Social Business Q1 2012- Quarterly magazine of the Social Media Leadership Forum

8/2/2019 Social Business Q1 2012- Quarterly magazine of the Social Media Leadership Forum

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B U S I N E S S

S O C I A L

Produced by Its Open | Tel: 0845 054 2299 | www.itsopen.co.uk

The Social Media Leadership Forum

is managed by Its Open

Q u a r t e r l y m a g a z i n e o f t h e S o c i a l M e d i a L e a d e r s h i p F o r u m

W I N D S O F C H A N G E A T M E T O F F I C E

I n t h i s i s s u e :

A S D A S S O C I A L A P P R O A C H

H I S C O X S L E A P Y E A R

W H Y F O L L O W N P O W E R ?

T H E S O C I A L E N T E R P R I S E

P E P S I C OC A M P A I G N S

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www.SocialMediaLeadershipForum.org | @SocialMediaLF


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W

ELCO

MEW

elcome to the second edition of Social

Business, a quarterly magazine that

looks at the rapidly developing eld

of social media. As before, this issue

provides snapshots of the ways businesses

embrace social networks as a means to make

genuine relationships with customers.

Hiscox shows what can be achieved bygetting involved in the entertainment world. Theinsurance rm commissioned a web TV comedyseries called Leap Year, which enabled it to buildfrom scratch an audience of 40,000 active socialmedia followers in the US. (If you have a spareten minutes, watch the rst episode on YouTube youll enjoy it!).

Experience suggests that a careful approach tosocial media works best. In this issue we talk toAsda, which stresses the importance of having asmaller number of engaged followers than largenumbers, and accordingly has allowed its presence

on Twitter and Facebook to grow organically.The Met Ofce spent a year watching howother businesses use social media before jumpingin itself. Its efforts have helped to strengthen thealready high levels of trust it enjoys with the Britishpublic a crucial asset for a weather forecaster.

We hear from npower how it set up a publiconline forum to handle consumers queries, at atime of major upheaval in the energy markets.We also learn from PepsicoUK about the rolesocial media has played in marketing campaignsfor its Tropicana and Walkers brands. And Dr.

Andrew Currah records some of the top-linethoughts contained in his recent report on thesocial enterprise, examining the phenomenon ofthe social customer.

We hope you nd the magazine useful andlook forward to seeing you at future SocialMedia Leadership Forum events.

I F I T SN O TB R O K E N . . .The ght againstregulation

InFocus

A S D A SS O C I A L

A P P R O A C HGrow your socialcustomers organically

Strate

gy

L E A P Y E A RS U C C E S S F O RH I S C O X I

nnov

ation

W I N D S O FC H A N G EStrengthening an already

strong reputation at theMet OfceCo

verStory

W H Y W O U L D A N Y O N EW A N T T O F O L L O W A NE N E R G Y C O M P A N Y ?npower explains all

Interview

T H ES O C I A LE N T E R P R I S EThriving on opennessand collaboration

Research

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S O C I A L L YI N T E G R A T E DIts Open talks toPepsi about integratedcampaign management

Interview

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our thoughts, feedback and social

media experiences are very welcome

Please contact us with anyenquiries and we will get back to you

as soon as possible.Editor

Robert [email protected]

Community Manager

Fran [email protected]

Designer & Production Manager

Ian [email protected]

Cover Art

Cozy Tomato

B U S I N E S SS O C I A L

Produced byIts Open | Tel:0845 054 2299 | www.itsopen.co.uk


W I N D S O F C H A N G E A T M E T O F F I C E

I n t h i s i s s u e :

A S D A S S O C I A L A P P R O A C H

H I S C O X S L E A P Y E A R

W H Y F O L L O W N P O W E R ?

T H E S O C I A L E N T E R P R I S E

P E P S I C OC A M P A I G N S

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www.SocialMediaLeadershipForum.org| @SocialMediaLF


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Internet freedomsare under threatas never before.Governmentseverywhere arestriving to controlonline activity, eggedon by traditional

businesses andindustries. An outcry in the US led to draftlaws against online piracy being put onhold earlier this year. But another similarinitiative, the Anti-Counterfeiting TradeAgreement (ACTA), has been makinggreater headway, having been quietly ratiedby the US and a number of other countries,and is causing consternation among internetusers in Europe especially.

