Everyday Influence

The Dynamics of Social Influence: A New Perspective and Agenda

2009-07-14T16:47:26-07:00

While on vacation last week in Kauai I sat beachside relaxed and entranced by the awesome power of the ocean.

I was entertained watching wave after wave hit the beach, toppling kids and adults as they played in the water. As I sat there, I became curious about how waves are formed. So I turned on my iPhone and went to the Internet in search of an answer. In a matter of minutes, I learned that waves are formed (in part) by the force of wind and in some cases (such as tsunamis) by the affects of massive earthquakes that occur in the ocean.

I then went to YouTube (from the iPhone) to find videos of the most powerful waves recorded. Many of the videos found were associated with the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 that killed over 300,000 people including 168,000 in Indonesia alone. The videos told a power story about the tsunami straight from the people affected by it. It was a very powerful education. I then searched for blogs to find stories about this tsunami. Many blog posts that I found were written by people from around the world who were traveling in/around or lived in Indonesia at the time.

Within an hour, I learned how waves are created including the power and devastation of tsunamis - through the experiences (words and video) of people who were affected by one of history's most powerful and destructive, on record.

That same afternoon our beach was met by a couple of visitors from the ocean - Hawaiian Monk Seals. This stirred great excitement among the people on the beach. Within minutes, a crowed formed around the seals and local environmentalists arrived to place a rope barrier around the seals.

I wanted to learn more!

Again, using my iPhone I went to the Internet and found a number of educational videos on YouTube and blogs about these endangered mammals. Through Twitter I was even able to see where other seals (35 known to the island) had been spotted over the past few days.

My search also led me to the website of a local organization that supports the protection of monk seals. As I explored the website I was motivated to make a donation to help protect and educate the public about these beautiful and endangered mammals.

At the end of the day, I was amazed at the speed and accessibility that I had to a vast amount of information regarding these two 'curiosities' while sitting on the beach in Kauai.

Through the iPhone I was seamlessly connected to a wealth of information on the Internet and the social web (blogs, YouTube, Twitter, etc.) that in the case of seals, motivated me to take action and give. Just amazing.

This impressed upon me the power of Web 2.0 technology and social media’s increasing importance to society.

During my day job I spend a lot of time designing and executing marketing and communication programs that combine the power of the 'social web' with traditional ‘offline’ practices to engage customers and other external stakeholders (analysts, academia, bloggers, thought leaders, etc.) to help accelerate sales and the adoption of SAP products and solutions.

My ‘social media’ experience while on vacation gave me a new perspective as a marketing and communications professional working to adapt and lead change against a new set of rules of engagement in the industry.

For instance, a great deal has been written about how social media has forever challenged the traditional business and syndication models of mainstream media (newspapers, publications, broadcast media).

There are also many famous examples of how social media has helped to bring new meaning to words like 'transparency,' 'trust,' and 'accountability' that has forced the evolution of traditional business models and beliefs of marketing and communications (as professions), sales and relationship management (personal, citizen and customer), politics, philanthropy and general business management.

Web 2.0 technologies and social media has transformed society in many ways. It has provided a platform for everyday people to participate in the creation and syndication of educational and business content and 'news' that is accessible to the world – instantaneously. We are also seeing the proliferation of online social networks and communities designed to connect people in powerful and influential ways. This connection of people has changed the dynamics and the process of influence in our society - how people source information and make and influence decisions of others. It has strengthened the rules and social contract of 'trust' by forcing accountability (of individuals, businesses, governments, etc) to words and actions.

As I think about this I am inspired to look more deeply at how social media has affected the dynamics and rules of 'social influence' across a number of areas of society (business, politics, philanthropy/giving, personal productivity/advancement, etc.). To understand how the phenomena has affected the behaviors and motivations of people for greater benefit and activism.

Over the course of the next few months I will focus on this (through my blog) with an eye toward identifying best practices of successful use of social media and the real impact (as much as I can identify) across each of the below segments.

Politics: The 2008 U.S. Presidential election legitimized the use of social media in U.S. politics that will have a lasting impact. Through the masterful use of social media tools like blogs, twitter, YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, President Barack Obama strengthened the ideological and emotional connections with voters and the general public (U.S. and Global) – in ways that traditional media would not have allowed.

Key Questions: How are other governments and politicians successfully using or abusing social media for policy and political advancement? What are the implications of social media on politics in the future (2020 and 2030)? How has social media challenged governments and politicians through new rules of open/public scrutiny toward trust, transparency and accountability?

Social Causes: Non-profits and philanthropists have used social media to raise awareness and advocate change to support very important social, economic, and environmental issues. As an example, organizations like DonnorsChoose.org have redefined approaches to charitable giving and fundraising. DonnorsChoose.org is an online charity that connects people and business to classrooms in need. It has famously used social media to organize people and fundraise millions of dollars for a good cause.

