This year there will be a flurry of IPO's. Linked In already went public last month with much hoopla. Pandora, Zynga and others are doing the same. As many of us remember, in the late 90's many millionaires were created and then destroyed as quickly as they got rich. It seemed back then that every company with a pulse had set up a storefront that was going to be the next huge business. When the bubble did eventually burst in 2001, most people simply said that many businesses were not meant to be run over the internet or people just don't trust the internet as a mode of doing business. And while we have seen a good many of them survive and thrive (hotwire, expedia, ebay, amazon etc), the bubble ruined a lot of dreams. In fact, many things I have read chalked it up to generational issues. By this I mean, that Gen X was not really savvy enough to become the online consumer and that it was important for us to wait until Gen Y was the overarching consumer.
If we fast forward 10 years, things appear different. Gen Y is the overarching consumer now. Many companies have figured out how to grow using the internet as a business platform. Everything seems honkey dorey so to speak. I believe in the coming internet boom of the 10's. Why? It has nothing to do with the consumer and everything to do with the business. The consumer is clearly ready. The social graph says so. The number of consumers used to using the internet is now a way of life. This is an important part of making the internet economy thrive. It has shrunk the world for sure.
Why do I think it is not only the consumer's readiness (an important part)? Because I believe there is a three legged business stool that is being created that will change ANYONE's ability to compete in this new internet economy.
What is this three legged stool? The first is the virtual storefront. The second is the virtual marketing machine and the third? (It would be my blog if it wasn't the third leg) The third leg is the virtual consumer research marketplace.
First - The virtual storefront...
One of my hypotheses on why the dotcom bust came had to do with what I would call the lonely virtual storefront. During the 90's the internet most certainly empowered companies big and small to be able to reach a much wider audience for their business in a much simpler way. A small company in a small town in Texas was now enabled to sell their products to anyone anywhere in the world. In essence, the storefront went global with the use of technology. This is an obvious point that anyone would agree with. But when the virtual storefront went up, many people forgot that having a great product with an ingenious store is not enough to attract customers. You need marketing, word of mouth and trust. In the 90's the virutal storefront was accompanied with what...traditional marketing media to attract consumers. Pets.com and its puppet. Etoys and their great song intro. The list goes on. Both of these companies worked to use traditional marketing to attract its consumer to a new way of doing business on their virtual storefront. It didn't work very well. They loved the commercial but their habits hadn't changed AND the virtual storefront didn't have a virtual way to market at a low cost. It made it prohibitively expensive for anyone to set up their store and reach their target. That is until the late 00's...
The virtual marketing machine (Twitter/Facebook anyone?)
As the 00's wore on and people were thinking very hard about how to make the Web work many new services that enable trust and infrastructure to the virtual storefront emerged. We have Paypal, which helped consumers transact with each other. Ebay gave the everyday person a way to sell what they wanted which showed people that the web was trustworthy. The litany of security technologies that arrived to you feel safe to use your card on the web. And essentially events occurred that helped people change their behavior. I hate shopping at Christmas why not do it from my house? I loved that BBQ sauce in Memphis, I wish I could buy it...You Can Now!. ETC. But then the game really changed with Twitter and Facebook.
The advent of these two services which by the way make up 86% of our consumer insights index arrived on the scene and everything changed. Why? Because beyond ads online and SEO to get your name out there, marketing became nearly free. With these two dominant social networks, a company's ability to reach consumers changed overnight. My sister, for instance, has a photography business. She does weddings. She tells me that with Facebook alone, she gets business because her clients refer her and post their pictures to this very personal engagement. Like wildfire there is more business. When an independent business owner can market themselves for free AND setup their virtual storefront they are now empowered to compete with big companies. In fact, they have an advantage because their consumers do wonders for them. Facebook and Twitter are the linchpins to give anyone the ability to run a business cheaply and effectively.
Virtual Consumer Insight Genreration!
So I now have two legs of the social media stool to run a business...the last piece is coming. The ability to understand consumer behavior in a much less expensive way. Enter social media analytics/listening or whatever you want to call it. With the advent of natural language processing, at Netbase we have given people a vehicle to understand consumers who talk in the virtual world. The power of this is founded in two things. For one, our tools give accurate information about this sentiment. And second, because we have indexed billions of sound bites expressing emotions from consumers, you can look at any topic. This means you have an inexpensive way to do research on your own business, but also you competitors as well.
Today, someone wanting to set up a business can put up a virtual storefront, market to hundreds of millions of consumers for free and soon they will be able to study what people are saying at a significanlty reduced rate. You as an individual can have a completely virtual business that could compete with multi-billion organizations because the data AND the consumers are there for you to touch any time any where from the comfort of your computer screen.
And now I am going to tweet this blogpost so you read this...tweet it to someonelse if you do...that is how my virtual business as an innovator can grow!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The social media speed of insight - Better get on the bus
I mentioned in my last post from the conference I attended how people even within the market research field know the importance of the change social media will bring (change more the operative word for me), yet their is a lack of trust and therefore a lack of adoption of this data except for the innovators and early adopters.
I thought I would put in an even more granular perspective as to why corporate culture must get its head around and ahead (pun intended) of what is coming. The real issue I have been hearing in my discussion with those who track consumer behavior is there lack of trust in social media for several reasons
1. Who creates the data - This is a big one. People will acknowledge that there is no question the social graph is normalizing, but there is still a huge question of whether the total numbers of consumers are "representative". And by respresentative I mean how CPG and large marketing/market research functions segment their consumers. In my experience, most big companies study their core consumers and segment/name them as a means of figuring out who their brand really targets. These groups are often very specific from a demographic perspective giving them the target they need. As for social media and the social graph, because no one has done a great job of being able to break down the data in this way, people are skeptical of how to link this data to that way of thinking. They also don't trust who puts the research on the web. Many have questioned if it is being influenced by the companies who market online. There are other issues with who creates it, but you get the idea.
2. The data's accuracy - This one is obvious and even those not in the field worry about this. It is accurate? how can I trust it? I will come back to it, because this is the fundamental problem that could spell big companies' doom. This is what I consider the most cyclical of issues in social media. And those who get caught in the tornado can't get out...I fear for them.
3. How do I quantify? I am a scientist (I have a PhD in Chemistry and I play a market researcher on TV)...my DNA is embedded with the need to quantify things (even if it is isn't in my profile...I hate details and love concepts). Even with my aversion of details, I still believe completely in the need to control your studies in a way that comparisons can be made accurately. I am looser than your average scientist because I like thinking about change and big idea, but regardless I appreciate the need for quantification when making statements about data. And when it comes to consumers, the variety of the human dynamic, makes it even harder to quantify and then correlate information.
4. The boss didn't tell me to - This is the lamest and unfortunately the buddy of the other three. Fearing for one's job by taking a risk is the worst reason not to do things. It is how companies live and die. Only through the passion of its people will companies recognize change when it is coming. I am not even going out on a limb that while this is number 4 on the list, the chasm between a marketer or market researchers behavior as a consumer (they use the internet...see the last post) and their behavior as a professional (they don't trust it) makes this the scariest of reason why the social media speed of insight could swallow them whole.
