LIVE! Day 2 at Forrester Consumer Forum 2007
Day one had a great line up of speakers and content. Day two looks like it will be no different.
Here is my Twitter Stream which I will be updating during the day. I’ll then recap later.
LIVE! From Forrester Consumer Forum
Full Twitter String
RSS Feed
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Online Community Sites of Note:
Dell Community
IdeaExchange by Salesforce
Real World New Cast Member by MTV
IdeaStorm by Dell
LIVE! Observations and Thoughts from Forrester Consumer Forum 2007
Updated: 3:45pm
I’m at the Forrester Consumer Forum in Chicago today and tomorrow. I’ll be writing my thoughts and observations on the content from the conference here.
So far there have been some great speakers. The theme of the conference is around the online world, social integration, advertising, and how your company can understand and take advantage of this medium. The format of the Forum is pretty cool. Short presentation on targeted topics, then a “coffee talk” type Q&A with the speaker (literally two chairs with an end-table on a stage w/ two large video screens on each side). The dialog is great and personal to those in the audience.
Kicking off the conference was Forrester Vice President and senior analyst Charlene Li. Charlene does a lot of her research around the social technographics. Who is using the social tools, how, and to what level of participation.
Christie Hefner from Playboy had a great keynote on how Playboy has truly been able to leverage the Playboy brand in ways that most companies would drool over. It is amazing how they have been able to integrate new solutions successfully from Print, to TV, to Online, and now Mobile. They have brought the brand beyond the print publication(s) to the real world, and now virtual world with an entry into Second Life. They also have been able to leverage a key demographic and target market by launching PlayboyU, a social space for college students with an .edu email address.
3:45pm
Richard Edelman, president and ceo of Edelmen PRgave one of the most forward thinking perspectives when it comes to PR/MR. It resonates with a lot of what I’ve been thinking about when it comes to control of messages, brands, and the interaction with your consumers (and in my work, members and consumers). One of the biggest take-aways was the reality of how the traditional media triangle works. It used (and in many corporations still is) to be that a few influencers controlled the conversation and distributed it to the masses. It has touch points of how it got distributed and they all came back to the same message. The internet, and social media such as blogs, ratings, reviews, etc. changes that model. Today if someone wants to have information about some topic, the influencers are now bloggers, customers, like-minded individuals who publish online. Companies have to realize that there is a limited amount of influential control they have left. Now, the mass audience make up their own minds–right, wrong, or in-different.
I also got to attend one of track sessions. It was about how User Generated Content, or UGC, can have a place in corporate strategies. The panel included representatives from Dell, QVC, and Baazarvoice. Each explained how they have taken UGC and integrated it into their company strategies. From Dell’s IdeaStorm, a customer feedback site that allows users to rate feedback for popularity, to how QVC uses real-time feedback to inject into their programming. UGC is a tough cookie to crack and how to use it. Let alone if it really does. Many of us have wondered how to make it work. We are fearful of the backlash and if execs can even swallow the fact that they are not in control of what goes on. But that’s OK. Rather, we need to find ways that work for us. For example, customer reviews. Having all positive customer reviews on a product page in reality is just product testimonials. You need negative reviews to show authenticity. Companies have to understand how UGC works, it is written by passionate individuals (for good or bad) and it is often intended to help like minded individuals (though companies can listen and learn from them). Monetizing on this type of feedback and content is still a challenge, but models are being formed and success is in the results–more products shipped and more revenue generated.
I’ll be updating this more with my notes and perceptions. This is just the beginning so I can pay attention to the presentations and blogging at the same time.
Additional Coverage
Technorati
Forrester Marketing Blog
Flickr
Are You Ready for the Web-Based Office?
Example Scenario
This article originally was published in the May 2007 issue of LLRX.
You have worked for a large firm for many years and you have made the decision to either go solo or start a small firm. You were used to having access to all your information via an Intranet, file server, and your desktop. You could practice law and let the IT department worry about when the printer jammed or if you got a virus. Now that you are solo, you are the one that has to deal with all those problems as well as practice law.
Google Gets Burned: FeedBurner Acquisition a Done Deal
As of 1:00 today FeedBurner was officially acquired by Google. I had a quick chat to day with Rick Klau today regarding setting up an account with them and was double checking about the Terms of Service when he mentioned that they would be updated at around 1:00 today. So the rumors were true! Yes, it seems they were.
