Digital Influence Mapping Project

NetVibes for Marketers

Michael Cohen from Netvibes presented the basics of the customizable interface for the Netvibes service. He is talking to a room full of CRM marketers for a major CPG (consumer packaged goods) in Barcelona. They all want to know how they can brand widegts and pages within the service and then count the hell out of everything. CRM folks are data geeks, data junkies, Ninjas of ROI.

So netvibes remains a small enterprise - 39 employees in Paris - with a deceptively prolific developer core - currently there are over 120,000 widgets created by more than 700 developers. They have 60 million pages created but then comes the kicker that they are trying to remedy: most users are not registered and rely on cookies-only to maintain page-state. They recently released 'Ginger' which prompts you to upgrade (and register). But as an avid Netvibes fan and user, I have't upgraded yet, myself. (Ginger offers a bit of a social network that allows people to "push" changes to their subscribed users - think Facebook.)

Brands can work 2 ways: Premium Universes
There are two ways that brands can "use' Netvibes. The first is to create  a "premium universe" - a branded page that collects widgets together in a private-labeled user experience. If you were Marshalls (disclosure: client of Ogilvy), you might assemble a bunch of bargain hunter widgets - store locator map, Web site homepage, trendspotter blog feeds and more. Anything with an RSS feed or HTML can be embedded in a widget. You market that as a custom url to your customers as an added service (and Google food).

Michael showed examples where Figaro and Tagged have embedded NetVibes customized 'start pages" in their services. He, of course, then demonstrated our client's branded start page. The moment of truth happens when the brand realizes that the user can combine their brand with any other widget content from the library (competing branded content, non complimentary content, etc...).

Widgets
The other way to make use of Netvibes is to create widgets and place them in their library (dollars for premium placement).  1000 brands have created widgets. they come in 76 languages from 69 countries. In this mode, you are leveraging (I said the "L" word) Netvibes user base which they don't know enough about to satisfy even the least disciplined marketer (never mind the CRM folks). For the few that are registered, they know age, gender and town. They could do more but they respect their users privacy.

They have a very versatile approach to widget compatibility (not in the OpenSocial sense). Netvibes Widget Platform (Universal Widget API - UWA) makes widget sportable across OS, device and browser platforms.

Brands track number of downloads and can use their own tracking (like a special Feeburner feed). Netvibes is working on reporting "canceling" or dropping the widget. They have their own CPC-like model = "Cost per installation" (CPI).

He showed examples from NYTimes and CBS (CSI Video widget).

Michael had some good one-liners:

• "The user is your best friend to distribute the brand" - speaking to letting users spread your widget
• "The brand as a service provider" - this is the new mantra from marketers who know that product brands have to think differently now to build stronger relationships with theihr customers. they have to think like service providers.
• "Really Sexy Syndication" - they are enthusiastic about RSS

I love Netvibes

Netvibes has put togther a very useful platform for brands. On the widget side of their business, until they convert more users to registered users, they will attract brands looking to reach the great unwashed (young tech males?). The premium universe offering is a great user experience but relys on the brands existing marketing strategies to drive awareness and usage. Also, it is at the end o fthe day a supercool portal concept. Brands have been trying to capture the start page of their customers for years (most rightly gave up). How many people need a widgetized portal from their favorite soap brand? Still for the right product and service, it is a great solution (slam dunk for any major media company).

The Open Room from Singapore

We have a great Digital Influence team in Singapore. Smart people working with some of the best brands in the world. The team launched a blog a couple of months back and they also launched an idea called the Open Room. It's a meeting place for those neck deep in social media and marketers. Not too much structure - just enough to have a conversation or a meet up.

They have posted a terrific video with sound bites from noteworthy digital leaders from SG:

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

Still in love with BlogHer

I know its right but sometimes it feels so wrong - my love affair with BlogHer. Tomorrow is the first day of the BlogHer Business Summit in NYC. We are hosting the "Best Practices" track. I continue to believe strongly in the value of the BlogHer community for marketers. They are unique. Maybe they don't have the same reach as Federated Media. But they have a vision and integrity (I mean, FM has that too but BlogHer's is special).

The tie that binds members to the collective is stronger than other affiliations. It's born from the relationships developed online in what for all intent and purpose is a social network. These are made deeper during the annual big conference event (July in CA).

