The second CMO 2.0 Conversation was a truly fund discussion with Jay Gillespie, the VP of Marketing and New Product Development at Fiskars, Suzanne Fanning, Director of Communications at Fiskars, and Geno Church, the Word of Mouth Guru at Brains On Fire.

If you are not familiar with the Fiskateer community, you should listen to the interview. It is a great case study of how very traditional companies can leverage the marketing 2.0 techniques and programs. What they created is not a community - it’s a movement. You could not shut it down, even if you wanted to. And it also delivered some hardcore results - think 300% increase in store sales and 600% increase in online chatter.

I will distill some of the other nuggets from this great interview in a later blog post, but for now you can listen to it below.

 

 Fiskars interview [49:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (7)

I had the pleasure to interview Paula Drum, the VP of Marketing for the Digital Division of H&R Block. It was a lot of fun to speak with a forward thinking marketer like Paula on a variety of social media marketing programs.

Topics that we covered include:

• How did social media change marketing at H&R Block?
• What are the scaling issues for marketing 2.0 programs?
• How do you overcome internal resistance, and especially legal objections?
• How do you measure progress and success?
• How do you decide to extend a brick & mortar brand into the digital world vs. creating a new brand?
• How does marketing 2.0 affect the organizational structure of marketing?
• Should you integrate traditional marketing programs with social media programs?

We will write additional blog posts with content from the interview, but for now I wanted to make sure the interview was up there as quickly as possible.

Comments, suggestions, or ideas? Send them my way at francois [at] beelinelabs.com

 

 CMO 2.0 conversation with Paula Drum, VP Marketing H&R Block [58:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (59)

On August 5, Networked Insights, a provider of customer intelligence across social media, announced that NetShops Inc. selected its customer intelligence technology platform to build an outdoor-focused community, “The Backyard,” and gain valuable customer insights from user interactions within its network of sites. NetShops is a leading Web retailer comprised of more than 200 niche home and lifestyle product e-commerce sites, and is one of Internet Retailer’s Hot 100 Best Retail Websites.

The partnership with Networked Insights will help enhance the consumer experience and promote engagement across NetShop’s network of sites as customers look for answers during the buying process. Networked Insights in turn will allow members of The Backyard to interact with others who have similar interests and share unbiased information about past experiences, hobbies, and ultimately NetShops’ products.

Using Networked Insights’ Customer Insight Platform, NetShops will be able to gain insights in these interactions to find out about customer needs, brand buzz, products and competitors, which will enable NetShops to enhance the overall customer experience. The technology will also help the company better understand their customers and make more informed business decisions based the customer intelligence.

I met Daniel Neely, CEO of Networked Insights a couple of months ago when we talked about customer conversations at my blog. When I read about the announcement, I reached out to Dan with a few questions.

I like the idea of making the products and promotions relevant to the interactions people are having within the network. Can you talk about the technology behind the portal? Clearly two components of digital marketing work hand in hand to deliver optimal results - good data and the ability to mine it. Can you expand a little about the service Networked Insights delivers?

Dan Neely: Networked Insights’ solution includes both a customer-facing community (Customer Interaction Network) and and back-end portal (Customer Insight Platform). The insight platform provides insights from all five areas of focus (customer needs, content, competition, brand and product/service) and assigns an influence metric, based on engagement, to each member of the community. Companies can tell who is saying what to who and how influential it is. This social behavior profile, combined with content analysis, helps companies evaluate the most relevant discussions and ideas. Making sense of the information gathered in the community is our main differentiator.

Networked Insights’ proprietary technology can intelligently interpret the conversations and deliver actionable insights. Many companies build community for community’s sake and don’t really take advantage of the value other than giving customers a voice. Networked Insights does that, improves customer satisfaction in that way, but also drives business values in areas like sales, marketing and product development. More information about Networked Insights’ offering can be found here.

As far as linking to the Backyard community is concerned, The reality is that customers don’t actually visit Netshops.com, they visit the micro-sites like Hammocks.com. Since the Backyard community is outdoors-focused, it’s located on Netshops’ backyard-related sites for now.

Can you talk a little bit about Social Commerce? I thought all commerce was social to one degree or another.

Dan Neely: I suppose social e-commerce is more accurate than “social commerce.” So many people do their shopping online, and although many refer to reviews and forums, it’s largely a passive, solitary process. With a community in place at an e-commerce site, retailers give customers the opportunity to have real-time interactions around products and their transactions on the site. A bridge can be built between the community and the e-commerce portion of the site, as you mentioned, linking products/promotions to interactions that are happening within the network. Check out the conversation titled “the debate rages on “Charcoal or gas”.

