Posts Tagged ‘Social Media’

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Five Sites to Watch in 2010 – Pt. 5 – Volkswagen

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

VW - Another venerable and well-known consumer brand, VW.com has a clean, highly usable design reminiscent of Apple’s—perfect for showcasing products that have become all but iconic. I also like how the search for dealers call to action is front and center; together with clear and accessible shopping tools, it speaks directly to the user’s agenda and shows an interest in truly engaging the market.

I am curious to get your view on the car configurator tool  that VW offers. The tool enables a user to e-mail a link to the configurator to others. But I am curious if there are a couple of missed opportunities here:

  • should the link enable recipients to view the car configuration the original sender designed?
  • perhaps a  “gallery” of designed automobiles would encourage car aficionados to visit and revisit with the aim of viewing other people’s designs and comparing notes…maybe? maybe not?

Volkswagon clearly has its audience’s interests in mind, but I think we’ll see it refine its approach to make sure the social media elements of its site really add value to the browsing—and the buying—experience.

Does Social Media add value?

We have reached a point where social sharing via interactive methods is commonplace; any offerings in this space now have to work hard to offer value to users. This value could present itself in a few forms:

  • Offering valuable content that enhances a user’s or customer’s understanding of the brand or product
  • Providing valuable offers that facilitate purchasing
  • Providing current news, reviews, and events so that a user or customer may feel part of the brand or product
  • Tools allowing for individual creativity to be expressed more robustly

The sites I’m watching in 2010 all have different audiences with different needs, and they’re trying to engage those audiences in a variety of compelling ways. Of the five sites reviewed in the past four months which of these sites do you think makes the most successful use of social media?

Are there sites I should add to my must-watch list? I’m curious to hear from you!

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Posted in Social Media, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Five Sites to Watch in 2010 – Pt. 3 – SAP

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

SAP.com  

What really impresses me about SAP.com is that SAP is willing to try new things and use the home page to sandbox interesting ideas—like incorporating a partnership message into the solution pathway. SAP has also incorporated social media into the site to help sell solutions, which is a smart idea for products complicated enough to provoke questions that static text might not be able to address. But given that SAP’s services and solutions focus on social behaviors (e.g., CRM, ERP), it is notable that the site does not have a consumer-facing presentation of social initiatives to demonstrate the claim that SAP brings people and resources together. Will we begin to see linkage from these pages to the company’s Twitter or Facebook offerings? Given SAP’s interest in trying things out, I wouldn’t be surprised.

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Five Sites to Watch in 2010 – Pt. 1 – Disney

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Good news for 2010: the business community is finally realizing the productivity potential of social media. As this trend continues, it will be interesting to see B2B companies explore, adopt, and integrate the technology—especially into e-commerce—often using B2C social media initiatives as a model. 

I’m certainly keeping an eye on these trends so that Juniper.net users continue to benefit from all that social media integration has to offer. With this in mind, in my next few blog posts  I’ll provide my insight on five sites—both B2B and B2C—whose use of social media, eCommerce and brand extension will be worth watching in 2010- or at least I’ll be wathing them.  In this post, Disney is the object of my affection.

Disney

Disney has had over 90 years to perfect its brand, and  it has accomplished this by understanding its target market. Disney.com is a near-perfect distillation of everything the company’has learned: the seamless e-commerce, the perfectly integrated video—all within a strong adherence to the brand. And yet, as you play videos and Flash experiences, there is no clear way to share them. It will be interesting to see whether Disney develops more apparent social sharing mechanisms around its great video assets. Overall, the company could make it even easier for its advocates and evangelists to share a wider range of content. Will it use avatars? We’ll see in the year to come.

What do you like or dislike about Disney.com? Share your favorite site.

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Engaging with Social Media in Japan, Korea, and China

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Japan photo

Though the Asian countries I recently visited are at different stages of B2B adoption, they’re all acutely aware of how much social media is changing communication—making it more about engagement and less about broadcast.

And in response to these new market demands, organizations that use social media most effectively are those who see social media for what it really is: a tool for building community.

For instance, we’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about Twitter recently, but we shouldn’t forget that it’s not the brand name that’s important; it’s the activity that the tool makes possible that is important. It’s the social and business networking—the sense of community engagement—that is the key difference.

Social media pioneer Gary Vaynerchuk recently made this point well in a keynote address for Mediabistro. The first 15 minutes or so alone is highly quotable. Consider the following: “Twitter is a frickin’ marker. Facebook is Scotch tape.” How true is that?

Another lesson is that, despite different adoption curves, global B2B enterprises are beginning to use social media everywhere, so if the existing solutions don’t offer in-language versions or support, copycats and local alternatives are quickly emerging—some with even better features and functionality. Below is a quick comparison of the services available in Asia and the U.S.:

Chart

At Juniper Networks, one of my continuing goals is to nurture an understanding about the potential and variety of social media available. It’s easy to get excited about new technology when it appears, but I never let that overshadow the engagement opportunities it creates. After all, “Facebook is just Scotch tape.”

*There is no clear leader in B2B SNS at this time, since being anonymous is a part of the online culture in Japan. I suspect this is because many Japanese people are concerned that their “Internet personality” will be discovered by friends or colleagues. According to my Japanese counterparts in Juniper Networks, some anonymous power users, using “screen names,” have quite a bit of influence in the Japanese social media culture. In addition, many believe being anonymous will protect them from identity theft and potentially even some levels of online harassment. My prediction, however, given that there are over 25 million users reported as of November 19, 2009, is that Mixi may eventually transition to that B2B SNS leader.

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Japan: The Changing Perceptions of Social Media

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Twitter has been a huge success in Japan as an entertainment medium. In fact, @shimmage visited a bookstore that had devoted an entire shelf to books originally having appeared as tweets! But when I met with the Japan marketing team two months ago, I was told that social media such as Twitter was rarely used in a B2B context. How can a medium so popular with the general public be underused in the business community? Is Twitter a victim of its own success?

Japanese bookstore, Twitter books from @shimmage

Japanese bookstore, Twitter books from @shimmage

One of the biggest hurdles of B2B adoption is that over 50% of Japanese companies block social media sites outright, such as the popular Japanese Facebook variant Mixi and Twitter. The popular conception is that such technology saps, rather than contributes to, productivity. In other words, it’s just for entertainment. It’s understandable, then, if this attitude might dissuade companies from establishing a social media presence.

Of course, we’ve seen this in the U.S., too. One of the most powerful productivity tools we now use—the almighty e-mail—was itself thought to be simply a distraction in the beginning. More recently, instant messaging was a victim of the same misunderstanding. If Twitter has been so easily adopted, it’s only been because of such historical trial and error.

We all agreed that the only thing that would change the cultural assumptions about business uses of social media is case studies of it being used in productive ways. And there are such examples. Cisco is using it in a minimal way—as a PR mouthpiece—and Oracle is taking it a big step further and adding personality, linking to blog posts, and generally being more dynamic. As a result, Oracle’s followers are growing rapidly, while Cisco is receiving a tepid response.

Social media adoption is on the rise, and Juniper Networks has jumped into the game with both feet. Who wants to miss out on the benefits of a productivity tool? But certainly, more companies need to step up and prove its use. It’s still a greenfield opportunity. What other Japanese B2Bs are using it well? I’d love to hear from you.

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