Regardless of whether these are good or bad reasons for not adopting change (and in this case the change is social media data to drive the business), they are real and I see them everyday as I work with many people across many organizations at many levels. Now to my point and the thing I want anyone who reads this to think about.
One of the great hindraces in the outstanding minds in the market research firms is speed. Market researches love to quantify and make sure they have their i's dotted and t's crossed. This thinking is something that can hinder the accpetance of social media. Actually it makes sense. That being said...
The speed at which the data is developed is accelerating so fast and vast that if you cannot understand how to process it and understand it, it could change an hour later causing you to make a mistake in your interpretation. Once more, this data is competely public and spreadable in the flash of a second. Case in point, within 15 hours everyone was aware that a man in Pakistan named Sohaib Athar had not only tweeted that Osama Bin Laden was dead, but they knew he was doing it without knowing it. This news spread worldwide in less than a day. In fact, the day that Osama Bin Laden was killed, if you searched on NetBase product the term Obama you would see the data more than double every hour of the day until it reached millions of sound bites by the end of it.
Frankly...market research will eventually live in a world where quali quant might have to be good enough or at least until the technology can track it quickly and efficiently. But for now...we may have to throw out how we think about things...
If you are getting caught up some of the reasons social media is not viable think about the consequences. If you don't get on board to do the following:
1. What is my social media strategy?
2. What is the suite of tools I need to monitor, understand and respond to social media?
3. What resources will I assign to understand and deal with social media?
4. What external sources/partners will help me break it down, understand it, react to it and plan for it?
These things take time and money in any company and in a big one this could easily take 18 months to get through. So if you haven't started, don't trust it and still have leaders afraid of it you are losing ground on those who have started, trust it and have leaders that aren't afraid of it. And every second you keep thinking about what to do those who already know are only gaining more ground on you.
It is time to cross the chasm because between the public nature of social media, the volume it creates and the speed at which it can affect you, the time is coming where those who are on board will be unable to compete.
Good luck moving the mountain because if you are reading this and nodding your head, then you are a change agent, champion or expert and you may have an uphill battle to face. Drop me a line if you want a partner in crime!
Let's get this party started right! wOOt!
I thought I would put in an even more granular perspective as to why corporate culture must get its head around and ahead (pun intended) of what is coming. The real issue I have been hearing in my discussion with those who track consumer behavior is there lack of trust in social media for several reasons
1. Who creates the data - This is a big one. People will acknowledge that there is no question the social graph is normalizing, but there is still a huge question of whether the total numbers of consumers are "representative". And by respresentative I mean how CPG and large marketing/market research functions segment their consumers. In my experience, most big companies study their core consumers and segment/name them as a means of figuring out who their brand really targets. These groups are often very specific from a demographic perspective giving them the target they need. As for social media and the social graph, because no one has done a great job of being able to break down the data in this way, people are skeptical of how to link this data to that way of thinking. They also don't trust who puts the research on the web. Many have questioned if it is being influenced by the companies who market online. There are other issues with who creates it, but you get the idea.
2. The data's accuracy - This one is obvious and even those not in the field worry about this. It is accurate? how can I trust it? I will come back to it, because this is the fundamental problem that could spell big companies' doom. This is what I consider the most cyclical of issues in social media. And those who get caught in the tornado can't get out...I fear for them.
3. How do I quantify? I am a scientist (I have a PhD in Chemistry and I play a market researcher on TV)...my DNA is embedded with the need to quantify things (even if it is isn't in my profile...I hate details and love concepts). Even with my aversion of details, I still believe completely in the need to control your studies in a way that comparisons can be made accurately. I am looser than your average scientist because I like thinking about change and big idea, but regardless I appreciate the need for quantification when making statements about data. And when it comes to consumers, the variety of the human dynamic, makes it even harder to quantify and then correlate information.
4. The boss didn't tell me to - This is the lamest and unfortunately the buddy of the other three. Fearing for one's job by taking a risk is the worst reason not to do things. It is how companies live and die. Only through the passion of its people will companies recognize change when it is coming. I am not even going out on a limb that while this is number 4 on the list, the chasm between a marketer or market researchers behavior as a consumer (they use the internet...see the last post) and their behavior as a professional (they don't trust it) makes this the scariest of reason why the social media speed of insight could swallow them whole.
Regardless of whether these are good or bad reasons for not adopting change (and in this case the change is social media data to drive the business), they are real and I see them everyday as I work with many people across many organizations at many levels. Now to my point and the thing I want anyone who reads this to think about.
One of the great hindraces in the outstanding minds in the market research firms is speed. Market researches love to quantify and make sure they have their i's dotted and t's crossed. This thinking is something that can hinder the accpetance of social media. Actually it makes sense. That being said...
The speed at which the data is developed is accelerating so fast and vast that if you cannot understand how to process it and understand it, it could change an hour later causing you to make a mistake in your interpretation. Once more, this data is competely public and spreadable in the flash of a second. Case in point, within 15 hours everyone was aware that a man in Pakistan named Sohaib Athar had not only tweeted that Osama Bin Laden was dead, but they knew he was doing it without knowing it. This news spread worldwide in less than a day. In fact, the day that Osama Bin Laden was killed, if you searched on NetBase product the term Obama you would see the data more than double every hour of the day until it reached millions of sound bites by the end of it.
Frankly...market research will eventually live in a world where quali quant might have to be good enough or at least until the technology can track it quickly and efficiently. But for now...we may have to throw out how we think about things...
If you are getting caught up some of the reasons social media is not viable think about the consequences. If you don't get on board to do the following:
1. What is my social media strategy?
2. What is the suite of tools I need to monitor, understand and respond to social media?
3. What resources will I assign to understand and deal with social media?
4. What external sources/partners will help me break it down, understand it, react to it and plan for it?
These things take time and money in any company and in a big one this could easily take 18 months to get through. So if you haven't started, don't trust it and still have leaders afraid of it you are losing ground on those who have started, trust it and have leaders that aren't afraid of it. And every second you keep thinking about what to do those who already know are only gaining more ground on you.
It is time to cross the chasm because between the public nature of social media, the volume it creates and the speed at which it can affect you, the time is coming where those who are on board will be unable to compete.
Good luck moving the mountain because if you are reading this and nodding your head, then you are a change agent, champion or expert and you may have an uphill battle to face. Drop me a line if you want a partner in crime!
Let's get this party started right! wOOt!
The social media adoption conundrum - Change Agents and Evil Planners wanted!
This week I was at the Marketing Research association conference selling my social media wares and I even had the privilege to speaking on the topic to a group of very smart market researchers. What was most intriguing to me as I stood in front of about 60 people was the answer to the following question. As I started to share with the group a case study using social media data to look at a brand, I asked the following, "Of the people in this room how many of you trust social media as a viable data source for doing research?". Do you know how many professional market researchers raised their hands to affirm their trust of social media?
2! FREAKING 2 OUT OF 60!
One would think in the belly of the social media application beast so to speak that more people at this point would be willing to trust social media data even though it is different and strange. You know why? Because when I followed up the first question with another question later in my presentation, one that completely changed directions on them, I received something different from the audience. This time I made it personal.
My second question...,"When you buy an appliance or piece of electronic equipment what is the first thing you do to decide?" Then I asked, "How many of you go to read reviews on the web?"
