By Myra Norton on 7/25/2008 12:14 PM

I found myself agreeing out loud with the points made in this recent Wall Street Journal article about the lack of success many businesses are experiencing in their attempts to build vibrant online communities.  Ed Moran’s findings echo my own experiences

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By Myra Norton on 7/18/2008 2:43 PM

Community Analytics' paper proposal was selected for the 2008 AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education.

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By Myra Norton on 6/25/2008 2:52 PM

With gas prices on the rise and job security on a downward spiral, businesses have tightened up on their expenses in recent months. As professionals, we recognize that we need to spend wisely, yet we still see mass marketing and the same prospects targeted over and over again. Granted, there have been a variety of studies conducted that connect increased brand visibility with purchase decision; however, this comes at a cost. This leaves us with the question, how much are we willing to spend on messaging that falls on deaf ears?

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By Myra Norton on 6/14/2008 9:58 AM

I had the pleasure of joining more than 200 B2B marketers this week at the annual Business Marketing Association conference in Las Vegas.  There were valuable panel discussions on topics like measuring marketing effectiveness, sponsorship marketing, managing agency relationships, and many others.  Two of the highlights for me were the keynote addresses delivered by Eduardo Conrado, Corporate VP of Global Business & Technology Marketing & Communications for Motorola (that's quite a title!) and Judith Sims, Oracle's CMO. 

 

Eduardo's address focused on the ways Motorola is leveraging Web 2.0 to reach government and public safety buyers, but he shared a lot of information about how he has structured the marketing organization for maximum effectiveness.  Judith shared some similar information from Oracle.  One of the key learnings I took home from both presentations was the power of a unified voice - unified across product lines, across geographies, across channels.  Judith talked about the impact they have realized by planning carefully their marketing efforts for optimum impact.  Instead of running disparate ad campaigns, events, online campaigns, etc.; they pool all of these channels around the most promising opportunities to reach and engage a given audience.  One example was a recent conference in New York where the key decision makers in one of their vertical industries were going to be gathered for a week.  Oracle recognized this as an opportunity to have a real impact on this industry ... Read More »

By Myra Norton on 6/3/2008 7:40 AM

A colleague referred me to an article entitled, “Gin, Television, and Social Surplus,” by Clay Shirky the other day. Shirky talks about our cognitive surplus and the need for media to understand that it’s a triathlon. By that he means, we are not running a single race focused on consumption; rather, we need to be aware that people also like to produce and share.

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By Myra Norton on 5/19/2008 7:36 AM

Client Connectivity

Last week I focused on the importance of efficiency within the organization. What I didn’t talk about however, was the fact that this type of effective behavior extends far beyond the bounds of an organization.   There are ways to not only successfully operate your business, but also work to better serve your existing clients and obtain new clients as well.

 

How? By identifying and fostering the existing relationship capital of your company and your clients. Termed Client Connectivity, this form of analysis helps you identify and build on the connections between and amongst your (1) clients, (2) potential clients, and (3) employees. In its most simple form, this analysis draws from the ability to cross reference these three networks and use them in a way that adds value to your firm and to your current and prospective clients. For example, if two distinct sales teams are selling into the same company, they can utilize this knowledge to reach the prospect with one united message. From the client’s perspective, this means an interaction that is at the same time more efficient and comprehensive.  In addition to exploring shared connections, Client Connectivity studies also offer the ability to see who the most central individuals are, both inside and outside of a company.

 

 

What is important to note about Client Connectivity is the fact that you are engaging known entities. There’s no guesswork or speculation here; rather, all of the variables are already identified for you – either though organizational or external network analysis, as illustrated above. The applications for thi ... Read More »

By Myra Norton on 5/13/2008 7:52 AM

The other components of WOMM-U have been even more exciting from my perspective. There are 12 "faculty-led" tracks that occur 6 times throughout the two days. I have the honor of leading one of the groups focused on activating word of mouth in social networks. What has been so wonderful about this approach is that we have 10 to 14 folks around a table who are sharing their very real struggles with the tactical side of WOM, and their peers around that table then help to offer guidance and suggestions from their own experiences. I am working to compile all of the great ideas that are coming out of the discussions in my groups and will be able to share them with all of the participants sometime next week. How great to have the ideas, struggles and thoughts about WOM in Social Networks from more than 50 practitioners! My only wish is that I could participate in other sessions as well as my own.

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By Myra Norton on 5/9/2008 12:27 PM

It’s hard to know where to start with this post – there are so many exciting learnings to share from WOMMA’s first Word of Mouth Marketing University (WOMM-U).  Yesterday we had the pleasure of hearing from Joseph Jaffe, Jeffrey Graham, the good folks at OPI, and Carla Hendra.  In these keynotes and case studies were many nuggets of wisdom about the importance of WOM, Community and the new frontiers of customer engagement in general. 

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By Myra Norton on 5/6/2008 7:17 AM

A lot of people asked me about my posting last week, Human Networks Have Power in Uncertain Times, so I thought it would be a good idea to talk a little more about how relationships are important over the course of the next few weeks. In what ways are relationships important when the economy is weak? This can be answered from a number of perspectives.

Organizational networks are a good place to start.  By definition organizational networks are the informal knowledge communities within the workplace.  In today’s information economy, there is recognition that the flow of information inside organizations is not limited to the hierarchies of formal organizational charts. In fact, extensive research shows us that advice seeking is not bound by these structures, and often even detailed maps of organizational structures cannot accurately depict the informal interactions that occur amongst employees. 

 

So what does this mean? Well, from an organizational standpoint, these uncertain times in the economy often limit a firm’s ability to hire needed additional staff. Therefore, it’s critical to empower your team to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible. The need to restructure part of a department would be a good example of this. The same is true in times of layoffs or workforce reductions. Not knowing who your top performers are from both a formal and informal standpoint could prove to be detrimental to your firm. The manner in which you utilize these key players and position them in ways that help transfer the flow of information is critical.

 

Some of the most important internal teams in an organization are customer account teams. How can you make sure you’re leveraging their relationships and supporting them so that they are able to build stronger and more solid connections with your customers and prospects?

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By Myra Norton on 5/2/2008 7:57 AM

For all of you who are members of LinkedIn, you may have noticed an unusually large amount of activity coming from my account. Katie brought it to my attention that I have over 1200 contacts in my outlook, but had only connected with a mere 70 of you on this platform. I must admit, I have held out for a long time in terms of actively using the platform. 

 

I read an article recently that stated, “499 of the Fortune 500 companies have director-level profiles and higher on LinkedIn. Even Barack Obama recently teamed up with LinkedIn to reach entrepreneurs, small business owners and executives, asking them very pointed questions regarding their needs from the next U.S. president.” 

 

Isn’t it amazing how easy it is for all of us to connect in one spot? It’s also hard to believe that this is the standard resume for all professionals; who would have thought this would be the case 10 years ago? Although I’m a novice to LinkedIn, I’m quickly learning about how helpful it can be. My past hesitancy was born out of a strong feeling that relationships of trust and advice-seeking are not built and sustained online.  But what I’m learning is that tools like LinkedIn can actually help us communicate more efficiently with individuals in our networks – in a way, these tools help us leverage that relationship capital I talked about in a previous post.  I’m glad that Katie convinced me it was time to get more involved – it’s been great to “connect” with many folks who I have not had the pleasure of talking with in a while.

 

Now I’m considering using LinkedIn as a recruiting platform. Do you have any experience with this?