate commerce into these technologies and devices and we have yet another dimension in the shift to a new form of collaborative consumer and professional buying experience.  How will companies, marketing and communication professionals adapt?

Here is a great illustration about the history and convergence of these powerful technologies, offered by Stanford University

Taking a step back to where we are today.  In looking at just one of the top social networking sites (Facebook) along with the adoption trends of mobile technologies and mobile applications, you see that consumer behaviors are beginning to evolve to a point where the shift to this new world is quickly becoming a reality.  Anecdotally, I recently lost my smart phone and felt as if I had lost my identity.  It was worse than loosing my wallet.  I had to cancel the service to the phone and change all of the passwords to my social networks and subscriptions to informational sites that were connected to the device.  It left me feeling quite exposed and made me realize how firmly engaged and dependent I already am in this new world.

• Facebook reports that more than 65 million of their active users access Facebook through their mobile devices and suggests that those who use Facebook on their mobile devices are almost 50% more active than non-mobile users. Interestingly, Facebook also reports that 180+ mobile operators in 60 countries are currently working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products, in their local markets.

• A view into the recent figures on the sale of smart phones also paints a picture of rapid adoption of these powerful and enabling devices. According to analysts, Canalys, Nokia holds the leading position with 16.4m units shipped in Q3 2009, giving them a share of 39.7% of the global smart phone market. RIM’s Blackberry shipped 8.5m in the same period taking a 20.6% share and Apple’s iPhone shipped 7.4m taking third place at 17.8%. HTC were forth with 2.2m phones.

• Finally, according to Apple, over 2 billion iPhone applications have been downloaded to-date (one billion downloads from April-October 2009).  There are currently 186 social networking specific applications for iPhone and growing.

Add to these trends what technology giants like Google, Microsoft, Apple and Nokia are doing to accelerate how consumers access information, social and collaborative networks, and engage in commerce through mobile devices...and the future is not too far away.  The impact of this on marketing and communication professionals is significant.  Are we ready?

Based on our research we found that:

• Essentially all respondents from The New Symbiosis of Professional Networks study access social networks on a PC or Mac
• Close to half also access social networks using a mobile device
• Those who use multiple networks are more likely to access them using mobile device
• Younger respondents are also more likely than older respondents to indicate that they access networks through a mobile device

What devices do you  typically use to access social networks? (check all that apply)

N=356

The complete findings of the research can be found here.

Please visit Vanessa's blog tomorrow where she will discuss findings and data that suggest a mismatch between what professionals want when it comes to engaging in social media peer groups and what marketing endeavors to do!

The methodology for this study involved a mixed methods approach supported by quantitative data gathered via online survey of 356 professionals to understand their perceptions and experiences with social media in support of their decision-making. Select interviews of 12 professionals were also conducted using a semi-structured interview guide as part of the second phase of the study. Key demographics of the research include:

• Close to a quarter (23%) of respondents identified themselves as CEO of their organization; 50% as “Director” (24%) “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
• 25 countries were represented, with 58% of respondents living in the US
• All respondents were either the decision makers or influenced the decision process within their company or business unit

The Big Three Social Networks Have Emerged as Professional Networks: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter

This is the first in a series of posts that Vanessa DiMauro and I will publish over the next few weeks, highlighting the more significant findings from The New Symbiosis of Professional Networks study that we recently conducted as part of our fellowship with The Society for New Communications Research.  Please visit both Vanessa's and my blog regularly for latest analysis.

The emergence and dominance of the popular Internet sites LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have taken shape as vibrant professional networks of mass “individuals” sharing experiences and collaborating around personal and professional issues, ideas, and interests.

These “networks of people” or Social Media Peer Groups (SMPG) as we have defined them are changing the dynamics of social and professional influence.

• More than nine in ten respondents form the New Symbiosis of Professional Networks research study indicated that they use LinkedIn and half reported using Facebook
• Interestingly, Twitter and blogs were frequently listed as ‘professional networks’
• Hundreds of other networks were mentioned, many by only one or two respondents

Note: N = 356. Respondents were asked to fill in top 5 professional networks

An overview of key membership and usage statistics of the top three networks provide an interesting picture of growth that supports these findings. 

