The effect of charisma became glaringly clear after I read an article published by Psychology Today that detailed and quantified its impact on business communication. The article was based on a study that followed an executive education course that culminated in a presentation. The presentations were given in teams and the study highlighted the traits of the team that communicated its final presentation most successfully. I’ll give one guess on a trait that led to success: Charismatic team members. Or what the study called “energetic but focused listeners.” This type of team member helped lead a team to success by enabling higher quality brainstorm sessions, and as a result these teams had “high levels of engagement, trust, and cooperation.” Insert light bulb moment here.

Engagement, trust and cooperation are the foundations of a well moderated and productive community. This finding simply reinforces what good community managers already know: so often, when acting as the conduit between a brand and its community, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. @Misskatiemo, comes to mind. She’s a community manager for Radian6 who is fairly delightful: answering questions with a virtual smile and wishing community members luck before they present the data they’ve compiled with Radian6.

What Katie and other great community managers understand is that simply saying “thank you for your feedback,” being polite and conversational, all while letting the community know that they matter can prevent social media bombs. It’s important to treat a community member as a part of your team and tirelessly work to get them an answer even in the midst of a how-the-heck-do-I-answer-this-question situation, or better yet, a get-legal-on-the-phone question. More often than not, the community member expects that they’re being listened to and they want to know that their feedback is appreciated.

Haters and instigators exist in every community, but beyond those outliers, a sense of Team Brand or Team Cause exists. Charismatic community moderators instill a sense of trust in their “team” that is apparent when the community can be counted on to answer each others’ questions. I hear @JessiO celebrating these team victories and often look over to see her fist pump and shout a helpful community member’s name. Team: 1, Haters: 0.

If nothing else, a charismatic leader can lend some focus to community and give it some direction as it does some collective brainstorming. With a united front celebrating the brand/cause when it does something awesome and constructively letting them know when a product or action is less than awesome, the brand is always getting a boost either way.

In a recent post on my personal blog, I proposed that an effective ethical strategy required speaking to the emotions of your audience. Watching this car maker’s mounting mistakes and the continuing ethical violations still coming to light, I’m reminded about one of the keys to a successful crisis management strategy:

Crisis management begins before the crisis.

In January (the same month the Toyota debacle really hit the fan, incidentally), clothing retailer H&M was hit with a story claiming that their employees were slashing up clothes before they were discarded. While some brand protection can be understood by some, it looked dastardly in the midst of a recession.

H&M responded to the hubbub immediately, issuing a 5-tweet salvo that concisely stated their case: They gave their brand statement, contact information, a promise to resolve the problem, and a link to a robust corporate social responsibility page. (Here is a history of the incident and the Twitter effect.)

You’d be forgiven if you missed this story. At the time, H&M’s 30K Twitter followers got out the message, mostly defended the brand (or at least stopped disparaging it), and pretty much quashed the story. Compare this to Toyota’s handling of their ethical crisis.

Toyota Goes The Old Route: Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems

Toyota spent a lot of money on ads in newspapers (yes, they still exist) and on television. They had very few Twitter followers. They have no blog that I know of (and certainly not one I heard about developed after the story broke).

No customer communication channels. No tools for dialogue. No presence in a community where fans could defend them.

Consider Joseph Jaffe’s admonition of Toyota:

“Toyota did not have a direct line…with their customers, with their advocates, with their loyalists, with their influencers. They weren’t able to go to their community and say, ‘Help us, we need your help, we need your advice…’

You can’t expect to miraculously turn to your customers if you haven’t been building up that relationship with them in advance… You’ve got to anticipate this stuff because it’s going to happen.”

And Toyota’s crisis grew and grew and grew. Now, executives are testifying in front of Congress. The brand has taken a huge hit. Toyota had few means to defend itself, and none where brand loyalists could contribute. Instead, it poured money into old media venues in an attempt to change public opinion. I dare say it failed.

And yet, people still question the value of social media?

Not Apples To Apples, But Close

Sure, the crises fostered by Toyota and H&M are different. No one died because H&M slashed clothes (allegedly).

