Companies are not against being more customer-oriented as long as it’s profitable. With this in mind, there are two dimensions that are essential in devising a strategy:

• Evolving from a process-based to a people-based approach: a process is a useful tool in bringing consistency to the customer stream. Still, a perfectly executed process does not always yield the desired result in terms of customer satisfaction. The personal touch makes the difference between a feeling of distance and one of warmth.
• Actively looking for conversation-worthy aspects of the strategy. Many companies maintain a high level of customer satisfaction but unfortunately this goes unnoticed by the market as a whole. It’s nice to have satisfied customers but real growth comes from your non-customers realizing how good you are. Hence the need for symbols that are easily passed on by the customer.

From process-based to people-based approach

Investing in an efficient customer process is essential to creating a consistent customer approach within an organization. A well-executed process means a satisfied customer but not necessarily a wildly enthusiastic one. The difference is in the personal approach. People like to talk to people, not to a process. Customers like people who are able to help them by thinking logically. They love it when you make them your top priority. A simple example are the queues at gas stations. Often you’ll find yourself in a long queue with the person at the second checkout performing some other task, e.g. sorting cartons of cigarettes. Why not take the time to ring up a few customers while you’re at it? It costs absolutely nothing and it’s all about putting the customer first.

An individual customer experience happens when:

• The personality of the staff member fits the company culture: the principle of treating a customer the way you’d like to be treated yourself is not entirely accurate. Customers should be treated in a way befitting the company philosophy. Staff who embody the culture of an organization make that culture tangible and personal to the customer.
• Staff believe in the impact of many small things: doing small things every day to make your customers happy makes more of an impact than organizing a customer day once a year. Staff who understand the impact of those small things can make a difference for the customer on a daily basis.
• Every customer is important: there are no important and less important customers; there are only customers (sometimes customers would benefit from being treated as a prospect). Offering the same service to each and every customer enhances the perception of a personalized customer service. Implementing different levels of customer service can only backfire.

Adding symbols of extremism to your customer experience

Companies need to adopt a more extreme approach to customer centricity. Extreme customer centricity rests on three cornerstones:

• Eliminating details that frustrate the customer: many companies have a kind of blind spot when it comes to customer satisfaction. We miss lots of little details, perhaps because we’ve grown used to them. As a result, they’re never sorted out but they still vex the customers. We need to remove such small dissatisfiers.
• Installing efficient processes to provide every customer with a good experience. The second cornerstone is creating a positive and consistent customer experience for everyone. Make sure every employee knows how to handle customers.
• Adding symbols of extremism: the final step is making the experience worthy of conversation. Good service is not enough; we need symbols that make our philosophy tangible. Such symbols are also easy to pass on.

While extremism is undesirable in a political or religious context, it is actually of crucial importance to the customer experience. Symbols of extremism make your philosophy tangible. Zappos’ 365-day return policy is a good example. KLM’s policy to reply to tweets 24/7 and inside 30 minutes is another case in point. These are simple promises to the consumer and, on top of that, they are easy to pass on. They provide the customer with a tangible reason to be satisfied.

Creating a conversation-worthy customer experience: the personal touch & symbols of extremism

Efficient organization, symbols of extremism and a personal approach are the basics of a conversation-worthy customer experience. Combining both dimensions (see diagram below) reveals the impact they have.

For instance, combining a good service level with a personal touch results in very satisfied customers. Unfortunately, the result has little conversation power and as a result, this excellent performance is mainly appreciated by existing customers and has little impact on growth. Adding symbols of extremism to the mix gives customers something to talk about. It also enhances the experience because the customer now knows exactly why he or she is so satisfied.

Three examples of companies that score on both axes

1. Pret A Manger

Pret A Manger is a UK-based fast food chain that focuses on wholesome food and customer satisfaction. Every outlet has a generous number of checkouts so queues are always short. The staff know that the customers are always the top priority. As soon as a second customer queues up, another checkout opens. Everything else can wait. Also, Pret A Manger implements a single evaluation criterion: cheerfulness. The friendlier an employee, the higher his or her chances of a promotion.

2. Coolblue

Based in Holland, this is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce players in Europe. Coolblue actually has a Director of (More Than) Satisfied Customers. Together with profitability, this is their main focus. Their NPS of 60 is far above average. Their offline stores are a symbol of their extremism. I know of no other e-commerce player who has gone to the trouble of building an offline store for its customers. It’s a 3D catalogue, as it were. After all, customers like to feel that laptop in their hands before they decide to buy it. That’s why Coolblue chose to invest in an offline store. It also makes the importance of the customer abundantly clear.

3. Tomorrowland

Both the DJs and the visitors agree that Tomorrowland is the best dance festival in the world. That’s because it’s not so much a festival as it is a dream world. The event is not constructed around a product: that would mean that the DJ sets are the focus of Tomorrowland and this is not the case. Instead, they try to make the festival experience felt in every aspect and smallest detail. A symbol of the festival’s extreme vision can be experienced on board the planes flying in to the event from every corner of the globe. The philosophy of the festival organizers is very outspoken: the Tomorrowland experience starts on the plane, which is why each flight has a laser show and DJs on board.

