Social media used to be something used just by teens and tweens. Not anymore. Everywhere you turn you can see social media’s influence. For example, every major news story this year has included a social media angle.
According to the Financial Times, activity on Twitter hit its highest sustained level ever when news emerged of Osama bin Laden’s assassination. People were tweeting 3,440 times per second between 10:45pm and 12:30am on May 1. Put that into context, that’s 21,672,000 tweets in an hour and forty-five minutes!
Twitter was launched in 2007. It took over 3 years for the site to reach a billion tweets. Now we’re seeing upwards of a billion tweets per week. And each time we see a major world event, the adoption rates and usage levels increase.
Just look at the events of 2011 alone. It started with the people of Egypt and Tunisia leveraging the communication powers of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to organize and overthrow their governments. We then watched the devastation of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in real time. Even President Obama’s announcement of Osama bin Laden’s death was upstaged by Keith Urbahn, the former chief of staff for Donald Rumsfeld. Urbahn wrote at 10:25pm May 1, “So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn.”
Social media has tipped
It’s really striking to see how fast social media has grown in the past 5 years. Facebook was only launched in 2004, and already has over 600 million members. Twitter was launched in 2007, and is now the number one source for breaking news.
What is also interesting to look at is the social media adoption rates amongst adult internet users. According to eMarketer, in 2005 only 16% of 18 to 29 year olds were using social media, and by 2010 86% of them were using social media. 12% of 30 to 49 year olds were using social media in 2005, and by 2010 61% of 30 to 49 year olds were using the platforms.
The masses are jumping into social media worldwide. The platforms are easy to use, easy to participate in and they’re becoming increasingly integrated into our day-to-day lives.
Business is not quite there yet
Even though individuals are using social media, companies have a long way to go.
Citibank surveys small business owners annually. In 2011, only 36% of small businesses are using social media for their marketing. That’s up dramatically from 2010′s level of 19%. But still, doesn’t it seem odd that just over a third of small businesses are using social media for their marketing?
If we look at the adoption rate of social media in a business context, more than two-thirds of 30 to 49 year olds are using social media. That’s the core age group of B2B decision makers. If two-thirds of your buyers are using social media, it’s a pretty good indicator you should be too.
Even though the general population has jumped into social media with both feet, many businesses are hesitating. The challenge is it’s so new. There isn’t a clear path for how businesses should drive revenue through these platforms. The marketing model hasn’t become second nature yet.
But I see that changing. There’s a lot being invested to understand “how to use the tools” for marketing. Soon we won’t even be talking about social media, its growth and its applications. Soon we’ll just accept it, and use it like any other communication tool. It will be as natural as email or phones.
What’s your take?
May 13th, 2011 
Posted by Jeremy Miller
“Follow your passions” is common advice. It’s become so common, it’s hackneyed.
Down on your luck? Follow your passions, it will show you the way. Hate your job? Follow your passions, and do the job you love. What should you do next? Well obviously, follow your passions.
Sounds pretty sane, but what does “follow your passions” really mean. It’s one thing to tell someone whose made it and money is no object to them to follow their passions. But for everyone else, it’s poor advice.
It’s not about your passions. It’s about your purpose.
Let passion energize you
Tim Sanders, author of Love is a Killer App and more recently Today We Are Rich, caught my attention with his comments on purpose and passion in a podcast with Mitch Joel. He railed against people following their passions, and said it was misdirected because passions are self-centered.
Tim describes passion as your energy. He told Mitch, “Passion is very self-oriented. It is an energy. It is an enthusiasm. It is a passing of time.” He then went further by saying, “As we grow up into our adult life, we’ll never be mature until we learn to follow a purpose instead of following passion.”
Bold comments, but very true. It’s hard to stay motivated, progress and achieve something when you are chasing a self-centered idea. A company can never be wildly successful and achieve greatness if it simply exists for profit. Just look at the fate of Enron, WorldCom, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers – companies that put their self-interests above all others.
Rather than following your passion, let your passion energize you. When you are passionate about what you’re doing, it makes all the difference in the world. Passion will give you the motivation and energy to stick to your purpose through thick and thin.
Strive for something bigger than yourself
When you think of incredible brands, brands you admire and brands that stand out in their categories, they all have one thing in common: they are far greater than simply the products and services they sell. They have an extra quality that enables them to push the envelope, innovate and bring exceptional value to their customers. That extra quality is their purpose. They have a purpose beyond simply making a profit, or chasing self-centered notion like being a “market leader.”
Tim suggests, “Purpose is a mission that is driven towards something greater than yourself.” That’s an elegant way of describing purpose. It’s not about you. It’s about everyone else, and the impact you can have on them and with them.
Purpose insulates you
The greatest value of pursuing a purpose greater than yourself is it insulates you and your team from negativity. Passions are personal, but purpose is not.
When you follow your passions, you know it’s all about you. So it’s hard not to take criticism and competition personally. When you see someone else following the same passion and they’re kicking your butt, it’s hard to stem the tide of self-doubt and resentment.
