The Social Ecosystem: Developing Social Usage Guidelines

Rules….   Guidelines….  It does not matter if you are in the 38% of companies blocking social media (in the United States), are leaving social media access wide open, or are looking to strategically leverage The Social Ecosystem.  Guidelines about what is, and is not, acceptable, are critical to the success of your Social Organization.

There are hundreds of great examples of real-world Social Usage Guidelines available across the web.  This post is providing you with a template that you can use to create a set of guidelines for your organization, your Social Organization.

Note that any set of organizational guidelines need to be regularly enforced. I would recommend that Social Organizations review these with new employees and give regular, quarterly is best, training sessions for all employees.  The use of social media is too much a part of how people live to simply train once and expect people to remember your rules.

Also note, only 20% of companies worldwide have a policy for their employees (according to Manpower, see below).  Do not make this mistake.

Without further ado, here is our template.

OVERVIEW

You should make it clear, at the top of your guidelines, that the document applies to both internal and external usage of social media strategies and tool.   Helping people understand that different expected behaviors on both sides of their home/work life is critical for establishing guidelines that make sense to everyone.

Clearly note that this guideline document is supplemental to other existing employee guidelines such as the employee handbook.

LICENSING

Clearly state ownership rules for content created by your employees.  I favor the use of Creative Commons, as used on my blog, but what you use is dependent upon your market, your business, your legal team.  Whatever model is used simply make it clear in the licensing section.

Note that you may also have exceptions in place worth noting.  For example, perhaps research information follows one licensing model while marketing information follows another.  The rules are up to you, of course,  just make them clear.

If you are interested in learning more about Creative Commons check out their web site.

DEFINITIONS

Take the time to clearly define the terms being used by your organization.  The State Department’s Social Guidelines provides a good example. 

GUIDELINES

While the guidelines you define will reflect your Social Organization there are some basics that I feel you should add.  These include:

• There should be different expectations and guidelines established around the use of personal and organizational accounts.
  • Provide guidance on how to indicate if the account is private or organization owned.
  • Make it clear that personal accounts reflect personal opinions, not the opinions of the organization.
• Be clear about what happens if your employees fail to follow the guidelines.  No one wins if you are unclear.
• Note that employee goals and objectives, or equivalent, will go into more detail about how these tools fit into their job function and that achieving defined goals remains the number one priority.
• Provide guidance on the use of appropriate language
• Provide guidance on the types of information that can, and cannot be, shared.
• Provide guidance on how to respond to various request types (e.g. customer service or sales requests).
• Remind employees to listen first, respond second.
• Be clear that comments made are always on the record when responding through the organization’s accounts. 
• Be clear about ownership. If you respond to customer through a social channel the customer considers you the owner of their questions.  Don’t fail them.

Let me know if there are other pieces you would like to see added.

John

If you need help from The Lab, drop me a note. If you would like to view more case studies and interviews, or just want to read about The Social Ecosystem, click on the links and let me know your thoughts.

Getting started within The Social Ecosystem, a checklist

Last November I built a short series to help organizations with their 2010 Social Media Plan.  The series was well received and I think we all learned a lot in the process of writing and commenting back and forth.

Sometimes, however, it really helps to boil things down to a simple checklist, keeping it simple to execute and simple to understand.  I was really excited when I saw Andrew Wilson, Web and New Media at Federal Government – HHS – SAMHSA, post a really good checklist for getting started with Social Media.  I immediately reached out to Andrew to see if I could build off of his checklist to give something to help people within The Social Ecosystem and he was nice enough to agree (Thanks Andrew).

Before we construct the checklist it is important to keep in mind that you must always define your goals up front.  No checklist is perfect on its own.  While it is a great guideline, it is only that, it needs to be modified  to meet the goals you have set forth.