Key Questions: What are the social media tools and techniques that successful non-profit organizations/institutions use to advance awareness and motivate people, governments and businesses to take action and affect positive change (giving of time and money), creation of policy, etc.? How has social media impacted the nature of philanthropic design and social responsibility (local and global)?

Individuals: Social media has empowered individuals by giving them a platform to amplify their voices in ways that have forced accountability on corporations and governments regarding important issues around policy, products (quality and design) and services.

Individuals have also used social media to expand their personal and professional networks that have helped to secure new jobs and business opportunities; develop new friendships (romantic, social and professional); and accelerated education and productivity as a great complement to their ‘offline’ networks and activities.

Key Questions: How do people use social media and social networks to address personal concerns and support better decision making? How has social media affected trust and relationships between people and organizations? What are the implications to future generations of individuals (who today share everything about themselves) on politics and business? What are the most effective tools used by people to influence change in business and government?

Mainstream Media: Smart media organizations (newspapers, broadcast media, etc.) have embraced the social web by incorporating tools such as Twitter, blogs, social networks, and podcasts into their portfolio of news and information dissemination and exchange to build community/readership and citizen journalists. CNN, Wall Street Journal and New York Times are shining examples of mainstream U.S. media that have adapted successfully. There are also many examples of mainstream media that have not adapted fast enough or at all – that have gone or are going out of business.

Key Questions: What new syndication and business models have emerged for mainstream media today – to adapt to the phenomena of the social web? How has the influence of mainstream media changed as a result of social media?

Business: Businesses are using social media to redefine service and customer support; improve and in some cases accelerate innovations of products and services; build new sales and marketing channels as part of a shift to Business-to-Person relationship management.

Key Questions: How has social media and social networks affected professional/business decision-making? What approaches and tools are business using to ‘listen,’ ‘interact’ and ‘engage’ more with their core audiences to improve the way they do business? How as social media affected and transformed traditional marketing and communication beliefs and strategies?

There are certainly more questions and ideas to explore regarding how social media has affected change across society (business, social, and political).

In my mind, the common factor is the importance on ‘the individual’ (person, employee, citizen, customer, etc.) at the center of engagement. The empowerment of the individual has given social media amazing credibility forcing disruption and disintermediation of long-standing business and cultural beliefs.

Social media is without a doubt fluctuating through the hype cycle on its way to maturity. Privacy issues are at the core of many debates taking place right now - helping to shape the policy of social networks such as Facebook. As social media tools become more mature and more actively used by people, we will undoubtedly see new levels of misuse, corruption and deceit – that will challenge the social contract of trust with this evolving medium (although the people who misuse will be weeded out).

It is also my belief that the ‘generational’ affect of social media will not be realized for another decade or two. As millennials and Gen Y’ers share more information about themselves – posting pictures/videos, creating detailed personal profiles on social networks, and using blogs as an open diary of their lives that will live forever on the social web. All of this makes anonymity and privacy very hard to control. What will be the affect on the next generation in business and politics?

I will tap into the expert minds of colleagues and Fellows at The Society for New Communication Research (SNCR) and others in the industry who follow these issues more closely - to support future posts. If you have expertise, or questions that should be explored, links to information/research, or would like to collaborate on any of these topics/issues - please leave a comment or send me an email at don_bulmer@yahoo.com.

My Personal Branding Interview with Dan Schawbel

2009-06-18T17:52:24-07:00

I had the great pleasure to be interviewed this week by Dan Schawbel.

Dan is a leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y. He is the author of the bestselling career book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 2009). The interview was for his blog which is syndicated by Reuters, Forbes, Hoovers, Fox Business and The Chicago Sun-Times, among others.

Dan has interviewed over 160 success individuals such as Marcus Buckingham, Tony Hsieh, John C. Maxwell, Ken Blanchard, Phil Town, Don Tapscott, Marshall Goldsmith, David Allen, Larry Winget, John Kotter, Robert B. Cialdini, Keith Ferrazzi, Carmine Gallo, Matt Mullenweg, Steven Baker, David Meerman Scott, Mark Sanborn, Tucker Max, and many others. To be among this impressive group of renowned industry experts interviewed by Dan is a great honor!

Through the interview we discussed the following topics:

The best way to build ones personal brand with social media
The most important aspect of my personal brand
How social media has impacted the landscape of business and marketing communications - with the emergence of business-to-person (B2P) marketing
The pitfalls and best practices in managing the demanding set of ‘crowed rules’ inherent in social media and the Web 2.0 environment.

The full interview can be found on Dan’s Blog. I want to thank Dan for the great exchange, and opportunity to be profiled!

