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Social Business In Action: Field Notes

social business notes
February 14, 2012
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Posted by David Armano

Edelman Digital, Chicago

http://darmano.typepad.com/

Follow on Twitter @armano

This post was originally published on David Armano’s blog Logic + Emotion.

I just finished up participating in one of our events for Social Media Week, a global conference taking place in several major cities around the world. Our panel moderated by colleague Robin Hamman included Euen Semple who previously ran social efforts at the BBC and Vincent Boon from Giff Gaff, while it’s still fresh on my mind, I wanted to jot down a few key thoughts:

Social Business Is About Applying Purpose & Intent At Scale

The above diagram is something I started off with and an attempt to describe social business in one visual. At it’s core, it’s about connecting stakeholders who are critical to the success of your business. And as I’ve stressed before—it’s about executing initiatives leveraging the “3 P’s”—People, Process & Platforms. I stressed starting with people.

Social From The Inside Out

Euen said the following:

“There’s no point aspiring to be 2.0 outside the firewall when you are still operating at 1.0″

While I would not go as far as to say there’s no point, (an organization can learn from external initiatives) I concede that Euen’s point is well taken as so many organizations don’t internalize social behaviors externally. If you can’t walk the walk, how can you talk the talk?

Members Only

Vincent stressed that Giff Gaff customers are viewed as “members” and I simply loved this perspective. It is exactly in line with how “social” has altered our behaviors. Marketing departments always viewed their target as “consumers” but thinking of them as members and co-creators is a really nice way to acknowledge how empowered they are and how this can benefit themselves as well as the business.

Shiny Objects Be Damned

As I write this, I’m looking at a leaderboard created for Social Media Week London which uses Kred to rank “movers & shakers” AKA individuals creating noise this week at the events. It’s clever but also a distraction. I referenced some of the efforts Verizon takes to include feedback into their services via forums—as well as levering experts who actively produce content and engage. Often times a social business is one that doesn’t attract the most attention, but generates results. Beware the bright and shiny objects that capture attention but don’t deliver long term value.

(Click leader board to see current stats)

Image credit: armano

Social Media Week: The Shift to Social Business

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February 13, 2012
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Posted by Michael Brito

Edelman Digital, Silicon Valley

Follow on Twitter @Britopian

Originally published on Michael Brito’s blog Britopian.

The vibe at Social Media Week is changing.  In just a few short years of its existence, Social Media Week has evolved from startups, bloggers and social media gurus to enterprise class content and participation. I am lucky enough to be involved in a few events and sharing the same stage with a few mentors and some very good friends. Here’s a sneak peak of what’s going on.

Out and About Silicon Valley

Monday

On Monday, February 13th, I moderated a Social Analytics panel at Adobe with some smart folks from Ebay, SAP, Intel, Adobe and Cisco. Jeremiah Owyang and the wonderful Susan Etlinger from Altimeter will also be presenting earlier in the day. A big thank you to my clients at Adobe, specifically Maria Poveromo and Jennifer Atkinson for inviting me to speak and be a part of this event.

Tuesday

Today, I will make my way across town to Cisco where I will moderate a panel on The Path To Becoming A Social Business with more smart folks from Intel, Adobe, SAP and Wells Fargo. They will be sharing their insights and experiences on how they have transformed their organizations, shifted culture, and operationalizing social media internally. The very awesome social media team at Cisco, specifically Petra Neiger, also arranged for a book signing for Smart Business, Social Business. I am very humbled for such a kind gesture.

Later today, Jeremiah will also be presenting a keynote lecture on social business; and Todd Shimizu from Ant’s Eye View will be leading a panel on the future of social business with folks from Twitter, Slideshare, Jive and LinkedIn. Also on Tuesday, up at the Razorfish headquarters in SF, Rod Smith from IBM will be presenting a keynote on Social Technology and Analytics.  These are some amazing events that you can’t miss.

.. and the fun doesn’t stop here.

Wedensday

If you are around on Wednesday, the good brethren at SAP are hosting a day with dynamic speakers on social business. Maggie Fox, Ray Wang, Mark Yolton from SAP and others will be hosting 4 great sessions on the topics of listening, culture and technology. I am hoping to show up and soak up some of their wisdom.