The NYC event is really for brand marketers to come together with BlogHer and talk about real ways to collaborate between marketer and blogger. We will be video-ing a bunch of it and will publish soon after. I, of course, cannot be there. Butthe 360° Digital Inlfuence team - Virginia, Laura and Kaitlyn (and I think Matt, too) will all be on hand. Stop in. Say hi.

Is it easier for small business to "get" social media?

Frank Almeida started a business with his wife a few years ago. Sugar and Spice bakes high-end cookies, biscotti, budin and more based upon Frank's wife's recipes. They sell them via retail partners and do some white label sales, as well.

One of the things he likes about Buenos Aires is that in post-economic crisis BA, it's a good environment for a very driven entrepeneur. It may not be easy to start and run a business (where is it ever easy) but something about the city shines down on the little guy trying to create some value.

First things first - the cookies are to die for. He gave me a bag - a shopping bag - full of them when I left his shop. So, it helps to have a good product. I met Frank online when I was planning on coming to Argentina. I noticed that he a had an English-language blog connected to his cookie business. Judging from his blogroll, he was connected with the core of BA bloggers - some expats, some Argentinians. He has been blogging for about a year. I don't know if I was expecting the same type of blog-snobbery we see some time in the US. But what I got was very different.

Frank started his blog to help his business Web site appear better in search engine results. Plan and simple. He was not consciously pining for a new way to express himself, nor even trying to make "an authentic connection" with his customers. He started the blog to rank better in Google.com.ar and Yahoo. And it worked. 

In the process he discovered other bloggers and maintains a connection with them. But he is a family guy and a small businessman to boot. That means he is as time-starved as the rest of us and not spending his evenings at whatever passes for Barcamp in Buenos Aires.  I think he is scratching his head a little wondering how else he can get his blog to impact his business.

He may find ways to connect with potential customers as his business grows across borders in the region. Customers in Peru or Uruguay may feel more comfortable doing business with a guy who honestly writes a blog. I am not sure Frank can measure that type of impact. All he really needs are a couple of anecdotal mentions from clients that they browsed his blog and felt better about signing a contract to make him feel its value. here are two posts that - for different reasons - tell me he understands the potential:

• The first is a drama that unfolded when his street flooded beyond all expectation. He posted a video of how his staff helped keep the business from damage.
• The second is a promotion he ran with a popular wine in Argentina in celebration of International Women's Day. It just shows that he remains connected to his company's identity (his wife is responsible for the recipes and many other aspects fo the business) and what is going on in the world.  (and that he understands the "halo" effect of established brands on up-and-comers)

Even his simple decision to use the blog to help search rankings is refreshingly simple. i think about that and then I think about the social media-based programs we develop for major brands. It seems so much easier for small business to try and learn from using social media than big organizations with so many more resources. Part of it is entrepeneurship at play. Although I would like to argue that there are as many entrepeneurs at big companies than small. I am not sure that is true.

Small business understands the benefits of social media quicker. Social media can improve search engine performance for them quickly. It can serve as a natural outlet for their personalized approach to business. And most small businesspeople don't walk into marketing with a bias towards measureable advertising. In fact, they'll do anything before spending cash on ad buys.

So, it seems that small business has some terrific advantages over large brands to using social media for marketing. (Check out this post from Virginia Miracle on another small business social media boost)

Sugar and Spice is a great example of a worthy business that understands the basics of what social media can do to help the bottom line. They are also open to discovering through "doing" how else social media can help their business. Frank may get tired of posting but then someone will call him up for an order and mention how they enjoyed the blog. I bet that'll get him posting pretty quick.

In the meantime, they have the best cookies in Buenos Aires. Tell your friends. Tell your branch office in BA. Tell anyone who cares about cookies, is anywhere near Argentina, and cares about the success of a worthy business with a great product.

Portuguese Social Media: Two Stories of Success

Having spent a few days in Lisbon with some of our top communications pros (locked in a hotel meeting room), I was lucky enough to get out and hook up with two people who know more about what is going on with social media in Portugal than all the pundits in the social media chatterfest.

Seriously, sometimes I get sick and tired of the "analysts" and other self-appointed experts. I just want to connect with folks who are using social media and living their lives. Last year, France was the leading blogging community in EU. Now, Spain is where a lot of the action is. Each market in EU is developing different social media behaviors. Portugal loves on Hi5 and  has a solid core of enthusiast bloggers. I had  a chance  to meet up with two guys who are each successes in social media even though they both work in tiny, boot-strapped start-ups.

