Brian Solis's Blog, page 112

2014 – The Embolden Years: Change agents lead the way for digital transformation

Happy New Year!

2014 is upon us and it’s once again time to share our (Altimeter Group) predictions for the year ahead. Except this time, predictions are moved aside in favor of important trends that are on the horizon. Let’s use this time together wisely in the hopes of prioritizing our investments in relevant strategies and the time and resources necessary to bring them to life this year and next.

In 2013, Charlene Li and I published several reports, infographics, Slideshares, and even an ebook on the state and evolution of social business. I also published a new book that focused on the specific behavior of Generation-C and how they make and influence decisions, digitally, in each of the Four Moments of Truth.

The link between everything last year sets the stage for my work this year.

2014 and 2015 are the years where the importance of customer and employee experience triggers a revolution in digital transformation. While I’ve paid notable mind share to pushing the social business movement over the last decade, I’ve also dedicated further work to understand the pillars rising upon a foundation of digital transformation. These include change management, leadership, and the role of social along with other disruptive trends such as mobile, big data, Millennial behavior, and connected consumerism. Each play a significant in the reshaping of business, relationships and experiences, and the way work is done.

I’d like to share my agenda for 2014-2015 with you. This is where I will lead research efforts, advise executives, and also present at conferences around the world.

1. Social Business will be a way of business not a stand alone, bolt-on or isolated functional strategy.

Social media, as channels, are just part of the bigger picture. The challenge we face today however is that where we invest time, energy and budget assumes that social’s role in the transformation of business is limited to just marketing and customer service or other functions such as HR and recruiting or sales. And even then, businesses continue to struggle with aligning disparate social media strategies across the enterprise. More importantly, we learned that even still, strategists are not integrating business goals into strategy development, which complicates the ability to demonstrate ROI or the promise of it.

This year, I will continue to track the evolution of social business specific to how businesses become social from the top down. This is less about technology and more about how transparency, authenticity, internal and external engagement, et al are used to influence new vision, philosophies, strategies and supporting systems that build meaning relationships and experiences with customers, employees and stakeholders alike.

2. The role and importance of Customer Experience (CX) will escalate to the C-Suite and create new roles in the process.

Today CX is relegated to the champions who believe in its importance to improve relationships and loyalty. What CX studies and discovers affects every stage of the dynamic customer journey. How companies plan for engagement in each moment of truth is largely disconnected today. By becoming a strategic imperative at the C-Suite level, distributed teams and efforts will unite around a new or renewed vision to modernize and lead customer engagement throughout the new dynamic customer journey and in each moment of truth. This work will create new roles starting at the top with someone owning the customer experience a la Chief Digital Officer (CDO) or Chief Experience Office (CXO). While seemingly trendy, this function will unite marketing, sales, service and also IT. New areas of expertise will also be necessary to support these new efforts ranging from experience architects to digital anthropologists to data scientists to cross media strategists.

This year, I’m tracking the adaptation of the dynamic customer journey and the moments of truth to understand how technology and behavior is progressing. Ranging from journey mapping, experience architecture, and digital anthropology, I will observe new touch points, changes in expectations and personal value systems, and also how these insights lead to digital transformation.

3. Digital transformation is going to be driven by the desire to integrate and enhance the evolving customer experience.

There’s a lot of research lately that studies new models for businesses as they invest in technology, systems, and processes to compete in the digital economy. The most common term for this movement is Digital Transformation. However, digital transformation is not just about technology; it’s about vision and how businesses are transforming from the inside out using technology as an enabler for a more integrated customer and employee experience. Everything begins not with replacing legacy systems in favor of shiny new objects, but instead with the recognition of how customer and employee expectations and values have changed.

I will actively interview executives at organizations to learn how businesses are creating new models that marry technology, people, and processes to create a more integrated and collaborative experience throughout the customer lifecycle.

4. To expedite adaptation, companies will need to create a culture of innovation, which is core to the future of work and competition.

To lead the next generation customer experience, to engage a more connected and sophisticated workforce, and to survive Digital Darwinism, businesses will invest in a culture of innovation. Today, disruptive technology is shaking the foundation of businesses from the outside in and the inside out. It’s not just tech though, people are also a big part of the success or failure of any company and how they engage now is affected by tech. Right now, there’s a notable disconnect between older and younger customers and equally employees. One is held to current standards and workflow (the way things are done). The other wonders why processes don’t reflect the times (the way we buy and work). At the same time, customer preferences are also transforming. Competitors and threats nowadays can arise from anywhere. Empathy is key to bridging the gap.

Initially, organizations will form innovation teams that explore new trends, threats, and opportunities. Eventually, the insights and best practices surfaced by this team will affect the company DNA and lead to changes in how people learn and work, what they’re tasked to do, and how they’re rewarded to take more risks and introduce new ideas into the workflow and product roadmap.

In early research, I’ve already observed a combination between design thinking and systems thinking where leaders empower employees to contribute to internal and external problem solving and hold managers accountable for cultivating ideas and raising them up the flagpole.

Observations and Questions that Need Answers

In addition to the above trends, here are some questions I also hope to answer to get the conversation started. Let me know what you would like to add to the list!

Digital Transformation

Why will focusing on social media limit my professional growth and that of my organization?

How do I break social out of a silo to have a real business impact?

How can change agents create a sense of urgency among executives to expedite digital transformation?

How do I broaden perspective around “CX” so that everyone works together to create, reinforce desired experience?

How do I create a cross-functional steering committee to work broader than scope that we’re currently focused on and collaborate for change in…?

- Social

- Mobile

- Digital

- Real world

Culture of Innovation

How do we motivate laggard or complacent teams to get with the program?

How do we change our culture to disrupt before we’re disrupted?

How do recognize threats and opportunities around disruption early enough and what do we do about it?

Experience

Workers, customers want you to understand them, appreciate them, and empathize or align with their values and their definition of success as they’re much different from the generations before them.

How is my customer behavior changing and how do I change along with it?

What would you add?

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Audience as the New Currency: YouTube and Its Impact on Hollywood and Social Media

Guest post by Brendan Gahan (@BrendanGahan), a YouTube marketing expert. Gahan was Forbes 30 under 30 for Marketing & Advertising and has helped Fortune 500 brands with their YouTube and social media marketing.

Let’s face it: YouTube has become big business. One billion unique monthly users? Yes. Six billion hours of video watched each month? Yes. Over 100 hours worth of video uploaded each minute. Yes. All, yes. The dominant player in the online video space continues to blanket the web at an impressive scale. The site has also sparked a series of new media companies, conventions, and veritable stars. Smosh, the #2 most subscribed YouTube channel, was acquired by Alloy Digital Media, and The Annoying Orange web series is now a TV show on the Cartoon Network. YouTube is one hell of a force.

YouTube has spawned massive events, BufferFestival in Toronto, drew thousands, and VidCon, the world’s largest YouTube gathering and conference, wrapped its 4th installment with an impressive 12,000 attendees. YouTube Multi-Channel Networks (MCN’s) have cropped up, raised investment dollars, and are largely being hailed among the press as the future of Hollywood and Madison Avenue.

However, even with all the success, there is tension building within the relatively insulated YouTube community. Discontent is brewing–with numerous blogs and pundits speculating around the value that YouTube offers content creators, the opportunity cost of investing in the platform, and uncertainty around the future of MCN’s.

