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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Posted on November 19, 2009
Choosing the Right Agency for Your Social Media - Notes from Day 1 at WOMMA
BY JASON CORMIER
As WOMMA 2009 kicked off today, I wanted to share some notes from the last session I found extremely interesting. As one who runs a social media agency, I am of course completely captivated by a session dedicated to giving insight as to what big brands are thinking when choosing to work with agencies in this space. 
The panel discussion included three individuals with an incredible amount of online and offline marketing experience. Each is a recognized leader within their own organization, and was kind enough to share some candid thoughts regarding their opinions on working with agencies. The background and highlights from each participant's discussion is as follows:
Steve Knox, CEO, Procter & Gamble Tremor: When I first met members from the Tremor team last year at WOMMA, I was surprised to hear that Procter & Gamble was already aggressively working with an agency to engage in WOM and social initiatives. I then learned Tremor was actually P&G's internal agency, working exclusively to support the brand(s).
Over time, Tremor has developed a community of about half a million moms through its Vocalpoint platform, and now successfully leverages the data, learnings and continued engagement to help brands outside of its own. Pretty impressive. The following are some of the things Steve had to say in consideration of working with potential partner agencies:
- If there is zero unique IP that a potential partner agency brings to the table, then anything they can provide is essentially a commodity.
- A successful agency is able to demonstrate that they care about the brand, and have a real understanding of its core equity.
- I don't want to talk to agencies overly focused on digital and tactics. Agencies need to demonstrate they get how offline conversations are going to be activated.
David Witt, Manager, Brand Public Relations, General Mills: David brought a different angle to the conversation, along with a level of humility and humor I think most in the audience recognized quickly. Here are some of the items I noted from his participation:
- From an agency, David is looking primarily for the emergence of creativity and execution
- The first focus should be on customer loyalty, then word of mouth and brand advocacy
- Ideas are power, and are of greatest value when they sustain engagement over the long haul.
- For brands to be social, they must realize it is about giving (example: General Mills just launched tablespoon.com, featuring over 25,000 recipes for consumers to engage with, ratings, coupons, etc.)
Christine Morrison, Social Media Marketing Manager, Intuit: I have followed Christine on Twitter almost since she began her most recent marketing position at Intuit. She has lead award winning efforts (including a Gold WOMMY Award today) for Intuit, and continues to demonstrate what success with social media looks like. Here are the highlights I outlined around her input:
- We look at the hows and whats of social media - and are interested in social marketing assets that are user generated and can be used in conjunction with advertising assets.
- We like agencies that are ahead, out in front, trying new things and have thought through why they are trying them.
- I like to ask, "do you know something I don't know?"
The main theme I pulled from each of the panelists viewpoints is the value they place in people who get the big picture. Social media and word of mouth marketing are a component of a larger marketing mix. These kinds of professionals (and brands) are past the point of "buy in" when it comes to social media. The more relevant questions pertain to how it social media most effectively fits and benefits their customers and business goals.
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Posted on October 20, 2009
Personality in a Social Media Campaign: Phish 3.0
BY INGRID GETZAN
"When the size of your audience gets too big, it's very difficult to interact with them in a personal manner anymore…and it's upsetting to the band [Phish], but they all have their ways to try and stay in touch." - from the Clifford Ball DVD 
All too often we see companies 'interacting' with their customers by merely posting brief status updates with words that include 'buy now,' 'click here for 10% off,' 'NEW!' Although these call to action items may briefly increase visits to their website, and may even generate a few sales, where is the personality? What else is that company doing online? Since launching your Facebook and Twitter pages, how is customer retention and repeat business? Who are your fans and followers?
How do you keep your personality when launching a social media campaign? In this example, I use Phish (not just for my love of their music, but because they have launched an incredible social media campaign). Phish is a band that has a long history of interaction with their fans and that doesn't appear to be stopping anytime soon.
Phish hasn't ever done things the 'normal' way; they have rarely used conventional advertising, or experienced popularity on MTV or the radio, yet they consistently sell out the largest venues in the US, and have held the "largest paid concert in the world on the eve of the millennium (1999, Big Cypress, Florida) with 80,000 fans." - Rolling Stone - How? They continuously adapt with their fans and have never lost sense of their community, or their personality - even in their social media campaign.
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Posted on October 19, 2009
Best Practices: The Importance of Facebook Profile Images
BY BRANDON WHALEN
Room 214 recently did a major overhaul of all of the Travel Channel's Facebook pages. We added a poll app, Youtube functionality, a live Twitter stream, and all sorts of great new tools. However, there was one area that we could still improve upon.
After taking a look at the profile images on all seven of the Travel Channel Facebook pages, I realized that there was a way for us to improve the look and feel of our pages. Take a look at a few of the profile images that were displayed at the time:
There were a few issues with each profile image:
- The formatting was inconsistent.
- The use of Travel Channel's logo and brand style was inconsistent.
- There was room for the images to look cleaner and more official.
Why is the profile image so important?
A profile image is the most used part of any Facebook page. It is the biggest and most noticeable design element when a fan is viewing your page, and it is also appears in the news stream of every one of your fans. If you have an active fan-base on Facebook (like Travel Channel has), there are tens-of-thousands of fans who see this image everyday.
See how I improved our profile images after the break:
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