• LinkedIn: LinkedIn has approximately 50 million users worldwide in 200 countries. The membership on LinkedIn is growing at roughly one new member per second. When LinkedIn launched in 2003, it took 477 days, almost a year and four months to reach the first million members. The last million took only 12 days. Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.
• Facebook: Facebook has over 300 million members with 150 million that log in at least once per day. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook are 35 years and older and according to Facebook more than 2 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared across the network, each week.
• Twitter: Twitter has more than 32 million members with the segment of 45-54 year olds being the top demographic and 25-34 year olds following closely behind at second. It has been found in other studies that baby boomers and senior citizens are more likely to join Twitter than their grandchildren.

The remaining group of professional networks identified by respondents in the study identified 100s of more specialized networks associated with role and function (e.g. CIO, CMO and developer communities); industry associations; and multimedia groups that have formed around sites like YouTube.

"I find that I will network offline at events and meetings where I establish connection with many people and I use online tools to follow up and maintain connect.  I may meet 20 or so people at an event and then immediately then put them into Plaxo or LinkedIn to keep and maintain connection.  I try to maintain my status and activity regularly to keep engaged and keep people informed."

The above quote came from an interview with a senior executive from the IT industry that we conducted as part of the New Symbiosis of Professional Networks study.

How do you use social networks to inform or support your decision making?

The methodology for this study involved a mixed methods approach supported by quantitative data gathered via online survey of 356 professionals to understand their perceptions and experiences with social media in support of their decision-making. Select interviews of 12 professionals were also conducted using a semi-structured interview guide as part of the second phase of the study. Key demographics of the research include:

• Close to a quarter (23%) of respondents identified themselves as CEO of their organization; 50% as “Director” (24%) “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
• 25 countries were represented, with 58% of respondents living in the US
• All respondents were either the decision makers or influenced the decision process within their company or business unit

SNCR Research Reveals Social Media’s Impact on Business and Decision Making

The results are in!

I am thrilled to share key findings from research that Vanessa DiMauro and I conducted over the summer called The New Symbiosis of Professional Networks.  The research was conducted as part of our 2009 fellowship with the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR). 

As introduced in a previous post, a great deal of attention and research has been devoted over the last few years to evangelizing social media as a new form of customer-centric relationship building.  Build a network or use social media to deepen customer intimacy has become the mantra of today.  However, what is often overlooked is the impact of social media to change behaviors, and the potential to use social media to impact a professional’s decision-making processes. While everyone is endeavoring to capture the mindshare of the buyer, few understand what success truly looks like.

In an effort to better understand the impact of social media on business, we conducted research (as a first step) to examine the role that social media has on decision-making among business professionals.  Specifically, we sought to understand the following:

• Is social media typically regarded as a trustworthy source of information for professionals?
• Does social media offer effective tools to access information, advice and engage in professional collaboration? How do they compare to traditional off-line networking?
• What are the tools and sources of social media that professionals rely on to make decisions?
• Will social media change the business and practice of enterprise-level operations?

The methodology for this study involved a mixed methods approach supported by quantitative data gathered via online survey of 356 professionals to understand their perceptions and experiences with social media in support of their decision-making. Select interviews of 12 professionals were also conducted using a semi-structured interview guide as part of the second phase of the study. 
Key demographics of the research include:

• Close to a quarter (23%) of respondents identified themselves as CEO of their organization; 50% as “Director” (24%) “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
• 25 countries were represented, with 58% of respondents living in the US
• All respondents were either the decision makers or influenced the decision process within their company or business unit

Below are key findings and an executive summary of the research.  The full report will be available over the coming weeks through SNCR.  A presentation of results with detailed charts are available on the SNCR website, now (located halfway down the page).

Six Key Findings From The Research Include:

1.  Professional decision-making is becoming more social - enter the era of Social Media Peer Groups (SMPG)

• Traditional influence cycles are being disrupted by Social Media as decision makers utilize social networks to inform and validate decisions
• Professionals want to be collaborative in the decision-cycle but not be marketed or sold to online; however online marketing is a preferred activity by companies.