But the lessons to be garnered are very much the same. If you’re used to talking at your customers, you will be stuck with doing just that whenever a crisis hits. And only that.

Over a decade ago, The Cluetrain Manifesto claimed that “markets are conversations.” Yet, clearly many companies aren’t listening. A Complaint Is A Gift expounds upon this idea as one of customer dialogue:

“People get angry only about things that are important to them. If they sense you don’t find their issue important, they will get louder…They want you to hear. Your acceptance can help them change and soften their tone.” (page 167)

Notice that the authors didn’t say “appease” or “fix everything all at once.” They said that customers want to be heard.

It’s this process of being heard that gives companies the opportunity to speak to customer emotions. After all, this is empathy. This is a chance to change an ethical crisis into a recommitment to good behavior.

An open dialogue might just allow your brand loyalists to save you during a crisis. Imagine that.

I had big plans for the Oscars last night. No I didn’t go to some overpriced “Oscar Party” at a fancy restaurant, where martinis cost $15 a pop, the entree about 3 times that much, and never mind the “red carpet”-worthy outfit that would have hit my pocketbook right were it hurt. Nope, those days were officially over.

Like the millions of people from around the globe, I tuned in to watch the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. It was a wonderful soiree, an intimate, casual gathering of 200 of my closest friends and it didn’t cost a dime. Oh well, that’s not entirely true. The ice cream sundae I ate while watching the festivities came to a grand total of about $4.99 if you add in the chocolate sauce and maraschino cherry on top.

Where, you ask, could I possibly have enjoyed such a lavish Oscar fête for a mere couple bucks and some change? In the comfort of my living room of course! It was a sight to behold: wearing my favorite black sweats (black is always an elegant choice for a party), remote in one hand and my iPhone in the other.

As I sat watching the broadcast—from the Red Carpet pre-show to Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin’s entertaining banter to the John Hughes tribute delivered by Ferris Bueller himself—my friends on Facebook didn’t miss a beat. We dished on the best and worst dressed, the speeches, and the surprising triumph of indie hit “Hurt Locker” over big budget blockbuster, “Avatar.” All virtually. All via Facebook. Our very own Online Oscar Party!

I’d been noticing the trend for the last 6 months. From the collective cheers for underdog Saints during Super Bowl XLIV to the Kanye West train wreck at the ‘09 MTV Awards, most of my friends were tuning in from home and commenting about the broadcasts on their favorite social network of choice.

Whether due to the economy or merely an increased desire to stay home and nest, people were forgoing pricey outings and opting instead to fuel the buzz online, namely on Facebook to Twitter. Brian Stelter recently published a great story on this new phenomenon in The New York Times, “Water-Cooler Effect: Internet Can Be TV’s Friend.” In it, he notes that “[b]logs and social Web sites like Facebook and Twitter enable an online water-cooler conversation, encouraging people to split their time between the computer screen and the big-screen TV.” He even notes that viewership of these broadcast spectacles, which for the last several years has been tanking, has seen a uptick, thanks in large part to the chatter occurring online.

Oscar himself has taken a cue from this new trend. Ad Age’s Andrew Hampp points out, the Academy is jumping on the social media bandwagon to combat sinking ratings and declining viewership, adding a plethora of new ways for people to watch, participate and take part in the show. From Facebook fanpages and online ballots to iPhone apps and a pimped out new site on http://oscar.go.com/, the entire Oscar experience was revamped to facilitate this new way of connecting online.

We’ll see if “social networks can actually save the TV star.” All I know is I’m a believer.

An ice cream sundae. My favorite pair of sweats. And 200 of my closest friends joining me for an Online Oscar Party. Now that’s worth the price of admission!

Some people believe this is a serious invasion of your privacy. Because you sit in the privacy of your home to surf the Web, there’s a belief that your activities should be completely private. In reality though, while you may be surfing in your underwear (ok, maybe that’s just me), people like me can “see” what you’re up to.

Here’s how it works, at a basic level. Most web pages have bits of code that are invisible to the average person. Between this code and cookies that get created and stored on your browser, back end systems are able to track a wide variety of actions that you may take on one or across multiple websites.

