March 6, 2010 | Measurement & ROI | Connie

Listening is one of those skills that takes practice. Organizations have an even harder time in pausing to listen to their customers. Over the past year and a half I have had the good fortune to be directly involved with helping brands and agencies improve their listening skills using social media monitoring. It is my day job. Yes, I do work for a social media monitoring vendor and I’m proud of it! We have evolved Alterian SM2 (Techrigy) based on our customers needs.

Yesterday, Jeremiah Owyang & Ray Wang of the consulting group, Altimeter, released a report on the use cases for Social Customer Relationship Management (social CRM). As Community Managers we all know that the customer is our first priority.Yesterday I presented a five hour workshop on the same topic in the UK. I have been sharing these use cases for quite awhile. I’m in the process of writing white papers on the ROI of social media monitoring. The first is available.

At Alterian we are also starting to quantify the value that advertisers are realizing on the social web. We used Alterian SM2 to measure the conversations around the Super Bowl advertisers and defined a Social Engagement Index that shows the reach and influence of the ads. And we also calculated the Social Sentiment Engagement Index which takes into account how people felt about the ads.

Jeremiah & Ray have put together an awesome report that consolidates interviews with vendors and experts. It’s a must read. They underline that the customers are leading the conversation.

Here’s the whole report. I totally appreciate their sharing their findings in the true spirit of social media. We are fortunate that such talented people (both were at Forrester) are willing to openly share their work! Where is your organization at in this scheme? Are you listening to your customers?

The report highlights:

1. Identifies 18 use cases for Social CRM
2. Captures the best practices of 100 customers in 18 use cases.  More to be added over time.

No Comments

February 17, 2010 | Uncategorized | Connie

cross posted to the Engaging Times blog

I am excited to announce the first in a series of white papers on Social Media ROI. I have ten topics planned in which I will be exploring the versatility of social media monitoring and how it can influence your organization’s bottom line.

My white paper series will show how a social media monitoring tool supports business objectives across an organization. It allows you to measure your social media efforts and is a must have for every marketer’s toolbox.

The first topic covers how you can leverage social media monitoring (SMM) to leverage your search strategy. SMM can be a powerful supplementary tool to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for getting your web site ranked and found by your target audience. Every organization wants to better know their customer segments. Traditional market research and focus groups can be expensive and time consuming. Social media monitoring now provides a cost effective method to gain an in-depth sense of what consumers want and need. This whitepaper outlines how you can utilize that information to make your website(s) and Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns more effective.

You can download the paper here: 4 Ways to Take your Search Marketing to a New Level with SMM

You are welcome to sign up for the Freemium of Alterian SM2 and explore my ideas.

Questions? Please ask!  And I would love your comments & ideas!

No Comments

January 26, 2010 | Uncategorized | Connie

What is more important than your customers? Maybe your Community Manager?!! Today is a day to celebrate them & their impact on your organization!

Jeremiah Owyang always has thoughtful and innovative ideas. Last week he asked on Twitter:

Community Managers are your unsung heroes. If your company is forward thinking and has one or a team of them then you know how important they are. They work tirelessly to ensure that customers needs and expectations are met. It’s a very challenging role yet very gratifying! We do it because we love it. We love providing for our people: our customers, our colleagues, our management and our community at large.

Jeremiah has suggested that we make the last Monday of every January as “Community Manager Appreciation Day” #cmad

I would like to expand on Jeremiah’s list of challenges that Community Managers face.

Internal challenges: A large part of a community manager’s role is facilitating a culture shift within the organization so that the customer’s needs are not only heard but responded to in an appropriate manner. This includes ensuring that management and the executive level are well informed with feedback.

There are so many Community Managers that have influenced me:

Jeremiah Owyang, Chris Brogan, Sean O’Driscoll and the list goes on.

And I am so appreciative of all those that I’ve had the opportunity to cross paths with over the past few years. I always learn with every discussion & try to give back what I can.

So hug your community manager & let them know they are supported!

No Comments

December 24, 2009 | Uncategorized | Connie

There will be no Pepsi ads at the SuperBowl this year. Pepsi has chosen to spend $20 million on a social media campaign rather than buying a 30 second spot at the SuperBowl. Mashable outlined how they are choosing to invest in building community.

The cost for a SuperBowl ad has been growing exponentially over the years. (Source: MSNBC)

• 1967 cost $42,500
• 1987 cost $600,000
• 2009 cost $3 million

ABC News notes that Pepsi spent $142 million on Super Bowl ads over the last decade.

This is a bold move! Being the first could be game changing. They will get a month’s worth of word of mouth now. Then when they execute on their campaign people will not only be aware, but that many more will participate. The $20 million will be spent on the Pepsi Refresh Project, an effort to to refresh the world we live in. Projects will be proposed by the community and then voted on. The philanthropy will extend into the offline world.

Imagine if that $142 million over the past decade had been spent on making Pepsi’s world a better place? (Ok, they need to advertise, how about half of it then?!)

This decision marks the shift that many of us have  been predicting.