2.  The big three have emerged as leading professional networks: LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter

• The average professional belongs to 3-5 online networks for business use, and LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are among the top used.
• The convergence of Internet, mobile, and social media has taken significant shape as professionals rely on anywhere access to information, relationships and networks

3.  Professional networks are emerging as decision-support tools

• Decision-makers are broadening reach to gather information especially among active users

4.  Professionals trust online information almost as much as information gotten from in-person

• Information obtained from offline networks still have highest levels of trust with slight advantage over online (offline: 92% - combined strongly/somewhat trust; online: 83% combined strongly/somewhat trust)

5.  Reliance on web-based professional networks and online communities has increased significantly over the past 3 years

• Three quarters of respondents rely on professional networks to support business decisions
• Reliance has increased for essentially all respondents over the past three years

6.  Social Media use patterns are not pre-determined by age or organizational affiliation

• Younger (20-35) and older professionals (55+) are more active users of social tools than middle aged professionals.
• There are more people collaborating outside their company wall than within their organizational intranet

Executive Summary of the The New Symbiosis of Professional Networks Report:

The convergence of the Internet, Web 2.0 and mobile technologies has created a disruptive shift in business.  The era of Business-to-Person (B2P) communications driven by all things social (social media, social networks, and social influence) has emerged as a new model for engagement and Social Media Peer Groups (SMPG) have evolved to take important and influential shape in a new business and economic environment.

This shift has disintermediated many long-standing marketing, communications and selling beliefs that have traditionally guided how companies interact, support and collaborate with their customers.  We now work in an environment where companies have diminished control over the reputation of their brands, products and services as the wisdom of crowds increasingly dictate the rules of reputation management and selling.  Through the use of social media, customers and prospects now have an almost instantaneous platform for discussion of their ideas, experiences and knowledge.  Increasingly, the use of social media is playing an important role in the professional lives of decision-makers as they utilize the tools and mediums before them to engage their decision-making processes.  The social nature of decision making has increased with impressive strength connecting generations of professionals to each other - changing the dynamics of customer relationship management, marketing and communications, forever. 

In today’s global environment of a vast network of seamlessly connected devices (one billion people connected to internet and 4 billion mobile phones) information has the capacity to travel at a business velocity never before seen.  400+ million people are sharing billions of pieces of content and experiences each week through the online exchanges.  Communities of practice, professional networks, e-mail, SMS are the sort of tools that enable multi channel access for individuals (employees, customers, partners and suppliers).  We are finally a part of the long-promised global virtual and collaborative work environment.

Online communities and professional networks have arguably changed the way we do business and are, in themselves, new ecosystems, virally creating communities within communities that drive brand recognition and brand experience - beyond the control of most companies to manage.  Professional networks facilitate vast interactions, connections and networks of people by enabling collaboration anywhere and at any time.

Through this research we focus on professional 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.  We make decisions about who we trust in work settings based on a number of factors – one often being proximity.  With social media, proximity is often superseded in the trust factor by relativity or like-mindedness.  Is this person knowledgeable? Credible? Believable?  Do we share the same views and networks – on or offline?

Because belonging to a peer network or online community requires us to perform publicly, to share our background by way of a profile, to display our professional connections and networks, trustworthiness is in many cases more tangibly determined.  Peer Groups can now be formed by idea sharing and virtual collaboration as easily as the proximity based groups that often form in office settings.

Enter the era of Business-to-Person (B2P) communications and the emergence of Social Media Peer Groups (SMPG).

Through the use of professional networks and online communities, decision-makers are connecting and collaborating with peers, experts and colleagues far and wide in an on demand environment, about the issues that keep them up at night.   The impact of these far-reaching business networks is becoming clearer every day as millions of consumers, partners, suppliers and businesses discuss and share their professional experiences with each other with increasing levels of trust and reliance.  It has long been known as truth that peer endorsement is the single greatest decision-making accelerant.  Through social media, peer influence cycles are happening at a velocity never before seen, and in many ways, companies are losing the ability to control their messages.  They need to get back into the relationship cycle but on the terms set forth by the SMPG.  Participating in the SMPG relationship requires a behavior change on the part of organizations – one dominated by valuable content and genuine contributions, transparent honesty and a commitment to follow where the decision-maker wants to lead. 