In order to explore this further, I’d like to separate out a couple of levels of privacy.

1. I.D. level privacy – Credit card information, phone numbers, your address etc. fall into this category. This is the kind of thing that I could commit identity theft with.
2. Preferences privacy – Data about stuff you like and perhaps have purchased in the past, but nothing I could stalk you with. You like cookies and organic gardening, but I have no idea “who” you are unless you sign in and tell me specifically.
3. Browsing privacy – Data about how you moved around in a website and what you looked at.  You downloaded three recipe cards on supertastycookies.com. “You” are totally anonymous.

Legitimate web analytics and advertising tracking operate mostly in level three (browsing) and sometimes in level two (preferences), but never in level one (I.D. level). (To be clear, level one is and should always be off limits to the realms of web analytics and Marketing Science.)

Why? For many reasons, but primarily to make your experience of the web better, easier, faster and more effective. The data can be used to optimize web sites as well as customize the content you might see so it better fits your personal preferences, and in so doing help companies achieve their business goals.

I will also point out that the data is also used to present you with advertising that you’re more likely to be interested in, and therefore more likely to click on hence making advertiser companies more money.

Privacy advocates would promote the idea of a complete cone of silence and that all three levels of privacy would be completely protected.  In this scenario, no data would be tracked (and I would be unemployed).  Think of this like walking around a very large city with a cloak of invisibility on. You can interact with the world, but no one can see you.

The reality is that when you walk around a big city, people can see you. They may not know who you are or where you live, but you’re not invisible.

If you go into a large department store, you’re being recorded on security cameras. Much like most web tracking systems, the camera doesn’t know who you are, where you live, or what your credit card number is, just that you were there. If someone is paying attention they might also know that you looked at handbags and shoes before you left.

Why do stores have security cameras? To protect their merchandise and stop shoplifting. While the level of privacy is similar, online analysts use the information differently. It’s more akin to watching the security tapes to figure out that a lot of people are looking at hand bags and shoes, and therefore maybe we should move the handbags and shoes to the front of the store.

Does that really impinge on your privacy? Are you willing to give up that bit of privacy in order to get to the shoes and handbags more quickly without looking for a store directory? If it saves me 10 minutes of walking, I’d be all for it!

The same applies online and is at the heart of Marketing Sciences and web analytics. I want to make it easier for you to find that perfect handbag, so I watch the “security tapes” (online analytics data) to figure out how I can change my website to save you that 10 extra minutes of walking (surfing). This is level three browsing privacy and almost every website has this kind of tracking.

Now, what if a store could move the handbags to the front for you, and then change itself and put the snow tires at the front for your neighbor when he walks in, because he was looking at them yesterday? This magic store doesn’t know your neighbors name or where he lives, just that he was looking at snow tires recently. Imagine a magic store knowing what things you usually buy or are interest in and automatically shifting them all into one place up near the front! This is level two preference privacy, and some websites are starting to use this more effectively.

Would you be willing to give up level 2 information about the kind of things you like to enable the magic store? Well unless you’re specifically blocking these technologies, you actually already are without even knowing it.

While concerns about online privacy are valid, and are particularly important when speaking about children, I think there are some important points about web analytics data to understand.

• The data is anonymous, unless you specifically hand over your personal information.
• The data is collected in an attempt to improve the website experience.
• The genie is already out of the bottle. Total online privacy is possible but a big pain in the keester.

What do you think?

Recently, I read an Accenture report on post-recession consumer behavior, called The Road to Recovery. Overall, the report found consumers to be unsatisfied, with low brand loyalty, demanding brands to meet steep expectations for less.

Delivering on your brand promise couldn’t be more important than it is today!

Consumers are more mindful of their spending & are allocating dollars to items with the most perceived value – items they feel are special to them. For instance, I will save on toothpaste, and spend money on a good camera because capturing memories is essential to me OR I will buy a mac, which may cost more, over a PC because I trust the brand and want to be associated with it.

Today, brands need to create, reconfirm or prove their value to consumers to maintain demand. In addition, they must be consistent & transparent with their actions, when proving value, to earn or maintain loyalty.