The core issue is largely around how ad revenue on the platform is split with creators. YouTube allows individuals to become “YouTube Partners.” Partners agree to a series of terms (i.e., avoid uploading copyrighted video) in exchange for the right to have ads run across their videos. All ad revenue is (reportedly) then split 45/55 in favor of the creator, and on average creators generate $2-3 CPM’s with Google’s inventory. If a creator is with a network, the revenue is typically split again (with the another 30% going to the MCN). Jason Calacanis, a familiar personality in the startup space, recently inserted himself into the online video conversation by leading an anti-YouTube push – calling YouTube “a horrible *business* deal for content creators.”

Content Consumption And Production Has Changed

Certainly paying a higher percentage would be great for creators, at least in the short term, but a) this is beyond anyone’s control, and b) why would YouTube do this? Google has invested a great deal of time, money and resources into YouTube and they have a right to profit from the business that they operated at a loss for years. Those points aside, the reality is that content creation and distribution has changed radically and YouTube provides a platform for developing an audience and expensive production is not a requirement.

We now watch 6 second vine videos on our mobile phone and parody twitter accounts are getting TV deals. Content creation is in the hands of the masses. In today’s media landscape content has been commoditized and audience is the new currency.

The traditional Hollywood rulebook has been thrown out the window and the reality is – one no longer needs writers, editors, producers, and sales team to build a content business. While you certainly could use all those resources, they are by no means requirements to be successful on YouTube (much in the same way Brian can publish a blog and no longer needs an editor and printer or adapt to a traditional publishing model). The number most subscribed YouTuber (beyond YouTube’s own channel), PewDiePie, has achieved 15 million subscribers with content that is largely made from a webcam. He’s also, far from the exception, a quick look at the top 10 most subscribed channels on YouTube reveals that the majority (six) have cultivated communities largely based on their personality – using production equipment that anyone could pick up at their local Best Buy.

Keeping this new paradigm in mind–it makes no sense to apply an old media production approach and methodology to a new media ecosystem.

(Via VidStatsX)

We’re All Content Creators

In every social network, creators are consumers and consumers are creators. On Facebook, for example, we share stories, upload photos and videos, chat with friends, and leave comments — constantly blurring the lines between content creation and consumption. However, while Facebook is a service that over 1 billion people use regularly, it’s also a platform where content creators do NOT get paid a portion of the $1.6 billion in annual ad revenue being generated.

This is part of a social contract that we have with media companies, brands and consumers. Media companies serve us ads in exchange for the content we consume. However, YouTube is different–they serve ads AND pay content creators for the eyeballs they generate – but many are upset with the revenue split. At the same time they’re happily using sites like Twitter and Facebook, and not receiving a dime.

YouTube is a social network where users can create content. Creators on YouTube are able to monetize their efforts directly on the platform. Facebook, Twitter, Vine, and Instagram are also social networks where users can create content. But THESE content creators are UNABLE to monetize their efforts directly from these platforms.

To their credit, YouTube has successfully upended the traditional social contract, allowing us — as both creators and consumers — to generate income from our content. If we’re upset with how little YouTube pays creators, then shouldn’t we be even more upset that Facebook and Twitter pay nothing at all? Isn’t this a double standard?

Youtube Is The Launch Pad

Critics have pointed out that it’s difficult to make a living based on YouTube’s revenue split. That may be the case for many creators. However, the platform allows them to build an audience. Many creators understand this and are leveraging their audiences for brand deals, merchandising, and in some cases, even making the jump to traditional entertainment.

The revenue split on YouTube may be less than ideal, but it’s a means to an end–an audience. As investor Mark Suster adeptly points out, YouTube is the “world’s best customer acquisition for video consumers to get them to come to your O and O.” For top YouTubers, leaving YouTube is akin to Michael Phelps avoiding the Olympics because it doesn’t pay well. There is no other worldwide stage that compares.

YouTube has provided an infrastructure, which, beyond YouTube’s shear scale (with 1 billion monthly unique monthly users), has been aggressive in creating a sticky experiences for both creators and consumers alike. Much more than a video-hosting platform, YouTube is the second largest search engine. Furthermore YouTube facilitates connections to cultivate audiences, via:

Subscriptions (which is only getting better with recent updates)
Presence in 56 countries across 61 languages
Multi-platform distribution via Mobile and even Xbox apps
Education and production resources for creators to use free of charge
The list goes on

Ten years ago, creating webseries that would get millions of viewers without a significant investment was virtually IMPOSSIBLE. You would need to build a site, your own video player, hosting service, then begin to work on cultivating an audience. Today, we live in an age when a little desire and a webcam is all one needs to be a content creator–YouTube provides the stage. The platform has enabled just about anyone to be a filmmaker, vlogger, and entrepreneur. And for the first time in history, content creators can have an audience of millions without having a cable, network, or theatre distribution deal.

Google And MCN’s

Lastly, trend stories around the state of MCN’s have speculated that YouTube would rather see MCNs disappear and MCN’s must develop an off YouTube platform to survive. Regardless of the latter, YouTube’s actions don’t support the former. Google, which owns YouTube, lead a $35 million round of funding in one of the MCNs, Machinima, earlier last year.

Furthermore, MCNs have contributed to YouTube’s growth and bottom line in several areas. Hank Green — YouTube creator and co-founder of VidCon — echoed this sentiment in the comments of Calacanis’ blog post, stating that YouTube loves MCN’s for two reasons: “1. When an MCN gets acquired or takes investment, that sets a value on the YouTube ecosystem. So if a network (simplified numbers here) with a million monthly views gets acquired for a million dollars, analysts can argue that content is worth a dollar per monthly view, which drastically increases the value of YouTube and thus Google’s stock price. 2. YouTube is basically outsourcing support and liability to MCNs in exchange for zero dollars. YouTube has all but stopped supporting partners. Instead, partners join up with MCNs and the MCNs provide support. MCNs also act as a liability buffer, taking responsibility for potential copyright and other legal problems so that YouTube doesn’t have to worry about it.”

MCNs also act as a massive sales force for YouTube. Each sale an MCN makes is a sale for YouTube — whether it’s indirectly, through dollars going to creators for brand integrations, or directly via pre-roll and banner inventory.

Finally, whether or not MCN’s are successful in the long run, is up to MCN’s, but it certainly wouldn’t be because Google is ‘unfair’. By comparison, Facebook is harsher to third parties building businesses on their platforms. Facebook has a track record of replicating features of competitive businesses as well as shutting off access to those with features similar to their own – most recently shutting down API access to Vintage Camera (an instagram style photo app) and recently blocked messaging app Message Me. Even with YouTube’s recent announcement, that they will get involved with disputes between MCN’s and creators, plenty of notice to adjust to YouTube’s guidelines. No one is being shut down, Facebook style, without notice.

Several MCN’s have cultivated off-YouTube online video presences, which could be perceived as direct competition with YouTube. Most recently Alloy merged with Break, Maker acquired Blip, and last year The Collective purchased Metacafe. Rather than revoking access to the platform the way Facebook has to many companies by claiming violations of a section of its terms of service related to “competing” social networks, YouTube has allowed (if not encouraged) these moves to take place.

