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Presentation given to the PRCG in Q1 of 2011. Charleston, SCTRANSCRIPT

New Media EvolutionSocial Media Practice Planningolivier alain blanchard@thebrandbuilder
PRCG Annual ConferenceCharleston, SC27 January 2011















What can we learn from BP’s PR disaster?


Where things started going wrong



Social Media & PR: The land grab.
Of course we’re awesome at Social
Media! We’re awesome at everything!

Social Media & PR: The land grab.
… you’ll just have to take our word for it.

Let’s think about this…

Let’s think about this…
√ √
√
x
x
x
x
x
x
x

Let’s think about this…
√ √
√
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Govt. Bailout Old Spice Man
Kevin Smith Accelerator recall
Baby formula + Palm Oil
Stranded passengersMeat?
United breaks Guitars No issues
Just a minor problem

1. How well have these brands fared recently?

2. What has been the impact of Social Media?

3. Has “Big PR” done better than small firms?

no.

What do clients expect?
Results
Competence ExpertiseExperience
Dependability Efficiency Speed Value
Good relationship Excellence


Zero planning.
Zero monitoring.
Zero response ability.
Zero expertise.
Zero effectiveness.

Oh shit!

A test.

Point to the fake Batman.
(A) (B)

There are two types of PR firms today:
We rock social
media!!!
We make social media work for
you.

For most clients, the distinction is not obvious.
Social Media Expert Social Media Expert

Make it obvious by making your value clear.
EngagementConversations
StrategyBlah… blah…
Reputation mgmtCrisis mgmtMonitoring
LoyaltyConsumer outreach
Digital media relationsDigital comms training
Results…

They build and managedigital ghost towns.
This can destroy clients’ and agencies’ credibilityin the Social Media space.
What most PR and Digital Agencies do in SM:

The typical model.
1. We can build you an awesome Twitter page and Facebook presence to go with your blog.
2. We will manage those for you.3. We will create content for all of your social media
properties.4. We will measure social media stuff and report on
our success.5. We’ve got this.

An example of what actually happens:








This can destroy clients’ and agencies’ credibilityin the Social Media space.

Back to Nestle…

1. Be there.2. Keep calm.3. Gain control of the situation as quickly as possible.4. Introduce yourself: Name and official role.5. Make a pint to invite comments. Encourage opinions. Be kind
and interested.6. Do not argue. Do not get pulled into an argument. Do not
defend a position.7. Do not guess at answers. Buy time if you have to.8. Make sure that you create an area for discussions to take place.9. Recruit your detractors’ help in fixing the issues they are angry
about.10.Follow through with #9. Go beyond lip service.
The New Rules of Digital Crisis Management


What can we learn from BP’s PR disaster?
1. Shit happens.2. Have an integrated crisis plan.
- Buy up alternate IDs and urls.- Rehearse scenarios.
3. Establish a presence & networks before you need them.
4. Know where and how to listen.- Listen for positive & negative
5. Use all channels in concert.6. Avoid dissonance in responses & info.7. Do not deny facts. Do not spin.8. Do not defend weak positions.9. Earn the public’s trust.10. Accept that PR can only do so much.

Now let’s see how professionals do it.

PepsiCo’s Facebook ecosystem:

PR
PR
PR
PR
PRPR
PR
PR
How many elements of a website’s Content deal with PR?
How much of this content is will beShared and discussed on theSocial web?

This means that PR must now collaborate closely with other departments & agencies on the design of digital properties and the
management of every communications-related activity.

This does not happen by accident. It requires planning.Professional
Professional
Professional

There is no middle-ground.
Don’t be this guy. Be this guy.

PR’s new role.

PR must provide more than just messaging and reach.

PR must own digital crisis planning and management.

PR must own digital reputation management.

… which means owning a digital monitoring practice.

Monitoring & Measurement

Network Equity: Monitoring & Response
CommunityManagement
CustomerSupport P.R.
PositiveComment
PositiveComment
PositiveComment
NegativeComment
NegativeComment
Acknowledge
Acknowledge
AcknowledgeAddress
Assist
Assist
QuestionQuestion
Assist Assist

PR must provide communications training for all SM roles.

Marketing PRCustomer
ServiceBusiness
DevelopmentHR
CommunityManagerBlogger
Guy
The next step in Social Media Integration:
Objectives over buzzwords
Online Reputation ManagementReal-Time Customer Support
Digital Crisis ManagementMarket ResearchFRY
Digital Brand Management Innovation Collaboration

PR must help supervise community management.

