social media and its impact on competitive advantage
DESCRIPTION
Despite being only a few years old Social Media is a phenomenon that has transformed the world we live in.Organisations now have a new medium to deal with, a medium that has enhanced some businesses and impaired, if not totally devastated others. This has also resulted in the creation of a number of new opportunities, thanks to reduced barriers to entry and the global reach of the Internet. The presentation will focus on three waves of technology that have led to where we are today, namely computerisation, the Internet and finally Social Media. We will discuss how these waves have impacted Competitive Advantage and also how they have been brought to bear on local businesses.JCC are pleased to present Owen Cutajar, a technology consultant who has worked with a number of organisations helping them make best use of ICT at both a strategic and a tactical level. Having a background in both technology and business spheres Owen has been able to bridge the gap between the two disciplines enabling him to bring technology into the boardroom and strategic intent to technology teams.TRANSCRIPT
OWEN CUTAJAR
Social Media and its Impact on Competitive Advantage
Introductions
20 years experience in technologyMBA from Heriott-WattOn-Island since 1999Day job: Enterprise ITPassion for blogging/Social MediaCofounded IOM Social Media Club
Twitter: @OwenCwww.facebook.com/OwenCutajarEmail: [email protected]
Topics to Cover
About Competitive Advantage• Different Flavours
Technology Impact• Waves of technology
Social Media Integration in Business
Q&A
Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Cost Leadership Differentiation
Focus(Low Cost)
Focus(Differentiation)
UniquenessCost
Larger Market
Smaller Market
Cost Leadership
Being the cheapest option on the market through: Improving processes Economies of scale Access to raw materials Vertical Integration Access to capital High level of expertise Efficient distribution channels
Differentiation Strategy
Unique product or serviceAccess to cutting-edge researchHighly skilled and creative development teamCorporate reputation for qualityStrong sales teamLeaders in innovation
Focus Strategy
Concentration on a narrow segmentWithin segment implements cost advantage
or differentiationHigh degree of customer loyaltyCustomers ready to pay moreMultiple niche strategy
The Impact of Technology
Multitude of benefits including: Automation Management of information Reductions in operational costs Monitoring and Reporting Communication networks with suppliers/partners Interaction with customers
Definitions of Social Media?
Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media use
web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologues into social media dialogues. Social media can take
many different forms, including Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, podcasts, pictures, video, rating
and social bookmarking. (Wikipedia)
My definition: Social Media is any form of media that can be created, shared and accessed by everyone. It forms a permanent conversation
that businesses can choose to become part of, or ignore at their peril.
Social Media and Cost Leadership
Low advertising and PR costsReduced cost of creating content &
conversationsLowering cost of product design by
listening to the networkLower customer services cost
Social Media & Differentiation
Effective way to build a brand “voice”Ability to accurately target and dialogue with
potential customersTap into passionate fan baseAnalytics on audienceCreation of viral content
Social Media & Niche Markets
Provides global reachThe rise of micro-targetingCreates viable niches which wouldn’t
otherwise existCreating communitiesMinimal cost
Practical advice from Starbucks
Whenever Starbucks identifies a problem or opportunity, it responds in one or more of the following four ways:
Amplify: As Starbucks identifies trends or something its customers seem to like, Starbucks amplifies whatever it is to help bring it to the surface and increase visibility and enthusiasm.
Context-ify: Back in 2004, an e-mail was going around claiming that Starbucks had refused to supply free product to GIs serving in Iraq. Many people believed it, got pretty angry and forwarded the message to all their friends. Unfortunately, the message was false. By context-ifying the message, Starbucks revealed the other side of the story--check it out yourself on snopes.com.
Change: If it's broke, fix it. MyStarbucksIdea.com actively solicits constructive criticism and ideas to improve its business and gather suggestions for products, services and projects.
Ignore: You gotta respond? No, sometimes it's best to ignore, especially when it appears you're being provoked into a response or fight. It's easier to ignore things when you can put them into their proper context; for example, if your primary critics are a Facebook Group with 82 members out of the 400 million-plus Facebook accounts, you have little to worry about.
Roadmap to Maturity
Stage 1: Observe and Report
Stage 2: Setting the Stage
Stage 3: Socialising Media
Stage 4: Finding a Voice and a Sense of Purpose
Stage 5: Putting Words into Action
Stage 6: Humanizing the Brand and Defining the Experience
Stage 7: Community
Stage 8: Social Darwinism
Stage 9: The Socialization of Business Process
Stage 10: Business Performance Metrics
A question of survival
About Online Markets:“Networked markets are beginning to self-
organize faster than the companies that have traditionally served them. Thanks to the web, markets are becoming better informed, smarter, and more demanding of qualities missing from most business organizations.”
Source: The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual (Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Seals, David Weinberger)
Questions?
Contact and Credits
Where to find me Email: [email protected] Twitter: @owenc Facebook: Search for “Owen Cutajar”
Additional reading The 10 Stages of Social Media Integration in
Business http://tinyurl.com/jcc01
On Competition (Michael Porter) http://tinyurl.com/jcc02