Purpose on the other hand doesn’t face that problem. When you work for something greater than yourself, you don’t doubt yourself. You don’t worry that someone else might be succeeding or kicking your butt. You care about the purpose. You care about what you can bring to others, and how you can achieve your purpose. That focus is incredibly powerful.
The next time you catch yourself saying, “Just follow your passions,” stop. Instead ask, “What’s your purpose? What are you striving for?”
May 11th, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Miller
If you ever needed a reason why you should jump into social media with both feet, here’s one: RELATIONSHIPS. Social media is one of the most powerful business development tools we’ve ever seen, because it provides us a platform to form, develop and scale relationships.
Mass media stripped away relationships, but social media is bringing them back. Social media is breaking a 60 year trend. For too long companies have maintained an arm’s length relationship with their customers, because they have been constrained by the limitations of broadcast communications such as TV, radio and print. These mediums favor one-way communication. A company can broadcast a message on TV, but customers can’t respond to it in real time. But social media is reversing this trend.
Seeing behind the curtain
Social media is bringing us back to a kinder, gentler time. A time when we knew who grew our food, or who made our clothes. A time when we knew the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker. Social media is helping companies to reconnect with their customers, and at the same time helping customers to reconnect with the people behind the brands.
Communicating between customers and companies isn’t all that new. Companies have been responding to letters, emails and phone calls from customers for decades. The difference today is social media is bringing these interactions into the public domain in a rather transparent way.
Rather than receiving a form letter from an anonymous customer service rep, we can see the service reps out in the open. We see their names and their pictures on Facebook and Twitter, and we can see their interactions with other customers. That exposure and those connections help us to form relationships with the people assisting us.
Dell has been very effective with this strategy. Dell is making it easy for people to comment, ask questions and share information. You can send a tweet to @DellCares with a question or comment, and get a response in short order. At the same time, you can interact directly with the Dell employees. Their employees are easy to spot on Twitter. Just look for “atDell” in the user names. Do a little search and you will find @LionelatDell, @AHayesatDell, @WarrenatDell and so on. These varied points of interaction help Dell to be very responsive, and at the same time foster stronger customer relationships.
Relationships are brand assets
The best part of relationships is they are protectable assets. When someone likes you, trusts you or finds you credible, it’s very hard to take that away.
Relationships take time. They are based on multiple experiences and exposures to your brand. The more your customers interact with your company and your employees, the stronger the relationships you can achieve.
Social media provides the vehicle to efficiently and effectively communicate with people on a one-to-one basis. This is why social media is so powerful. We are no longer constrained by the one-way communications of mass media. We can actually broadcast, listen and respond all in one place.
The level of interaction and responsiveness social media is facilitating is leading companies to reestablish relationships with their customers. And ultimately, relationships are what drives sales.
April 27th, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Miller
There’s something magical about a sticky brand. They stand out amongst all others, and they get talked about.
Apple is a master of creating brand buzz. I Googled the latest news on both the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 today, and found oodles of posts. The pundits are saying the iPad 3 won’t be released in 2011 as originally predicted by John Gruber of Daring Fireball. And the iPhone 5 could be delayed from a June launch to September – the horror!
Now, these discussions aren’t all that special until you look at the volume of conversations going on. People love to talk about Apple. They love to predict what they’re going to do next. They can’t wait for the new release so they can ooh and aah over the latest gear – and yes, I’m one of those fanboys too.
Apple has a sticky brand. They are findable, desirable and spreadable.
Findable
Google has become our first source of information. I’ve talked about it before, 93% of B2B purchases start with search.
Sticky brands are easy to find, because they’re easy to understand and easy to refer. We understand them for their core offering:
- Apple: well designed, easy to use consumer electronics that are often game changing
- Caterpillar: big, heavy equipment used for the toughest jobs
- Google: when you want to find anything
- BMW: performance sedans
Try it for yourself. Right down the brands that you think are sticky, and then ask what do they do? I bet it won’t take much thought to add a descriptor to them.
Desirable
Every year Interbrand produces a list of the Top 100 Global Brands. When you scan the list you don’t see commodities and faceless companies. You find companies like Ferrari, Disney and Louis Vuitton. These are companies we identify with.
Most sticky brands are aspirational and desirable. It’s fun to visit Ferrari’s website, and view the latest supercars. It’s always an experience to visit Disney World, or watch one of their movies.
These are brands we choose to purchase. We seek them out and often pay a premium for them, because we desire their products. Purchasing a sticky brand makes us feels good.
Spreadable
When we feel good about our purchases, we talk about them. Over the past few weeks the iPad 2 has been the big toy to show. It’s funny how many of my friends have shown me their new iPads, and I have to agree it’s a pretty talkable device.
Sticky brands empower their customers to talk about them. Their fans are their greatest asset. When I searched for the iPad 3 and the iPhone 5, I didn’t find any comments from Apple. All of the conversations were from pundits, analysts and fans. The community interested in Apple’s products were leading the conversations and spreading the word.
Sticky brands are not just for the big guys
Almost any company can create a sticky brand. All of my examples in this post have been of global brands, but that’s because they’re universally recognizable.
Small companies can have sticky brands too. If they are findable, desirable and spreadable they will stick.