Audience Is The Asset

For creators and MCN’s the opportunity lies far beyond Google’s revenue splits – instead it’s with the ability to build sustainable businesses and brand. Utilizing YouTube as the ultimate acquisition funnel, large and small creators are creating alternative revenue streams capitalizing on their own IP – selling merchandise, concert and speaking tours, mobile games and even magazines. Finn Harries (one half of YouTube phenomenon Jacksgap), described YouTube as a “great launch pad for our [Jacksgap] brand. We were able to test content that worked, interact with and gain an audience and being able to monetize our videos allowed us to invest our revenue into expanded our brand into other areas like our .com and the digital store front, which is launching soon. However even better than that Youtube has allowed us to create a company.”

Final Thoughts

So where does this leave us? There’s room for improvement on YouTube, and it would be great for creators and MCN’s if YouTube increased the percentage they pay creators. That said, YouTube has been a forgiving partner — providing a revenue stream to creators, and allowing businesses to replicate many of their features in a way that a Facebook would never allow.

For many YouTubers, and MCN’s, the opportunity lies far beyond adsense and revenue splits – instead it’s with the ability to build businesses and brands. The resources and sticky experience YouTube facilitates has allowed creators to cultivate audiences they’d be unable to do independent of the platform. The visibility, communication, and connection with audiences is invaluable. What remains to be seen is which players will develop a profitable model from these communities and which ones will not.

5 Steps to Improving the Customer Experience with Big Data

Guest post by Lisa Arthur, CMO of Teradata Applications and author of the new book Big Data Marketing (Wiley). Follow her on Twitter @LisaArthur.

Technology advancements are making it easier for people to constantly, effortlessly and sometimes unknowingly generate massive amounts of data every second. Lurking in the sprawling data pipelines of global corporations are complex tangles of information that have the potential to become your company’s most profitable resource. The opportunity has never been greater for savvy marketers and data analysts to team up and untangle the “data hairball,” gain insights into behavior, anticipate trends and make their customers’ experiences more relevant and timely. By working together on a more strategic level, they will have the competitive advantage they need to innovate, increase revenue and improve the bottom-line. The approach is called a data-driven strategy, which I outline in my new book.

This five-step roadmap is a summary of a data-driven approach covered in more detail in my book.

1. Get Smart. Get a Strategy. Develop a data-driven approach that will position your entire organization for customer-centric success.

All companies should begin with a vision and strategy. It will require some time investment, but will set you and your team on the right course over the long term.

The insurance and financial services leader Nationwide began feeling the cracks in their decentralized data silos back in 2005. They recognized the limitations of their existing systems and were missing the agility, speed and flexibility needed to succeed in its marketplace. They knew it was time to find a better way so they could deliver an “On Your Side” experience to their customers. With a system that had grown to more than 100 terabytes of user data, about 10 times the size of the entire printed U.S. Library of Congress, Nationwide had the vision to leverage its data as a strategic asset for true enterprise analysis and management. They wanted a data-driven approach so they could make forward-looking strategic and tactical business decisions. The effort began with the creation of a mission statement and formal vision for the project. Nationwide has executed that vision and, in the process, migrated from a product-centric company to a customer-centric company.

2. Tear Down the Silos. Become a highly responsive organization by fostering an environment of collaboration, coordination and connection.

Nearly 65 percent of marketers agree that silos within their marketing department prevent them from having a holistic view of a campaign across channels. Source.

Organizationally, marketers need to tear silos down within their own team and with IT and other organizations to put the customers at the center of their integration and interaction strategy.

There’s enormous value in using data together and proactively as a team. A great example from my book of tearing down the silos is happening at a company called International Speedway Corporation (ISC). They manage racetracks that host NASCAR events. They had a very key business imperative to be more relevant and data driven in engaging their fans. They have racetracks across the U.S. and each have different customers called guests or fans and they have different business requirements based on each event. So their IT and marketing teams worked together. They put all their data in one place. They were able to understand the holes in their data and were able to augment it. Today, they run over 1,100 different micro-segmented conversations all with no increased staff or cost. They’ve been able to improve the engagement with their fans in a more personal and relevant way. They saw revenue upside from their events and overall made bottom-line improvements.

3. Untangle the Data Hairball. Make sense of all your data, apply analytical insights and inform more innovative and relevant messaging.

So how do you access the data and use it to be more effective and efficient? How do you apply big data analytics to inform your marketing messages, to test real-time interaction strategies and to innovate your marketing engagement? How do you do this while data is constantly streaming in? As Brian Solis put it in a previous post about big data, are you “acting as a human algorithm and extracting insights with intention”?

The best way to get started is by defining a pilot project focused on a specific business objective. One example could be examining the path of interactions that lead to defecting customers. It’s less daunting to start with a discreet project where you can identify all triggers for customer attrition. Find data sources that apply. Use the pilot to analyze each online and offline channel including your call center and physical locations. Don’t just analyze everything that’s already in place. Use the pilot as an opportunity to experiment. Try new approaches and offers based on insights gained.

If you can successfully untangle one strand of the data hairball, you will have gained the experience and knowledge to tackle the next strand.

4. Make Metrics Your Mantra. Prove that your efforts increase business value by providing transparency and driving accountability into every layer of the marketing organization.

Raising the visibility and value of your data-driven marketing work is an essential part of the whole strategy.

In my CMO role, my team and I began our own journey toward becoming data-driven marketers. We developed a five-prong scorecard to report marketing’s contributions and value. The scorecard measured demand, customer satisfaction and retention, sales productivity, market category leadership and overall effectiveness of our team. We soon learned we didn’t have everything in place to track cross-channel interactions, yet. We decided to focus on a pilot – tracking cost per lead and the return on investment (ROI) with short-term goals and we reported our results at the board level. Over time, we established credibility and momentum and began to align metrics wider across the marketing organization and then the entire enterprise with larger, broader-based objectives.

5. Process is the New Black. Build modern, purposeful activities that are made possible by marketing technology and automation advances.

In order to truly embrace a data-driven marketing strategy, departments must operationalize the insights gained from analyzing data. Being agile enough to pivot to changing market conditions and big data insights plus further segment and personalize a creative execution is the new expectation that marketers must meet and that customers expect.

Marketing teams realize there are missed opportunities by not using data to drive marketing decisions faster. In fact, 45 percent of marketers agree that data is the most underutilized asset in the marketing organization. Source.

Using software tools to help automate processes can be helpful as roles, campaigns and data complexities increase. A tool like an integrated marketing management (IMM) system can help marketers process massive amounts of information and do things faster, more relevantly and with greater competitive advantage.

Our first mission, as always, is to develop trust with our customers. We do this by honoring the data they offer us, avoiding overly-intrusive communication techniques and understanding their purchase patterns and behaviors well enough so we can begin to proactively meet their needs. Then we deliver relevant messages and offers when and where our consumers want to receive them.

True one-to-one marketing is about having a conversation with one. As digital marketers embrace digital marketing attribution – the ability to understand an individual – our consumer relationships begin to operate on a much more intimate level. It’s here where true personal interactions versus broad marketing transactions exist and thrive.

It’s critical that we take the opportunity to dig in and understand the digital disruption that’s happening so we can create a true data-driven marketing revolution filled with a constant stream of insights. Perhaps this is an area where focus, funding and experimentation could be just the inflection point your business is needing.