The target audience for this checklist is individuals, groups, or organizations that have no real social media presence and who are seeking to get started.  This is a great starting point for this audience because it focuses on no cost tools and minimal time investment while seeking to maximize your return.  Now, it is true that you get what you pay for and that, as  you progress within The Social Ecosystem you will outgrow this checklist and the tools we discuss.  However, since we are including measurement and goal setting you will be able to decide when you are growing out of this framework and need to move into the Advanced Checklist

Goal Setting

• What are you trying to do?  Are  you just trying to learn about the platforms or is this part of an individual or organization effort.
• What does success look like a month from now?  What does failure look like a month from now?
  • At the beginning focus on simple measures like # of retweets, number of followers, number of fans.  Do not focus on lead generation in month one, you will fail.
• Check out the Social Media Guidelines put together on Mass.gov as the State of Massachusetts has done a nice job providing toolkits for various social media accounts, for security, and for legal guidance.

Setup

To minimize daily execution time you want your social media channels and monitoring setup at the beginning.  I urge you to set up the following channels and, if possible, use the same account name, logos, and profile descriptions throughout. Each channel is simply a way for you to interact with your audience, your customers, your citizens, and they expect a consistent experience.

• Create an account on Twitter.  Andrew notes “The Government Social Media Subcouncil Wiki has links to many good guidance docs, including EPA’s Twitter guidance which can be found at http://govsocmed.pbworks.com/EPA-Social-Media-Guidance-Documents“
• Create an account and page on Facebook. If you are a B2C Organization or a Local Government this is a must have in my opinion.  Others can skip this.
• Create a YouTube account.  Check out the great Youtube toolkit put together by Mass.gov. If your organization is not yet ready to deliver content on YouTube skip this setup.  Most organizations at this stage are not ready so do not feel bad if you fall into this category.
• Create a Slideshare account. Andrew’s post does a great job of leveraging Slideshare for sharing a Word document. You can leverage Slideshare for PowerPoints and other content as well.
• Create a Foursquare and Gowalla account.  If you are a B2C Organization or a Local Government this is a must have in my opinion.  Others can skip this.

Andrew nails it when he discusses setting up free monitoring solutions.  Simply copying what he has already proposed for completeness:

• Google Reader: Set up a Google Reader account for your organization (http://www.google.com/reader).   This will be used as the hub to monitor social media activity
• Twitter Search: Search on three terms relevant to your organization & add to Google Reader (http://search.twitter.com/). 
  • These terms could be the name of your organization, its acronym, issues relevant to your mission or issues that are of particular relevance or importance. Multiple word searches should use quotes. Click the “Feed for this Query” icon at the top right to add each of these to your Google Reader account.
• Google Alerts: Search on three terms relevant to your organization & add to Google Reader (http://www.google.com/alerts).These could be the same words as for the Twitter search but it alternate terms can be used. Relevant settings should be: Type: Everything – this will catch news, blogs, video, etc.Deliver to: Feed

Personally, I still rely on Google Reader as I have set up feeds for dozens of my favorite blogs and scan this at least twice daily.

Execution

Minimize execution time, that is part of the focus of this checklist.  Andrew proposed a 20 minute daily process which is perfect for starting out.  As you begin to see results you will want to double this, spending 20 minutes just before, or just after, lunch and 20 minutes at the end of the day.

• Monitor (10 min): As Andrew suggests, “Read through feed items in Google Reader.   If you don’t get through everything, mark the remainder as read. Watch for and note individuals that are getting significant attention or appear to be either strong advocates or critics of your organization or work.”
• Post (5 min): As Andrew notes post at least once daily on the accounts you have set up (most likely just Twitter).
  • If you found an article in Google Reader that is relevant to your audience share it.
  • If your organization is already blogging and has posted something new, share it.
  • DO NOT tell your audience what you had for lunch everyday either.  In time you want to personalize your efforts but when starting out focus on adding value in terms of sharing great content.
• Engage (5 min): I agree completely with Andrew when he notes “Find ways to interact and begin building community.  Example could Retweeting (RT) other accounts, finding new accounts to follow, thanking new followers, thanking people for mentioning your organization or your work.”
  • If you find other news sources that you should monitor add them back to your Google Reader feed.

Measurement

At the beginning of this process  we discussed the need to define your goals, define what success and failure looks like.  Every month, take 30 minutes to review:

• Are you executing as planned?  If you are going over the suggested time,  or not executing daily, than you are failing.  Correct this immediately. 
• Review what success and failure is supposed to look like, in terms of real numbers, at this point.  Set your targets for next month.
  • For the first three months only focus on simple measures, only focus on following the checklist above.

