Presentation on branding in the conversation age: how to create stuff worth sharing and leverage social media and other technology to build brands.

1. The most important question:
What do you
want your
consumers to
tell about you?
Using technology to create stuff worth
sharing.
© InSites Consulting
Polle de Maagt for Vrijetijdshuis Brabant
Conversation readiness 1

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 take research
forward, but brands like
Ben&Jerry’s, Telenet, Danone and
Philips agreed to pay us for it.

3. Managing expectations …
I only have 25 minutes. Don’t expect me to do magic. For
magic (or more on conversation management and stuff
worth sharing), send me an email at polle@insites.eu.

4. The power of social media.
Social media (and internet in general)
have been amazing.
We have some of the coolest things ever
be built on top of this technology.

5. KLM commits random acts of kindness
KLM surprised random passengers in their effort to discover how happiness
spreads. More at http://polle.me/gJhpSI

6. Kay Mook earned the Antwerp Zoo 300K extra visitors
“What if every Belgian felt a bit pregnant too” was the start of a campaign that
almost made her product of the year 2009. More at http://polle.me/ccjSNL

7. Ben&Jerry’s crowdsources their new icecream flavors.
Via an online platform with brand fans. More at http://polle.me/ISC-BJ
Photo by jason.dsilva

8. To summarize,
it has never been easier to
1. to connect with other consumers
2. to fan or hate brands or
organizations
3. to find everything about anything

9. This is a radical change and asks
for radical changes in the way
brands and organizations
communicate.
But don’t be misled by the technology
witchcraft here.

10. 1) 90% of conversations is done offline.
Even these guys, the Belgian club of Young Online advertising Planners have a
regular offline meetup. More at http://polle.me/i291Xz

11. 2) Social media is just a part of the consumer journey.
Traditional advertising still works, past experience is really important and real
interactions are the dealmakers/dealbreakers.

12. 3) Stories travel through different (social media) channels.
Nike launched a local store in Amsterdam, but capitalized on it via Facebook and
Twitter. Even better, users started using Hyves to spread the word.

13. 4) Part of conversations is owned, rest is paid or earned.
Strangers, customers and fans. Paid, owned and earned. Only part of the
interactions are taking place on your own website.

14. 100.000+
5) There will always be new technologies, stories stick.
Brabant is just full of stories. Don’t get distracted by technologies, focus on the
stories and make them easy to spread.

15. So, for your brand or
organization to make use of this,
consider these 10 easy tips.

16. 1) Start with observing and listening.
There are simple tools to observe what consumers are doing. Via
search.twitter.com or more advanced tools. But what about customer emails?

17. 2) What do you want your consumers to tell about you?
Is it about how cool your advertising was? Do you want them to talk about
deals? Or is it about something else?

18. 3) Helping people helps.
Exceeding customer expectations builds loyalty (81% repeats, 63% recommends)
and falling below customer expectations erodes loyalty (5%/71%).

19. 4) Act remarkable, don’t talk remarkable.
Every company has it’s stories and ambassadors, like Nike’s Ekins. This is beyond
advertising. More at http://polle.me/gSMxcX

20. 5) Think customer retention, not customer acquisition.
It is really expensive to attract new customers. Keep your current customers and
try to help them spread the word. Think in life time conversation value.

21. 6) Give your ambassadors the tools to promote you.
Ambassadors just want to tell other, so help them! Choqoa support fans by giving
them chocolate bars and highlighting them in their newsletter.

22. 7) Create stuff worth sharing.
KLM created dozens of stories worth sharing with their KLM Surprise campaign.

23. 8) Facilitate sharing.
Make it easy to subscribe of share your content via twitter, Facebook or other
social buttons. Example: http://polle.me/ij19j4

24. 9) Have a plan. For reach and impact.
Schedule, integrate and build upon efforts.

25. 10) Measure.
Measure views, clicks, but even more important: your return on investment.
Extremely simple, but effective: the Net Promoter Score.

26. You can forget most of the silly
things I said today.
But please, remember these 3 things.

27. 1) Internet and social media
technology helped created a
huge conversation network,
where consumers out-converse
brands online and offline.
Learn to let go.

28. 2) For a brand to engage in this
conversation network, you have
to act remarkable, create stuff
worth sharing.
Don’t plan only for life time money
value, but for life time conversation
value.

29. 3) To leverage the power of
conversations, you have to
observe, facilitate and join the
conversation.
Start monitoring, start with pilots and
learn while doing.

30. Read the manual.
Seriously.
Read it.

31. 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/BRBNT