How Brands and Marketers Measure Engagement [eBook]

 

What's Engagement?

How Data-Driven Marketers are Crushing Content Marketing

An eBook by Infinigraph

"The influence of social media feeds is now undeniable and has become the primary engagement and discovery point, requiring greater attention to content quality, and to inducing the desire to share that content."

One fine evening, I received a LinkedIn message from the uber talented Dr. Natalie Petouhoff with the question: "How do brands measure engagement?" With such a hot topic, the marketer in me got into overdrive and shot off a reply.

Two months hence, Chase McMichael, CEO of Infinigraph, tweets me to announce the release of their new eBook and thank me for my contribution. Truth be told, I'm just as happy to grace the cover of the eBook. Honoured (and grateful) to be in it.

@Mr_Madness Big thank you for your awesome insight inside our eBook What's Engagement! We are now releasing here http://t.co/nmTIJX8Ltt
— Chase McMichael (@ChaseMcMichael) July 30, 2013

Download your PDF copy

Read Chase's detailed blog on Engagement and how brands and marketers effectively create, introduce and advertise content that is both engaging and sustainable to their target audience.

This idea behind the eBook became realized after Mark Fidelman published this article on Forbes: "10 Lessons from the Top 25 Most Engaged Brands on Twitter”


Acknowledgements with Gratitude: Thank You!

• Dr. Natalie Petouhoff
• Mark Fidelman
• Chase McMichael
• Brian Carter

Full Credit to the driven team at Infinigraph who created this data dashboard (stats, maps, graphs, infographics) that allows you to search, sift, source content intelligence - by brand and industry.

Other tools include Competitive Brand Intelligence which compiles comparative reports, and
HyperCuration - which pulls up live social data filtered by type of content and social network.

All in all, it's been...

A happy story with a happy ending. Or, as they say: This. Is. Just. The. Beginning :-)

@Mr_Madness thank you Amar value your interaction and sharing must go over what we can do together in New Zealand cc @drnatalie
— Chase McMichael (@ChaseMcMichael) July 30, 2013

To sign-off:

"Ultimately, we know that quantity of the content does not matter.  

It's the type and quality of the content."

Master Content Marketing - in 7 Steps: Create, Curate, Integrate, Socialize, Analyze, Optimize, Monetize. Manage content holistically to build brand awareness, engagement, advocacy, loyalty.

Social Business - It's not B2B or B2C... it's P2P

IBM definition of Social Business (#socbiz)

It takes a tiny spark to get your gears going. This short, simple post by Ted Rubin on Facebook and Twitter got mine going and inspired this blog on innovation via social business.

"Shift your approach from Social Marketing to Social Business. 

The value of Social goes well beyond marketing. #RonR"

In 2011, when IBM coined the Social Business concept, the emphasis was on social media adoption and getting social infrastructure (tools & technology) in place. It has evolved a lot since.

An IBM 2013 Report defines Social Business as: "An organisation whose culture + systems encourage networks of people to create business value." Clearly, the emphasis is now on culture and enterprise-wide (internal + external) collaboration. It's about:

1. Social Branding: See the organisation holistically - branding, content marketing, communicating as one integrated organism - to build brand influence, advocacy, loyalty. 
2. Employee Engagement: Happy Empowered Employees = Happy Satisfied Customers. Optimize resources via social tech to jointly leverage data, insights, talent, comms...
3. Smarter Commerce: Reaching today's connected customer and serving her where, when and how she likes. In a fragmented market ecosystem, access is advantage.
4. Social CRM: Think customer-centric to build and develop genuine, meaningful customer relationships. That's where Return on Relationship (RonR) comes in. Before ROI.
5. Greater CX: Enhancing product, service, brand, content to deliver superior, consistent, memorable customer experiences at every touch-point - digital, mobile, events, web, retail...

Some great reading material + useful resources on Social Business

• CMSwire: How Social Business Can Help Organisations Succeed:

Download The IBM 2013 Report which identifies 6 Social Business Success Patterns which organisations can apply to quickly realize business results:

• Finding Expertise
• Gaining External Customer Insights
• Increasing Knowledge-sharing
• Improving Recruitment and On-boarding
• Managing Mergers and Acquisitions
• Enabling and Improving Workplace Safety

• The Power of Delivering Exceptional Customer Experiences

Sponsored content on The Atlantic: Cool interactive infographic that explains the business value of SMAC - Social, Mobile, Analytics, Content - with insights, statistics and case studies.

