One of my favorite strategy bloggers, Jeremiah Owyang, has been writing some excellent digest posts lately, and it's got me thinking. Some marketing managers simply lack the time to read weekly updates, so I'm going to package developments that impact the B2B and B2C social graph in a monthly roundup format.
Every day, while I commute, I read my feeds on my trusty iPhone, and jot down notes on my notepad. I'm gunning to figure out which ones will likely have a big impact for marketing managers and CMOs over the course of the next year. These roundups are going to come out once a month, generally near the end of the month.
Development #1: Advertising agency McKinney, eschewing the conventional corporate holiday card mailing, "incarerates" 24-year-old production coordinator Ben Eckerson in a snowglobe. (12/13)
Why It Matters: The snowglobe was one of the most innovative B2B viral marketing campaigns ever. In addition to creating a solid social media-optimized campaign (live video feed, Facebook page, MySpace page, blog, social bookmark links, online store) McKinney leveraged the opportunity to create an HR bonanza, linking to "Jobs At McKinney" on every page. In its third day, CBS' Early Show picked up on the story.
Business Value: By using a lot of creativity and an even measure of social media to optimize a seemingly mundane corporate communications platform, the holiday card, McKinney made national news, dozens of blogs, and likely netted a few really creative young hires. I'll check in with them in 60 days to see if that part worked.
Actionable: In addition to reviewing the environmental impact of your company's holiday communications platform, brainstorm about how this social initiative can be more social media-ready. Could the spring company picnic invite be an internal viral video instead of 500 flyers in peoples' mailboxes?
Development #2: Worklight releases a secure Facebook application, Workbook. (12/18)
Why It Matters: It's one of the first Facebook SAAS (software-as-a-service) offerings, and for $10 per person (less volume discounts), it's probably the priciest Facebook application. It ties in the the Worklight 2.0 platform that's being used by Global 500 companies to the Facebook social networking platform.
Business Value: Although many enterprise businesses see social networking as a time-sink and incompatible with their corporate culture, a growing number are beginning to see the light, no pun intended. ZDNet's Dan Farber has the scoop on most of the features, and most of it looks like a cross between Spigit and a really hip-looking intranet. The key difference: many younger employees are already very comfortable working in the Facebook platform.
Actionable: Find out just how many of your employees are on Facebook. A departmental sample will do. Find out how many of them would be willing to use a secure intranet-linked application in Facebook, if they were certain that it would not use their personal information. You could also prepare a brief presentation on enterprise applications that live outside the firewall in social networks (Worklight) or prepare a discussion on whether the Google-led Open Social initiative will be compatible with enterprise networks.
Development #3: IBM launches a maven detector with the Lotus Notes application, called IBM Atlas. (12/18)
Why It Matters: Lotus Notes has one of the largest installed user bases of any integrated desktop client, and was the first already-installed enterprise app to integrate wikis, blogs and RSS. The bad news is that the platform has steadily been losing market share to Microsoft for the last four years.
Business Value: Companies can find out who the key expert is on a given topic (whether it's the CEO or the janitor) using an already-installed platform.
Actionable: Find out who within your company (if your company uses Lotus Notes) makes the collaboration decisions. Find out what they know about the informal network or the Valdis Krebs. If it's relevant, write a proposal that your brand evaluate Atlas. This recent article by Elizabeth Bennett could also be helpful background material. [Thanks to Paul Gillin for the last one!]
Development #4: Pligg prepares the launch of Fraxi, a product that allows people to set up quick Digg-like social news aggregators, much like Ning allows users to set up social networks in minutes. (12/19)
Business Value: Brands that aren't very tech-savvy will be able to set up vertical specific news-sites and enable community interaction, without overhauling their entire website.
Actionable: Talk to your team about how current conversational portals are doing on your site, in terms of engagement, and see if installing something like Fraxi could increase that level of engagement.
Development #5: Pew releases a Teens and Social Media study, updating their 2005 teen content creators study and releasing technographics data that will have a big impact. (12/27)
Why It Matters: Nearly 2/3 of all online teens in 2007 engage in content creation, and that number is up from 57% in 2004. The study also highlights some key gender differences (girls are 14% more likely to blog than boys, and also 14% more likely to post online photos)
Business Value: While this news is not exactly earth-shattering, given the proliferation of YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and related content platforms, seeing the numbers behind the hunches makes tactical decisions easier for marketers.
Actionable: Tailor marketing programs that touch teen stakeholders to be in line with this technographic data.
Development #6: A huge uptick in the usage and amount of municipal social networks in medium-sized cities like Philadelphia and Albuquerque.
Why It Matters: As newspapers continue to fold and media continues a trend towards consolidation, small social networks are stepping in to fill the gap. The people who go to these networks are not "eyeballs." They are people engaging in conversation.
Business Value: These are highly visible conversations about and within a highly segmented local market. These social networks are a marketer's paradise, because the audience is highly engaged.
Actionable: If you work for a Convention and Visitors Bureau, make a case to start a social network, now. If you work for a newspaper, find out what steps your publication (or corporate parent) has taken to allow social collaboration and conversations on your web property. Because if it isn't happening on your site, it's happening somewhere else.
Thanks for taking the time to wade through the whole list. Please leave me comments if you think there were any big hits from December that I may have missed.
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