VIPdesk Webinar Series May 11, 2010
Cover Slide
Social Media: How it fits into your
customer marketing and retention
strategy
Presented by:
Geoff Nelson: Partner, Ivy Worldwide
Nick White: Partner, Ivy Worldwide
Webinar Host:
Mary Naylor: CEO, VIPdesk
View The Webinar

About The Host
Mary Naylor
CEO
VIPdesk
• Mary Naylor is the CEO and Co-founder of VIPdesk
• VIPdesk provides concierge-quality contact center
solutions for leading global brands through a
nationwide network of home-based Brand Ambassadors,
Concierge, and Customer Service Representatives.
• VIPdesk provides its clients Concierge, Contact Center, and
Social Media support services.
• VIPdesk is continually recognized through numerous awards,
including the Inc. 500, Inc. 5000, NCBEA Business Ethics
Award, Stevie Awards for Women in Business and Smart CEO
Future 50.
Confidential & Proprietary VIPdesk Information 2

About The Presenters
Geoff Nelson
Partner
Ivy Worldwide
• Co-founded Ivy Worldwide in 2007
• More than 20 years of experience in brand programs, both
online and offline, measurement and analysis, business
development, project management, integrated
communications, and much more.
• Has an impeccable track record in solving complex marketing
communications challenges for top tier companies.
• Has worked for AMD, Leo Burnett Technology Group and Y&R
• Adjunct professor at Texas State University, guest lecturer at
the University of Texas at Austin on Word-of-Mouth
marketing.
Confidential & Proprietary VIPdesk Information 3

About The Presenters
Nick White
Partner
Ivy Worldwide
• Joined Ivy Worldwide in 2008, launched
Seattle office
• Began his career at Amazon.com where he worked to bring their
nationwide network of distribution centers online
• Managed speech technology deployments at Conversational
Computing, then worked on Spanish-language mobile phone
deployments at InfoSpace
• At Microsoft for five years, working first in Mobile and Embedded
Devices Division and most recently in Windows Client managing
social media relations and writing the most-trafficked blog at
Microsoft
• Double-degree graduate of University of Washington with MBA
from Duke University
Confidential & Proprietary VIPdesk Information 4

About Ivy Worldwide
•Brand Evangelist Experts - Ivy Worldwide is a word-of-mouth social media and
influencer marketing agency founded in 2007
• Proven Credentials - One of the most award wining social media agencies in the
world for effectiveness. Have driven lead awareness, lead generation and sales on
average between 40-80% consistently
• Clients include: HP, ATT, ProFlowers, Time Inc., Microsoft and many others
• Offices in Austin, Seattle and Houston
• They have evangelists too – Google “Ivy Worldwide” and “Buzz Corps” (former
name) and see what others have to say about us

About VIPdesk
VIPdesk’s full suite of Brand Experience Management
solutions include Virtual Concierge and Contact Center
Services, Social Media Management, Experiential Programs,
IVR Services and Voice of the Customer Surveying &
Analytics. Global industry leaders trust VIPdesk to enhance
their brands through our customer care and loyalty
programs. Serving as a seamless extension of their brands,
our innovative Brand Experience Management Solutions
deliver memorable customer experiences, business insights
and actionable intelligence that generate customer advocacy
and drive business growth.

Agenda
• Social media—what is it and why is it important
to your company?
• When, where, and how to engage the right
forms of word of mouth marketing
• What to do and not to do when communicating
with customers via social media
• Successfully organizing and executing a
customer-centric social media plan
• And more!
Confidential & Proprietary VIPdesk Information 7

What is Social Media and Why Is It
Important?

“For And With” Is The Model
"Instead of marketing at customers, our job in
the digital age is to get customers working with
us and for us. And you do that by working with
them and for them. This is where the new
marketing energy and breakthrough results are
to be found."
Mark Beeching
Chief Creative Officer
Digitas
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Social Media Evolves
3 million
blogs
First Blog
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010+
There is one constant through all of this: PEOPLE
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