Do any other examples come to mind?

Feel free to let me know if you can think of other companies that do well on both axes. I’m always on the lookout for companies that spoil their customers on both levels.

Unfortunately, the participants in this kind of brainstorming session tend to lose sight of the essence of online success: 90% of a company’s online success depends on its offline behavior.

Some time ago, I read an article about a woman who got mugged on the parking lot of a Walmart somewhere in California. The manager refused to call the police because the matter wasn’t serious enough. A furious post by the lady’s husband on Facebook was instantly removed.  As it turns out, this particular Walmart got the worst evaluation on Yelp, mainly because of the dangerous neighborhood it was located in. The question here is what would be the best social media investment for this store? Posting a reaction on Facebook is not the answer. The only solution is to have a security officer patrol the parking lot. This offline investment has a huge impact on the online experience. Posting online and not solving the actual problem is simply not enough.

More than one in two online conversations deal with offline experience

Analysis of some 1,000,000 online conversations on brands revealed that the topic of these online conversations is often offline experience. Consumers mainly discuss the quality of the product and the service. If both are up to par then there is a basis for online success.

Our first concern as a company should be to help our customers to communicate their positive offline experience through offline channels. After all, it’s annoying when customers are happy with the product and service but keep that satisfaction to themselves. It may help to create a distinctive profile for your service. KLM answers tweets and Facebook messages inside thirty minutes. When Carglass replaces your windshield, they also vacuum your car mats. E-commerce player Coolblue uses physical stores as a 3D catalogue. Online shoe company Zappos has a 365-day return policy. This kind of details and specific commitment make the company more worthy of conversation.

Personal connection and a shared purpose

Unfortunately, even good customer experience and specific commitment may still not be enough to get a customer to spread the word; to do so, he also has to identify with the company’s approach. Companies that project a certain cool have one up on the competition because consumers like to show them off to promote their own image. The biggest motivation to establish an emotional link between your company and the customer consists in identifying a common goal. Consumers will become more involved if they feel that a brand creates added value both in their own lives and for society at large. This commitment is the ultimate conversation driver.

Triodos bank is a good case in point. Triodos is the first ‘sustainable’ bank, only investing in social or green projects as well as other activities that benefit society in general. The bank’s financial results confirm growing consumer demand for a shared purpose.

By the way, this video is also a beautiful description of their world vision. It’s a world where every individual has an impact. Small-scale actions are the new large-scale actions.

This blog post summarizes the main elements of the presentation.

The 2020 Consumer

To develop the marketing philosophy of the future we also need to understand the 2020 consumer. Three factors will continue to influence consumer behavior:

1. Full adoption of new technologies: by the year 2020 some 2.5 billion smartphones will be in use. Much more than is the case today, the internet and digitization will be the most natural thing in the world.
2. Transparency: the continued adoption of technology will make the world even more transparent. Consumers will be perfectly aware of which companies are doing well and which aren’t. As a result, consumers will demand better service. Instead of simply comparing companies with the competition, they will compare them with class-leading companies. This will raise the bar considerably.
3. Selectivity: technology will become even more effective at shielding consumers from commercial messages. New media will enable consumers to be very selective about which companies he or she is linked with. Gaining access to the 2020 consumer will prove extremely difficult.

The video below describes the 2020 consumer:

Extreme customer centricity as the central philosophy

A score of 7.3 out of 10 will not be enough to win the heart of the 2020 consumer. Only extreme customer centricity will guarantee success. Extremism may not be a good thing where politics and religion are concerned, but in marketing 2020 it is an absolute necessity.

Going extreme means facing several challenges:

• Extreme in the basic aspects: extreme customer centricity is often associated with exotic ideas but such ideas only work when the foundations are solid. Step one consists in compiling an inventory of all the annoying little customer frustrations and dealing with them one by one. A top-notch basic experience is the cornerstone of extreme customer centricity.
• It’s all about ‘influence’, not ‘influencers’: Every customer exerts influence. The illusion that a few select influencers determine the perception of an entire industry belongs to the classical school of thought. Treating all customers the same is exactly what brings about structural positive conversations. Focusing solely on ‘influencers’ may even have the opposite effect. Remember what happened with Yoep Van ‘t Hek and T-Mobile.
• Symbols of extremism: once a company exceeds expectations with regard to basic service levels, that company needs symbols of extremism. They are ideal conversation starters because they give satisfied customers something concrete to use when recommending your product. Zappos’s 365-day return policy, e-retailer Coolblue’s offline stores and KLM’s 30-minute reply policy to tweets are examples of such symbols.

Developing this philosophy amounts primarily to reevaluating customer processes. It boils down to optimizing the functional relationship. The additional challenge in this regard consists in adding a personal touch. Even the most expertly executed process feels impersonal without a smile. Friendly people can give a personal touch, and so can smooth communication and the occasional ‘random act of kindness’. It’s not hard to come up with but all the more difficult to implement properly.

