The premise of my session at IABC Heritage conference is that social media has changed the way companies and brands are discussed and considered. This presents a challenge, but also opens a number of opportunities for companies ready to harness the power of human interaction.
Human involvement is what gives brands the strongest competitive differentiation today.
If you attend my session today, you will learn about the advantages of integrating social into strategy. We will cover how to develop, implement, measure and manage a cross-functional program with goals and metrics that map to impact and track to ROI.
Participants will also get the inside scoop on finding/activating brand evangelists, getting competitive intelligence, and managing resources/time, while boosting conversions. The deck I'll be using is a bit different than the one at the IABC site.
This will be a fairly advanced session and to get the most out of the experience, before attending, I recommend you take the time to jot down or think about the following:
- why your company is participating in social media
- outline what you've done so far -- do you have a plan, did you just set up accounts, who is involved
- what works/what doesn't
- how you and your team manage social presences -- this is the make or break of a social program
- what are you measuring -- hits, output, results
- in a perfect world, what is the one thing that would make your company win
- how do you think you're doing
In my experience, organizations that develop and use social presences at a tactical level end up having issues figuring out what's there there. Which in turn translates into an awkward experience for customers. The main issue is businesses are way behind on the social media/networks adoption curve compared to their customers.
While customers have fairly transparent conversations about how they are experiencing a product or service, many organizations are still learning how to listen. Those that are have a hard time getting started or keeping up.
Content, teams/processes, and a conversation strategy are by and large the product of experimentation vs. a deliberate plan that starts by answering the question: why should we be in social? and finding the right balance between the needs of the business, and those of the community.
Regardless of how you started, we'll discuss ideas on how to take it to the next level.
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Isn't it sad when the most common flaw in the market is poor human communications, and the most common and biggest differentiator is the same?
Speaking and acting politely is so basic compared to the brilliance and commitment it takes to build an iconic brand. Yet we as an industry seem to be so much better at the latter.
Where did we go wrong?
Posted by: Jon | October 18, 2010 at 05:51 PM
It correlates :) It's so good to have you here, Jon. I unfolded my red carpet when I saw your comment. Reflecting upon what you said here about building an iconic brand, I think the difference is that the brand is built by controlling the experience, and often by others doing so brilliantly. Interaction is built through experience, which in many instances you cannot control so well -- all you can do is have it, live it. I formally request a special spot in the industry reserved for Italians ;)
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | October 18, 2010 at 09:23 PM