I suppose users have the option of creating anonymous or fake profiles, if they so choose. Do they? Do you have disclosures and privacy policies at your communities? I remember when Facebook first implemented Beacon, that was a big turnoff for me. It led to my leaving the social network for good.

Dan Neely: As with other social networks, users can create anonymous profiles (with email confirmation). Networked Insights gives the customers full control of their information, they disclose only as much as they want to, we call this progressive disclosure. Depending on the community, customers are rewarded by how much they share (for example, in The Artful Home community, there is a point system that awards gift certificates to certain members). Information about Networked Insights’ privacy policy can be found here.

Have you launched other communities before The Backyard? If so, what have you learned? Are you putting that intelligence back into the technology and tools?

Dan Neely: Last fall, we launched the Artful Community with The Guild. I’ve attached a case study that includes some of the findings. Unfortunately, we’re not able to disclose who else we’re working with at the moment, but we work with etailers, big brands and social media publishers and networks.

In your experience, do companies like Netshops participate in the conversation? Would the company have the ability to see complaints and dissatisfaction online and be able to address it in the tool? Would your tool work with Get Satisfaction? Does it tie back to the company’s customer service?

Dan Neely: At this point, Netshops is taking the approach of being the moderator to conversations– you will see them indicated by a M in a shield in the community. They are not forcing the conversation in one direction or the other but they are helping customers out in the community. A company has the ability to join and interact with the community if they choose to. Through the insight platform, companies are able to see any complaints or dissatisfaction and could use it for customer service. Networked Insights’ technology has the ability to gather intelligence from third-party sites like MySpace, so this could be integrated with a feedback forum site like Get Satisfaction as well.

On July 9, Melanie Notkin, CEO and Founder of SavvyAuntie, launched a community site in beta, SavvyAuntie.com. This site serves a unique niche - that of women (80% of the economy) who have no children of their own (50% of those) and still love children. Nieces, nephews from relatives and from friends, too.

Within an hour of her launch, Melanie had had site reviews published by none other than TechCrunch and Mashable. Eric Kuhn published the first interview at The Huffington Post.

I asked Melanie is she’s be willing to share a few more thoughts with me for readers and community members of Marketing 2.0.

A former interactive marketing and communications executive for global Fortune 500 companies, including New York Times Digital, American Express and L’Oréal, I met Melanie on Twitter. The great equalizer, if there ever was one. Anyone who still has any doubts about the value of social media should think about this for a moment. Where and when would I have met such a talented professional?

SavvyAuntie includes a social network, and other community-based resources like user blogs, expert blogs, activity guides and gift suggestions. By registering and filling out information about nieces and nephews, users get customized gift and activity suggestions. They also have the option of uploading information about themselves so that they can meet other aunts (and uncles).

I like how you described what you learned as a progression - the interactive world and how to reach and drive people online at NYTD, the value of membership at Amex, what women want at L’Oréal. Why a community and not just a web site? Was that a natural progression? What inspired you?

Melanie: In June of 2007, I dreamed of developing a modern online resource and community for cosmopolitan Aunts, just like me. After doing the research, I realized that there were tens of millions of us across the nation. There already was “community,” only no one had bothered to notice.

I never claim to be the uber-all-knowing Auntie. Most of the information I’ve learned about Aunt-hood over the years has come from my community of amazing New York City girlfriends and their experiences as Savvy Aunties. Over brunch, these Aunts in the City would ask each other: “What can I do with my 12-year-old niece who is visiting me for the day?”; “What should I get my twin nephews for their second birthday?”; “If I’m in a fight with my sister, how do I not see my nieces?” And so much more.

“Savvy Auntie” isn’t me. She’s what every Aunt aspires to be. The only way to get there is to connect with the other Aunts on the site. We are inherently a community. I am just providing a larger platform than a table for four.

Of course, it was important to have expert content on the site as well. We have about two dozen experts who write on topics from kids’ health to pop-culture for kids, all told from the Auntie perspective. But because we know our Savvy Aunties have a lot to add, there is also opportunities for members to comment and rate content, as well as add their own “Savvy” to the Auntiepedia application.. They can also submit their own Activities and share their advice in our Forums

I have already learned so much from other Savvy Aunties in the process of developing and launching this community. I cannot wait to learn more, and become that Savvy Auntie we all yearn to be.

You received reviews of your beta site within an hour after the launch from none other than TechCrunch and Mashable. As well, Eric Kuhn published an interview with you at The Huffington Post. Do you think this level of interest is also based on the fact that you are a very active member of social media? Have you had conversations with these individuals in the course of social networking?

Melanie: There are a number of reasons why we received online reviews of Savvy Auntie immediately after launch. First of all, no matter how much of an impression you make through your social media relationships, if you don’t have a product worth reviewing, it’s probably not going to get reviewed. The fact that it got reviewed is a tribute to the smart people at the outlets you mention above, who see potential in Savvy Auntie. For that, I am grateful on a number of levels.