The response this time.....
58! FREAKING 58 OUT OF 60!
I think you get the point. When it comes to change and in this case social media, getting people to apply something to business they already personally use as consumers each and every day demonstrates the importance of culture in the equation. I can't tell people enough if you are selling innovative solutions from the outside in, you are playing a game of culture. A game that is long and hard, but can be worthwhile should you choose to do battle and choose to build the right skills to do it. And as a person who was the champion in a large organization I will say this, it takes one to know one. Whether you are trying to get a large organization to change the game or a person within the organization trying to create a change you believe in, expect effort, hardship and the need for a political savvy. Most importantly, however, know how to spot a champion or to be one to make it happen.
Innovation champions are gluttons for punishment, people who are passionate, believe in themselves and the need for change, and lastly are all about collaborative innovation. This is what it will take my friends if you want to see the social media NOON as I like to call it. Folks, this exercise at the conference (in front of a group of experts) showed me we are still in Social Media dawn. The early adopters are still whom I seek and there are just too damn many of you standing on the tracks staring at the oncoming train. I know I am an evangelist, but I also am starting to use simple logic on what social media means to business.
Simply put…the speed of insight is accelerating so fast that one’s ability to understand the data before there is more to interpret is too fast that you must find a way to keep up. In the past, one could say there is just too much data to process so we leave it to our gut. But today the equation has changed. Not only is the volume accelerating and getting out of control, but those who can latch onto something and drive it to the masses is becoming the new element in the equation. Folks, your suggestion box are now public and your market research wears no clothes. Your data is out there growing like the ebola virus and the experts (the audience I spoke of) are consumers who are not recognizing the impact it could have on their livelihood in the coming months (not years). We have already seen the Osama Bin Laden raid tweeted by someone by accident as it was happening. We have seen the logo changes of two behemoths judged in public (GAP and Starbucks) with differing results (GAP changed back within 7 days) and we see the downfall of the powerful in an instance when they stupidly choose to think the web won’t catch up with them (Rep. Weiner...how could you do that to such an accomplished and strong woman). We see it all around us, but we still the let the shackles of the culture of the corporate titanic ride towards the iceberg. Why?
Because I believe that Hugh McLeod said it best in a cartoon in his book Evil Plans…(which I just literally finished and while I don’t read much is inspirational…
“Why is creativity such a “dirty word” for big companies? Because it’s something that requires you to put your balls on the line.”
I believe those who are willing to do just that will be the ones who will become intoxicated with what it feels like to drive change and to feel empowered. It is easy to see why we shouldn’t do it. But how often in a day do you ask not “yes, but” but “yes, how”? Don’t be the corporate lulled consumer engaged cretin who didn’t raise their hand the first time but did the second time.
Lord knows even though I have been driving change for years, getting involved in this role has only accelerated my taste for driving change and my awareness of the box I have lived in even as a change agent. Going from intrapreneur to entrepreneur is what it took to unlock my voracious appetite for helping others and myself through sharing and learning. I guess it is my evil plan. Coming up with scalable ways to change how people interact, learn and get along better. To this end it is in the corporate context, but make no mistake I will keep writing about change, why going more deeply internal will help one impact more externally and keep focused on my evil plan. Hugh McLeod did for me what I try to do for others…give me a framework to think and learn…thanks Hugh.
Find your inner champion, embrace change and shout it from the trees. As for social media, don’t let the oncoming train hit you. On average, trains are usually on time and this one is approaching the station. Change is good…change is constant…change is the catalyst for learning to make life fulfilling.
Social media is merely a minor vehicle to state how change that will continue, but seeing that group of experts resist what they do everyday reminds me that one must never give up on preaching the value of different…I guess that is my quest and I will stick to it…
2! FREAKING 2 OUT OF 60!
One would think in the belly of the social media application beast so to speak that more people at this point would be willing to trust social media data even though it is different and strange. You know why? Because when I followed up the first question with another question later in my presentation, one that completely changed directions on them, I received something different from the audience. This time I made it personal.
My second question...,"When you buy an appliance or piece of electronic equipment what is the first thing you do to decide?" Then I asked, "How many of you go to read reviews on the web?"
The response this time.....
58! FREAKING 58 OUT OF 60!
I think you get the point. When it comes to change and in this case social media, getting people to apply something to business they already personally use as consumers each and every day demonstrates the importance of culture in the equation. I can't tell people enough if you are selling innovative solutions from the outside in, you are playing a game of culture. A game that is long and hard, but can be worthwhile should you choose to do battle and choose to build the right skills to do it. And as a person who was the champion in a large organization I will say this, it takes one to know one. Whether you are trying to get a large organization to change the game or a person within the organization trying to create a change you believe in, expect effort, hardship and the need for a political savvy. Most importantly, however, know how to spot a champion or to be one to make it happen.
Innovation champions are gluttons for punishment, people who are passionate, believe in themselves and the need for change, and lastly are all about collaborative innovation. This is what it will take my friends if you want to see the social media NOON as I like to call it. Folks, this exercise at the conference (in front of a group of experts) showed me we are still in Social Media dawn. The early adopters are still whom I seek and there are just too damn many of you standing on the tracks staring at the oncoming train. I know I am an evangelist, but I also am starting to use simple logic on what social media means to business.
Simply put…the speed of insight is accelerating so fast that one’s ability to understand the data before there is more to interpret is too fast that you must find a way to keep up. In the past, one could say there is just too much data to process so we leave it to our gut. But today the equation has changed. Not only is the volume accelerating and getting out of control, but those who can latch onto something and drive it to the masses is becoming the new element in the equation. Folks, your suggestion box are now public and your market research wears no clothes. Your data is out there growing like the ebola virus and the experts (the audience I spoke of) are consumers who are not recognizing the impact it could have on their livelihood in the coming months (not years). We have already seen the Osama Bin Laden raid tweeted by someone by accident as it was happening. We have seen the logo changes of two behemoths judged in public (GAP and Starbucks) with differing results (GAP changed back within 7 days) and we see the downfall of the powerful in an instance when they stupidly choose to think the web won’t catch up with them (Rep. Weiner...how could you do that to such an accomplished and strong woman). We see it all around us, but we still the let the shackles of the culture of the corporate titanic ride towards the iceberg. Why?
Because I believe that Hugh McLeod said it best in a cartoon in his book Evil Plans…(which I just literally finished and while I don’t read much is inspirational…
“Why is creativity such a “dirty word” for big companies? Because it’s something that requires you to put your balls on the line.”
I believe those who are willing to do just that will be the ones who will become intoxicated with what it feels like to drive change and to feel empowered. It is easy to see why we shouldn’t do it. But how often in a day do you ask not “yes, but” but “yes, how”? Don’t be the corporate lulled consumer engaged cretin who didn’t raise their hand the first time but did the second time.
Lord knows even though I have been driving change for years, getting involved in this role has only accelerated my taste for driving change and my awareness of the box I have lived in even as a change agent. Going from intrapreneur to entrepreneur is what it took to unlock my voracious appetite for helping others and myself through sharing and learning. I guess it is my evil plan. Coming up with scalable ways to change how people interact, learn and get along better. To this end it is in the corporate context, but make no mistake I will keep writing about change, why going more deeply internal will help one impact more externally and keep focused on my evil plan. Hugh McLeod did for me what I try to do for others…give me a framework to think and learn…thanks Hugh.
