My presentation "Conversation Management: manage word-of-mouth to increase business value" for Social Media Forum 2010

1. Conversation management
Manage word-of-mouth to increase business value
Polle de Maagt for Social Media Forum

2. Hello. I am Polle de Maagt.
I create impact through
conversations at a pretty cool
company called InSites Consulting.
We work mostly because we’re
committed to make research sexy
again, but brands like Ben&Jerry’s,
Telenet, Danone and Philips agreed
to pay us for it.

3. Managing expectations ...
I only have 30 minutes. Don’t expect me to do magic.
For magic (or more on conversation management and
business value), drop me an email at polle@insites.eu

4. Honestly, sentences like the world has changed,
power has shifted to the consumer, increase your
share of conversation, consumers trust each other
most, shifting power from marketers to consumers,
marketers are no longer in control, social media
strategy and learn to lose control make me puke in
my mouth a bit.
While it is really really simple.

5. People talk. A lot.
Internet made it pretty easy to talk. But
still: 80% of the talking is done offline.
You might not be surprised that talking
influences others. Especially when the
conversations are searchable and
retweetable.
Consumers talk better, more and more
genuine than brands.
So you better be ready.

6. Kindness, happiness and cool things are talkable.
KLM surprised random passengers in their effort to discover how happiness
spreads. Advertising campaigns make great conversation starters.

7. “
Consumers out-conversate brands.
“
Create stuff worth sharing.
Tom de Bruyne (Boondoggle)

8. Great products create happy customers.
No surprise, I guess.

9. “
Focus on what really matters: making users
happy with your product as quickly as you
can, and helping them as much as you can
after that. If you do those better than anyone
“
else out there you’ll win.
Marc Hedlund (Wesabe)

10. A remarkable company culture works.
Every company has it’s stories and ambassadors. Capitalize on these stories and
turn your employees in an army of ambassadors.

11. Your product might has fans who love to help.
Facilitate them in sharing.

12. Buying new consumers is expensive.
Advertising is the tax for being unremarkable.
Please think retention.

13. Helping people helps.
Exceeding customer expectations builds loyalty (81% repeats, 63% recommends)
and falling below customer expectations erodes loyalty (5%/71%).
* Forrester, Build Loyalty By Exceeding Expectations When Resolving Customer Problems, 2010

14. When you understand your customers, you’ll do better.
66% of marketers is disconnected from their target audience.
* InSites Consulting, Meet The Joneses Research, 2010

15. If someone asks you a question, answer politely.
Zappos invites every employee to WOW their customers. By the way: 11% of
organizations doesn’t reply to customer emails.
* InSites Consulting, Meet The Joneses Research, 2010

16. Recap.
People talk. A lot.
Kindness, happiness and cool things are
talkable.
Great products create happy customers.
A remarkable company culture works.
Buying new consumers is expensive.
Helping people helps.
When you understand your customers, you’ll
do better.
If someone asks you a question, answer
politely.

17. It’s really about being human.
It is about asking yourself ‘What should
consumers be saying to each other after
they’ve seen my ad or contacted me and
my brand?’
It is about integrating conversations in
all thinking and acting.
And that might be a challenge.

18. Product
improvement
Offline WoM Road map
WoM
Does it work? The best performing marketers do
three things that make them stand out.
* ConversationReadinessresearchamongst500Europeanmarketers

19. You can forget most of the silly things I said. But, please:
Remember these five
things.

20. 1) The world is a conversation
network and customers out-
conversate brands.
It is about integrating conversations in
all thinking and acting.
It is about managing the conversation.

21. 2) It is about changing the way you
treat your consumers. About
acting human. About being
talkable.
It is about doing what you say you do, it
is about listening and acting.
About observing, facilitating and joining
the conversation.

22. 3) It isn’t rocket science.
Kindness, happiness and cool things are
talkable.
Great products create happy customers.
Helping people helps.
When you understand your customers, you’ll
do better.
If someone asks you a question, answer
politely.

23. Product
improvement
Offline WoM Road map
WoM
Does it work? The best performing marketers do
three things that make them stand out.
* ConversationReadinessresearchamongst500Europeanmarketers

24. Read the manual.
Seriously.
Read it.

25. 48

26. I hope I was worth sharing.
Send me an email at
polle@insites.eu so I can help you
remind of the 48 hours.
Find the presentation at
http://polle.me/smf10