That aside, I met Adam Hirsch, COO of Mashable, and Brett Petersel, Events Director at Mashable, at the Jeff Pulver Media Breakfasts in New York City. I met Eric Kuhn there on a separate occasion. Each one of them has been a supporter of me and my dreams as an “auntrepreneur” since our first meeting. These guys are men to watch in the social media world; while all only in their 20s, they have managed to carve out immense careers for themselves by being smart and generous with their network and their support.

While I never met founder of TechCrunch, Michael Arrington, in person, we did share a few direct messages via Twitter. And while I would love to say that that relationship helped with my placement in TechCrunch, it was his eagle-eyed blogger Calley Nye, who picked up and ran with the story, interviewing me the day before launch.

What should be known is that while these reviews at launch were a huge boost for the site, so are all the posts by bloggers I have met only through social media outlets, such as Twitter and Facebook. In fact, that’s how you and I met, Valeria. The support for Savvy Auntie on Twitter is so enormous that TwitScoop reported it was the most Tweeted phrase on the day of launch.

There is no doubt in my mind that my social media relationships, developed authentically in Twitter, on Facebook, in the social media industry, have helped make Savvy Auntie a success at launch. Savvy Auntie and me as its founder, were welcomed with open arms in the SM community. And I cannot thank everyone enough.

The site is designed to grow by community, which makes it great for the integration of wish lists and affiliate retail programs. As marketers, we know how powerful peer to peer recommendations are. Conversation is also an important component of shared experiences. Do you envision the site’s growth beyond commercial utility? In your interview with Eric at Huffington Post, you talk about capturing stories. Would there be opportunity for expansion into educational tools, for example teaching languages, or support groups for children with developmental problems?

Melanie: That’s a great question, Valeria. And, certainly, there are numerous ways to take our learning from the Aunt community and develop them into tools and resources that help and support the non-mom offline as well. There are no parenting guides for non-parents and we are hoping that Savvy Auntie becomes the resource for Aunts who not only want to learn from each other, but share as well.

We’ve built opportunities for this within Savvy Auntie from the start. The Aunthology, a section within Community where members can share stories about Aunt-hood, is where we hope to learn about many new perspectives on Aunt-hood from different cultures and points of view. Plus, every member is entitled to her own blog, where she can share her personal journey. Finally, because Community is built organically, we hope to gauge interest in various issues important to Savvy Aunties through our Forums and Groups. And since the site is free to join, there are no barriers for participation.

We’ve already been lauded by some who blog about children with special needs for taking care to include content about developing special needs nieces and nephews in our Expertise and Gifts sections. We’re so happy the word is getting out about that. We hope that Savvy Aunties will add their own experiences and their own tips on the site as well.

Aunt-hood, as a universal story, has really never been told. It’s too early to forecast what will come of it. But if there is a way to capture the stories and translate them into solutions for Aunts everyone, online and offline, we’ll do it.

***

Thanks to you, Melanie, the community is off to a great start. Learn more about SavvyAuntie at Melanie Notkin’s blog.

Supernova2008 just wrapped up this past week. If you’re not familiar with this conference, you may learn more at conversation hub. Last year, Umair Haque (Bubble Generation), Liz Lawley (Rochester Institute of Technology), and Jerry Michalski (Sociate) engaged the audience in a lively and insightful summary. You may watch the video that closes the interactive loop here.

As I listened to these passionate interpreters extrapolate from the experience, a few points jumped at me:

Access is ubiquitous - access to capital, relationships, resources.

Things get better the more people use them - these are betters, not goods.

All of your metrics are crap (they do not look at measures of devotion) - eyeballs and buckets don’t tell you the details about what matters and what’s going to be successful.

We don’t have a culture of getting good data - we have data filtered through the people who often have the least reason to give us accurate information.

Backchannels matter - at the event and to your business. If you’ve failed to engage, you will know because the backchannel will boycott you and join another conversation.

We need to pay attention to humans - we need to make things available to customers. They are people in their normal lives, not consumers, targets, or impressions.

Silence has value - we talked about how silence has a sound and a place at Conversation Agent last year.

Purpose beats profit - craft a strategy by who and why and bake that in the DNA of your business.

Your company can be a platform for customers to remix - firms are one economic component. The others are networks and community.

Plastic beats specific - today the economy is made up of plastic things. Things that can be duplicated and remixed and tweaked and hacked into in many ways.

If relationships are liquid, flows beat assets. How do you harness the power of these new forces for your business? Ask ourself, is there a DNA build underneath these technologies? How does what you do provide an experience, how does it make your customers feel? That is the component that is game-changing, not the technology.