And finally, extreme customer centricity is not about online presence or online customer service, although this is obviously part of the package. In the meantime, it is clear that 80 to 90% of your online success depends on your offline behavior. In 2020, a successful company will no longer differentiate between online and offline channels.

Technology integrated in marketing & service

Extreme customer centricity is a conscious investment on behalf of a company and technology can be of help on three different levels:

• Further improving the customer experience: new technology can enhance the customer experience. Technology can bring stunning innovations. For instance, Disneyworld is currently testing new Mickey suits. The suits are interactive and the guests can talk to Mickey. The suits create a new customer experience for the young and old.
• Increasing efficiency: technology can streamline certain processes. For instance, technology can help service evolve towards a self-service environment where the customers themselves can solve problems more quickly and efficiently. As a result, customer satisfaction goes up and costs go down. Ordering hamburgers at McDonald’s via the interactive screens is another example: waiting times are shorter and McDonald’s needs fewer staff.
• Generating more profit: Amazon adjusts its prices several times a day and this process is fully automatic. This perfect price strategy adds turnover and customers know that Amazon offers the sharpest prices 24 hours a day.

‘Data’ will obviously be one of the buzz words for marketing 2020. Compiling customer data will help companies achieve each of the three goals described above. Data will become the new oil, as it were.  The richest company will be the one with the best data and the ability to use that data to maximum effect.

The future of selling will be selling without actually selling

Snagging consumers will become more and more difficult. Today, consumers go looking for interaction with no more than five brands. Technology is making it increasingly easy for consumers to shield themselves from commercial messages. Being extremely relevant is the only way of keeping the consumer’s attention going. There are two dimensions to support this philosophy.

The first dimension is the rise of inbound marketing. ING bank recently reported that 95% of customer interactions originate with the customer. In other words: the pull model has already replaced the push model. Data are absolutely invaluable in order to be relevant. Your company will need to create the perfect personalized message on the basis of data if it is to earn the consumer’s attention.

It’s quite funny, really: the foundation of marketing 2020 was described in the 80s, back when CRM and direct marketing were hot. Today we can finally execute what was described back then. The philosophy is sound and modern technology makes it possible.

A second dimension consists in offering relevant content. Content tells a story and gives people something of value. It’s less and less about your own product and more and more about what consumers can do with that product. The new sites for Kraft and Coca Cola already carry out that message. In both cases, the product itself has been pushed to the background and both sites look more like a digizine than a website. This is selling without selling.

Four principles are essential to success:

• Invest in your own media: link your content to your own media instead of letting it float around on the internet. Try to lure consumers to your own platforms to consume content.
• Content as bait for data: content is a bit like baiting the hook when going fishing. Many companies are simply throwing worms into the water: a fish comes along, swallows the worm whole and it’s gone. By attaching that bait to a hook, customers get hooked in when trying to take a bite out of the worm. Use this metaphor in your content marketing and capture data through your content.
• A mix of big and small stories: sharing stories on a day-to-day basis is part of the 2020 marketing philosophy, but take care to alternate between big and small stories. Red Bull are the undisputed masters in this respect. They come up with amazing stunts from time to time, but they also maintain a content flow that suits the brand. Both aspects are important.
• Design, design, design: content should be relevant but, more than anything, it should be well-designed.  There’s a phenomenal difference in impact between a classic story and an engaging story. Designers will become increasingly important in the years to come.

Three dimensions to benefit a ‘bigger’ cause

Even a company that excels in each of these three dimensions (extreme customer centricity, technology and selling without selling) has no guarantees of success in 2020. First of all, you need a personal touch (see above), but you should also identify a common goal for the consumer and your company.  Pampers has chosen to tackle a few nasty diseases with the consumer’s help: for every Pamper sold, a child in a developing country is inoculated, thus creating a common objective for consumer and company to work towards. As for Triodos bank, the company leaves its customers with no doubt what their money is invested in. Triodos only invests in projects promoting durability.

This kind of ‘bigger cause’ appeals to consumers. A global study by InSites Consulting about CSR clearly showed that consumers expect three things from a company: 1. Do good for your own customers, 2. Make a profit and thereby do good for your own staff and 3. Do good for society.

How does your marketing department rate on these three dimensions?

I sometimes get comments along the lines of ‘Steven, it all sounds so simple that I don’t understand why so few companies are able to properly implement this’. The same is also true of the 2020 marketing story. (I hope) it sounds very logical and easy, but putting it all into practice has proven far from evident.

Ask yourself the following question: How does my own marketing department rate on these 2020 dimensions? How many companies do I know today that do well on each of these three dimensions?

And then, of course, there’s also the key question: how do I rate on these three dimensions?

Hope you enjoyed the post, please let me know how you see the future of marketing. Tell me how you see Marketing 2020.

Many managers wonder how Facebook likes bring in additional business. It is a valid concern to question the impact of likes on business results. Digital objectives should always be linked to business objectives. To build a bridge between a digital strategy and a business strategy, there are five dimensions to include in your digital infrastructure:

1. Own interactive platform (used to be called a website)
2. Smart usage of social networks
3. Content long tail
4. Ability for real time marketing
5. Data strategy

The heart of your digital strategy? Your own interactive platform (aka website).

