Social media

A lot of these figures are coming from a study conducted by Deloitte and Beelinelabs: Tribalization of Business Study

How are companies measuring success? (in order of prevalence)

Greater awareness (50%)
Number of new ideas (43%)
More referrals (25%)
Increased sales (25%)
Others…

Biggest obstacles to making communities work (according to survey respondents)

Getting people to engage
Finding time to manage the community

This is an interesting point emphasised by the presenters. “Getting people to engage” implies that you are trying to get them to do something you want them to do, which belies the true dynamics of communities. Finding time to manage the community is similar, in that if you are getting the funadementals right, a lot of the work in managing a community will be done by the community itself.

How companies are incorporating communities:

Usually managed by marketing department, not a job for interns, take it (and resource it) seriously
58% of survey respondents are spending less than $50,000 on community management
Investment in community building is relative, $50,000 may be ample if the fundamentals are right

Takeaway #1: Communities are about delivering game-changing results

Communities can increase revenue per customer dramatically i.e 50%
Communities will increase product introduction success ratios
Communities amplify everything you do – increasing effectiveness and decreasing costs

Takeaway #2:

(missed this one, was too busy twittering, sorry)

Takeaway #3: The need for new management thinking

Mismatch between community goals and associated investments
Major gaps between community goals and what is being measured
Communities have to combine with major talent initiatives
Communities will transform most business processes. (You can start communities without changing the way you work, but eventually it is going to impact on the way you work)

Takeaway #3.5 : The worst practices enjoy wide adoption

The build it and they will come fallacy
The let’s keep it small so it doesn’t move the needle phenomenon
The not invented here syndrome (especially applicable for newspaper and magazine publishers - people already have a vibrant social network on facebook, myspace, bebo, they do not want to rebuild networks on your site. Engage people where they are.)

Early predictions

Many community initiatives will continue to fail
Communities will eventually transform the role of the the CMO
Early adopters will force industry-wide changes
Companies will find out how to build predictable communities

Prediction #1 for publishing industry: Have your community cell-phone ready
(*Based on data from Deloitte’s “State of the Media Democracy” Survey, 3rd Edition)

A third of US consumers are using their cell phone to entertain themselves, over half of Millennials
Almost 50% of consumers, 40% of Boomers, and a surprising 35% of Matures are interested in ease of access to product information via product bar code scanning on their cell phone/hand-held
Although a very small percentage, almost 5% of every generaiton considers cell phone advertising as being the MOST influential form of online advertising

Prediction #2 for Publishing: Media will never travel alone

In order to optimize subscriber and ad revenue potential, media companies must create new product development and advertising strategies
Package of channels around content, not separate and distinct, but integrated, convergent

Prediction #3 for Publishing: You will need to provide the full capabilities of the digital media menu