Although big data is still a nemesis to many, it’s time to stop pushing back with safe and familiar marketing initiatives that no longer serve our customers. It’s time to make data friendly and use it to innovate. Let’s take marketing to a place where data is no longer something coming at us, but instead is a natural part of our thinking, processing and decision making. This is a huge, humbling and exciting opportunity to become trailblazers in the new world of big data marketing.

What’s been your experience as you wrangle with your company’s own data hairballs?

The Future of Business is Creating Meaningful and Shareable Experiences

Special guest post by Peter Guber, noted business leader and author of best-seller, Tell to Win

While everyone’s talking about social media, professional motivation, or the need for change in business, people who are actually looking for answers to bring about change are left to draw upon the classic treatises of Peter Drucker, Dale Carnegie, Geoffrey Moore, Tom Peters, et al. Yet, what those pundits don’t provide is the “how to” shape your role and opportunity in this evolving landscape of consumerism. There’s an old saw, “technology changes, people don’t.” The tsunami of social, mobile, real-time, technology is disrupting everything; this means that for success one must make the change of how one influences. What changes is how people influence, are influenced, along with how, when and where they make decisions.

There is a plethora of material on the “new” tools and there is no need for another book that talks about the same businesses that are using new technology to pursue relevance. Nor do we need another book for dummies or wannabes. What is required are answers and experience paired with the concrete data that arms us with the confidence to make decisions with intelligence and strength in a time when many surrender to gut-based decisions or general assumptions.

This is where Solis’s content is king: he’s a digital analyst studying technology and its impact on business. This is abundantly clear in the book, as he continually uses real world analytics to make his case that there’s a new generation of connected consumers (Generation C as he calls it) on the opportunity horizon that are behaving differently, yet the existing touch points (those typically aligned with the traditional funnel) are missing or underestimating them.

What is to appreciate here is Solis’s application of digital anthropology into a dialogue that’s often rooted only in technology and trends. What’s the Future (of Business), his “WTF”, will shape this discussion and its impact, adroitly breaking down consumer decision making to four moments of truth. He shows that these moments, whether b2b, b2c, or any industry where people rely on any aspect of the Internet to get information, create a new epicenter of influence. This “influence loop”, the moniker he gives it, claims to affect every moment of truth, rich with the shared experiences that populate Youtube, blogs, review sites, communities, and apps.

His point is crystal clear. What will happen in a world where a Google search is not the first step in discovery? What will be the reaction when a web site isn’t the result people desire? What will happen when people place greater trust on informed or experienced peers first? There is clearly a different kind of connection, and breathing real, shared experiences are everywhere. Truth is, they can be readily and easily discoverable. And, to SEO your way alone to be relevant will turn into SOS. That is the point.

The core value in Solis’s book is its coaching on how to create and invest in meaningful and sharable experiences, and this is the future of business that Brian preaches by making the book an experience in and of itself.

I get this; he created a coffee table book for business by studying UX to better learn how today’s consumer reads, shares, and why. His congruence of feet, tongue, heart, and wallet all going in the same direction is proof of his authenticity, and promise of his premise. He fashioned with the team at Mekanism to create what he named an “analog app.” It’s textural, emotional, and colorful, even the paper is thick and unique to flip through.

He made a physical book matter again even in a digital era.

Solis professes that you can do this, and by following his code and credo, imagine what you can do…

Photo Credit: Jim Alden, @techfrog

Time to Grow Up! Social businesses mature, yet many still lack a strategic foundation [infographic]

This year has been particularly busy yet productive for Charlene Li and me having published two reports that detail the six stages of social business evolution and the true state of social business in 2013, an ebook on how successful social businesses are evolving, and an image-rich slide deck complete with all the graphs and charts you need to benchmark where you are compared to other social businesses.

Now Charlene and I are proud to introduce our latest infographic that summarizes high level findings across all of our work in 2013.

The number one thing we learned this year is that no matter how much we celebrate the case studies and best practices of the most social brands, they are far from perfect. You can replicate campaigns but you can’t replicate how the efforts of others cultivate ideal experiences and relationships with your customers…in a meaningful way.

This infographic is designed to tell a story. But it is how you interpret or use the data in this infographic that helps you tell your story your way. You’re either paving the way for the future of your business, you’re struggling to make the case to do what you know is right, or you’re not sure where to begin or how to get buy-in. As much as we talk about social business and social media, the truth is that change is an individual story. While there are patterns for change, transformation always comes down to a change agent and the team she or he assembles to pave the way. The question is, what role do you want to play in all of this?

The future is unwritten…and, it’s yours to write.

Highlights from the State of Social Business Infographic

Companies are organizing and formalizing social media strategies into social business strategies…

78% of companies of a dedicated social media team. This is up from 67% two years ago.

Social media teams have grown from 11 people in 2010 to almost 16 in 2013.

Social business strategies are spreading across the enterprise…

According to our research, there are 13 different departments across the enterprise with at least one person dedicated to social media.

The majority of resources are allocated to marketing at 73%, but as you can see, social media covers almost every major function. Now, whether or not social media is organized and integrated, well, we know that it’s not really.

Corporate communications = 66%

Customer support = 40%

Digital = 37%

Social media = 35%

HR = 29%

Product/R&D = 16%

Advertising = 16%

Customer/User experience = 15%

IT = 14%

Legal = 9%

Social media headcount across the enterprise has more than doubled at the largest companies from 20 in 2010 to 49 in 2012.

Companies are trying social business to positive business outcomes…

About 50% of companies say social business has improved marketing optimization, customer experience and brand health.

Nearly one in four have actually seen an increase in revenue.

Companies though have a long way to go…

Many social business programs lack a strong foundation.

Only 17% of companies identify their social strategy as mature.

Only 52% of companies say that executives are aligned with the overall social strategy.

Only 26% of companies approach social media holistically (operating against a cross-enterprise level strategy.)

To succeed, build a foundation for social business…

1) Benchmark you program with Altimeter’s Social Business reports (see below…underneath the infographic).

2) Document existing challenges and opportunities to address in 2014 and 2015 (we don’t move as fast as we’d like).

3) Align all social business efforts with business objectives and priorities.

[Infographic] The State of Social Business: Social Media Matures, Yet Many Companies Still Lack a Strategic Foundation
Additional Altimeter Group Resources
The Evolution of Social Business: Six Stages of Social Media Transformation

In Depth Report

The State of Social Business 2013

Report

The Maturing of Social Media into Social Business

Slides with charts and graph

The Seven Success Factors of Social Business Strategy

ebook

Connect with me: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+ |Youtube | Instagram

Demand Horizon: A Revolutionary Approach to Creating Great Products

Gerry Campbell is a serial entrepreneur, investor and adviser (bio). He’s also a good friend. Gerry has just published a new book, Demand Horizon: A Revolutionary Approach to Creating Great Products. The book introduces a new mental model for understanding and adapting to the demand-driven economy. It’s a framework for making sense of the new rules in product creation, offering both strategic understanding and practical actions for adapting to the new rules of business. Demand Horizon shines a light on the techniques and approaches that have enabled him to create patented products that are used by every person on earth who uses a search engine, social networking site or smartphone.

As he was finalizing the book, Gerry asked me to write the foreword. As a friend, the answer was a given. However, after reading it, I couldn’t wait to be part of the Demand Horizon! Gerry was gracious enough to allow me to share the foreword with you here…unabridged.