The best place to achieve your business objectives is probably your own interactive platform. Let’s not use the word ‘site’ too much anymore. Most companies still see a site as something you invest in every three years without any need for in between content refreshment. Looking at the latest trends, a sites should not be static, but should evolve towards a digital magazine.

To link digital and business goals, there is a need for a platform where content can be shared, conversations can be started and data can be captured. Recent research on Emarketer showed the important role of a site in influencing the consumer their buying behavior. A brand and retail site have more influence than Facebook content.

Smart usage of different social networks

Once you have an interactive platform, you still need visitors. Social networks can help to drive traffic to your platform. Use Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to engage large audiences and guide people to your site. Only posting content on social networks is like fishing without a hook attached to your bait.

Social networks like Slideshare, Pinterest, Flickr and YouTube are perfect to store your presentations, video’s and pictures. Users of those sites can find your content there. Next to that, embed this content on your own site and share the link of the site on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It increases the impact of this content. To read more about increasing the effectiveness of social media channels, check out this white paper I shared earlier.

Create a content long tail

By placing content on your own platform, you have the possibility to create a content long tail. Content on Facebook and Twitter disappears after a while or is very hard to find back.

Content on your own platform helps with search engine optimization. People that don’t know your company, by searching the topics you are producing content in future clients may find you on Google.

Further, you can use hyperlinks to link your content. Relate back to previous content to guide users to your strong stories from the past. Embed content from YouTube, Pinterest and Slideshare in different content pieces. By re-using this content, the reach and the impact of your content investments increases.

Be smart with real time marketing to boost traffic and conversation value

Follow the news and search for stories that can be linked to your business. Release content about the news that is happening in the world. The goal of this real time content marketing is to increase the reach on your different digital channels. The first three dimensions are all about creating your own stories and building reach/impact with them. This dimension is about hijacking other people’s stories to get the attention to your brand. However, choose your battles in this field. Don’t try to be present in every news story. Choose news stories that match the DNA of your brand.

Capture data and achieve business objectives

If you bring good content, people will want to hear more from you. Give them the opportunity to share their data with you. The moment a consumers gives you data, you received permission to send them stories. When a consumer shares his personal data, see it as a precious gift. It is not something to take advantage of.  Use this data as a precision weapon and not as a weapon of mass destruction. Only by using the data in a hyper relevant way, you will have impact. The data allows you to manage the relationship with the client in a direct and personal way.

In view of these recurring questions, I thought it would be a good idea to make a list of the 10 most frequently asked questions and their answers. The contents are open to debate and new arguments can certainly be added to this summary. Please feel free to add your own contribution.

For most of you, the answers on these questions are well known, but there are still a lot of people to educate in this field. See these answers as possible tools to convince your colleagues, friends or managers about the role of social media in a modern organisation.

1. Aren’t social media exclusively for B2C and not for B2B?

The basic philosophy of conversational thinking is pretty simple and as old as the hills: the best kind of publicity is an existing client convincing someone else to work with your company. For years, manufacturers were able to exert a strong influence on public perception through intelligent and creative publicity. In those pre-social media days, publicity produced an endless stream of information about everyone and everything, thereby diminishing the impact of word of mouth. B2B marketers got to benefit much less from this luxury and, as a result, conversations have always been important in a B2B context.

Besides, I’m convinced that B2B marketers hold several advantages over B2C marketers:

• Knowing clients: a good B2B marketer knows who the company’s clients are (certainly the top clients).
• Co-creation is ingrained in the mentality: a lot of B2B companies habitually involve clients in R&D projects.
• Customer feedback has always been a first-hand experience. In a B2B organisation, direct customer feedback comes with the territory. Since sales and service people work hand in hand with customers, they get feedback on the company’s operational processes and service straight from the horse’s mouth.
• Smaller volume of conversation. A final advantage is the fact that B2B companies average a smaller number of conversations.

2. What is the profile of a Conversation Manager?

When we analyse the many vacancies for conversation managers, it’s apparent that two profiles are in demand. There’s the strategic approach on the one hand and the operational approach on the other. Both jobs are valuable and both are essential to effective conversation management. I found the inspiration to describe both routes in the various papers of Jeremiah Owyang.

Choice No. 1: The conversation manager as a reactive helpdesk

A large portion of the job descriptions for conversation managers remind me of the profile of a modern webmaster. These guys start up the conversation for the brand by sending Facebook and Twitter updates. They represent major brands and help companies find their way in conversation management. Every one of these tasks is of crucial importance but they are very operational in nature.

Choice No. 2: The conversation manager as a facilitator of strategic change

Let’s consider why so many companies are looking for a conversation manager. The answer is simple: we are living in a time of change. There isn’t a company out there that doesn’t realise we need a new form of interaction with the consumer. They want to engage the consumer in conversation so they go in search of someone to manage that conversation. Logical, isn’t it?

