2014 Corporate Social Media Summit: 15 Lessons In Social Business Strategy from the Biggest Brands in the World

1. LIVE EVENT SUMMARY REPORT:
15 Lessons In Social Business Strategy
From The Biggest Brands In The World
by
ROHIT BHARGAVA
Founder - Influential Marketing Group
2014 CORPORATE SOCIAL MEDIA SUMMIT
SAN FRANCISCO – SEPTEMBER 15-16, 2014
HOPE FRANK
CMO - Codenomicon

2. ABOUT THIS REPORT:
THE BACKSTORY
Every year the Corporate Social Media Summit gathers a collection of marketers from the world’s most influential brands to share their experiences on how social media is changing business. The event features panel discussions and plenty of actionable advice from attendees working in the trenches of social media. This year featured plenty of pioneering brands, new insights, and perhaps most significantly … a clear shift from the idea of “social media” to a growing embrace of the promise for “social businesses.” Brands are not just using social media, they are finally integrating it into businesses. This presentation gathers some of the best insights shared across the two day conference. We hope you enjoy and find them valuable!
Rohit Bhargava
Chairman, Corp. Social Media Summit
Founder, Influential Marketing Group
2-Time TEDx Speaker
Hope Frank
CMO, Codenomicon
Board of Advisors, CMO Council

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THE INSIGHTS AT A GLANCE:
WHAT WILL WE COVER?
Prologue: Start With Business Value – Rohit Bhargava (Chairman)
1.
Respect The Channel – Wells Fargo
2.
Everyone Is A Public Speaker – Conversocial
3.
More Human Wins – IBM
4.
Cater To Social Learners – TradeKing
5.
Ask Before Measuring – LinkedIn
6.
Create Benchmark Content – SocialBakers
7.
Become A Story Miner – Western Union
8.
Make A Bad Experience Better – U-Haul
9.
Invest In Your Community – Premier Farnell
10.
Communicate Directly – Intel
11.
Focus On Preference – StubHub
12.
Offer A Soapbox – SEGA
13.
Redefine Media – Wells Fargo
14.
Reject The Silos – Best Buy
15.
Commit To Digital + Social– The Kelloggs Company

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THE INSIGHTS:
A Detailed Look At The Insights Shared By Speakers …

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PROLOGUE
“Start With Business Value”
Rohit Bhargava Founder INFLUENTIAL MARKETING GROUP
ABOUT THE INSIGHT:
To kick off the conference, one of the insights Summit Chairman Rohit Bhargava initially shared was a chart on how to produce and think about business value. This chart and the four elements are provided below as a resource:

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INSIGHT #1:
“Respect The Channel”
Kimarie Matthews
Vice President, Social
WELLS FARGO
ABOUT THE INSIGHT: In sharing how Wells Fargo approaches customer care, Kimarie also noted that “no one who contacts you via Twitter wants to be moved to the phone.” Her point underscores an important distinction that more and more brands are starting to make about the channel a consumer is using and how “escalation” no longer means automatically moving a customer to the phone as quickly as possible. Rather, social businesses find a way to interact with customers in the channels the customers themselves are choosing – and providing a seamless experience no matter where they are contacted.

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INSIGHT #2:
“Everyone Is A Public Speaker”
Josh March
CEO & Founder
CONVERSOCIAL
ABOUT THE INSIGHT: One of the benefits of the rise in real time communication, according to comments Josh shared on his panel, is the benefit brands have to engage with people directly in the moment they are having an experience. He noted that for one retail client, over 14% of all tweets were originating from a customer that happened to be in store at that exact moment. This real time engagement creates big opportunities for smart brands to respond quickly to improve customer experience, but it also illustrates an important new fact – everyone is now a public speaker and has the power to help or hurt your brand.

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INSIGHT #3:
“Being More Human Wins”
Michelle Killebrew
Program Director, Strategy & Solutions
IBM
ABOUT THE INSIGHT:
In sharing insights about how IBM has built social business into how it operates, IBM’s Program Director of Strategy & Solutions also spoke about the potential for new automated technologies like Watson that can track real time conversations and help to manage and understand them. The potential for technology is clearly big, yet the most important caution Michelle shared with the audience is how important it still remains to maintain and human brand, and put real voices behind it.

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INSIGHT #4: “Cater To Social Learners”
Don Montanaro
CEO
TRADEKING
ABOUT THE INSIGHT:
In an engaging keynote one-on-one discussion with CSM Chairman Rohit Bhargava, Don shared plenty of interesting insights about the value of social media – including that his team has found that customers actively engaged with TradeKing on social media tend to generate five times more referrals and are three times more likely to be active users of TradeKing. One of his most powerful points, though, related to content marketing and how his ideal audience for content was not based on demographics (ie – younger customers) but rather on the behaviour of choosing to learn in a social context by sharing with others. These so-called “social learners” may be the ideal target audience for content marketing efforts from many other brands as well.