What does this all mean?

1.  Social Media is supplementing the traditional professional decision-making cycle with great affect

• The era of Social Media Peer Group (SMPG) has arrived and information will travel at a business velocity that has never been seen before enabled by the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies.

2.  Challenges are facing marketers who endeavor to mange or control social media network content

• Traditional cycles of decision-making are being disrupted by SMPG
• Managing and influencing professional decision-making will be the major challenge as professionals often do not seek the information that marketers want to share online.

3.  The greatest opportunity business has is to engage collaborative influence – via immediacy of impact through social channel

Announcing the Launch of “The New Symbiosis of Professional Networks” – A Research Study by SNCR

I am pleased to announce the launch of a research study by the Society of New Communication Research (SNCR) called ‘The New Symbiosis of Professional Networks.’

Vanessa DiMauro, CEO, Leader Networks and I are leading this research as part of our 2009 Fellowship with SNCR.

This seminal research study will look at the impact of social media on professional networks with the intent to understand how business leaders use online communities and peer networks to support their decisions.

A great deal of attention and research has been devoted to evangelizing social media as a new form of customer-centric relationship building.  Build a network or use social media to deepen customer intimacy has become the mantra of today.  However, what is often overlooked is the impact of social media to change behaviors, and the potential to leverage social media to impact professional’s decision-making processes. While everyone is endeavoring to capture the mindshare of the buyer, few understand what success truly looks like.

This study will examine the role that social media has on decision-making among enterprise users.  Specifically this study will explore the following questions:

• Is social media typically regarded as a trustworthy source of information for professionals?
• Does social media offer effective tools to access information, advice and engage in professional collaboration? How do they compare to traditional off-line networking?
• What are the tools and sources of social media that professionals rely on to make decisions?
• Will social media change the business and practice of enterprise-level operations?

The results of this study will offer a set of best practice models for effective social media programs to support enterprise decision-making activities, identify opportunities for social media programs to deepen their effectiveness and for professionals to leverage social media efforts to support their practice.

The methodology for this study will be a two-pronged approach.  We will gather quantitative data about professionals perceptions and experiences with social media in support of their decision-making using an online survey. Following the survey, select interviews will be conducted using a semi-structured interview guide among a set of survey respondents who are willing to participate in the second phase of the study.  The final study report will blend the survey research findings and the interview results to offer a well-rounded examination of the social media for decision-making process and opportunities.

The survey is open to all users and members of professional networks. We will promote the survey extensively through the use of social media and communities.  You can access the survey through our research site at http://www.newsymbiosis.com/.

All participants who participate in the survey will receive a copy of the study results in late summer.

The Dynamics of Social Influence: A New Perspective and Agenda

While on vacation last week in Kauai I sat beachside relaxed and entranced by the awesome power of the ocean.  

I was entertained watching wave after wave hit the beach, toppling kids and adults as they played in the water.  As I sat there, I became curious about how waves are formed.  So I turned on my smart phone  and went to the Internet in search of an answer. In a matter of minutes, I learned that waves are formed (in part) by the force of wind and in some cases (such as tsunamis) by the affects of massive earthquakes that occur in the ocean.

I then went to YouTube (from my smart phone) to find videos of the most powerful waves recorded. Many of the videos found were associated with the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 that killed over 300,000 people including 168,000 in Indonesia alone. The videos told a power story about the tsunami straight from the people affected by it. It was a very powerful education. I then searched for blogs to find stories about this tsunami. Many blog posts that I found were written by people from around the world who were traveling in/around or lived in Indonesia at the time.

Within an hour, I learned how waves are created including the power and devastation of tsunamis - through the experiences (words and video) of people who were affected by one of history's most powerful and destructive, on record.

That same afternoon our beach was met by a couple of visitors from the ocean - Hawaiian Monk Seals.  This stirred great excitement among the people on the beach. Within minutes, a crowed formed around the seals and local environmentalists arrived to place a rope barrier around the seals.

I wanted to learn more!

Again, using my smart phone I went to the Internet and found a number of educational videos on YouTube and blogs about these endangered mammals. Through Twitter I was even able to see where other seals (35 known to the island) had been spotted over the past few days.