What companies are really looking for is someone to aid them in that transition. In order to facilitate that change, a strategically competent conversation manager is the best choice. In this role, the conversation manager is proactively involved in determining the strategy. The conversation manager heads the most important projects but also involves the other departments in his plans. He makes sure that the learning effect ripples throughout the organisation. In his ideas, he takes a proactive approach to other departments. He thinks a year ahead and goes in search of the most relevant content in order to maximise the effect of the conversations about his company. He designs a conversion strategy: how can all these conversations lead to conversion and consequently impact our turnover?

Most companies simply look for the operational people. However, operational people need ‘the (wo)man with the plan’. Combining both profiles is what generates true change.

 3. What if the boardroom doesn’t buy into social media?

The answer is simple: If you want to convince management of the use of social media, then don’t talk about social media. Instead you should talk about things that managers find important. One of the challenges for top managers is improving customer satisfaction at a lower cost. Another challenge consists in consolidating sales results in a world where customer contact is becoming a rare commodity. Base your arguments on the challenges they face. Explain the long-term advantages of your plan. Contribute to one of the company’s main goals through your social media plan.

Also, it’s always a good idea to submit a concrete step-by-step plan. Such a plan brings clarity and sets people at ease. The plan consists of a number of pilots. Pilots with a long-term plan have the biggest impact. A successful pilot survives the initial test phase. The ideal pilot is a pilot with the ability to keep evolving with time.

Try to include a broad spectrum of factors in the plan. It shouldn’t merely outline the external communication strategy but also the role that staff will play. Take the structural changes into account and be transparent about the investments required for the plan to be successful.

 4. What is the role of the product in social media?

It goes without saying that the quality of the product is essential. Analysis of consumer conversations clearly shows that customer experience is the topic of conversation in more than 50% of cases. This experience is always a combination of product quality and the quality of the service. When these two elements are satisfactory, you’re off to a flying start on social media: thanks to the quality of the product, consumers will already be exchanging their product experiences of their own accord. The product has already created a positive buzz, regardless of what you yourself are doing.

If your product is lacking in quality then you will be confronted with that fact in a hurry. Faster than ever before, careful observation tells a company what’s wrong with its products. We can help consumers by taking part in the conversation, but even more than that, it’s crucial to bring the observations into the R&D department and make actual improvements to the product.

5. Is operational conversation management something we do ourselves or should we call upon an outside company?

In a perfect world it’s better to implement conversation management ourselves. Managing the direct relationship with the customer yourself is undoubtedly an asset.

In some cases, though, it’s better to use a partner:

• If round-the-clock availability is required but the terms of employment don’t allow it.
• If the company lacks the in-house knowledge to take part in the conversation.
• To provide assistance at peak moments. For instance, if a company can handle the daily flow of conversations but needs outside help for a product launch, they may call upon an outside partner to help them deal with the peak in activity.
• In case of a pressing need for specific competencies that are not available within the company.

The conclusion is that apart from the ideal case scenario, there’s also the everyday reality to take into account.

6. Are Facebook likes and Twitter followers important?

Many social media experts would say ‘no’ but I beg to differ. However, two conditions must be fulfilled: first of all, the fans and followers must be genuine fans instead of ‘purchased fans’.  And secondly, you have to get those followers involved. An entirely passive audience has little worth.

If these two conditions are fulfilled, building a wide reach is a great asset. This is true for several reasons:

• The main reason: while the investments in campaigns and content remain the same, their impact increases. In turn, this generates a bigger impact on investment.
• Managers like figures and success indicators. As a conversation manager, you will have to report to your superiors from time to time. A growing online reach may help you secure additional means.
• The perception of the outside world is still determined by volume and reach.

7. How do I get a lot of followers and likes?

Three conditions must be fulfilled to build reach:

1. Strong content: the most important way of building reach is sharing relevant, creative and enjoyable content with your network. Not only should the actual content be good, but more than anything else it should also be visually convincing. Our communications are slipping back toward the age of hieroglyphics: text is slowly but surely disappearing from the online world and photos and videos are taking over.

2. Discipline: doing something fun once a year just isn’t enough. You have to settle on a rhythm for making and sharing strong content. Keep to that rhythm even if not much is happening in the short run. Discipline coupled with patience is a second condition.

3. Be human: don’t fall into the trap of one-way communication on social media. Keep it human. Play an active role in the conversation, react to other people’s input, joke around… Make the personality of your brand tangible.

8. How do I react to really negative people?

There are two kinds of negative people. The first kind had a bad experience with your company and the second kind is negative by nature. The first are relatively easy to convert. The second are the so-called grouchy smurfs that are impossible to please. Both groups require a different approach.

Negative reactions after an incident: open a dialogue

This group often spreads negative content about your company. They feel you should do better (as opposed to positive criticism from those who think you COULD do better). Open a dialogue and listen to their feedback. Maybe you can make some actual improvements that will change their opinion of your company. Make sure their negative comments are processed in a positive, empathic manner. Even if their opinion doesn’t change, at least you’ve neutralised the negative conversation.