Enjoy…

Innovate or Die!

Demand Horizon gets at the heart of the changes that are transforming business today. Customers are in control, now and forever into the future. The model presented in this book provides a roadmap for building products and creating businesses that are aligned with the new rules of marketing.

In 1999, Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger published the The Cluetrain Manifesto. The book represented a set of 95 theses that translated into a call to action for businesses of all shapes and sizes to change with the rise of the Internet. The authors’ hypothesized that the Internet ushered in a social economy that would bring about the end of business as usual.

Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies. Today’s markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny, and often shocking. Companies that aren’t listening to these exchanges are missing a dire warning. Companies that aren’t engaging in them are missing an unprecedented opportunity.

Now at over a decade old, their message rings louder and truer today. With the pervasiveness of today’s social and mobile media, customers are not only more connected, they’re more informed. As a result, your customers are empowered and they’re increasingly discerning, demanding, and impatient. These connected customers expect companies to listen. They want to be engaged. And, experiences prevail above products and services.

This isn’t just the end of business as usual; this is an era when consumers insist on taking business personally.

Capturing the Attention of Generation-C (Connected)

See, connected customers share one thing in common…they live a digital lifestyle. They’re always on, navigating through life and work with their heads pointed downward and their faces illuminated by the glow of their mobile screens. This generation is narcissistic. We live in what I call an egosystem. People literally have friends, family, businesses, organizations revolving around them in social networks. Don’t fight…accept it. To them, things are simply more efficient this way. News no longer breaks, it Tweets. Now, relevant information finds you faster than ever before. Products and services must too adapt.

The future of customer engagement requires a more thoughtful and localized approach. Connected customers aren’t complacent, fickle or unfaithful, they’re focused on what’s important to them. As they’re always connected to their streams, and you are too for that matter, then become part of their stream. Become part of their network.  What’s important to understand is that connected customers rely on the experiences and input of their peers to make decisions. And, those businesses that deliver great experiences, those that share similar values, earn loyalty that is unrivaled by customers of the past. This isn’t about networking. This is about building a community where association is the meeting of aspiration, orientation, and validation. A true community though is much more than belonging to something, it’s about doing something together that makes belonging matter.

Invent, Adapt, or Get Out of the Way

Forcing customers through outdated sales funnels isn’t going to improve relationships or experiences. Unleashing the wrath of aging service models and leaving customers to fend for themselves through diabolical call center jungles is in hindsight ridiculous.

Instead, we will explore new horizons to build the foundations of tomorrow…today.

To compete today, right now, in both real-time and at the right time, takes competing for the future. The way people make decisions, how we support them, how we meet expectations, how we design product and services that meet unmet needs, how we reduce friction, is solved for by embracing innovation, objectivity and always considering possibilities and opportunities.

As always, actions speak louder than words. New frameworks are needed. New processes are needed. But more importantly, a new vision and overarching philosophy is essential to lead us away from a culture of management and mediocrity to a culture of leadership and innovation. For if we’re not competing for the future, we are only competing for the moment, and thus irrelevance.

This is the new “usual” and it continues to change everyday. What of that comfort zone you’re sitting in right now? Prepare to move and keep moving until you seek comfort in a zone that is constantly evolving.

The bottom line is that things aren’t going back to the way they were and that’s a good thing.

How will you earn relevance today and tomorrow to compete for the future today and every day?

Innovation begins with the desire to do something that means something. And all effort starts with a drive to understand the needs of the customer. A business that is rooted in the customer and enlivened by vision, passion and resilience can participate in this time of unprecedented opportunity. Let’s get to work.

#innovateordie

The Rise and Fall of Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp and How to Survive Digital Darwinism

When I learned that my last book The End of Business as Usual was selected for distribution in Japan, I felt that something more than mere translation was needed to help its message resonate with those who read it. In fact, I paused development of my latest book What’s the Future of Business to revisit the original manuscript.

After six months of work, much of the U.S. book was revised to more closely address the current climate of the Japanese economy. Several new sections were also written to make the story personal and timely.

Because the book is no longer business as usual, at least not in its original incarnation, we redesigned the cover and christened it with a new title…エフェクト = EFFECT.

I wanted to share the first chapter with you here as they story is not unlike what every business, or each one of us for that matter, will face now and over time. There are lessons here for everyone. Why? It’s Digital Darwinism out there and if we don’t adapt to the evolution of technology and society, we will find ourselves in a fight for survival rather than prosperity. Make this personal…

#AdaptorDie

Heritage, Tradition, Honor: Business as Usual is a Competitive Disadvantage

When writing this book, I studied the demise of many U.S. businesses that were once the giants of their industry. Brands such as Kodak, Hostess, Pontiac, Mervyns, among many many others that were at the top of their game but no longer around to celebrate past success. Each of these once prestigious brands not only share an unfortunate fate, they also fell victim to a malignant form of irrelevance. Whether due to dated or cannibalistic management practices or philosophies, the failure to innovate, management lethargy, or the inability to anticipate the needs and expectations of consumers, an increasing number of the world’s biggest brands are inevitably vanishing from the faith of the earth.

As I was updating this book for the Japanese market, I also studied the rise and fall of many of Japan’s most beloved electronics brands. The more I researched the more humbled I became. Sony, Panasonic, Sharp appeared to be suffering the same slow plummet of US electronics brands such as Zenith and RCA along with the long list of global dinosaur brands that are now extinct.

What happened? Or, better asked, why is this happening over and over again?

The answer is simple but complex in nature.

This is the end of business as usual and everything is changing as a result.

To understand what happened to some of Japan’s most illustrious brands is helpful. After all, the gift of perspective is precious especially when hindsight is keen and omniscient. While writing this, I found myself immersed in articles, essays, reports, and lectures all of which offered evidence and opinions into the state of the Japanese economy. I grew increasingly vexed as the amount of anecdotes and reasons far outnumbered viable answers or advice for current and emerging businesses.

In the time it takes you to read this book, you will learn that it takes more than textbook management to be successful. It takes leadership and an acute understanding of how today’s consumer is evolving. Doing so provides an informed and sound foundation of which to build a new business infrastructure and the vision and philosophy to support it.

Nippon: A sun that sets also rises

Japan is a recognized epicenter of innovation, fashion, and popular trends. But one of the most fascinating aspects of Japanese culture to me is the harmony it maintains between colorful, centuries-old traditions and an ever-evolving modern society. All along, the one thing that Japan, and any other country for that matter, faces, is that change is as inevitable as it is constant. This is where the story begins. The end of business as usual is upon us and we’re presented with a considerable choice. Either adapt or die. The rewards for doing so and equally the consequences for not adapting are great. It’s a lesson that many storied brands, including those in Japan are learning the hard way.

There was a time when velocity and technology was on the side of many Japanese businesses.

Automotive reliability and value.

Personal audio.

Consumer electronics.

Computing.

Photography.

Anime.

Japan’s influence around the world was profound. It still is in many ways. The title of this book is not intended to be overly dramatic. It is an honest sign of the times. This is indeed the end of business as usual.

What it took to be successful before is now different. The momentum that Japan produced over the last half century across many industries is struggling to find relevance in an ever-shifting economy. Certainly financial crises and natural disasters do not help. The truth is though that traditional business models and business philosophies may also represent fiscal and cultural obstructions to market evolution. This has to change.