As social media commentator Jeff Jarvisnotes, many things bother would-be regulators:piracy, privacy, pornography, predators,indecency, and security, not to mentioncensorship, tyranny, and civilization. But fromanother viewpoint nothing much has changedin the past ten years. The internet is workingjust the way it did then, and the sky hasntfallen in. So why the rush to x it now?

Its true that technological advancesbring anxieties aplenty. However withhindsight these are often seen to havebeen overblown. Take social networking

sites: when MySpace took off a few yearsago, fears were aired of the potentialthreat it posed to young people fromsexual predators. In the US that quicklyled to calls that access to such sites be

banned in schools and libraries, and thatage verication be compulsory. In factsubsequent research showed that theconcerns were seriously overstated.

And who now remembers the outcryagainst Googles Gmail service in 2004, inwhich targeted advertising is based on usersinterests? The fear of mail being read by

Google led to attempts to ban such targeting.However, when it was understood that it wasalgorithmic processes that were reading theemail, not actual humans, the panic subsided,and the service is now happily used by 350million people worldwide.

Digital commentator Adam Thierernotes a precautionary principle at workhere. It holds that, since every technologycould pose some theoretical danger or risk,public policies should tightly control thoseinnovations until their developers can provethat they wont cause any harms. In otherwords, the law should always play it safe. Butthis poses a serious threat to technologicalprogress and human prosperity, he argues.A regime guided at every turn by thisprecautionary principle would make digitalinnovation and progress impossible.

For his part Jarvis advocates resistance.The reason why governments and somebusinesses want to throttle the internetis because they see it as a threat to their

power, he claims, and if ordinary citizens dontwant to lose its benets they will have toght back. If its enemies prevail, the digitalconnectivity we take for granted today couldeventually be a fond but distant memory. n

Politicians love to regulate, and

with something as big and

untrammelled as the internet in

their sights they have plenty to

work with. But the internet is working

just ne, and they should leave it alone,

argue digital media commentators.

I F I T SN O TB R O K E N T h e f i g h t a g a i n s tr e g u l a t i o n

In

Focus

Produced by Its Open | Tel: 0845 054 2299 | www.itsopen.co.uk 3


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In recent years Asda has discovered the value of

engaging with customers through social media.

Dominic Burch,head of corporate communications

and social media, traces the brands involvement with

Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Until ve years ago, our ability at Asda

to pick up on customers attitudes wassomewhat restricted. Internet blogs andforums were monitored, and at the end of

each week the PR team would receive a report of whatwas being said about the brand. But it was all a bit afterthe event. Reading critical comments I used to think, ifonly Id known about that at the time I could have donesomething about it.

In those days, to make changes to our corporatewebsite we had to ring someone up and ll in a form.But there were so many untold stories that, from a PRperspective, were hard to tell through the mainstreammedia, and we wanted to talk to customers in a morecompelling way. The ASDA brand is focused around price,but there are lots of other things we do that we could

talk about: how we employ people, wherewe source products, our relationships withsuppliers, and so on.

At this time we created a YouTubechannel, inviting people to send in tips onhow to save money. Making a video requireseffort, and the response was somewhatlimited. So we did a little roadshow, going

round the country in a branded VW van,and getting customers to give us saving tips directly. Thatgenerated a lot of content, and we learned how to createa new corporate website, posting regularly and allowingcustomers to post their own comments. It was still a

A S D A S

S O C I A L A P P R O A C HG r o w y o u r

s o c i a l c u s t o m e r so r g a n i c a l l y

Strategy

We started viewing

ourselves as a media

owner in our own

right rather than

doing traditional PR

S O C I A L BUSINESS|Q1 20124


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corporate site, but became an outlet forregular PR stories around food, clothing, healthand consumer stories.

By now we had started viewing ourselvesas a media owner in our own right ratherthan doing traditional PR. This started to shiftour thinking: we realised the value of listeningto customers and the kinds of things they sayin social media networks.