Every three months step back and have a longer review session and ask yourself:

• Is this effort worthwhile?   In the majority of cases the answer will be Yes.  However, the answer is not YES for every individual and every organization so answer this question.
• Are you ready to become truly strategic in your approach?  In the beginning of this process you are not truly strategic in the sense that you have not yet mapped  your efforts to higher level individual or organizational goals.

Some will never need to go beyond this level of investment.  However, through goal setting and measurement/review you will be able to make an informed decision if, and when, it is time to take this to another level.

John

If you need help from The Lab, drop me a note. If you would like to view more case studies and interviews, or just want to read about The Social Ecosystem, click on the links and let me know your thoughts.

The Social Ecosystem: Developing your business case

In order to do a good job, achieving true success over a long time, you must always start with a clear understanding of your goals.  Yes, I will continue saying that until everyone I talk to repeats “start with the goal in mind”.  Please repeat after me….  Start with the goal in mind.

Jess Weiss, Project & Social Media Coordinator for Mass.gov, touches upon the why in a good post she wrote not long ago.  She says it well when noting “It all goes back to that original question: “why.” Not every social media platform or social community works in every situation. By asking “why” we take that first step towards creating a communications strategy”.

The Social Organization should always start off their efforts with a business case.  A business case that clearly explains the why.  A business case that explains the cost and the expected return on the investment.  To help you in this effort I am including a business case.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Briefly explain what your project is for, what are the goals.  Include a summary of:

• How much will this project cost in both time and money?
• How much money will this project earn or save the organization?
• How long will it take to see a return on this investment?  For example, the return on investment (ROI) over three years will be 82% with a payback period of 18 months.

ALTERNATIVES
Are there other ways to meet this goal?  Most people want to know that you have considered other options.

• Explain the other options.
• Include the do nothing option.  There is always the option to do nothing.  Explain why action is required.
• Why did the other options fall short?
• What is the cost of the other options and the ROI you would see from the rejected options?

BENEFITS
Dig deeper now, beyond the executive summary, about what this will benefit The Social Organization.

• Look at internal and external benefits.
• Define real numbers and avoid, as much as possible, weak terms like transparency and engagement.  You are asking for money, make your case.
• Explain how you will measure, how you will confirm, that you are on track.

COSTS
Provide all cost associated with this effort.  Include:

• Software
• Consulting services
• Maintainance fees
• Training

In the Executive Summary you explained the total costs.  It is your goal to explain where this one number came from, including all the miscellaneous pieces of the project that brought you to this one cost number.

ROI
Yes, ROI.  I know many people argue that you cannot measure the ROI of social business, government 2.0, and social media strategies and tactics.  They are wrong.  If you are asking for money you had better understand the return you expect to see from this investment.  Some people point to KPIs vs. ROI.  KPIs are the levers that control  your business engine.  If you do not yet understand how these levers impact your business goals, figure that out now.

ASSUMPTIONS
Be clear about what you are assuming, who you have discussed these assumptions with, and what you have done to confirm that your assumptions are correct..

PROJECT DETAILS
Provide as much information about the project as possible, fleshing out the executive summary. 

Remember, the budget holders in The Social Organization, along with other leaders, are responsible for maximizing the impact of their investments.  Explain how your efforts, the project you are proposing, will help them carry out this mission.  Partner with them and you can make your project a reality.

John

If you need help from The Lab, drop me a note. If you would like to view more case studies and interviews, or just want to read about The Social Ecosystem, click on the links and let me know your thoughts.

The State Departments Social Media Usage Policy

Need something interesting to read?  The United States Department of State publicly released its Social Media Usage policy today and it is worth taking time to check out as it will provide insights for other organizations looking to understand what needs to be in their policies.

While there are dozens of great details in the document here are a few highlights:

• The document speaks to the fact that these guidelines apply to both internal and external social media usage.  Understanding and then addressing this fact is important as these tools offer real value across the entire organization.
• Up front the document makes it clear that other policies are still in effect.  For example, your usage policies should note that items covered in employee handbooks still apply.
• Definitions and terms are defined at the beginning of the document.  Make this clear up front so that there is no room for confusion.
• The document does an excellent job noting the different guidelines for internal and external networks, for personal and professional accounts.  Great job including items like this:  “Department personnel may access and post entries to public, Internet-based social media sites, from OpenNet using their personal profile registered with a personal email address…” 

The document also covers important topics such as monitoring, archiving, and when you need to get approval to post.  While I will create a template as part of The Social Ecosystem effort this comprehensive document would make a great starting point.