What does success look like?

Hugo and Andre share more than being bloggers. Both love Portugal. Andre seems like the cat who ate the canary - like he knows the secret to living well and that happens in Portugal. Hugo has a 3 month old daughter and lives in what sounds like a super sweet apartment with view to die for in downtown Lisbon. That's why I call them 'successes' - they love their lives. They have a passion for their business and their lives outside of that dream. They don't strike me as people who are putting off life while they build a business.

Hugo & The State of Social Media in Portugal

Hugo Neves de Silva started blogging in 2005 when he began writing his master' thesis. His thesis remains perpetually in the future but he continues to blog here. he has promised to translate his recent post cataolguing the state of the blogosphere in Portugal. You can read the originial here and I wll absolutely link to the English version when he gets it together (hint, hint, Hugo). He worked in local goverment on the tech side for 8 years and is now launching a start-up consultancy called Wingman. There focus is in optmizing business' use of the Web - actually getting their sites and initiatives to make more money and produce better business results. Both he and Andre were skeptical of the interactive agency scene in Lisbon - too many folks claiming capabilities that may be just too shallow.

Portugal has geek bloggers who are on Twitter and Jaiku. But business has yet to really embrace the social Web. Corporate blogging is at its infancy and I get the feeling that Hugo has some ideas about how corporations in Portugal can start developing blog strategies. The country is widely connected and there is a wide-spread  bilingual population (English is taught in grade school). people do not access the Internet via their mobile phones even though everyone has one.

Andre & A Way Cool Start-up

Andre Ribeirinho worked at Sapo, the Yahoo of Lisbon,  until one day, he did the unthinkable, what no one does - he left. And he left to create Adegga - a social wine discovery site. The site allows users to see what others think about wines and trades on the natural affinity that wine lovers have. Wine producers (paying member/sponsors) can see member wish lists and other brand-specific information. they can also connect with their fans. Very Web2.0. But with a business model. I love that he is boostrapping and resisting investment until he iterates new language-versions and acquires more registered users. I don't drink wine but if ever there was a category that had a built in "community" - it's wine. His simple design (he did it himself even though he's a techie) and the clear UI and value to both the wine lover and the wine producer is admirable.  Mashable covered their launch as did Stowe Boyd. You can read a pretty good interview at Chaminc, a Portuguese marketing blog. 

While there are other wine communities, I woudl bet on Andre's business success. His smart insight about what people want is impressive. I love that he has 100 stores signed up from Argentina to Italy and a dozen other countries.

From Hugo and Andre, I got the sense that Portugal is not a hotbed of Web 2.0 entrepeneurial activity. What they may not fully realize is how they may be the ones to inspire the next wave. Andre says that people who knew he left the comfy confines of Sapo were stunned but also openly rooting for his success. If more knew that Hugo left a career in public service to work at a startup of 5 people while he has a 3 month old daughter at home and a wife - they would cheer him on as well.

I wish them even greater success and have no doubt it will find them. Thanks guys for a great afternoon. And let;s all try to meetup at Shift 08 in Lisbon this October (both Andre and Hugo have a hand in organizing this conference)

(photos from Hugo and Stephanie Booth)

WeMedia 08/Miami: Power On!

It always seems prophetic when some big "natural' event happens on the eve of something you care about. In this case, there was a huge power outage in southern Florida affecting up to 4 million people as I flew down for Andrew and Dale's most excellent WeMedia conference in Miami. They are not responsible. Someone somewhere flipped the wrong switch on the old nuclear power plant.

Power failures have way of building community ... before they turn ugly, of course.

All power is restored and we are beginning a great confluence/conflagaration of media, marketing, internet, academics and genrally smart and interesting people at the latest WeMedia conference held at the University of Miami. Sam Grogg is dean and our host. he will be speaking on my panel later on Media Literacy.

Blackout as a WeMedia moment
Great discussion about how the blackout provided a "we media" moment. Folks from Qualcomm, Miami Herald and other places talk about how the traditional media infrastucture was crippled by the loss of power: papers couldn't publish, radio wasn't local enough to cover it, talk radio was gone, Web site access was limited due to the limits on batery life at the head-end and at the user.