Find your inner champion, embrace change and shout it from the trees. As for social media, don’t let the oncoming train hit you. On average, trains are usually on time and this one is approaching the station. Change is good…change is constant…change is the catalyst for learning to make life fulfilling.
Social media is merely a minor vehicle to state how change that will continue, but seeing that group of experts resist what they do everyday reminds me that one must never give up on preaching the value of different…I guess that is my quest and I will stick to it…
Friday, June 3, 2011
Building a WE enterprise plaform - the power of solutions innovation platforms
In order to build an innovation culture based upon trust, it is imperative above all things to link they elements to do this...the people. As stated in past posts, I believe there are three key elements that must be aligned if one wants see their innovation culture thrive. Simply mandating that you will partner your way to a collaborative culture is not enough. While the concept of open innovation is very powerful and teaching those within any organization to look outside of their own culture to "trust" others to help is key, it is not enough. This concept does clearly bring the intellect and abilities of those outside one's organization to bear and its value is great, but it does not guarantee that those who truly believe will not ultimately destroy these valuable concepts.
I remember a time when one of my employers funded a new ventures group that focused solely on bringing very cutting edge new opportunities into the company. While many of their efforts were often way out there, one time they successfully purchase a very great brand. The name was very versatile and would enable a whole slew of new products to be launched from a company that had a very traditional and narrow focus. I remember hearing about the brand and saying to myself what a great idea. It really fits with our company's focus and would really allow some great adjacent products to be developed and launched. It seemed like the perfect fit.
Then this great idea was brought into the "business" so it could be positioned, tested, prodded and poked to make sure that it met with the criteria the business believed it needed to become a viable business. Essentially, a great open innovation idea was exposed to the rest of the organization. This organization had no ownership of the decision, were not part of the process and frankly didn't truly subscribe the methods of open innovation. That idea died one of the slowest and most painful deaths I have ever seen in business. First, the materials to make the product were not good enough. They were toxic, unstable and really didn't fit the model of the company's margin. They needed to be totally redone. Next, the marketing function didn't ''get" the brand. Upon further review, it didn't really connect with the target consumer. Our model for success didn't quite fit this higher priced offering. The consumer segment was wealthier and off target. The brand was based on principles that couldn't translate. We are not in those products on some of them. The list of what was wrong went on and on. And before I knew it was dead and the person who sold it to us made a boatload of money because they bought it back at a very reduced rate. Great investment for them. What tore me apart, is conceptually it just made sense in every way. But the lack of collaboration and ownership took a great externally developed idea and killed it with culture.
This is a long winded way to make one of my points. Unless a company has the individuals (me), the collaborative group (we) and the company (enterprise) aligned innovation can never thrive in a seamless way. Think about that. Each enterprise has a culture of morays they follow and usually hires people that fit in with those morays. This can be for the entire organization, a function or a group, but at some level the need for people to follow the culture of the enterprise is important. In addition, aligning with the strategy of the company is equally important to make sure it heads in a direction that is valuable.
When this occurs however, a company must also remember that while everyone must align with the enterprise's goals that the ME's or individuals need to be respected as well. In fact, isn't it true that everyone is different and has strengths and weaknesses. These differences are very important if we want to work together collaboratively as a WE.
That brings me to the key to this post. The ME's are all busy working diligently together as a WE for teh good of the enterprise, only the collaborative spark or synergy that exist can get great help now. Over the past several years the social media idea platforms for driving innovation have appeared. Companies like Bright Idea, Spigit and Jive. This post is a tribute to them. Those who are creating these collaboration platforms are creating the key networked infrastructure to make the WE become something that has an idea superhighway to bring people together more easily and seamlessly.
This type of system is the future foundation of what will make open innovation successful. Why? Because platforms like these are more than idea machines...they are the collaborative innovation network to connect ideas, drive collaboration which helps ME find other ME's to become a seamless WE.
What will be the difference between success and failure of these outfits? Can they evolve beyond the idea to bring about the tangible path to execution. It is not enough to create a WE that surfaces ideas, the WE needs to won their execution, bring the right people around those ideas and ultimately manage the ideas to success. But is is more. Systems like these need to continue to think of themselves beyond mere ideation. They are simply holisitc collaboration platforms.
I had the privilege of talking with Paul Pluschkell, CEO of Spigit a while back and in our discussion I can see the seeds of going beyond ideation there. Spigit continues to expand its thinking about its innovation platform and I believe recognizes the importance of connecting the WE so the ME's and the ENTERPRISE can operate in harmony each and everyday. Smart infrastructure like this is more than simple email or sharepoint (which merely feels collaboration folders), it is taking the idea of collaboration into an interactive and dynamic day to day operational use case. And the person who can figure out how to make connecting those in a global organization as easy as logging onto your computer has brought the concept of artificial intelligence into the idea of innovation collaboration, seamless execution and total connectivity.
Bravo to those who see that vision...it will align the ME, the WE and ENTERPRISE which is the essence of a successful innovation culture. And frankly, that is the internal dream coupled with the external dream open innovation hoped to achieve in the previous decade. Without the connectivity internally bringing ideas from everywhere will not have the ownership internally which often leads the slow death of great ideas by politics and rigid culture.
I remember a time when one of my employers funded a new ventures group that focused solely on bringing very cutting edge new opportunities into the company. While many of their efforts were often way out there, one time they successfully purchase a very great brand. The name was very versatile and would enable a whole slew of new products to be launched from a company that had a very traditional and narrow focus. I remember hearing about the brand and saying to myself what a great idea. It really fits with our company's focus and would really allow some great adjacent products to be developed and launched. It seemed like the perfect fit.
Then this great idea was brought into the "business" so it could be positioned, tested, prodded and poked to make sure that it met with the criteria the business believed it needed to become a viable business. Essentially, a great open innovation idea was exposed to the rest of the organization. This organization had no ownership of the decision, were not part of the process and frankly didn't truly subscribe the methods of open innovation. That idea died one of the slowest and most painful deaths I have ever seen in business. First, the materials to make the product were not good enough. They were toxic, unstable and really didn't fit the model of the company's margin. They needed to be totally redone. Next, the marketing function didn't ''get" the brand. Upon further review, it didn't really connect with the target consumer. Our model for success didn't quite fit this higher priced offering. The consumer segment was wealthier and off target. The brand was based on principles that couldn't translate. We are not in those products on some of them. The list of what was wrong went on and on. And before I knew it was dead and the person who sold it to us made a boatload of money because they bought it back at a very reduced rate. Great investment for them. What tore me apart, is conceptually it just made sense in every way. But the lack of collaboration and ownership took a great externally developed idea and killed it with culture.
This is a long winded way to make one of my points. Unless a company has the individuals (me), the collaborative group (we) and the company (enterprise) aligned innovation can never thrive in a seamless way. Think about that. Each enterprise has a culture of morays they follow and usually hires people that fit in with those morays. This can be for the entire organization, a function or a group, but at some level the need for people to follow the culture of the enterprise is important. In addition, aligning with the strategy of the company is equally important to make sure it heads in a direction that is valuable.