To better understand the end of business as usual, one does not need to look much further than the Japanese consumer electronics industry.

Sony’s Walkman gave birth to a personal audio revolution that many would arguably set the stage for Apple’s success today.

The Sony PlayStation and Nintendo platforms transformed gaming into a popular personal past time.

Sony’s Vaio computers introduced style and elegance into the beige world of PCs

Panasonic, Sony, Hitachi and Sharp reshaped how and where the world watched television.

These Japanese companies changed how the world behaves. Most, if not all of these once invincible brands, are now paddling to stay afloat in turbulent waters. While paddling is a survival technique, fatigue eventually sets in if survival fails to shift into momentum. Otherwise you fight to stay afloat rather than concentrate precious energy on treading water.

In each of the above examples, one company has been at the forefront of countless trends for several decades. And to this day, Sony still makes some of the most beautiful, high quality products that are designed to help you “make.believe.” But after all of these years leading the consumer electronics industry, Sony now finds itself in the unenviable position of competing for a sliver of market share against juggernauts Apple and Samsung. The once prestigious brand is also struggling to save face within a country that once cherished it as a prized possession.

Sony’s not alone. Sharp, Panasonic and the like are learning the cost of shortsightedness and complacency. These household brands once owned the consumer’s heart, mind, and disposable income. They were top of mind and therefore controlled the consumer share of wallet. Now they find the ability to develop or sell products that people feel they need to have elusive. Instead they compete for table stakes while Apple and Samsung compete for the adoration of a fervent market and the windfall of profits that come along with it.

Siyonara Good Times: What went wrong?

Analysts believe that these businesses grew too big with little focus on agility, instead trading vision and creativity for process and hierarchy. That’s part of it sure. The other part is the crux in the future of business…the ability to introduce constant and rapid innovation into the product roadmap or shift from a product strategy to create completely new ecosystems a la Apple.

Compare a Sony store to that of an Apple store. Why would you walk in to either one and which of the stores do you think you will leave with new products in hand? Apple and companies like it opened the door to disruption because they realized that the era of products was dying and the future would unfold through integrated customer experiences across a complete product ecosystem.

In an Apple ecosystem, a MacBook can sync with an iPad, which can sync with iTunes, which can also sync with iPhones, iPods and Apple TVs. Everything is designed to be an integrated experience. And even though Apple is not in the traditional TV business, at least not yet, Apple is experimenting with plugging TVs into the Apple cloud via AppleTV to create a seamless and connected digital lifestyle where technology is transparent and empowering. Consumers are then the conduits to a complete experience, regardless of application or context, as enabled by the brand and the expert design and fusion of experience, hardware and software.

How important are experiences?

In December 2012 a reporter for American Public Media’s Marketplace asked a New York based consumer why he had just purchased a Panasonic television. His answer was as telling as it was honest, “Because Apple didn’t make one.”

Designing stand-alone devices such as TVs, phones, computers, and even cameras represent a marginalized strategy. This narrow view already seems as antiquated and irrelevant as Sony’s Beta-max, MiniDiscs, and Memory Sticks in today’s world.

The end of business as usual takes more than vision and innovation to survive digital Darwinism however. It requires a tectonic shift from product or industry focus to that of long-term consumer experiences. Businesses that don’t are forever caught in a perpetual cycle of competing for price and performance. It is in fact one of the reasons that Apple can command a handsome premium. The company delivers experiences that contribute to an overall lifestyle and ultimately style and self-expression. Think about the business model it takes to do so however. You can’t invent or invest in new experiences if your business is fixated on roadmaps and defending aging business models.

An era of business usual is needed

Conjecture is healthy. It’s a natural form of discovery. This entire book however is not based on theory. “Times they are a changin’” as American folk singer Bob Dylan once sang. Nothing is truer in terms of evidence than numbers.

In the company’s financial year that ended in March 2012, Sony projected a record net loss of Y455 billion—the equivalent of $5.7 billion. According to The New York Times, it was Sony’s worst loss ever. This news was just the latest in what had become ritual. The Washington Post also reported that Sony hasn’t made a profit in four years .

Sony isn’t the only company that’s bleeding however. Panasonic’s cuts were also deep. The company bled red in three of the past four years. Bloomberg estimated that along with Sharp, the companies’ combined market value was down to $32 billion. The significance of that number is perhaps its insignificance in the greater array of brand worth. The duo adds up to only one-fifth the value of Samsung and one-twentieth the value of Apple.

The Washington Post continued its exhumation of the true state of Japanese consumer electronics to bring home the fact that business as usual was no longer enough. Sharp, which celebrated its centennial recently, is believed to have been hit hardest. The company that once dominated the liquid-crystal-display TV market promised “to make products that others want to imitate.” In the last five years though, its LCD sales have plunged 39 percent. As a result, Standard & Poor axed Sharp’s credit rating to junk status.

In 2012 Panasonic expected to lose $10 billion. It will only get worse until things get better.

Sony: A Sun that Rises Also Sets

Perhaps part of the challenge lies in the DNA of the organization. Hierarchies, efficiencies, silos, each contribute to a culture of management and process over that of innovation. Management is indeed important. But there is an opportunity cost however and its price is measured by ability or inefficacy to compete for the future.

In Sony’s case, Howard Stringer, a Western executive, was appointed to run the company in 2005. This appointment was in of itself a shock to Tokyo’s conventional corporate convictions. In an interview with Kotaku, Yozo Hasegawa, author of Rediscovering Japanese Business Leadership revealed that one of Stringer’s priorities was to “destroy the silo.” What was once a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem was transformed into a vertical hierarchy, a style referred to as tatewari. Stringer found that various divisions and regional offices were not cooperating or communicating with each other, which is never good. Corporate fiefdoms create mini hierarchies that are difficult to dismantle or topple.

But, as Mr. Hasegawa notes in his interview with Kotaku, Stringer could not save Sony, “…after all, he could not stop the red figures of the electronics. He tried to fix things but he didn’t live up to expectations.”

Sony’s tatewari was a memento of the leadership legacy of Mr. Nobuyuki Idei. His reign as Sony’s CEO between1999 to 2005 is considered by some to be the undoing of Sony’s Golden Age under Mr. Akio Morita. One must believe his intentions were sound.

Idei employed a philosophy that traditionally promotes profitability and introduces the opportunity for “new blood.” By creating a vertical operation, Idei set out to streamline the company and restructure the organization. His goal was to encourage early retirement among veteran employees and open the door to innovation and creativity among newcomers. Instead, Idei’s strategy backfired creating a vacuum of the very ideologies and talents that helped make Sony what it once was.

A company veteran who works as a middle manager recalled the experience with Kotaku, “The middle-aged engineers and technicians that left were the same ones that brought Sony to greatness. They left behind a younger generation that was insecure, afraid of failure, and only willing to work with technology already in place—not build from the ground up.”

Perhaps the greatest impact was on the very fabric that weaved together the company’s culture and ultimately instilled confidence and imagination among employees and executives alike.

Sony’s Golden Age is but a distant memory now. Mr. Kazuo Hirai, the current president of Sony Corporation faces a great summons—to return Sony to profitability and prominence. No small undertaking of course, but the questions that confront Hirai are also a symbol of imperfection in the vision and leadership for Sony moving forward…

• What is Sony?

