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Transformations: Today’s Version of Mad Men

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November 11, 2011

Posted by Jessica Evans

Edelman Digital, Seattle

Follow on Twitter @jessicaevans

This week I participated in a “Would Mad Men Work in Today’s World?” panel at the Seattle Interactive Conference with fellow panelists Hillary Miller of Wunderman, Martha Hiefield of Zaaz and Maggie Boyer Finch of King of the Web .

“The theme for this year’s event is Transformations: Interactive technology has already transformed how we experience our everyday lives, both at work and play, yet there are profound new levels of transformation upon us — some good, some bad, and some yet to be determined.” (SeattleInteractive.com)

Some of the questions this panel addressed included:

Do the same attributes of leadership from the Mad Men era still apply?

Don Draper’s finest leadership attributes may be his abilities to influence, anticipate stakeholder needs and drive a team toward common objectives. I would argue these attributes remain just as important.

Perhaps what’s different about today’s leaders is that many more are and will be female. Take, for example, Edelman. On his 6AM blog, Richard Edelman recently wrote:

“Women account for approximately two thirds of our total work force, but only 34% of our Strategy Committee and 28% of our Operating Committee. One of our four regional presidents is a woman. Of our sixteen Global Client Relationship Managers, five are women or 31%. Of our five large practice chairs, two are held by women. Our goal is simple—50% of those on Strategy Committee, Operating Committee, GCRM and practice leadership will be women by 2016. They will have earned the positions; there will not be a quota.”

What lessons have we learned from Don Draper that we can apply in today’s hyper-analytical, online world?

Draper’s emphasis on the importance of emotional connection between a brand and its stakeholders remains as important today as it was in the 1950s; however, how we analyze who our stakeholders are and how we best engage with them is transforming as quickly as tools such as Facebook Insights, Meltwater Buzz (client) and others, enable insights to be refined like never before.

Draper may might not have been so successful with the “Lipstick” pitch today if he didn’t have the business insights to back up how his proposed campaign would generate the ROI necessary to move Belle Jolie up from number four.

How do the experiences that brands provide stakeholders today differ from what Madison Avenue helped provide in the 1950s?

The explosion of the Internet and proliferation of social media have certainly enabled brands to better interact with stakeholders. Edelman clients such as eBay, Microsoft, GE and Volkswagen provide innovative examples of online experiences—experiences that create emotional connections very much like the connections Don Draper would emphasize.

How do you think the marketing, advertising and PR industries of today relate/differ from the Mad Men days 60 years ago?

2011 State of Community Management Report

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March 28, 2011

Posted by Edelman Digital

Follow on Twitter @edelmandigital

This is a guest post by Jim Storer, the Co-Founder of The Community Roundtable. The State of Community Management Report was released by The Community Roundtable in March 2011.

We recently released our 2011 State of Community Management Report and couldn’t be happier with the early feedback. While it’s a long read (95 pages), people seem to be digging in and really getting a lot out of it. It’s based on both the interactions of members in TheCR Network and a community maturity survey we conducted late last year.

We structure the report around our Community Maturity Model, highlighting lessons learned around each of the eight competencies in the model. Here are five high level insights from the report:

  1. Community management is not about reinventing the wheel. Though we treat it like a novel concept, community management actually reflects historical approaches to business. Before mass media, businesses were built on relationships. Social media is bringing back that sense of community.
  2. Community management isn’t just a role‚ it’s a perspective. Community management is emerging as a philosophy and way of thinking about a functional discipline, rather than simply a role to be filled. A community-minded leader values transparency, engages with various constituencies, solicits feedback, promotes inclusion, and supports and shares other people’s ideas.
  3. Start small and creative. The best way to receive funding and approval for a growing social initiative is to create a project plan small enough to be palatable to everyone. Then, when this small experiment succeeds and your business case is proven, you can scale up from there.
  4. Involve your community offline. Giving community members the opportunity to interact with one other and your leaders is a good way to establish trust and confidence within the community. These interactions also offer you the tools for promoting the community to leaders inside your organization – they can see first-hand what sorts of insights can be gained.
  5. Understand the difference between expertise and attributes when hiring for community management. The top attributes of a Community Manager are the desire to be helpful, someone who is concise and credible, a sense of humor, curiosity, fearlessness, influential, persuasive, diplomatic, patient and mature. The expertise required for the role of community manager is strategic business acumen combined with exceptional communication and people skills.