An interesting trend that is emerging, mostly from the explosion of mobile app popularity, is the idea of Brand Utility – meaning a brand is providing additional experiences/touch points to aid consumers in a time of need that is relevant to the brand’s skills and purpose.

Take for example ING, who created a mobile app last January that helps customers find the closest ING ATM. This uses something called augmented reality, where it uses your camera phone and GPS to show you where you are, and where you need to go to find an ATM. Very helpful when travelling and need to find a bank. Similarly, last year, we developed an Ale finder to help Budweiser fans find its latest beer: Budweiser American Ale.

We’re also seeing other versions of brand utility with companies like Air Canada, who launched an app that allows you to check-in while you’re on the go. It also sends you updates regarding if your flight is on time or not.

Even New York City held an Apps contest to develop mobile apps that helped people in the city utilize municipal data in a relevant way to their daily activities. The winners included:

1. WayFinder NYC, which helps people find subway entrances through augmented reality
2. Taxihack, which allows people to view & post reviews of individual taxis & their drivers Big
3. Apple Ed, which offers detailed profiles, reviews & info on the city’s public schools

Brand utility enables brands to create meaningful touch points to engage with its customers when they genuinely need help with something related to the brand’s skill set. Users will appreciate the added-value, and according to Trendwatching,

“A customer who is made to feel grateful most likely becomes enduringly loyal as a result. Gratitude can ‘increase purchase intentions, sales growth and share of wallet.’”

This is just one more way the brand can create reasons for people to believe in its purpose!

A few weeks ago, we decided to ask our Critical Mass ShopTalk research community who represent a broad demographic of consumers across the United States, what they will be spending more and less on in 2010, including both time and money. What we heard from them was both expected and surprising.

Consumers talked about spending more time on hobbies and interests, with family and friends and of course the resolution favorite, exercising.  What’s interesting, though, is that a large number of consumers also talked about spending less time worrying or focusing on things beyond their control, like the economy or the job market. Many seem intent on living in the present and enjoying what they have today. While our community is mindful of the poor economy and the fact that saving and scrimping are ever-present goals and challenges, many want to worry less about the uncertain future and instead concentrate on the present.

The word cloud below captures the key words consumers used when asked what they will spend their time on in 2010.

Other activities that consumers say they won’t be spending as much time on in 2010 include TV and the internet, most notably social networking sites. Consumers talked about devising strategies to limit their time in these arenas so that they can spend more time outdoors or engaging in more active and/or quality pursuits with their families. While these are admirable goals, I’m not sure how much people will be sticking to this. If they really want to stress and worry less, I think TV and Facebook provide great distractions from the everyday pressures of life. I’m looking forward to seeing whether our consumers stick to this goal.

In terms of money, consumers talked about increasing their spending on activities that create memorable experiences for themselves and their families, while spending less on tangible non-essential items.  Another notable resolution for the New Year is decreased spending on eating out and expensive forms of entertainment like concerts and sporting events. While these motivations are largely tied to diet and saving money, when you combine this with consumers’ intentions to spend more time at home and money on home renovations, it also suggests that consumers are seeking to make their homes into safe and comfortable havens away from the world. Again, this says to me that consumers have grown weary of facing the same challenges they faced in 2009 and they are now looking to spend more time and money on experiences that will help cocoon them, both literally and figuratively, from the negativity that previously dominated their lives.

These findings have many implications for marketers:

• Consumers want to enjoy their lives and spend more time connecting with their friends and family. They want to spend their money on memorable experiences and not on products that might end up in the trash. We need to consider how different brands will help consumers feel connected and appeal to their need to memorialize occasions and events.
• Consumers want to cut back on the time they spend aimlessly on the internet and watching TV. While it appeals to their sense of escapism, many are regretful afterwards about the time they spend. We need to justify their time spent in these arenas by reframing this as time that is spent for their wellbeing, promoting both the regenerative and connective benefits.
• Consumers see spending time at home not only as means to save money but also as a sanctuary where they can feel safe. Therefore, we need to make sure that our ideas and initiatives are mindful of this and consider how products, services and marketing messages can cater to the basic psychological needs of security and protection.