Social Media Week: New York City

If you happen to be in the N-Y-C and are finished celebrating “that” team’s Super Bowl win, there are some really good sessions about social business that you should try and catch. For starters,John Bell from Ogilvy will be discussing the social enterprise; and Howard Greenstein will be moderating a panel, “Social Business Gets Real” with Ethan McCarty from IBM, Dan Woods from CITO Research and Matt Dickman from Weber Shandwick. Also, Dave Gray from Dachis Group will be presenting a keynote on The Connected Company, which is also the title of his soon to be released book. Jeff Dachis, the man behind Dachis Group, will be delivering a keynote followed by a panel on big data.

All good people. All good sessions. And a ton of really good insights. Be there.

Image credit: smwhr

Does a Social Business Always Deliver the Best Customer Engagement?

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February 8, 2012
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Posted by Michael Brito

Edelman Digital, Silicon Valley

Follow on Twitter @Britopian

Originally published on Michael Brito’s blog Britopian.

A few weeks ago, Peter Kim wrote a post about his trip to Ford. He mentioned a few different times that Ford’s initiative of inviting external influencers – several different bloggers from countries including Canada, Germany and China was a bold move and that it was a great example of how Ford delivers on being a social business. I agree.

Opening the doors behind the firewall to external people and being open to feedback is certainly one attribute of a social business along with operational elements like communication, connections and culture as Peter mentions.

External Engagement Initiatives within the Auto Industry

I have always had this philosophy that a social business enables a brand to communicate more effectively with customers, partners, employees etc. and as Peter says “scale” programs such as Ford’s initiative earlier this month. That being said, a natural conclusion of Ford being a social business is that their external engagement initiatives are second to none.

However, a recent report by Visibli, a real-time analytics platform shows otherwise. Visibli analyzed  the top 5 auto brands to see which one of them is most engaging on Twitter, and how they do it. Some of the findings include:

  • Honda is more engaging on Twitter than Ford and rest of ‘big auto.’
  • Honda does it by targeting the right followers — 45% of their followers are interested in auto-related content, higher than any of the other brands
  • Contrary to popular ‘best practice,’ almost 100% of Honda’s tweets are auto-related. Zero variety … but it works!
Further Social Business Considerations

Other than owning a Honda Civic many, many years ago, I have zero visibility into Honda as a company. Are there social business initiatives happening behind the firewall? Are teams collaborating and engaging internally? I really don’t know and I don’t know anyone who works there. But here are a few considerations:

  • This is one study from one vendor; and one could argue that a retweet is not an accurate measure of engagement OR at least the the only measure of engagement
  • Perhaps Ford is still early on in their journey of social business transformation per Chris Carfi from Ants Eye View.
  • It could very well be that Honda just has a stellar marketing team (or agency) and utilizes real-time analytics to provide extremely relevant content to the community – the right content, at the right time, in the right channel to the right customer.
  • Increased customer engagement is only one output of a social business – other outputs include an increase in employee engagement, increase in employee productivity, efficiency and sales; innovation, collaboration, etc.

Image credit: planeta

An Influencer Approach to Stakeholder Engagement

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January 31, 2012
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Posted by Caleb Gardner

Edelman Digital, Chicago

Follow on Twitter @calebgardner

Among the key insights that came out of Edelman’s 2012 Trust Barometer was a plan for how businesses can earn the license to lead, not just operate. In today’s environment, a focus on operative factors alone is not enough to win over a skeptical public. Companies have to broaden their vision and their language, taking on societal issues and practicing radical transparency. Shareholders are only part of the puzzle – engagement with all stakeholders is needed, and an effective social business plan is needed to get there.

Engaging Beyond the Customer

The results of the study reminded me of Charlene Li’s excellent predictions for social business in 2012. Li made some great points about what businesses should focus on in order to make tangible steps toward becoming more social and more open in the next year. Her third point is especially valid: that a culture of sharing that empowers and connects employees with consumers will create a sustained competitive advantage for businesses willing to implement it. I would take it one step further and assert that social businesses will be more effective at engagement with all stakeholders.

Most companies are making headway in consumer engagement via social on some level, but they aren’t considering other stakeholder groups as part of the social business puzzle. The Trust Barometer emphasizes more than ever an engagement approach inclusive of employees, partners, and others as well as current and potential customers.

Engaging with all of these stakeholder communities at scale is a challenge. However, I believe that an influencer approach can help provide some focus, and will allow for the most effective communications with all audiences.