• An info-rich white paper: Social Business: Advent of a New Age

• Forbes article by Cheryl Conner on Ted Rubin's #RonR
  
  Why 'Return on Relationship' Makes Marketing Dollars (And Social Media Sense)

• Ray Wang on HBR - How to Engage Your Customers and Employees

Must-read Harvard Business Review article: (This post's headline is from there!) Social Business is not Business-to-Business (B2B) or Business-to-Consumer (B2C), it's P2P - People to People.

9 Cs - Nine Critical Components of Successful Engagement

• New Book by Altimeter's Brian Solis and Charlene Li

7 Elements of Social Business Strategy

Seven Success Factors of Social Business Strategy

Read Vala Afshar's ebook review on Huffington Post

• An excellent post by Vala Afshar : 7 Elements of a Successful Social Business

• Follow Sandy Carter's blog: Social Business Sandy

As IBM's VP of Social Business evangelism, author of Get Bold!,
Sandy blogs about the latest developments in social business:

• A live social experiment: an IBMer content aggregator - IBM Voices
• 4 elements of a social business platform + social networking capabilities
• Convergence of Social Business + Big Data + Analytics = Socialytics!
Socialytics: Convergence of Social, Big Data, Analytics from Sandy Carter

• Top 10 Steps to Social Business Adoption:

view enlarged image

• A timely tweet via Talent Culture

Organizations that refuse to engage in social business will become extinct like dinosaurs. #leadership #tchat #socbiz TYRT>@TalentCulture
— Michael Clark (@ReCenterMoment) July 12, 2013

• A neat infographic

• Get Social. Do Business. IBM Social Business

A dedicated web portal full of trials, demos, solutions, reports and downloads. Watch the TV ad/ video.



Inspired Workforce - Productivity - Better Relationships - Collaboration - Innovation - Value - Competitive Advantage

• I believe...

"Social is the way forward. Collaboration is the way to go. Social Business is the future."

What do you think... Is social business the way to innovation, growth and success?

100 Quotable Quotes from Top Business Executives

It's my pleasure to share an excellent Huffington Post article. One of the best I've read in 2013, this is a keeper: "100 Tweetable Business Culture Quotes From Brilliant Executives"

A classic collection of quotes curated by the very clever Vala Afshar, it conveys much inspiration and wisdom in the words of top thought leaders and best business minds of our times.

100 tweetable business executive words of wisdom http://t.co/oDNRBFikLZ #quotes #socialmedia #leadership
— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) July 12, 2013

Vala Afshar, author of "The Pursuit of Social Business Excellence", is a leading social media practitioner. Follow him on Twitter for a steady stream of top quality content.

3 i's of Awesome Content = Intelligent. Insightful. Inspiring.

For energising and engaging content, please follow my Twitter buddy, Emma Lloyd.

Hooray for Monday!! TGIM !! pic.twitter.com/aYeKTJEq4S
— Energise & Engage (@EngagingEmma) July 15, 2013

Everything is an opportunity to..... pic.twitter.com/2wtg6g3Ygz
— Energise & Engage (@EngagingEmma) July 14, 2013

Welcome to Inspiration Central - Inspire and Be Inspired.

My humble attempt at creating a hub of great content on... Google+ | Pinterest | FaceBook

"@Mr_Madness #Gratitude --> The Shortest Route To Happiness #InspirationCentral Inspire and Be Inspired pic.twitter.com/14RCCN9cP2
— Inspiration Central (@InspirationCntr) July 14, 2013

Jack Dorsey, Twitter / Square @ Stanford Business School

"The future has already arrived. It's just not evenly distributed yet."

- William Gibson,

sci-fi author who coined the term... cyberspace

As the creator of Twitter, founder and CEO of Square (mobile payment system), Jack Dorsey doesn't really need an introduction. So his twitter bio simply reads: A sailor, a tailor.

"When I believe in something, I fight like hell for it."—Steve McQueen pic.twitter.com/ICAgEdRk

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) August 30, 2012

Thankfully, his Wikipedia page divulges a little more. Techie, developer, double drop-out, geek royalty, start-up success, Silicon Valley veteran and Forbes billionaire, here's Jack sharing his story - his inspiring journey from curious teenager to globally successful entrepreneur - at Stanford Graduate School of Business, to an audience of future techpreneurs and digital innovators.





Inspiration in 40 minutes: I found this talk inspiring and I'm sure it'll get your mojo rising.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the above...