PR must play a principal role in digital content planning
Traditional WebTwitter
FacebookYouTubeQuora
LinkedInBlogs & RSS
MobileAppsetc.

Communications PlanningDigital Crisis ManagementDigital Reputation ManagementDigital Communications ManagementDigital Content DevelopmentSocial Media Program Co-ManagementConsumer / Market Insights MeasurementConversation MonitoringTraining and supervision of all social media roles
PR’s functions in the age of social media

What do your clients really need?

Your client’s business is not about Facebook and Twitter.

Your client’s business is about this.

How many companies do Social Media well?
Bad advice and management are rampant.

We’re a big awesome social media WIN!!!
Our followers rock!Our engagement is massive!
Our secret results are … amazing.Did you see us at SxSW?
Have you seen our Facebook page?We’re working on exciting stuff!
Social Media is the future!

Clicking a “like” button is not evangelism.
Retweeting a link is not a transaction.
“Following” is not becoming a customer
Wishful thinking is not reality.

What your clients need:10,000 new customers this quarter.
What your clients don’t need:10,000 new Twitter followers this quarter.
Increasing reach is only the first step.
Vanity metrics have zero value.

Blah… blah… engagement… blah… blah… conversations… blah… blah…
BULLSH*T.

PURPOSE

PURPOSE(WHAT’S YOUR CLIENT’S?)

It all starts with one question:
“What are you trying to accomplish?”
Define the objective FIRST.THEN come up with the tactics.


Setting goalsis the most important part of the discussion
from which your relationship will grow.
Your value to the client lives here.

Your client’s objectives and goalsare at the center of every service you provide.
How you measure successis directly tied to the length and health
of your relationship.

So what do your clients want?
More visitors to their website?
More engagement?More mindshare?
More sales?More market share?
More exposure?
More positive press? More positive perception?
More traffic to their brick & mortar stores?
More loyal customers?

Social Media is not in itself the answer.
Social Media is an additional tool kit
Social Media tactics works bestin concert with traditional marketing.

Social Media is VERY different from traditional marketing.
Social Media is not a command & control environment.
Social Media is not another series push channels.
Social Media is not a campaign-driven ecosystem.
Social Media is not about producing content in the short term.

Approach Social Media both strategically and tactically.
1. What can social media do for your client?
2. How will it do it?
3. Where do you fit in?

You are your client’s subject matter expert when it comes to this stuff.

Start building a services strategy to properly serve your clients
1. How can Social Media enhance what you are already good at?2. How can Social Media plug specific holes in your service offering?

Services

Online Reputation Management
Monitoring + Alerting + Responding
Bronze Level Silver Level Gold Level
Crisis planning Crisis training
- Monitoring- Alerting- Business Hours
- Monitoring- Alerting- Responding- Business Hours
- Monitoring- Alerting- Responding- 24/7/365

Opportunity? Opportunity Cost?

Create Listening Posts Online
BRAND
Blogs

How do you manage your brand in 2011?

Listening & Monitoring
http://www.socialmention.com/
http://www.peoplebrowsr.com/
http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/
http://techrigy.com/
http://www.radian6.com/cms/home
http://www.netvibes.com
http://www.twitscoop.com/
http://twitterface.com

Sentiment and Awareness Monitoring
Net volume of mentionsSentiment mix analysis

Sentiment and Awareness Monitoring
Share Of Voice

Sentiment and Awareness Monitoring
Net volume of mentions Sentiment mix analysis

Sentiment and Awareness Analysis
Tying Sentiment, mention, and timelines.
Strategic Sentiment mix analysis

Creating AND MANAGING Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Blog properties
Bronze Level Silver Level Gold Level-2 Blog posts/wk
- 2x weekly comment moderation
- 20 FB updates/day- 50% responses/engagement
- 20 Tweets/day- 50% responses/engagement
- 1 video/wk
- 4 Blog posts/wk- Daily comment moderation
- 50 FB updates/day- 80% responses/engagement
- 50 Tweets/day- 80% responses/engagement- 250 net new followers/month
- 2 videos/wk
- 5 Blog posts/wk- Hourly comment moderation
- 100 FB updates/day- 80% responses/engagement
- 100 Tweets/day- 80% responses/engagement- 1,000 net new followers/month
- 3+ videos/wk
If your clients don’t have time to do it, it can become a service.
Bonus: A) Live Market Research, B) Immersive C) Trackable
The trick is to keep it simple: Create packages.


