The Science of Social Media

It was late in the evening when Mathew McCoy was going through his Facebook updates. As usual, he only took a fleeting glance at the updates and was about to log out when something struck him. It was the name of his start-up and a stream of comments about its services. The comments were constructive, he thought, as many in the network commented on their wonderful experience as well as areas of improvement. For McCoy, this was a highly credible channel and that too at low cost. An hour later, as he logged out, he was determined to continuously leverage the network and its member’s comments to the hilt. 

Business leaders and marketers, across the world, unequivocally agree about the inevitable focus they have to maintain on social networks as well as its power in generating and leveraging deep customer insights. According to a recent IBM study, ‘the customer activated enterprise,’ nearly seven in ten CxOs recognize the new imperative — a shift to social and digital interaction. Over half expect to meet an even more difficult demand: understanding and engaging the customer as an individual rather than as a category or market segment.

As McCoy hit the bed that night, several questions flashed across his mind. Who are these members? What could be their motivation? How can the company identify and engage them on an ongoing basis? Can their experience influence the others?  If yes, how can the company capitalize on the same?

According to Jonah Berger, author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On, there are six drivers for people to talk about a specific brand/product on the networks. The drivers are social currency, triggers, emotions, public, practical value, and stories. He further elucidates on the drivers. Social currency is the idea that people are more likely to talk about something the better and smarter it makes them look, and the more special it makes them feel. Triggers are why peanut butter makes us think of jelly—linking products and ideas to cues in the environment increases word of mouth. The more you can get people fired up, excited, or even feeling negative about something, the more likely they’ll be to pass it on: That’s emotion. Public refers to the idea that by making behavior more observable, so that it can be imitated, you make it more likely that your idea will catch on. When something has practical value—when it is useful—people share it with others to help them. And finally, stories enable you to wrap your product or idea in a narrative that carries your brand along for the ride.

Now, the next question. How can companies identify and engage them? IBM Research announced a product called Vibes that helps in narrowing down the target to 'Like-Minded Communities'. These communities are found by analyzing social interaction amongst digital natives (e.g., being connected on social networks like Facebook, twitter, etc, or calling each other) as well as the purchase history of the digital natives, together. Such communities have a unique characteristic with members being socially well-connected and having similar tastes. And, hence provide marketers with an alternative to the traditional micro-segments, with the added power of strong social interaction amongst the members.

For marketers keen on keeping a continuous tab on their brand, there is the power of Google to leverage. According to an article published in Forbes by Nate Elliot from Forrester, Google tracks what 800 million YouTube visitors watch and what they like; it also sees the most important social connections of its nearly 500 million Gmail users and tracks what they share. And crucially, the Google search index includes almost every review posted on any site online; the contents of billions of blog posts; and nearly everything posted on Twitter.

In its CEO study carried out in 2004, IBM had found that leaders ranked their own customers sixth on the list of all market factors they believed would drive the most change in their organizations. Today, digitally enfranchised and empowered customers lead the agenda for every CxO profession. Forward looking leaders are known to actively encourage customers and citizens to influence the decisions they make. Are you?

Giving Is Not For Adults

'You know what we got for Akshay's birthday?' asked my daughter to her brother while walking home from the day care. She was holding a chocolate cake. 'Don't worry, we will share it once home, ok?' she reassured as he stared at the chocolate-oozing cake. I was mightily impressed hearing this from the four year old. It occurred to me then that this was a result of my wife repeatedly emphasizing the need for them to share with each other whatever they received. All parents do. 

That was two years back.

After my recent Facebook post on 'giving,' I quickly checked with people around me about 'giving' and how, what, and when they would. All I got was diplomatic responses. Most said it depends on the situation. It is apparent. As adults, we tend to overlook what others would want, expect or like. We get conditioned into carrying out what we want. After all, we want to let others know how ambitious we are and so we'd rather focus on how fast we can climb the ladder of success. And, the thought of giving gets relegated - for another time - when we have enough time.

I came across 'the power of giving,' where the authors had this to say : Souls are like athletes who need opponents worthy of them if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers. That’s an insightful analogy, for just as your muscles weaken without physical exercise, so does your soul weaken without its special kinds of exercise. A great exercise for your soul is the practice of giving. As with physical exercise, the more you do it, the easier it is, and the stronger you will become. Can we exercise our souls?

End of Programmers

The advances in technology witnessed exodus of unimaginable number of workers, especially amongst renowned automotive manufacturers. That was couple of decades ago. And, when the industrial age workers paved way for the emergence of knowledge workers, the job losses and sufferings of those deprived of work were relegated to the annals of business history with the stamp of unskilled workers. And, of course the subsequent progress in computing and widespread automation ensured continuous focus on companies in the realm of technology.

Sometime during this phase saw the emergence of India as a knowledge factory, essentially a coding hub for the world. Blue-chip companies, Indian as well as foreign, established base in India to leverage cost arbitrage, which was set as a differentiator by early movers. Young engineers and graduates with no inclination to coding could find high-paying jobs as the industry matured. No one was bothered about the growing similarity of the Indian IT industry to the famed auto industry in the west that let go off thousands of workers.

A recent report in Economic Times could perhaps awaken the thousands of software engineers from their comfort zone. It is obvious. Many in India would soon be rendered jobless.  Anyone who has been watching the transformation in the travel industry would note the rapid changes owing to the burgeoning online travel portals. It was just an indication that automation and software can change our lives. It is also an indication that technology can replace people. There are two key factors that would prove to be a death knell for the once in vogue Indian programmers. One is the rapid technological change we are witnessing everyday over the last couple of years, which is forcing businesses to rethink and re-engineer their business and operating models. Secondly, the advancement in technologies is also forcing businesses to realize more value from their workers. In other words, there is now increased focus on improving productivity more than ever. Time for programmers to ask - What can I do, right now that would be the most powerful use of this moment?