When Social Media and Music Collide - Video Interviews #smcakl

The videos are in. Here's an intro to the monthly event: #smcakl - the place to be.





Following my summary on Social Media Club Auckland : Tweet to the Beat: How Social Media has disrupted the music business, here are video interviews with three panellists at the June event.


Scott Maclachlan, Manager of Internet Sensation & chart topping artist Lorde

Paul Mclaney, AKA Gramsci - Artist & Music Collaborator

Dean Campbell, Music Commentator and Creator of Top 40 Music Tracks

• Videography (shooting, voicing, editing, youtubing) courtesy of:
• Louis van Wyk of Pravda Communications
• Rob Harradine of Perpetua Productions

How Social Media has Disrupted the Music Business #smcakl

MC Angela March, Dean Campbell, Fiona Perry, Paul Mclaney, Scott Maclachlan

Julian Waters (drinking water), Camellia Yang, Simon Young, Ian Wan

Courtney Sit

Last fortnight, at the behest of our good friend, the wonderful David Gapes, Editor, AdMedia & Fastline, I attended Social Media Club Auckland - #smcakl (pronounced smackle) - with my roving reporter’s hat on, phone in hand, finger on the photo-trigger. Here's the pre-event report in Fastline:

Tweet to the Beat – Tune in to #smcakl

By Amar Trivedi (@Mr_Madness)

Aucklanders in the house! Make some noise… #smcakl is here and it’s all about the music.

The word is out. It’s on the wall. Social Media has disrupted the music industry. It has affected not only the way we consume music but the entire record industry. While song-laden smartphones and 4G downloads are music to consumers, music cos. are still adjusting to the new biz model.

#smcakl takes a look at The Battle of Monetizing the Bands, exploring significant industry changes from all angles of the record player, with an expert panel line-up of speakers who know the business of music like the back of their vinyl jackets:

• ·         Zowie (Singer Songwriter formerly known as Bionic Pixie)
• ·         Dean Campbell (Music commentator and creator of top 40 music tracks)
• ·         Scott McLauchlan (Manager of Internet Sensation & chart topping artist Lorde)
• ·         Fiona Perry (Managing Director at Media & Entertainment Royalty Services Ltd)
• ·         Paul McLaney AKA Gramsci (Artist & Music collaborator)

Take off those earphones and download yourself for a spot of Spotify and socializing on Wed 19 June, 6pm. This month there is a collaborative playlist where attendees can add their favourite tracks for airplay during the informal part of the evening.

It’s The #smcakl-ers - Live at the Vodafone V’nue. This one’s sure to be a doozy!
Sign up at http://smcakl.com/ 

The post-event summary:

The famous #smcakl twitter wall... powered by strea.ma

Q&A Time: The audience asks, the panel answers, the comments flow on the wall...

Anthony Gardiner, of 25 Most Played (Shiny New Things); Packed house @smcakl

Jennie Vickers, with K9 Social Media top dog, Nasby :-)

She was a doozy alright!

By Amar Trivedi (@Mr_Madness) < || > July 04, Update: The videos are in. --> Click to view.

It’s official. #smcakl rocked - knocked it right outta Vicky Park.

With 250 guests braving chances of a thunderstorm Wednesday night, the only storm worth writing about was the one brewing inside the Vodafone V’nue - in a good, musical, social sort of way.

The topic for #smcakl June was a catchy one. “Tweet to the Beat - When music and social media collide.” The evening featured an expert panel of musos, artistes and recording industry pros – who weighed in on the state of flux in the online music business, the disruption and emergent new technologies - sharing anecdotes and insights both from personal experience and popular culture.

There’s a saying in social media circles: The smartest person in the room… is the room. At most events these days, a tweet wall is common. At #smcakl, the tweetstream beamed out from many screens, is the unseen guest with the liveliest (and wittiest) voice in the room.

A genuine, unfiltered display of community engagement in real-time, the #smcakl hash feed is a merry mix of intelligent tweets on topic, social media commentary, random rants and whacky humour, incl. fart jokes – you’ve been warned!

In its 4^th year now, Social Media Club Auckland (#smcakl) has come a long way. While the monthly event is more structured, the open chat format seems to be going down well with attendees. What also goes down fine is the pizza + cold beverage shout that every #smcakl begins with– thanks to the generous sponsors. Events are free to attend on sign-up.

