This presentation was a MarketingProfs PRO Seminar, originally presented on September 12, 2013
Supercharge Your Brand: How Companywide Empowerment Drives Social Media Advocacy
Abstract of the web seminar:
In this MarketingProfs PRO seminar, you’ll learn how empowering your employees, customers, and partners to use social media to drive engagement, create meaningful customer relationships, and engage in real-time conversations can help increase your brand awareness and revenues, while decreasing your marketing, sales, and customer service costs.
If you want to register to listen to the replay ($129.00) go to: http://www.marketingprofs.com/marketing/online-seminars/659
1. Supercharge Your Brand:
How Companywide Empowerment
Drives Social Media Advocacy
By the authors of The Most Powerful Brand on Earth
Susan Emerick
@sfemerick
Chris Boudreaux
@cboudreaux
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
1
2. Before a revolution,
everyone says it’s impossible.
Afterward, everyone says it was
inevitable.
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
2
3. Brands hesitate to empower employees and partners
for reasons of fear or uncertainty.
Common Reasons Brands Hesitate to Empower Employees in Social Media
④
③
②
①
Fear of damage to brand reputation
⑤
Unsure how to begin
Regulatory concerns
Hesitance to dis-intermediate the marketing team from customers
Don’t want employees creating brand assets that the brand does not
own
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
3
4. This session explains why you should empower
employees in social media, and some tips to do it.
Contents of Today’s Session
1.Why you should empower employees and partners in social media:
Generate greater awareness and revenues while decreasing costs of Marketing,
Selling, Customer service and recruiting
2.Proven Model
•The surprising dynamics of online influence and how to leverage them
•Skills that employees need to effectively engage in public, real-time conversations
•How to plan, execute, and manage development of employee relationships online
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
4
5. Trust matters in a world where 63% of people need to
hear a message 3-5 times to believe it.
Survey Question
How many times in general do you need to hear something about a
specific company to believe that information is likely to be true?
Ten or
More
Times
12%
Six to Nine Times
6%
Four or Five
Times
29%
Once
4%
Twice
14%
Three Times
35%
Survey Population: Informed Publics ages 25 – 64 in 25 countries Source: Edelman. “2012 Edelman Trust Barometer.” http://bit.ly/Edelman-2012.
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
5
6. Trust in social media is rapidly increasing.
Survey Question
How much do you trust each of the following places as a source
of information about a company?
+10%
32%
29%
+18%
26%
22%
+23%
+75%
14%
16%
13%
8%
“Trust a Great Deal”; Informed Publics ages 25 – 64 in 20 countries. Source: Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising Survey, Q3 2011.
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
6
7. Social media strongly impact organic search engine
results.
Most Influential Factors in Organic Search Performance
• Facebook Shares
• Backlinks
• Facebook Total
• Facebook Comments
• Facebook Likes
• Tweets
Source: SearchMetrics. “Facebook and Twitter Shares Closely Linked with High Google Search Rankings”. 7 June 2012. www.searchmetrics.com.
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
7
8. Sales correlate with the total number of people who
advocate for a brand -- across industries.
Monthly Change in Sales
Monthly Change in Online Promoters v. Monthly
Change in Sales
• On average, 53% of changes in
online and offline sales can be
attributed to changes in the
number of people advocating for
a brand online
• Not the number of online
messages or posts about a brand
Monthly Change in Total Online Promoters
Sources:
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
8
9. Summary, so far…
Increase social media in
the marketing mix!!
Revenues
Correlate
With
Advocates
Increasing
Resistance to
New
Messages
Need to Do
More With
The Same or
Less
Increasing
Trust in
Social
Media
Social
Drives
Organic
Search
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
9
10. Your marketing and communications teams can not
produce enough content.
Two-thirds of B2B content marketers find
it difficult to produce enough content.
Half struggle with producing the kind of
content that engages.
Source: Bob Pulizzi and Ann Handley.“B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends — North America.
Marketing Profs and Content Marketing Institute, 2013. http://bit.ly/B2BBench.
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
10
11. People trust advertising from people they know.
Trust
Don’t
Trust
92%
Survey Question
To what extent do you trust
the following forms of
advertising?
92%
70%
58%
50%
46 - 47%
40 - 42%
Source: Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising Survey, Q3 2011.