The Bigger Picture of Influence

The idea of influence amongst consumers is nothing new, and brands and their agencies have long targeted the most influential consumers in order to gain third-party credibility, spread awareness, and ultimately drive sales. Some have argued that a “cult of influence” will even emerge in 2012 that will see businesses obsess over turning influence into business value. Services like Klout are built around helping brands do this at scale. But there are influencers in every stakeholder group that are driving the culture and perception of businesses. These deserve attention and engagement just as much as customers do.

Through a comprehensive influencer mapping process, businesses can identify and engage with the most influential voices in each group – whether that be the blogger who drives online conversation around a brand, the employee who sparks water-cooler conversations, or the journalist who covers the industry. The reality is that these groups have already been engaging with each other, but businesses have never before had the tools to bring all stakeholders together under an umbrella engagement strategy. But the new reality illustrated by the Trust Barometer demands it.

Social Business Planning Leads the Way

What that engagement looks like will depend on the unique position of each company, but a smart social business plan will be the roadmap to engaging at all levels of influence. Most likely it will involve:

  • Some combination of internal and external community management. Have you implemented an effective employee collaboration hub – one that is about culture sharing as much as information sharing?
  • Social media training – for all departments, not just marketing – and policy development.
  • Collaboration between departments – especially HR, which has an increasingly important role to play.
  • Buy-in from C-Suite executives, who are the biggest influencers for most stakeholders. This will prove to all parties how important a culture of sharing and open communication is to your business.

If trust is indeed shifting from institutions to individuals, then businesses need to understand which individuals are responsible for driving their company perception, and put in place an engagement strategy. How are you positioned to engage with your stakeholders in 2012?

Image credit: Jean-François Chénier

Social Business: Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch

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January 30, 2012
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Posted by Michael Brito

Edelman Digital, Silicon Valley

Follow on Twitter @Britopian

This post was originally published on Michael Brito’s blog Britopian.

In the following video, Chris Heuer interviews Sandy Carter, Vice President of Social Business Evangelism at IBM.  The interview is 17 minutes long but the key takeaway is that “Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch”.

What this means to me is that the backbone of social business transformation has to be grounded on behavior change (culture) – not technology, not social media, not process. In order for effective change to become an epidemic, a certain level of trust needs to manifest itself within an organization through behaviors, actions and communication. And trust only gives birth when business leaders not only talk the talk, but walk the walk as well (or, begin to change their behavior).  This is one reason why I often write about IBM and the great leadership they are taking in this space.

Here are a few indicators to determine if your company is beginning to evolve:

  • Company leadership mandating that internal teams collaborate across functional business units, geographies, product organizations and channel partners (they also have to be collaborating themselves not just telling others to do it)
  • CEO and/or executive teams using social technologies to communicate internally & externally and encouraging employees to do the same
  • Global/functional teams sharing best practices frequently; organizational silos dying a slow death
  • Social behaviors become engrained in the everyday fabric of employees’ workflow, processes and job functions
  • Social business initiatives becomes a consistent line item in marketing, operations and IT budgets
  • Human resources adds “social media” type of behaviors in job descriptions and employees are then held accountable

Now the question is .. what are you doing to change your behavior?

 

Friday Five: Trust in Media, Digital and Otherwise

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January 27, 2012
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Posted by Brian Reich

Edelman Digital, New York

Follow on Twitter @brianreich

Earlier this week, Edelman released the global findings from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer – the 12th year of the firm’s annual trust and credibility survey.  Anyone in the business of communications, or planning how an organization engages with its audience, should take note of the results – and particularly that data surrounding trust in media.

For starters, the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer shows an overall decline in trust globally, with steep declines in the levels of trust in government and business. Government is now the least trusted institution–trailing business, media, and NGOs. Business experienced fewer and generally less severe declines in trust, but has its own hurdles to clear – notably that CEO credibility declined 38 percent, its biggest drop in Barometer history. For the fifth year in a row, NGOs are the most trusted institution.

Media was the only institution to see an increase in trust over the past year. Global trust in media is now above 50 percent – and media in India (20 percentage points), the United States (18 percentage points), the UK (15 percentage points), and Italy (12 percentage points) all saw significant gains.