Factors of Influence

2009-06-02T18:41:51-07:00

Duncan Brown at Influencer 50 posted a blog today where he discusses the effectiveness of sponsored conversations (paid media) as a credible form of influence.

In a comment, I offered that at SAP we have found that there are generally three factors that combine to have a very powerful form of influence on most any decision. The three factors are: Awarness, Reputation and Experience. I detail this more in a blog post from last year.

Paid media (through advertising or sponsored conversations) and unpaid media (through traditional media and blogger relations) are great for generating broad awareness for companies and important industry issues. However, awareness alone (regardless of the channel) will not entirely influence or motivate one to take action (e.g. purchase or engage).

This is where experience comes in. We have found that ‘experience’ is perhaps the single most important and credible factor that influences any individual or community to take action. This this is very hard to ‘buy.’

Experience (good or bad) is authentic and extremely credible. This is were Duncan makes an excellent point that companies should focus on generating advocacy by creating remarkable products and services.

The more that companies can generate advocacy/endorsement based on the positive ‘experience’ of their products and/or services through their key stakeholder groups (e.g. customers, partners, employees, etc.) the better situated they are to establish a movement that will increase competitive advantage and/or other desirable results.

Social Networks and B2P

2009-05-02T11:41:09-07:00

I was recently invited to submit an article for Connect-World Asia Pacific. Connect-World is a series of magazines that offers a forum where the highest-level decision makers in the telecommunications and information technology sectors discuss their opinions about the impact of technology on Global and regional development. Connect-World's audience (writers and readers) are leaders of industry, governments, international organizations, legal experts, bankers and the like.

The theme for the issue of the publication that I was asked to write for was 'Convergence, communications and business innovation.'

I had the great pleasure to work closely with my colleauge, Peter Auditore, who contributed significantly to this piece. The article is called “Social Networks and B2P.” Below is the article as it was published:

Social networks and B2P
by Donald Bulmer, Vice President Global Communications, SAP AG

The Internet has rapidly expanded to become a global network of seamlessly connected computers and devices that has revolutionized information sharing and communications, challenged governments,broken down cultural barriers and driven innovation and business velocity to levels never before imagined. One of the most important successes of the Internet is how it is enabling globalization and more importantly business model innovation. Today’s most successful companies are driving product and business model innovation from outside their own walls by leveraging the Internet as a collaborative community-building platform. This platform has allowed organizations to harness the innovation power of the community and not just individual innovation; some notable examples are Topcoder.com and Innocentive.com.

With the execution of business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce over the last ten years, the Internet has enabled companies to create, build and maintain rich and vibrant ecosystems of partners, suppliers and now social networks. At the centre of these ecosystems is the customer who has indeed benefited the most from these advances. However, we are now entering the age of business-to-person (B2P) communications, which is the result of Web 2.0 based social networking platforms that give new power to the customer and the communities of interest that form around them.

The astronomical growth and evolution of platforms such as BeBo, Facebook and MySpace reflects the success of Web 2.0 technologies; more importantly it illustrates how digital natives will expect to interact with and use software applications in the future.

This is just the beginning as a new wave of professionally oriented social networks have begun their evolution, most notably, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Namyz and others. What is most surprising about the emergence and growing influence of social networks is that they did not emerge from the innovative Internet giants of Google and Yahoo.

Social networks and Web 2.0

The first social networking platform to emerge from the TCP/IP Internet protocol suite was the Network News Server in the early 1990s. This was a relatively primitive system used extensively in many engineering organizations to post projects and share information via email between geographically dispersed groups. Engineers are very much today’s digital natives and are more likely than most to join and participate in forums such as our developer network forum where 1.4 million developers, partners and customers regularly answer questions and share their knowledge.

Digital natives armed with mobile devices are by nature highly collaborative and they were quick to latch onto the inherent value of social networking within their age groups and cultures. In fact, many of the first social networks formed around specific age and peer groups. These networks brought together communities of users such as Nintendo and Wii users and, within Gather.com, book lovers and writers. Members of these networks now interact using these platforms throughout their daily lives via their highly enabled mobile telephones. The introduction of the iPhone transformed the mobile phone into a new computer platform for social interaction.

There are many varieties of social networking types - they tend to coalesce around common social, cultural or professional interests:

Cultural and age group specific
• Myspace.com
• Facebook.com
• Gather (30-40 year olds)
• EONs.com (Baby Boomers)
• Bebo.com (Teens & Young Adults)

Professional
• LinkedIn.com (reportedly 20 million members globally)
• Naymz.com
• Plaxo.com
• Xing.com

Professional innovation
• Innocentive.com
• Topcoder.com
• InsightCommunity.com (formerly Techdirt.com)
• Techcrunch.com

Charlene Li, formerly an analyst with Forrester, expects that in their next stage, in five to 10 years, social networks will be ubiquitous - sites will, “be like air: They will be anywhere and everywhere we need and want them to be.” Eager estimates there will be as many as 250,000 sites that call themselves social networks within a year, compared with about 850 today. “Everyone will reposition their site to take advantage of this phenomenon. It happened before with portals.”