Then along came Twitter. That captured asection of our customers who gave us a goodsense of the things they love about Asda, andalso things that frustrate them. Twitter gave usa really good window into what people reallythink about us what they say when youleave the room, that is. This was brilliant, as itgave us an opportunity to sort out customerissues before they got out of hand. Wed takethem ofine and nd someone to talk tothem directly and resolve their complaint.

We learned a lot from this. For instancewhen it snowed, our home shoppingbusiness was struggling to keep up withdemand, and we werent doing a good jobof communicating with customers aboutthe problems. There was a lot of noise onTwitter about it, but when we chucked moreresource at it, the noise quickly disappeared.

Some brands worry about where socialmedia ts into the business, who should runit, and so on. In our case the business quicklyunderstood its value. When we showed store

managers typical tweets about particularstore issues for instance, an anomaly whereMars bars might be on offer at 40p for two,while a single one cost 50p - they couldimmediately see how convenient it was.

We came to Facebook relatively late,starting with our George clothing brand only.

That was because we were concerned thenetwork might be a lightning rod for peoplewith individual complaints. But we soon foundthat people on Facebook engage with brandsaround products and events in a positive way.If someone comes on to make a complaint,other users themselves will tell them theyrein the wrong place.

About half of our mums are on Facebookevery day, and our ambition is to have amillion. But they have to be highly engaged.Id rather have a quarter of a million highly-engaged customers on Facebook than amillion who are not really that interested.Thats where lots of brands go wrong withsocial media, using it to sell products from theoutset. It should be a three-pronged strategy,where you listen and engage, and only thenstart to inuence. You need rst to holdconversations with customers to build up a

level of trust before offering them incentivesto buy. If you try to bribe them they willsimply evaporate.

Looking back, our approach to socialmedia has been methodical, slow and organic,and thats the best way. If you accept thatsocial channels like Twitter and Facebookwill be around for a while, you need tobe mindful of the relationship you build.Getting the right connections mattersmore than just collecting numbers. Yourerecruiting ambassadors and cheerleaders

for your brand, and over timetheir positive engagement will behugely benecial. n

Looking back,

our approach

to social media

has been

methodical,

slow and

organic, and

thats the best

way

ww

w.facebook.com/Asda

@asda



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Innovation

Sponsorship allows some

of the glamour of a

popular TV series to rub

off on a business brand.

But what if the business were to

go a step further, and create a

whole new show from scratch?

That is what insurance

company Hiscox has done in

America, achieving striking

success with its web TV

comedy series

Leap Year.

The show features ve young professionals who are suddenlylaid off, and instead of seeking new jobs decide to strike out on theirown. Ten episodes aired last summer on YouTube, Hulu, Vimeo andother web video channels, achieving four million views and buildingan audience of 40,000 active social media followers.

Each episode is only eight minutes long, but in other respects

the show is comparable to quality television content, with topclass script, acting and production values, and plenty of laughs. Co-written and directed by Yuri Baranovsky and produced by HLGFilms, the programme has even won an award from the NationalAssociation of Television Producers and Executives. Yet the branditself gets no exposure in the footage in the rst season, just a namecheck at the beginning. So at rst sight the benets might seemsomewhat limited.

Not so, says Hunter Hoffmann, the companys head of UScommunication: this is an ideal way to build awareness among itstarget market. Hiscoxs heritage is British, and when it decided tolaunch a new suite of business products in America, the challengewas to create high levels of awareness in a crowded insurancemarket where it was hitherto almost unknown. Social media quicklyemerged as the best approach, with 61% of small business ownersusing it to identify new customers and nearly three quarters of webusers watching video clips online. Web television, it seemed, wouldhelp it cut through the vast amount of existing insurance advertisingand establish itself as a trusted voice.

We worked with a PR rm that had done this kind of activitysuccessfully with Ikea and Trident Gum and that we were condentcould make it work, Hoffmann explains. What was differentin our case was that we wanted to resonate with start-ups and

entrepreneurs, but without being part of the actual plot. Viewersknow that Hiscox is behind it but we dont push it in their faces, andwere not mentioned at all in the lms. We got a lot of

positive feedback for that.

