Digital Influence Mapping Project

We Are All Fashion Designers Now!

I love women's fashion. No, not in that weird, creepy way. I love the imagination and the style applied to a look. I have always known women with style who could put a look together beyond what a card-carrying fashion designer might do for the masses. Individual fashion. I gave my daughter (11)  a book on Japanese Street Fashion - harajuku - because she was intrigued by the extreme styles and drama of the looks. She puts her own looks together (no, that is not a picture of her)

Now there are two resources - one online and one in Beverly Hills - that tap into the personal stylist in all of us.

The social network for street style
"Street" is probably the wrong word. Personal Style is probably a better phrase overall but still we are talking about everyday fashion made for and by the people. I love Chictopia. The name comes from "chic" not "chick" so, don't worry.

Helen Zhu and her cofounders have established a social network grounded in people sharing their looks for themselves and getting ideas from the community. you can dive deep into the forums but the real action is in the photographs and the voting. This simplicity is the core of its beauty. In a time when we all belong to too many social networks, a simple structure that builds on teh one affinity - personal fashion - that brings members together is better than all the bells and whistles in the world.

Did I mention Hot Deals! Chictopia has a great business model that goes beyond targeted display advertising into deal sponsorships. If I were a retailer serving young women, i would be all over this community. (Sure, they don't have real "reach" yet, but I love this idea so much I knwo they will get there).

Fashion DIY in Beverly Hills
FashionologyLA recently launched (thanks Springwise) a new store catering to young girls who want a distinctive look at the touch of a few buttons. It's co-creation at the retail storefront. Here's how Springwise described the store experience (designed by: BigBuddhaBaba )

"Using touch-screen Design Pads, they begin by selecting what type of garment they'd like to create, choosing from an assortment of tops, bottoms and dresses. From there they select a fashion "mood" onscreen—themes include Juku, Pop, Rock, Malibu and Peace, all of which include a colourful array of graphic images. They then pick embellishments for their garments, choosing from options including Sew It, Clip It, Bling It and Pin It. Once a girl completes her design, she proceeds to the U-Bar, where a friendly Fashionologist uses a heat press to add the key design element to her new look and gives her a tray of embellishments to take to the customized Make It table. "

I am going to LA in a few weeks and hope to stop into the store to get some pics. For teh tween who wants a distinctive look - something that defines her - this could be a great choice. The looks have to be "ownable."   It cannot just be the difference between a glitter butterfly vs. an applique puppy. I serached Flickr and came up empty. But that is what they need - a gallery of customers proud in their looks (tough when your customers are so young and online privacy is a concern). Can they create a Chictopia-lite community? Will they offer looks as dramatic as the streets fo Japan? Whil ethe seocnd isn't likely, i hope they figure out the online gallery. Their store begs for user images.

I love how digital is putting the consumer in charge of fashion.

The Insiders Guide to Using Community for Marketing

We were at the Community2.0 conference in Las Vegas. Many of us are brands or marketers. We want to engage with or build community to meet some marketing goal - itself designed around a business goal. We may want more loyal customers, a way to activate brand advocates, build brand reputation and value, and even sell products and services.

For marketers at a community conference, we needed to talk about real-world practices where we have engaged with communities to get business done. We need to go beyond community 101. We accepted the folllowing:

• we need to serve the authentic needs of community members
• our solution is not simply shoe-horning display advertising into community spaces
• activating and stewarding community takes a new expertise

I had four experts on our panel and another 50 in the room  Each understands a marketer’s perspective.

Amy Dalton, Senior Director of Marketing, Topix, LLC.
Peter Friedman, Chairman and CEO, LiveWorld, Inc.
Aaron Strout, Vice President, New Media, Mzinga
Dave Carter, Founder, and CTO, Awareness, Inc.