When this occurs however, a company must also remember that while everyone must align with the enterprise's goals that the ME's or individuals need to be respected as well. In fact, isn't it true that everyone is different and has strengths and weaknesses. These differences are very important if we want to work together collaboratively as a WE.
That brings me to the key to this post. The ME's are all busy working diligently together as a WE for teh good of the enterprise, only the collaborative spark or synergy that exist can get great help now. Over the past several years the social media idea platforms for driving innovation have appeared. Companies like Bright Idea, Spigit and Jive. This post is a tribute to them. Those who are creating these collaboration platforms are creating the key networked infrastructure to make the WE become something that has an idea superhighway to bring people together more easily and seamlessly.
This type of system is the future foundation of what will make open innovation successful. Why? Because platforms like these are more than idea machines...they are the collaborative innovation network to connect ideas, drive collaboration which helps ME find other ME's to become a seamless WE.
What will be the difference between success and failure of these outfits? Can they evolve beyond the idea to bring about the tangible path to execution. It is not enough to create a WE that surfaces ideas, the WE needs to won their execution, bring the right people around those ideas and ultimately manage the ideas to success. But is is more. Systems like these need to continue to think of themselves beyond mere ideation. They are simply holisitc collaboration platforms.
I had the privilege of talking with Paul Pluschkell, CEO of Spigit a while back and in our discussion I can see the seeds of going beyond ideation there. Spigit continues to expand its thinking about its innovation platform and I believe recognizes the importance of connecting the WE so the ME's and the ENTERPRISE can operate in harmony each and everyday. Smart infrastructure like this is more than simple email or sharepoint (which merely feels collaboration folders), it is taking the idea of collaboration into an interactive and dynamic day to day operational use case. And the person who can figure out how to make connecting those in a global organization as easy as logging onto your computer has brought the concept of artificial intelligence into the idea of innovation collaboration, seamless execution and total connectivity.
Bravo to those who see that vision...it will align the ME, the WE and ENTERPRISE which is the essence of a successful innovation culture. And frankly, that is the internal dream coupled with the external dream open innovation hoped to achieve in the previous decade. Without the connectivity internally bringing ideas from everywhere will not have the ownership internally which often leads the slow death of great ideas by politics and rigid culture.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Welcom to The Social Media Wild West Yeehaw!
It seems that the social media market is starting to arrive. Linked In (public), Radian 6 (bought by Salesforce for $325MM), Tweetdeck (bought by Twitter $40-50MM) and Springboard research (acquired by Forrester) and the list gets smaller and goes on.
I have often used the analogy that when I started applying social media to business in 2006 that is was midnight at the time. As I shopped the idea of getting insights more quickly from this new form of data that had a degree of real objectivity I was laughed at. Everyone said that data was crap because only the teenagers blogged or crazy people/companies are writing that stuff. Well since then the amount of content increases exponentially by the second and the myriad of ways one can interact with it only explodes day by day. Start ups are popping up faster than you can see them fall and in reality the times have changed.
Today it is dawn. The acquisitions above suggest that the market has arrived. And for the venture capital world that might be true (because the coalescence has clearly begun), but in reality the companies swallowing/using this content are still immature and scared. That is why I believe it is only dawn. The sun is starting to come up because companies cannot deny that the data set has hit a sort of "singularity", but their cultures who are filled with people who use it do not tell them to do it in their jobs. The dawn of social media is definitely here although the disconnect brings up a very interesting conundrum.
For us in the space trying to build a new market and show people how and why they should use it, there is resistance. As I work from company to company and with partners everyone is still trying to figure out how to get our customers to take the leap and think beyond matching the data to the methods they currently use. People are still waiting for their leaders to say it is OK. They are waiting to be sure that they invest correctly. They don't want to make a mistake and sometimes this analysis paralysis is going to catch a number of companies flatfooted because this rocket ship is flying into the new day faster than those standing on the ground can keep up.
This is making for a serious wild west like atmosphere. The market is beginning to snap itself up, the consumers of the information aren't sure which way is up, and the data set increases faster than the US debt. This could make for some serious challenges for those trying to make heads or tails of when the right time to jump in. As was often told to me as a kid if you just open your mouth, hold your breath and eat it experience of trying something new can be better than the fear of trying it.
I would say this to everyone...
If you wait too long the products you are evaluating will change or the culture of those you are working with will be different if they are swallowed (because you will lose your say in how the products develop)
If you don't trust the data you will be so far behind that your competitor will be better prepared to deal with the data than you
If you try to get it perfect the choices will be too great. You gotta believe in the new to take this leap. That being said, I watch lots of players not getting in early hoping to save a bit of money rather than learning. This is a huge mistake because the products, data and market are changing so fast that it will be too late.
See what I mean...this argument is getting totally intertwined, circular and messed up. It is just too fast to make sense of. And those trying to show the market its power continue to wonder why each and everyone of you use this data multiple times a day (how about I take your iphone from you...now how lost do you feel), but they seem to be too afraid to collectively tell their companies that their methods are old and tired. Everyone uses it but nobody trusts it...I tell you it is the wild west out there.
And it keeps getting crazier, louder and more confusing. Take a stand, pull out your six shooter and start shooting...chances are you will hit something and your business will get the chance to get those trying to get their guns out of their holster!
Yeehaw!!!!!!
I have often used the analogy that when I started applying social media to business in 2006 that is was midnight at the time. As I shopped the idea of getting insights more quickly from this new form of data that had a degree of real objectivity I was laughed at. Everyone said that data was crap because only the teenagers blogged or crazy people/companies are writing that stuff. Well since then the amount of content increases exponentially by the second and the myriad of ways one can interact with it only explodes day by day. Start ups are popping up faster than you can see them fall and in reality the times have changed.
Today it is dawn. The acquisitions above suggest that the market has arrived. And for the venture capital world that might be true (because the coalescence has clearly begun), but in reality the companies swallowing/using this content are still immature and scared. That is why I believe it is only dawn. The sun is starting to come up because companies cannot deny that the data set has hit a sort of "singularity", but their cultures who are filled with people who use it do not tell them to do it in their jobs. The dawn of social media is definitely here although the disconnect brings up a very interesting conundrum.
For us in the space trying to build a new market and show people how and why they should use it, there is resistance. As I work from company to company and with partners everyone is still trying to figure out how to get our customers to take the leap and think beyond matching the data to the methods they currently use. People are still waiting for their leaders to say it is OK. They are waiting to be sure that they invest correctly. They don't want to make a mistake and sometimes this analysis paralysis is going to catch a number of companies flatfooted because this rocket ship is flying into the new day faster than those standing on the ground can keep up.
This is making for a serious wild west like atmosphere. The market is beginning to snap itself up, the consumers of the information aren't sure which way is up, and the data set increases faster than the US debt. This could make for some serious challenges for those trying to make heads or tails of when the right time to jump in. As was often told to me as a kid if you just open your mouth, hold your breath and eat it experience of trying something new can be better than the fear of trying it.
I would say this to everyone...
