The Squared Root

150 Million Measurable Results of Interactive Marketing and Social Media

mchapman — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:23:36 GMT

By now you've read about, and are maybe wondering, how the Obama campaign managed to raise over $150 million in a single month, shattering all previous single-month fundraising records for a Presidential candidate. Their success is, in large part, due to the effectiveness of their interactive marketing efforts in combination with a very aggressive social media presence.

Campaign manager David Plouffe, in an email to supporters, reported the campaign had added 632,000 new donors in September 2008, for a total of 3.1 million contributors to the campaign to date. According to Plouffe, the average donation was $86.

Small Donors in Large Numbers

By creating a user-friendly experience on their outward facing website, the Obama campaign encouraged its supporters to gather in large numbers online and make small contributions. As an alternative to the traditional large dollar donations, bundled and forwarded, the new model broke all previous records set using web 1.0 style fundraising efforts.

It might be tempting to discount the accomplishments of the Obama campaign and give credit to the current political climate instead. That would be a disservice to the interactive marketing success that characterizes what Plouffe and company have built.

The real story behind the enormous dollar amounts started long before September and well before Obama was given much of a chance of being competitive. It centers around an attitude of "bottom-up" empowerment of volunteers, combined with open-minded use of new technologies, generally associated with interactive marketing and social media.

Start Small and Grow

I was first exposed to My.BarackObama.com, or MyBO as it is affectionately referred to among Obama supporters, in late 2007. What I discovered was a highly interactive website that, in many ways, functioned as an online campaign headquarters accessible to anyone interested in participating.

When I later talked with top campaign officials Steve Hildebrand, Deputy Campaign Manager and a former colleague of mine, and Chris Hughes, a cofounder of Facebook who is currently working on the campaign, they confirmed that their intent was to create as much of a working connection between campaign staff and volunteers as possible by using the website as an interface.

The Obama campaign is a textbook example of the development of that connection between their own staff with volunteers, donors and ultimately voters. This real world case study of using the social capital developed though 2.0 connections is of great interest to us at FG SQUARED.

According to Hildebrand and Hughes, the beginning of the planning process focused on concepts inherent in a well positioned social media effort. Authenticity, transparency and adding value were all considered as crucial during early development of their plans.

Online Efforts Compliment Traditional Organization

With every aspect of the website, a consideration was given to how the "on-the-ground" campaign would be enhanced. Not only does the website serve as a tremendous supplement to the fundraising efforts, it has served as a community organizational tool and and central information desk for a wide range of activities.

More than 150,000 meetups and other events have been coordinated using MyBO. Anyone can start a blog. Those who have a blog are free to post their feelings even if they are in opposition to Barack Obama on a particular issue. You can find groups and people in your area to meet and organize with.You can start one of your own if none of the previously formed affinity groups pique your interest.

During the caucus states, in particular, the website served as a virtual campaign office, with fully equipped phone bank capabilities, block walking lists and communications tools. There is much evidence that MyBO played a direct role in the organizational successes of Iowa and the caucuses in Texas and get out the vote operations (GOTV) throughout the primaries.

While the groups have been allowed to proliferate within MyBO, a wide variety of social media and networking tools are encouraged and intermixed with other popular sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, FlickR and YouTube. In all instances the ease of use and the draw of participation increased the number of times individuals visited and used MyBO.

Personalization Is Standard

Through MyBO you can sign up for text messages on your phone or other handheld device. If you want, you can get regular emails from a variety of campaign officials. You can make calls, from your own home, to battleground states. A team is available to receive comments on improving the site and do so, almost in real time, when it'll make it work better for users.

At every turn, and with every other activity, an opportunity to make a donation is always very professionally presented. Often, a specific and small amount, a micro-donation, is given as a first option. While you can sign up for a regular contribution schedule, there is no pressure to do so.

With a steady contribution from volunteers and a very 2.0 oriented campaign staff, there is always a steady flow of new and interesting content on the site and surrounding it. The campaign neither reached out to the well known bloggers or ignored them. They just did their thing.