A couple of us talked about the power of locally-driven microblogging (e.g. Twitter) posted and delivered via mobile devices (limited by battery life) where people in the community can post to a common account - @blackoutmiami - and aggregate their twits to keep themeslves and their neighbors involved.
Someone else talked about the spanish-language radio station that switched gears to host phone-ins from citizens became a flash cgm experience. The conference is really about redefining media and our expectations for it.

Off to a great start.

We Media 08: Using Media to Innovate and Make the World a Little Better

What do you do in a world where "media" is no longer defined by newspapers, magazines, television and other 'traditional,' organizations who still know what the term "4th estate" means?

For Andrew and Dale at ifocos.org (The Insitute For The Connected Society) they collect some of the most interesting people wrestling with the impact of the digital media explosion and all its fallout, bring them together online and in person at We Media 08 in Miami from February 26-28.

They trigger dozens of conversations amongst these unlikely colleagues about what is media today and how we can use it to innovate our respective businesses while at the same time serving the world. Sound familiar? It shouldn't unless you remember the Thomas Carlyle's meaning behind the "fourth estate." Even still, things have changed. The whole fourth estate thing was a nod to the political power of the press. I would argue that WeMedia is less focused on political power or the impact within anyone country of a new, exploded view of media than it is with the global reach of a very public 'media' defined by the BBC, as well as,  a momblogger in New Mexico. This new media has the potential to transcend political and social boundaries. The idea behind the "fourth estate" comment was that the press at that time had a not-so-soft power equal to, or sometimes, surpassing the assigned leaders in power.

If anything has the potential to let global people get to know each other better, reduce our human fear of the unknown and help us connect over new affinities and ideas, it is this new media fueled by the connectivity of the Internet.

I will admit that one of my strongest attractions to Andrew and Dale's vision is how it plays into my hopelessly romantic and, I'm sure, naive belief that a global social network (the meta-network that is the Internet) can help make us global citizens working together to solve problems for other people regardless of political, ethnic and social boundaries.

The WeMedia 08 conference will have sessions like:

• The Power To Change The World
• Political World | Hype vs. Reality in Campaign 08
• Search World | Trust, relevance and rights
• Activist World | Social networks for social good
  and my personal favorite (and the one I am moderating):
• Informed World | The citizen’s guide to media literacy

The event will pull traditional media leaders, social media proponents, academics, tech start-ups, VCs, social activists and much, much more. It's a weird collection of people many of who will come based on a faith that they will discover new affinities and ideas from being social and alert with people unlike themselves in so many ways.

If you can make it - you should come. It may just be the most impactful conference you partiucipate in all year long as it is likely to touch your business side and your personal side.

Andrew and Dale have created an organization that we can all belong to and participate throughout the year. Join us now (and find out more about the group)>

Marketing to Communities – The Brand “Us”

I am in NYC at Bill Johnston's Community Conference (run by his company Forum One Communications). We are nestled in a great venue - the cozy theater in the Tribeca Grand.

The first session features Marcien Jenkes at AOL and David Dunne, EVP at Edelman. Marcien's key points:

• Communities belong to their participants
• They are a lot of hard work

Here's what AOL focuses on in their community efforts. They steward and strengthen communities through the following:

• Helping community to know their identity - e.g. helping individuals earn "equity" in their community, find people who are important to each other
• Creating a deep social graph (yes, there is one of the new phrases that capture the personal network we all have)
• Creating facilitation platforms - communities are 'exchanges' not dissimilar from the NY Stock Exchange.

Advice for marketers:
Know what you want to achieve in terms of business objectives? (this foreshadows what I will cover in my own session)

• Use community to leverage consumers and their good will ("get over yourselves tap into the rest of the world"). Hard to engage on a transactional basis. You need to invest in the community over the long haul.
• Organize people around causes that you and people care about.
  Examples: BabyCenter & Ford (in relation to Breast Cancer CSR program)
• Leverage the talkers (i.e. influencers) you can use advertising to reach and even activate them.

How do you know when you are being successful in community?

David Dunne/Edelman
Marketers have become avoidable which somehow diminishes the power of traditional awareness-based marketing. David gave a thoughtful preso on changes in relation to distribution choices and content creation.