Griping about problems in your city or community? Traffic fixes like roundabouts? Oversized city council or political budgets and spending…the list goes on. So you write a blog post, fire off a “tweet” and maybe start a Facebook group to rally folks…and you wonder why your community has all these issues. You’re not alone.
In our research, we cover a lot of communities in Canada, the U.S. and UK. Sometimes at a bigger city level, sometimes within smaller urban centres. What we’ve come to find is…these problems we think are in just our community, aren’t. In fact, they’re often common, systemic issues. Issues all areas are coming to grips with as they grow, populations change and generational gaps ensue.
Next time you’re about to post a rant on why just your town, city or region is facing issue “A” or “X” take a moment and do some research on similar sized communities within your region or on the other side of the country. I suspect you’ll quickly find you’re not alone. Citizens and governments are looking at solutions to problems everywhere, everyday.
Social Media tools can be an excellent way to connect similar communities to engage in dialog. If a similar town to yours finds a solution, that may help your community. These solutions or forums for discussion, can be shared in Social Media. Imagine, two towns on opposite sides of the country working together on a similar problem…twice the brain power finding a solution.
(Author: G. Crouch)
Thunking, Uncategorized•
on January 5th, 2010•
I really enjoyed the blog post today by Joe Pulizzi; he has some great insights. As I read through his 30 things I was pleased as a marketer of 20 years that as a profession, we need to be more honest and respectful of the customer. It’s just time.
But it made me also wonder: just how much truth do we want to hear? Certainly we want honesty in pricing and stop the ridiculous promises of instant weightloss.
Don’t we want a little fantasy though? Seeing that Audi wind through the twisty Apline mountains…well, it’s just inspiring. Sometimes we want Calgon to take us away; even for just a few minutes of quiet in the tub (look how long that fantasy tag line has survived – but soap doesn’t really take you anywhere.)
Perhaps it’s that “line” that can get crossed. I agree, good content is better and honesty/integrity is the best. But can we integrate that with a little fantasy time? Where is the right mix? I don’t know but I’d love to hear Seth Godin’s take or Tim O’Reilly.
How much truth do you want to hear in advertising? When is it a white lie bad? At what point do we reject too much honesty?
What do you thunk?
(Author: G. Crouch, Managing Director)
It’s a question we get almost every day from current and prospective clients. Usually it focuses on Social Media, but of late Social Media is getting lumped into “media consumption” as a whole. Let’s put this into perspective. Generationally speaking.We think the question is more appropriately posited as “What media is most popular by age group?” Different age groups consume media in different ways. Understanding this is vital to developing effective communications strategies, advertising or marketing. read more
Thunking•
on November 10th, 2009•
The industrial age heralded mass-manufacturing and the use of machinery to do so. The printing press revolutionized our thought processes and communications. With the rise of the industrial age the telephone and it’s widespread use, became possible.
At the opening of the industrial age, children were employed to fix machines. Many died. The work week was seven days, pay was horrid. A new social concept came into being – unions. The church also chimed in saying Sunday was a religious day of observance. The 5 day work week came into being, along with the concept of shift work. Huge social change occurred. As the telephone came into being, new social rules around its use evolved over time.
Enter the Digital Age, the advent of the fax machine, the Internet with email…snail mail use plummeted. It was easier and cheaper to use email. The cost of the transaction was put down to almost zero.
We are in a transition phase from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age. Watching this happen and with our ongoing analysis for clients across healthcare, manufacturing, shipping and more, we’ve noted some curious events happening. Here’s some of what we think will change;
Work Hours: The 8 hour white collar day will change, not so much the length of the work day, but the when. Shifts that enable connecting with other time zones (it’s already happening, has been for a while.) It will just become more common.
Work Location: Well, the concept of home office and remote office working is far from new. But it may become more realistic in the future.
Work Social Rules: Workplaces will first deny all access to social technologies. Then they’ll learn how to use those social technologies to their advantage (some already have) but limits will be put on “personal” social tools.
