Darwinism on the Web: Surviving & Thriving in a Web 2.0 World

That catchy title isn't my own, but rather one of the topics being discussed at the Web 2.0 Expo I am attending in San Francisco (March 31-April 3rd). Thought I'd share a condensed version of the learnings with everyone who couldn't attend. The discussion was led by Soren Stamer of Coremedia.

Like the Dodo bird, businesses are in danger of extinction due to the rapid evolution of disruptive technologies, specifically Web 2.0. Soren asserts that there are several things a company must do to avoid that fate. Here are a few ideas mentioned in the session that will enable a company to not only survive, but also to thrive.

1) Empower your community: Listen, really listen to what your customers are saying. One easy way to find out what your customers (and non-customers for that matter) think of your brand is to set-up an RSS feed. It's a good idea to add the names of your competitors to that RSS feed.

2) Create Feedback Loops: Let your customers write what they think on your website. I know it's tough to let go of the control, but they are writing it elsewhere so why not open up to show that you value their opinions? Then, show you care by actually responding to comments. Tell your customers/prospective customers not only that you value their feedback, but that you actually use it (i.e. by making your product/service better etc.).

3) Engage in conversations: Be emotional and personal. This is quite a switch for most companies, especially larger organizations. People tend to tune out "corporate speak" though and they want to interact with real people.

4) Enable multiple touchpoints: Mobile, Web, Set-Top Boxes etc. People want to be able to engage with your brand when, where and how they want. So make it easy for them to do so.

5) Find ways to offer a great service for free. No doubt, this one is probably the toughest to swallow. If you are a for-profit company, your purpose is to actually make a profit, right? But what happens when several other companies set-up shop doing exactly what you are doing and they give it away for free? The time to think about the consequences is now, before your company goes the way of the Dodo bird.

Click here to learn more about Coremedia.

Also, there are still two days left for the Expo. If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, click here to find out how you can score free tickets:
http://www.web2expo.com/webexsf2009/public/content/free

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My New Twitter Obsession

Yesterday, my Social Media Marketing professor sent me a link to the Twitter grader. The tool analyzes your twitter feed and gives you a score out of a possible 100. I initially received a score of 71, which is better than average, but nothing to write home about. The website doesn't mention how to improve your score, so I started playing around with it. I added a couple of tweets and a few more people started following me. Just checked my score again. It went up one point between yesterday and today. I'm warning you now...this tool is worse than crack.

Another useful feature of the this tool is the ranking of fellow twitterers by location. I looked at the San Francisco Bay Area ranking and found several interesting people I wanted to follow.

You can also grade your Facebook page through the website.

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Social Networking Stats -- Facebook & Twitter Rising, Myspace Declining

Compete.com recently released their ranking of social networking sites for January 2009*. Ranked by number of monthly visits, Facebook overtook Myspace to grab the top spot for the first time. 

This reversal doesn't surprise me. While Facebook has been innovating, Myspace has been stagnating. Facebook finished rolling out its feed-focused redesign last Fall; since then the average number of monthly visits has increased from 11 to 17. Meanwhile, Myspace also introduced feeds, but not in key areas like the profile page. Since then, Myspace visits have remained flat at an average of 14 per month.

*Statistics are based on US internet traffic.

I have to say that I don't really get the point of tagged.com and I'm surprised to see it in the number 6 position. I am also really tired of getting spam telling me I need to respond to my tags.

With all the innovation taking place in the social media space, it will be interesting to watch how the rankings change over the next few months. I believe that Myspace will continue to lose steam and drop in the rankings. Ditto tagged.com. I also predict that Twitter will rise to the number two spot in the next six months. I am a big fan of Linkedin.com and expect it to move up the rankings to the fourth and perhaps even the third spot within the next six months.

For more information, see the article in Venture Beat and compete.com.

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Want Your Customers to Pass the Word Along? Get Them into a Loyalty Program.

Customers who participate in loyalty programs are 70% more likely to recommend a product or service than the general population, according to a study. Of the people in a rewards program, 55% described themselves as brand champions. 68% of that group said they would recommend the brand associated with the rewards program within the next year.

When asked why they participate in word of mouth activities, respondents stated the following reasons: to tell manufacturers what I think (73%), to get smart about products and services (68%), to be the first to discover new items (68%), to get free product samples (63%) and to share my opinion with others (61%). 

The author of the study recommends that Marketers analyze their loyalty-marketing databases to find, build relationships with and reward brand champions. I agree that Marketers should make better use of customer databases; understanding who your customers are, properly segmenting (actives vs. non-actives, demographics, psychographics etc.) and then marketing to them has always been a critical marketing function. I also agree that companies need to build stronger relationships with brand champions.  70% of study participants stated they want to tell manufacturers what they think. Companies need to make that conversation an easier process. Use social media to listen to and talk with, instead of at, your customers to strengthen the relationship.

However, I disagree that customers should be rewarded for engaging in positive word of mouth activity. The risk is that the message becomes tainted and disingenuous. Marketers can make it easier for customers to recommend a brand by providing free product samples and an open space to share (i.e. through Twitter, Facebook etc.), without directly compensating them. 

See the full article in Brandweek

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How Not to Engage in Social Media

Generating positive word of mouth is key. But at this story highlights, there is definitely a wrong way to go about generating that buzz. 

See full story in: Financial Times 

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Rapid Growth in Adoption of Social Networks

In 2009, 44.2% of all internet users in the US will visit social networks at least once a month (source: eMarketer). In total, there will be 88.1 million online social-network users in the US, representing a 10.8% increase from 2008. By 2012, more than half of all US internet users will regularly visit a social networking site.

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