John

The Social Ecosystem

Organizations of all types have struggled to come to grips with terms like Government 2.0, Social Business, Social Media, and a long list of others that are floating around book stores, universities, and blogs.

I have spent a lot of time speaking with businesses and government agencies, exploring what is working, what is failing, and seeking to understand where confusion and hype are preventing these organizations from achieving full value from their efforts.  The Social Ecosystem is the result of these efforts and is meant to reduce confusion and offer guidance for organizations across the world.

Lofty goals?  Perhaps, but the Social Ecosystem is not being defined in a vacuum, it will fully leverage many ideas that are already available and will evolve, as needed, as we continue to learn more.

For this post I will discuss, at a high level, the major components of the Social Ecosystem as well as some key definitions.  Over  time I plan to create a table of contents, a section for terms, and break this down into a book-like format. Please be patient as it will take time and we’ll all work through this together.

Key Components

• The Social Ecosystem.   The Social Ecosystem provides a structure within which all types of organizations live and interact.  This ecosystem is open and inclusive of both public and private organizations and remains independent of geography and language.
• The Social Organization.  Organizations ranging from small and medium businesses to enterprises to local and federal governments (and so on) are all social organizations.
  • I will begin by looking at the key behaviors and requirements from an Ecosystem perspective.
  • As we continue we will explore the internals of the Social Organization. I will add in concepts like Social CRM, Enterprise 2.0, and Government 2.0.  There will be no attempt to replace these concepts, instead, they will be included as they fit very well within this model.
  • In the long-term the Social Organization should be thought of as a standard, including various levels of compliance that address security, training, measurement, level of channel neutrality, and more.
• The Social Unit.  The smallest part of the Ecosystem includes teams and individuals.  We will discuss concepts like social currency, the social value cycle (compliments of Paul Doyle, CEO of Proofspace), leadership and organizational structures.

The Social Ecosystem is channel-neutral (thanks Steve Schildwachter) and does not promote any specific tools or vendors.  It will stay open and independent.

Key Definitions

These are a starting point and we will certainly add to these as we move forward.

• Social CRM.  My definition builds off of Paul Greenberg’s stake in the ground.
  • “Social CRM is a philosophy & a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes & social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation to give mutually beneficial value in a trusted & transparent business environment. It’s the company’s response to the customer’s joint ownership of the conversation”
• Enterprise 2.0.  For this work I will use Andrew McAfee’s definition from May of 2006.
  • “Enterprise 2.0 is the use of emergent social software platforms within companies, or between companies and their partners or customers.”
• Government 2.0. My chosen definition comes from the Australian Government 2.0 Google Group.
  • “Government 2.0 is not specifically about social networking or technology based approaches to anything. It represents a fundamental shift in the implementation of government – toward an open, collaborative, cooperative arrangement where there is (wherever possible) open consultation, open data, shared knowledge, mutual acknowledgment of expertise, mutual respect for shared values and an understanding of how to agree to disagree. Technology and social tools are an important part of this change but are essentially an enabler in this process.”
• Social Media.  The definition I will use is the one given by Brian Solis.
  • “Social Media is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism, one-to-many, to a many-to-many model, rooted in conversations between authors, people, and peers.”

That’s all for today, let me know what you think.

John

Takeaway from the SPAM or Good Marketing Conversation

As you probably remember I recently raised questions about the use of mass DMs as a marketing tool.  While I used the recent example from Jeffrey Hayzlett, the focus of the post was not on Hayzlett but on the use of Mass DMs and if they were a good, or bad, marketing practice. In order to fully understand the answer to the question I had to go to the source.

So, does it pay off to send promotional DMs to your followers?