• Social media marketing will become mainstream.
• Community building will take priority over a 30 second ad.
• Many channels will be leveraged rather than just tv

In January 2008 a number of us had a conversation on Twitter about the huge spend on SuperBowl ads. Mack Collier proposed a social media campaign composed of:

• $100 k hire a community manager
• $300 k hire 5 talented bloggers ($60 k ea)
• $100 k 20 events across the country ($5 k ea)
• $100 k hire someone to facilitate the offline meetups

So a company could spend $600 k and have talent of the highest quality. These people would listen to customers, participate in their communities online & offline, and encourage the conversation. Let’s assume the budget is $20 million like Pepsi is dedicating. That leaves you with a healthy chunk to for supporting your advocates and to build your brand’s community.

Will building community be more effective for Pepsi than a 30 second spot during the SuperBowl? What say you?

6 Comments

December 23, 2009 | Predictions | Connie

Here’s a slide deck with a number of predictions for 2010. I am honored to be included in such a distinguished group!

Dr. Taly Weiss presents the predictions in Twitter format so it’s a quick read.

ReadWriteWeb did a nice job of expanding on my first prediction.

PROSPECTING: Connie Benson, Director of Social Media and Community Strategy for Alterian says, "Social media monitoring will provide insight across all channels, as well as making social media an active outbound marketing channel." In this case Benson alludes to the idea that ROI on social media may entail leads generation. In other words, here social media ROI might be measured in the number of social media-based pitches against the number of deals closed.

My second is:

SM will shift from being experimental to having metrics and the loop will be closed so that SM Monitoring is necessary & actionable

Mashable also provided their perspective.

What do you think? What direction are we headed?

2 Comments

December 19, 2009 | Measurement & ROI, Predictions | Connie

Everyone is putting their predictions out. Mine are always partially based on my work as well as the trends.

1. Companies will expect ROI from their Social Media efforts.

Social Media will shift from being experimental to mainstream. Larger organizations can’t justify embracing it without having it meeting their business objectives. It has to increase their bottom line. I have been working on an ROI series and that will kick off in January. It is possible to establish metrics around your efforts and measure progress! Can you afford not to? How will you grow your program and justify the resources if you’re not showing the progress & return? Olivier Blanchard has a great slide deck on Social Media ROI!

2. The Social Media Specialist (Community Manager) position will become mainstream.

Companies are going to quickly find that they need someone to guide their efforts externally and internally. Social efforts should be extended across the board.Jeremiah Owyang had a great post on how companies should plan a holistic approach and use social beyond marketing. My series will address that and it’s the foundation for my work at Alterian. My list of Responsibilities and Goals for a Community Manager continues to be my most read post.   

3. Cultural shift inside of companies.

This is going to be a challenge for many companies. In order to be successful in connecting with customers, organizations are going to have to have communications channels in place and the openness to utilize the information. I shared a diagram of how a community manager can increase sales & the many departments affected. Management is going to need to have a level of trust for their employees interacting online and understand that the risk can be mitigated by education & training.

4. Social Media Monitoring will be a necessary component

My colleague, John Tonini, made the prediction earlier this year that the market would shift from brands wondering if they should be monitoring social media to ‘What tool should we be using?’. 2010 will see a huge shift in the adoption rate of social media monitoring. January of 2009 kicked off a wave and I foresee that growth in the industry continuing. The tools are going to evolve quickly too. Our customers are driving that process.

5. Agencies and companies will hire data analysts

A new position is emerging. My favorite title is Social Media Metrician. Social Media monitoring tools don’t drive themselves. They need more than a human touch. They require people who enjoy digging into the analytics aspect, looking for patterns and trends. Web analytics people will be able to expand on their roles. Brands and agencies are going to need this new specialized position to drive their marketing intelligence. Marshall Sponder lists many predictions in regard to the role of the data analyst in 2010.

6. Integration of platforms and processes will be critical.

My job as Community Strategist at Alterian has me cognizant that marketing is going to be radically changing. My CEO listed our top 10 predictions at Alterian. One of them is:

There is a proliferation of things to monitor, measure and manage, making it very difficult and time consuming for marketers to pull together the overall picture for integrated campaigns. There will therefore be a move towards single integrated software platforms so that campaign planning and management are integrated with web and email.

Forrester is also looking towards the integration of platfroms too.

7. I will be meeting more of YOU in the new year!

The first six were very serious so I needed to lighten this up! The amount I traveled in the second half of 2009 made me quite aware that I no longer work with a startup! One of the exciting things about 2010 is that my calendar has me on the move! I love the TripIt feature in LinkedIn. It reminds me of who in my network live near my destination. And even more amazing, it shows the trips that coincide. I came close to meeting a friend from Spain when we were both in NYC! So if you use TripIt connect with me and I look forward to meeting you next year!

What would you add to my list?

4 Comments

December 6, 2009 | Events | Connie

Every month we have a webinar. Last month my topic was Best Practices for Monitoring Social Media. You can view the past recordings here.

This month, my colleague, Marcus Tewksbury has the stage with ‘How to Implement a Social Media Strategy’.