What is Social Media/Word-of-Mouth Marketing?
Working with influencers and communities, both online and offline, to
educate them on your offerings and share the company’s perspectives
Creating brand ambassadors that share opinions/information, educate
others and help drive brand preference
Using Web 2.0 tools and on-going programs that make it easier to
create and share your information virally
Leveraging the network’s knowledge base to gain valuable customer,
market and product insights on you and your competitors
12
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Why your customers are using social media
Participation: Many are no longer satisfied to just consume the thoughts and
opinions of professional experts - but want to be involved in the process of discussing
and interacting with the news
Inclusion: Many of the new forms of media that are emerging not only involve
readers in the reporting and interpretation of news, but they create spaces where
community springs up around the news and information being shared
Suspicion of institution: Big business, government, church, and other institutions are
increasingly being viewed with suspicion
Customization: New media allows people to customize the information and news
that they want to consume – using tools like news aggregation they can now choose
specific topics that they wish to follow and control when and how they consume it
Immediacy: No longer satisfied to wait for tomorrow’s paper or tonight’s news
broadcast - people are increasingly following events in real time online
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Keys to leveraging CGM via Social Media Tools
1. Monitor consumers generating content about your brand via alert or
tracking program
2. Leverage your CGM community: Consider selecting one or two key
individuals commenting on your brand to contribute to your marketing
efforts
3. Reward participation: Let contributors know that you’re listening and
that you are open to their suggestions and ideas
4. Participate in existing consumer-driven communities – Identify the most
highly used destinations of CGM that matter to you and your brand and
join in
5. Respond to negative commentary
6. Select the right technology to engage your customers – Video, Audio,
etc.
7. Enable your audience to create content on your behalf leveraging your
products and services
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Keys to WOM/Social Media Success
Content is king
• Focus on community relationships – You can replace your product, but not your
contacts
• Use content — and products — as a means, not an end – Develop deeper consumer
relationships with each interaction
• Don’t create, aggregate – Consumer Generated Content is out there and you should
look to help your customers create and deliver it
The response is the message
• Listen and learn – Extend the dialogue offline and support the community, you
establish deeper relationships
• Share – Social media users expect to be able to try an experience your products and be
free to say anything they like
• Excite – Give your consumers an experience or a chance to be part of something
Customers call the shots
• Leverage influential consumers and work with them to drive the buzz
• Share control with influencers – Communities make firms not the other way around
• Gain trust by acting human
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

When, where and how to engage the
right forms of word of mouth marketing

SM Touches Every Part Of The Business
Product
Development
Service and
Support Design
Measurement
Throughout
Use and Packaging
Maintenance & Distribution
Go To Market
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

“Customer decision journey”
33.5% 67.5%
Consumer-driven
Company-driven Social
Social • Advice from friends
• Advertising • Searching
• Presence in consumer- • Word-of-mouth
driven activities • Researching
Awareness
Consideration
Consideration Set
Demand
Purchase
Research/Decide: Blogs, Twitter,
FB, Google , friends/family
Source: McKinsey
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Whom to target?
Managed Relationships
Tier 1 & Tier 2
influencers Tier 1
Individuals who Influencers
have the ability to Roughly 10% of the
Influence their • Most Influential/ Web users create
social networks Relevant Enthusiasts the consumer
due to their • Bloggers generated content
Level of Engagement
Reach and Influence
reach and/or
influence viewed by the other
Direct Connections 90%
• Facebook, twitter Word-of-Mouth
• Related Communities Marketing
• Private forum members Association
• Roughly 5,000-10,000 people
Non - Managed Relationships
• Webcasts / Chats visitors Non-Managed
• Website registrants Relationships are
• New or non-core target blogs the “minor leagues”
• User groups to identify future
• More than 5,000+ influencers
Number of participants
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Not All Influencers Are Created Equal
Word-of-Mouth The Top Tier
The Influencers The Buyers
Framework The New Media
Who are they? Top 1% of market like bloggers or Top 10% any market like forum The other 90% or any other
super-engaged consumers members or your core customers consumers/buyers
How many is this usually? Top 100 to 250+ Top 5000+ Rest of the World
What is the type of relationship? 1 to 1 1 to Many Many to Many
What do they do? Start conversations Carry and promote conversations Read and drive conversations
What do they want? Why now, why you, why are you Look at this? What is your take on What should buy? What should I
better? this? How does this compare? consider? Has anyone tried this?
Participate in the conversation and
What will they do for us? Start/Tell and deliver the story/topic Re-tell the story as their own and pass bring more people in over time
it along in their way to the masses
How do they see themselves? Brand/category The informed whose job it is help Buyers wanting to make the
ambassadors/defenders right/smart choice
What is their role? Education: Writers Evangelists: Copy & paste, with Empathy: Readers, consumers and
comment buyers
What role do they serve? The new media The town criers Consumers/buyers and future
influencers
What do I need to do to work Enfranchise them/make them part of Identify their communities& vehicles – Figure out what you want them to
with them? the design/program ASAP be where they are feel? How you want them to act?
Use to/for/with methodology to get Give them something worth
How do I engage them? them to deliver the story/topic Use to/for/with methodology to get discussing and keep it going any way
them to deliver the story/topic possible
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