Our session the Insider’s Guide for Marketers using “Community”  - we wanted to hear what each has learned from developing or running communities with marketers. And we got great experiences for the community of experts throughout the room (there remains a great Tweme here)

Insider’s Guide for Marketers using “Community”

1. Avoid registration as it becomes a barrier to entry that slows down or can choke the community.
2. Make the right choice about partnering vs. creating features for that community. Topix tried to create classifieds for their community when it turned out to be more efficient to partner.
3. Don't try too hard to organize the chaos. Rather use it to your advantage. The message here is don't try to over control the community.
4. It's a myth that communities don't like advertisers or advertising. If it's done right  they not only tolerate it but they actually like it.
5. Seek and embrace criticism don't simply allow it.
6. Invite them to co-create as they become "owners" and ambassadors
7. Use Twitter (there was a solid core of us at the conference "covering" our experience there via #c20 Tweme)
8. Embrace as many points of enthusiasm as possible. Wherever people are expressing themselves - the core community, Facebook groups, Twitter memes - then embrace that activity somehow.
9. Create community around brand-relevant topics that you find are already relevant to people (vs. communities directly around a product brand)
10. Know who you are inviting to dinner and actively seek them out. If you want a thoughtful PBS-like crowd then design for them and go find them.
11. Don't get lost in developing features. Spend your time getting people to express themselves and becoming engaged in dialogue.
12. Know which KPIs matter. Start by deciding which metrics from the community will indicate success and progress - there are no relevant standards.
13. Build your own ROI model. Use Charlene Li's ROI of Blogging for reference.
14. Use studies that demonstrate the business value of community members (e.g. - better customers, more likely to advocate, lifetime value, etc...)

It was a lively discussion. These points are not a complete guide by any means. They are the practical insights of a few, great experts teased out in a great collaborative session at Community 2.0.

Useful Links:

B2B Marketers Fail The Community Marketing Test
Forrester Report: Online Community Best Practices

Web Community Forum

Social Media at Verge Toronto

I spoke about Word of Mouth Marketing at this year's Verge Toronto - Ogilvy's digital confab for clients (thanks to Guy!). Paul Beck, Digital Strategist at Ogilvy and all around smart evangelist, delivered a great snapshot of innovative digital programs - many of them anchored in social media - in the B2B and B2C space. He has been a tremendous ally within Ogilvy from the advertising side and is pushing some terrific "social" programs with clients like American Express.

I shared about choosing a new coffee making solution (thanks Gerry!).

Paul shared about his "Cell Phone Experience." Paul dropped his phone in a puddle. He went online to research the right replacement. He started at Google (only customer acquisition links there), to Technorati, to YouTube. He bought the LG Envy based upon cgm videos and positive mentions from "strangers with experience." He wanted to do what many of us want to do now - hear what others have to say about their exeprience with the product. 

This category - "Strangers with Experience" - has grown as a source for product referral more than any other source from 1997-2007. This starts to speak to the idea of who we find influential amongst people we do not directly know.

Paul has a very clear and strong POV about transforming the marketing process. He describes this as "Flipping the Long Tail." It's simple really. Find and connect with your advocates and fans, engage with them, amplify what they say or do and then market around that to ultimately reach a mass audience.  This is the true promise behind word of mouth programs.

Paul's 3 point program
1. Listening as a disciplined marketing practice: Don't listen once. Don't just do focus groups. Make listening a fundamental and ongoing practice.

2. Advocacy as a deliberate marketing channel: Don't just tack on a WOMM program. Make it core and make the discipline of making it work central to your team.

3. Unlock and unleash the content: Once you have engaged consumers to create cgm - work it, merchandise it, get it into search engines

Cardmembersvoice.com
He shared a great program he leads with American Express which just launched. Cardmembersvoice.com asks members for their input and feedback. Using our 'Voice of the Customer' platform, they solicit ideas and report back to customers what they may do with that good thinking. I know this was a journey of internal evangelism and education to get to this point. It's a great program and reflective of what experts like Paul - real practitioners, not pundits - can do to transform marketing.

My favorite Paul quotes from his session:
"Open source problem solving - don't ask broad questions - invite them to help solve a specific problem."

"Community is not a place. It is a shared set of values"

He also left the audience with four related imperatives:

• try it
• experiment now
• it does not have to be pristine
• learning will lead the way

MashMeet DC & Mashable the Brand

We held a Mashmeet at our offices last night in DC. Pete Cashmore flew in from Scotland and hosted a group of 5 or so startups. First, I want to share some observations about the strtups and then a little about my feelings about the Mashable brand (disclosure: Mashable recently became an OgilvyPR client).