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The report includes survey results, qualitative lessons learned, our analysis of how the community management discipline is changing and a list of experts and references for further research. Combined with The 2010 State of Community Management report, practitioners have a robust reference document to help them:

  • Understand the discipline of community management
  • Provide a training resource to new community managers
  • Better plan and support social business and community initiatives
  • Find inspiration and new approaches to common challenges

This report could not have been developed without the perspectives of our members, the insights from experts we have had as guests (follow them via our Twitter list), and the support of the report sponsors: Acquia, Enterprise 2.0, Farland Group, Igloo Software, Moxie Software, Rosetta, and Social Media Today. We have done our best to curate and assemble those perspectives, insights, and support in a way that provides you with a valuable resource.

Jim Storer is the Co-Founder of The Community Roundtable, a peer network for community managers and social business strategists. He and his business partner Rachel Happe are dedicated to furthering the discipline of community management.



Health Digital Check-Up: Physicians and Social Media

February 8, 2011

Posted by Edelman Digital

Follow on Twitter @edelmandigital

This week’s Check-Up comes from Edelman client Kaiser Permanente and was authored by Vince Golla, digital media and syndication director for Kaiser Permanente’s Brand Strategy, Communications and Public Relations organization.

There are two time-tested ways to get a doctor’s attention: (a) bring facts, lots of ‘em, and good ones, and (b) publish them in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

Dr. Ted Eytan and four of his colleagues at Kaiser Permanente did both last week, publishing in The Permanente Journal a piece, “Social Media and the Health System,” which makes the case for thoughtful use of social media to enhance health care delivery — or how the absence of social media use could detract from an effective medical practice.

Kaiser Permanente has been a leader in health information technology for more than 50 years, the authors note from the start. Cofounder Sidney Garfield, MD, always positioned a computer at the center of his “hospital of the future” sketches he made in the early 1960s. The authors position social media as the same prominence in the discussion of 21st century medicine. Within the first four paragraphs, the gauntlet is thrown down: “Although there are risks for health systems to participate in social media, there are also risks in not participating. In a patient-centered model of health care, absence from social networks that are important to patients might lead to a gap between patients and clinicians.”

A Social Foundation

The authors first explain that social networking isn’t a widget or a box, but rather the assembling of thousands or millions of people electronically to share information and conduct business – old hat to you and me, perhaps, but not necessarily so in the medical community. They then note something many of you might not know: The American Medical Association barred doctors and health care systems were advertising their wares until the mid-1970s; thus, many such systems are a bit immature as it regards public relations and marketing. They talk about the importance of socking away “good news” to build a brand’s reputation and gird it against the inevitable bad news days, but then add a 21st century twist – they note that the mainstream media doesn’t make all the news any longer. Moral of the story? Your patient is not only a customer, but potentially also a content creator about your practice – good news, bad news, or a little of both.

Healthy Examples

Opportunities – and great examples – abound for successful use of social media in health care. When H1N1 loomed in 2009, the Centers for Disease Control took to Twitter to rapidly share information with caregivers and the public. More than 1.3 million followers later, the CDC is among largest and most trusted health care social media franchises. If the federal government can be successful at this, why can’t everyone else? In turn, numerous health care organizations and practitioners are using social media for everything from prevention to the creation of support and information-sharing groups for people with chronic diseases.

And Risks? They Have a Few

A recent legal review of social media and health care noted, quite aridly, that “in the health care context, complex situations can arise.” No needs to emphasize that with health care practitioners who recognize and absolutely critical importance of privacy and propriety. What challenges them is the inherently improprietous nature of social media. HIPAA breaches on Twitter have cost people their jobs; slams on service ranking sites have led to libel suits; Facebook conversations about others’ health care have led to litigation. Give everyone a social media bullhorn, and the sound can be not only cacophonous, but downright perilous to the practice of health care. The authors note that their organization, Kaiser Permanente has a wide-ranging social media policy (PDF) that acknowledges this reality and manages the risks involved.