I’m excited to see where this all goes. Google just continues to get bigger, but they are making strategic buys too. I mean just think what the JotSpot acquisition will do for them if they integrate it into Google Apps. RSS is the future of content distribution, and now advertising opportunities too. I believe that RSS subscribers are more targeted than regular website pageviews and traffic. FeedBurner has a great model and it will serve Google well.
Congrats to FeedBurner. They have long been a company I’ve admired, wished I could have worked for (and now you see why!). You can read more about the acquisition at the Burning Questions blog.
Update: Google’s Announcement
Chicago Tribune Story (Free Reg. Req.)
BNET – Management Strategies for Professionals
C|Net quietly was playing around with a business management site over the last two years. BNET, the go-to place for management, was born last recently to address the needs of business professionals. It has a great design and some great resources for business professionals from how to manage your boss to career advice. Their weekly podcast, titled Useful Commute, is one to subscribe to covering some great topics. Registration is required if you want to get access to the real goods, but it is free. If you already have an account with ZDNet or TechRepublic you are already set as your login credentials are transferable.
How To Keep Good Talent
Short answer: continually give them advancement opportunities.
Now the long answer. The reality is that you won’t be able to retain all the good talented staff that walk through your door. That’s a given. For some reason they won’t blend well into the organization or they will a short attention span and hop jobs (let’s face it, it’s not where employees stick around for 30 years anymore). I guess I can say I’m somewhat unique in that I’ve stayed at my first company post graduation for over 5 years without leaving, though I’ve had opportunities to advance. It is those opportunities to do more with my career that has been the key factor to stay longer and will be for employees your organization.
For many, staying at a company is a balance between “real” benefits and intrinsic benefits (job satisfaction, healthy work environment, knowledge expansion). Sure access to the health club is nice, but if I can leave work knowing that I made a difference, improved my work product, and can be recognized for it, I’m happy. That’s what keeps me coming back in the morning and not dreading my job come Sunday evening when the thought of “having to go back to work tomorrow” pops in your head.
I hope employers feel that advancement doesn’t always mean more money or a promotion. Advancement could include allowing an employee to:
- improve a skill-set
- have the ability to teach the organization a new way of doing business they have researched
- the ability to provide continual feedback to the organization
Employers should also look to:
- present new challenges to employees where their diverse skill-set can solve
- provide clear career path options (nothing is worse than coming to an organization and find there is no-where to go within the organization)
Eventually you will always tap out on what you can do for an employee, but as long as they feel that they can continue to contribute and be rewarded in some way, they will stay. So when was the last time you sat down with your employees and asked them how satisfied they are in their jobs? What can you do to make it better? Maybe you should.
It’s the Holistic Point of View
I was recently at Tech Cocktail 3 here in Chicago and I put this site down on my name tag instead of my work domain. Many asked me, what is From the 21st Floor? It dawned on me that I really couldn’t explain the purpose of this site concisely in a sentence. I would say it is about looking at things from the big picture perspective. That is true, but what I’m really trying to attempt (and I hope to get better at) is explaining how I look at things in a holistic point of view. The “big picture” falls in that category, but maybe it will be easier to explain to others.
The holistic point of view I see the world in relates to the balance between strategy and implementing actions to meet goals. How often have you been in a meeting and heard about a new plan or idea that was going to be implemented and you thought to yourself “But what about that other plan we have?” or “How does this meet our overall goals or work within or strategic vision?” That is the world I see. I think those questions all the time, and more recently I start to ask them in meetings. I guarantee your company will waste more time and money on developing and implementing ideas that contradict your overall company goals than you want to admit. This will be because you don’t have a vetting process for major projects, and more importantly it is because your fellow employees can’t recite what the company goals are. And for the record, it shouldn’t be “to make our shareholders money.”
So I encourage you to understand what your companies strategic goals are. Be able to recite it at a moments notice. Why? Because when you are in project planning meetings or brainstorming sessions you can effectively ask “How does this idea work towards our strategic goals?” More often than not you will probably get someone to pause and think about it because they hadn’t before.
Coming back full circle, From the 21st Floor is about looking at business, goals, strategy, marketing, communications, the whole package from a holistic view–the big picture.
Apple Introduces iPhone at Macworld Expo – And Changes its Name
So if you haven’t heard about the way cool new iPhone, the impending lawsuit from Cisco, then you’ve been under a rock for the last few days. So let’s quickly get the phone part out of the way first.
