Monthly Archives: March 2013

March 18, 2013 · 10:02 am

Social Is As Social Does

Let’s start the week with a little food for thought.  I came across a great report from the Altimeter Group concerning how businesses evolve around social.  The report makes a distinction between companies implementing a social media strategy and those that are building a social business.  It’s really an eye-opener, especially the finding that just 34% say there are clear metrics used throughout the organization that associate social activities with business outcomes.  Then again, given how too many businesses are always chasing the next shiny object without considering how or if it works for their enterprise, maybe it isn’t.

Here is how they made the distinction between social strategy ad social business:

A social media strategy lays out the channels, platforms, and tactics to support publishing, listening, and engagement. A social business strategy is the integration of social technologies and processes into business values, processes, and practices to build relationships and spark conversations inside and outside the organization, creating value and optimizing impact for customers and the business alike. The most important criteria for a successful social business strategy are twofold: clear alignment with the strategic business goals of an organization AND organizational alignment and support that enables execution of that strategy. However, in a survey conducted by Altimeter of social strategists and executives, only 34% felt that their social strategy was connected to business outcomes.

Yes, I said that last point a second time – I think it’s that important!  It gets to the first of the success factors of a successful social business strategy:

The biggest cause of social strategy failure was the lack of alignment around business objectives. Businesses that uncover the gap between business objectives, social media strategies, and internal challenges and opportunities will open dialogue that both closes the gaps and creates alignment in the process.

The report goes on to list six others:  Having a Long-term vision for becoming a social business, key executive support, having a roadmap in place for all your initiatives along with a timeline, process discipline and ongoing education, staffing properly, and choosing technology only after strategy is set.  Each one of those points would make a fine topic for a longer post but it’s a pretty good checklist from which to work.

I encourage you to read the report a couple of times and let me know what you think.

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March 15, 2013 · 8:32 am

The Charcoal Experience

Foodie Friday Fun time! With the start of daylight saving time last weekend, my thoughts turn to a food-related topic: grilling. It’s hard to go outside in the winter to fire up the grill when it’s dark by the time you need to cook dinner. While I own a little miner’s lamp I can wear to see the grill surface in the dim light, it’s certainly not as easy as when the sun is till shining. Then there is the fact that it’s 35 degrees…

English: Preparing grill for grilling, grill w...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We have an indoor gas grill and we put it to use over the winter, but there’s nothing like grilling over hot coals. Which spurred a thought about technology, of course.

Lots of people I know own gas grills they use outdoors. There’s no question that this little bit of technology has made their lives easier, just as the high-powered vents that allow us to use our indoor gas grill do. But the technology hasn’t made the food any better. In fact, I think most things cooked on a gas grill taste flat – they lack the grilled flavor that charcoal imparts. Or worse – they have an artificial taste that comes from the gas.  Better technology but a worse experience.

Think about how that same principle translates into other things. There’s no question email has made communication easier in business but I think the “flavor” of the communication is worse. It lacks nuance and a personal touch.  Like the gas grill it’s faster, easier, and more convenient.  But better?  I don’t think so.

Getting lost in the “newness” of something can blind us to the fact that it’s delivering a lesser experience.   There’s new technology every day, it seems, and I worry that a good deal of it will just pull us further apart from reality even as it enhances our ability to communicate what’s going on around us.  The next time you’re at a concert or a school play, take note of how many people are “experiencing” the moment through a video screen instead of paying attention to the reality that’s in front of them.   They’re keeping a better record of the experience thanks to the technology but do they have a better memory?

Give me charcoal – a technology that’s been around for centuries – any time.  You?

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March 14, 2013 · 9:28 am

No More Megaphones

We’re discussed customer-centric marketing a lot here on the screed over the years. This morning there’s a piece of research out that reinforces many of the points we’ve brought up in those discussions. The good folks at MyBuys have released a study which is…

primary research across more than 1,100 consumers that examined how personalized marketing across channels impacts shopper attitudes and buying behavior. Survey results reveal that customer-centric marketing—the ability for retailers to engage consumers in one-to-one conversations across the customer life cycle and all touch points—increases buyer readiness, engagement and sales activity, with a record 40% of respondents now stating that they buy more from retailers who comprehensively personalize the shopping experience across channels.

What I like about this is the recognition that purchasing is a process.  People have to be ready before they’re going to ring the cash register and part of the marketing process (a big part as it turns out) is fostering that readiness.  In fact, one thing the study show is that it can detrimental (at the very least to your conversion rates) if you get people to your website in an attempt to buy before they’re ready. When people leave websites without purchasing it is most often because they were “still in the research process” (44%).  So much for the “hard sell.”  It speaks to the notion of an ongoing conversation as well as to the abandonment of a “one size fits all” marketing plan.  More complicated?  For sure.  Better payoff?  You tell me:

When customer-centric marketing is implemented across channels, retailers typically realize a full 100% increase in purchase frequency, a 50% increase in average order value and a 25% increase in conversion of cart abandoners to buyers. These and other improvements stemming from customer-centric marketing equate to delivering a 25% increase in total online sales and a 300% improvement in customer lifetime value.

So how does one go about this?  Well,  “readiness” requires finding the right product (67%) at the right price (55%). In addition, personalized promotional emails (57%) and personalized online advertising (35%) were shown to be the top vehicles to prompt consumers to purchase.  Not surprisingly, Amazon was the site to which people turned after quitting other sites while shopping.  Amazon is textbook customer-centric marketing.  My experience on the site and yours will be totally different, as will the marketing materials we receive.  Any wonder they’re the biggest?

Throw away your marketing megaphones – they might be doing more harm than good.  I suspect this behavior is going on offline as well but that’s another post.  Does that make sense?  Does the research?

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