• While I did not view the message as SPAM I did view it as a bad decision, poor marketing.  For me, and for some others, it left a bad taste in my mouth.  The reason, I opt in to follow an individual to learn from them, potentially to engage in conversations with them.  Some percentage of the conversation will be self-promotion, obviously.  DMs, for me, have been a method to take conversations off-line prior to moving them to a richer channel.  Those that use them for self-promotion without first establishing a relationship are usually unfollowed immediately.
• In the last post I included a survey.  With 65 votes in at this time, 83.1% of you felt that the practice was either SPAM or poor marketing.
• In chatting with Jeffrey it is clear that he feels that the nature of opt-in with Twitter makes this acceptable. If you are following someone you are opting in, giving them permission to DM you.  According to Jeffrey, the majority of his followers agree.  In fact, he received hundreds of congratulatory comments and only 17 negative responses.  With those numbers it is clear that the majority of his audience was okay with the message.
• Digging a little deeper, I took a look at the number of followers.  There has been no dip in followers, no negative fall-out.
• Alright, lets focus on book sales. I estimated a couple hundred sales from this action but Jeffrey was clear that I was low in my estimates, just saying that several hundred books have been sold based upon this messaging.

So, looking at the facts…

• Hundreds of books sold.
• No measurable negative impact.

Do you think we will see more of this activity in the twittersphere  in the months to come?   Negatives, if they exist, will only be visible in time as a result of  eroding trust, weakened relationships.  With most people focused on short-term benefits I can assure you that we will all be seeing more of this in the future.

Jeffrey, thank you for exploring this approach further with me, it is truly appreciated.

John

HP demonstrates how to use Social Support Communities (SSC)

I had the pleasure of chatting with Lois Townsend who is in charge of the Social Media Strategy and Operations Group at HP.  We focused primarily on their approach to leveraging social media to improve their customer’s experiences, using tools like SSC in the process.

It is clear why Lois is leading this effort at HP.  The passion, the excitement, that I heard in her voice as we discussed customer engagement, customer satisfaction, cannot be faked.  She loves her job.  As we discussed the key to being successful with your social media efforts, she made it clear that you must really understand what your business objectives are, using common sense as a guide.    At HP they have taken an approach whereby they are focusing on a few social channels, not trying to cover them all, instead focusing on doing a great job on the key channels where their customers are engaging most.

Lois explained that the temptation to cover a larger number of social channels is always there.  When new channels, new ideas, are brought to the table they always look at these ideas through the lenses of the larger objectives.  If the idea fits, they run with it.  If it does not, they move on.

HP is using Lithium’s Social Support Community (SSC) software to manage their communities, and, according to Lithium, HP has seen faster growth in its community than in any other community they have benchmarked.  The numbers are truly amazing.  Here are the highlights:

• HP has over 2 million customers visiting the site every month.
• They have 100,000 registered users in the community
• Their SSC community averages over 8 million pages views per month.  They are now up to almost 20 million page views per month.

While these numbers are clearly impressive they are simply one part of how success is measured.  Clearly, usage is a critical measurement, but equally important is the reduction in call volume, customer survey scores, the amount of customer generated content.  All numbers are trending well for HP, SSC is making a difference.

One of the things that surprised me was the fact that there is a weekly meeting between Lois’ team and the heads of the two product divisions, printers/imaging and computing.  This high-level team reviews the trending of issues, identifying product and content improvements that are needed, identifying common customer requests.  This community feedback has become a way of life in terms of its impact to product improvements and enhancements.  Customers, HP customers anyway, are making a difference, co-creating products with HP. 

If you’re interested in seeing reading more about HPs approach, check out her interview on the Lithium blog from a couple of months back.

John

On the floor with Twelpforce

I had the pleasure of interviewing John Bernier, who heads up the Best Buy Twelpforce Program, the other day.  Today’s interview is with Scott Hagemeyer, a Best Buy employee, an in-store Apple Expert, and is a member of the Twelpforce program.  His in-the-trenches viewpoint provides another perspective on this program, a perspective worth understanding.  While Best Buy is still in the early experimental stages, feeling their way for what works, and what doesn’t, I am excited by what I have heard.  Early leaders, like Best Buy, are demonstrating the value of social media.  It’s time for others to start getting on board.

What is your role with Best Buy?

