Being Peter Kim

links for 2007-10-29

• Palm Beach Post: Blogs link brands, buyers
  Article about corporate blogging
  (tags: pressquote blogging)

Nielsen: "Our influencers, Ourselves"

Kate Niederhoffer, Director of Measurement Science at Nielsen Online spoke about a current work in progress - defining "influentials."  Is there a hotter topic in CGM for marketers?  Well yes, ROI, but we're closer to figuring this one out, or at least more people are trying.

Kate gave an academic explanation of the history of influence - from propoganda to personal influence to a renaissance of interest via online amplification.

Defining influencers happens in four steps:

1. Factors, focusing on three dimensions:  authority, popularity, virality
2. Characterization of influencers: factors, independent dimensions (low inter-item r-squared), unique combinations
3. Ensure algorithm is flexible enough to allow additional parameters, e.g. persuasiveness, linguistic style.
4. Check for face validity, e.g. peer review

The result is a final score, an "ideal conduit" that can and should be weighted depending on client goals.

Does it go deeper than this?  Probably.  But I don't have a PhD like Kate to explain everything properly here.

In a more simplified approach, Ken Cassar outlined a way for media planners to make influencers identification actionable.  Using data from the NetView panel:

1. Find users who visit niche/esoteric, i.e. "expert" web sites on topics
2. Users who spend more communication time than average (e.g. time spent, posting comments, etc.) on these sites are most vocal
3. Identify other sites visited where you can reach these vocal experts (behavioral targeting of sorts)

In an example for TV broadcasters, 4.4% of the at home population were in the influencer category.  65% of the sample was female, indexing at 124 vs. 74 male.  The 25 - 34 age segment was most influential in age demographic cuts.  The result?  USA Today rates highest for site most likely to be visited by TV watcher influentials (684 index).  [...?]

*****

I had to get back to Boston and the afternoon sessions couldn't be blogged anyway.  But during the day I met a couple people I've seen online:  Emily Riley from Jupiter and Rohit Bhargava from Ogilvy PR.  Saw Henry Copeland from BlogAds around, tweets too.

Nielsen Online: State of the CGM Space

Pete Blackshaw gave an energetic overview on Nielsen Online's viewpoint of the state of CGM.  Pete has also traded in his CMO title for the more verbose "EVP Nielsen Online Strategic Services."

Here are the key trends he's seeing:

• Lack of trust in advertising
• Growth and globalization of CGM
• Continued growth of CGM2, i.e. consumer-generated multi-media.  Why?  Video connects emotionally and allows for benefit visualization.
• Consumer Fortified Media (CFM), e.g. Dove Evolution.  Meaning that ads are strengthened by the surrounding consumer commentary.
• CGM redefining network/cable TV.  Premise for "Hey! nielsen"
• Marketers discover Facebook
• Wikipedia further up the shelf, new credibility broker- Marketers and retailers embrace consumer reviews on own sites.  Anticipating more CGM mashups.
• Blogs go mainstream & global.

Nielsen launched a global study on advertising trust.  Most trusted channels?  Recommendations from consumers (78%), Newspapers (63%), Consumer opinions posted online (61%), brand websites (60%), television (56%).  While the options look a lot like the work I've done at Forrester, I've seen different results (because I've worked with an offline and North American sample) - recommendations still finish #1, but mainstream media don't rank nearly as high and in-store ads are trusted as well.

Pete showed a CGM Opportunity Spectrum, outlining how marketers can get involved.  From low to high participation:  unaided issue or theme specific content; product/brand experience & feedback; consumer fortified media/echo effect; outright solicited (cocreation); CGM as page view creator for more ads.

Where Nielsen Online is heading

I'm at the Nielsen Online CGM Summit 2007.  Jonathan Carson and Manish Bhatia kicked off the day talking about the past and present of their businesses with a peek at the future.  10 days ago Nielsen announced the launch of Nielsen Online, combining Buzzmetrics and NetRatings.

No mention of new products and in the near term the focus will be on international expansion, i.e. 15 countries.  However, it's clear to me that, while online is justifiably capturing everyone's attention today, the opportunity integration with offline.  Manish mentioned two key foci for the business:  cross-media behavior and ROI of online-offline behavior.  Credit for taking a consumer-centric approach here.

When you think about the family tree of related measurement:  TV ratings, ACNielsen, Claritas, Monitor-Plus, Telephia (mobile), homescan - there's huge potential.  Like a measurement death star.  But making it work hinges not only Nielsen's own product development, but process overhaul for the entire advertising industry.