Finally

The authors – four physicians, and the organization’s digital media and syndication director – conclude that social media is here to stay, and patients actively participating in their care are here to stay. Thus they write: “For health care systems and physician groups with a tradition of innovation and responsible growth, organized social media participation can extend the benefits of excellent communication with patients and potential consumers to enhance their relationship with us and promote achievement of their life goals through optimal health.”

Contributing authors to the piece are Kaiser Permanente physicians Dr. Rahul Parikh (@docrkp), a pediatrician in Walnut Creek, Calif., and Dr. Jeffrey Benabio (@dermdoc), a dermatologist in San Diego; Dr. Sara Stein (@sarasteinmd), a psychiatrist and obesity specialist from Cleveland; and Vince Golla (@vincegolla), digital media and syndication director for Kaiser Permanente’s Brand Strategy, Communications and Public Relations organization. Dr. Eytan is a director with The Permanente Federation, the umbrella organization that represents the national interests of Kaiser Permanente’s 15,000 physicians.

The spring edition of The Permanente Journal is available online now. Its print run of 30,000 copies will be available Feb. 27.




The Known Unknowns

July 28, 2010

Posted by Edelman Digital

Follow on Twitter @edelmandigital

The web is currently undergoing a normalization toward social. Base components of the social web such as friending, liking, voting, peer recognition, etc are permeating online presence down to static business sites.  As a result, the 2010 installment of SocialDevCamp Chicago is attracting professionals from a wider variety of industries.  Registrants include web and marketing personnel from healthcare, design, human resources, non-profits, and of course software companies.  Such an eclectic audience might be viewed as a hindrance by some, particularly those believing specialization and exclusivity maximize knowledge gain.  The SocialDevCamp team, however, is excited for the event’s diversity to increase the collective “known unknowns” of the audience.

The term known unknowns is borrowed from former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and refers to knowledge “you know that you don’t know.” This is a counterpoint to “unknown unknowns” or knowledge “you don’t know that you don’t know.”  We are not implying that SocialDevCamp has any connection to politics or global affairs but WE ARE suggesting that uniting a diverse group of people via the common interest of the social web can boost curiosity, knowledge, and creativity. For example, a talented PR professional at SocialDevCamp might have executed countless successful social campaigns for large brands without exploring the functionality of software.  Listening to a session on developing apps will probably not transform anyone into a programming genius, but the new knowledge does expand the realm of possibilities for client pitches and also improves future discussions with developers.  Similarly, an experienced developer interested in the social web could gain valuable insights on building a new product by talking to experienced PR professionals.

We hope you will join us on August 14-15 at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s amazing campus center (really – a train runs through the building).  Make sure to investigate the speaker list to determine where you will create new “known unknowns.” A good start will be listening to keynotes from Chris Messina of Google and Ben Huh of the Cheezburger Network.  And in the process, you’ll likely pick up new friendships and hobbies. Check out what the event looked like last year through our recap video:

Andy Angelos is an entrepreneur and musician living in Chicago, Illinois. He is currently working on working on SocialDevCamp Chicago, ScaleWell, and an online communications firm entitled Get Talked About. He is a practitioner of thinking before talking, especially on Twitter.


Becoming A Social Business, One Process At A Time

July 8, 2010

Posted by Edelman Digital

Follow on Twitter @edelmandigital

This is part two of the guest posting series between David Armano (Edelman Digital) and Gia Lyons (Jive Software). Read part one here.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve worked with several clients to plan and implement employee- and customer-facing social business initiatives. I’ve found it ironic that, while many enterprises decide to implement social business software and encourage social business behaviors in an effort to break down silos between employees and employees, employees and customers, and employees and the social Web, they approach their implementations from a very silo’ed perspective. For example, employee-focused pilots tend to take root in a business unit, then IT and/or Employee Communications teams take over when it grows into a strategic initiative. And in the mean time, Marketing and Corporate Communications are leading a completely separate customer- and social Web-facing social business initiative. The left and right hands often don’t meet until their procurement office gets the purchase orders.