Social networks - the centre of the B2P ecosystem

Today’s global network of connected devices enables multi channel access for customers, partners and suppliers and is delivering on the promise of a virtual work environment for employees worldwide. The global network convergence is also creating a significant challenge for enterprise application vendors who have deployed a wide array of business critical applications for large and small businesses. For traditional vendors of enterprise applications and software-as-a-service (SaaS), the key issue will be integrating mobile devices with business critical applications and providing transparent access to the date that supports the underlying business processes. The convergence of data, applications and mobile technology is forming a powerful platform. This platform will not simplify business processes; it might make them easier to use, but it will make them inherently more complex and powerful and will have far-reaching implications. Concepts such as cloud computing, SaaS and business process utilities (BPUs) are foreign, and often confusing, to many business executives especially in small and medium businesses. More importantly, however, this convergence is providing customers, partners and suppliers with real time access to social networks and the brand experience that will be driven within them.

Social networks are radically changing the way we do business and are, in themselves, new ecosystems, virally creating communities within communities that are driving brand recognition and brand experience. Social networks are now being leveraged by sales executives to understand the networks of prospects and leads and customers in the realm of B2P marketing and sales. Social networks facilitate and automate vast interactions, connections and networks of people by
enabling collaboration with colleagues, clients and suppliers anywhere and at any time. This new paradigm completely eliminates the need for travel, and these platforms incorporate a rich suite of evolving Web 2.0 applications.

The impact of these far-reaching social networks on business is becoming clearer every day as millions of consumers, partners, suppliers and businesses discuss and share their brand experiences. Enter the new B2P paradigm. According to Mohan Sawhney of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business and recent author of The Global Brain, “Social Customers are driving Innovation, they are empowered and collaborative, they are drivers and initiators of effective innovation and are increasingly viewed as a strategic asset to companies. Today’s customer is looking for a personalized experience and relationship, demanding solutions rather than products.”

Myventurepad.com is a social networking site where small business owners can share and consume information that is important to their businesses. Venturepad.com was the industry’s first social network for small business owners.

Since its inception in November 2007, MyVenturepad.com has grown month after month and now has 1000 small to mid-sized company members; its newsletter has a weekly readership of over 1,200. Top visitors to the site include companies from Germany, Brazil, India, UK Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and the US. There are currently over 79 active blog feeds and the site averages 10 new bloggers per month.

The Internet has radically changed the landscape of business and has challenged government control of people and information. It is the most significant inflection point in communications industry since the telephone.

The progress in Web 2.0 technologies has enabled the development of virally driven platforms, facilitating a new era of social networking and media. These technological advances have disrupted the status quo of business and communications on a global level and have offered new opportunities for commerce by harnessing the social influence of online communities. In these communities, people access, interpret and are influenced by information made available by other participants with whom they collaborate and share experiences.

As part of the social-media phenomenon, the demands of consumers of all types have increased; they are calling for greater transparency and accountability in a way that no company, government or even individual can escape. This is facilitated by the emergence of a 24-hour global cycle of news, information and dialogue, accessible online anywhere and anytime.

Compounding this, globalization, increasing energy and commodity costs and global economic restructuring have forced companies to expand into new markets, adopt new business models - new products, services and geographic reach - and optimise business processes to more efficiently manage costs and expenses. This has created hypercompetitive markets.

As we enter the era of B2P marketing communications, those organizations that harness Web 2.0 technologies and platforms to enable business-to-person communications will be the winners. Laggards that do not understand the value of social networking and its appeal to the emotional side of customer relationship management will lose competitiveness and, ultimately, market share. The era of B2P marketing harnesses the new and deep connections that are forming between customers, products and their suppliers. Peer groups, associations and social networks are now one of the most powerful influencing mediums in the world.

Confessions of a Million Mile Traveler

2009-02-27T06:31:48-08:00

I used to wear my airline status like a badge of honor! A road warrior…in the truest sense. I once survived 18 time zone changes in two weeks (traveling across Asia, U.S. and Europe) and was still able to walk off the plane (once finally home) fresh and ready to entertain. I am a million mile traveler!

This year, I finally reached the pinnacle of United Airlines status: ‘Global Services’ membership. United’s Global Services program is an invitation only program for its most loyal customers who bring in a significant amount of revenue each year to the airline.