How To Leverage Influencers
Mktg./Adv./PR WOM channel How?
Pre Focus groups (end-user)
Message testing (end-
LISTEN FIRST! – Then go create:
Advisory boards
Find and pull in closer.
Connect with and
user) Service testing with experts
Product design (end-user) Product seeding
create evangelism
PR Message Development
Seeding with media
Pro Advertising
Media
CGM – made about the product
Affiliate programs
Prepare, empower
Direct Newsletters/web pointing back to Set free – guide
Web influencers and replenish
Channel programs Reviews
SEO/SEM Forums
Videos
Post Support Pages
Call center
Ubiquitous tech support – where
customers live
Find where
customers are and be
Up-sale End-user recommendations
there – with the
Re-mention
evangelists
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Customers Expect A Dialog With You
• Only ask what you are willing to act on
• Talk to the right people
– Top 2% love you
– Bottom 2% hate you, take 43% of customer service time and will never be loyal
– Middle 96% are most likely to walk away
– 10% are the most involved and drive the other 90%
• Don’t stop talking to them just because they became a customer
• Don’t wait until there is a problem
• Understand their goals and objectives
• Share the knowledge with everyone in the organization
• Customers want to be treated like individuals
– Men’s clothing store
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Common Social Media Tools
• 2.6B Facebook minutes per day
• 400 Facebook Users Worldwide
• Over 6 million registered users
• Over 4 million Tweets per day
•20 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute
•FourSquare just surpassed 1 million users
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Finding the Right Tools
• Use the tools your customers are using to
connect with you. Because they are using
the tools doesn’t always meant they want
to have you there.
• Can determine where your customers are
via due diligence
• Always pay attention to new social media
channels and how the technology is
connecting you and your customers
• Plan for when you might use one vs. the
other and when
Source: CMO.com
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Know the Audience
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

The Palette of WOM Tactics
WOM
Experiential Strategies and Tactics Vlogs
Marketing Employee
Fan Advocacy Programs
Sites Email Advocacy Contextual Company
Fan Marketing
Clubs Non-Traditional Advertising Rating Sites
Advertising Search Engine
Corporate Radio Ads Private
Cause Marketing
Blog Marketing In-Store TV Ads Social Networks
Display/ Traditional Dialogue
Discussion POS Influencer/VIP
Boards Openness Marketing Print Ads Insider Clubs
Direct Mail Tactics
Brand Lifestyle Product Advergaming Word of Mouth
Press Release Broadcast
Community Placement Stunts/ Marketing
Web Site Product
Sponsorships Publicity Seeding
Podcasts Virtual
Mobile
Wikis Marketing Affiliate Authenticity Communities
Consumer
Generated Programs Viral Marketing
Content Customer Blogger
Beta Outreach
Advisory
Testers Crowd Sourcing Co-Creation/
Innovation Panels
User Collaboration
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Principles of community interaction
It’s about people
The rules are the same for corporations and separate individuals alike
However, expectations of corporations are different
• Identify and use the influencers – they are your allies
• Define, know and stick to the role you’ve identified for yourself
• Play active role in responding to inquiries and correcting inaccuracies
• Keep it personal by discussing your experience as an individual and
telling your story
• Give first-hand advice, perspective, anecdotes
• Use phrases such as “I think…”, “It’s my feeling that…” and “In my
experience…”
Give back – every interaction must add value
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Entering an existing community
Find places where your customers congregate
• Keep an open mind – customers may turn up in odd or unexpected places
• Identify and branch into tangential communities that match strategic objectives
Always leave them wanting more
• This gives you an entrée to lead them back to your site
• Let the community do the heavy lifting for you
• Recognize champions and leverage their efforts when they align with your own
• Give credit for good ideas
• Link to others of like mind -- pull in others’ stories (tacit endorsement of individual
as company envoy)
Always respect existing norms
• Listen and learn before speaking
• Be judicious about entering conversation – avoid creating interference or noise
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Keys to Successful Customer Communication
• Converse with and don’t market to customers – marketing spin
KILLS conversation
• Be honest
• Have something valuable to say – customers won’t bother to pass
on information they don’t care about
• Align strategies to the reasons consumers buzz – customers
initiate discussions on products because they like to help their
friends, find a common interest with others, or demonstrate their
knowledge of a topic
• Empower, but don’t expect to force, the spread of the message –
the easier the marketer makes it for consumers to spread the
word, the more consumers will participate
• Target the right people
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Responding to Social Media Appropriately
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Social Customer Communication:
Do’s and Don’ts