My search also led me to the website of a local organization that supports the protection of monk seals. As I explored the website I was motivated to make a donation to help protect and educate the public about these beautiful and endangered mammals.

At the end of the day, I was amazed at the speed and accessibility that I had to a vast amount of information regarding these two 'curiosities' while sitting on the beach in Kauai.

Through my smart phone I was seamlessly connected to a wealth of information on the Internet and the social web (blogs, YouTube, Twitter, etc.) that in the case of seals, motivated me to take action and give.  Just amazing.

This impressed upon me the power of Web 2.0 technology and social media’s increasing importance to society.

During my day job I spend a lot of time designing and executing marketing and communication programs that combine the power of the 'social web' with traditional ‘offline’ practices to engage customers and other external stakeholders (analysts, academia, bloggers, thought leaders, etc.) to help accelerate sales and the adoption of SAP products and solutions.  

My ‘social media’ experience while on vacation gave me a new perspective as a marketing and communications professional working to adapt and lead change against a new set of rules of engagement in the industry.

For instance, a great deal has been written about how social media has forever challenged the traditional business and syndication models of mainstream media (newspapers, publications, broadcast media).

There are also many famous examples of how social media has helped to bring new meaning to words like 'transparency,' 'trust,' and 'accountability' that has forced the evolution of traditional business models and beliefs of marketing and communications (as professions), sales and relationship management (personal, citizen and customer), politics, philanthropy and general business management.

Web 2.0 technologies and social media has transformed society in many ways.  It has provided a platform for everyday people to participate in the creation and syndication of educational and business content and 'news' that is accessible to the world – instantaneously.  We are also seeing the proliferation of online social networks and communities designed to connect people in powerful and influential ways.  This connection of people has changed the dynamics and the process of influence in our society  - how people source information and make and influence decisions of others. It has strengthened the rules and social contract of 'trust' by forcing accountability (of individuals, businesses, governments, etc) to words and actions.

As I think about this I am inspired to look more deeply at how social media has affected the dynamics and rules of 'social influence' across a number of areas of society (business, politics, philanthropy/giving, personal productivity/advancement, etc.). To understand how the phenomena has affected the behaviors and motivations of people for greater benefit and activism.

Over the course of the next few months I will focus on this (through my blog) with an eye toward identifying best practices of successful use of social media and the real impact (as much as I can identify) across each of the below segments. 

Politics: The 2008 U.S. Presidential election legitimized the use of social media in U.S. politics that will have a lasting impact. Through the masterful use of social media tools like blogs, twitter, YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, President Barack Obama strengthened the ideological and emotional connections with voters and the general public (U.S. and Global) – in ways that traditional media would not have allowed.

Key Questions: How are other governments and politicians successfully using or abusing social media for policy and political advancement?  What are the implications of social media on politics in the future (2020 and 2030)?  How has social media challenged governments and politicians through new rules of open/public scrutiny toward trust, transparency and accountability?

Social Causes: Non-profits and philanthropists have used social media to raise awareness and advocate change to support very important social, economic, and environmental issues.  As an example, organizations like DonnorsChoose.org have redefined approaches to charitable giving and fundraising. DonnorsChoose.org is an online charity that connects people and business to classrooms in need.  It has famously used social media to organize people and fundraise millions of dollars for a good cause.

Key Questions: What are the social media tools and techniques that successful non-profit organizations/institutions use to advance awareness and motivate people, governments and businesses to take action and affect positive change (giving of time and money), creation of policy, etc.?  How has social media impacted the nature of philanthropic design and social responsibility (local and global)?

Individuals: Social media has empowered individuals by giving them a platform to amplify their voices in ways that have forced accountability on corporations and governments regarding important issues around policy, products (quality and design) and services.

Individuals have also used social media to expand their personal and professional networks that have helped to secure new jobs and business opportunities; develop new friendships (romantic, social and professional); and accelerated education and productivity as a great complement to their ‘offline’ networks and activities.

Key Questions: How do people use social media and social networks to address personal concerns and support better decision making?  How has social media affected trust and relationships between people and organizations?  What are the implications to future generations of individuals (who today share everything about themselves) on politics and business? What are the most effective tools used by people to influence change in business and government?