L E A P

Y E A RS U C C E S SF O R

H I S C O X

S O C I A L BUSINESS | Q1 20126


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The company was involved in the creative conception, telling thewriters how it wanted the plot to build and giving them a sense of thetrials and tribulations of start-ups. After receiving the rst set of scriptsit got involved in the editing process until it was happy with the content.It also vetted the choice of guest appearances, who include well-knowngures in the social media world, such as Guy Kawasaki, former chiefevangelist for Apple, and Adam Ostrow, Mashables editor-in-chief.

Outside the show itself there is plenty of other social mediaactivity. Each episode is backed by an opinion piece on the Hiscoxblog, which expands on the risks that the characters face and that thecompany can address. Sometimes these are very specic, Hoffmannsays. For instance, in one episode one of the members of the rmmakes a mistake and worries what the client will say, the same as whatour clients will sometimes experience.

Facebook contains prole pages both for Hiscox and for Leap Year,with 4000 and 13000 fans respectively. The brand also has a presenceon LinkedIn and Twitter, helping users keep in touch with the tools andinformation they need to run their businesses and protect themselves.The aim is to start a conversation and get more people involved,growing the networks in a way that would have been harder to dowithout this interesting content.

Financial services is a somewhat conservative sector, so was theretrepidation within the company at such a bold creative approach? Not

in the least, says Hoffmann. Hiscox encourages innovation and tryingnew approaches to marketing. It was amazing for me that peoplewithin the company were not just interested in the series, but actuallyexcited about it and not just here in the US, but around the world.

That global reach is mirrored in the viewing audience, which hasextended to Britain, France and other European companies, even toRussia. Clearly this is not appointment viewing like a television show,but the ability to watch it at any time on a computer at work orhome, or on a smart phone on the move gives it a special exibility.Its been interesting to observe viewers habits, Hoffmann comments.People would watch it the day it came out, or they might wait untilthe end of the week, or they might watch several episodes all in one

go, having read an article in the media about it.He concludes: A common response is how great it is that Hiscox

is doing something that is different and creative, and here in America ithas really helped put the brand on the map. n

Hiscox encourages

innovation

and trying new

approaches to

marketing. It was

amazing for me that

people within the

company were not

just interested in the

series, but actually

excited about it

and not just here in

the US, but around

the world.

The main cast

Guy Kawasaki has

a cameo role

Hunter Hoffmann,Head of US

Communication,Hiscox



8/16

The team rst spent a year working with

consultancy Its Open and the Social MediaLeadership Forum to help it understand the

environment. We wanted to watch and learn

for a while, to see how it might to apply to us.

Were used to getting the weather

reports from television, radio or

the web. But these days we can

also talk with the forecasters

directly. Social Business talks to the Met

Ofces Dee Cotgrove about the organisations

increasing use of social media.

The Met Ofce is one of Britains oldest and most highly regardedbrands, enjoying public trust at levels around 80%. Traditionally most of

its conversations have been one-way, mediated through other channels.Now for the rst time it can communicate directly with the public, viaa highly active presence on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook that reachesmore than 75,000 people each month.

Contacts are overseen by the communications team based inthe press ofce, which works closely with forecasters to ensure that

appropriate messages aresent out. Before takingthe plunge, the team rstspent a year working withconsultancy Its Open andthe Social Media LeadershipForum to help it understandthe environment. Wewanted to watch and learnfor a while, to see how itmight to apply to us, sayshead of communicationsDee Cotgrove. You cantjust copy other people; youhave to see how its relevantto what youre doing.

Then in 2010 the team

started getting involvedin online conversations,entering comment threadson web forums to correctperceptions where necessary.This in turn helped it toadjust its own messaging,

Cover

Story

W I N D S O F

C H A N G ES t r e n g t h e n i n g a n a l r e a d ys t r o n g r e p u t a t i o na t t h e M e t O f f i c e

S O C I A L BUSINESS | Q1 20128


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Social media is

more intimate

and two-way than

traditional media.

We can appeal to

new audiences and

interest groups.

Social media has

certainly provided

added depth and

clarity, which will

help to ensure that

the level of public

trust remains high.

making it a two-way process. Sometimesthe public attaches the wrong idea to ourweather warnings, and social media hashelped people understand what they meanand what they dont mean, Dee says.