Community Management
Push contentDevelop content Redirect to content
Invite participation Educate
Organize events Co-manage events
Acquire net new active members
Capture information
Convert to transacting customers
Monitor Conduct soft market research
Moderate comments
Customer support
Customer advocacy
Reach out to communities

Engagement
PR
Engagement

Engagement

Engagement

Simple Engagement Tactics
Write a blog post Share it on Facebook and Twitter
Create an eventOn Facebook
Share it on your blog and Twitter
Create a #chat on Twitter Share it on your blog and FaceBook

Your new Mobile Practice
(Yes. Create mobile apps)
- Make them Social in nature- Look beyond iPhone- Make them creative and useful- Leverage social media channels to give them life
Remember your client’s objectives- Beware pointless apps- Purpose drives design. Have a purpose.- Be innovative. Be a pioneer.

Your new Mobile Practice

Your new Mobile Practice

Your new Digital Practice
Your clients’ web sites must be optimized for Social
- Design review- Add Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, MySpace, blog(s), etc. as applicable- Create a Community page/section- Make all content sharable (“Share This” button)- Aggregate Twitter, RSS, news and events feeds.- Make the community section of the site easy to navigate.- Add mobile downloads to your list of widgets.
Small tweaks are easier to budget for than overhauls- Optimization is easier to manage than a new design.- Think of this as SEO’s intelligent cousin.

Your new Digital Practice
Your clients’ web sites must be optimized for Social
- Design review- Add Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, MySpace, blog(s), etc. as applicable- Create a Community page/section- Make all content sharable (“Share This” button)- Aggregate Twitter, RSS, news and events feeds.- Make the community section of the site easy to navigate.- Add mobile downloads to your list of widgets.
Small tweaks are easier to budget for than overhauls- Optimization is easier to manage than a new design.- Think of this as SEO’s intelligent cousin.

website
Blog
video
Management
NewsInfo
Action
Stories
EngagementReach out.



Starbucks participation and “crowdsourcing”.

Starbucks’ Participatory Market Research.

Best Buy does crowdsourcing too.


Starbucks stands for something.

People don’t get their coffee from Starbucks because of “value”.
People get their coffee from Starbucks because getting their coffee from Starbucks is important to them.
Pride.Image.
Exclusivity.Passion.
Uniqueness of Quality.Sharing in a common passion.
Social Impact.

This is what Social Media genius looks like.


Pound for pound, video is still the champ.

How do you help validate lifestyle choices?

Blogs can be more alive than websites.

Blogs are online newsletters evolved.

Traditional Marketing
Print Advertising
E-mail Marketing
Outbound calls
Mailers
Static Website
Social Communications
Incentives programs
Loyalty Campaigns
BOGO
Discounts
TV advertising
Radio Advertising
Salespeople
POP Displays
Facebook GroupTwitter PresenceBlog PresenceNing/Community ManagementForum ParticipationDigg, StumbleUpon, Mashable, etc.LinkedInBlog and Industry aggregatorsSlideshareFlickrYouTubeSeesmicEtc.
White Papers
Double your capabilities

Integrated Social Media Response Mechanisms




Models of engagement


How your clients decide where you fit in.

The framework of a complete social media program
Visualizing A Structure
Coordinating with External agencies
Internal Communications
External Communications
Reporting to C-suite

Managing a fully deployed program
VP Social CommunicationsDeveloped the Social Communications InfrastructureOversees SM activityCoordinates SM activityProvides leadership + Support
Customer Support
PR + Reputation Mgmt
Marketing
Measurement
Community Management
MonitoringSupportTriage
Data AnalysisReporting
MonitoringResponding to crisesContent, events & Promotion
MonitoringResponding to inquiriesContentTriage
ResearchContent DevelopmentPromotions
InternalCollaborationHub / Channel








Ways in which Social Media can help a business:Sales
Net New Customers, Increased Frequency of Transactions, promo exposureIncreased yield (average $ value per transaction), and product penetration
Customer SupportImmediate feedback and response, positive impact in public forum, cost reduction
Human ResourcesMore effective recruiting, online monitoring of employee behavior (risk management)
Public RelationsOnline Reputation Management, improved brand image via Social Web
Customer LoyaltyIncreased interactions, better quality of interactions, deeper relationship with brand,
Increased trust in brand, increased mindshare of brand, greater values alignment
Business IntelligenceKnow Everything. (No, really.)

