IBM & PwC for Social Media CR?

In past posts, I've discussed social media in light of standards and corporate responsibility. I received views from various parties, such as USC's Center for Telecom Management, PwC, and others.

Then I posted a link to IBM's reports on "Navigating the Media Divide."

As business and "social media" and forms of marketing evolve...we do see the need for standards and business models that incorporate standards. But how do you approach this from an international standpoint?

For example, iMediaConnection UK published the article, "Crossing the pond with your search engine marketing strategy", where Warren Cowan -- CEO of Greenlight -- refers to the need for cultural knowledge and domain knowledge to avoid not only case study-type marketing disasters but also for translating search campaigns to multi-country campaigns. But what does this mean in terms of standards and corporate responsibility?

Translation of words in meaning may have ethical but not legal liability, or vice versa or both. In using and interpreting "search data", what's the implication? Cowan refers to differences in quality and 'competitiveness of the term' and the impact on pay-per-click. What are the implications beyond pay-per-click ie. the use of this data? Cowan also describes the difference in rankings of international search engines and the need for strong multilingual and culturally fluent talent for site creation in non-domestic English-speaking regions.

The above example is from a marketer's perspective, but what about the impact on the user ie. the companies that go on to use the data obtained from search to develop user experiences or engage with users...?

Here's another example: a software company may produce a package for virtual meetings. Within this software is the capability for the "presenter" to hand over "remote access" to any member within the audience. Depending on the "presenter's" training/view of international relations...they may opt to give remote access to someone in say Burma. Now this Burmese audience member takes control over the presenter's computer to illustrate something within the presentation....However, the potential is there for the Burmese participant to have access to Internet websites that they otherwise wouldn't be allowed to or would be banned from usually in Burma. Potentially, the "presenter" could place the company, and even the country, and not to mention the Burmese, in a position of liability...why? Because a software was produced for sale with a remote function that technically "gets around" certain restrictive international "laws". And this software may have been developed based on "search data".

On another scale, we have privacy issues, such as a Facebook feature that shares what you automatically buy online without requesting consent to do so.

Marketers are developing strategies to "Get personal with your landing pages" -- to reach out to users on a more social and personal level. Although marketers should work to improve strategies, and all of us to improves products and services, we need to do so in a responsible manner.

PwC have produced two reports with US and International Perspective on the Rise of Lifestyle Media.

If standards are to be set for the multi-level use of social media,
1. Who should take the lead and who should be involved in developing these standards?
2. What should the business model look like that incorporates these standards?
3. How should standards be considered internationally?

Summary of findings from Independent Study on Corporate Blogs:

I started Biz Blog Review at http://bizblogreview.blogspot.com/ to research and evaluate corporate blogs for an independent study. For this study, I analyzed 32 corporate blogs for the Spring 2006 semester. These blogs are listed in my blogroll.

A summary of the study findings are as follows:

A link exists between the frequency of posts to a business blog and the number of comments which may be used to indicate how successful a blog is as a business communication tool. The analysis of data obtained from the study appears 'noisy' and even when transformed poses difficulties in interpretation. A number of outliers are present.

Corporate blogs have a specific business objective and the blog platform is designed to achieve that objective.

Stages of development are evident in the evolution of the corporate blog as it impacts the online community and the executive blogger. Vice President of Standards and Open Source at IBM -- Bob Sutor -- recently consolidated his blog creating an Open Blog on his site: www.sutor.com.

The personal voice of the executive blogger is an important connector to the audience in the writing process. Bob Lutz -- GM's Vice President -- is professional yet personally engages his audience while expressing a business message.

The psychology present in the corporate blog pertaining to the message and the executive, and how it impacts the blog function, is another captivating field to look at.

The blogroll (links to other business blogs) may be indicative of a corporate network if the executive blogger links to other corporate blogs.

Not all corporate blogs have obvious blog policies and liability statements, such as the Club Siemens blog. Comparing corporate policy on blogging is an area of study in itself.

Some corporate blogs cease after achieving a purpose or are not updated, such as the Nike Art of Speed blog and the Ford Mustang blog. The reasons why corporations stop blogging is also an intriguing domain to explore.

Certain blogs do not invite comment, but are effective even though posts average 5-10 a month, such as Randy's Journal belonging to Randy Baseler of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Some companies have a number of high profile executive blogs, such as Hewlett Packard, while others sport one executive blog only.

Corporate blogs are growing in number even though warnings of liability continue to echo from the legal community. Measuring the value of corporate blogs in terms of ROI is a fairly new field and is what the business of blogging boils down to.

Steps for CEO's to earn a good reputation with bloggers

Andy Sernovitz, CEO of Word Of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), suggests five steps CEO's can follow to earn a good reputation with bloggers at this link:[http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/7780.asp].

The Five Steps:

1. Follow the conversation
2. Participate
3. Show that you are listening
4. Convert critics when you can
5. Write for the record

Sernovitz addresses how CEO's can reduce the confusion on whether to "Talk to them [bloggers], ignore them, treat them as press, treat them as customers, do your own blog, comment on their blog" with the following advice:

* The last word counts most
* Recent posts get indexed
* Everything lasts forever on Google

And what this means for CEO's is that:

* You'll never be able to control the blogosphere conversation
* You'll never be able to manage your own blog coverage like you could with the press
* You should respond participate (not plant and initiate), earn respect, and tell your story
* Let your views be heard and end the dialogue on a positive note
* Let your own words speak for themselves, do not try to manage what other people say
* Become part of the online community

Secret of Blog Relations = Customer Service

"It's working with a vocal group of individuals who each have their own particular concerns and needs. It's looking at situations, addressing them, and getting them fixed however you can", says Sernovitz.

So CEO's need to:

1. Treat bloggers like important customers
2. Earn their respect through service and respect
3. Use metrics to track positive and negative comments -- how quickly you respond to concerns
4. Look at the percentage of issues resolved successfully and for ways to improve the resolution rate

The conclusion says Sernovitz, "So if you want a good rep [reputation] in the blogosphere, you need to be good."

BE GOOD!

Corporate Blog Evaluation Strategy

1. How many blog entries are made by the corporation/author?
2. How many participants exist?
3. How many comments exist?
4. How many links (blogroll) are on the site?
5. What search engine is used?
6. Does the blog have a blog policy and liability statement?
7. Who is the audience?
8. What is the writing style (formal/informal)?
9. What is the writing tone (personal/professional)?
10. What is the blog intent from the corporate and blogger perspective?

A scale of analysis for each evaluation step will be used when reviewing a sample of corporate blogs. The data will be collated and transformed into a statistical model for presentation.