Lighter Side

Since we are pretending to be on vacation this week... here is a a fun Pacman poke at Social Media:

(Thanks Nick at RhinoSEO)

VRM - Vendor Resource Management

Yes, another acronym to share - VRM - Vendor Relationship Management. This one captures the value of the efficiencies of the Internet... making relationships easier. People may not want to have a "relationship" with all their vendors, but having control over the ones they do want is important.

VRM combines a customer-centered philosophy about industry guidelines and the technology platforms for making interactions more efficient and effective. The above graph shows which process is in place during the phases of customer relationships.

Our clients have asked us to assess the "best practices" being developed from this initiative in relation to "Social CRM" ... a must read is this recent Terametric Blog post Top 10 Reasons Why Social Media ROI is Possible. The key is that we must measure and assess across all our activities. This is hard work and we are trying to make it as easy as possible.

Last week Doc Searls led the CRM + VRM 2010 conference at the Berkman Center at Harvard. Here are notes from the event by Trust Fabric.

More here on VRM -  Below are some details:


By providing customers (and users) with their own tools for managing relationships with vendors, Doc sees VRM as “a way to fulfill one of the promises of The Cluetrain Manifesto” — the widely-cited website and book written in 1999 by Doc and three other authors. An excerpt:

Doc believes that customer reach will only exceed vendor grasp when customers acquire tools for the job. Encouraging development of those tools has been ProjectVRM’s primary work since the project was launched in late 2006. Since then the VRM community has grown to include many development projects, companies, allied associations and individuals. The community’s work is outlined in the project wiki, 

Stay tuned for more of our POV as we look at deployments that prove the value of VRM role in the evolving formula for better Sales and Marketing.

Start Making Sense

What do you need to know?

To make decisions, you probably don't need lots more data, you just need the right info. We are over whelmed with information and it's not getting better - yet. Google is Good but it can't keep up.

The below video interviews are with the cool smarty-pants that are helping restructure the Internet and give meaning to the data so we can get the information we want. It's called the Semantic Web and it's a real geek fest... so be warned. Recent NYU Grad Katy Ray attempts to answer the Web 3.0 question; "Does the Web make sense ... or do we makes sense of the Web?"

The point is that we must rely on our media and data research specialists to sift and filter and assess ... until these folks fix the deluge of info so it can be served up into tasty, relevant cocktails.


Web 3.0 from Kate Ray on Vimeo.

Tech Pundit (and Geezer) Dave Wieneke has once again inspired us to re-think. Thanks Dave for this video link.

Location Location Location

Here is a guest post from Chuck Tanowitz, one of our team at Creative Business Development. He writes about the demographics of the new location-based Social Media consumer.

For more on our POV on Mobile, check out our participation and coverage of the recent Mobile Marketing Forum at the Waldorf in NYC. Particularly relevant is this presentation on restaurants and Loyalty Programs

(Above is a heat-map of Facebook users, It has doubled in a year)

Take it Chuck....

We often get questions regarding social media along the lines of "What should I do about Facebook" or "I have this Twitter account but we don't have many followers, what do I do? Honestly, each social network has its own advantages and disadvantages, but it's best to learn a bit about their makeup to fully understand how to use them together.

Let's take the idea of a travel-based company that wants to reach people who drive decisions. In that case it would pay for them to focus on growing services like Twitter and Foursquare and then extend relationships from those networks into places like Facebook. A Fall 2009 study by the Pew Internet American Life Project found that the growing Twitter user base tends to be younger, more connected and more likely to be users of multiple mobile devices than other people on the Internet. In all, 19% of Internet users acknowledged using Twitter or a similar service, but that number jumps to 35% when limited to people who use Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn.

Facebook, meanwhile, has moved from a curiosity to "major media." Roy Wells on Social Media Today calculates that 41% of all Americans are on Facebook. That is not just a slice of the Internet-using population, but a slice of the full American population.

Their engagement on this site isn't just cursory, according to a Nielsen report the average active user logs onto Facebook slightly more than 19 times a month and spends nearly 6 hours there.

At the other end of this mass-media spectrum are Location-based Social Networks (LBSN), the most famous of which is Foursquare. This market is quickly changing with the August 18 announcement from Facebook that it has entered the location game.

Recently Forrester Research made noise by suggesting that marketers avoid Foursquare because of its small user base.  While this may be a problem for some brands, for others it offers a great opportunity to test location-based programs while this area is growing, especially for those whose business is about location, such as travel or retail stories. The same research that Forrester used to base its "don't use it" suggestion also revealed that LBSN users are highly influential; they are nearly 40% more likely than other online adults to be asked their opinion about a purchase.

But if you need more evidence of the power of the LBSN, Facebook just announced its own location-based service. It will take time before we can see if this will take hold like the others (Facebook also has a marketplace that hasn't yet made a dent in Craigslist) but it will be interesting to watch. Working with a LBSN early in the process enables companies to gain valuable experience in the effectiveness of such programs before integrating it with a more robust Facebook campaign.



 - - Thanks Chuck!


The value of a customer has always been debated. Now the formula is even more complicated as demographic profiles become richer with data - Likes, posts, comments, Tweets, RT, watching videos, Groupons, locations, etc... We are constantly evaluating the short and long-term value of the Social Media customer...

"The value of a Facebook fan is more than just a number. It is equal to the same value you would place on someone who has agreed to become a part of your brand’s daily on-going activity for the long term and even promote it to his friends and family on occasion. The value of a Facebook fan is the same value you would place on someone who actually cared enough to show you he likes you or your actions. The value of a Facebook fan cannot be measured using the same measurement system as old traditional media. It calls for a new form of measurement which takes into account a whole new set parameters including the “liker’s”  level of engagement with the brand, duration of being a “liker” and more.  The value of a fan in my mind, well, is priceless." (From Ayelett on TNW)

Netweaving Revisited

A few years ago I made up a term, "Netweaving", as the best way to benefit from a networking event.

- Here is an updated definition:

NetWeaving is simply, "What can I do for you?" rather than "What can you do for me?" The results are fantastic when people involve themselves in others' needs. In traditional networking, you show up to work the room and try to make a few contacts. At a NetWeaving event, all the people in the room are trying to make connections for each other.  

NetWeaving is connecting people, and positioning yourself as a resource to others.

It's more than a nifty philosophy of "what goes around, comes around." This attitude shift helps give you the key to business success... ready?... a direct and real learning of the needs of others. Plus you get the benefits of being challenged to draw on your full range of resources - interest, intelligence, and contacts.

As Social Networks grow and make it easier to connect, let's make sure there is quality, not just quantity, in the connections

So, listen for opportunities to bring new people together. Move around and make connections. Use your tech tools to cast a wider "Net" - Twitter and Poke and Post to your community that there is an opportunity to meet, and perhaps help, someone relevant to them.

Appreciative people will increasingly confide in you to maximize your guidance. That's where you get the truth about where you can really participate.

Netweave your network.... add your value and increase the quality of the connected users in your own version of Metcalfe's Law.



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