The "buzz" from me happened around Kluster and Mixx. Kluster was full of fun bluster as they landed from a whirlwind gig finishing their product enough that they could demo it at TED which is clearly a great venue for a young, VC-backed start-up.

A Message Platform Side-note

Each of the five startups delivered a lightening round preso in front of about 100-150 people jammed into our space. I wish I could work with each on their message platform - help them tell the crowd in a couple of compelling sentences what their service/software was all about. Each suffered from describing features without ever setting the stage as to the relevance or essential power of their idea. Part of me believes that the geekfest setting of Web 2.0 meetups is a lazy setting with a forgiving audience.  (I'm a geek, so don't get upset). Part of me believes that these presentations are a conscious program to help give the entrepeneurs behind them some experience presenting in a non-threatening environment. Anyhow, I would love to see them sharpen their story.

Kluster

Kluster is a co-creation, collaboration marketplace with a twist. Unlike Cambrian House, they encourage participants to collaborate and invite deeper investment in ideas. They do this by allowing contributors to up their stake in their idea by investing "watts". It is a wee bit complicated but it does look promising. There is a video that describes them here.  They have this age's 'black box' - an algorithm - that helps decide winning ideas (ones with "spark"). Usually, services that create a whole new vocabulary and require a glossary just to get it are annoying. Still, I know Kluster wants to carve out some of its own blue ocean strategy so why shouldn't they have their own language. You should be able to see the exercise they did for TED - The Game of Global Awareness - at their core site here >

Mixx

Mixx is a well known bookmarking aggregator feed reader thingee. By using tags, they create a segmented collection of 'what's interesting' and then display in a very clean, easy to read interface. I am sure I am shortchanging the service in terms of all its value but still I like it and plan to add their icon to our own Web site. I think of it as a tag-based Digg. 

Mashable the Brand
I have always liked Mashable and have waxed poetic here. Having interviewed Pete Cashmore, the CEO and founder, and watched him diligently meet and hand out cards at the MashMeet, I remain a fan. I appreciate that they focus on positive stories. I have never appreciated the snarky side of the Web. Part of it is that they are good - prolific coverage, tell a story via pictures (screen grabs, usually) and yet they have some sort of humility (I mean - the colors of the interface - they are charmingly weird).

I probably gravitated to them because Pete and his team have been looking from the outside of Silicon Valley in. That makes them underdogs in a space dominated by those who can hold parties in the bay area to their hearts content. Pete is from Scotland and while he has a full legion of doom in terms of employees, most are not based in SF. That is changing soon though.

The brand for me is about a relentlessly curious, optimistic group of enthusiasts who value hard work over cocktails (mostly). Pete admitted that most of the time he is holed up working. He remains surprised when he comes to the MashMeets and sees all this enthusiasm and attention from real people.

We will be seeing some interesting upgrades in the near future. Between the core blog, the Marketplace, and the bubbling social network, I think Mashable is a great source of content, community with a human soul. 

A Health Social Network With No Professionals...

Social media amplifies everyones' voice. In many cases, it has broken the dominance of traditional media and corporate communicators by empowering "citizen journalists" to break stories and challenge the traditional headlines. Moms can connect with each other and get advice versus relying on the "experts" annointed by publishing houses and media companies.

But health is one of those areas where we may bemoan the tyranny of traditional medicine and the special interest influence of pharmaceutical and insurance providers, but I still can't diagnose a major illness never mind treat it. I rely on a doctor. (regretably as mine is such an old-school, "stop-your-whining"- kind of doctor).

iMedix just won the Crunchies for Best New Startup 2007. This is annointed them by the social media tech community from the Valley (I am guessing here as there were 0ver 122K votes cast to determine the winners) where the emphasis is on "tech" and venture capital. It is not a hotbed of medical innovation.

At it's heart, iMedix is a social network for people who want to talk with other people about common conditions and health interests. If I have thyroid cancer (I don't but do have a related thyroid thingee), I can type it into their super-simple interface and recieve simple web search results from prefered, brand name sources (are they "scraping?") and a number of people who have tagged themselves as interested in 'thyroid' or 'thyroid cancer.'