70%
58%
50%
47%
40%
33%
30%
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
11
12. People trust employees more than official brand
sources.
Survey Question
Respondents who replied “extremely credible” or “very credible” to the following question:
If you heard information about a company from one of these people, how credible would that
information be?
Employees
NonEmployees
Source: Edelman. “2012 Edelman Trust Barometer.” http://bit.ly/Edelman-2012.
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
12
13. Traffic from employee-owned social media converts
at a significantly higher rate.
Conversion Rate
Conversion Rate by Traffic Source
IBM - 2012
>2
xC
on
n
s io
v er
Ra
te
Source: Susan Emerick, “IBM Select Social Eminence Program, 3Q 2012 Measurement Framework Pilot”. September 2012.
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
13
14. Your professional communicators can not develop
relationships with all of your customers.
Engage the
Influencers!!!
Your
Marketing
Team
Your
Experts
Your
Employees
Your
Customers
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
14
15. You must focus on more than select Influencers.
The Reality of Online Influence
Implications for Influencer Management
1.Past influence
The most successful influencer
relationship programs
Future influence
≠
2.50% of product adoption is explained
by homophily (people like me), not
influence
1.Spread their efforts across a wider
portfolio of influencers
3.Influencers may be tough to find (e.g.,
Velvet rope communities)
2.Help employees establish their own
influence, at multiple levels
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
15
16. Summary, so far…
Employee
Conversion
Rate is
Higher
Can’t
Produce
Enough
Content
Increasing
Resistance to
New
Messages
Need to Do
More With
The Same or
Less
People Trus
t
Experts and
Employees
People Trus
t
People Like
Them
Revenues
Correlate
With
Advocates
Influencers
(partial
solution)
Increasing
Trust in
Social Media
Social Drives
Organic
Search
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
16
17. How will your brand empower
employees and partners to nurture
relationships in social media?
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
17
18. Keys to Successful Employee and Partner Empowerment
1 • Focus on Relationships
2 • Enable Individuals
3 • Create a Scalable Structure
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
19. 1
Focus on Relationships
Typical Approach to Social Media
People-Centric Relationships
•
Venues and technologies
•
•
Brand presence
Social strategies focus on people
and relationships
•
Difficult to show empathy and
passion
•
Create opportunities for audiences
to establish relationships with
“people like me”
•
Employees and partners extend
their reputation online for the
benefit of the brand
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
21. Influencing conversations online requires a portfolio
approach that leverages employees.
INFLUENCE
People trust experts and employees
Experts and real employees earn more
trust than corporate voices and
executives
HOMOPHILY
Shared interests
We all form relationships with people we
perceive to be like ourselves
EMPLOYEE DIVERSITY
This is how you scale…
But it conflicts with traditional marketer mentality of control
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
22. 2
Enable each individual.
tio
lu
vo
E
n
of
e
th
m
lE
cia
So
ee
oy
pl
• Desire to build relationships and share expertise
• Desire to advance skills for the benefit of the brand
Desire to Engage
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth, 2013
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth (Prentice-Hall 2013).
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
22
23. 2
Enable each individual.
tio
lu
vo
E
n
of
e
th
m
lE
cia
So
ee
oy
pl
• Understands personal behaviors and preferences
• Understands business goals
Self Understanding
Desire to Engage
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth, 2013
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth (Prentice-Hall 2013).
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
23
24. 2
Enable each individual.
tio
lu
vo
E
n
of
e
th
m
lE
cia
So
ee
oy
pl
• Engages personal networks
• Adapts participation and
content by topic, audience
Attendance and Listening
Self Understanding
Desire to Engage
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth, 2013
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth (Prentice-Hall 2013).
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
24
25. 2
Enable each individual.
tio
lu
vo
E
n
o
he
ft
m
lE
cia
So
ee
oy
pl
• Establishes a professional
presence online
• Represents professional expertise
Professional Presence
Attendance and Listening
Self Understanding
Desire to Engage
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth, 2013
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth (Prentice-Hall 2013).
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
25
26. 2
Enable each individual.
tio
lu
vo
E
n
o
he
ft
m
lE
cia
So
ee
oy
pl
• Answers questions
• Builds on what other people say
Professional Participation
Professional Presence
Attendance and Listening
Self Understanding
Desire to Engage
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth, 2013
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth (Prentice-Hall 2013).