• What does Sony represent to Japanese consumers and consumers around the world?

• Why would people choose to walk into a Sony store over an Apple store?

• If Sony were to return to glory, what would its new Golden Age resemble?

It takes vision and leadership to in fact lead Sony or any business to success and ultimately eminence. For without direction, employees cannot enlist in any journey nor march in unison toward a collective goal or outcome.

Innovation takes time. And to foster innovation and imagination takes a culture of inspiration and empowerment. During Mr. Morita’s incumbency, Sony engineers were encouraged to experiment, to focus on developing technology and products that markets didn’t realize they yet needed. Sounds familiar yes? It was certainly the gift Apple’s Mr. Steve Jobs possessed.

Under the spell of Morita’s charisma, Sony’s corporate culture was reported as “free and open-minded.”

Perhaps there’s something to the end of business as usual that in Mr. Morita’s experience was not “usual” at all.

The delicate balance between management and leadership

Mr. Yasunori Tateishi is a recognized authority on the history of Sony, which helped to earn him the nickname “Mr. Sony.” His numerous books include such titles as Sony: The Inside Story and his latest book, recognized as a fitting and prophetic eulogy, Sayonara, Our Sony. In the latter book, Tateishi makes the argument that with Idei and Stringer focusing on “net business” and “management streamlining,” Sony’s back-to-back leaders effectively crippled the technology giant.

If Mr. Morita’s Sony was a luminous example of leadership then the eras of Idei and Stringer were representations of managing business as usual. To lead a new era of business requires just that…leadership. It’s the difference between advancing and meandering.

American Public Media’s Marketplace painfully explored the beleaguered assessment through a telling and direct headline, “Japanese electronic brands lose luster.”

Nestled within the commentary of the story was an emblematic quote by Michael Woodford who was at one point CEO at Olympus. Woodford’s sentiment alludes to my point about leadership versus management styles. “Japan is sleepwalking to oblivion,” he told reporter Dan Bobkoff. His point was that the country’s top electronics brands were producing few new ideas. Woodford blames aging management for not promote creativity or imagination. Woodford continued, “You need people to be a bit crazy, a bit wacky. But the nail which sticks up in Japan, they say, will get nailed down.”

In an era of digital Darwinism, it is not the strongest that will survive, it is those who see what others can’t and do what others will not. It is not about survival of the fittest, it is about survival of the fitting. Success is earned. As Richard Katz, editor of the Oriental Economist Report told Bobkoff, “Japan does not have that natural selection process as part of its business culture.”

What’s clear is that Japan’s now two-decade struggle comes down to one thing, change. To do so takes vision of course but also the ability for leadership to introduce a culture and supporting (read profitable) foundation to adapt, downsize and innovate.

In the quest for relevance, we cannot ignore Nintendo. Nintendo maintains a lead of nearly 30 million over its console competitors with the DS family doubling the sales of any other modern platform.

What’s the secret to success?

In Nintendo’s case, it’s a relentless quest for success. In an interview with IGN, Nintendo president and CEO Mr. Satori Iwata shared his insights, “I always and strictly tell Nintendo employees never to use the term ‘success’ to describe our own performance.” Iwata continued, “If we call a result of any of our efforts a ‘success’… we might apply it as the standard for success for future projects as well, and we could wind up not trying to do better than that or not making something which is very different in nature.”

Nintendo employs a “business unusual” philosophy to endlessly compete for the future.

That’s the spark of leadership…it’s in the DNA of the company. And, that’s why it takes leadership. It takes a top down approach to inspire bottom-up transformation.

For every Nintendo, or even Nikon or Canon, there are many storied brands fighting for survival.

Nowadays it’s no longer good enough to develop amazing products. That’s just the beginning. At the same time, it’s also no longer enough to introduce amazing products into a sustainable management culture. Innovation moves too fast. Trends shift at blinding speeds. Business culture, traditions, politics create layer upon layer of complications that in the end contribute to irrelevance and ultimately digital Darwinism.

The very nature of how businesses not only compete for customers and profitability but also how they compete for relevance has radically altered. Customers are evolving and becoming more sophisticated, informed and discerning. How they make decisions has evolved. The way they’re influenced and how they influence is diversified. That’s what this book is about.

There isn’t a recipe for success. This isn’t a race to find the next “business as usual.” This is a journey with no end stitched together by milestones that steer you toward relevance. To compete for the future is perpetual.

It’s time to rewire the way you lead and work to succeed in the new customer revolution.

—

I would very much like to thank Hide Hashizume and Eiko Hashizume for all of their work and support over the last year on the book and this event. Mr. Natsuno, a board member of Nico Video and professor at Keio University contributed a special message at the beginning of the book. Thank you Mr. Natsuno. Also, thank you to Mr. Kanayama for his work in translating the book. It’s more than exciting to finally have completed エフェクト and to have the privilege of bringing it to Japan personally.

ありがとう

Arigatō

#EFFECT (Available on Amazon)

Click here for pictures from the official launch of EFFECT in Tokyo.

Image of Tokyo’s digital billboards credit: Thomas La Mela / Shutterstock

Social Business is not Dead: New charts and data reveal the real evolution of social businesses

In recent times, I’ve noticed a rise in discussions around the “death of social business” and also an increase in alternative “fill in the blank but don’t use the word social” businesses. Some of those discussions have been hosted here recently. There’s strong merit to the discussions of course, especially those I’ve hosted (be sure to read the comments). But as an analyst tracking the evolution of social businesses and equally the cause and effect of digital transformation overall, I’m learning that the most advanced organizations see social not as a technology movement but instead one of culture and philosophy. Openness, collaboration, transparency, communication…these aren’t buzz words. Among those leading change, these words represent a way of business and it all starts with vision and the ability to see how relationships and experiences with customers and employees can improve or accomplish new and greater goals.

Along the way, I’ve also learned that pushing for social adoption because of technology misses the point of change. The true catalyst isn’t whatever the latest trend in social media is this week. That’s reactive and almost impossible to leapfrog. The truth is that change is fueled by the affect that social media, mobile, and other forms of disruptive technologies have on customer behavior. Whether it’s B2B, B2C, B2B2C, or whatever model you prefer, as long as we’re talking about connected human beings, you can bet that social and digital in general are influencing discovery, decision-making, and impressions in every moment of truth.

The evolution of social business as we know it today traces back to The Cluetrain Manifesto in the late 1990s, where its authors predicted that markets would become conversations. Here we are at the cusp of 2014, and businesses, and the strategists who lead social efforts, continue to struggle with sparking executive understanding, adoption, and leadership. The real story is about what’s happening beneath all that we see or think we see.

So what’s obstructing the evolution of social business?

Part of the problem is that social media and how it differs from traditional channels remains largely misconstrued. As a result, new opportunities, and the strategies, systems, and processes that support them, are either nascent or overlooked.

A social business is more than an organization that invests in a positive global footprint to overcome the world’s biggest problems, such as inequality and poverty. The term has developed to now also represent companies that are more open, transparent, and participatory in conversations and activity that defines markets. But the challenge is that social media strategists may actually be hampering its potential by not helping executives see the bigger picture beyond the technology.