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INSIGHT #5: “Ask Before Measuring”
Lutz Finger
Director, Data Science
and Data Engineering
LINKEDIN
ABOUT THE INSIGHT:
One of the most entertaining speakers of the day was recent LinkedIn employee Lutz Finger who shared insights on everything from how much of the data companies track is fundamentally flawed to the rise of bots designed to attack reporting metrics and wreak havoc on ad impressions. Amidst his insight, he repeated a mantra that he often shares with brands to ask first, and measure second. The important thing, he notes, is to know what you are asking before you start blindlessly measuring. Earlier this year, he released a book with a title incorporating this idea called “Ask, Measure, Learn.” The book is currently available for sale on Amazon.

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INSIGHT #6:
“Create Benchmark Content”
Evan James Marketing Manager SOCIALBAKERS
ABOUT THE INSIGHT:
Speaking about the power of content marketing, Evan James shared some techniques that have worked to help his company SocialBakers to reach brand marketers and influencers. One of the keys to his success has been building reports that brands can use as “benchmarks” to measure their own performance against industry standards. These types of benchmarks not only inspire an emotional reaction (who wouldn’t want to know where they rank?) but also serve an even more important role … they provide the ammunition to help brand marketers secure more budget for their efforts. By doing this, the content SocialBakers puts out can be predictably useful and valuable for their very specific and targeted audience.

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INSIGHT #7:
“Become A Story Miner”
Karen O-Brien Senior Director, Social Media WESTERN UNION
ABOUT THE INSIGHT:
With a 160 year old brand, there is no shortage of stories to tell. In fact, as Western Union Senior Director of Social Media noted, “we have more #TBT (Throwback Thursday) content than anyone.” Yet as tempting as the archival desire to forage backwards in time for stories may seem, Karen and her team have their sights firmly focused on today and the future. One of their most recent campaigns featured reunions between Filipina moms and their kids who they have been separated from for long periods of time. As a brand that helps people send money globally, Western Union focuses much of its effort in social on an audience the brand describes as “dual belongers” – who call two countries home. The stories they tell come from listening to these customers, seeking stories the same way a miner might seek raw materials, and then turning those stories into emotional content that helps build loyalty for the brand.

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INSIGHT #8:
“Make A Bad Experience Better”
Toni Jones
Social Media Director
U-HAUL
ABOUT THE INSIGHT: If there is one fact that unites anyone that has ever had to move, it is that we all hated it. So when U- Haul first went online to track social media for sentiment, it was all bad. Yet as Social Media Director Toni Jones shared, this was a huge opportunity for the brand to elevate outside this common emotion. You will never make people happy about moving, but what if you could improve the experience? So that’s what U-Haul sets out to do, with an ambitious slate of content designed to educate people about planning their move better. The brand produces articles and videos, and offers products to help as well. Yet the most successful recent campaign has been an effort to add a bit of fun into moving by asking people to share their selfies of themselves with a truck. The photos are featured on real life trucks, “uhaulfamous” consumers flock to find themselves featured on trucks, and everyone wins.

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INSIGHT #9:
“Invest In Your Community”
Sagar Jethani
Head of Global Content
PREMIER FARNELL
ABOUT THE INSIGHT: The Element 14 community supported by electronics distributor Premier Farnell may just be the most powerful online professional community you’ve never heard of. Yet for several years now, Sagar Jethani has been working to build an engineering community that is now over a quarter of a million users and growing. The site features educational content, competitions, engaged users, and plenty of highly technical conversation. The most interesting thing, however, is the story Sagar shares of the evolution of the community into a supporter of individual members who are now going off to launch new inventions, and new companies. It’s one thing to build a community where people can connect. The power of Element 14 is to offer a springboard for any active member to launch a company with the support of Premier Farnell and 250,000 other engineers behind them.

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INSIGHT #10:
“Communicate Directly”
Jennifer Lashua
Editor In Chief
INTEL
ABOUT THE INSIGHT:
Intel is one of the most active brands in social media – and an early user of nearly every social platform that any brand might use today. The most powerful benefit of social, as Intel Editor In Chief Jen Lashua shared, is the fact that it offers Intel the first chance in its history to speak directly to consumers. If you consider Intel’s storied component marketing approach of having tech brands feature the four chime “Intel bong” at the end of their ads … the brand has evolved greatly. As Jen shares, the benefits of communicating directly with customers go two ways as well. Not only can Intel build more relationships, but through social the brand also has the opportunity to capture smart and engaged feedback on many other topics as well.