Haters: ignore their hate but understand its source

This group has lost all trust in your company. They are convinced your company simply can’t do any better. Everything you say and do comes across the wrong way. The thought of having anything to do with your company makes them shudder. You won’t change their minds, not even through dialogue, so there’s little sense in reacting to their negative comments. Anything you say will only fuel their anger and it’s a discussion you can’t win. Don’t pay any attention to them. Do not delete their negative comments but simply ignore their remarks. By reacting, you are giving the impression they’re succeeding in their mission. The only interesting thing is to determine (listen) the cause for these extreme feelings. You can learn from the past to keep other people from developing the same feelings towards your company.

9. If I become active on social media, do I run the risk of stimulating negativity?

Consumers don’t need your permission to talk about your company. Conversations will take place regardless of whether or not the company itself is involved. If you’re not, then you don’t know what they are saying and you can’t react; by participating in the conversation, you are aware of what they are saying and you can react.

Also, your presence will have a psychological effect in limiting the number of negative conversations. After all, people are reticent to make negative comments when the target of the remarks can hear them. It is very easy to be angry with someone who isn’t in the room. Arguing with someone who is actually there takes more nerve.

Not being active on social media means turning a deaf ear to your customers’ feedback and that’s obviously a bad idea. After all, marketing is still about understanding your customers and reacting appropriately. In other words, it all starts with listening to what consumers have to say.

10. What use do I have for conversation management if my customers aren’t on Facebook or Twitter?

Conversation management goes beyond Facebook and Twitter. It’s about establishing an emotional connection with customers that results in positive conversations. These positive conversations are the basis for growth. I’ve never heard of a company that doesn’t care about positive conversations, regardless of the channel being used.

Needless to say, the new media also play a role in conversation management. While it is true that not everyone uses these channels, they are still important to every company. Digital marketing goes beyond Facebook and Twitter. Company’s often underestimate the importance of their own website. Establishing your own channel for interactive communication with the customer is also part of a conversation strategy. This involves a larger target group, viz. the entire internet population.

In addition, the indirect effect of social media is often much bigger than the direct effect. More and more, news is being shaped online. Once the classic media pick up a story, it grows and may eventually become a fad. The quickest road to offline visibility is scoring on social media. The opposite is also true: the quickest road to online success is your offline behaviour. In other words: thinking in silos is not a good idea. Everything is interconnected and every channel has its own part to play.

To get a better idea of this evolution I thought it would be a good idea to interview Theo Rinsema. Theo is the CEO of Microsoft Holland. Microsoft is known as a trailblazer when it comes to the new way of working. Their offices are wonderful, the staff are extremely happy and they bring a very positive attitude to their jobs.

Theo Rinsema’s vision on Conversational Leadership

Q: What has changed for a leader due to our new digital context?

Theo: The philosophy of the new way of working has changed a lot of things for us. For one thing, it has separated status from hierarchy. As a leader, I’ve had to say goodbye to the old status symbols in order to break down barriers and get closer to the staff. The biggest change is the leadership style. The leader no longer has to be dominant or authoritarian; instead, he now assumes a supporting and facilitating role. The authoritarian approach would have the reverse effect in our modern work environment. In other words, you have to be approachable. Many people think it’s sufficient to be available online but that’s a mistake. I’ve noticed that, in companies where it’s easy to talk to the leader in person, there are also a lot of staff talking to their CEO online. If there are too many physical barriers (e.g. CEO stays hidden in his office with his secretary acting as a buffer) people are much less inclined to engage that leader in online conversation. So changing technology is not enough, it’s the mentality that needs to change.

Q: What words would you use to describe a modern leader?

Three words come to mind. The first word is ‘open’. A modern leader is prepared to communicate with his staff and his clients. A modern leader knows just how to handle feedback and capitalise on it.

The second word is ‘connecting’. A good leader knows how to connect different visions and different people. In this regard, helping and supporting the team takes precedence over wanting to score every goal yourself.

The final word is ‘confidence’. Some are deterred by openness and availability because of the feedback of the outside world on their own performance. It takes a confident leader to handle such feedback.

Q: Should we be able to reach our CEO online?

Yes. Social media have made it easier for everyone to contact company leaders. Being accessible (and therefore open) helps improve a company’s reputation. It‘s a sign of honesty and respect for the client. It also helps the CEO to stay abreast of new developments that impact his market and his clients.

What are the characteristics of Conversational Leadership?

In 2012, the Harvard Business Review published an article titled ‘Leadership is a conversation’. The authors noted that a leader has the greatest impact by spending lots of time with his staff. The more you talk to staff, the bigger your impact. Conversing with staff means that you’re approaching them in an open-minded manner and without prejudice. This openness creates empathy, and empathy builds trust. This trust establishes the basis you need to turn staff into ambassadors of your company.

I’m curious to learn your views on the subject. What characteristics do you feel are indispensable to a Conversational Leader? And can you cite any examples of leaders who fit the picture? Thanks in advance for your input.