Now, I will admit that I am a bit curious about what the crowd makes of this weird phenomena of thyroid malfunction. I am suspicious of some environmental condition that will reveal itself someday (my wife, myself and our cat all suffer from a related condition). Still, why would I reach out to these people?

The iMedix social network has a lot of things going for it and most of those are in the simplicity of the interface, the function and the overall ease of use. It stands as a strong testament to the strengths of a Web 2.0 mindset. Still many services are trying a social network model for healthcare issues. Some, like Revolution Health mix community content and features with professional information from trusted brands like Cleaveland Clinic, Mayoclinic.com and others. There are even "doctor bloggers'. Inspire, formerly Clinicahealth, goes a different direction by offering a social network platform to those that share a condition and want to connect with each other. It might be the Preemie social network or the Diet and Fitness community at Discovery Health.

iMedix is a broader social network driven by a front-end search interface that drives you to people who have tagged a common interest. We don't know much about each other. The service is new and most profiles are half-baked or not baked at all. Mine included. I am just not sure how much of my health interests I want to put on my profile beyond the one I have shared in this post.

Problems with iMedix:

• The management team is all tech VC and start-up folks. Not a single health professional or pyschologist.
• No clear way to assign credibility to different members. I could easily get a bunch of hooey from folks with no repercussions to the service or that member.
• The homepage is a big stock photo. Don't these startups know that stock photography telegraphs - "don't trust us, we are creating an image here."
• The dominant member (or does he work there?), Sean, appears to be represented by a wonderfully attractive...stock photo! Remember the Macwarehouse catalogs in the nineties that featured thumbnails of their customer service people that were laughably stock images? - "Hi! I'm Gretchen. Call me." Well, it's not funny when I am suffering from a condition and you want me to trust you.
• There is no critical mass of members. Right now, the service seems stocked with test accounts and staff members.

I like the technical and user experience. But that's not a good enough reason to give it the best startup award (the awards were user-voted). We'll see if they get past the weaknesses mentioned above to unlock a truly powerful health social network. To do, they will have to probably partner with some of the more trusted information providers. It's not likely enough to aggregate their search results.

Will they change? Or does iMedix just want to flip the company? Or worse, are they struck by tech hubris that won't let them see through to these weaknesses enough to fix them?

Will Samsung's Video Promotion Recipe Make a Tasty Treat?

Samsung Mobile is running a promotion via YouTube that is a crazy collection of some of the right ideas that just don't go together in a recognizable and tasty dish. (Thanks to Orli whose Go2Web2.0 blog is terrific)It's as if they looked at the recipe list for video-based engagement but forgot the idea or concept to hold it all together.

Essentially, they are soliciting users to create videos - against 4 categories - plant their video "pin" on a Google Maps mash-up alongside videos from "select" Warner Brothers music artists while colecting customer ideas on product innovations and, oh, by the way, your video may be featured on the Times Square Samsung Billboard. Whew, that's a mouthful.

Here's the recipe where each ingredient is finger-lickin' good:

1. Ask users to create short videos: take advantage of the mass of video creators out there and populate YouTube with related videos
2. Offer them a "soapbox" for personal expression that goes beyond them talking about your product. Two of the 4 "scenarios" that users can depict include - tell them your watch word for 2008 or act out the best or worst thing that happened to you in 2007.
3. Create a "meme" that may travel and be shared (see #2)
4. Ask them to create videos about how they use your product (not reviews of the product)
5. Ask them for ideas on product innovations
6. Add a Google maps interface to incite users to compete regionally
7. Offer 15 minutes of fame via the YouTube channel & homepage and the Times Square billboard
8. Offer glimpses and shoulder-rubbing with "celebrities" via the Warner's talent tie-in

What aren't they doing?
Just about the only thing they left off the list of potential incentives is a "social good" element where they make a donation triggered by site activity. There's no reason why they should do this other than that they seem to have thrown in everything but the kitchen sink so far.

They do not have a real contest strategy either. There is no clear "winner" nor prizes beyond the vague suggestion that your video may end up on the Jumbotron. Usually incentives break down as follows:
a. the activity is organically relevant
b. there is a chance to win something of value
c. you get a spotlight and/or credit
d. there is a social good outcome

They have played a little loose with a and c.