The Met Ofce also started a Twitter

feed, with weather warnings directed atparticular parts of the country. Initially this

was on weekdays only, occasionally extending to weekends in the case ofmajor weather events. In the third year the project went fully operational,with customer contact advisors handling tweets on a daily 24-hour basis.

The catalyst was the eruption of the Iceland volcano Grimsvotn in May2011, which threatened to repeat the travel chaos of a similar incident theprevious year. We were still providing updates at the end of that weekand we felt we couldnt just stop the conversation, explains Dee. The@Metofce channel now has over 60,000 followers, who are encouragedto keep in touch by tweets such as, Im Dan, and Ill be here all nightfor your weather questions. Our advisors were already experienced intalking with the public, but were given extra training for contacts involvingsocial media. The press ofce still oversees the messaging to ensure thenuance is right, and it provides guidance in the case of high prole eventssuch as this winters snowfall.

Dee distinguishes between two elements in the Met Ofces use ofsocial media. On the rational side, the medium can help it reach morepeople more quickly and improve the quality of the information. Butthere is also an emotional element, she says, in helping connect withaudiences. For the Met Ofce as a brand its important that peopletrust our warnings, as it means they are more likely to heed what wesay, she says. Its fantastic to see people taking action on

the basis of our warnings, as they did before Christmasin Scotland when schools were shut following our galeforecasts, and again in February when Heathrow cancelledsome ights in advance of heavy snow.

Social media is more intimate and two-way thantraditional media, she continues. We can appeal to newaudiences and interest groups, like the annual Glastonburyfestival, for example, and connect to whats important forthem. That gives them more of a sense of association andafliation. It also means that other brands or individuals canendorse what we say.

Social media was part of an integrated campaign last August in which

the Met Ofce celebrated 150 years of forecasting. Elements included atimeline of its activities and progress over the years, and a competitionfor users to send in photographs demonstrating the indominatable Britishspirit in combating the weather

The organisation is active on YouTube, for instance posting weatherwarning podcasts by the chief forecaster. There can also be foundeducational clips about the science behind the weather, such as thenatural forces that cause thunderstorms. Clips can be freely syndicated toother web outlets, and in some cases organisations can be given specialcontent, as happens with the NHS for cold weather alerts.

Now into its second year, the Met Ofces venture is clearly a success,reaching over 100,000 people every month. It would be overstating things to

say that social media has transformed its relationship with the public, as thiswas already strong. But, Dee says, it has certainly provided added depth andclarity, which will help to ensure that the level of public trust remains high. n



10/16

n

powers Brighter Energy Debate

website was the rst foray by an

energy company into social media,

and is now in its fourth year. Wetalked to brand reputation and social media

PR manager Beverley Harrington about its

origins and progress.

At rst sight the Brighter Energy Debatewebsite looks like a general advisory service,pleasant and colourful, and the kind of placeone can go to nd out about the energysector or let off steam about gas bills. Whilethats true, its actually run by npower, one ofthe energy sectors heavyweights.

W H Y W O U L D A N Y O N E

W A N T T O F O L L O W A NE N E R G Y C O M P A N Y ?n p o w e r e x p l a i n s a l l

Strategy

Interview

The absence of corporate branding isa way to demonstrate an openness notnormally associated with utilities. This is

neutral ground, where customers can airquestions and gripes. All kinds of topicsare covered, from smart meters and directdebits, to solar prots and green energy.Each question gets a public response from acustomer services expert, and this is oftenfollowed up with one-to-one contacts. Thesite is also open to non-customers to askgeneral questions about the energy market.

Its easy to see why an initiative like this canhelp, as these are challenging times for bothsides. Energy companies are under pressure

from a major programme of investment asexisting power stations reach the end of theirlives. But so too are long-suffering consumers,as upward price uctuations leave themfrustrated and confused.

We wanted to be on the front foot moreoften, says Beverley Harrington, npowersbrand reputation and social media PR manager.For a long time wed been concerned thatthe energy sector was taking a bashing, butinstead of telling its own story was justreacting to criticism. Instead of stories about

successful recruitment, new technologiesand ambitious infrastructure projects,

the headlines tend to be of theenergy giant rips off

customers kind.



11/16

http://thebrighte

renergydebate.npower.com

If the customer has

got the courage to

come and say it to

us, then we should

have the courage to

respond in an open

manner.