What does that mean for your work?  Here are five takeaways related to media:

1 – Traditional Media Stronger Than Ever

Not only are traditional media (and search) the most trusted sources, but in specific circumstances – corporate earnings, product launch information, details on a crisis — they are also the first places people go for information. Traditional media — TV, newspapers, magazines, radio – and online search engines are the most trusted sources of information for people searching for general news and information, new product information, news on an environmental crisis, and company announcements. In the United States, trust in all media sources rose, with major jumps in the perceived trustworthiness of television, radio, and newspapers as sources of information about a company (by 23, 13, and 11 percentage points, respectively).

In the U.K., those same sources increased by 25, 17, and 17 percentage points, respectively. In France and Germany, however, trust in television news and newspapers fell by ten or more points.

Traditional media likely earned the trust of various audiences after doing a solid job covering the financial turmoil throughout the European Union as well as numerous corporate crises, including the Bank of America debit card fee, the Netflix/Qwikster snafu, and the India telecoms scandal.

But trust is ever-changing, so to maintain its upward trajectory, traditional media must continue to innovate, not just by embracing new platforms but also by expanding its focus (covering more stories), deepening its commitment(following issues over time) and doing a better job engaging its audience (sharing data, co-creating coverage, sharing responsibility for fact checking).

2 – Digital DNA Key to Hybrid Media Influence

Traditional media has worked hard in the past year to expand its digital offering, and still has work to do if it wants to earn its stripes using social networks.  Hybrid media, by contrast, has digital as a core part of its DNA and has used its approach and perspective on how to engage with audiences to build trust around the world.

According to data from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, 83% of the general population use digital media for general news and information and in countries like Russia (95%), China (93%) and Indonesia (92%) the usage was even higher.  Not surprisingly, among 18 – 29 year olds, digital media is the most popular source for general news and information.

Hybrid media – which includes content aggregators and curators (Flipboard and Pulse and Storify, TechMeme), as well as personality and topic-specific-blogs and news sites (VentureBeat, Politico, GigaOm, and Sports Blog Nation) – post frequently, on a range of topics, and look to social media and the online community to help extend the life of stories and integrate different angles and audiences.

Like their traditional counterparts, hybrid media acquitted itself with its coverage of key stories over the past year. They still trail traditional media sources, as well as search, on the list of sources for general news and information, but their influence on the media industry, and the innovation they are helping to drive across all sectors, is clear. With a growing number of news consumers looking to hybrid media for information, the opportunity to drive further disruption across the media universe remains great.

3 – Social Leads the Pack

Social-networking, micro-blogging, and content-sharing sites (Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr) witnessed the most dramatic percentage increase as trusted sources of information about a company, rising by 88, 86, and 75 percent, respectively.  Search engines and news/RSS feeds also saw a jump (18 percent together).  The findings suggest that some of the trust that audiences have in social media was transferred from other media. For example, in China, Trust Barometer data showed double-digit decreases in television as a trusted source, plunging from 74 to 43 percent, and trust in Chinese newspapers fell by 20 points to 34 percent.

But trust in social media jumped: micro-blogging sites and social-networking sites in China went from virtual distrust at just one percent each to being greatly trusted by 25 percent and 21 percent, respectively. The rapid growth in social media usage within China is best exemplified by Weibo (the Twitter equivalent in China), which at the end of 2010 had 60 million users and by the end of 2011 had grown to more than 310 million users.

In addition to massive growth, major news stories, including the corruption of the Red Cross and a high-speed train crash, were first reported on Weibo, and they became central to discussion about political and other issues.

4 – Transparency Vital on Owned Channels

Every company is a media company, no matter what its business or activity.  Data from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer shows that ‘owned’ channels – a company’s website or blogs for example – are a key source of trusted information for consumers.  The data show a significant rise in trust among owned channels, and notably corporate communications and corporate/product advertising.

At the same time, the credibility of CEOs, along with government officials, experienced a massive decline this past year. Organizational leaders should not take this (solely) as a criticism, but rather an invitation to partner with outside thought leaders and elevate other employees and technical experts from within their own ranks to the position of trusted spokesperson.

Traditional, hybrid, and social media are trusted in the eyes of audiences likely in large part because of their transparency and commitment to innovation. To achieve the necessary level of participation and engagement required to earn trust in a connected society, most organizations still need to undergo a cultural change in terms of their online communications, and especially their owned channels.

Organizations must gear themselves to the transparency of the new media and remove hierarchies from its own media and communications structures to establish and maintain trust with audiences. Beyond just posting more and better information, organizations must also be alert to comments on its products, brands, or personnel all across digital media, and be prepared to respond and engage quickly. This rise in trust seen this past year should be seen as encouraging, but more importantly used as evidence that more can, and should, be done.