I do not know what their outreach strategy is. There is no way to know. Whenever we run a program along these lines we have a whole outreach and activation plan to help the experience grow and be discovered.

There is no binding idea here. The headline is: Ringing in 2008 with Samsung Mobile. Not a lot of definition to the idea there. 

It is a collection of some of the right things but not all of them should be thrown together like this. For instance, the 4th video submission category is "Tell us what type of mobile phone Samsung should develop for you." If they are really interested in soliciting customer ideas and driving innovation from the outside in, they would make this the cornerstone of their activity. (Lest they get the videos of the telepathic man who needs a phone to go with his special "abilities")

The Warner tie-in is a bit of a head-scratcher, too. Usually you do this to really leverage the fan base of the talent. The talent is all but invisible here.

We shall see how it goes.

There may be enough engagement that enough users will find something they want to do here. So far the promo video has been viewed 215K times since Dec 5th (I played it 6 times during the writing of this post to get the facts of the promotion correct). They have 75 subscribers and 9,269 channel views. They accept video until January 14. A stronger idea with half the recipe items might have served them (and their customers) better.

5 Steps to Making the Business Case for Social Media

We started three years ago by deploying social media-based programs as try-and-learn projects with our clients. Many clients especially on the consumer marketing side and the tech side (B2B) had an intuitive desire to get involved with social media.

Two years ago, we saw a shift and developed a very solid measurment model to report performance to marketers and ourselves. We are marketers. We know the importance of measurement. Experiments will only go so far (and only justify so much in terms of budget). We had to make the business case for programs that leverage social media. We had to do that for ourselves first and foremost. As much as I believe in the dynamics of conversation-based marketing and word of mouth, if it doesn't make business sense then I cannot recommend them to clients.

It got me thinking about how we ourselves have analyzed the value of social media as a "discipline." Then I read Jeremiah's How To: Effectively Talk To Execs....About Social Media.
He makes a case for the right orientation overall - not just the right justification (Needs assesment + value statement) but also how to be a sensitive communicator.

Here are 5 steps to making the business case for using social media.

1. Confirm the business objective and communication goals
Are we selling more product and services? Launching a new product? Are you trying to raise awareness? Educate customers about a product or service? Build long term loyalty? It amazes me how many programs are not tied back to what we are trying to accomplish. If you can clearly state the business objective and the communication goal(s), you are much more likely to come up with a program that is relevant to the business owner. The attached diagram is a variation on an Ogilvy chestnut known as the Funnel. I have used it here to demonstrate some hypothetical alignment of social media tactics and communication goals.

2. Create a short, simple yet relevant strategy
Some clients don't want to hear strategy. My hypothesis is that they do actually want it but want the strategy to take up only 6-8% of our time, energy and budget. They want action and results. They suspect that agencies spend too much time on strategy as if prone to navel-gazing. Not so. Since strategy is the thread between communication goals and tactics, it is important to have in place to justify our choices and recommendations. We just do it very efficiently these days. Whenever we are compelled to skip strategy, it always, and I mean always, comes back to haunt us. I will assume that knowledge and hopefully, insight into the digital lives of our people (audience, target audience, users, customers, consumers, mom - choose one) will be built into the strategy.

3. Create a vision of success and...
Our programs are highly creative. We mean "creative" in a new way, not in the old-school ad agency model of the cult of "Creative."  We actually get excited about what can happen for a client if they engage their customers in new ways. It's not just the novelty of new technique. Generally, it's the promise of creating a stronger bond with between brand and people. Anyhow, we need to share that vision and share our excitement. We have to paint an easy-to-see image of success - e.g. "What if we created an idea-center for customers where they post their own thoughts on how to make the service better? We get more loyal customers by increasing their "ownership" in the service, and they tell their friends....."  But vision without numbers is dead, so....

4. ...finish the image with measurement
What are we measuring and what will it tell us? Social media promises more than 'reach.' It offers "engagement", which remains an ill-defined concept. Still, we measure and report metrics that are indicative of a deeper level of engagement. Deeper than ad impressions. Deeper that simply 'time-spent.'