A real social conversation company goes beyond an online customer care team that only solves issues. A real social company not only wants to solve the (reputation) issue, they alsowant to solve the real problem that causes the issues . As you can see in the table of contents above the focus of the guide is not just about customer care or a campaign. The goal is to convince your executive that your company needs to become a social company. The guide outlines 20 principles that lead that change. A short summary to get you started with the guide.

Lay the Groundwork for Social Success: Convey clear benefits to your business, customers, and employees

The first phase is certainly not easy, but it lays the foundation for success. Determine what the added value of social is for your business, your customers and your employees. “Give your colleagues a reason to believe” is a good quote for this crucial phase. For these significant changes to take effect in your organization, you need allies. So make sure you get support. It’s definitely also needed for the last step in this phase the creation of a Social Taskforce.

Know you customers like never before: Gain social insights to understand what really matters

Negative sentiment about your company in social media is no fun for a marketeer. But the real marketer realizes that social media is almost realtime market research and sees social as a wonderful way to get to know the customers and see what your company needs to improve. No more waiting for a report from your market researchers. With social you have direct feedback from (some of) your customers. “Social media isn’t a nuisance, it’s one of the greatest gifts your business could ask for“.

Connect and collaborate with colleagues instantly: Flatten your organization, uncover expertise, and improve productivity

This phase is about the internal organization of your company. It’s about passionated and engaged employees who share information with each other by using internal social media. Make social engagement—internal, external, or
both—a criteria to become a top performer. Tear down does silos. All employees share, communicate, are open and willing to make new connections social media.

Build deeper relationships by engaging customers in new way: Collaborate in real time with customers, prospects, and partners

The previous chapter was about tearing down silos within your company. This chapter is about breaking the barriers between your company and your customers. It’s about true collaboration, turning customers and partners into stakeholders. Almost Steven’s definition of customers in his book the Conversation Company “Customers are employees that are not on your payroll”. A previous post can help to get more insights in how to implement a successful collaboration strategy: 5 pillars for a successful evolution towards structural collaboration.

Listen and lear from public social networks: Get insights to shape unique experiences for your communities

The last chapter starts with setting up a listening center. My article about Social Media Monitoring Tools & Listening Centers and the Altimeter 2012 report Social Media Management Systems might by useful in this phase. A Listening Center, Social Intelligence Center or Command center not only manages your companies conversations. The center also turns the avalanche of social data into valuable information. Information that helps you to make your company more customer centric, change processes or service if needed and improve your online conversations. Ending in creating remarkable online experiences as a social company.

Overall a nice set of principles to get you and your executive started. Do share the guide with someone in your company who can help. It’s your first fellow thinker. One additional advice from me that I missed in the guide: Set up a reporting system that shows your progress towards the KPIs and the organizational goals. Remember, executives are focused on the overall goals of the organization!

Everybody has influence

Of course, some people have more influence than others depending on the size of their network, their drive to influence others and the type of conversations they have.  And still, the biggest impact for a brand comes from a large group of people that recommend your brand, not from a select group of so called influencers. Yahoo’s Duncan Watts spent two months analyzing influencers on Twitter and found that a large group of people who influence an extremely small group are a more effective (and cheaper) way to share a message than enlisting a celebrity Twitterer. So instead of focussing on 10 people that can influence the rest of the world, it is better to have 100.000 people that try to influence their own personal environment.

Of course, there are influencers as well

This point of view does not mean that there are no influencers in the world. It is clear that every sector or topic has a few opinion leaders. These people set the tone and lead the conversation. Their impact within their field can be very big. As a marketer you should know the opinion makers in your category. Working together with them, may certainly help. It is however important to leave them in their own domain. An influencer of the financial industry will not be impactful in promoting a new lifestyle magazine, for instance.

5 ways to manage ‘influence’

There are a lot of articles and blog posts about influencers marketing. Everybody knows the tools and ways to find the influencers in a country or about a specific topic. There are not that many strategies to manage influence. These 5 approaches will get your started.

1. Create positive symbols in your customer experience

Make sure that you have a few symbols of great customer experience. The 365 day return policy of Zappos or the laser show on board of the Tomorrowland planes are just two examples. A symbol is a statement that you are serious about customer satisfaction. Symbols should be very visible and very conversation worthy. These conversation worthy symbols make it easy for the average consumer to talk about your company and to use their influence in their own environment. Be aware: symbols only work if the basics of your customer processes are in line with customer expectations.

2. Avoid service schizophrenia

Offer the same service level to all of your clients. It sounds logical, but reality is often different. Many companies tend to answer faster and better to online complaints compared to their offline service channels. Some even give faster and better answers to people with a lot of followers than to people with a smaller network. That is service schizophrenia. Only by offering the same service levels to everyone, the influence of every individual will be optimized. If not, you are still thinking that the world exists of a few influencers.

3. Capture data

Try to capture as much data as possible from your customer and prospects. Once they have shown their interest in your company, try to keep the relation going. Managing influence is about getting targeted content to the right people. If you know the interests of your audience, you can send them very relevant content that they can use and share. Without data, it is very difficult to use content in your influence program.

