Building a Business Case for Social Media
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Business Case for Social Media Jason Sem HBS Chapter of the Harvard Club of Minnesota May 17, 2011
Transcript of Building a Business Case for Social Media
Building a Business Case
for Social Media
Jason Sem
HBS Chapter of the Harvard Club of Minnesota
May 17, 2011
Agenda• Perspective• Consumer Decision Journey• Social Advocates• Planning for Social• Where We’re Headed• Questions/Answers
It’s not so much about TECHNOLOGY
Social Media Is About PEOPLE
+ +
Years Ago We Were Pretty Restricted To The Media We
Could Consume
Old Consumer Decision Cycle
Then: The Funnel Metaphor
• For a long time marketers assumed that consumers started with a large number of potential brands in mind and methodically winnowed their choices until they would decide which one to buy. After purchase, their relationship with the brand typically focused on the use of the product or service itself.
Source: Harvard Business Review 12/10
Today We Have Thousands of Different Media at Our
Disposal
New Consumer Journey
Now: Consumer Decision Journey
• New research shows that rather than systematically narrowing their choices, consumers add and subtract brands from a group under consideration during an extended evaluation phase. After purchase, they often enter into an open ended relationship with the brand, sharing their experience with it online.
Source: Harvard Business Review 12/10
New Consumer Decision Cycle
• Consider & Buy - Marketers often overemphasize the “consider” and “buy” stages of the journey, allocating more resources than they should to building awareness through advertising and encouraging purchase with retail promotions.
• Evaluate & Advocate - New media make the “evaluate” and “advocate” stages increasingly relevant. Marketing investments that help consumers navigate the evaluation process and then spread positive word of mouth about the brands they choose can be as important as building awareness and driving purchase.
Source: Harvard Business Review 12/10
New Consumer Decision Cycle
Source: Harvard Business Review 12/10
Advocates: Why They’re Important
•14% trust online ads (Forrester)•94% trust Word of Mouth (Forrester)•Advocates will thrive in your community•When advocates talk, brands grow•Average network = 190 followers•1.000 advocates=190K direct reach
•40% consumers recommend brands (ComScore)•60% advocates believe that good brands are worth talking about•67% of US economy impacted by Word of Mouth (Mc Kinsey & Co)•70% conversations include recommendation (Keller Fay)•85% tried to contact supplier before complaining (Nielsen)•90% of advocates write something positive about purchase experience
VS
Shifting Nature of Consumer Engagement
How Do You Plan for Social Media
80% of success is getting your organization ready --only 20% is about the
technologies
Social Strategist: • Responsible for the overall
program, including ROI• There may be multiple
strategists at each spoke
Community Manager: • Customer facing role
trusted by customers• Companies may have
dozens of community managers
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Staffing for Social
Organizational Model
• Reach• Frequency & traffic• Influence• Conversations &
transactions• Sentiment• Customer service
resolution
Guidelines and Policies
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Intel updates it’s Social Media policy regularly and offers tips and
pragmatic rules of engagement such as “Be transparent,” “Be
judicious,” and “Write what you know.”
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Web Analytics Social Analytics
Reporting
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To be successful using social
technologies, companies must
first prepare and align internal
roles, processes, and
policies with their business
objectives and customer’s
decision points. Social
business is a profound change that impacts all departments
in the organization.
Evolution of Social Business
Social Customer
Social Brand
Social Business
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• Technology innovation gave customers a voice
• The are influential• Amplified voice
across social media• Google indexing
critical conversations
• Social customers are trusting amongst their peers
• Companies and brands join Twitter & Facebook
• Engage with the social customer
• Social media teams are formed
• Small budgets are allocated to social media engagement and community building
• Humanizing business operations
• Organizational models are formed to include social
• Organization silos are torn down between internal teams
• Social becomes an essential attribute of organizational culture