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INSIGHT #11: “Focus On Preference”
Joe Nolan
Head Of Social Media
STUBHUB
ABOUT THE INSIGHT:
In a commoditized market like online ticket sales, the only way to stand out is by building a brand connection that matters to people. StubHub is routinely one of the most frequently mentioned brands on social media, rivalling mentions with far larger household name brands like Nike and Microsoft. As StubHub head of social Joe Nolan shared, the key to measuring the impact of all their efforts comes down to segmenting them into two distinct categories. The first are social activities that drive direct ticket sales – measured by links to ecommerce transactions. The second is activities that engage users and build brand preference. In a market like online ticket sales, where consumers have many choices of vendors to buy the same tickets from – building this preference makes a huge difference to the bottom line.

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INSIGHT #12: “Offer A Soapbox”
Kellie Parker
Senior Community Manager
SEGA
ABOUT THE INSIGHT:
Being community manager for some of the most iconic video game characters in the world may seem like the perfect role to focus solely on content creation, but SEGA Senior Community Manager Kellie Parker spoke about an interesting truth she discovered while dealing with the many fans of Sonic and other SEGA characters … people want to create their own content. The lesson is an important one for anyone working in a brand with some highly vocal enthusiasts – because it forces you to shift your question from “what can I create?” to “how can I help make my fans famous?” Through innovative ideas like “Fan Art Fridays” where fans can submit their own artwork featuring Sonic or “Travel Tuesdays” where you can take your own photos of Sonic traveling the world and submit them online – Kellie and the team at SEGA find creative ways to engage fans and fuel their passion.

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INSIGHT #13:
“Redefine Media”
Alan Elias Senior Vice President WELLS FARGO
ABOUT THE INSIGHT:
“We can no longer depend on media to tell our story.” With this powerful statement of something many in the communications space will immediately recognize to be true – Wells Fargo SVP Alan Elias went on to share that at his bank they are redefining media and PR itself. “PR now stands for publishing and media,” Alan shared – as he noted that the way Wells Fargo approaches everything from traditional media and analysts to online influencers has completely changed and evolved. The lesson for any brand looking to similarly shift their media and PR focus is that there are more ways to publish and take back control of your own brand story from the third party news sources … so you need a plan on how to do it.

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INSIGHT #14:
“Nobody Controls Social”
Gina Debogovich Global Social Media Manager BEST BUY
ABOUT THE INSIGHT:
For years Best Buy has been a pioneer in developing new customer care programs using the social channel. In her comments at the event, Best Buy Global Social Media Manager Gina Debogovich shared that within her organization, nobody owns Social. Instead it can only be achieved by exceptional collaboration. She shared that her customer social response is 24/7 365 within 15 minutes and they have built and leveraged the knowledge transfer of their brand cross functionally for the Center of Excellence.

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INSIGHT #15:
“Commit To Digital + Social”
Kathleen Noble
Associate Director Of Social Media
THE KELLOGG COMPANY
ABOUT THE INSIGHT: At Kellogg, a commitment to digital strategy, customer behavior and brand life cycle remain key to inform the 50 + suite of brands under the company’s management. For Kathleen, the focus of efforts must be digital and social to structure and merchandise the core voice of the brands. As a result, she shared the importance of focusing on infrastructure and team – including building a high quality center of digital excellence, where social plays at the hub with direct responsibility to a broader circle of influence. Key among her suggestions and advice was that brands need to make a definite commitment to digital and social and then follow through with the right mix of execution and training.

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BONUS INSIGHT:
How To Get Content Shared
Lou Dubois
Social Media Editor
NBC NEWS

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THE TWEETS: A Gallery Of The Best Tweets Shared By #CSMSF Attendees …

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UNDER CURATION COMING SOON!

24. ABOUT ROHIT:
The Full Bio …
Rohit Bhargava is the founder of the Influential Marketing Group and a longtime digital marketing pioneer that has advised global brands on digital and social strategy for more than 15 years. He helped start the first digital and interactive division at Leo Burnett back in 2000 while living in Australia, and later co-founded the world’s largest group of social media strategists in 2004, just six months after joining Ogilvy in the US.
He is the winner of a Gold Atticus thought leadership award from WPP and has published five best selling business books on topics as wide ranging as how to build a more human brand, the future of healthcare, and trends changing the way we buy and sell anything. Likeonomics, his second book ,was shortlisted for Best Sales/Marketing Book Of 2012 and ranked the #7 best selling book in America when it was first published.
A sought after speaker, he has been invited to deliver keynote presentations in 27 countries around the world, spoken at 2 TEDx events, and routinely delivers more than 100 presentations a year to audiences ranging in size from 5 to 5000.
Outside of his consulting and speaking, Rohit is a Professor of Global Marketing at Georgetown University, and lives in the Washington DC area with his wife and two young sons. He is a lifelong fan of anything having to do with the Olympics (he’s been to four so far!), and actively avoids anything having to do with cauliflower (yuck!).
Rohit Bhargava
rohit@trustimg.com
@rohitbhargava

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