I think that most business travelers covet the idea of reaching elite levels of status as a traveler. There are many great benefits to airline and hotel status and I think that United Airlines and Starwood Hotels have the best programs in their industry. Status perks include: shorter lines at the airport (check-in and security); free upgrades (airplane seats and hotel rooms); bonus points that can be used for free trips and upgrades; and much better attention and customer service during your trip or stay. This all makes life much easier for the weary ‘road warrior.’

I achieved my 1 million mile status as a result of hard travel over the last eight years. The most I traveled in one year was 260,000 actual miles. I know people who log many more miles than this per year and have reached well over three million miles traveled (to-date). United Airlines used to name planes after these sick individuals.

My reprieve from travel came in September of last year. In an effort to help my company control expenses I abruptly stopped all business travel and have not traveled for work since (six months).

I have not been home for more than four consecutive weeks at any given time, in the past eight years. When I stopped traveling last September, I literally went through withdraws! My body ached, I could not sleep, stress seemed a bit higher. It was tough.

My job has global responsibilities with team members in Russia, Germany, South Africa, U.K., Canada, Brazil, China, Singapore, Japan, India, Australia, etc. Travel has always been a big and important part of my work. It is very difficult to manage teams and programs when you have no real context for how business operates in different cultures and countries.

For the time being, I (like many colleagues in the industry) am subjected to working in a new ‘virtual reality.’ I spend a lot of time on the phone, in video conference calls, and planning and attending virtual events. It is not ideal, but it helps to stay connected to people and business. I also must admit that advancements in video conferencing are unbelievable. Cisco’s Tele-Presence system is absolutely amazing.

After the first four weeks of being home I began to appreciate just how much sacrifice I have made over the last eight years of my life for company and career (both of which I very much love).

But now that I am home I clearly see the toll that excessive travel had on my life – physically, mentally, and socially. The advice that is given to many people who travel is to sleep, drink (water) and eat when you can. Because outside of these three staples in life while on the road - you are working. This leaves very little time for anything else that contributes to quality living.

Although my current hiatus from business travel is not ideal or permanent, it is very much welcome. Over the last six months I have regained positive energy; I am physically stronger and more healthy (dropped 15 pounds); I have time to think thus giving me more clarity on important issues; I have reinvigorated my social life reconnecting with family and friends who I have neglected for many years; and I am able to give my wife time to be more social with her friends (as apposed to being locked down at home dealing with daily homeowner issues and pets).

I have made adjustments to my work day (hours) which allow me to stay connected to colleagues and team members in Europe and Asia/Japan; and some times I work a European schedule altogether (11pm to 9am PST).

So as the economy goes through its reset/renewal…so does my perspective on work and life.

I very much look forward to getting back to business as usual. One of the great things about my job is that I do get to travel and work with amazing people in different countries and experience important cultures. I am a lucky individual to have such a great opportunity. But as I do ease back into a routine schedule of travel, I will do so with a new perspective on the importance of life at home.

What are your confessions as a business traveler?

Leadership: Making the Tough Decisions

2009-02-25T16:08:32-08:00

Business leaders and managers at all levels are faced with making 'tough' decisions on a regular basis. This is especially true in today's economic environment.

I have always been fascinated by the process that leaders (both good and bad) go though in making the ‘tough call.’

As an example, I have worked with some leaders who base their decisions on raw emotion (usually the bad leaders); others are gifted with great insight (based on experience) and let intuition be their guide; others base decisions purely on facts; and most good leaders that I have worked with make decisions based on a combination of facts and intuition.

In today's economic environment, there are very few historical precedents or experiences that can fully support a decision that many business leaders are faced with. There are certainly good lessons that can be derived from history, but very few business and political leaders today have first hand experience in leading through the type of environment that we are in today.

What about the facts? Given the rapid and constant change we have experienced over the past four months, many facts become outdated as quickly as they are presented.

So what to do?

Below are three basic steps that I have come to appreciate as I have grown in my professional career. These are derived from both my own experiences and from working with great leaders over the years.

1. First, it is important to understand the 'core issue' associated with the business challenge that you are dealing with and gather as many facts and insights surrounding the issue as possible. At this stage in the process, it is important to separate ‘facts’ from ‘opinions.’

As a leader, you are often presented with 'facts' that are presented to support a specific argument or point of view - which by default make them adverse. This is not to say that these adverse or 'position-based' facts are not valid, but they seldom represent a fully informed view of the core issue that needs to be addressed.

2. Second, it is important to look at your decision options from all angles and perspectives. Many tough business decisions will have a broad affect on your business which might include: brand; reputation; relationships with employees, customers, partners, governments, etc. It is very common to overlook the total impact that a tough decision will have on your business. This is why it is important to consider many options – as you weigh the impact and trade-offs that most important decisions will require.