FOCUS

Where do you want to start?Sales
Net New Customers, Increased Frequency of Transactions, promo exposureIncreased yield (average $ value per transaction), and product penetration
Customer SupportImmediate feedback and response, positive impact in public forum, cost reduction
Human ResourcesMore effective recruiting, online monitoring of employee behavior (risk management)
Public RelationsOnline Reputation Management, improved brand image via Social Web
Customer LoyaltyIncreased interactions, better quality of interactions, deeper relationship with brand,
Increased trust in brand, increased mindshare of brand, greater values alignment
Business IntelligenceKnow Everything. (No, really.)

Build your program based on these objectivesSales
Net New Customers, Increased Frequency of Transactions, promo exposureIncreased yield (average $ value per transaction), and product penetration
Customer SupportImmediate feedback and response, positive impact in public forum, cost reduction
Human ResourcesMore effective recruiting, online monitoring of employee behavior (risk management)
Public RelationsOnline Reputation Management, improved brand image via Social Web
Customer LoyaltyIncreased interactions, better quality of interactions, deeper relationship with brand,
Increased trust in brand, increased mindshare of brand, greater values alignment
Business IntelligenceKnow Everything. (No, really.)

Set targets for each programSales
Net New Customers: How many? What time frame? How? How does SM fit in?
Customer Supportcost reduction: What is the cost reduction target? How can we do it?
Public RelationsOnline Reputation Management: Define parameters. How will we gauge success?
Improved brand image via Social Web: Set targets. How will we measure this?
Customer LoyaltyIncreased mindshare: Set targets and method. How will we measure success?
Business IntelligenceKnow Everything: Enhance BI practice. What do we want to know? Can SM help us
gather data and insights? How will we do this? What tools do we need? Etc.

Impact vs. R.O.I.

Impact vs. R.O.I.Benefit to the org

Impact vs. R.O.I.Benefit to the org
Lifts in othernon-financial metrics

What departments in your client’s companyare tasked with meeting those objectives?
Marketing?
PR?
Customer Service?
Biz Dev?

Some cost-reduction ideas:
Business Intelligence / Market Research
Increased Reach through SM = Lower CPI (cost per impression)
In-network recruiting = lower recruiting costs

When it comes to PR, R.O.I. is not usually relevant.

Your client’s PR objectives may not be about $
More visitors to their website?
More engagement?More mindshare?
More sales?More market share?
More exposure?
More positive press? More positive perception?
More traffic to their brick & mortar stores?
More loyal customers?

We should do a Social Media campaign. Yeah. Let’s do that.
Once you have a budget, don’t fall into old habits.

Typical campaign metrics.
Facebook.com/oldspice
94,000 followersVelocity: 8K to 66K in only 2 days
16,000,000 viewsMost response videos >200,000 views
706,000 fans/likes… sharing videos with friends on their wall

Measurement should not be a religion. Adapt: Measure what makes sense.

First things first: How to enhance campaigns with SM
Media spendAttention
Sales
(Now what?)

Campaigns are microcycles, not a strategy.
On their own, campaigns work, but have a limited value.

Campaigns are microcycles, not a strategy.
Social Equity = stronger bond with customers

Every campaign supports the growth of your community.
Use campaigns to drive a larger strategy.

Remember: Campaigns are only microcycles.
Campaigns don’t work in SM without momentum.

First Rule: The tools are the tools. The tools are not the thing.

The ultimate app is not Twitter or Facebook.
The ultimate app is your community.

Do not expect them to be there for you…
… if you are not there for them.

We only care about you because you care about us.

Ways in which Social Media can help a business:Sales
Net New Customers, Increased Frequency of Transactions, promo exposureIncreased yield (average $ value per transaction), and product penetration
Customer SupportImmediate feedback and response, positive impact in public forum, cost reduction
Human ResourcesMore effective recruiting, online monitoring of employee behavior (risk management)
Public RelationsOnline Reputation Management, improved brand image via Social Web
Customer LoyaltyIncreased interactions, better quality of interactions, deeper relationship with brand,
Increased trust in brand, increased mindshare of brand, greater values alignment
Business IntelligenceKnow Everything. (No, really.)

R.O.I.RETURN ON INVESTMENT

THE R.O.I. EQUATION
Investment Expectation of return

ROI =COST OF INVESTMENT
(GAIN FROM INVESTMENT - COST OF INVESTMENT)
THE R.O.I. EQUATION

The Truth About R.O.I.
ROI is a business metric, not a media metric.
ROI is 100% media-agnostic.
Only measuring digital or social won’t get you anywhere.