Three imperatives for social media marketers

Progressive organizations are grappling with what could be the most effective strategy on social media. While consultants and practitioners draw up framework and present compelling case studies to persuade organizations into increasing their spend on this fast evolving and critical customer touch point, the perceived lack of appropriate metrics and limited understanding of potential outcomes appears to be constraints for in-house marketers and communicators. After a session on social media with John Bell, the following factors came to my mind as essentials for any organization’s success in social media. 

 

Be convivial: It is common to see organizations making themselves present in a plethora of social platforms without actively engaging themselves in any initiatives. Most often, the decision to be present is a result of the marketer’s reticent attitude; after all she should tick against that present in her to-do list. In a customer-centric platform, one cannot play a docile role, especially after marking your entry. Such a restrained approach also implies lack of appropriate investments in resources to ‘man’ the platform. In effect, the organization forcefully adopts a ‘mute’ strategy. No better case than what consulting giant McKinsey went through in 2011 when it struggled to appease media and others who questioned one of its reports.  When you plan to adopt social – be social. 

Transparent processes – Marketing and communication experts often ensure that the social media and brand guidelines are so exhaustive and stringent that proactive and enthusiastic bloggers within the company doze off after two pages or else are petrified of contributing. Organizations can instead create broad points which will ensure that social media ambassadors adopt a self-regulating approach when they venture into social media. The processes of marketing and communication in today’s ‘social’ era cannot be restraining. An increasing number of organizations are working towards personalization (knowing customers as individuals), creating a system of engagement; maximizing value creation at each touch point and finally, ensuring a standard culture (including brand promises). Well, it is safe to assume that such a move would start internally; understanding their own employees who are also potential customers.

An organization with such advanced systems in place can certainly create a transparent process wherein every employee can actively engage in social media and contribute substantially. 

Feedforward – Change in behaviour could potentially transform one’s life, let alone social media initiatives. A friend of mine, while trying to improve his firms social media initiatives, informed his content creator,’ let us build more such compelling Q&A’s as you did in the last month – they seemed to be engaging. By the way, we need to focus a bit more on improving the quality. Let me know what we can do.’ He had told me that the content creator was focused on increasing the number of articles and hence overlooked ‘attention to detail.’

Feedback focuses on the past and can be limited and static while Feedforward can make any initiative more fun and enjoyable.

God’s the Social Media

While young, it was common to hear elders saying, ‘remember, whatever you do, God’s constantly observing you.’ It was a tactic primarily adopted when they pre-empt something inappropriate from a youngster. God has become the social media today.

Today, we as individuals are tested in every step we take - an interaction in person or online. With eyes constantly trained on the mobile and keeping pace with the rapid flow of social media updates from friends, relatives and others, many often click intrusively into others personal matters or leave their pages open with little left for others to imagine. We are unquestionable treading into a world where there is no return. Many are known to have lost jobs because of their social media updates. Weird but true.    

Taking a leaf out of the new marketing normal wherein customers are increasingly being seen as individuals and not as segments, we should know that the same transparency that allows us to understand others as an individual; conversely allows others to understand everything about us. Further, this would mean that the dissonance between who we are and what we portray would be known to not just those who are in our network but by others whom we might not even know. Thus, in today’s connected world, the measure of one’s success would be a result of how authentically one balances the dissonance. Marketers attempt to close the gap between the brand promise by building a system to ensure that in every interaction brand and culture are one. The same should apply to individuals.

If you want to be good, be good.

Hubris Born of Success

When you are good at something, you tend to show off. Most often, when people ask you to share the success recipe, you extend an analytical response – simply attempted at making the recipe complex. If you’ve noticed, the next moment onwards, that analytical response starts playing in your mind and most often you fail to repeat your success. The shift from an intuition based success to one based on false analysis is pretty common. People who do this tend to add a swagger to their walk.  

   

I have noticed that with a cricketer who has been in the limelight recently for the wrong reasons. 

Success attracts skeptics. Indian Premier League has been no different. However, the last few weeks that has seen some of cricketing world's prominent personalities scurrying for legal cover seem to prove the skeptics right. Why do these people with the potential of furthering their success get themselves into such positions? Is there a lesson for others when such people can go from an iconic status to irrelevant? Jim Collins' book, 'how the mighty fall,' could perhaps provide some insights. As he writes, if companies such as Motorola, Circuit City, and Fannie Mae — icons that once served as paragons of excellence — can succumb to the forces of gravity, then no one is immune. After all, it is individuals who run these companies. 

Be it N.Srinivasan who was at the helm of affairs in cricket in India or Sreesanth or Vindoo Dara Singh - the common thread running through them is that they seem to have become insulated by success. Jim Collin's calls it 'hubris born of success.' People become arrogant, regard success virtually as an entitlement, and they lose sight of the true underlying factors that created success in the first place. Further, such an attitude leads to undisciplined pursuit of more—more growth, more acclaim, more of whatever those in power see as "success." People often stray from the disciplined creativity that led them to greatness in the first place, making undisciplined leaps into areas where they cannot be great or grow faster than they can achieve with excellence—or both.

So, what could be the solution?

It is important to learn to discount success and work incessantly to position one as stronger and better-positioned, as each day passes.