5 – Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

There is one last data point from the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer that all media, and other organizations, must understand. Against the backdrop of increased skepticism, 63 percent say that messages must be repeated between three and five times for them to be believed, a four-point uptick over last year. In Japan, which now sits second from the bottom of the list of where countries rank in terms of overall trust in institutions, the number is 82 percent.

That means in one year more people need to hear the same things repeated, across different channels and from different sources, before they believe its accuracy. Let me say that again: that means in one year more people need to hear the same things repeated, across different channels and from different sources, before they believe its accuracy. The results of the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer show what we have known for a while – how important it is to stimulate storytelling and conversation that creates motion across all of the different types of media.

It is critical that all organizations, and especially media, focus on providing smart ideas, high-quality content that can be easily found and shared, and commit to a level of engagement with their audience, that benefits all. The more this line of thinking becomes embedded into how organizations operate, the more credibility and trust will be found. What do you think the path forward for media will be?  How can media build on a strong 2011 to cement its status as a trusted institution in future surveys?  And what can business, government, NGOs – and others – learn from the rise in trust in media this past year?

2012 Edelman Trust Barometer infographic
View more documents from Edelman Insights

For more information about the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer visit Trust.Edelman.com or read the Executive Summary or the Global Results Presentation.

Launching a Social Command Center (Without The Center)

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January 27, 2012
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Posted by David Armano

Edelman Digital, Chicago

http://darmano.typepad.com/

Follow on Twitter @armano

This post was originally published on David Armano’s blog Logic + Emotion.

“Social command centers” are all the rage today and it’s not without some merit. Many organizations now find themselves in a real-time business environment where news travels faster than sound, and information is set free. As a result, some forward thinking companies have put “monitoring” in place either in-house or in combination with partners. This isn’t enough. And to make matters worse, I’ve seen companies make the classic mistake of buying a tool BEFORE putting any thought into the design that goes into effective monitoring and response, forgetting the 3P’s (People, Process, Platforms). Tech platforms are only one third of the problem.

The media hasn’t helped. “Social Command Centers” as physical spaces ripped from the playbook of NASA have been documented via Dell, Gatorade* and most recently, the Super Bowl. Now, to be clear—a physical space can make listening, engaging and responding in real time effective—but it’s not a requirement. In fact, for the organization who wishes to be able to function in real time for the long haul, it’s the wrong place to focus on. So, how does any organization who wishes to be better equipped for real-time business move forward? Based on some of the work I’ve been doing with our analytics teams at Edelman Digital—below are some high level recommendations for setting up your social command center, without the center.

1) Set Up The Infrastructure

If your organization is not currently equipped to take in large amounts of social signals and process that data in real time—it’s imperative to start with the three P’s:

People

Most organizations forget that any initiative is dependent on people no matter how effective the tool and they forget to start here. Don’t make that mistake.

First, decide how much your organization can invest in terms of training people to both use the tools and have “listening” become either part of their job or the job itself. Go to the organizational design drawing board and begin to map it out. See who has done it before and if you don’t know who has—find help here.

Many organizations will find out that they need assistance in the form of professional service providers. Even here, work on the org design to determine how resources, both internal and “outsourced” work together for maximum integration.

Process

Another area where many “command center” initiatives fail is that they gather the signals, but don’t have the internal process in place to share the insights and intelligence. If your organization has spent money on tools or even people but haven’t figured out how to effectively communicate (internally) what you’re hearing, it’s wasted investment.

A process must be designed which connects multiple stakeholders together who can quickly get information and perhaps more importantly be able to connect with others on interpreting what it means. Internal social networks which act as collaboration hubs, can play a role here—but again, without a process (and the right culture) in place, the tools won’t matter.

A system must be designed here which can quickly get information out to key stakeholders across multiple silos, but those groups must commit resources and leadership to support the process.

Platforms

Not all tools are created equal and some perform better functions than others. There’s no shortage of tools which started as listening and are moving into the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) space, or social publishing platforms that are extending into the monitoring and response category. There are tools which will work with existing enterprise platforms and those which claim to be end to end. There are also technology platforms who will offer services around their tools and those who don’t.