As a leader, this is where intuition and experience play a big role.

3. Third, it is important to ask a lot of questions. This will help you to understand the options on the table as you make sense of the facts and sift through potential agendas/motives of people involved. Asking the right questions also helps you to measure the risk and impact that your decision will have on your business and with key relationships.

You may even consider speaking with trusted representatives from affected internal or external groups (customers, employees, partners, etc.) to get their perspective. This interaction will also help secure support and buy-in (by all parties) of your final decision once you are ready to communicate.

The ‘tougher’ the decision the more challenges you can expect to face as you communicate and implement. You will need to be prepared to help affected parties understand the rationale behind the decision and even share some of the alternatives considered and why you chose a different path.

These are three ‘basic’ steps that I have found to be helpful in making good and informed decisions.

If all else fails, you can always resort to the good ole’ fashioned coin toss!

Additionally, here is a link to a great paper that I recently found called MAKING TOUGH CHOICES: A SIX STEP PLAN FOR MAKING TOUGH BUSINESS DECISIONS authored by Phil Thompson a business lawyer in Canada. This paper outlines a good and complimentary blueprint for decision making with a bit more detail and additional perspective.

SAP University Alliances – A Standard for Experience-Based Community Design

2009-02-23T06:54:12-08:00

Today SAP announced the launch of the SAP University Alliances community. I am honored to have responsibility for the University Alliances program as part of the larger Industry and Influencer Relations organization, at SAP.

The newly launched SAP University Alliances community is an advanced portal (hosted on the SAP community network) designed for the academic population worldwide (faculty and students) to access the latest academic resources that bring real-life SAP knowledge and skills into university classrooms. It provides a forum for SAP to deliver higher education content supplied by SAP and community participants, including interactive academic resources, such as course lectures, case studies, exercises, demonstrations and videos; thought leadership forums; and community blogs. The community is designed to facilitate faculty and student collaboration and contribution, job posting and search, as well as networking with SAP customers and partners. Skills development and career opportunities for university students, professors and other community participants are the central focus of the site.

Through this effort, SAP University Alliances member faculty and students now have the ability to collaborate and interact with an active group of 1.5 million SAP customers, partners and employees that make up the larger SAP community network.

The new community is a central component of the long-standing SAP University Alliances program that today works with nearly 900 member campuses in more than 40 countries supported by 3,500+ professors and university faculty who provide 185,000+ students first-hand experience with SAP software each year. Our goal with this community is to dramatically increase the number of universities that participate in the University Alliances program to bring 1,000,000+ students into the greater SAP ecosystem over the next three years.

The announcement today represents a great milestone not only for SAP University Alliances but also for SAP’s Industry and Influencer Relations program, as a whole. As I discussed in a blog post last year (The Evolution of Industry and Influencer Relations at SAP – Part Two), universities play a unique and important role in the global economy and represent perhaps the most strategic component of the larger Industry and Influencer program design.

Today’s announcement is the result of tremendous effort and milestone that will benefit not only SAP but also our larger and very much valued ecosystem of customers and partners!

Customer Loyalty in a New Economy

2009-02-18T17:41:13-08:00

Companies around the world have been working very hard to adapt their businesses to a new market reality that has quickly taken shape over the past four months. The impact of the recession and the abrupt changes in the economy are forcing companies to streamline their operations to manage cost and control cash. At the same time there is increased pressure to accelerate sales and revenue through new and redesigned products and services - supported by highly competitive pricing and discount scenarios. Surrounding all this is the consumer. Companies are fighting to retain and extend relationships with their most loyal customers - where in many cases they derive 80% or more of their revenue from. It is a struggle on all fronts.

Given that I am among the many affected by the economic storm - I have been thinking a lot about the consumer challenge.

Current economic factors have reduced ‘wallet size’ for many consumers (corporate and individual) forcing trade-offs when it comes to how and where they spend their precious dollars. This has disrupted the business models of many companies that manage their businesses based on predictable buying behaviors derived from historical demographic models and customer profiles. In today’s economic environment, all rules have changed as consumers are defining new criteria when it comes to their views on ‘must haves’, ‘nice to haves’ and ‘can do withouts.’

As a personal example, I get my hair cut every 5-6 weeks and have been loyal to the same stylist for the past four years. Her rates have nearly doubled in the last year and although I can’t do without a haircut on a regular basis – I am faced with a conflict of loyalty vs. a new sensibility in how I spend my money and the value that I receive in return. After all, it is just a haircut, right? Now I guess I could go longer without a haircut and see the same stylists (just less often) but vanity and a crazy calic suggests that would not be a good thing. So I am making a trade-off on loyalty - and will start seeing a new and less expensive stylist.