My suggestion? Start with conversion and work your way backwards. It is not always easy to connect the dots between social media-based programs and sales or sign-ups (or other conversion points). But try. And then demonstrate the growth of third party mentions and recommendations. Show how you will improve search engine results with new content from advocates. Apply the Net Promoter Score if your client subscribes to that model. While there is no industry standard on measurement, there are many ways to demonstrate how to measure social media programs both for optimization purposes and final judgement.

5. Tell 2 relevant stories to answer "why now?"
How did a competitor use social media? As long as it is is relevant and not a story of failure, this will help the executive you are talking with to see the competitive pressure to move ahead now. And tell one more story of how a business used a similar strategy to achieve a goal. Too many stories and you will inundate them with data. You want to demonstrate that you understand the executive's situation by being able to reference relevant stories.

Perhaps this is all common sense. Still, I am struck by how quickly people jump into tactics only to become alienated later in the process by irrelevant or unmeasuremable results. Chances are that most marketing and communication executives will insist on these 5 steps before "greenlighting" anything.  I know we do. Sometimes our own standards are more rigorous than our clients. I am guessing that ultimately that is okay....

How do you make the business case?   

Pharma Opportunity: Health Fashion

I need a new blog category. Besides Idea Bar. I need a category for ideas we recommended that show up somewhere else completly independently (and corroborate that we are onto something.

Springwise - one of my regular must-reads - reports on fashion "carrys" for glucose testing. This is a simple step forward but in an intersting way implies a shift in approach for those with, in this case,  diabetes. Don't let your disease own you. Don't let the fashion-less product offerings from health companies own you.

In this case it took an entrepeneur (and woman with gestational diabetes) to offer a cool way to carry her gear. We recommended this to a pharma client a while back. Now they should buy her company. Not for the revenue but to make a deeper commitment to the patients they serve. Not just medicine but lifestyle in context to their disease.

I love that she has a "beta-stickers" program. If ever there was a company set up to succeed via word of mouth, this is it. I hope that's where she goes with her marketing.

Rickin Velte's company is called Stick Me Designs. Check them out.

Dell's Journey in Word of Mouth

Lionel Menchaca who is a Digital Media Manager at Dell (and blogger at Direct2Dell) told a full session at the WOMMA Summit/08 conference about the stumbles Dell had along the way to finding their sea legs in social media. He reviewed the Dell Hell/Jeff Jarvis episode (surprisingly - in a room of 400 people - only 1/3rd said they new of Dell Hell).

"We stopped thinking like a customer." It was the cumulative effect of many behaviors and incidents that revealed how entrenched they were in a status quo set of behaviors.

Michael Dell said 'why aren't we listening to voices in the blogosphere and connecting them with customer service.' They found that half of the commentary via Technorati was negative. They made a plan including the Direct2Dell blog designed to educate and serve (it was launched in July 2006). Those early months (April to July) were critical for Lionel to find his blogger voice. They are now up to 1m page views a week and are in 4 languages. He recieves 100-200 comments per week.

Dell Ideastorm
Their initial experience with the blog led to the launch of the Digg-style idea collection point. Launched in February has led to 8000 ideas to date.

How to avoid credibility deficit:

1. Listen carefully - that's where Dell started. You need to know what you are going to do with the information - listening without action is not enough
2. Social media tools create empowered customers
3. When negative issues arise deal with them head-on and fast. (this corroborates our own experiences in digitakl crisis management this past year for our clients)
4. 'Look but don't touch' is not a successful strategy. (original PR stance on the Dell Hell epsiode was to say bloggers could go to customer service if they needed help vs. reaching out to them)
5. Enter the conversation
6. Never underestimate the value of a sincere 'I'm sorry'.

Is it worth the risk?
The new-ish Jeff Jarvis article in Business Week (redemption story) would only have been possible through real outreach. Lionel invited Jef to a pub in Austin to talk with the Dell Digital Media team.

Mapping My World

There is nothing new about creating Google Maps. But there is a neat little application that I learned about from Jessica Clarke over at AU's Center for Social Media called Community Walk.

I built this walk of what's worth buying in my small town.

Imagine using this for Walk-a-thon sponsors - all of those sponsors who sign up get included in the official Walk-a-thon map as recommended stores....

Get my Takoma Park: What's Worth Buying map here>