Understanding Strategic Opportunity for Social Media
Martin Thomas @crowdsurfing
The State of Play
Hype Shows No Sign of Diminishing
Growing Commercial Case
o 70% 70% of companies regularly create value through use of web-based communities
o Using customer communities to solve customer problems costs 10%10% of traditional call centres
o Web 2.0 companies are more profitable
* McKinsey 2010
Growing Commercial Case
o Product revenues +200%+200%
o Claim $6.5m revenues directly from Twitter
o Saved over £200k £200k on photog costs using Flickr
Transforming Activism
Hacktivism v Slacktivism
Transforming Politics?
Transforming Customer Service
Transforming Customer Relations
19% of UK adults had an enhanced view of the airline3/4+% of those who had encountered BA’s communications felt as supportive of the
airline or more so than before
Transforming Creativity
Transforming Innovation
Transforming Consumerism
“Amplifying Volume of Moaning”
Amplifying Damage Caused by Internal Moaning
o “Rude, smelly and stupid”
o “Pikey skanks”
o “Chavs” “Poor safety standards”
Heightened Expectations
o Speed & responsiveness“The trouble with McDonald’s is it’s too bloody slow”
Instant access, instant response, instant gratification “living life through shortcuts” MTV
Why many institutions struggle
o Not configured to work in real time, in terms of speed or resources
One hour Ten Minutes
* Critical response time for responding to negative comments
Emerging Trends
o Community Management as core skill
RS Components built community of 17,000+ electronics design
engineers from 139 countries in only 3 months
36,000 members (lawyers) from 160 countries
Emerging Trends
o Community Management as core skill
o Mobile & Geo-location From gimmicks to game changers
Emerging Trends
o Community Management as core skill
o Mobile & Geo-location
o Social commerce
o Rise of Relevance
o Facebook faces challenge of ubiquity
o Legislative catch-up
Legal Clarification of Private/Public
Legal Enforcement of Disclosure
Observations
o Premium on judgement rather than rules
o We’re all learning as we go
o Attitude more important than level of budget or technological sophisticationNeed to loosen up
Thriving by Loosening Up
o Five simple operational & cultural traits of successful users of social mediaTrustingOpenAgileInformal Collaborative
Tight Thinkers Need Not Apply
o Organisations that struggle with social mediaHierarchicalBureaucraticProcess orientedDistrustful
Trusting
o Bedrock of strong internal cultureo Allows shared responsibility & real time
decision making
The best company rulebook ever written?
Trusting
o No scriptso No time limitso Devolved decision-
making
Open
o Transparency & honesty non negotiable
Capable of transforming reputations
Agile
o Ability to improvise & operate in real time
Informal
o Living life in Beta
o Messy vitality
o Speed more important than absolute accuracy
Collaborative
o Tapping into spirit of collective self expression
Opening up new business models
www.crowdsurfing.net@crowdsurfing