WOW! That is one slick machine. I hope it stands up to all it says it can do. The touch screen is amazing and looks very clean. Did you notice they changed up the menu interface (hmmm….no more paying a license fee to Microsoft (update: or Creative…can’t remember) on that anymore)? I love how it can change from portrait to landscape view seamlessly. Cingular scored big with getting that deal for the phone. Many hoped it would be a phone that could be taken to any network, but I guess having it be multi-platform (GSM or CDMA) was too difficult (or Cingular said they would pay hefty for the privilege of having the exclusivity). Bet Motorola is kicking itself for not getting in on that deal (not sure if there was a deal to be had, but they have iTunes enabled phones out on a variety of providers). Well, the price tag is enough for me to say “no” at this point, but what a home run for Apple on taking the coolness of having a smartphone and targeting it for the consumer market instead of the business one.
While the iPhone is very cool and will no doubt change the way we look at mobile phones and how we use them, there was also something subtle that happened at CES with Apple that not many are talking about, the name change. I’m very interested in how Apple moved from Apple Computing Inc. to Apple Inc. This is one of those subtle changes that indicates Apple is no longer just a computing company, but something more. Maybe a media company (iTunes, AppleTV, iPhone), maybe something else. But they are definitely beyond just computers.
Planning Your 2007 Web Strategy
Originally published December 17, 2006 at LLRX.com
The end of the year is closing in fast and you will undoubtedly ready many "year in review" articles this month. Rather than writing a column referring to what we covered this past year, I want to get you thinking about next year, so you can start the year off right – with a strategic plan for your website that is integrated into other firm goals for 2007.
Reviewing Your Current Website
Hindsight is always 20/20, so – what didn’t you accomplish with your website last year? Do those unaccomplished goals still hold value within the scope of your overall marketing strategy? If so, do you want to make sure these goals figure prominently in your plans for next year?
In following with what website plans were not implemented, did you perhaps add a new feature or features that failed to generate the response you anticipated or simply did not work? To what can you attribute this lack of success?
Looking at what you have done and how your website has contributed to your overall goals and marketing efforts will help you to focus your plans for improvements and enhancements for 2007. Review all aspects of your website, from design to content to traffic statistics to clients who engaged your services through the site. Having a complete picture of what happened over the course of the last twelve months will provide you with valuable data.
The next step in this evaluation process is to draw up a short list of ideas and changes that you want to make to your website in the next year and put it aside. Then take a look at the competitive landscape that surrounds you.
Competitive Analysis
Knowing what you have worked on over the last twelve months is a good starting point, but information about what your competitors have accomplished is an essential component of your future planning process. Has your competition taken specific business away from you? Is another firm or practice providing a service that is within your field of expertise? Do other firms have value-added services that you offer but have not properly communicated or marketed, or that you can enhance to extend the range of your services to clients? Remember, you do not have to be the first to offer a online service or implement a technology application (such as a blog, wiki or an extranet). The objective is to determine how to implement one or more of these applications in a manner which keeps you competitive and expands your services.
Ideas that you will want to consider include the following?
- coordinated offline and online branding
- e-mail updates on topical subject matters
- client portals
- web-based client intake forms
After taking a quick look at your competitors within the context of the "marketplace" (location, industry, etc.), you can add more context and content to your wish list of ideas to implement over the next year.
Are New Media Companies the Only Ones who “Get It?”
The word on the street today is that Niall Kennedy is leaving Microsoft, not long after Robert Scoble left. This is yet another in “A” list or high-profile bloggers leaving their company’s to do either start their own business or leave for a new-media company. Kevin O’Keefe asks the obvious question “Can large corps retain the visionaries?” I say no. Here is my short list why:
1. Let’s face it, old school companies, ones who are older than the Internet, don’t “get it” (bold statement, but more true than false)
2. New media companies like Feedburner, LexBlog, Google, and even Userland have started because those who founded them believed in changing the Internet via the Internet. Old media still believes in traditional ways that are proven. They are less likely to take, or set aside monies for risk that will not make a profit for shareholders. Which leads me to no. 3…
3. Funding is different. Either it is via bootstrapping or VC funding, new media is exactly that…new and thus has to find funding in new ways. Old media have shareholders to answer to and thus cannot or are willing to take chances on new technologies
So can companies keep visionaries…I say it is no because those companies who have visionaries are either too political, have to answer to shareholders, or are too slow to adopt to changing times that the visioinaries get bored and need to feed the need to make a difference. So I ask you…do you have a visionary you need to worry about leaving? Are you sure?
Quick Vote
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