From Silos > To Strategic Focus

However, if you can somehow remove these organizational-chart blinders sooner rather than later, the big picture becomes clearer. You can focus on the full business processes you’re trying to evolve, and all of the people who need to participate in social business transformation – employees, prospects, customers, and partners. You’ll then have a better chance of identifying the “from” you wish to leave behind, and the “to” you want to become.

In my new role as Communities Program Manager at Jive, I’m responsible for infusing existing business practices with social business behaviors (among other tasks). So, we focus first on the process and who enacts it before we figure out where social business software can improve or innovate how we do business.

Here are a few business practices we’ve evolved into social business practices, categorized by how most companies are measured:

Revenue Growth

Attracting Leads: From Static Website Content > To Interactive Thought Leadership

To attract more leads, we’ve augmented our static website content – case studies, whitepapers, customer webcasts, etc. – with content from influential and, well, pretty damn smart employees, customers and partners in our customer-facing Jive Community. Most of these mavens and connectors are part of our newly launched Jive Champions program. But, while the content is great, it’s the willingness of these Champions to interact that puts the zing in this particular sauce.

We routinely market this thought leadership content in the social Web. We, of course, “FaceTweetIn” it, but we also use social media monitoring to listen for and then engage folks who are interested in our or our competitors’ products and services. My colleague, Mike Fraietta, listens to 100% of the Twitter stream, plus everything else out there, ready to share our community’s thought leadership when appropriate (he’s one of our Jive Champions, so he dispenses advice and shares his experiences along the way).

I also make sure to market this content and its resulting discussions to our employees in our internal social networking software environment. Sales, Support, Services, Product Management, and our executive staff are very much plugged into our prospects and customers, which means they can propagate our thought leaders’ content in a very targeted fashion to progress a sales opportunity, or increase customer penetration.

We have another social business practice focused specifically on progressing a sales opportunity that includes integration between Salesforce.com, our employee-facing Jive SBS instance, and our customer-facing Jive SBS instance. That’s another blog post, however.

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Shifting The Conversation

June 24, 2010

Posted by Edelman Digital

Follow on Twitter @edelmandigital


As we continue to transition towards new modes of operation in business and towards a new society in general, I have pondered what it will take to make this “shift” proceed smoothly and with optimism. While the structures that we thought to be infallible slowly crumble around us and we acknowledge that we are operating within a fundamentally broken system, it is easy to become reactionary and allow fear to prevent us from embracing change. But how can we use the tools we have to our advantage? In one of humanity’s greatest displays of ingenuity, we have created the Web. How can we now use this communication platform to our advantage, to rebuild trust in each other, to redefine our values and visions, and to create a world in which we can pursue our personal objectives in a way that is mutually beneficial for all?

It’s a tall order, and not one that technology alone can solve. As I’ve stated before - 

Technology is the tool, not the builder. We are the builders.

It is our responsibility to design environments in which the behavior and actions we wish to see can emerge. Before we can take action, I believe a common ground needs to be established where we can come to a place of shared understanding and shared meaning. To that end, I proposed a concept for a conversation and collaboration platform I’ve called “Junto”. The term comes from a club by the same name originally initiated by Benjamin Franklin. The intention behind the meetup was to bring together colleagues and intellectuals to discuss the issues of the day – of business, politics, ethics, and how to better serve the community and evolve as compassionate, consciously aware humans. They identified a core value system which they could all agree upon, one that placed highest regard on mutual improvement and the spirit of inquiry itself. Though friction was inevitable, progress could be made because of a commitment to engage in generative dialogue in service of a larger vision.


While our version of this platform is still being built, ‘The Conversation’ is already underway. I look forward to watching this environment being built for free access on open standards, where live, public video-based dialogue can occur on a global scale. The technology that is needed already exists; what is lacking is the focused intention for the conversation. I’ve been showing what this conversation looks like for months already – I model it in the way I interact on my blog, on Twitter, and on Skype. I’ve even begun recording and posting clips of it. “Junto” is simply a word to represent the essence of the way we can choose to approach problem solving, collaboration, and each other. I believe it is up to us now to decide whether we are ready to be the change we hope to inspire in the world around us.