Another personal example is how often my wife and I frequent our favorite restaurants and how often we use other services (gardening, house cleaning, etc.). In these cases, we have decided to maintain loyalty to our favorite restaurants and service providers BUT have cut our number of visits and frequency of service. This means loyalty wins…but they still get less share of our wallet (for the time being).

What I am experiencing as a consumer is a shift in priorities that will indefinitely affect my status as part of a ‘purchasing demographic’ that eight months ago would have suggested different behaviors. Nothing has changed in our month-to-month financial situation (knock on wood). However the conditions in the market around us and the ‘hit’ to our long-term financial plan (retirement and investments) require short-term changes to compensate for.

In times like this, many products and services are rapidly commoditized as competition drives down price in a world where there is an abundance of choice. In some cases even loyalty (a primary virtue of customer relationship management) can become a commodity. As a business, if you operate in a world where you have no price-to-value differentiation and you are loosing loyal customers - chances are good that you have become commoditized!

Now back to me. Is there anything that the businesses that I have been loyal to for so long can do to affect my new purchasing sensibilities? Sure.

It’s all about the fundamentals, baby! In order to secure my loyalty in the first place, you need to establish trust and value in the quality, consistency, and reliability of your service/products. Pretty basic, huh? With high trust and value I will continue to spend money on products and services and in some cases spend even more money to support the health of your business.

It is completely understandable that businesses must also make trade-offs as they manage their costs. As long as those tradeoff’s don’t compromise the quality, consistency and reliability that I have grown accustomed to, I will remain a loyal customer.

This requires that businesses establish relationships with their customer(s) and understand what is important to them (as a loyal customers) so when trade-offs need to be made (to operations, service, materials/ingredients, price, etc.) the boundaries of trust and value in the social contract that made them loyal in the first place – are not tested. It also requires good communication and engagement. Show appreciation and empathy. As an example, the manager and head chef of our favorite restaurant visits with their patrons twice a night to hello, thank them for the business and sometimes offer a free desert or a drink.

Every consumer has basic needs that can be addressed by any number of vendors and services providers. Maintaining customer loyalty may be the most important thing to surviving this current economic storm.

The Society for New Communications Research Recognizes SAP’s Industry and Influencer Relations Program with an Award of Excellence!

2008-11-15T13:50:59-08:00

I just returned from a quick trip to Botson where I attended the 3rd Annual Society for New Communications Research Symposium & Awards Gala to receive an award of excellence, recognizing the success of the Industry and Influencer Relations program at SAP!

The Society for New Communications Research or SNCR (www.sncr.org) is a leading global nonprofit think tank dedicated to the advanced study of new media and communications tools, technologies and emerging modes of communication, and their effect on traditional communications, business, culture and society. The membership of SNCR includes the industry’s top practitioners (corporate and nonprofit) and thought leaders in communication research, design and execution.

On behalf of each and every valued member of the Industry and Influencer organization at SAP that I have the opportunity to lead, I want to thank SNCR for the great recognition and for the opportunity to showcase our program and share our experiences with peers and colleagues in the industry.

I encourage all communication professionals to visit SNCR’s website at www.sncr.org to access and contribute to their research and thought leadership. They are contributing greatly to advance the education, design and best practices associated with new communication in the industry. Membership is affordable and the access is priceless!

In preparation for the awards ceremony I was asked to share a few insights or lessons learned about how communications programs need to change given emerging new channels and blurred boundaries betweens the many roles influencers play today.

Two insights that I identified to be most relevant are as follows:

1. The first is to design your communication and influence programs with a business purpose in mind.

Given the current conditions in the marketplace it is more important than ever before to understand the objectives and business challenges that your company is facing. How has the competitive landscape changed? What are the opportunities or adjustments that your company is making to become more competitive (e.g. delivery of new products/services; entrance into new markets; etc.)? What issues or trends are affecting the industry and how can your company advance or influence them in an effort to support larger business objectives?

With an understanding of these fundamental issues you can more cleanly identify the right influencers (thought leaders, industry experts, or communities) to engage to collaboratively advance a larger market agenda to support your business and external stakeholder groups.

2. The second deals with managing the sense of ‘loss of control’ when communicating in a Web 2.0 world.

The reality is, if you want to control your message these days, you should advertise. What is unnerving for many marketing and communication professionals about managing influence in a Web 2.0 world is that social media forces you to play by what I call ‘crowd rules.’ And crowd rules dictate a fair level of transparency, authenticity, agility, honesty [you can continue to fill in the blank] but most important crowd rules require you to LISTEN. No longer are the ‘house rules’ of marketing and communications effective where you can create a message or position and expect it to automatically resonate or stick in the market.

