Digital Influence Mapping Project

Social Media Fatigue or Just Fatigue?

Attending LeWeb a couple of weeks ago, many of us saw Forrester CEO George Colony, as Mark Evans from Sysomos put it, “…he threw a bucket of cold water on social media by suggesting people have no more time for social media and, in particular social media services.”

The quote from George Colony read, “We believe social is running out of hours. Forrester believes we are reaching the limit of hours that people can give to social.” 

I am certain he is onto something. Even the Global Web Index report on US social media behavior reveals that social users are lightening up on the content creation,

“One consequence of real-time social is a move from creating content to sharing other peoples content. We call this the rise of the “transmitter ecosystem”….We also see that there is a continual fall in most activities and forms of contribution on social networks. This indicates a growing passivity and a realization that social networks will not become the one stop shop for the total internet experience that they have often been hyped as delivering.”

Narrow definitions are confusing

Will people commit more time to the social distractions of reading and updating Facebook-like social networks? Probably not. Time is our premium resource. But that’s a narrow definition of “social.” Most digital experiences will be social in one way or another whether they be utilities like my Jetsetter iPad app, information tools like my new Flipboard iPhone app or entertainment experiences like some of the best YouTube videos (I love the Criminal Minds cast video “Wheels Up”). People will continue to shift time to those things that deliver perceived value.

While I would assume that some media buckets like TV watching are here to stay and are unlikely to be completely cannibalized by new digital activities, the fact that my son watches most of the little TV he likes on his PC may deliver bigger behavior changes down the road than even Forrester can predict. 

For brands considering how much to commit to social media as a platform for customer engagement, I would just say two things:

• Most brands are woefully behind the behaviors of their customers in digital and social. While some behaviors may be topping out or slowing growth are you using social media at the same level and with the same time commitment as your customer? Probably plenty of room for growth there. 
• If anything, the Forrester POV and The Global Web Index findings tell a story of consumer fatigue on those things that don’t provide enough value. The pressure is on every brand to work hard to deliver content and experiences to their customers that they would find valuable. Relevance will get harder going into 2012. 

 

Social Business Solutions from Social Business Teams

We at Ogilvy have been delivering what we call social business solutions for the past few years. We have a staff mix of social media strategists who themselves come from marketing, digital and communications backgrounds and management consultants. Each brings something valuable to understanding business problems. The consultants have strengths that really surface in the solution design part of an engagement while those with marcom backgrounds also get implementation in a way that most management consultants envy. 

What is social business?

Social media can deliver value to businesses far beyond the narrow application to marketing and communications goals. It can help a workforce be more efficient and productive. It can inform product design and service delivery. It can fuel innovation. It can enable better recruiting and talent management.

We use the term social business to describe the value businesses derive from social media technology and behaviors across the enterprise. Often it implies some type of change or transformation but rarely do businesses come to us expressly asking for change management.That usually comes later once it’s clear that enabling a workforce to become brand advocates, as an example, has all sorts of implications on governance, legal and human resource policies. Even then, we are focused on solving a business problem using social media-related solutions or thinking.   We see social business solutions falling into four categories: 

Why diverse teams?

Jay Baer had an interesting post that questioned whether media and marketing specialists make the best social business solution providers. I believe they are indispensible but I also believe they are just half of the solution. Good management consultants are the other half. These guys and gals understand how to evaluate a business problem, interrogate people, process and organization and then design a solution that is equal parts good design and real politik of implementation. Most marketing experts focus on solving a marketing program completely divorced from the intricacies of an organization. They know how to design and implement great marcom solutions but with no entrée to change an organization to be more successful at marketing, their assessment of internal politics is done somewhat superficially.  

Strengths of management consultants

• Recognizing business problems and opportunities for change
• Stakeholder interviews and investigation
• Designing programs aligned with organizational realities and complexity
• Defining and delivering against business value

Strengths of marcom specialists/social media strategists

• Understanding the technology and behaviors of social media
• Designing solutions based upon behavioral economics
• Implementing programs (not just designing them)
• Fast, agile execution 

Jay asks, “If you’re a major corporation that’s convinced you need to make some serious changes to prosper in a rapidly shifting future, do you turn to your PR firm, do you turn to a legacy management consulting firm (Bain, Accenture, McKinsey, Deloitte, et al), or do you turn to one of the new breed of specialist firms (Altimeter, Dachis, et al)?”