If you wait too long the products you are evaluating will change or the culture of those you are working with will be different if they are swallowed (because you will lose your say in how the products develop)
If you don't trust the data you will be so far behind that your competitor will be better prepared to deal with the data than you
If you try to get it perfect the choices will be too great. You gotta believe in the new to take this leap. That being said, I watch lots of players not getting in early hoping to save a bit of money rather than learning. This is a huge mistake because the products, data and market are changing so fast that it will be too late.
See what I mean...this argument is getting totally intertwined, circular and messed up. It is just too fast to make sense of. And those trying to show the market its power continue to wonder why each and everyone of you use this data multiple times a day (how about I take your iphone from you...now how lost do you feel), but they seem to be too afraid to collectively tell their companies that their methods are old and tired. Everyone uses it but nobody trusts it...I tell you it is the wild west out there.
And it keeps getting crazier, louder and more confusing. Take a stand, pull out your six shooter and start shooting...chances are you will hit something and your business will get the chance to get those trying to get their guns out of their holster!
Yeehaw!!!!!!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
I know why I do what I do...do you?
Where you do you get inspired? Where do you clear your head? For me it is often at the movies. Tonight, I went to the movies as often happens, I am able to clear the cacophony that resides in my every whirling mind. And as usual, that clarity helps me conceptualize a great many things. As I sat listening to the music on the way home I thought about social media. Why? What importance could this hold?
Actually, it helped me see even further beyond where I am today and the change I am focused on creating. At my core, I believe I am a change agent now as I have often said, that Innovation is to Pupa as Change Agent is to butterfly.
That being said there is a distinct flow to how we end up in the spot we are at the moment you may choose to read this. And in this moment I can clearly see the flow of how I got here and most importantly I have the clarity to understand that purpose.
Today...I am a Chief Evangelist taking up the cause of championing social media
Before that...the Global Vice President helping create models to help drive change
Before that...A Technology Broker linking the wonders of discovery to the needs of a business
Before that...A Technology Developer pushing the boundaries of people thought was possible
Before that...A budding innovator studying my trade as a chemist in graduate school
And this goes on and on and on...
But the real question is how is this path created and how do we lose sight as we develop in our career? And the reason I leave my personal side out (I am a father, husband and son of course), because sadly much of what drives us in today's society is our professional development. But that is what is interesting, because in our quest as a person and professional we must find truth in why we do it. For many, it is simply a job while for others it is everything. I choose to take a wider view of my career. I often believe what is most important is to be a life learner, because this mindset helps break the boundaries of everything we do on a day to day basis in every interaction we have.
Because we must have some sort of professional purpose to help us learn, provide, or even feel passion, I ask anyone reading this do you have clarity of how you became what you currently are and do you understand where you are trying to move to?
As I drove home, I thought about that and realized the theme I must face with each and every step I make is that everything above is about change, learning and taking on challenges others find impossible. On a personal side, I strive to continuously learn from anyone and everyone around me all the time. The confluence of these two concepts is all about where I am heading. To where, you may or may not ask?
I guess I have believed for many years now that it is becoming my purpose to help others see the power of what's possible and what has continued to bother me is how I am watching a population in the country I live turn its back on the fundamentals that create the building blocks for what creates the possible. What the hell does that mean? Well I hear everyday how our population of worthy scientists and therefore innovators is dwindling and that we cannot compete. Even though as you look at where I have been my choices have taken me further and further from the basic science I found passion in as a high school and college student. But I consider myself lucky to have escaped. Why? Because the sum of my experiences up to this point have enabled me to do something more important. To collaborate, to facilitate others to believe in what they think is impossible, to negotiate with others to believe and most importantly to mobilize people to take what they believe in and go with it. The sum of my experiences has granted me the fortune of being open to learning from others and taking on challenges that stretch how I think about everything everday.
So where am I going? My quest and I choose to spell it out here is to take the gifts given to me as a change agent to find a way to help rebuild the innovation foundation that America is losing as the corporate culture takes over everywhere. I would love to raise money and champion the cause of finding people willing to re-invest in the principles of basic research. Why basic esoteric research? Because as I ran from it in the past towards the financial gains the corporate success can bring, my time getting closer to those possibilities is seemingly bringing me back around the importance of simply understand at its fundamental how to break the boundaries of what is possible. Basic research is just that, the foundation for which practicality is built. In this case, without funding the fundamentals or the building blocks how can one expect to create a stable house. In our country, basic research has given way to applied research problems and funding for research is geared to the person whose work can be tied to the tangible results that bring application benefits. I say this slippery slope is wrong for innovation and wrong for our future growth. Research for the sake of research is becoming a lost art because it cannot get funded. My close friend is a professor and she tells me that getting funding for the basic work she does is increasingly difficult.
If I can create the financial freedom, I will ultimately go full circle and create funding for professors or people engaged in basic research. Call it my scientific Gates Foundation.
Great...who cares...maybe this goal inspires you, but that is not the point of this post. If you go through how I arrived writing this you can see how each steps is giving me the ability to actually get there...
I left big corporations to work in a startup. I have excelled as an intrapreneur, but now I am learning to be an entrepreneur. With this experience in the fast world of new business, I have gained courage to start something of my own one day. I never would have thought like this had I not chosen to move into the space I am in now.
I work in social media...I have learned how it can quickly get a message out...thus I am now blogging. 18 months ago when I started this blog I wrote one post a month and only had about 200 views until March. In March, I started being a Chief Evangelist and now I write a few times a week and this blog has gotten over 1000 views this month more than double than last month.
I worked as a change agent of culture at Daymon Worldwide. This experience will give me the skill to help envision and create the framework to mobilize people to see how to work together to create the catalysis for the cause of making this issue front and center.
I worked as a technology broker who became skilled in negotiating and managing alliances, something critical to making the the organization a reality because partnership with others is possible. Alliance management is something that builds bridges and those bridges are the foundation for creating new things more quickly. More quickly because alliance principles say the sum is greater than its parts and it is built on trust.
I worked to develop and implement new technologies while making cleaning products. This has taught me how to see basic technologies in a way that makes them applicable to solving problems. And the gift of creating cleaning products for "everyone" has taught me about the consumer variable. Literally how to put myself in the shoes of someone else when creating a tangible output. It is a rare gift and I thank Clorox for teaching me this ability it comes in handy everyday. Linking emotion to usage so to speak.
I was a student learning to be a great scientist who understood how to study variables, become an expert at scientific method and to walk in the shoes of those who truly love science. It was very painful, but taught me the fundamentals of thinking about technology and possibility because I was charged with breaking the boundaries of what was known by proving something unknown.
And most importantly I can't forget the people who have taught me how to learn these skills, abilities and self evaluation. They deserve a shoutout (and a link)
Robert Porter Lynch - Who taught me the word Creationship which is state of ultimate collaboration.
Robert Rosenfeld - The mentor who taught the power of people in this journey
John Hommeyer - A business man and mentor who creates innovation in a way that others can see
Helen Eckmann - A woman who believes in the power of leadership and how it shapes others
Frank Cohenour - A man who balances leadership, business and friendship better than anyone
Peter Ford - A scientist with the highest of ethics who teaches people scientific fortitude
What does this all show. It shows how having vision for what you want to accomplish starts with tackling learning what you need every step of the way. It shows that those around you can influence how quickly you learn about what you want to do. And more importantly, to recognize what each experience brings your personally besides the wealth that brings freedom or stuff (which ever you fancy). But it also shows clarity of path, a linkage between events and most importantly it creates passion as you accomplish things as you grow and choose to change.