Mainstream Media: Smart media organizations (newspapers, broadcast media, etc.) have embraced the social web by incorporating tools such as Twitter, blogs, social networks, and podcasts into their portfolio of news and information dissemination and exchange to build community/readership and citizen journalists.  CNN, Wall Street Journal and New York Times are shining examples of mainstream U.S. media that have adapted successfully.  There are also many examples of mainstream media that have not adapted fast enough or at all – that have gone or are going out of business.

Key Questions: What new syndication and business models have emerged for mainstream media today – to adapt to the phenomena of the social web?  How has the influence of mainstream media changed as a result of social media?

Business: Businesses are using social media to redefine service and customer support; improve and in some cases accelerate innovations of products and services; build new sales and marketing channels as part of a shift to Business-to-Person relationship management.

Key Questions:  How has social media and social networks affected professional/business decision-making?  What approaches and tools are business using to ‘listen,’ ‘interact’ and ‘engage’ more with their core audiences to improve the way they do business? How as social media affected and transformed traditional marketing and communication beliefs and strategies?

There are certainly more questions and ideas to explore regarding how social media has affected change across society (business, social, and political).

In my mind, the common factor is the importance on ‘the individual’ (person, employee, citizen, customer, etc.) at the center of engagement.  The empowerment of the individual has given social media amazing credibility forcing disruption and disintermediation of long-standing business and cultural beliefs.

Social media is without a doubt fluctuating through the hype cycle on its way to maturity.  Privacy issues are at the core of many debates taking place right now - helping to shape the policy of social networks such as Facebook. As social media tools become more mature and more actively used by people, we will undoubtedly see new levels of misuse, corruption and deceit – that will challenge the social contract of trust with this evolving medium (although the people who misuse will be weeded out).

It is also my belief that the ‘generational’ affect of social media will not be realized for another decade or two.  As millennials and Gen Y’ers share more information about themselves – posting pictures/videos, creating detailed personal profiles on social networks, and using blogs as an open diary of their lives that will live forever on the social web.  All of this makes anonymity and privacy very hard to control.  What will be the affect on the next generation in business and politics?

I will tap into the expert minds of colleagues and Fellows at The Society for New Communication Research (SNCR) and others in the industry who follow these issues more closely - to support future posts. If you have expertise, or questions that should be explored, links to information/research, or would like to collaborate on any of these topics/issues - please leave a comment or send me an email at don_bulmer@yahoo.com.

My Personal Branding Interview with Dan Schawbel

I had the great pleasure to be interviewed this week by Dan Schawbel. 

Dan is a leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y. He is the author of the bestselling career book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 2009).  The interview was for his blog which is syndicated by Reuters, Forbes, Hoovers, Fox Business and The Chicago Sun-Times, among others. 

Dan has interviewed over 160 success individuals such as Marcus Buckingham, Tony Hsieh, John C. Maxwell, Ken Blanchard, Phil Town, Don Tapscott, Marshall Goldsmith, David Allen, Larry Winget, John Kotter, Robert B. Cialdini, Keith Ferrazzi, Carmine Gallo, Matt Mullenweg, Steven Baker, David Meerman Scott, Mark Sanborn, Tucker Max, and many others.  To be among this impressive group of renowned industry experts interviewed by Dan is a great honor!

Through the interview we discussed the following topics:

• The best way to build ones personal brand with social media
• The most important aspect of my personal brand
• How social media has impacted the landscape of business and marketing communications - with the emergence of business-to-person (B2P) marketing
• The pitfalls and best practices in managing the demanding set of ‘crowed rules’ inherent in social media and the Web 2.0 environment.

The full interview can be found on Dan’s Blog.  I want to thank Dan for the great exchange, and opportunity to be profiled!

Factors of Influence

Duncan Brown at Influencer 50 posted a blog today where he discusses the effectiveness of sponsored conversations (paid media) as a credible form of influence.

In a comment, I offered that at SAP we have found that there are generally three factors that combine to have a very powerful form of influence on most any decision. The three factors are: Awarness, Reputation and Experience. I detail this more in a blog post from last year.