So the forum lls an urgent public need,a place where genuine dialogue can develop.Indeed, an initial concern was that theresponse would be so overwhelming that thecompany would not be able to cope. So therewas little fanfare when the site launchedin November 2008. Yet even without any

overt publicity, it has gained110,000 visitors and handledmore than 1000 questions. Ithas also won critical acclaim,taking a silver for best websiteat the CIPR awards.

The aim is to talk tocustomers directly abouttheir concerns, such aspricing, customer service andenvironmental issues. Smartmetering is a current hot

topic, and many questionscentre on whether the nextgeneration of technology cansave money. The questions areanswered by panel membersrecruited from across thebusiness: visitors can be sureto receive a personal responsefrom a company expert ratherthan from a faceless forumuser. That helps to give the sitea friendlier, more open feel.

Honesty and transparency werewatchwords from the start, Harrington says.We wanted the website to have its own lookand feel, rather than being npower branded.That encourages people not to hold back. Ivesometimes had battles inside the companyabout publishing hostile comments, but Imaintain thats what its all about, to focuson what people are feeling. If theyve got thecourage to come and say it to us, then weshould have the courage to respond in an

open manner.A challenge is to keep the site fresh, andensure that the search is optimised so thatit gets found. Video helps here, with newclips going up all the time and receiving largenumbers of hits. One video featured chiefoperating ofcer Kevin McCullough explainingthe future investment required by the energyindustry at the same time as npower releasedits annual results. There are also peeks insidepower stations and at new construction sites a means to remind viewers that npower

generates electricity as well as selling it.On the subject of smart metering,

customers have been lmed in their homestalking about their experiences of npowers

recent trial. There are also clips of televisionnews journalist Peter Snow interviewingthe npower contact centre staff who dealwith customer complaints and give energyefciency advice. If were facing a possibleissue, say a price rise, well normally posta clip on the site to give more backgrounddetail - and also help present a human face tothe issue, Harrington says.

The Brighter Energy Debate is notthe brands only use of social media. It isrepresented on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter,

where McCullough, a savvy social media user,is an enthusiastic participant. It also monitorsonline forums, such as Money Saving Expert,intervening to give an npower response.Thats quite popular, and weve had goodfeedback from it - people even sometimes askif they can talk to the npower rep, Harringtonsays. We also monitor customer service siteswhere people have a bit of a gripe againstus, or an issue with their bill, and we say hi,anything we can do to help?

We often get asked, why would anyone

want to follow an energy company? Its notexactly sexy, Harrington concedes. But as away to relate to anxious consumers in troubledtimes, using social media makes sense. n



12/16

Once conned to its own siloinside companies, customer

service is becoming a keystone of

communications and strategy. But

to succeed fully, companies need to attract

and engage a new generation of social

customers, argues Dr Andrew Currah.

Last year arguably marked a tippingpoint where social media nally entered themainstream. According to a recent surveyby IAB and Lightspeed, over 44% of adultsnow use the web to share grievances aboutproducts and services. The result can bedisastrous, as brands worldwide have alreadydiscovered, with social media wielding thepower to bring a company to its knees.

This has propelled customer service tothe front of strategic thinking. The Arab

spring will soon be followed by acorporate spring, argued MarcBenioff at last years Dreamforceevent: Weve seen Mubarak fall,weve seen Qadda fall. When will we

see the rst corporate CEO fall forthe same reason, because his or hercustomers are rising up, or not listening totheir employees, or not paying attention?

Customers desire to be heard andrespected, and to get an immediate reply whenthey interact with a company via social media.One survey, by Useful Social Media, suggeststhat 55% of customers expect a response thesame day, yet only 29% receive one. Similarresearch by Cap Gemini suggests that 20%of Facebook users expect a reply within 60

minutes when they post on a companys pageThe social customer has given rise to

the social company, one that listens to itscustomers in real-time and asks them to

T H E

S O C I A LE N T E R P R I S ET h r i v i n g o n o p e n n e s s

a n d c o l l a b o r a t i o n

R

esearch

The Arab spring will

soon be followed by a

corporate spring.

collaborate in future developments. In turnthis has led to the emergence of hostedcommunity platforms, through whichcompanies can harness the support of theirmost loyal and passionate customers.