Within Best Buy my official job title is “Apple Expert/Computers Specialist”. I’m one of the go-to people in my department for any questions regarding the product within. My knowledge covers the entire department, with special focus on Apple products, software, and accessories, but I don’t neglect the Windows side of things and am well versed on them as well.

More recently I have taken on another role with the company by joining the Twelpforce. As a part of the Twelpforce, I help meet the needs of customers in a new, and exciting way; via Twitter. One of the most interesting parts of the Twelpforce is that someone doesn’t have to be a Best Buy customer to use it. I respond to questions regardless of who you are or where you shop. While I naturally rely on Best Buy’s resources (BBY Forum, BBY.com product pages, etc), I also link to external sources to make sure I can provide the most complete answer possible.

How does social media fit in with your job?

My role with the Twelpforce meshes my job with social media pretty well. I have yet to meet anyone that I’ve twelped in person, but I think that as more and more people turn to social media the possibility of this is growing. I can eventually see our customers doing some initial research and getting answers via Twitter, then stopping in to the store to visit with me in person before making a final decision. More and more customers are already coming into the store with printed research; emails from friends/family, online reviews from CNET, etc. As a part of the Twelpforce, I can assist those customers with their research in an highly engaging way providing quick, succinct answers to any question they may encounter.

Were you involved with setting of the social policies in place today?

No, I wasn’t involved with setting any of the policies. The policies were already set in place before the Twelpforce was ever introduced.  The guidelines for the Twelpforce are pretty minimal and open-ended. There are some definite no-no’s in there, but for the most part the policies encourage me to be myself and make my experience with the Twelpforce my own. Here’s what they’ve laid out:  http://bbyconnect.appspot.com/participation_guidelines  They definitely want us to be ourselves, and put our own individual personalities into our responses, while still remembering that we are acting on behalf of Best Buy and need to maintain a certain level of professionalism.  What’s great about this is that since this is an experiment of sorts, the rules are able to be changed as the project evolves. My input on how the Twelpforce is going is greatly valued by those who are overseeing it. Since this is a very public experiment, they want a lot of feedback. If I think something could work better, I can suggest it. If I think something isn’t working, I can voice my concern.

Another interesting part of the policies is that the community really regulates itself. If we see another user making questionable comments or posts, we let them know to be careful and to remember the guidelines that are in place.  Those who have been twelping for a while sort of all follow the same set of un-written guidelines for our posts. We try to help out the new members as best we can to make sure the Twelpforce continues to be as successful as it has been.  Currently, John is working with myself as well as a few of the other top twelpers on developing a mentoring program for those who are new to the Twelpforce. Currently, this program is in its extreme infant phase. If it comes to fruition, it will be experimental and a work-in-progress. Through this program, someone who is new to the team would be paired with a veteran of the team. We would provide them with insight as to how the flow of things goes, while encouraging them to get their feet wet and start posting.

How do you decide who to interact with from a social perspective for Best Buy?

Anyone who takes the time to send a tweet, whether it’s a question, a comment, or a concern, deserves to be heard. In that regard, I try to respond to everyone that I can. Luckily for me, the Twelpforce currently sits at about 2,300 employees strong (although it seems like only several dozen tweet on a regular basis) and can get to those that I miss. In my opinion, one of the best parts of the Twelpforce is that it allows for someone to get multiple responses. If asking what type of computer to buy, for example, that person may get 4 – 6 recommendations from different Twelpers. Each one typically lays out their reasoning for why they chose the products they did, but what’s really important is that we allow the customer to take all of that information in and make the best decision for themselves.  So far, I haven’t heard of anyone suffering from information overload by getting too many responses, but this could be a possibility at some point. Luckily, the majority of Twelpforce members look to see who else has responded before adding their input.

How do your customers react to you being social?

So far I would say that customers are reacting very well to it. In the couple of months that I’ve been doing this, I’ve noticed that the number of tweets we receive on a daily/weekly basis has been increasing. Customers definitely like how quickly we are able to respond. One of the promises the Twelpforce makes is “To let you know what we know. As fast as we know it.” While I’m twelping, I can generally respond to questions within 5 to 10 minutes at most. I get a lot of reply tweets from customers who are surprised I got back to them so quickly.  (I wonder if maybe John has some stats for you on exactly what our typical response time is….)