If we look at Word of Mouth (WoM) as an example. In the old model of WoM, if a customer has a good or bad experience with your company’s product or service, they might share the experience with a neighbor, friend or colleague at work. In this old model of WoM the collective community experience with your brand would eventually create a community reality in a viral fashion over a ‘period’ of time.

The affects of this in a Web 2.0 world are much different.

In a Web 2.0 world if ‘a’ customer has a bad experience with your company’s product or service and they share that experience in a blog or other form of social media (like Twitter) this experience can reach hundreds, thousands or millions of people overnight – around the world. This can cause great brand destruction and turmoil if you are not prepared to address it.

Now, even in ‘crowd rules’ not everyone expects a company to be infallible. You just have to listen.

If you have good sensory awareness and respond to negative issues quickly - if for nothing else than to show corporate humility - and engage with a negative blogger or disgruntled customer/community to understand the issues, you can quickly turn an adverse situation into great opportunity by 1. Fixing the product and service issues that can help to advance greater business opportunities and 2. You have the opportunity to turn a negative blogger or customer into a net promoter – which is the greatest form of advocacy/influence you can hope for.

Social media changes the rules of the game in an era of new marketing and new communications, by forcing companies to be more accountable. I personally think that this is a great thing.

If you understand and learn to work within the crowd rules of Web 2.0 in an authentic and agile way, you will increase your company’s brand value and overall experience in the industry.

I would like to thank SNCR again for the great recognition!

Marketing and Communication Opportunities – in a Period of Recession

2008-11-11T16:43:57-08:00

I have received several emails from colleagues and peers in the industry wondering ‘why I have been dark’ on my blog for the past two months.

Like many marketing and communications professionals I have been heads down in business - making adjustments to programs and activities for the remainder of 2008 and planning for 2009.

To say the least, the affects of the financial crises and daunting uncertainty across global markets has put significant pressure on companies to aggressively manage both the bottom line (expenses and operational budgets) and top line growth (sales and revenue generation). This intensive thrust to ‘back to basics’ management impacts all departments and organizations. Managers are required to make adjustments to their operations to become laser focused and efficient AND deliver more value and results (and some cases - much more) with less resources (and in some cases - much less).

These circumstances pose a number of challenges for many marketing and communications professionals to adapt to.

I personally have an optimistic view of the situation. Looking back at history, the market goes through a correction once every 10-15 years (e.g. recession in the late 80s; and the dot.com bubble bust in 2001). Our current situation is definitely the worst ‘correction’ in several decades, but nonetheless a correction it is.

Although tough and challenging to go through, what history shows is that numerous product, service and technology innovations tend to emerge out of each market correction or crisis. All of which fuel new business models and market and career opportunities. These innovations come (in part) through a flushing of inefficiencies, consolidation of ‘players/companies,’ and a refocus on creating and providing more value. The companies that plan and adapt appropriately will be the big winners (both old and new companies).

As a communications executive, I see this as a great opportunity. The power of thought leadership, relationships and collaborative industry influence that largely extends from programs driven by communications departments is a great ‘currency’ that gains tremendous value in any economic recession or down turn. As communication practitioners, our role in helping to guide the market renewal process is critical.

What do I mean?

The results delivered through well structured communication and influence programs do not require huge budgets or mega teams to drive.

The effects of positive ‘unpaid media,’ external thought leadership and word-of-mouth and advocacy programs delivered through successful press, analyst, blogger, customer, employee, community and other influencer relations programs costs very little to execute AND generates very high returns for your company. The benefits can be realized through the advancement of your company’s competitive position; positive reputation management; validation of new market/business opportunities; and 3rd party education, thought leadership and best practices that increase visibility and confidence that your business is a valuable and smart investment (for shareholders, customers, partners and employees).

Further to this, the use of existing technologies and social media strategies (among other things) offer marketing and communication professionals a tremendous and low cost way to disseminate messages with great scale and build awareness and maintain relationships with influencers (internal and external) in an increasingly global and dynamic business environment.

I believe that 2009 will bring a number of significant and positive changes to the marketing and communication profession. I predict that we will see greater adoption and more innovative use of social media; new designs of communication and marketing organizations that adapt to a new influence ecosystem; more focus on customer and ‘community’ engagement; new metrics and measurement designs; and increased ‘insight’ programs to support corporate decision making. These changes will contribute to a much needed renewal of marketing and communications that will help to evolve our profession to become more strategic, vibrant and valued across all industry sectors and geographies.

I encourage all of my industry peers and colleagues to take advantage of this opportunity with an optimistic outlook. Challenge yourselves to better understand your business and industry environment.

Look for new opportunities to provide value. Understand how to better use the ‘process’ of communications and the power of relationships to advance your company’s position in the industry and drive positive awareness, thought leadership and confidence back into the market! And lastly - be bold, be proactive, and be proud!!!