Free WOM webinar with Umbria - Nov 7

I'm delivering a free webinar with Umbria CEO Janet Eden-Harris on word of mouth marketing and brand monitoring.  It's scheduled for Wednesday November 7th at 3 pm Eastern.

We'll be talking about taking a left-brain approach to making WOM work.  More potential takeaways:

• Learn not only what is being said, but who is doing the talking
• Discover common characteristics of a target segment
• Learn how to measure the effectiveness, momentum and engagement of your marketing
• Take away practical tips for adjusting campaigns for the shifting marketing landscape

You can register with Umbria directly.

Audience Strategy with Mark McLaughlin, Yahoo!

Mark started his presentation with a great quote regarding Thomas Jefferson.  Appropriate for social computing, as TJ focused on the power of the individual.  Yahoo! builds consumer strategy around four pillars:

1. Content
2. Personalization
3. Community
4. Search

Play this model against different sites:  Wikipedia.  Amazon.  Ebay.  Online debates on Yahoo! News. Bud.tv.

Targeting in the Yahoo! model works along audience pyramid:

• Top:  Passion.  Brand advocates, brand equities.
• Middle:  Purchase behavior.  Heavy category buyers, loyalists, competitive buyers.
• Bottom:  Mass market.  Key demographic targets, geographic targets.

Seems to me that the "four pillars" model works.  Thoughts?

Analytics 2.0 with Avinash Kaushik, Google

I'm at Darden today, speaking at an executive education course.  Great presentation from Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist at Google.  The big idea of the morning?

Analytics 2.0:
- [start here] Clickstream data (the what)
- Multiple outcomes analysis (the how much)
- Experimentation & testing (the why)
- Voice of the customer (the why)
- Competitive intelligence (the what else)
- Insights (the gold) [end here]

Can your company answer the question: "why does your website exist?" in 15 words or less.  Craft this statement around business outcomes.  Conversions aren't always sales - they can be interim goals, e.g. could be brand referral or propensity to visit a store.

The job of the online marketer is "learn to be wrong, quickly."  The web allows experimentation (A/B testing) at scale previously very difficult.  Google did this on Picasa.  Current page showed 30% lift.  "Free download" text doesn't work as well as a button that says "try now." A picture showing functionality didn't work at all (i.e. trying to show how much better than Photoshop).

Three key questions to figure out site intentions.  Most sites have conversion of 2%.  Why?  Not everyone came to your site to buy something.  Goal:  to find segments of discontent - and respond to them at scale.  So answer these:

1. Why are you here?  (aka primary purpose)
2. Were you able to complete your tasks today?
3. If you were not able to complete your task today, then why not?

Recommendations:

• Insight One:  the 10/90 rule.  Tools and Professional Services:  $10 vs. Investment in intelligent resources:  $90
• Insight Two:  Data quality sucks, get over it.  The web is the most perfect imperfect medium in the world
• Insight Three:  Reporting is not analysis.  Empower your analysts.  The critical few is the secret - on any dashboard you should have max 6 - 8 metrics.

Yahoo! up next.

Thanks EMC for the Boston blogger meetup

  Picture 1076 
  Originally uploaded by jeremiah_owyang.

EMC hosted about 100 bloggers last night at the Rattlesnake in Back Bay (Boston).

It was great to meet people from the community in person, like Constantine von Hoffman, John Eckman, Scott Monty, Steve Garfield, Doc Searls, Dan Schawbel, Julia Roy, Chris Brogan, Amanda Mooney, and Ann Handley.

Jeremiah has pics.

Looking forward to seeing you at PodCamp Boston next week!

"I just don't get it." [i.e. Twitter]

When I talk about Twitter to corporate audiences, a very common reaction is "I just don't get it."  Hence, the post title.

If you want to learn more about microblogging check out this report (client access only).

Our data shows that 6% of US online adults use Twitter regularly.

If you want to reach an affluent, well educated, and early adopter audience, there might not be a better communication channel out there.

BTW each line in this message is < 140 characters.

@forrester is on Twitter, as are many individual analysts like @peterkim, @jowyang, @charleneli, @birdahonk, @sureshvittal, @carriejohnson, @SFOSkyGod, and @jbernoff.

UPDATE: Many people - namely Robert Scoble - believe that 6% is way too high.  Here's related information from Cynthia. For those interested in the methodology, you can read more about it here.  The specific question that survey respondents saw: "There are also more general activities you can do on the Internet. How frequently do you do each of the following activities? (Select one for each row)"  and "Use Twitter" was one of 11 options, with the frequency choices of "at least daily," "weekly," "monthly," "less than monthly," and "never."