The golden rule when choosing a platform is to remember that a technology company at the end of the day always views their technology as the best solution. We typically recommend comprehensive audits here—as well as bringing together both internal decision makers an key partners together before pulling the trigger on a technology solution. It’s also recommended that SOME thought be put into both people and process before making a decision on tools. The most common scenario I’ve seen is the reverse—which leads to more cost and less efficiency, retrofitting people and process to work with a tool which may have not been the best pick in the first place.

2) Analyze For Meaning

Data. It means nothing without analysis. In order to even get to any kind of meaningful analysis, you mist first set up the right filters and taxonomies. Your company for example may have a product name which also comes up in other industry conversations in total unrelated context. Once the right taxonomies and filters are in place, it requires brains to detect patterns and extract any kind of meaningful insight from the data. These brains are not just the data analysts but also people across your organization who should be pulled into the “command center” and tapped for their area of expertise. Individuals from R&D, customer care and even HR can be relevant here.

3) Optimize Content & Engagement Tactics

There are really only two immediate actions any organization can take from having a command center infrastructure in place. The first is to optimize any form of communication asset which goes out. The second is to optimize any form of engagement (example, talking to anyone in a forum, social network, or commenting on a publication). Both content and engagement tactics are informed by the social intelligence captured, disseminated and digested by the designated individuals who are part of the command center ecosystem.

Content and engagement tactics can happen across a number of digital and real world properties. Traditional media, (mainstream), Hybrid (blogoshphere), Social, (networks and forums) and Owned (apps and corporate sites).

4) Monitor & Measure New Signals

If you’re going to invest in a social command center (without the center), you’ll need to be able to measure and report progress, not only intelligence. Every piece of content and every interaction should be designed to create a ripple effect or reverberate a signal which your command center should be able to pick up and track back to the source.The source should be connected to your efforts whether ranging from correcting inaccurate information, to levering social channels to rectify a bad customer experience.

Everything we do in the digital space sends a signal. Some are faint and some get picked up. As part of a command center construct, an organization should design it so it can not only trace signals back to their origin, but connect them to business objectives.

It’s worth noting that as with everything else attached to the word “social”—a command center construct is not a magic bullet nor a solution for your business problems. However, it can be an effective move your organization makes in calibrating it for real-time scenarios which is becoming all too frequent as a result of social technologies and the behavior it influences. Today, your customers, employees and competitors can send signals in real time. My hypothesis here is that within the next 5-10 years, nearly every organization will have some kind of system like this in place which works to their benefit.

*PepsiCo is an Edelman client.

Why Your Company Needs to Structure Properly for Social Media… Right Now

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January 25, 2012
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Posted by Marshall Manson

Edelman Digital, London

Follow on Twitter @marshallmanson

Yesterday morning in London, Richard Edelman unveiled the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer. It’s the twelfth year that we’ve conducted the study, which tries to answer the seemingly simple question: “Who do you trust?”

One thing is clear from this year’s research: It isn’t your CEO.

Globally, only 38% of informed publics think CEOs are credible spokespeople. That’s down from 50% last year.

On the other hand, trust in a ‘Regular employee’ showed a dramatic rise from 34% last year, to 50% this year. ‘Regular employee’ trailed only academic, technical experts in the company, and person like yourself as the most credible spokesperson your business could put forward. You can view all of this data on slide 21 our global trust presentation.

We’ve been talking about social business here and elsewhere for a while, but for me, no single piece of data has made a more compelling case for social business.

In a world where employees, whether technical experts or regular folks, are a company’s most credible spokespeople, every business simply must understand how to organize and empower employees to interact successfully in social media.

We have some practical thoughts what this means and how to make it happen, but the bottom line is that it’s time to expand social thinking from brand marketing and communications to the whole enterprise. That won’t happen overnight, but as the Trust Barometer shows, it’s important that the journey begin.

Edelman’s London office is hosting a panel discussion on Social Business on the 14th of February. The event will be held at 105 Victoria Street London , SW1E 6QT, 8:30-10:30am.

You can register and find more details here.

Image credit: Lars Plougmann

My 2011 with Edelman in Review

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January 16, 2012
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Posted by Robin Hamman

Edelman Digital, London

Follow on Twitter @Cybersoc

This post was originally published on Robin Hamman’s website Cybersoc.com.

Usually, on the last day of the working year, I write a post that reviews the past 12 months. Well, I spent my last day of work last year flying from London Heathrow to Frankfurt, back to Heathrow, across to London Luton then off to Gdansk so didn’t quite manage to maintain the tradition.

