understand your customers' social behaviors

Understand Your Customers‟

Social Behaviors

Charlene Li

Altimeter Group

January 2010

1

Jeremiah Owyang

Altimeter Group

#socialgraphics

© 2010 Altimeter Group

Research is the foundation of any strategy –

without it, you‟re just “fondling the hammer.”

This webinar (Part 1) will focus on how to use

socialgraphics to create your own

Engagement Pyramid.

Part 2 will focus on developing a social strategy

based on goals, and getting your company ready.

A 2-part series

2


A company who sells „snackums‟ is trying to reach moms.

Brands would find out who has the biggest number of moms, HGTV,

Food Network.

Apply traditional demographics, and broadcast marketing

Yet brands miss out on the specific behaviors of consumers –and their

intricate relationships online.

The Old Way? Carpet Bombing

3


Socialgraphics

4

Demographic

Geographic

Psychographic

Behavioral

Socialgraphic


1. Where are your customers online?

2. What are your customers‟ social

behaviors online?

3. What social information or people do your

customers rely on?

4. What is your customers‟ social influence? Who

trusts them?

5. How do your customers use social technologies

in the context of your products.

Socialgraphics asks key questions

5


90-9-1 Principle

6

“In social groups, some people actively participate more than others… Social

participation tends to follow a 90-9-1 rule where:”


Social technology adoption by consumers is no

longer nascent – it‟s nearly a mainstream activity.

To be accurate in your social strategy, you

must know the specific behaviors of your

customer base.

This updated framework provides a modern

approach to social strategy.

An updated framework

7


The Engagement Pyramid

8

Curating

Producing

Commenting

Sharing

Watching


Watching

9

Curating

Producing

Commenting

Sharing

Watching


What?:

Consume content only, e.g. visit social

networking sites, read blogs, watch videos,

or listen to podcasts

Why?:

Seeking social-created content to help

with making decisions, learning from peers,

or entertainment

Watching

10


Watching

11

Most people

watch videos on

YouTube – very

few upload.


How to Engage?:

• First, understand the content that they are

currently consuming.

• Be relevant - what do customers want to read,

watch, or hear?

• Create content that engages Watching, based

upon existing habits.

Tactics: Engaging Watching

12


Sharing

13

Curating

Producing

Commenting

Sharing

Watching


What?:

Update status on social sites or Twitter,

upload/forward photos, videos, articles, etc.

Why?:

Want to share the information they have

with peers, both to support others, and

demonstrate knowledge

Sharing

14


Sharing

15

Twitter enables

real-time sharing.


Sharing

16

ShareThis reported a

200% increase in sharing

through the ShareThis

button in 2009. Overall,

sharing is growing.


How to Engage?:

• Simplify and innovate sharing tools, see

“ShareThis.com” and “AddThis.com”

• Advanced should seek Gigya*, Pluck,

Kickapps.

• Recognition and rewards

• Allow Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter connect

features

Tactics: Engaging Sharing

17

* Disclosure: An Altimeter Group client.


Commenting

18

Curating

Producing

Commenting

Sharing

Watching


What?:

Respond to others‟ content, for e.g. comment on

blogs or news stories, review or rate products

Why?:

Actively participate, support, or contribute

ideas/opinions, but usually one-off‟s

Commenting

19


Commenting

20

Facebook commenting

and “Likes” simplified how

users responded to other

people‟s content.


Commenting

21

Retail sites

encourage ratings

and reviews by

shoppers.


How to Engage?:

• Allow every webpage to have

commenting features

• Develop a community policy

• Foster an open and friendly environment (and

discourage spammers and trolls)

• Seek community vendors like Lithium*, Jive,

Mzinga, Awareness, LiveWorld*, Kickapps,

Pluck.

Tactics: Engaging Commenting

22

* Disclosure: An Altimeter Group client.


Producing

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Curating

Producing

Commenting

Sharing

Watching


What?:

Create and publish their own content, for e.g.

websites, blogs, or podcasts

Why?:

Want to express identity, own content, be heard,

or be recognized

Producing

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Producing

25


Producing

26


How to Engage?:

• Become a platform for the voice of

your customers.

• Provide public recognition for most helpful

community members.