Venessa Miemis is a futurist, digital ethnographer, and modern day philosopher. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Media Studies at the New School in NYC. The focus of her graduate work is on facilitating trust-building, generative dialogue, and open collaboration in networked environments.  Her blog, Emergent by Design, probes the potential impacts of social technologies on human behavior, thought processes, and the evolution of consciousness. Connect with her on Twitter @venessamiemis.




Understanding Social CRM

May 11, 2010

Posted by Edelman Digital

Follow on Twitter @edelmandigital


Originally posted on Britopian from guest poster Jacob Morgan.


Social CRM is a very interesting topic but since the “space” is still relatively undefined, it can be somewhat of a challenge to address. The goal of this post is to keep things simple and high level so please keep that in mind and hopefully we can dive into more in depth in the future.

Let’s put aside terminology, jargon, and abbreviations for a moment and focus on some facts to help us understand exactly what’s going on:

  • The fastest growing sector for internet use is communities (+5.4% in a year) (Nielsen “Global Faces on Networked Places”)

  • Member communities reach more internet users (66.8%) than email (65.1%) (Nielsen “Global Faces on Networked Places”)

  • By 2010 over 60% of Fortune 1000 companies will have some form of online community deployed for CRM purposes (Gartner Group – “Business Impact of Social Computing on CRM)

  • “By 2010 more than half of companies that have established an online community will fail to manage it as an agent of change, ultimately eroding customer value. Rushing into social computing initiatives without clearly defined benefits for both the company and the customer will be the biggest cause of failure.” (Gartner Group)

  • Trust and transparency are as important to company reputation as the quality of products and services. (Edelman Trust Barometer 2010)


There are plenty of other statistics and pieces of information out there but the key point that needs to be made is that customers now control the business ecosystem. People are talking about you and to you in these communities and these means of communication have now overtaken email.

Let’s also remember that CRM has always been about three things: marketing, sales, and service/support. The new element we are dealing with now is conversations which, in addition to being its own element, also affects marketing, sales, and service/support (to keep things simple I’m using “conversations” to also justify ideation, feedback management, collaboration.) At the end of the day, customers have evolved and businesses need to evolve with them.

What about social media?

Social media has and always will be about channels and tools such as Twitter and Facebook. In the near future we won’t even see “social media teams” at all. They will all be a part of Social CRM teams or integrated into other business functions which in the case of Comcast is the Digital Care team. So now that we have a good idea of what social media is and what the landscape looks like, what about Social CRM?

There are long-winded and confusing definitions that have been used to describe what Social CRM is. Many of those definitions focus on technology and/or social media, which in my opinion are incorrect. I’m not going to offer a definition of Social CRM because quite frankly I think it’s been defined to death. What I will say that is that Social CRM is first and foremost a strategy that positions the social customer as the focal point of how an organization does business. This strategy can be supported by technology but technology always comes second to strategy.

Social CRM does not in any way replace what CRM is or does but it does add the new conversation/relationship based element which previously did not exist. If you want a more detailed explanation, read my Social CRM presentation on Slideshare.

What we are currently seeing in terms of companies jumping on the social media bandwagon is just the “tip of the iceberg.” Eventually companies are going to move into a deeper level of integration which includes processes, frameworks, crisis management plants, change management, and Social CRM strategies (which will be specific for each company). Companies will look at the communities they have built, the friends and networks they have amassed, the channels they engage in (along with the new data silos they created), and the conversations they are having; and then they will say, “how are we making the social customer the focal point of how we do business?”

That’s when Social CRM will become the answer.




Jacob is the principal of Chess Media Group, a social business consultancy that is focused on creating Social CRM, Enterprise 2.0, and Social Media strategies for mid and enterprise size clients. Jacob also authors a popular social business blog. You can connect with Jacob on Twitter @JacobM.




Image credit: Jacob Morgan