Momentum towards the social enterprisecontinues to develop worldwide, as witnessed

by the record attendance at the Dreamforceevent. As a result, it is taking root in awidening array of markets, including heavilyregulated domains such as nancial services. Inthe UK, for example, HSBC recently launchedan online newsroom integrating Facebook,Twitter and blog posts, as a means to outlinethe companys position on key issues andseek the engagement of customers. TheUKs Financial Ombudsman Service plans tosignicantly expand the use of social media inthe resolution of disputes between customers

and nancial service providers.A fully-edged social enterprise thrives

on openness and collaboration. Its lifebloodis a set of reliable and realtime ows of



13/16

information, that span every level of thecompany and involve every employee. Thecustomer is placed at the very heart of thecompanys vision, so that the entire workforceis equipped with the tools to ensure customersatisfaction, both directly and indirectly.

There is also a shift away from

the old belief that power comes fromhoarding information, as YammersCEO David Sacks has noted. Nowwere seeing that sharing informationis power. The more you can share,the more you can help other people- and the more it becomes apparent

youre an expert and a valuable contributor,he comments.

However this requires all kinds of cultural,functional and technical changes, and to moveforward, support is needed at the highest

level. Executive leaders need to stop treatingsocial media as a passing fad. Instead, theymust recognise the positive impact on bothcosts and satisfaction ratings as customers

Now were seeing

that sharing

information is

power.

Executives also

need to look beyond

standard metrics to

the value of brand

loyalty, advocacy

and a sense of

community.

themselves contribute towards service andmarketing functions.

Executives also need to look beyondstandard metrics to the value of brand loyalty,advocacy and a sense of community. Theyshould make themselves more visible, providingall employees with the training, tools and

authority to engage with customers.Investment is needed in the systemsand guidelines that will facilitaterealtime communications betweenemployees and with customers.

The social enterprise will need tolisten and engage across a range ofmedia: telephone, email, mobile, web.The catalyst is the next generation ofcustomer relationship management(CRM) technology, which is largely

platform-agnostic. CRM software can helpharness the collective knowledge within the

company, a powerful analytics and monitoringplatform that can be tapped into withoutrequiring signicant capital investment.

That said, the technology behind the socialenterprise is still young, and a company needsto understand the online social dynamicsof its customers before committing to anyinvestment in social CRM. It should conduct awide-ranging audit to identify in which parts ofthe conversation prism it needs to establish apresence, and what types of engagement wouldbe appropriate in the context of the wider

market and regulatory obligations.Its fair to envision a bright social future

for customer service. The rise of the socialcustomer has powered a broader transitionto the social enterprise, that seeks to emulatethe speed and simplicity of the social web.We can expect to see a new kind of realtimeand frictionless sharing begin to reshape themodern enterprise, in turn transforming therelationship between managers, employeesand customers. n

For more information read the Future of

Customer Service report by Its Open

http://socialmedialeadershipforum

.org/index.php/blog

FUTURE OF

CUSTOMER SERVICE:

THE RISE OF THE

SOCIAL CUSTOMER

A reportfromItsOpen and rstdirect

ReportbyDrAndrewCurrah

ExecutiveSummaryby

NatalieCowen,Headof BrandandCommunications,rstdirect

www.SocialMediaLeadershipForum.org

@ So ci al Me di aL F w ww .i ts op en .c o. uk w ww . rs td ir ec t. co m



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www.facebook.com/walkers >

The Tropicana Sun

captured peoples

imaginations as far

away as Russia,and they told us

theyd like that for

their own cities.


I

ts Open talked to Kate Woolf, media relations

manager for PepsiCo UK & Ireland, about

the part it plays in integrated campaignsfor products such as Walkers crisps and

Tropicana juices.

On a dark January morning this year, Londoncommuters spirits were lifted by the sight of anarticial sun glowing brightly over Trafalgar Square.The one-day art installation, commissioned byTropicana, was well received in Britain where itfeatured on live television. But the publicity event

also caused a stir around the world, with avideo posted on YouTube and word quicklyspreading on Facebook and Twitter.