But that explanation is a great start for my 2011 post as I spent much of the year – around a day every week and a half – gallivanting around Europe and further afield.

The year started, as 2010 ended, working with David Armano on Edelman’s Social Business Planning offering. Over the past year, various members of the Edelman Digital and Edelman Consulting teams furthered our thinking and, in December 2011, our formal offering finally saw the light of day.

My client list has continued to grow and although I don’t tend to name names, I can tell you I’ve had the pleasure of working with a leading global food and beverages brand, several international insitutions (UN and EU Parliament), a global leader in the finance sector, a consumer pet care brand, a mining company and others. Indeed, for some reason, my clients are almost all based outside of the UK – Zurich, Brussels, Moscow, Holland, Seoul, New York, San Francisco.

This probably goes some way towards explaining why, if you follow me on Twitter or foursquare, you will have noticed that, as I mentioned above, I spent quite a lot of the year out of the office. So much so that, at one point, several members of our team were calling me “Dora”, in reference (if you don’t have kids), to Dora the Explorer.

Here’s the list – off the top of my head so likely to be missing one or two stops – of the places my job took me in 2011:

  • NYC
  • Moscow
  • St. Petersburg
  • Seoul
  • Dublin
  • Prague
  • Bratislava
  • Vienna
  • Amsterdam (3-4 times) and Raalte (twice) and Utrecht
  • Barcelona (twice) and Sitges
  • Brussels (8+ times)
  • Gdansk (once for work, often for play)
  • Copenhagen
  • Frankfurt
  • Munich
  • Belfast
  • Belgrade

I enjoy travelling as part of my job – it’s great to see new places and meet new people – and there were far to many highlights to capture here, but here’s a few of them:

Belgrade

Belgrade, long on my list of places to visit, rolled out the red carpet in a way no other city managed to match – my conference speaking gig there was proceeded by a surprise VIP invitation to Belgrade Fashion Week (thank you Kosta!), where I met the Prince and Princess of Serbia and watched the show as part of their entourage, was interviewed by Fashion TV (I said some nonsense about the designs evoking strong images of Spring), and then went to dinner at a hard to better piano bar with a group that included a supermodel who had done Victoria’s Secret and covers for just about every fashion magazine going – this does not happen every day and half the office still remains sceptical it happened.

Sitges

Sitges, near Barcelona, was extraordinary for entirely different reasons. I was there to speak at a client event – it’s one of my favourite clients because they’re smart, receptive to our ideas, and a lot of fun. After I spoke in the morning, I headed straight to the poolside at the Dolce. Visualise, for a moment, four or five pools split across different levels, lush gardens making each one of those feel entirely private, and beautiful views out over the Med and you’re there. Clients take note – please help me get back to the Dolce, sooner rather than later.

Seoul

In Seoul we also had great hospitality. The hotel where our group of four stayed was not far off perfect although I never did figure out all the gadgets eluded to by all the buttons on the toilet, which had a heated seat and a protruding nozzle. I suspect, based on the icons, there was also a dryer built in there. Our Seoul office welcomed us warmly, and our client layed on a wonderful lunch for us – the octopus running down the table in a bid for freedom (he was captured and plonked into the boiling water in the end) was surely not part of the plan, but added a great story to my after dinner repoirtoir. Other memorable moments inculde member of our team somehow getting stuck in a lift, unable to figure out which Korean symbol to press for help, having a jet lag induced meeting at 4am, and buying a neck tie at 6am. We also managed to find time, during our 36 hours on the ground 13 hours from home, for dinner in the restaurant on the top floor of the tallest building in Korea and the food – as was all the food we had in Seoul – was truly delicious.

St. Petersburg & Moscow

I also had a great time during my trip to St. Petersburg and Moscow. I arrived in St. Petersburg on the weekend before a client meeting which, coincidently, was scheduled in the middle of the “white nights” when the sun sets for only an hour or so in the night. I visited the Hermitage, which must be one of the World’s greatest art museums, and a short boat trip outside of the city, the “Russian Versaille”, Peterhof. After finishing up with the client, I headed to Moscow to spend a day with my Edelman Digital colleagues there, two of which took the afternoon off so as to take me on a tour that included Red Square and other notable sites.

