Found Results
December 2009 Archive
The following posts were made in December 2009. You may subscribe to the RSS feed for this archive if you would like to take your time reading through our posts.
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Posted on December 23, 2009
The Conversation Maturity Model: From Listening to Leading in Social Media
BY JASON CORMIER
My last post revisited the "markets are conversations" principal. I proposed that companies/brands have been joining conversations in their industry, but selling themselves short if not working towards starting them.
As a framework to facilitate this discussion, addressing the progression and value of brands starting conversations, see the Conversation Maturity Model below: 
From a social media strategy perspective, you should find this model fits well as part of, or along side, Forrester's POST (People, Objectives, Strategy, Technology) approach or even Room 214's PPLE Social Media Framework.
The Value of Starting Conversations
To keep this blog post digestible, I'll summarize the model by saying the ultimate value of starting conversations is in building and sustaining your brand as a leader.
Leadership, like almost everything that's enabled your company's success, must be earned. Each (maturity) level within the pyramid model is representative of where your brand may be in any given conversation about a product, service, industry, etc.
Of course, this is only a model. Naturally, activities associated within each of these levels are ideally taking place as more of a continuum to your social media / marketing initiatives.
The Conversation Continues
Although the concepts may be simple, there are plenty of reasons brands are not effectively starting conversations -- from incomplete strategies to limitations in technology. There is more to offer here in terms specifics on these limitations - and more importantly, solutions helping companies to address them... but this will need to be for another post. Happy Holidays everyone.
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Posted on December 22, 2009
Social Media: Joining the Conversation Is Not Good Enough
BY JASON CORMIER
Social media experts are commonly asked where the market is going, or, "what do you believe the future of social media is?"
I notice most offering answers are quick to disclaim "we are all learning, and nobody is really an expert" - then reasonably expound upon topics such as the integration of customer relationship management (CRM) within social media, online monitoring tools, Facebook, ROI models, etc.
All worthy topics of discussion, but as one who will be humbly referring to himself as an expert among many, the topic I'm bringing to your attention now is that of brands starting conversations. "That's it," you say? "What's so meaningful about that? Isn't that what they are already doing?"
Well, I'd say most are not. There is certainly a lot of listening going on - but many companies engaging in conversations about their brand are predominantly reacting, or at best, joining conversations (not starting them).
Cluetrain Revisited
10 years ago, when the Cluetrain Manifesto book was written, marketing and communications pros were introduced to what is now a core principal of social media: Markets are conversations.
To many in our industry, "markets are conversations" has become cliché - a standard phrase used in every presentation describing or introducing social media. And over the years, additional catchy phrases, theories and practices have sprung from this principal. Even the name of this blog was inspired from it in 2006… as was the bolded statement below...
It's Easier to Join a Conversation than to Start One
Most of us recognize how and why this statement is true - but in the context of social media strategy, I say it enables companies to rest on their laurels.
I'm not devaluing the importance of contributing to existing and often well-established conversations about your world. Your 2-cents (or at least your presence) is a required variable in the credibility equation. But let's face it, if you want to be a leader, just joining conversations won't cut it. At some point, you must also start them.
What's Next
Tomorrow, I'll be posting an introduction to what we at Room 214 refer to as the Conversation Maturity Model - a simple point of reference illustrating the path from listening to leading. I'll also offer some top line consideration on the value of starting a conversation.
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