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
26
27. 2
Enable each individual.
tio
lu
vo
E
n
e
th
of
m
lE
cia
So
ee
oy
pl
• Leads a network or community
• Is a Spokesperson or thought
leader
Community Facilitation
Professional Participation
Professional Presence
Attendance and Listening
Self Understanding
Desire to Engage
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth, 2013
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth (Prentice-Hall 2013).
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
27
28. 2
Enable each individual.
tio
lu
vo
E
n
e
th
of
m
lE
cia
So
• Influences conversations
• Creates significant conversions
ee
oy
pl
Community Leadership
Community Facilitation
Professional Participation
Professional Presence
Attendance and Listening
Self Understanding
Desire to Engage
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth, 2013
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth (Prentice-Hall 2013).
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
28
29. Traffic from employee-owned social media converts
at a significantly higher rate.
Conversion Rate
Conversion Rate by Traffic Source
IBM - 2012
x
>2
n
Co
si o
ve r
nR
ate
Source: Susan Emerick, “IBM Select Social Eminence Program, 3Q 2012 Measurement Framework Pilot”. September 2012.
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
29
30. So, how do you do all of this at scale?
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
31. 3
Create scalable structure.
Lead
Prepare
• Relationships
• Conversations
• Tactics
• Capabilities
• Operating Model
• Measurement
• Permission is not enough
Perform
• Traditional influencer outreach
is only part of the solution
Right
Employee
Right
Interaction
Right
Content
Right
Audience
• PR approaches and tools break
at this scale
• Provide knowledge and tools
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth.
Source: The Most Powerful Brand on Earth (Prentice-Hall 2013).
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
32. Equip each employee or partner for targeted outreach
and relationship development.
Behavioral
preferences
Skills
Expertise
Online &
Offline
presence
Market +
Social
Intelligence
Marketing
Change Agent
Employees and
Partners
Influencers &
“People like me”
Analytics
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
33. Social media marketers are change agents who
mobilize employees and partners.
The New Role of The Social Media Marketer
Customers,
Candidates, etc.
• Oversee for all aspects
of a social empowerment program
• Act as the personal conduit, coach
and trainer to employees and
partners
• Identify, educate and empower
Employees and
Partners
Marketing Change
Agent
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
34. Your next steps depend on where you are today.
Getting Started
Develop an action plan
•
Employee inventory and segmentation
•
•
Existing influencer relationships and
activities
Identify employees who have built an
influential presence in social media, and
determine how you can help them
achieve more impact.
•
Understand the conversation
•
•
Benchmark performance and set targets
for change
Too focused on too few influencers? Grow
the portfolio of influencers that you
nurture.
•
Conduct research to better understand
where influencers who are important to
your brand engage online. Do you need to
adjustment the venues where you
engage?
@cboudreaux @sfemerick
35. Connect with today’s speakers
The Most Powerful Brand On Earth:
How to Transform Teams, Empower Employees, Integrate
Partners, and Mobilize Customers to Beat the Competition in
Digital and Social Media
Susan Emerick leads enterprise social business programs for IBM. As an author, speaker, and adjunct
professor, Susan helps marketers use social and digital media to foster long-term, high-value relationships
with clients, prospects, partners, colleagues, and communities. Beginning in 2008, Susan helped establish a
social insights practice at IBM, to continually develop social listening insights that drive marketing planning
and social engagement strategies. This IBM initiative was awarded the 2010 SAMMY (Social Advertising, Media
and Marketing) for Best Socialized Business.
susanemerick.com
@sfemerick
linkedin.com/in/sfemerick/
bit.ly/susan-emerick
Chris Boudreaux helps large brands transform their business operations through digital and social media. He
also has global responsibility for social media technology offerings at a leading technology and management
consultancy. In 2008, he created SocialMediaGovernance.com to help organizations get the most from their
social media efforts. In 2011, he coauthored The Social Media Management Handbook (Wiley & Sons), and his
studies of social media have been referenced by corporations, governments, industry analysts and nonprofits
around the world. He also led business development and marketing at two online start-ups, one of which was
acquired by Glam Media.
socialmediagovernance.com
@cboudreaux
linkedin.com/in/chrisboudreaux
bit.ly/cboudreaux
@cboudreaux @sfemerick