How do customers react as you transition them from social channels to the in-person experience?
As I said earlier, I have yet to actually meet anyone whom I’ve twelped so far, but I think that time is not too far off. In general, customers have been very receptive to the idea of heading into an actual Best Buy store after an exchange of tweets. Even in this digital age, most of our customers are still pretty tactile and still want to physically see and/or use what they plan on buying. Customers are doing more and more of their research through other channels, like the Twelpforce, rather than visiting with a product specialist in a store.

Any great stories from the real world to share?

One of my most memorable Twelping experiences thus far was an exchange that took place between myself and @Viper_Tim on the evening of November 1st, 2009. He was having a problem with the color of his television (too much green and not enough red) after having disassembled his home theater to move his furniture.  He had tried everything he could think of, including most of the things I would suggest, and was at a total loss. Fortunately, I was able to completely resolve his issue via tweet.

The exchange proceeded as follows:
@TWELPFORCE Panasonic TC-P42C1 Plasma / Colors are off and cannot figure out how to adjust…too much green and no red…help?
@Viper_Tim #twelpforce Sounds like it could be an issue with your Tint setting. Manual available here (http://bit.ly/2WoHIx) if you need it.
@ApplExpert50 #twelpforce I have the manual, and have played with the tint (and everything else) for an hour w/o luck…thanks though!
@Viper_Tim In that case, have you tried checking your A/V Mode setting? Most TVs have settings like Std, Game, Movie, PC, and Dynamic.
@ApplExpert50 I had to unhook everything to move my furniture, and when I hooked it back up it was crappy…I’m sure I did it right though.
@Viper_Tim If it was un-hooked for too long, it may have factory reset itself back to Dynamic, which would give it a funny color.
@ApplExpert50 no luck…I’m at a loss
@Viper_Tim Hhhmmm. It sounds simple, but have you tried re-seating all of the cable connections on both TV & device sides?
@ApplExpert50 Thanks a million…I just need someone to help me see the giant “THIS IS THE PROBLEM!” sign in front of me. lol
@Viper_Tim AWESOME! You are very welcome I’m happy to help! Troubleshooting step 1: Is it plugged in? =) Enjoy your TV in it’s proper color!

While I didn’t ever get to know his real name or where he lives, and I will probably never meet him in person, it gave me a great feeling of pride and accomplishment to be able to provide support when he needed it most.

I could fill many, many pages with success stories from my experiences in-store. One of my favorite things about my job is being able to show people how technology can benefit their lives. I grew up with a computer and the Internet, so these things are like second nature to me. However, to most of the customers I deal with on a daily basis technology can be confusing, intimidating, or even scary. Nothing makes me happier than seeing the faces of my customers once they’ve learned that technology can actually benefit their lives. The Twelpforce is just another way for me to extend my love of helping people understand technology.

A software company that understands the intersection of Social and CRM

I had the pleasure of chatting with Gary McNeil, VP of Marketing at Parature.  While I expected to hear more of the standard industry hype around Social CRM I was deeply impressed to hear a common sense perspective on Social Support Communities, Customer Service, and the current role of social media in business today.

Who is Parature?

Parature is a provider of customer support solution software (a flavor of CRM, yes) focused on delivering value for companies ranging in size from mid-sized companies to the enterprise.  I would further define their solution as a Social Support Community (SSC) offering that ties together various channels to paint a complete picture of a customer.

How does Parature’s integration with social networks compare to other solutions?

Parature is not taking a visionary approach to tying social media into their SSC, delivering solutions for a couple of customers on an as-requested basis instead.  These solutions are based upon APIs from Twitter and Parature and currently require custom development.  You’re probably asking….. If this is the case, how can they be an SSC?  Parature has a very robust solution that ties together the following social channels into a picture of a customer:

• Forums
• Chat
• Phone
• Twitter when requested

In chatting with Gary about this approach I feel they are on the right path.  Parature is very customer-focused and works closely with a customer advisory group to determine what their customers are looking for.  The board, made up of a mix of mid-size to Enterprise-sized companies that are in the B2C, B2B, and Higher Education space.  This includes companies like Linden Labs, Rosetta Stone, Hitachi, and T-Mobile.  Truth is, customers are just starting to ask about social and seeking out how to leverage it with their customers.    According to Gary it was rare six months ago to hear any customer asking about twitter integration.  Now, a lot of companies are asking about social media, the time is nearing where this will be a standard part of nearly every customer support solution.