Paid media (through advertising or sponsored conversations) and unpaid media (through traditional media and blogger relations) are great for generating broad awareness for companies and important industry issues.  However, awareness alone (regardless of the channel) will not entirely influence or motivate one to take action (e.g. purchase or engage).

This is where experience comes in. We have found that ‘experience’ is perhaps the single most important and credible factor that influences any individual or community to take action.  This this is very hard to ‘buy.’

Experience (good or bad) is authentic and extremely credible. This is were Duncan makes an excellent point that companies should focus on generating advocacy by creating remarkable products and services.

The more that companies can generate advocacy/endorsement based on the positive ‘experience’ of their products and/or services through their key stakeholder groups (e.g. customers, partners, employees, etc.) the better situated they are to establish a movement that will increase competitive advantage and/or other desirable results.

Social Networks and B2P

I was recently invited to submit an article for Connect-World Asia Pacific.  Connect-World is a series of magazines that offers a forum where the highest-level decision makers in the telecommunications and information technology sectors discuss their opinions about the impact of technology on Global and regional development. Connect-World's audience (writers and readers) are leaders of industry, governments, international organizations, legal experts, bankers and the like.

The theme for the issue of the publication that I was asked to write for was 'Convergence, communications and business innovation.'

I had the great pleasure to work closely with my colleauge, Peter Auditore, who contributed significantly to this piece.  The article is called “Social Networks and B2P.”  Below is the article as it was published:

Social networks and B2P
by Donald Bulmer, Vice President Global Communications, SAP AG

The Internet has rapidly expanded to become a global network of seamlessly connected computers and devices that has revolutionized information sharing and communications, challenged governments,broken down cultural barriers and driven innovation and business velocity to levels never before imagined. One of the most important successes of the Internet is how it is enabling globalization and more importantly business model innovation. Today’s most successful companies are driving product and business model innovation from outside their own walls by leveraging the Internet as a collaborative community-building platform. This platform has allowed organizations to harness the innovation power of the community and not just individual innovation; some notable examples are Topcoder.com and Innocentive.com.

With the execution of business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce over the last ten years, the Internet has enabled companies to create, build and maintain rich and vibrant ecosystems of partners, suppliers and now social networks. At the centre of these ecosystems is the customer who has indeed benefited the most from these advances. However, we are now entering the age of business-to-person (B2P) communications, which is the result of Web 2.0 based social networking platforms that give new power to the customer and the communities of interest that form around them.

The astronomical growth and evolution of platforms such as BeBo, Facebook and MySpace reflects the success of Web 2.0 technologies; more importantly it illustrates how digital natives will expect to interact with and use software applications in the future. 

This is just the beginning as a new wave of professionally oriented social networks have begun their evolution, most notably, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Namyz and others. What is most surprising about the emergence and growing influence of social networks is that they did not emerge from the innovative Internet giants of Google and Yahoo.

Social networks and Web 2.0

The first social networking platform to emerge from the TCP/IP Internet protocol suite was the Network News Server in the early 1990s.  This was a relatively primitive system used extensively in many engineering organizations to post projects and share information via email between geographically dispersed groups. Engineers are very much today’s digital natives and are more likely than most to join and participate in forums such as our developer network forum where 1.4 million developers, partners and customers regularly answer questions and share their knowledge.

Digital natives armed with mobile devices are by nature highly collaborative and they were quick to latch onto the inherent value of social networking within their age groups and cultures. In fact, many of the first social networks formed around specific age and peer groups. These networks brought together communities of users such as Nintendo and Wii users and, within Gather.com, book lovers and writers. Members of these networks now interact using these platforms throughout their daily lives via their highly enabled mobile telephones. The introduction of the iPhone transformed the mobile phone into a new computer platform for social interaction.

There are many varieties of social networking types - they tend to coalesce around common social, cultural or professional interests:

Cultural and age group specific
• Myspace.com
• Facebook.com
• Gather (30-40 year olds)
• EONs.com (Baby Boomers)
• Bebo.com (Teens & Young Adults)

Professional
• LinkedIn.com (reportedly 20 million members globally)
• Naymz.com
• Plaxo.com
• Xing.com

Professional innovation
• Innocentive.com
• Topcoder.com
• InsightCommunity.com (formerly Techdirt.com)
• Techcrunch.com

Charlene Li, formerly an analyst with Forrester, expects that in their next stage, in five to 10 years, social networks will be ubiquitous - sites will, “be like air: They will be anywhere and everywhere we need and want them to be.” Eager estimates there will be as many as 250,000 sites that call themselves social networks within a year, compared with about 850 today. “Everyone will reposition their site to take advantage of this phenomenon. It happened before with portals.”