• Sponsored Discussions: Intel Insiders,

Microsoft MVP, Walmart Elevenmoms

- Note: Understand and abide by FTC Guidelines

Tactics: Engaging Producing

27


Curating

28

Curating

Producing

Commenting

Sharing

Watching


What?:

Moderate or are heavily involved in online

communities, for ex. Wikipedia, fan pages, or

discussion boards

Why?:

Invested in success of a product, service, or

community, want to give back, or be recognized

Curating

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Curating

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The Coca-Cola

Facebook fan page

was started, and

continues to be

administered, by

two regular fans.


Curating

31

Dell Community

Ambassadors

help manage and

support customer

forums.


How to Engage?:

• Rely on them as trusted advisors, consider

them non-paid partners

• Identify influencers or community builders,

recognize them in public.

Tactics: Engaging Curating

32


Read tweets (Watching)

Re-tweet (Sharing)

@reply (Commenting)

Tweet (Sharing/Producing)

#hashtag (Curating)

The Twitter Problem

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United States South KoreaUnited

Kingdom

Curating <1% <1% <1%

Producing 24.2% 52.8% 18.6%

Commenting 36.2% 74.3% 31.9%

Sharing 61.2% 62.9% 57.6%

Watching 79.8% 91.1% 77.1%

Engagement Pyramid Data

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Source: Global Wave Index Wave 1, Trendstream.net, July 2009


Conduct research to identify the social behaviors of your

customer base – before you do anything

Also identify:

• Where are they online: Surveys or brand monitoring

• Who do they trust: Surveys

• Who do they influence: Survey or brand monitoring

• How they use these tools in context of your products: Most

often surveys.

When you first understand your customers, your marketing

efforts will naturally unfold.

Putting it to work

35


1) Where are your customers online?

• Action: Don‟t aimlessly approach social networks without knowing if they are there, if they are in

Hyves, go there.

2) What are your customers‟ social behaviors online?

• Action: Which social features should we deploy? Example: if they are commenters, allow them

to comment.

3) What social information or people do your customers rely on?

• Action: If they rely on their friends, facilitate a marketing program that encourages customers to

share with friends.

4) What is your customers‟ social influence? Who trusts them?

• Action: If your customers are trusted by others, highlight your customers in front of their

community. Example: Intercontintental Hotel features the photos created by top guests.

5) How do your customers use social in regards to your brand?

• Action: Understand how customers use these tools in researching new products, decision

making, and support

Socialgraphics makes you actionable

36


Situation: A healthy snack food company trying to reach moms, and their goal

is to introduce them to a new product called “Snackums”. (fictional)

Where are they online today?

• Use monitoring tools to find hot spots of conversations

• Use survey to find specific URL locations through and open ended questions

- Example: The data found that a third of the targeted moms visited Facebook at

least weekly, and more than half visited at least monthly.

• Conduct qualitative analysis to find out what topics moms are talking about.

- Example: Brand monitoring indicated that the most talked about topic when

discussing health foods was price and convenience.

What are their online social behaviors?

• They deployed a survey, and found they are mainly watching and sharing, very

few producers

• But those that are producing are highly involved

New Way: Learning about Moms

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Findings:

• Through the survey, found that most moms don‟t talk about

the product.

• However a smaller group did influence those that are watchers,

• Yet those watchers, don‟t share in that greater community, they

share it with their immediate friends in Facebook.

Action

• With this, this company was able to identify, who the influencers

were, how to reach them, and to spur on word of mouth to the

„average‟ moms reaching a greater segment of customers.

Example: Activating Moms

38


Understand the socialgraphics of your customers by

conducting surveys or obtaining secondary research.

You‟ll need to get the data from multiple sources –we don‟t

have all the data.

We believe in „Open Research‟ and we want to share –so

the industry can advance together.

Couple with your existing profiles or personas of

customers, create an engagement pyramid for each

persona.

Next, identify what social goals your organization will take

on (covered in our next webinar).

Summary

39


Success in the Groundswell

requires Open Leadership

40

When people get what they

need from each other

Have the confidence to let

go and still inspire results


41Thank you 41

Charlene Li

[email protected]

blog.altimetergroup.com

Twitter: charleneli

Jeremiah Owyang

[email protected]

web-strategist.com/blog

Twitter: jowyang

Follow the conversation at #socialgraphics

Slides and recording will be available at altimetergroup.com


About Us

42

Altimeter Group is a strategy consulting firm that provides companies

with a pragmatic approach to disruptive technologies. We have four

areas of focus: Leadership and Management, Customer Strategy,

Enterprise Strategy, and Innovation and Practice.

Visit us at http://www.altimetergroup.com

or contact [email protected].

understand your customers' social behaviors

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