In this blog entry Josh Bernoff describes the POST framework he has helped develop at Forrester: People, Objectives, Strategy, Technology. This was the big idea at last October's Consumer Forum, it describes a methodology for business to approach consumers through social media. Check it out.
While Jesse and I were shooting one-on-ones at the Consumer Forum (and turning out 14 vids in 2 days across multiple platforms), Forrester had the big cameras aimed at the stage where the keynote speakers and panelists presented. Their videos have just been released here. In Real Player. I've got to say it: Forrester, why is your web video distribution ability still in 1999? Actual quote: "You can even email a video to a colleague." The Groundswell people could do better.
Charlene Li discusses the concepts from her forthcoming book Groundswell (co-authored with fellow Forrester researcher Josh Bernoff). Groundswell refers to the "spontaneous movement of people connecting, using online tools, taking charge of their own experience, and getting what they need – information, support, ideas, products, and bargaining power – from each other"...as opposed to marketers and other traditional sources of authority. The book revolves around the POST framework: People, Objectives, Strategy, Technology. Where do companies go wrong? Who is using social technology wisely? And how will she and Josh put the groundswell to work in the marketing of the new book? Find out more at forrester.com/groundswell.
More in-depth on the forthcoming book Groundswell. Forrester researcher Josh Bernoff (co-author with Charlene Li) talks about who should own social media in an organization, describes the five key strategy objectives of the groundswell: listening, talking, energizing, supporting and embracing, and talks about a couple of Groundswell Award winners.
"Reach consumers where they are." That's the promise of syndicated video from Brightcove. Problem is, syndicated video requires advertisers to give up control over the context in which their ads are shown. Jeremy thinks third party measurement services need to step up and start gathering more data about where syndicated content plays...but in this vid he discusses ad formats, ad content, and how online networks are way ahead of advertisers when it comes to innovation.
Ze discusses media as social capital, and why it's not important that everyone who connects with your video actually watch it fully. Ze lists all the ways he's monetized his content...he's also a social media consultant, and sits on the Advisory Board of Bazaarvoice, a company that provides consumer rating & review technology to retail websites. In this capacity he focuses on getting consumers "from 0 to 1", pushing them to take simple, minimal participatory actions. Ze thinks the old media/new media formulation is not super important, and seems to be pretty excited about some projects he has in development...and the possibility of a springtime writers/actors guild strike out in Hollywood.
"Be it. Don't Buy it." That's Richard Edelman's current mantra, and it refers to the idea that companies need to BE a good reality, rather than PURCHASING the appearance of a good reality. In his keynote session he spoke of the need to continuously learn, to push staff to "ski the hill hard", and acknowledged failures in the past (ahem Wal-Mart)...
Forrester's video specialist gets into what's wrong with online video measurement, what ad models are the most successful today, what's coming in the next 6-9 months, and what kind of interactive content might work best in online video ad slots. This guy is such a good talker (and I'm such a video geek) that we had to do this in two parts.
Forrester's James McQuivey on the state of online video, part 2.
Communispace and client Charles Schwab won of Forrester's Groundswell Awards in the category of Listening. Schwab community manager Mike Dumbroski talks about what makes a private managed community work, and the kind of marketable insights Schwab gets out of theirs. Disclosure: Communispace is a coBRANDiT client.
Known to many as the Web Strategist, Jeremiah is in week #2 as a Forrester Senior Analyst. He talks about what he brings to the job from his past positions at Hitachi and PodTech, corporate reaction to social media, and building brands online--personally and professionally.
David writes the well-known marketing blog Logic + Emotion and is VP, Experience Design at Critical Mass. He was on the "Always in Beta" panel at the Consumer Forum and we spoke with him about Permanent Beta at the Critical Mass booth...and checked out his cool mash-up.
How do you measure engagement? This was one of the big themes at the Consumer Forum. Analyst Brian Haven has broken it down into four elements to measure: Involvement (visits to a site or store), Interaction (click-thrus, transactions, reviews, uploads), Intimacy (sentiment, affection, touchy-feely stuff), and Influence (likelihood to encourage consideration). Ethnography can help figure out what to ask and how to measure (especially intimacy and influence), then you have to add up the numbers and put on your thinking cap. Brian's bottom line when it comes to marketing? Experiment...and measure.
Misha Cornes, editor of the excellent threeminds blog and lead strategist at Organic talks about three ways brands can connect with people: as badges (like Harley-Davidson), in brand-related communities (like fiskateers.com), or as providers of special experiences (like this from Wilkinson Sword, France). And with client Chrysler, his agency is going beyond advertising by using social media strategies to provide insights for product planning and design.
Playboy's Director of Operations on the interplay between professional and amateur content, new platforms, and the line between flattery and thievery when it comes to watermarked Playboy photos.
Marc emphasizes that marketing and advertising need to be driven by an understanding of human truths, not tools and technology. Brands will mesh authentically with these needs when they know who they are, and they know their audience. In other words, context is key. In his presentation, Marc also proclaimed positioning dead--the landscape is too fragmented, the world to large to present a brand in the same way in all places. The niche markets found through social media technologies demand individual approaches and nuanced methods.
That's where the action is for the next couple of days. Stay tuned for a new batch of marketing pro interviews coming out of Chicago courtesy of Forrester and your social media video source: coBRANDiT! We'll put the stuff out on blip.tv, youtube and facebook, which will in turn distribute to all sorts of places via rss, springwidgets, etc. etc. From Chicago we're flying to Buffalo NY to work on a project related to fantasy football...ever heard of My Football Tracker?