Etiquette: We predict a renaissance in social etiquette. Just as it’s not cool to wear your mobile on your hip, it will be uncool to check your mobile device at dinner functions and cocktail parties while talking to people.
Social rules are changing. A new age of transparency is upon us, but we are in the early stages of change. We’re just beginning to understand these social technologies and barely understanding their implications on our social behaviours. Paul Carr has some good insights.
When we think of and mostly talk about, Social Media crises, we tend to look at the bigger stories; United Breaks Guitars, Motrin Moms, JetBlue. Let’s face it, they’re juicier and hit a broader audience. These stories bring together traditional and social media. But smaller, mostly “hidden” issues can create PR nightmares for a business.
As we experienced with a client today. For obvious reasons I can’t name them, I like having clients and don’t like making a painful issue worse. The issue didn’t get broadcast across Twitter or Plurk or similar microblogging channel. Nor did it wind it’s away through Facebook.
This crisis took place across three “closed” forums. By “closed” I mean that it was in semi-moderated forums focused to a particular topic/industry. Someone posted a topic in a forum, within a short while, others joined in, discussing a product and their feelings about that product. It started only 3 days ago, but by this morning had reached a significant volume and resulted in a large volume of calls to a contact centre and began migrating up to senior management.
We monitor for this client monthly. Which helped. But the challenge of automated Social Media monitoring tools becomes quickly apparent – most of them are locked out of these forums. And this is a huge gap in Social Media monitoring.
Although this issue was “localized” and didn’t hit broadcast Social Media levels, it still caused a drop in sales in just 2 days of 8% and forced a mid-size business to focus many hours of senior management and people resources to contend with it. Fortunately it was kept localized and didn’t seep over into more public forums.
So what are some take-aways for a situation like this?
1. Don’t rely on Google Alerts or basic monitoring services.
2. Find out where “discussions” are going on in closed forums like newsgroups, chats or discussion forums and check in weekly to see what might be going on.
3. A crisis can occur in Social Media in closed loops and cause as much damage as if it hit the more public forums.
4. Engage in these discussions (be open and disclose who you are, trying to pretend your a customer is dangerous) and stay engaged.
5. Often times, these “hidden” sides of Social Media can be of more value than more public forums.
So what do you think? Have you had a similar experience? What steps do you take in this type of issue?
(Author: G. Crouch, Managing Director)
Many bloggers and media trend watchers and a few industry pundits might have us believe Mass Media (or Industrial/Traditional Media if you prefer) is dead or at least dying. These mediums serve different purposes and that’s the key point, I’ve found.
Why Is Mass Media Still Relevant?
Recall the recent United Breaks Guitars video? How it had a few hundred thousand views and suddenly it was on CNN and other Mass Media outlets (including radio and newspapers?) Suddenly the YouTube views surpassed 2 million in just a few days. Or the iPhone launch protest in Canada over carrier Rogers pricing? Once it hit mass media the petition sign ups rocketed from 30,000 or so to over 70,000 in just 2 days.
What we’re seeing today is that Mass Media is watching what’s happening on the Social Web front…those Gatekeepers at Mass Media outlets (sic. editors) are connected, searching for stories. When they see the crowd jump on something, they know it will have mass appeal; because we STILL watch TV, listen to the radio and read newspapers and magazines.
Think Media Consumption: It’s About Passivity
It’s HOW we consume all these media channels today. We still consume them, but differently.We “watch” TV and we “listen” to radio and we “read” the newspaper. This is the way we consume these channels.
Think Social Media Consumption: It’s About Activity
We “tweet” a message on Twitter, we edit photo’s or videos online…we’re always moving, clicking, sharing..actively participating. Social Media is “active” not “passive” in nature. Sure we might read a blog, but the best blog posts are 300 words or less…because we don’t spend much time reading passively online…how many of you will read this post to the end?