Last month, Charlene Li and I published our latest Altimeter Group report, “The State of Social Business 2013.” In our research, we were surprised that businesses were still unsure of the role social media played enterprise-wide, beyond marketing and communications. Many, we found, were limited in scope and not universal in engagement with customers, employees, suppliers, partners, community, et al. Specifically, we learned that…

- Only half (52%) of companies say that their executives are informed, engaged, and aligned with the enterprise social strategy

- A mere 26% of organizations self-describe as being “holistic” in their social media approach, where business functions operate against an enterprise-level vision and strategy

- Just 17% of organizations self-described as being truly “strategic” in the execution of their social strategies

This month, Charlene and I are releasing the data charts from our latest report, plus additional material, to help strategists learn how to amplify or accelerate their social business strategy. The charts are available as stand-alone images on Flickr or as a complete deck via Slideshare. As always, this information is made available freely as part of Altimeter’s open research program. Please feel free to use the images or slides at work, in posts, on stage, or whichever way that helps you make a point or case.

Along with highlighting major issues (and opportunities) through this survey data, the presentation includes perspectives and inspirational quotes from executives and strategists at Sephora, Adobe, ARAMARK, Ford, Fidelity, Royal Dutch Shell, Wells Fargo among others.

We hope that you’ll find the slides in this presentation useful as resource and background material, as you continue to make your business case for social business.

[Slides] The State of Social Business 2013: The Maturing of Social Media into Social Business from Altimeter Group Network on SlideShare
Image Credit: Shutterstock

Today is #GivingTueaday – Please gift our stylish pocket squares and support cancer research

Wolf & Wylan – History of the Pocket Square – PART 5 from Jesse Redniss on Vimeo.

Joint post by Jesse Redniss and Brian Solis

Today is #GivingTuesday and we (Wolf & Wylan) have been officially selected by Crowd Funding platform Indiegogo as a “#GivingTuesday” Partner. This is great news as it means Indiegogo will match 1% of the funds we raise during #GivingTuesday.

As the holiday and giving season begins, we need your help.

We are personally very proud to announce that we established the Wolf & Wylan cause based initiative to raise awareness and support for the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF.org). In just a very short time, Wolf & Wylan has raised over $8,500 and has had a phenomenal response and support from the likes of Gary Vaynerchuk, Actor Chris Gorham, Jets kicker Ryan Quigley, Miss New York USA and Fashion Accessories expert Kimmie Smith. We were featured on ABC and have been spotted at the Latin Grammy Awards. But we have a long road to go and we NEED YOUR HELP!

W&W has partnered with world famous 3D Pop Art artist CHARLES FAZZINO (www.fazzino.com) to create a one of a kind pocket square design. 100% of the profit from the sales of the pocket squares will be donated to the designated cause. Yes, 100%

There are a number of ways to help. You can donate a nominal value as small as $1, receive a special Social Thank You card, accessorize your pocket with a gorgeous W&W pocket square or even buy the beautiful design as a piece of Fine Art in multiple mediums.

We are working with several small businesses that want to order our squares in bulk and send them out as corporate gifts to clients, we LOVE this approach and will be making contributions to the PCF.org in that company’s name, for which they will receive a Charitable Donation receipt from PCF.org. If you are interested in this approach, W&W would be happy to provide you with wholesale costing for orders over 25 squares. Email us here… wolfwylan@gmail.com.

Prostate Cancer affects ONE in every SIX men worldwide. With your support, we can help the Prostate Cancer Foundation fund research to find a cure, but we can only help IF YOU TAKE ACTION. There is no better time than now and no better place than RIGHT HERE: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wolf-wylan

Thank you for supporting this cause for a cure. And, have a wonderful holiday season!

 

Leadership Unplugged: Stripping out the noise to uncover a new direction

Guest post by Roland Deiser and Sylvain Newton

Twenty years ago, on November 18th, 1993, the music band Nirvana agreed to an unplugged performance at the Sony Music Studios in New York City. It was part of a television series called “MTV Unplugged”, which invited popular music groups to perform their songs “naturally”. Unlike in a studio, the sound of instruments would not be electronically amplified and engineered; the artists had rather to rely on the “raw” performance of a piano, a cello, or a guitar. The recording became a milestone of musical history: The album “MTV Unplugged in New York” went on to become number 1 on the Billboard 200, and Rolling Stone magazine ranked it as one of the “Greatest Albums of all Time”.

Defying all commonly held assumptions about what makes a great album – perfect sound, re-mastered tracks, and multiple takes – the Nirvana release stroke a very different chord with its audience. The technical imperfection of the recording was an asset, not a liability. It created a new, authentic, and emotionally powerful musical experience. The natural flaws inherent in playing unplugged brought the performers and their audience closer, the imperfection created a new kind of bond, a new kind of sharing artistic expression.

We would argue that the world of Leadership is ready for its very own “Unplugged” moment.

For centuries, we have held high the image of the perfect, charismatic, know-it-all leader, who excels in everything and in every situation. In this world, every act of communication gets rehearsed, polished, and re-mastered, so that messages become flawless, immune to criticism. Such a protective approach may work for stable organizations in stable times; in today’s volatile and fast changing world it puts leaders under an unbearable pressure to excel, and it detaches them from the world. And it creates an artificial barrier between those at the top and their teams, disinviting collaboration and engagement.

In the world of social media, the “Unplugged” philosophy has long arrived. The YouTube and Twitter generation couldn’t care less about polished videos or super-refined writing. They care about stuff that sparks their interest, they want the opportunity to chime in through comments and mash-ups, and they love communication in real time. For this demographic, a 140 character Tweet, or a “quick and dirty” video taken by a leader on a Smart Phone about insights gained during a customer visit will go a long way to create engagement, and it demonstrates a hands-on, agile leadership style.

Striving for perfectly crafted messages makes sense in the broadcasting world, where a message is “done” once it gets into a distribution channel. In the realm of social media, getting content “out” is only the beginning. The real relevance of a message unfolds once the audience responds and further develops its meaning, by rating, sharing, commenting, liking, re-tweeting, annotating, and so on. In other words: Messages become powerful through socially mediated “co-creation”. It is the involvement of the audience that upgrades the content from “noise” to “value”. Being able to produce messages that inspire others to engage in a process of co-creation becomes vital to any leader in search of an audience.

Compelling content may still be king in the new world of Social Media, but “context is the kingdom” – and a king without a kingdom won’t matter much. No matter how well we target and shape every piece of our communication – the audience will testify to its relevance through their process of active contextualization. If leaders like it or not – communication has become a multi-way street, it has become in its essence anchored in community. It’s a world in which the notion of perfection that tries to answer all questions has become dysfunctional.

When Nirvana recorded their unplugged performance in New York City, the bands lead singer Kurt Cobain insisted his guitar should be connected to his amplifier. His producer installed a fake box close to Cobain looking like a loudspeaker. It was his safe-guard to be willing to go “Unplugged”. What will it take you to go “Unplugged”?

Roland Deiser is a Senior Fellow at the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University and author of Designing the Smart Organization. Sylvain Newton is the Senior Leader at GE Crotonville Leadership. Author contacts: rd@rolanddeiser.com (twitter: @rolanddeiser) | sylvain.newton@ge.com (twitter: @sylvainnewton)

Image source: Nirvana Unplugged 20 Years Old