Social networks - the centre of the B2P ecosystem

Today’s global network of connected devices enables multi channel access for customers, partners and suppliers and is delivering on the promise of a virtual work environment for employees worldwide. The global network convergence is also creating a significant challenge for enterprise application vendors who have deployed a wide array of business critical applications for large and small businesses. For traditional vendors of enterprise applications and software-as-a-service (SaaS), the key issue will be integrating mobile devices with business critical applications and providing transparent access to the date that supports the underlying business processes. The convergence of data, applications and mobile technology is forming a powerful platform. This platform will not simplify business processes; it might make them easier to use, but it will make them inherently more complex and powerful and will have far-reaching implications. Concepts such as cloud computing, SaaS and business process utilities (BPUs) are foreign, and often confusing, to many business executives especially in small and medium businesses. More importantly, however, this convergence is providing customers, partners and suppliers with real time access to social networks and the brand experience that will be driven within them.

Social networks are radically changing the way we do business and are, in themselves, new ecosystems, virally creating communities within communities that are driving brand recognition and brand experience. Social networks are now being leveraged by sales executives to understand the networks of prospects and leads and customers in the realm of B2P marketing and sales. Social networks facilitate and automate vast interactions, connections and networks of people by
enabling collaboration with colleagues, clients and suppliers anywhere and at any time. This new paradigm completely eliminates the need for travel, and these platforms incorporate a rich suite of evolving Web 2.0 applications.

The impact of these far-reaching social networks on business is becoming clearer every day as millions of consumers, partners, suppliers and businesses discuss and share their brand experiences. Enter the new B2P paradigm. According to Mohan Sawhney of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business and recent author of The Global Brain, “Social Customers are driving Innovation, they are empowered and collaborative, they are drivers and initiators of effective innovation and are increasingly viewed as a strategic asset to companies. Today’s customer is looking for a personalized experience and relationship, demanding solutions rather than products.”

Myventurepad.com is a social networking site where small business owners can share and consume information that is important to their businesses. Venturepad.com was the industry’s first social network for small business owners.

Since its inception in November 2007, MyVenturepad.com has grown month after month and now has 1000 small to mid-sized company members; its newsletter has a weekly readership of over 1,200. Top visitors to the site include companies from Germany, Brazil, India, UK Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and the US. There are currently over 79 active blog feeds and the site averages 10 new bloggers per month.

The Internet has radically changed the landscape of business and has challenged government control of people and information. It is the most significant inflection point in communications industry since the telephone.

The progress in Web 2.0 technologies has enabled the development of virally driven platforms, facilitating a new era of social networking and media. These technological advances have disrupted the status quo of business and communications on a global level and have offered new opportunities for commerce by harnessing the social influence of online communities. In these communities, people access, interpret and are influenced by information made available by other participants with whom they collaborate and share experiences.

As part of the social-media phenomenon, the demands of consumers of all types have increased; they are calling for greater transparency and accountability in a way that no company, government or even individual can escape. This is facilitated by the emergence of a 24-hour global cycle of news, information and dialogue, accessible online anywhere and anytime. 

Compounding this, globalization, increasing energy and commodity costs and global economic restructuring have forced companies to expand into new markets, adopt new business models - new products, services and geographic reach - and optimise business processes to more efficiently manage costs and expenses. This has created hypercompetitive markets.

As we enter the era of B2P marketing communications, those organizations that harness Web 2.0 technologies and platforms to enable business-to-person communications will be the winners. Laggards that do not understand the value of social networking and its appeal to the emotional side of customer relationship management will lose competitiveness and, ultimately, market share. The era of B2P marketing harnesses the new and deep connections that are forming between customers, products and their suppliers. Peer groups, associations and social networks are now one of the most powerful influencing mediums in the world.