Enjoying the Ride

Those are just a few of the travel related highlights – there were many more, including getting lost in an industrial estate on the outskirts of a small town in Holland at 1am, wandering around inside the European Parliament, getting a free Mexican dinner off a foursquare check-in in NYC – which I’d need to write a book to fully cover. Monocle, Intelligent Life, The Economist, Wallpaper, and The Guardian kept me informed along the way with BBC iPlayer and Monocle 24 providing entertainment.

As for professional stuff, our team continued to grow rapidly during 2011 – from around 40 full time staff to 70+. We’ve had the opportunity to work on some amazing build projects, many of them involving a full blown research and strategy phase prior to design and implementation. We’ve also had the chance to devise and manage some interesting social media engagements for clients. A number of the projects I’ve had the pleasure to work on have involved teams in multiple countries – Germany, Brussels, Russia, Spain, Holland, Italy, China, Japan, Korea, NYC and San Francisco, and Argentina. Edelman has offices in over 54 markets, and joining up enables us to ensure that the global strategies we often devise are informed, and implemented by, people with local knowledge.

I continue to find thrills in the fast paced nature of our work, and also delight in working with such great people whether they’re from within our own London based Digital practice, our wider Edelman family, or clients and their other suppliers. Oh, and did I mention that we’re always looking for good people to join the team?

Anyway, enough gushing about how much fun I’m having here – best of luck to you in 2012.

Six Important Shifts for Social Media In 2012

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January 12, 2012
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Posted by Dave Fleet

Edelman Digital, Toronto

http://davefleet.com/

Follow on Twitter @davefleet

This post was originally published on Dave Fleet’s blog DaveFleet.com.

It’s hard to believe we’re already ticking in another calendar year. So, as usual, I got to thinking about the shifts I think companies need to make in their social media activities in this year.

These aren’t necessarily trends that are already happening (although I’d like to say they are), but they’re certainly where my head is at and hopefully where others are, too.

Here are six shifts I hope to see in social media use by business in 2012.

Better objective-setting

Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a slow maturation in the way companies develop their objectives for social media. My hope is that this will continue in 2012. That means fewer companies treating fan or follower growth or video views as goals, fewer made-up numbers and more focusing on business outcomes – sales, cost savings, customer/employee retention etc.

More effective measurement

As companies get better at setting objectives for social media, they’re going to need to get better at measuring against those new objectives. That means shifting focus away from anecdotal evidence and simple outputs, and looking at indicators of the behaviour you’re looking to drive. It also means taking a closer look at the reporting of that measurement. See my recent post on five ways to improve your social media measurement for more on this.

This will be accompanied by increased realism over social media results. I’m currently reading a book that points to a multi-national company having 27,000 Twitter followers as an indication of social media success. Let’s face it, that’s unlikely to move the needle for lots of companies. As companies focus-in on reporting business objectives, we’ll see a continued shift away from high-fives over anecdotes and minor wins and a more hard-nosed focus on what really matters.

Improved Integration

Key to measuring more effectively, but with far, far broader effects, integration (and the breaking down of silos) will become even more key in 2012. The smart organizations have already figured out that social media works best when supported, and supporting, other forms of communications; look for more companies to mandate a silo-busting approach over the next year.

Strategic content planning

As organizations increasingly adopt the role of media companies in their online communications, watch for content strategy to receive greater focus in 2012. That means shifting from a “we have to fill these content slots” approach to one that carefully considers the objectives of each piece of proactive content and why it deserves its place in the content calendar. Sometimes it might be to drive community engagement; other times it might be to drive business conversion, and so on.

Increased search focus

An increased (and improved) search focus sits alongside more strategic planning of content. It means broadening the scope of how you target content, from point-in-time to point-in-lifecycle – thinking about what people are looking for at their stage in whatever process you’re targeting, and helping them through that and on to the next stage. That could be a stage of the purchase cycle, it could be a stage of the support process, or any number of others that you choose to focus on (thinking back to objectives).

Focusing on the less-shiny object

This is a big bucket of all sorts of increases, but my hope is that as companies move away from shiny-object snydrome in 2012 they start to take a more sophisticated approach to the less-shiny objects – policies, processes, listening, crisis plans etc – or, more formally put, to social business.

Social business

For me, this is an exciting time. I’m jazzed to see more mature use of social media help it to evolve into a more powerful tool for organizations – “life after likes“, as David Armano puts it. This is the cool stuff – the stuff that will move the needle and add real value for companies.

That makes the non-shiny objects the shiny ones for me.

Image Credit: CC BY-SA HonestReporting.com

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