How to be Antisocial in 8 Easy Steps
1. Viral equals social success
– Viral is an outcome, from a good sales and marketing strategy, not the other way around
(Elfyourself.com)
2. Social command and control
– Social media is not about control, it is about cooperation and engagement – if you post only
about you/your brand (even if it is on Facebook, YouTube, etc.), it is not social media
3. Social is the content and the campaign
– Social media is about people doing what is in their best interest, not yours – Requiring
people to upload content that benefits on you is a recipe for disaster (SheratonWave.com)
4. Social prostitution
– The reason you want social media is authenticity sells – if you try to deceive, your audience
will find out (Google: “Pay Per Post”)
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

How to be Antisocial in 8 Easy Steps
5. Social = social
– Not all social media is the same just like not all marketing is the same – corporate blogs,
communities or any other tactics may not be best for your social media goals (Comcast
Twitter)
6. Social is PR
– Social media is too big for one department – there are benefits for other departments across
the board
7. Adver-social
– Social media delivers results when you have Google results, third-party endorsements, CGM
and real people carrying the message in unison – when its controlled and only in an ad box,
you lose lower results and raise costs
8. Social is the program
– Social media amplifies traditional marketing, driving up ROI across the board – by itself, it
usually is sub-optimal at best (Skittles)
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Most-often committed sins
1. Failing to be transparent: Transparency is the currency of the blogosphere –
clearly disclose for who you are
2. Appearing to bribe: Don't send stuff to customers before asking them
3. Not knowing the why and what of blogging: They are not journalists (despite
appearances)
4. Making a bad first step: Know the tool and what they talk about and how
5. Being scripted: SM platforms are a conversation tools and you would never
recite talking points at a cocktail party – no sales pitches in emails or phone
conversations just be honest and open, not stiff and predictable
6. Forgetting everything is on the record: You don't put anything in writing you
wouldn't want to be online
7. Making claims that can be easily disproved: Influencers love to call BS; don’t
give them a reason to do so
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