Stay tuned to find out more about consumers from our ShopTalk community throughout 2010…

Definitely not. While the article brings up an interesting topic, I believe that Michael Bush’s primary intent was to stir up some controversy, rather than claim there has been an official shift in online consumer behavior.  Before we abandon everything we know about social, ask yourself 2 questions…

Is what they are saying true?
I’m not sold on the methodology. Based on the way the data is displayed in the article, it’s easy to criticize the survey technique. The wording is relatively biased and appears to focus on advertising, in general.  As an alternative, the research could offer more credibility if consumers were asked who they trusted most for purchasing advice or recommendations.

What does it mean for social media marketers?
Survey details aside, the article surfaces the very important topic of relevancy and timing in social media marketing.  In order to solve for this problem, marketers must craft solutions to address:

1. Consumers experience a tremendous amount of digital litter online. Most content offered is just noise, and often doesn’t meet consumer’s exact point of need.
2. Social Media is not a retail medium. It’s about building relationships. Over time, these relationships establish trust, engagement and ultimately advocacy, which definitely impacts the bottom line for brands.
3. Consumers are first, brands and branded messaging will always be second. Consumers use social media to socialize with their friends, family and peers. If they want to engage with brands, it will be on their terms.
4. Content is no longer “king” – relevancy is. Consumers have been taught that if they sound-off questions, someone will answer.  By choosing to be active in social media, brands can offer solutions as a trusted source to weigh-in on those direct consumer questions.
   

If you’re active in social media, I wouldn’t get too hot and bothered over the study results. PR agencies are great at generating buzz, so kudos to them for stirring the pot. Now, take it a step further. Go beyond the buzz, and focus on developing long-lasting, sincere relationships with your fans online.

Whether they come to search for products, services, or simply contact information, the reality is that if your customers can’t find what they came for, they leave. If that happens, all your hard work to develop a website was in vain.

Over the years web developers have finessed and improved navigation systems and continue to make advancements.

We’ve been following three new navigational trends that we think will change the way the industry traditionally builds navigation systems and how users interact with them.

Here’s what’s on our radar:

Megamenus

Example: www.festoolusa.com

These are becoming more and more common. Instead of having to click several navigation items to find deeper content, Megamenus bring all the content right up front. When users click on a primary navigation item it expands in-page to show deeper content options along with corresponding visual details and information. Users are able to quickly and easily absorb the information and identify different categories without ever leaving the home page. Megamenus essentially solve the problem of limited space on the home page and provide more room for content, from information, to images, to prices.

Clickless Navigation

Example: www.dontclick.it

Amazingly, users can now navigate an entire site without ever having to click their mouse. This new and exciting way to interact with content has a major ‘cool factor,’ too. So what replaces the click? By moving your mouse over a navigation item, you trigger the next level of information to appear. It’s simple to use but a bit of a challenge to stop your natural tendency to click your mouse all the time. The one downside is that currently Clickless Navigation does not meet the W3Cs accessibility standards, which ensure websites support people with disabilities.

Visual/Spatial Navigation

Example: www.whitevoid.com/portfolio.html

Imagine a website where the primary and secondary navigation (typically found at the top and side of a site) are completely eliminated. In their place you’ll see visual icons that act as a means to navigate through products and/or experiences. Once you click an icon a new layer of icon options and deeper content appear, however, the previous icons are still exposed in the background. All the icon layers remain accessible on your screen page, making it easy to find your way around the complete site. This style of navigation is highly product-centric and quite often doesn’t need Flash. But it’s a significant break in current standards, which means it could take users a significant time to accept it.

So what do these trends mean to you?
Navigation as we know it is changing but it’s still too early to determine whether Clickless or Visual will be adopted by users to become viable, commercial options. Because both are big shifts from how average users navigate websites, it will take time for them to understand and become comfortable with these new systems. Megamenus, on the other hand, are gaining traction with businesses and consumers alike due to their simplicity and ease-of-use.