For more on the evening and the event, read these blog posts by:

• Nick Allen : Rights, Critics, Publishers and Social Media in the Music industry
• Simon Eskow : You schmooze. You never lose
• Luigi Cappel aka BluesBro : It's Music Night at #SMCAKL
• Or just twitter-search #smcakl and tune in to the tweets

So, if you are interested in social (which you are) and use social media (which you do), saunter in on any of these dates for an enjoyable (even enlightening) evening with the coolest kids in town.

Keep in touch with all things #smcakl:

• ·         Like the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/smcakl
• ·         Follow them on Twitter: @smcakl
• ·         Join the #smcakl Group on LinkedIn
• ·         Check out the website: http://smcakl.com/

For some unreasonable reason, if you cannot make it to the event in real life, you can (thanks to Jam Mayer) attend #smcakl remotely, by watching the livestream here.

Angela March, co-organiser and MC for the night, said it best… “This one’s sure to be a doozy.” Right as rain she was!
           

Acknowledgements with Gratitude

For the above reports (and the event), many thanks going out to:

• Co-organizers: Angela March, Adrienne Kohler and the #smcakl team
• Photography: Kirsten Blatcher of KB Creative
• Videography:
• Louis van Wyk of Pravda Communications
• Rob Harradine of Perpetua Productions
• Pizza Fresco and Bulmer's Cider for F&B
• Vodafone NZ
• Courtney Sit: for giving me a lift. Thx Courts, for making social hitch-hiking happen :-)

Disruption Is Good. It's Where Innovation Comes From.

Your competition may or may not finish you. But,

complacency, stagnation and lack of innovation surely will.

Not long ago, a discussion on Twitter got me thinking: What does the 'I' in CIO stand for? Good question. It could mean Information, Intelligence or Imagination. (My reply: I picked Inspiration). But today, the 'I' in CIO stands for Innovation. Yes... Chief Innovation Officer.


Two questions popped into my head:
* Why Innovate? Pretty straight answer --> Innovation means Growth.
* What does Innovation really have to do with Technology? By themselves, they seem independent enough. But in combination, they drive new discoveries, scientific inventions, and ultimately, markets, businesses and economies. To understand the Tech + Innovation connection, let's analyse the 'Why' in technology.

Why do we use Technology? 

Another good one from the insightful Brian Meredith. Essentially, all technology eases life for users by providing convenience, access, comfort, security, peace-of-mind... in two ways:

1. Enabling us to do something better (faster, cheaper, simpler)
2. Empowering us to do something new we did not do before

Thus, technology makes innovation happen. And innovation creates technology. But with 'social' coming in (more ideas, voices, influences), the traditional cycle has been disrupted in many ways:

• Collective Genius - Crowd-sourcing, Crowd-funding, Twitter Chats, Group Blogs
• Collaborative Consumption aka Shared Economy (P2P Rentals) - AirBnB, Gumtree, Etsy, TaskRabbit, car pooling
• Community Intelligence - brand forums, ratings/ reviews (Yelp), consumer feedback
• Collaborative Creativity - user-generated content, amateur videos, mobile blogging, curation tools, visual web (Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Snapchat)

Graphic: Taxonomy of the Collaborative Economy - http://t.co/C2KG69KtYJ Snapshot of social business models. Great post by @jowyang #socbiz
— Amar Trivedi (@Mr_Madness) March 26, 2014

Embrace The Social Innovation Ecosystem

The guiding principle of today's "social" connected era is: Don't plan for control. Encourage participation. Integrate social technology into the business model. Monitor engagement. Manage co-creation. Measure collaboration. Adopt social business. Disruption is good. It's where innovation comes from.

Social Technology leads to The Social Innovation Ecosystem. And vice versa. This new dynamic is changing the way we live. Go with the flow... even if it feels like going against the tide !! Embrace social. Embrace change. Change is the seed of growth. Disruption, the mother of all innovation.

Inspiration

Two thought-provoking quotes by Charles Darwin and Alvin Toffler - both germane to digital innovation and transformation, and equally applicable to individuals and businesses.



Are you ready for change? Watch: Digital Disruption: Unleashing the Next Wave of Innovation





Recommended: I'll leave you with two excellent articles, ImageThink graphics and TED videos:

• Tami Cannizzaro: Digital Age of Marketing: It's a Digital World. Let's Embrace It.
• James McQuivey: Harvard Business Review: CMOs, Build Digital Relationships or Die

If you see any good articles on disruption or innovation, please share. Thanks.

Lead Image Courtesy: Alison Herzog via Twitter