A researcher on my team tells me the number is corroborated from data from another survey as well.  It isn't drawn from Nielsen//NetRatings, which has its own methodology.  While researching, I did d biz and email pownce, but neither responded.

It's fun to talk about whether 6% is BS or not, just like it's fun to watch traffic spike when one gets Scobelized.  To move that part of the discussion forward, I'd like to hear from people who have facts and data to refute the figure, not just feelings.  [But I do care about your feelings - deeply. :) ]

IMO the number isn't critical to the report's premise; more importantly, I explain why brands should pay attention to a small percent of online activity and how microblogging fits into social computing strategy.

The drawbacks of working from home

I didn't go into the office today for a couple of reasons.  But after some introspection, let me offer some reasons why working from home isn't so great:

- The dogs give me guilty looks, wanting to go for a walk
- I have to make my own lunch
- No one answers my calls because they don't recognize the caller ID
- Procrastinating activities like cleaning the house have high value
- I lose a day of value on my monthly commuter rail pass
- The dining room table is better for eating than typing

And finally:  RSS feeds, tweets, and Facebook status updates aren't the same as seeing people in person!

links for 2007-10-16

• Adweek - What's Driving OMC's Digital Strategy?
  Interesting look at Omnicom's digital and insight from Jonathan Nelson
  (tags: pressquote agencies)
• Adweek: Words to the Wise Can Boost Share Price
  Article on Waggener Edstrom's brand monitoring service, Narrative Network
  (tags: pressquote brandmonitoring)

Epilogue: Consumer Forum 2007

  Turn Groundswell to advantage 
  Originally uploaded by Pete Kim.

Back to work tomorrow - unlike David Armano, I have no choice but to live with my Forrester hangover from the Consumer Forum.

This was my 2nd forum and quite a different experience.  One reason was Forrester's use of social media.  You can see the great posts about and reactions to the content in many places - Jeremiah has the best roundups on days 1 and 2.

Overall, there was less evangelizing and more on making social computing real.

I'm interested to see how things are different in Barcelona next month, as well as Marketing Forum 2008 in Los Angeles...that is, expecting bigger and better things.

Forrester Consumer Forum: Day 1

  the crowd 
  Originally uploaded by Pete Kim.

Jeremiah posts a great round up of Day 1 of Forrester's 2007 Consumer forum.

At Forrester's Consumer Forum

I've been busy - but haven't been posting here...  Had a lot of fun tweeting from our Consumer Forum today; follow along at http://twitter.com/forrester.  Most interesting to me = conversation "with others."

Jeremiah posted photos from today.  Thanks to Critical Mass and VML for hosting receptions this evening.

Look for more activity on the blog starting tomorrow at http://blogs.forrester.com/marketing.

Panwapa

This is a good thing.  Sesame Workshop and Merrill Lynch have created Panwapa, in their words:

"A multimedia, global initiative that is designed to inspire and empower a new generation of children, ages four to seven, to be responsible global citizens.  In the Tshiluba language, spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa, the word "Panwapa" means "here on this earth."

Panwapa has five objectives for kids:

1. Build awareness of the wider world
2. Appreciate similarities and value differences
3. Take responsibility for one's behaviours
4. Participate in community and be willing to take action
5. Understand and respond to economic disparity

Kids can create global connections through the site.  The environment is safe as no personal information is ever exchanged - nobody types anything. 

This is a much more important form of social engagement than finding friends on Facebook.

Turn a kid you know on to Panwapa today.

Brand monitoring on Twitter

Now you can add Twitter to your suite of free brand monitoring tools.  Tonight, Twitter announced that you can track keywords using the "track" command.

Here are 23 other things you should be monitoring:
1 - 10 from Cameron Olthuis
11 - 17 from Jeremiah Owyang
18 - 23 from Joseph Jaffe

links for 2007-10-03

• CBS Evening News: Spreading The "Buzz", Word Of Mouth Goes Corporate As Companies Deploy Everyday Folks As Marketing Agents
  I enjoyed speaking with Anthony Mason in Union Square for this one. Here's the link to video: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3322643n
  (tags: pressquote wom agentnetwork)

The October M20

I posted the October M20 list over on marketer20.com.

The M20 is a list of top marketer blogs ranked by authority, influence, and attention.  There are a lot of marketing blogs out there - but only a small portion written by people on the client side.

Check it out when you get a chance - there are some good reads on the list.