#1:COST REDUCTION
#2:REVENUE GENERATION
What R.O.I. looks like to an executive

What if you aren’t “for profit?”
You still depend on some kind of revenue to function:Grants, funding, donations, membership fees, etc.
Same thing.
Revenue is revenue. Budgets are budgets. Money is money.

Financial vs. Non-financial Impact
Non-Financial
Financial Are you converting this to this?

R.O.I. isn’t always the right question or focus:Sales
Focused on R.O.I.
Customer SupportNot typically focused on R.O.I.
Human ResourcesNot typically focused on R.O.I.
Public RelationsNot typically focused on R.O.I.
Customer LoyaltyR.O.I. helps measure customer loyalty (perceptions + activity)
Business IntelligenceNot typically focused on R.O.I.

SalesFocused on R.O.I.
Customer SupportNot typically focused on R.O.I.
Human ResourcesNot typically focused on R.O.I.
Public RelationsNot typically focused on R.O.I.
Customer LoyaltyR.O.I. helps measure customer loyalty (perceptions + activity)
Business IntelligenceNot typically focused on R.O.I.
R.O.I. isn’t always the right question or focus:

SalesFocused on R.O.I.
Customer SupportNot typically focused on R.O.I.
Human ResourcesNot typically focused on R.O.I.
Public RelationsNot typically focused on R.O.I.
Customer LoyaltyR.O.I. helps measure customer loyalty (perceptions + activity)
Business IntelligenceNot typically focused on R.O.I.
R.O.I. isn’t always the right question or focus:

“Increasing revenue” is too abstract.
F.R.Y.FREQUENCY, REACH, YIELD
How often customers transact. (transactions per month)How many customers you are reaching. (net new customers)How much they spend. ($ per transaction)

Strategy drives tactics - Tactics drive metrics
FREQUENCY
REACH
YIELD
How can we leverage Social Media to influence customers tobuy from us more often?How can we measure changes in this behavior?
How can we leverage Social Media to acquire net new customers?How can we measure increased reach and conversions?
How can we leverage Social Media to influence customers to spend more per transaction?How can we measure changes in this behavior?

I just figured outhow to increase deodorant sales
by about 9%!
FREQUENCY

PURPOSE

YIELD I know how to increase yield!!!
Let them eat cake!

PURPOSE

What a Social Media win looks like:
REACH

What a Social Media win looks like:
Facebook.com/oldspice
94,000 followersVelocity: 8K to 66K in only 2 days
16,000,000 viewsMost response videos >200,000 views
706,000 fans/likes… sharing videos with friends on their wall

But will it “sell soap?”

Sales of body wash up 107% in the first month.(It’s a good start, but will it be enough to justify the campaign’s expense?)
(It already has.)

The main impetus of the campaign was “reach.”

PURPOSE

What’s your next move?
Use campaigns to drive a larger strategy.
You are here

Where is your attention?
Use campaigns to drive a larger strategy.

Things happen in sequence.

Non-financial impact is not ROI (yet).
Too many agencies only measure here.

Non-financial impact = potential.

ROI = actualized potential.
Ultimately, Social Media activity has to positively impact customer behaviors and drive revenue in order to deliver R.O.I.

Awareness
Run through it logically.
AwarenessCampaign*
Consumer Activity:Retweets
Joining clubSharing
Etc.
Altered PurchasingBehavior
Track appropriate metrics

Q: What is the 2012 objective?

(Not 5,000,000 fans on Twitter)

A: Re-election.

Main non-financial objective(s)Get re-elected in 2012

Q: What is my most important resource?

A: Campaign funding. (It enables everything.*)
* Understand your business and its mechanics. If you don’t, you are flying blind.

Main non-financial objective(s)
My $ target is $x.Where do I measure changes in $x?What behaviors leads to this?

Q: How does Social Media fit in?

A: Above all else, it yields campaign contributions.

5,000,000 ACTIVATED fans on Twitter = $$$

A: How it yields campaign contributions.1. Directly through vertical engagement
2. Indirectly, through lateral engagement (WOM + peer influence)

Main non-financial objective(s)

Let’s plug-in F.R.Y., just for fun.

Can we increase the frequency of contributions?

Note: Most Obama For America online supporters gave little, but they gave often. Frequency was a key factor in the O4A strategy.

Can we increase the frequency of contributions?
YES.Increase frequency of interactionsAsk more oftenUpdate swag more oftenRepeat message more oftenEngage more oftenSM is more cost effective than paid media

Main non-financial objective(s)
To specifically drive

Can we increase our reach?