And lastly...it helps you see the gaps that can help you get where you ultimately want to go. Where ever that may be. For me, it is to bring back the foundation that we are starting to miss in America. Innovation the President is said is critical. I agree, but I believe we need to take a huge step back on get on the balcony so we can see the dance floor. The dance floor these days is a mess because what we believe will get us that innovation is all wrong. It isn't about business or what I call the Corporatetocracy which rules us, it is about fundamentals of learning.
I am getting clearer how to get to where I am going because I strive as best I can to be humble and to see the quest to where you want to get starts with knowing you might need help to make it.
Are you clear? If not get clear...it will help you cure your frustration and help you get going.
Actually, it helped me see even further beyond where I am today and the change I am focused on creating. At my core, I believe I am a change agent now as I have often said, that Innovation is to Pupa as Change Agent is to butterfly.
That being said there is a distinct flow to how we end up in the spot we are at the moment you may choose to read this. And in this moment I can clearly see the flow of how I got here and most importantly I have the clarity to understand that purpose.
Today...I am a Chief Evangelist taking up the cause of championing social media
Before that...the Global Vice President helping create models to help drive change
Before that...A Technology Broker linking the wonders of discovery to the needs of a business
Before that...A Technology Developer pushing the boundaries of people thought was possible
Before that...A budding innovator studying my trade as a chemist in graduate school
And this goes on and on and on...
But the real question is how is this path created and how do we lose sight as we develop in our career? And the reason I leave my personal side out (I am a father, husband and son of course), because sadly much of what drives us in today's society is our professional development. But that is what is interesting, because in our quest as a person and professional we must find truth in why we do it. For many, it is simply a job while for others it is everything. I choose to take a wider view of my career. I often believe what is most important is to be a life learner, because this mindset helps break the boundaries of everything we do on a day to day basis in every interaction we have.
Because we must have some sort of professional purpose to help us learn, provide, or even feel passion, I ask anyone reading this do you have clarity of how you became what you currently are and do you understand where you are trying to move to?
As I drove home, I thought about that and realized the theme I must face with each and every step I make is that everything above is about change, learning and taking on challenges others find impossible. On a personal side, I strive to continuously learn from anyone and everyone around me all the time. The confluence of these two concepts is all about where I am heading. To where, you may or may not ask?
I guess I have believed for many years now that it is becoming my purpose to help others see the power of what's possible and what has continued to bother me is how I am watching a population in the country I live turn its back on the fundamentals that create the building blocks for what creates the possible. What the hell does that mean? Well I hear everyday how our population of worthy scientists and therefore innovators is dwindling and that we cannot compete. Even though as you look at where I have been my choices have taken me further and further from the basic science I found passion in as a high school and college student. But I consider myself lucky to have escaped. Why? Because the sum of my experiences up to this point have enabled me to do something more important. To collaborate, to facilitate others to believe in what they think is impossible, to negotiate with others to believe and most importantly to mobilize people to take what they believe in and go with it. The sum of my experiences has granted me the fortune of being open to learning from others and taking on challenges that stretch how I think about everything everday.
So where am I going? My quest and I choose to spell it out here is to take the gifts given to me as a change agent to find a way to help rebuild the innovation foundation that America is losing as the corporate culture takes over everywhere. I would love to raise money and champion the cause of finding people willing to re-invest in the principles of basic research. Why basic esoteric research? Because as I ran from it in the past towards the financial gains the corporate success can bring, my time getting closer to those possibilities is seemingly bringing me back around the importance of simply understand at its fundamental how to break the boundaries of what is possible. Basic research is just that, the foundation for which practicality is built. In this case, without funding the fundamentals or the building blocks how can one expect to create a stable house. In our country, basic research has given way to applied research problems and funding for research is geared to the person whose work can be tied to the tangible results that bring application benefits. I say this slippery slope is wrong for innovation and wrong for our future growth. Research for the sake of research is becoming a lost art because it cannot get funded. My close friend is a professor and she tells me that getting funding for the basic work she does is increasingly difficult.
If I can create the financial freedom, I will ultimately go full circle and create funding for professors or people engaged in basic research. Call it my scientific Gates Foundation.
Great...who cares...maybe this goal inspires you, but that is not the point of this post. If you go through how I arrived writing this you can see how each steps is giving me the ability to actually get there...
I left big corporations to work in a startup. I have excelled as an intrapreneur, but now I am learning to be an entrepreneur. With this experience in the fast world of new business, I have gained courage to start something of my own one day. I never would have thought like this had I not chosen to move into the space I am in now.
I work in social media...I have learned how it can quickly get a message out...thus I am now blogging. 18 months ago when I started this blog I wrote one post a month and only had about 200 views until March. In March, I started being a Chief Evangelist and now I write a few times a week and this blog has gotten over 1000 views this month more than double than last month.
I worked as a change agent of culture at Daymon Worldwide. This experience will give me the skill to help envision and create the framework to mobilize people to see how to work together to create the catalysis for the cause of making this issue front and center.
I worked as a technology broker who became skilled in negotiating and managing alliances, something critical to making the the organization a reality because partnership with others is possible. Alliance management is something that builds bridges and those bridges are the foundation for creating new things more quickly. More quickly because alliance principles say the sum is greater than its parts and it is built on trust.
I worked to develop and implement new technologies while making cleaning products. This has taught me how to see basic technologies in a way that makes them applicable to solving problems. And the gift of creating cleaning products for "everyone" has taught me about the consumer variable. Literally how to put myself in the shoes of someone else when creating a tangible output. It is a rare gift and I thank Clorox for teaching me this ability it comes in handy everyday. Linking emotion to usage so to speak.
I was a student learning to be a great scientist who understood how to study variables, become an expert at scientific method and to walk in the shoes of those who truly love science. It was very painful, but taught me the fundamentals of thinking about technology and possibility because I was charged with breaking the boundaries of what was known by proving something unknown.
And most importantly I can't forget the people who have taught me how to learn these skills, abilities and self evaluation. They deserve a shoutout (and a link)
Robert Porter Lynch - Who taught me the word Creationship which is state of ultimate collaboration.
Robert Rosenfeld - The mentor who taught the power of people in this journey
John Hommeyer - A business man and mentor who creates innovation in a way that others can see
Helen Eckmann - A woman who believes in the power of leadership and how it shapes others
Frank Cohenour - A man who balances leadership, business and friendship better than anyone
Peter Ford - A scientist with the highest of ethics who teaches people scientific fortitude
What does this all show. It shows how having vision for what you want to accomplish starts with tackling learning what you need every step of the way. It shows that those around you can influence how quickly you learn about what you want to do. And more importantly, to recognize what each experience brings your personally besides the wealth that brings freedom or stuff (which ever you fancy). But it also shows clarity of path, a linkage between events and most importantly it creates passion as you accomplish things as you grow and choose to change.