4. Make everything shareable

Make sure that everyone can use and share your content and knowledge. By putting as much knowledge and information online as possible, the chance that someone will use it to convince others increases. You need to help your audience to use their influence on their environment. Giving them something to share is an important pillar to succeed.

5. Listen to everyone

Show the world that you are listening to everyone. Listening to a few individuals will never create the same perception as listening to everyone with an opinion. Every customer has an interesting story to share, as a company we need to be open to all these conversations.

The moment you understand the importance of the influence every individual has, you start to manage the conversation with a different mindset. Feel free to let me know what your thoughts are and how you look at managing influence.

Four steps to increase social media effectiveness

In order to boost social media effectiveness, brands and companies should discuss four steps:

1. Channel & content strategy: define the content-conversion point
2. Build online reach: create a community to increase the return on content creation
3. Create engagement through fantastic content & interaction
4. From likes to ambassadors: change a group of silent people into an active group of brand ambassadors.

Each of these phases are described in an earlier post.

KPIs, Media type & Content type

I am convinced that most companies could use their social channels more effectively. The problem is that most companies only focus on steps 2 and/or 3 of this plan. Most brainstorms start with the question ‘what should we share on Facebook?’. By taking that discussion to a higher level, you will change the way you look at social media touch points.

When using the approach outlined in this paper, it becomes obvious that the KPIs, the media types and the content types differ in each of the steps.

Use this table to plan your social media success. Most companies start without a plan and without knowing what the next step is. This leads to disappointment and low return. It is clear that each of the four steps are not completely separate. There is a lot of overlap between them. By putting them apart, it helps to make a more comprehensive plan. Working with different KPIs in each of the phases, helps to set the right mindset in your organization.

Read the full paper

Check out the entire paper to learn more about this philosophy

It’s clear that the bar has been raised for social media. With so many actors out there vying for consumer favour, you need to be on top of your game. Hence the necessity for a more strategic and effective approach to our online channels.

A lot of likes is nice, but…

With so many specialists stressing the importance of engagement over brand reach, having a wide reach is all but becoming a source of shame in the current social media climate. I agree that engagement  is important; after all, there’s no sense in sending content if it isn’t put to good use. However, I don’t share the notion that reach is unimportant. The more (high-quality) reach, the better. The trick is to build well-balanced reach: good content strong enough to attract attention, while not being overly opportunistic (e.g. too many free giveaways).

Quality content is indispensable if you’re going to conquer consumers’ hearts. It’s a simple fact that a wide reach provides a much higher return on the content you create.

From likes to ambassadors

The end goal is obviously to convert online contacts (likes) into active brand ambassadors. Several strategies are available to achieve that goal:

Consumer involvement

Try to achieve low-level consumer involvement with your company. Campaigns like Lay’s “design your flavour”, McDonalds’ co-creation case and many others clearly demonstrate that consumers are quite willing to take part in a fun campaign. Such a campaign is often as far as it goes but Lay’s came up with an original angle by identifying the super fans amongst the participants in the “design your flavour” campaign. Those fans are now part of a larger community and are frequently consulted by Lay’s. KLM’s “bright ideas” Facebook page was designed according to the same philosophy. This page is almost a 2.0 idea box for consumers to submit ideas and share feedback on KLM’s latest plans. The more involved people are with a brand, the more likely they are to become brand ambassadors.

The consumer-consultant

For more profound and specific questions it’s quite practical to cast the consumer in the role of consultant. In this concept, the consumer-consultant feels very much involved, which ultimately makes him an ambassador. Heineken recently opened a pop-up dance club in Milan. Their goal was to build the world’s coolest and hottest dance club. To make it work they enlisted the help of some 150 designers and clubbers from all across the globe. They photographed things they liked in clubs everywhere, went looking for the most innovative concepts they could find and shared them with Heineken. The club actually got built and a lot of the input provided by the 150 was used in the elaboration of the concept. Needless to say they were very proud to see their ideas reflected in the design of the new club. Involving a small group of people in the development of a new concept is a great idea but consumers also like to help improve the quality of existing products. Simply take care to provide them with transparent feedback because this is the key to creating ambassadors. It’s all very well to use people as consultants but it is absolutely crucial to provide feedback on what the input is actually used for.

Branded utility

Give people something to talk about. Once you succeed in bringing genuine added value to consumers’ lives through your brand, chances are those consumers will spread the word and talk about your products. The classic example is obviously Nike+ but the sequel to this success story came from an unexpected sector when insurers Allianz linked the premium for their life insurance to the intensity of their customers’ weekly sports regimen. The cost of their life insurance is determined using the information from Nike+. This concept offers specific added value and is also an interesting topic of conversation.

Allianz – Run For Your Life from Max Gebhardt on Vimeo.

Increasing the effectiveness of your social media channels in four steps

This blog is based on a section from my new paper ‘How to increase the effectiveness of your social media channels in 4 steps.’ If you’d like to learn more about this approach, you can download the full paper here.