What brands do you consider sticky and why?
April 12th, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Miller
Starbucks has over 20 million followers on Facebook. Impressive indeed, but that doesn’t mean they’re leading these people in a new direction.
Leadership requires something more than entertaining and engaging the masses. Leadership requires driving for change. Ian Schafer said in a podcast, “If you want to lead, your job is not to cater to the majority of people, and the way they are right now; it’s to cater to the majority, and the way they will be.”
Ian nailed it. Leadership is about leading. If you want to lead, take a stand and help people achieve their future potential.
We all have a choice
Not all brands want to be leaders. For many, it’s far more profitable to cater to the status quo. That’s ok.
But for other companies, the status quo is not enough. To quote Robert Frost,
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The road less travelled has risks. It has unforeseen obstacles and challenges, and requires change. But change forces growth and innovation. Brands with vision and a higher calling will naturally look for the road less travelled.
The question is what road do you want to travel? Both offer very relevant business models and brand strategies. It boils down to the vision of your company. What impact do you want to achieve?
For those who want to lead
Leadership may not be the easiest road, but it’s definitely the road to greatness. I wrote in an earlier post, we don’t talk about and admire companies that did what everyone else did. No, we admire successful companies that challenged the status quo.
We talk about Zappos, because they showed us a model for outstanding customer service and employee happiness. We talk about Apple, because they have created not one, but three major shifts in the consumer electronics category in less than a decade.
We can also look to smaller organizations that are making a small dent in the universe by following their passions. Interface Global, a carpet manufacturer, is passionate about sustainable, green manufacturing. Their mission is to “eliminate any negative impact Interface has on the environment by 2020.”
What’s fascinating about these companies is they are very public about their position, their vision and how they are leading the majority to a new future.
Turn your followership into participants
What I find so exciting about our interconnected world, and the power of social media, is we can convert followers into active participants.
Yes, there will always be a part of society who will resist change. But why settle? Eventually everyone will move forward, whether they like it or not. It’s the nature of life and evolution. Social media provides companies an opportunity to evangelize the new possibilities, and get people involved.
Rather than simply pitching and promoting, take a stand. Share your ideas. Ask for help. And use the power of the masses to take the road less travelled. It could make all the difference.
What are your thoughts?
April 6th, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Miller
It’s very hard to grow and build a business if your industry is in decline. Industries, like businesses, have natural lifecycles. They form, they grow, they blossom, they decline and in many cases they die. It’s a tough ride if you get caught on the tail end of your industry’s lifecycle.
Industries decline for a reason. Competitors innovate and create alternatives that make the established industry less attractive. Henry Ford’s Model-T essentially killed the buggy-whip industry. In the 1800′s and early 1900′s manufacturing buggy-whips was a good business, because the horse and carriage was the primary mode of transportation. But the creation of the automobile sector largely displaced the horse and carriage, and with it the demand for buggy-whips.
Riding out the wave is scary
Innovation creates winners and losers. If you find yourself on the tail end of someone else’s innovation, it’s a clear sign for you to step up and innovate too.
The catalyst of this post came from a statement I heard last week, “The recession has been very painful for our industry. Several of our competitors have already gone under. This has been good for us though, because we’re culling the herd. We have deeper pockets, and I expect we’ll be the last man standing.”
Last man standing is not a strategy. It may look like an attractive market position, but it’s probably a sign that you are being left behind.
When Jack Welch became CEO of GE he saw many laggard business units that he felt were holding the business back. One of his first major strategies was for each GE business to be either “one or two in its market.” It was a clear, measurable strategy. If a business unit wasn’t in either position, the managers were given a choice: “Fix it, sell it or close it.”
Tough words, but it sent a clear mandate to GE’s leadership team: we are focused on growth and market leadership, and we will not drag along stalwarts and laggards.
Innovation requires tough choices
Driving for greatness requires strong leadership. You aren’t going to blaze a new trail and innovate if you are complacent and comfortable. In the 1970′s, Kimberly-Clark made a very challenging decision to exit the paper mill industry. This was a big decision at the time, because paper mills had been Kimberly-Clark’s core business for 100 years. As Jim Collins describes in Good to Great, “Shortly after he became CEO, Smith and his team had concluded the traditional core business – coated paper – was doomed to mediocrity. Its economics were bad and the competition weak.”
Darwin Smith and the Kimberly-Clark management team “understood that the best path to greatness lay in the consumer business, where the company had demonstrated a best-in-the-world capability in its building of the Kleenex brand.” They made the hard choices, and set a timeline to get out of the mill business. They committed to innovate, and exited a declining business.
How do manage growth?
We all face challenging market forces. We monitor our industries, we experience the market conditions and we adapt. But sometimes the changes become so great that we have to make drastic choices:
- Ride it out, and hopefully be the last man standing
- Set a new course, and work to bring a new value proposition to market
Option two may sound good on paper, but it’s by far the hardest choice. It means leaving the comfort of your business model, and charting a new course fraught with risk. But the risks of charting a new course are probably far better than dealing with the slow death of a dying industry.
What’s your perspective?
March 31st, 2011
Posted by Jeremy Miller
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