Think of Your Own Habits: How You Consume
I’d lay a friendly wager you have 2 or 3 or more favourite TV shows? A radio show you like to tune into on the way home? Flick on the news at night sometimes? I like “Q” on CBC in the morning and often flip on the CBC National at night or BBC World; to passively catch up. I enjoyed being entertained with shows like the Border…I don’t always want to be engaging, clicking and moving about.
Translate all this out to the population of the Western world and think about all those eyeballs and ears still consuming mass media…albeit in different ways and less time than before. But it’s still relevant.
What do you think?
(Author: G. Crouch, Managing Director @webconomist on Twitter)
Best Practices, Reputation•
on August 25th, 2009•
At least, these are the ones we’ve found to work with clients. You might also have seen them mentioned somewhere else; no claims to being the first to think of them. They do, however, work and work well. Enough that I think we can at least put a stake in the ground for these four. The rules are being written daily.
1. Transparency: Be out front. Be real about who you are and why you’re company is involved in Social Media. Transparency means not hiding behind the old cloak of PR spin.
2. Authenticity: Don’t hire a flock of ghost writers to pretend they’re “you” or use a fake “personality” in campaigns. You’ll be found out and it will cost you more to repair the damage than it did in success. In this sense also, don’t pretend you’re not trying to sell me something when you are. Marketing has been deceitful enough these past 40 years.
3. Trust: If you’re business is transparent and your actions are authentic, you will build trust. The old bait and switch tactics are, well, old. Be original.
4. Respond: Social Media is “communications” which implies a two-way set of behaviours. If as a business you don’t want to respond then use one-way media; advertising in broadcast mediums.
5. Listen: Do this before you do anything in Social Media. Seriously. Start with a good long, deep listening to what is being said, who it’s being said about, why, where and in what context.
They aren’t a complicated set of principles and I’m sure there’s more. Let me know, I’ll add them or we can carry on the conversation in Twitter. But we’re starting to establish some principles that we know work in ongoing Social Media activity. Aren’t we?
(Author: Giles Crouch, Managing Director)
Value Disruption? That is, the disruption in how different types of media are valued. Pundits have been ringing the death bell of broadcast television for years, yet TV consumption has risen! Twitter was beaten up at first by bloggers et al, today it is the rage (perhaps the new email killer app?) The music industry is clinging to scratchy vinyl and the market doesn’t care. Radio is shifting and the jury is still out, yet Satellite and Internet Radio seems to be picking up the lost transistor waves.
Marketer Tom Hespos railed on about the waning of terrestrial radio and cited the writings of Adam Gerber of “media potholes” those dark spots where “advertising” doesn’t reach, or consumers who don’t listen to channels with any advertising messages.
The once crisp lines of media channels are blurring. Usage patterns are shifting and we are seeing a greater diffusion of how and where people consume media of all types. As video blurs across the Web between professional and consumer generated, the “value” of that media is disrupted. I suspect the major networks currently laying off employees due to “falling advertising revenues” is not entirely due to the “recession” we are/aren’t in. Rather, the marketing dollars are being spread around.
What we may come to find is that not all cuts being made now in various media channels are the actual result of an economic downturn nationally or globally – but of the disruption in value because of so many diverse channels and the growing shift in how, what and where consumers consume media.
The cost of delivering media en masse is lower than ever in human history, as is the cost of production. The cost of accessing the channels that deliver the media, and the pervasiveness of those channels has contributed to this.
I believe we may be seeing the start of the result of value disruption in the economic ecosystem of media, it just so happens to be tying in nicely with the “recession” if that is what we are in. What do you think?
Media Analysis•
on July 24th, 2008•
Smart Phones, lead by the latest iPhone 3G launch, have moved beyond the bane of just business and government users now. The iPhone and BlackBerry Curve have made massive strides into the consumer markets. Looking through the available apps for the iPhone, this becomes crystal clear. Most notable are all the Social Media apps for the iPhone.