How does Parature measure the value of their solution internally?

This is an area where I feel it is important for Parature to improve dramatically.  Gary’s answer, which I buy, at least in part, is that the increased customer engagement is the return on investment.  I only buy it in part, though, and I am looking for Parature to more clearly articulate the ROI of integrating social media with CRM solutions.  The ROI is there, Parature simply needs to more clearly articulate it.

What else is Parature up to?

While, as I mentioned, I do not view Parature as a visionary in the SSC, social, or CRM space I do view them as a leader in the space.  They understand the important items that go beyond much of the current hype and are delivering a good solution.  Here are some of the things that Parature is doing that makes them a leader in the space:

• Parature focuses on customer success from the point of sale through out the lifetime of the product.  I buy this, not just because Gary said so, but because I know people using the Parature solution.  Gary and I discussed the high failure rates associated with most CRM solutions and here are some important steps Parature takes to reduce failure rates:
  • Prior to the sale a documented set of goals are defined for each customer.
  • As the deal is closed sales and account managers on the Parature side do a visible hand-off with the customer, ensuring goals are clearly understood.
  • The account managers perform regular check-ins with all Parature customers at the 90-day, 180-day, and 270-day of the deployment.  Goals are again clarified and satisfaction is confirmed (or not).  Any changes are managed through a change management process to try and satisfy any changed goals/needs.
• Parature has invested in their mobile solutions, building a fairly robust iPhone application with location awareness, photo integration, as well as basic support ticket management.
• Their SSC does not require that you spend money on purchasing another CRM Product or spend consulting dollars integrating with your CRM solution.  It is a real CRM solution out of the box, as it should be.

What’s the final word?

If you are looking for a company that seems to truly understand customer service and SSCs, one that utilizes their own solutions, works closely with their customers, consider Parature.  They have been the most responsive vendor to this point in my investigations, showing they are listening to social channels, not just speaking into the microphone preaching the word of Social CRM.  Isn’t that what customer engagement is all about afterall?  Listening that is…

John

Summary of today’s project success panel

As I noted to the Twitterverse I had the great pleasure of sitting on a panel, moderated by Michael Krigsman, covering the topic of how to best measure project success.  The audience and my co-panelist were great and it was a fantastic experience.  While I won’t capture everything from the meeting I wanted to take  a moment and share some of my takeaways from the meeting.  Some of these concepts/ideas are mine, some are thoughts/ideas that came from other panelist, audience members, and Michael. 

• Project failure is often the result of cultural/political issues.  We’ve all been part of those projects where it seems the main goal is for everyone to cover their butts.  These are the projects that are failures right from the beginning and are likely to be deemed failures by everyone in the company after all is said and done.  If you are in a position to address this (executive stakeholder) you own fixing this.
• There is far more to a successful project than the standard 3 dimensions of scope, cost, schedule.  You must understand the goals the business is expecting to achieve as a result of this project.  Measure this as early and often as you can.
• Alright, hopefully you do establish the guidelines of success at the beginning of the project.  Continue to validate this definition throughout the project.  If you are working on a project that runs me than 3 months the definition of success is likely to change, even slightly, from the original.
• Consider an iterative approach to your project.  Deliver small chunks of work as frequently as you can to avoid surprising stakeholders.  To often people only have vague pictures of the project outcomes at the beginning.  If you want to avoid surprises and reinforce success, avoid surprises.
• My personal statement for all of you, do not let fear rule your decision making.  Once you allow fear to guide your decisions, you have already failed.
• Be a project cheerleader.  Yes, blow your teams horn, let management know about all the great work that’s going on.  Too often executives notice the project managers that are fighting fires, working overtime, making a lot of noise.  It is often the case that the projects are in this state because of their failures.  However, the project manager that is quietly getting done is often not noticed and is sometimes not rewarded for the fact that things are running smoothly.  Cheer on your team, spread the message to everyone.

I hope this provides some useful insights, tips, thoughts.  What other things would you recommend your fellow project leaders focus on to achieve project success?

John