I say they should turn to those who can deliver integrated social solutions and scale them across the enterprise. Experience, cases, methods that combine the best of disciplines – these are ingredients for a results-oriented business solutions firm. Firms like IBM understand the business potential of social media – enabling collaboration between employees, connecting a far flung network of experts more directly with customers. They not only embrace social business solutions but have offered to deliver same to their own clients. They are an exception.  

Right now, most businesses that need social business solutions are discovering that need in the course of more ordinary work, much of it in marketing or employee relations. We work to share best practice social media marketing and communications across 30 markets and end up in a marketing transformation project. So, management firms like McKinsey are not the default right answer. Nor are the pure PR firms with lots of Facebook programs under their belt. This territory remains wide open. Clearly, I am biased to the team we have deployed. That’s why we did it. Time will tell who earns the reputation as the top social business providers. 

 

Two Trends in US Social Media – Saturation and Segmentation

Social Media usage is getting more complex. While social platforms continue to expand in markets like India, Brazil and Russia, certain parts of the social Web may be cresting in the US. If you take a look at Global Web Index data (GWI) for October 2011 in the US there are two important insights that immediately pop out:

Saturation and the Importance of Content

Twitter and blog publishing seems to be staying flat and niche. The complexion of Twitter users, while niche, do represent influencers from journalists to marketers. Expecting to significantly expand consumer conversations (beyond customer service triage) may not be realistic. Brands will get more by providing content worth sharing via Twitter. GWI  puts it, “Future engagement on micro-blogging will be less about conversations and more about content”  

As for Facebook, membership in the US seems to be reaching saturation point, and people are dropping some of their more involved behaviors like creating content in favor of sharing existing content

“Social Networking is saturated in the US and behaviour is shifting into a more passive usage. Visitation remains high, but users are doing less”

The big exceptions seem to be an increase in posting images and even video to profiles. Historically creating and publishing video even in the era of Flip Video camera (sadly, the era continues without that particular camera) has been a niche activity with a high barrier to entry. Is that changing?

Even a year ago, 30 billion pieces of content (links, notes, photos, etc.) were shared on Facebook per month. With people less likely to create all of that, they are on the lookout for great stuff to pass along.

“One consequence of real-time social is a move from creating content to sharing other peoples content. We call this the rise of the “transmitter ecosystem””

The opportunity for brands as creators of remarkable and relevant content will grow. How many brands will embrace a content marketing strategy as their way to engage customers and stakeholders? 

 

Creating a Segmented Strategy

Age, income, region, interests and more are showing up as differentiators in terms of how people are using social media. US social network users lag behind the globe in terms of using Facebook to express themselves or networking for work. My Space continues to serve a predominantly less educated audience with less income. And Twitter grew the greatest amongst a younger user base – 16-24 year olds during this last period while still catering to a smaller influencer crowd. 

Combine these distinctions with what people seem to be doing on platforms and differences per country and it is more important than ever to create a social strategy that is segmented and informed by this research.  Looking to use Facebook globally and with a single approach across 30 or 50 markets as a new, “one-strategy,” channel may not be realistic. Marketers will have to pay close attention as they roll out acquisition and engagement programs in diverse markets like the US, South Africa, Indonesia or Mexico. 

What to Expect from Le Web 2011

My team at Ogilvy is holding a training summit in Paris concurrent with LeWeb 2011. And while the event has long been on my radar, this will be my first time attending. With about 3000 attendees and a flood of 20 minute sessions over 3 days, I am expecting a barrage of information. Oh, and I don't thrive in crowds. 

The agenda has a great mix of digital delebrities - Brian Chesky, CEO of AirBnB; Jeff Clavier, founder of SofTech VC; Kevin Systrom, CEO of Instagram and Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify. There are startups there competing for attention, recognition and dollars. The big  guns are there  Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter. And some great brands from Nestle, Orange, Dell and Dominoes. 

In-Betweens that Matter

With such a packed agenda, I suspect it will be the hallway conversations in-between that matter just as much. The 20-minute limit on sessions is a great intention so long as the presenters are led to edit to TED-like quality (succinct and with a POV). My expectations are modest there. 

I am looking forward to meeting people planned and unplanned. I pray that people will help me curate relevant connections as I am know we must all have a keen eye for self-preservation over such a busy conference.  

On Friday, there is a specific section focused on the Social Enterprise. I hope to see you there.