Key to market adoption and use of any technology are the underlying applications. The applications must provide a clear value proposition and deliver a benefit that is either qualitative or quantitative. BlackBerry has proven this with it’s email capability (still far better than the iPhone.) Now it’s iPhone’s turn with Social Media and Web browsing far superior to BlackBerry or even a Windows Mobile Device.
From your iPhone or Touch you can access all the major Social Networks, post entries to your blog and micro-blog and share photos or websites. People are using them, and this is just the beginning. If those in the Social Media business were evangelizing the need for business and government to join in the conversation taking place, then this may be the most compelling reason so far. As a peer of mine, Carmen Pirie has said “the conversation is going on with or without you…so you might as well help shape it.” Astute words.
The Key Point of Difference – Access & Availability
Prior to Smart Phones, a person had to fire up their laptop in a connected location or sit at their PC at home or work. This creates a barrier to usage patterns since the individual must take a pre-planned path before being able to share their thoughts or opinions; access and availability were a primary issue. Not anymore.
Our estimation is that this will lead to;
- More but shorter conversations on isses or “micro-conversations”
- Rapid changes in a story or conversation thread, making it harder to “shape”
- Increased speed of public opinion in Social Media on major issues
- Significant challenges for PR agencies and firms in crisis situations
- Increased viral spread of both positive and negative issues
- A change in societal behaviour and communication patterns
- Potentially new opportunities for Traditional Media (if they move fast)
Likely, these are just the surface of the changes that will occur. The adoption of the devices is clear, Social Media continues to grow in consumer use. What other changes do you think might occur? Could this impact government as well as business? How about localization of Social Media?
Best Practices•
on July 9th, 2008•
Many companies answer to Social Media and Networking in the workspace is to just say no. But employees go home at the end of the day. So what is a reasonable way to address the issue of Social Media in the company? IBM has acheived some success with it’s policies and so have some others.
Social Computing Guidelines is IBM’s policy on employees using Social Media. It’s worked well because IBM (certainly having an advantage here being a technology company) recognizes the principles of Free Speach and the impossibility of enforcing a policy on workers outside the workplace. A company can’t stop an employee from opening a Facebook or Bebo account at home or from blogging. Such services can be turned off inside the workplace. This action was taken by the Ontario Provincial government in Canada who noticed significant network traffic jams during coffee breaks and lunch hours. This was, arguably, a sensible move.
It’s certainly reasonable to turn off access to Social Networking sites and not allowing blogging or Twitter access during the day (although there is a business case for Twitter usage in the workplace) while work needs to be done. Too many employees accessing these networks during peak times cause network decay and can overload servers and routers, aside from serious productivity losses.
If a company takes an aggressive anti-Social Media stance and attempts to enforce autocratic management policies on its employees, this is very likely to backfire and may result in significant negative reputation issues in the Social Mediasphere. Leading to a PR problem for the company. If an employee is fired for using Social Media – albeit not saying slanderous things about their employer – then a law suit for wrongful dismissal is a probable outcome.
Embraced like IBM, a company can turn their employees into a Marketing Force. Imagine having 250 employees or even only 10 who love working for the company and speak in Social Media about the great things being done. As long as they respect corporate confidentiality on certain key issues and identify themselves clearly as employees but not as official spokespeople, such a strategy can bring huge rewards.
In establishing a Social Media policy, be clear about what the policy is, where and when it’s appropriate and how employees should identify themselves. If you’re planning on monitoring Social Media, and employees active there, let them know and be open. This is a challenging issue for a corporation, it is another level of transparancy. Yet being closed and trying to enforce a No-Use Policy will likely end up causing negative feedback in Social Media. Remember, employees also have friends and family and employees may also go work for your competitor or leave anyway – then the cat’s out of the bag. Embrace and adopt Social Media and the rewards could be priceless in marketing and PR terms.