Just as Mark Zuckerburg recently said, “public is the new social norm” and transparency doesn’t end with business. Personal lives are often conducted under the watchful eye of social media, which allows friends and followers to know a user’s status and location. As Community Moderators, Jessi and I have been tasked with living and breathing social media. Our lives are as increasingly transparent as the emerging media dictate they should be. With the mainstreaming of location-based applications, that’s pretty see-through.  Every move is documented and made available to whomever we deem worthy.

   Checking in on Four Square is somewhere between    a habit and a nervous tick for me. As I sat down to    meet an ex at a Chicago loop watering hole, I    checked in as per usual. My roommates, who    aren’t enormous fans of this character, had text    messaged asking where I was. When I failed to    answer, which I will now admit was on purpose, they    referred to my last check-in on Four Square and saw    that not only had I checked-in, so had my ex. At    which point, I received the following text message:    “Busted. You and Ryan both checked in at Emerald    Loop.” Busted indeed.

Inspired by my own text-message lashing, Jessi and I will walk through the elements of transparency to demonstrate the benefits to those who properly employ it and the risks to those who fail to realize its effects. I will be taking on transparency in one’s personal life using my own failed attempt and Jessi will be talking about it from a business POV.

Element 1: Connectedness

• Personal: Being linked to friends, colleagues and clients in the social sphere provides more robust real-life connections as well as insights into shared connections and interests. Friends influence each other’s information consumption, and by being connected to the  interesting and intelligent, people can be exposed to news, posts and technology that wouldn’t have been on their radar otherwise. Before adding contacts exercise caution, applying privacy settings with the “significant other’s parent” rule: if you would be comfortable sharing your stockpile of photos or posts with a significant other’s parent, allow contacts to view it. If not, keep it private.
• Professional: Businesses have the obligation when entering the social space to connect to users in that space. Friending, fanning, favoriting and more become a crucial element to build relationships within this space. That information is public and so companies must be aware that these connections will be examined and become meaningful to a potential customer. If a business does not follow anyone then they risk gaining the image of being egotistical or oblivious. This is a social space and businesses must treat it as such.

Element 2: Accountability

• Personal: Be yourself. Be honest. Friends will become disinterested or stop following entirely if a user comes across as corporate, dishonest, or negative (sarcastic negativity is a different thing entirely). If a user is pretending not to hear text message alerts, but checks in on Foursquare, his friends will take note and get feisty. However, if users are honest, speak in a human tone of voice and hold their tongues if they don’t have anything nice to say, they will be seen as a trustworthy source of information.
• Professional: For some businesses this is a dangerous category. The fast pace and high expectations to maintain that pace will surface early when entering any social media platform. Set a realistic expectation up front with the community so if answers take time or further research is necessary, the community is aware and knows that you are not avoiding them. If a business creates a platform then they must acknowledge the activity that happens there—and engage.

Element 3: Always on the record

• Personal: Please see professional.
• Professional: “What you say can and will be used against you.” Didn’t TV teach you this already?

Whether the context is personal or professional, it’s important to remember that with social media, comes transparency, and ultimately, responsibility. Friends, colleagues and business associates have more ways than ever to listen, keep tabs on you, engage with you, and hold you accountable. If you forget this, you may well end up like me…getting busted!

Steve Reubel firmly believes that Facebook will be the next Google. He makes a good case for it: they provide a social experience that is more elegant and organized than any other social offering out there. On the other hand, Google Buzz leaves a lot to be desired. Jeremiah Owyang helps us cut through the buzz – errr… hype with his hand social network matrix. On a related note, Facebook wants to be your one true login.

Admap brought together a few respected planners and former-planners to discuss the future of planning. I like what Will Collin, founding partner of Naked Communications, had to say about it: “I think the planner’s job is to hold the strategic line and be true to what is at the heart.”

And well, well, well… what sort of interestingness is Google up to? Google is gearing up to offer ‘ultra high-speed’ broadband in several small test markets throughout the US. I’d love to be a fly-on-the-wall in the executive boardrooms of Verizon, Comcast and AT&T (my client) to listen in on their initial reactions to this move.

Sites of the Week

• Air Jordan CP3.III
• Peugeot – Emotion & Motion
• Alexander McQueen – RIP