And lastly...it helps you see the gaps that can help you get where you ultimately want to go. Where ever that may be. For me, it is to bring back the foundation that we are starting to miss in America. Innovation the President is said is critical. I agree, but I believe we need to take a huge step back on get on the balcony so we can see the dance floor. The dance floor these days is a mess because what we believe will get us that innovation is all wrong. It isn't about business or what I call the Corporatetocracy which rules us, it is about fundamentals of learning.
I am getting clearer how to get to where I am going because I strive as best I can to be humble and to see the quest to where you want to get starts with knowing you might need help to make it.
Are you clear? If not get clear...it will help you cure your frustration and help you get going.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Why social media will change the competitive landscape...
As the large corporation and frankly many people in the corporate world wrestle with how to think about social media data I am sad to tell you the data singularity has probably already passed. What do I mean by the singularity? If you ever saw any of the terminator movies (even though this term is well know...I chose to use a more fun way to explain it) you will remember the singularity as the moment artificial intelligence of computers exceeded humans which led to man's downfall. In the social media sphere the singularity in my mind is when the validity of social media as a data set is no longer a debate. And while I don't have tools to say whether this has truly happened and that social media data as truly representative as normal consumer data, I will say that the rate of change on the volume and demographics is accelerating so fast that it would be hard to argue that is hasn't happened.
Why do I mention this? Because when I started applying social media to business problems in 2006, I was often challenged with the validity of the data set. Even though it was a valid concern, I still had enough opportunities to show that this data was comparable to the knowledge my companies had garnered using slower, more expensive and potentially more biased traditional methods.
This brings me to the topic at hand...if social media data is now essentially valid AND there are glut of new ways to tap this data set, doesn't the competitive playing field soon change forever. What I mean by this is the following. Prior to having this data, the only way a company could do market research involved very labor intensive and expensive methods like focus groups, ethnography, survey studies among other methods. Because most of this work could only yield very specific amounts of data on particular projects, the average small business would very rarely invest in this sort of market research. In general, they would compete on ingenuity, gut and guerrilla tactics.
Over the past five years something is happening. The analogy I would use is one of my favorite. Rather build telephone lines in poor third world countries, they simply installed cellular towers. Now in third world countries telephones are all cellular and the technology literally jumped the infrastructure. The same thing is about to happen as it pertains to competition from a consumer research perspective. We are already seeing how a small company can look very big by setting up a virtual store online. Now it gets even scarier.
With a rather small investment per year, ANY COMPANY WHO BELIEVES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AS A CONSUMER DATA SET CAN DO THE SAME PRIMARY MARKET RESEARCH AS A FORTUNE 500 WITH MILLIONS IN THEIR POCKETS.
Why? Because with tools like those NetBase has any company can easily set up their market research shop for one price. When they do this...they can look at what consumers are saying on any brand or topic at any time from their desktop. This means they can compete.
A great example recently happened to me as I partnered with one our customers. One day recently, I went to work in their office developing some data on their brands. After about six hours, I went over and shared my findings with my partner. As we discussed the merits of the work I had done, I took the risk to share what I really learned about their business. For about 5 minutes, I described what I saw as the key problems and opportunities in their business and what they might consider going forward. The partner I was working with was a very skilled market researcher who spends tons of times studying the company opportunities and issues. After I finished, I was not sure I was right so I asked if my interpretation of the data was in line with their deep knowledge. This person looked back at me and quietly agreed with my assessment saying that's what what they saw too. This person has been a great partner because over our time working together they have become pretty convinced in the power of social media. But then I added something to our discussion. I stated, "you know I have really only spent about 20 hours in your company's data and isn't interesting that in that short time I was able to play back to you the issues and opportunities for your business in a manner that I could talk to your leadership and sound coherent.". My partner agreed and I smiled and said, "I have seen this before. The true power of social media is the acceleration of one's ability to get "up to speed" on any topic in a short period of time from a consumer perspective." At this point my partner smiled and saw the power to an even greater degree.
Now imagine you are starting your own business going up against one of the largest companies in the world. You now have the power to set up shop on the web, create an e-panel of loyal customers to see what they say AND out research your competitor because the data is there for the picking. You only need a tool like the ones NetBase has to complete your ability to simply be Goliath instead of David.
Big companies better wake up because the day this scenario can happen is here. Call it the social media singularity and it is accelerating every second...
Why do I mention this? Because when I started applying social media to business problems in 2006, I was often challenged with the validity of the data set. Even though it was a valid concern, I still had enough opportunities to show that this data was comparable to the knowledge my companies had garnered using slower, more expensive and potentially more biased traditional methods.
This brings me to the topic at hand...if social media data is now essentially valid AND there are glut of new ways to tap this data set, doesn't the competitive playing field soon change forever. What I mean by this is the following. Prior to having this data, the only way a company could do market research involved very labor intensive and expensive methods like focus groups, ethnography, survey studies among other methods. Because most of this work could only yield very specific amounts of data on particular projects, the average small business would very rarely invest in this sort of market research. In general, they would compete on ingenuity, gut and guerrilla tactics.
Over the past five years something is happening. The analogy I would use is one of my favorite. Rather build telephone lines in poor third world countries, they simply installed cellular towers. Now in third world countries telephones are all cellular and the technology literally jumped the infrastructure. The same thing is about to happen as it pertains to competition from a consumer research perspective. We are already seeing how a small company can look very big by setting up a virtual store online. Now it gets even scarier.
With a rather small investment per year, ANY COMPANY WHO BELIEVES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AS A CONSUMER DATA SET CAN DO THE SAME PRIMARY MARKET RESEARCH AS A FORTUNE 500 WITH MILLIONS IN THEIR POCKETS.
Why? Because with tools like those NetBase has any company can easily set up their market research shop for one price. When they do this...they can look at what consumers are saying on any brand or topic at any time from their desktop. This means they can compete.
A great example recently happened to me as I partnered with one our customers. One day recently, I went to work in their office developing some data on their brands. After about six hours, I went over and shared my findings with my partner. As we discussed the merits of the work I had done, I took the risk to share what I really learned about their business. For about 5 minutes, I described what I saw as the key problems and opportunities in their business and what they might consider going forward. The partner I was working with was a very skilled market researcher who spends tons of times studying the company opportunities and issues. After I finished, I was not sure I was right so I asked if my interpretation of the data was in line with their deep knowledge. This person looked back at me and quietly agreed with my assessment saying that's what what they saw too. This person has been a great partner because over our time working together they have become pretty convinced in the power of social media. But then I added something to our discussion. I stated, "you know I have really only spent about 20 hours in your company's data and isn't interesting that in that short time I was able to play back to you the issues and opportunities for your business in a manner that I could talk to your leadership and sound coherent.". My partner agreed and I smiled and said, "I have seen this before. The true power of social media is the acceleration of one's ability to get "up to speed" on any topic in a short period of time from a consumer perspective." At this point my partner smiled and saw the power to an even greater degree.
Now imagine you are starting your own business going up against one of the largest companies in the world. You now have the power to set up shop on the web, create an e-panel of loyal customers to see what they say AND out research your competitor because the data is there for the picking. You only need a tool like the ones NetBase has to complete your ability to simply be Goliath instead of David.
Big companies better wake up because the day this scenario can happen is here. Call it the social media singularity and it is accelerating every second...
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