WOM Case Studies

Unpronounceable Volcano
When crisis strikes businesses are quickly overwhelmed – people turn
to others for help and information
• On April 15th, as airlines’ call centers got choked with frantic
passengers, and most websites still were not updated with the
latest flight delays
• The term #ashtag was first used by Ireland-based Tweeter JL
Pagano to note personal concerns and updates about the situation.
It was very quickly adopted by a number of other travelers
• However, it was only when airlines started using #ashcloud on
Twitter, along with their official updates, that the utility increased
significantly
• Travelers were being informed of their flight status online. KLM
and Lufthansa became the first major airlines to use the hashtag. It
was then picked up by other airlines
• 7 days - 55,000 mentions of #ashtag, and the usage was so
widespread that only 5.8% of the tweets came from the Top 10
users –- which is unusual
• See case study – www.slideshare.com -- search for “ashtag”
Source: Mashable.com
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Kryptonite’s Kryptonite
• A video demonstrating how to pick these expensive
bike locks with an ordinary Bic pen appeared on a
blog and quickly reached hundreds of thousands of
blog readers a day
• When the company issued a statement downplaying
the issue saying the locks “continue to present an
effective deterrent to theft” the NY Times and the AP
picked up the story, exposing the problem in
newspapers all across the country
• By the time the company announced the product
exchange plan almost a week later, the “make-good”
received very little coverage
• Even today the story lives on: lock buyers today will
find today turns up 8 negative stories about this
incident in the top 10 results of a Google search for
“kryptonite lock”– but no mention of the problem
being corrected and affected locks having been
replaced
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Search “Ivy Worldwide” and
Wholistic for Social Demand? see what the market has to
say about us
Proven Results - Just some of HP’s successes
Product Development Launch Sales/Promotion
TX-1000 Notebook Design Dv2 Back to School - On/Offline HP’s 31 Days of the Dragon
• Goal: get credit for HP design/launch TX- • Goal: Drive sales during BTS and position • Product in-market for 9 months
1000 dv2 as a college must-have • Provided 31 HDX “Dragon” systems to 31
• Asked 200 bloggers/influencers to tell HP • Support overall campaign and drives sales influencers/bloggers to give away to
what features they want in a notebook 1. Support HP’s NBA/dv2 microsite readers over 31 days (one per site)
• Done in Ivy’s private forum (IN Network) 2. Content generation to showcase the dv2 • Sites could give them away any way they
• HP used suggestions which included what 3. Make the dv2 cool and a must-have for wanted
they liked and disliked with competitors students with college blogs throwing • Google 31 Days of Dragon to see for
parties in a box using the dv2 to run the yourself
party. Locations: LA, Chicago, NYC
Results Results Results
• Features suggested were used in the TX- • 47% 1st month/71% 2nd month sales • 84% sales increase HDX Dragon (m/m
2000 increase (HPshopping.com) HPshopping.com)
• Valuable insight on competitors from • 11.5+ million people saw the campaign • 20% increase in traffic to HPshopping.com
people that review 150+ systems a year (Alexa) • 10% increase in overall sales at
• Influencers took credit for the HP design • 23,171 total Google back links HPshopping.com
and helped launch “the product they • 300+ content assets created • 380,000 Google links
helped design” • Influencers continue to develop content • 50+ million people saw the campaign
• Began real relationship of listening and a about their everyday use of the dv2 in (Alexa)
true evangelization between HP and college setting • 50% increase in traffic to
influencers that continues to grow influencers sites
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Key Takeaways From Case Studies
1. Social media marketing can work in ways traditional methods
can’t or won’t
2. Influencers can and will drive sales and create a viral effect
3. A holistic program such as “31 Days of the Dragon” forces
competitors to become reactive to your marketing
4. The combination of social media, CGM, search results and third-
party endorsement from credible sources hits consumers
where and when they are making buying decisions
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Steps To WOM/Social Media Success
1. Be ethical and transparent
2. Read WOMMA’s Ethics Code at http://womma.org/ethics
3. Listen to the conversations (find supporters, detractors and influencers)
4. Set goals
5. Develop a content strategy
6. Choose the WOM/social media tools that make sense for your strategy
7. Deliver the right content to the right audience
8. Engage with your customers, readers, evangelists, detractors, influencers
9. Facilitate evangelism — show you are the right company, doing the right
things to earn it
10. Measure the effectiveness of the strategy and adapt
Confidential Ivy Worldwide ©2010 Ivy Worldwide

Questions?
Confidential & Proprietary VIPdesk Information 41

Upcoming VIPdesk Webinars
• May 27: 5 Main Reasons to Use Work-at-Home
Customer Service Reps
• June 8: Integrating Social Media Into Your
Contact Center
• June 22: Friends, Fans and Tweeps: A Social
Media Primer and What is Means to your
Customers
For more information or to register for the VIPdesk
Webinar series, visit www.vipdesk.com.
Confidential & Proprietary VIPdesk Information 42

Connect With Us Online
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Blog: http://blog.vipdesk.com
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YouTube: http://youtube.com/user/vipdesk
Via RSS: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/23095083.rss
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Thank You for Attending!
Geoff Nelson Nick White
Partner Partner
Geoff@ivyworldwide.com Nick@ivyworldwide.com
@IvyWorldwide @IvyWorldwide
ivyworldwide.com ivyworldwide.com
(512) 560-0196 (206) 650-4865
Mary Naylor
CEO
mnaylor@vipdesk.com
www.twitter.com/vipdesk
www.vipdesk.com
(703) 837-3501
Confidential & Proprietary VIPdesk Information 44