Marcus will be talking about how to add social media channels to your lead generation efforts. He will also be providing ideas on how social media marketing can be integrated in with traditional marketing efforts such as email marketing, PPC campaigns, and search. The webinar is on Thursday, December 17th 10:00am Central / 16.00 UK

Register here

Here’s a sneak peak on what he’ll be presenting.

No Comments

November 24, 2009 | Brand Monitoring, Measurement & ROI, Webinars | Connie

Everyone wants to maximize the return on their efforts in social media. In my day job with Alterian SM2 (previously Techrigy). I have spent a lot of time working with agencies and brands in identifying how to maximize the most return on their monitoring efforts.

I shared that information last week in a webinar that covers best practices for social media monitoring & reporting.  I included:

• Common Applications of Social Media Monitoring
• Search Design
• Dealing with Noise and Spam
• Reports and Analysis
• Actions Based on Insights that Result in ROI

Here’s the slide deck and the recorded version of the webinar is available.

And you may also be interested in the webinar that Surresh Vital of Forrester presented on how social media monitoring is impacting marketing.

I have a growing library on SlideShare on the topics that I speak about (building community, monitoring, measurement, etc). Check out the widget on the right side of my blog.

Please ask if you have questions.

No Comments

November 21, 2009 | Uncategorized | Connie

It’s been over a year since I posted my list of must have tools. Each time I get a new computer I have to install these immediately or I can’t breathe.

Here they are:

Evernote – This is my ultimate favorite, most needed application.

• It’s a place to keep notes, passwords, etc. Items can be tagged & searched for.
• Drag in URLS and images – perfect for noting sites/blog posts for future reference
• It’s installed on each of my computer but synchs with my account in the cloud
• SO all of my info is available on every computer I have it installed on!
• It has BlackBerry functionality, so now there’s the option to record voice notes (I may need a larger memory card)

LiveWriter (only for PC’s – sorry) – My most favorite tool for blogging!

• I write all of my blog posts in it. (note to Joe Cheng & team at MS – I would like this in the cloud & synching with my other PC’s too please?).
• I blog to all of my blogs from it – here, Alterian’s Engaging Times blog
• What I love about it is that it’s so userfriendly.
• The best thing is that it plays nicely with Joomla (which is what the rest of my site is built on and I can update it without going into the backside!).

Snag It – The TechSmith folks have such a great product here.

• I use it all the time to grab screenshots & toss them into LiveWriter or email.
• So easy to use & add mark ups – LOVE it & couldn’t live without it
• Betsy Weber is the most amazing community person at TechSmith!!

Digsby – A chat aggregator that puts everyone in one spot no matter their choice of IM.

• aggregates Facebook chat. I wish that it did so with Skype too.

Skype – A great way to stay connected with everyone around the world.

• This has become a must have ever since the geographical boundaries no longer mattered.

All of them are free except SnagIt.

What tools make your life easier in this digital world?

4 Comments

October 29, 2009 | Uncategorized | Connie

Your dream is to work in social media. You’ve been blogging, building your brand and know your stuff. After doing all the right things you have a job offer, so now what?

As with any potential new job there are many questions & many unknowns in regard to one in social media. And to make it worse, I believe that there are many more because the space is so new.

I have been advising both employers and job seekers for quite awhile. Here’s a review of practical things to consider when you’re on that emotional high of having received a job offer:

1. job expectations? Do you know what your role will be? Has it been defined adequately? Be wary of a job that is too open-ended. Overall, make sure that the expectations are communicated from both sides.

2. a good fit? What is the culture of the company? How open are they to change? Social media requires a culture that has open communication and a focus on the customers.

3. salary? Only you know what you need, but don’t undersell yourself. I hear of too many companies expecting a lot of services for little or nothing. On the flip side I think that some investment at the beginning on your part can prove to be very fruitful. As with anything one must gain experience. This is an opportunity to show you skills. You can influence this by requesting that your status be reviewed in a shorter period of time than the usual year (which is really too long in the online world because things are changing so quickly).

4. how will you measure your efforts? This is imperative to plan for. You need to benchmark where the brand is at then you’ll be able to compare your efforts against that going forward. This will have a direct impact on salary. If you can prove that you’re efforts are having a measurable impact then you’ll be that much further ahead.

5. contract or salary? This really depends on many things. Contract work allows much more flexibility. I think that a more important question is what are your job requirements based on? hours or deliverables? My recommendation is that deliverables is much more flexible and suited to the role.

6. work remotely? More and more people are working remotely, but I don’t think that employers are trending toward this yet. I’ve worked online remotely since 2006. And before that I worked for a decade remotely because my Director was 75 miles away. I also supervised 7 library sites spanning 80 miles and it was no problem. We had phones, email, and transportation. Now I have IM, airports and my blackberry. It’s all the same and I believe that I’m more effective working from where I live.

7. should you relocate? This is also related to salary. What is the cost of living in the new location? Can you mediate the risks involved? Many people that ask me are considering going to work for startups. I loved working with startups so don’t get me wrong, but there are some inherent risks along with the excitement.

I hope that those provide you with some questions to ponder as you seek your ideal job. What did I miss?

2 Comments