The 15 Myths of the Social Web (as first presented at Webcom Montreal) by Sean Moffitt, President, Agent Wildfire

1. Wikibrands – Building a Brand in Today’s Customer Controlled Landscape Sean Moffitt @SeanMoffitt President & Chief Evangelist, Agent Wildfire Oct 22, 2009 A Presentation to:

2. Sean Moffitt – One of the few blonde guys left policing the world

3. White Paper Mania “ Brands on the Web”

5. Wikibrand Culture Gap– These Sides Don’t Play in the Sandbox with Each Other Marketing/ Corporate Communications Social Media/ Digital Innovators

7. An imperative to understand each other Executives/ Marketing/Corporate Communications Social Media/ Digital Innovators To avoid irrelevance To avoid staying poor

8. Knowledge Gap: Marketers don’t understanding the rules and tools of playing this game Question: How familiar are you with the tools of social media? 71% of marketers are less/only equally familiar with the use of social media tools than their customers Source: com.motion Poll

9. Knowledge Gap: Social media advocates are way off the mark on building credibility Question: How familiar are you with the tools of social media? 90% of CFOs believe CMOs have no idea the tie between marketing spend and sales Source: Microsoft Roundtable CEO’s #2 and #3 priority is customer service and customer experience

10. The Chasm of Social Media Acceptance Radicals Reactionaries

11. How Brands Operate in a Community World

12. Let’s explode some myths…. 15 Myths in 15 Minutes

14. Myth #1 - Do Brands Still Matter in Social Media?

15. Brand Prerogative – Engaged Brands Grow, Closed Brands Don’t Engaged brand value +18% Non-engaged brand value -6% Source: Interbrand 2009 Best Global Brand s report

17. Myth #2 – Can New Media Success Happen Overnight?

18. Turning Users, Customers and Consumers Into Authors, Producers, Scouts, Testers and Collaborators & Broadcasters Into Community Members, Advocates, Ambassadors and Evangelists Thinktank/ Sounding Board Scout/ Mystery Shopper Advisory Council/ Cause Torchbearer Seeded Adopter/ Beta Tester Customer User Consumer Collaborator/ Producer Evangelist/ Ambassador/ Advocate Community Member/ VIP Insider Brand Fans What if you treated customers like fans?

19. Myth #3 – Is their a “silver bullet” benefit for launching social media/communities?

20. The New 2.0 Frontiers “ Internal purposes” 65% “ External purposes” 58% “ Working with partners and suppliers” 41%

21. Objectives for Launching Social Media/WOM/Communities Internal External Hard Measure Soft Measure Awareness/Buzz 35% Referrals/Leads/Members 32% Participate in a conversation 26% Drive brand loyalty 32% Seed influencers 32% Launch a product 22% Build a better customer experience 21% Accelerate sales 19% Target tough to reach audience 19% Generate user generated content 19% Support a cause 6% Deliver visitors/traffic 17% Enhance credibility 14% Get Insight /solutions 10% Provide learning 6% Source: Agent Wildfire Question - What are the top 3 objectives?

22. Key Six Reasons for Entering Social Media Brand Advocacy Brand Insight Brand Content Brand Support Brand Perception Brand Serendipity

24. Myth #4 – What’s our first step?

26. FOCUS– Marry All Parties’ Interests/Capabilities Two Big Axioms Social/member needs > Company needs Focus > Technology/Platform

27. Members/Customers Values/Lifestyle/Desires

29. The FLIRT Model – A Recipe for Community Success

31. Myth #5 – How Involved Should We Make Our Community?

32. Area of Benefit “ what do you want to achieve?” Scale/Size of Collaboration “ how big will it be?” Depth of Collaboration “ how much member involvement is expected?” Exclusivity of Membership “ how open is your community?” Level of Involvement determined by..

33. Area of Benefit - Microsoft Feedback - Emerging top issues - Product issues identified Advocacy - Word of mouth/evangelism/Sharing - Important stakeholders - VIPs Support - Break-fix issues - Recognize people who provide answers Nestor Portillo, Microsoft – Worldwide Director, Community and Offline Support

36. Myth #6 – The Most Overlooked Area Of Building Community?

37. LANGUAGE & OUTREACH “ do I like this/can I identify with this?”

38. “ It doesn’t matter what you say, if I don’t like the way you’re saying it” James Cherkoff, Collaborate Marketing

41. Myth #7 – Build Your Own vs. Live on Others?

42. Platform Choices

43. Outreach - The Community Tentacles Community Portal Content Engine Blog/RSS Social Targeted Findability Visual Multimedia Updates Interesting- ness Conversation Collaboration Offline Direct Grassroots Outreach Badging Aggregation

45. Myth #8 – How many and who will participate?

46. Visual Outreach – Not Everyone is Equal

47. “ The Ones Who Create Ideas” “ The Ones Who Spot & Scout New Stuff” “ The Ones Who Sell and Lead Opinions” “ The Ones Who Provide Credibility” “ The Ones Who Attract Attention” “ The Ones Who Connect & Spread the Word” Seeding the Influencer Curve…at the Right Time

49. Myth #9 – Will they particpate because of my brand?

54. Myth #10 – Do we need to worry about social media/community rules?

58. Myth #11 – What features should we provide?

60. Amazon - Designed for Socialness Amazon – Designed for Socialness

62. Myth #12 – What platform should we build it on?

63. Gartner predicts among Fortune 1000 companies over the next two years: 60% will build an online community… … and 50% will fail The Future is Tribal

66. Myth #13 – My community will grow organically?

67. How to Avoid This…

68. The Life Stage of Social Media/Community Fresh produced content Highlight contribution Incentives pitched Networked Seeded audience Milestone achievement User generated content Incentives materialized Mass supported Expected cycle of activity Expansion Broadened focus Company culture change Self-governance Tiered membership

69. Community/Brand Evangelists - Tasks

71. Myth #14 – Can you really measure social media? How do you measure it?

72. The biggest obstacles that continue to exist in implementing social media/WOM in your company/clients? 1. Inability to measure 40% 2. Lack of budgets 31% 3. No accepted standards/benchmarks 29% 4. Fear of loss of control 29% 5. Inability for culture to accept 25% 6. Technical skills/expertise not in place 23% 7. Do not understand diff. bet. Mass marketing 21% Source: Agent Wildfire Buzz Report 2009 Implementation Issue – Lip Service > Action

74. Measurement by Community Objective

76. Myth #15 – What’s the future hold?

77. Source: Agent Wildfire Buzz Report 2009 Beliefs are Changing Beliefs Strongly Agree Agree Agencies need to radically reinvent themselves to stay competitive 39% 44% Managing the customer experience is the key battleground for business 32% 50% We will be able to track conversations much more accurately over the next decade 28% 48% The marketing will become much more important to their org. by leveraging SM/WOM 20% 54% Radically new social media and word of mouth tactics will be adopted in the next few years 20% 51%

78. A Palette of New Strategies & Tactics Await Source: Agent Wildfire What forms of social media/word of mouth will experience the most growth in the next few years ? (top 3 choices) Social media marketing 37% Social network marketing 35% Mobile marketing 34% User-generated Content 31% Influencer marketing 28% Brand communities 20% Customer forums 17% Branded entertainment 16% Cause-related marketing 14% Brand microblogging 14% Buzz marketing 13% Corporate/brand blogging 11%

79. Marketers Never Forget – Humans are Hard Wired Social Animals

80. Digital Advocates Never Forget… Brands still matter…

83. Sean Moffitt smoffitt@agentwildfire.com (416) 255-4500 Twitter: @seanmoffitt www.AgentWildfire.com Blog: Buzz Canuck