Second largest search engine in the world, only to Google
Twitter now has over 200 MILLION registered users.
65,000,000 tweets per day.
37% of users tweet from their phones.
All talking to each other all day long.
Facebook has over 600 MILLION users
Millions of people are content publishers now.
Don’t forget…

Can we increase our reach?YES.Be everywhere.Seed and grow our channelsHelp our supporters share contentAsk our fans to share contentArm our fans with toolsMake our reach strategy clearVertical + Lateral engagement

Main non-financial objective(s)
To specifically drive

Can we increase our Yield?

Can we increase our Yield?
YEP!Foster depth of engagementDevelop and build loyaltyIncrease involvement of fansUnderstand the value of timingBuild clarity of purposeAsk when we need to ask

Main non-financial objective(s)
To specifically drive

Because the objectives dictate the tactics...

… the objectives also dictate the metrics.

The metrics are the vital signs of your program.

Every measurement you take has its place and tells its part of the story.

R.O.I. is a crucial link in the measurement chain.

First things first:
It isn’t about the tools.

Agencies that lead with toolsdon’t understand what they’re doing.
We’re here to build you a custom Twitter page!
Your life is about to improve 1,000%!

What Social Media really is:People talking with people.

(Which is nothing new, really.)

People connecting with each other.

People creating communities…
on their own terms.

People sharing their passions.

People sharing their complaints.

FACT: People no longer trust advertisingand traditional corporate channels.

FACT: People trust people they know.

Online banner ads: 28%E-mail (opt-in): 48%Television, magazines, radio: 55%Newspapers: 66%Recommendations from consumers: 78%Word-of-Mouth: 62%-93%
(Depending on the country)
Some Nielsen Statistics on consumer trust:

Traditional marketing has been interrupted.

The web no longer just belongs to marketers.

New Technologies have given people the power to
tune out messaging and marketing…
… and tune into relevance and dialogue.

People are again turning to each other…
Because they can.

We crave human interactions.
The Social Web is a cultural revolution.

Like this.

… and this.

… and this.

… and this.

… and this.

People are again turning to each other…
… because technology is now their friend.

People’s networks are expanding exponentially.
Geography and schedulesare no longer limiting factors.
Blogs

People are building their own networks…
… and engaging them at will to:
Find out what is happening in their communityDiscover new businesses
Get recommendations from peersMeet up with friends
Deepen bonds with each otherValidate their bonds with companies
Air their grievances

Your clients can no longer live here.

… or here.

Their business must live here.

And here.

Their customers = a vibrant community.


Reconnect with your community or die.

The impact of “Real Time” conversations:
Real-time dialogue is fueling connections and perceptions in the statusphere, blogopsphere, online communities, and the social web in general.
This swelling tsunami of chatter is creating a new genre of Social Customer Relationship Management (sCRM).
Social CRM is no longer an option. It necessitates brand involvement to proactively share answers, solve problems, establish authority, and build relationships and loyalty, one tweet, blog post, update, and “like,” at a time.
- Brian Solis, for TechCrunch

Ways in which Social Media can help a business:
SalesNet New Customers, Increased Frequency of Transactions, promo exposureIncreased yield (average $ value per transaction), and product penetration
Customer SupportImmediate feedback and response, positive impact in public forum, cost reduction
Human ResourcesMore effective recruiting, online monitoring of employee behavior (risk management)
Public RelationsOnline Reputation Management, improved brand image via Social Web
Customer LoyaltyIncreased interactions, better quality of interactions, deeper relationship with brand,
Increased trust in brand, increased mindshare of brand, greater values alignment
Business Intelligence


“The community closes the sale.”- Porter Gale (@virginamerica)
Virgin America invests in the good will of customers, simply by publicly acknowledging and supporting them in the same channels where they’re communicating.

“It used to be unhappy customers who would call into customer service lines to express frustration. Now if businesses don’t immediately respond with resolution and nip these issues in the bud, they have the potential of spreading and going out of control. And at the same time, companies need to identify and amplify praise as it happens.”
- Erick Schonfeld


Virgin America’s Porter Gale is trying to rally her team as well as the other departments that are affected by real-time conversations and the issues they raise.
She hosts brownbag lunches, where PR, customer service, and other teammates discuss what’s happening with Twitter and other social networks. They also share and review strategies and tactics to teach and learn from each other based on their experiences.
Integration and the end of silos.

Ask away.
Olivier Blanchard864.630.7398www.thebrandbuildermarketing.com@thebrandbuilder (on Twitter)