Its an example of creative innovationworking to raise brand awareness, andalso of how social media can amplify a

campaigns reach. The Tropicana Suncaptured peoples imaginations as far awayas Russia, and they told us theyd like thatfor their own cities, says Woolf.

Social media also features stronglyin the campaign for Walkers Crisps heldbetween January and March this year,a competition to guess three mysteryavours and win a 50,000 prize. Prior tobreaking the campaign on TV, the brand

posted a YouTube video of Gary Lineker andother celebrities making guesses, and this too was

further publicised on Twitter and Facebook.We had record numbers of guesses online,

which was really great. Its an early indication ofhow good a campaign has been, Woolf says. Sofar the total exceeds 793,000, with 1.7 millionvisits to the website and over a quarter of amillion views of the YouTube content. Meanwhilethe Facebook pagehas grown by around100,000 fans. Salesare tracking wellahead of last years

hugely successfulComic Reliefcampaign, she adds.

S O C I A L L YI N T E G R A T E D

S o c i a l m e d i a i s ak e y i n g r e d i e n t w h e n

i t c o m e s t o m a r k e t i n gf o o d a n d d r i n k s b r a n d s

Interview


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The vision

of the social

enterprise is one whereboth customers and employees

are free to communicate more

intuitively, across time zones,

across abandoned hierarchies, to

nd and use the information they

need, to nd the people they need

to talk to, when they need to.

Its about making technology help people

reach their goals to get a job done more efciently.

At Its Open we help organisations become social

enterprises. Together with our clients we dene

step-by-step roadmaps that suit their unique

culture and specic reasons to change.

Sometimes this starts with the

commission of a piece of research into

a specic problem, like The Future Of

Customer Service report we recently

produced for First Direct. Other times it

involves getting started with a pilot project, a

public-facing blog or a new Twitter feed, or an

internal collaboration platform, to test the waters

and gain valuable experience.

From there our consulting efforts always focus

on staying true to the culture of the business, but

never abandoning the principles we believe lie at

the heart of the social enterprise: transparency,

authenticity and accessibility.

Its Open Consulting founders of the Social Media Leadership Forum.

If you would like to nd out more about Its Open and how we can help

your organisation change for the future, please contact Justin Hunt

([email protected]).

t

w

0845 054 2299

www.itsopen.co.uk

@ItsOpen

Both brands maintain a strong presence onTwitter, where named employees respond tocomments about samples and promotions, andfollow up queries. For the Walkers competition,celebrities tweeted to keep the conversationgoing until the climax, and Sam, who runs the

feed, went round the country nding well-knownpeople to interview. Participantsincluded the popular boy band TheWanted and cast members of theTV programme The Only Way isEssex, both of which attract a lot ofattention online.

This idea is to offer contentthat is exclusive to both Twitter andFacebook, trying to give followersand fans something special. Forinstance with the Walkers campaignwe dropped hints about the mysteryavours via a special app, says Woolf.

As a global company, Pepsicoowns hundreds of brands acrossdifferent territories, each with theirunique characteristics. Accordingly the tone usedin social media varies greatly. They do things in

their own ways, says Woolf. Copella, our UKapple juice brand, has a very different kind oftone with its audience. Its more homegrown, forinstance talking about what were doing on theorchards today.

In line with a growing trend in companies, the

brands representatives are given the freedom torepresent it on social networks, withinestablished guidelines. Our colleaguesare empowered to share relevantinformation responsibly - absolutely,Woolf says. We have colleagueswho blog on our main US homepage,and the corporate Twitter feed has anamed personality behind it, so that itdoesnt feel as though its just comingfrom the business, but from a realindividual who works here.

Social media is a key aspect,although one of many, Woolfconcludes. Theres samplinghappening in stores, theresengagement happening with our

customers and our buyers, and then there is alsothe social part of it - that ongoing conversation.n

We have colleagues

who blog on our main

US homepage, and

the corporate Twitter

feed has a named

personality behind

it, so that it doesnt

feel as though its

just coming from the

business, but from areal individual who

works here.


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Social Business Q1 2012- Quarterly magazine of the Social Media Leadership Forum

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Transcript of Social Business Q1 2012- Quarterly magazine of the Social Media Leadership Forum