Groundswell Ideas

Groundswell ideasHelping clients using the ideas in Groundswell Josh BernoffVice President, Principal AnalystForrester Research

3Entire contents © 2008 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

What is Groundswell?

• A book by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, available April 2008 from Harvard Business Press

• A new way of thinking about online social phenomena and trends

• A set of strategies for companies engaging with customers through social technologies

• A discipline that Forrester can use with clients, and clients can use with customers, to gain business advantage


Major Groundswell themes

• Increasingly, people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations

• This trend is broader than the individual technologies that make it up

• Companies can turn the trend to their advantage

• Determine first what your customers are ready for and your objective; only then can you pick a strategy

• (cont’d)


Major Groundswell themes (2)

• Groundswell strategies can be deliver powerful, measurable returns in research, marketing, sales, support, and product development

• Companies succeeding with these strategies must give up control to reap these powerful advantages

• Many of these same techniques can be used with your employees, not just your customers

• Engaging with the groundswell will eventually transform your company into one that is more and more customer-focused


Powerful groundswell tools

• Social Technographics Profile: analyze the social profile of your customer base

• POST method: a systematic process for social strategy development

• Listening, talking, energizing, supporting, embracing – five strategies to create advantage from the groundswell


This is your company . . .


. . . these are your customers in the groundswell


This is you and your customers in the groundswell


Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

Ladder ofsocial

participation

Adults Youth

18% 39%

25% 43%

12% 14%

25% 58%

48% 66%

44% 26%


Social Technographics Profile of a group

Base: US online adults. Business travelers = more than one trip in last 90 daysSource: North American Social Technographics® Online Survey, Q2 2007

28%

34%

21%

59%

35%

30%

Creators

Critics

Collectors

Joiners

Spectators

Inactives

Index Online adults = 100

150

136

176

120

121

80

Online adultsBusiness Travelers


The four-step approach to the groundswell

POST

People Assess your customers’ social activities

Objectives Decide what you want to accomplish

Strategy Plan for how relationships with customers will change

Technology Decide which social technologies to use


Development

Support

Sales

Marketing

Research

Groundswell objectivesRoles

Listening

Talking

Energizing

Supporting

Embracing

Key roles and their groundswell objectives


Josh Bernoff

+1 617.613.5789

[email protected]

groundswell.forrester.com

Thank you

Groundswell Ideas

Business

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