Metrics That Are Tangible

With metrics now available, MyBO can be definitely considered a social web 2.0 success story. American politics have been changed by the successful combination of traditional campaigning with the new interactive components.

Metrics in politics are pretty straightforward. First, you need money. Money pays staff, money buys paid media, and money hires lawyers to fight legal battles. Money pays for travel and wardrobes.

Another key metric is media coverage. The new and increasingly important digital and social media coverage of campaigns supplements and influences mainstream media. Money and media coverage have been greatly impacted by MyBO.

Finally, the most important metric is voter participation.

Managing the Message

MyBO, and the other social media tools, have added to the transparency of a the campaign. It's easier for users to know where the campaign currently stands and what it's doing in every state, district and territory. Everyone is an expert. Everyone has access to the materials.

Barack Obama, and his top level advisors, lead the effort. They set the agenda and create the message. But throughout the organization even the most remote volunteer is included, almost instantly, when the agenda and messages are established and communicated to the grassroots and netroots.

Internal communications are utilized by the campaign's high command to coordinate all of the outward facing activities of the campaign. For corporations and large non-profits it's critical to consider whether you can afford to wait before your competition adopts the MyBO model.

When Josh Bernoff, co-author of Groundswell, was in Austin he commented that MyBO incorporates every positve aspect of social media except for listening. Perhaps they will improve even that if the Obama team gets the opportunity to govern. Government 2.0 anyone?

Brand Awareness

mchapman — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:46:21 GMT

I am a big fan of business management expert Tom Peters.

Long before the current emphasis on social media, and the individuality in branding it provides us online, Peters was evangelizing that we should passionately be in pursuit of developing our own brand. We should engage in disruptive behavior, break out of the cubicle, and enjoy work again.

Peters has been warning for decades that massive changes were coming to large corporations and to the workers that comprise them. Talented professionals no longer should be dependent on the sponsoring companies for an income. Professional service organizations, PSOs, can perform many of the same functions at lower costs and with better results.

The percentage of workers who will spend an entire career with one company is dramatically lower. Career mobility is an accepted lifestyle choice and job security has been exposed as a myth. Loyalty to an employer is a two-way proposition and is not assumed. Tom Peters not only predicted these trends, he passionately advocates for them.

It should seem obvious that smart companies would look for ways to get out ahead of the new trends, including those made possible and preferable by the new world of 2.0 technologies. To do so would empower their employees, make their jobs more interesting, and encourage them to stick around, and thereby making their companies more competitive.

So it was notable, if not surprising, last week when Susan Scrupski, nGenera's research guru, offered this commentary on where many large enterprises actually are today:

"we find that social, emergent behavior can be viewed as dissent in large enterprises. In the enterprise space, we find the major barrier to adoption of 2.0 ideologies is culture. Even if there is a groundswell of support to embrace social media, corporate cultures can run counter to its actual widespread acceptance. Marketers in large companies are more inclined to recognize the benefits of building relationships via social media sooner, but they run into roadblocks from other, more conservative, areas of the business. It's a huge challenge for some large brands."

At least one very large corporation is leaning into the trends and taking steps to allow employee empowerment on a large scale.

Recently the Social Media Club of Austin met on the IBM Austin campus with Chris Almond, IBM Redbooks Project Leader. He shared some of the innovations in social computing taking place at IBM.

He stressed that IBM has developed specific guidelines for using blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds and social media, and is allowing their integration into the workplace. With IBM stock doing well, they are not making these moves under pressure, but instead to stay current.

Chris didn't give away any company secrets, but he did give us some real insights into steps being taken within the firewall at IBM to tap into their own employee talent pool. By allowing the creation of innovation networks and collaboration between different areas of the corporation, employees are able to take advantage of the newest tools.

They're also considering ways to tap into the social capital they have with the many retirees of IBM using social media and other forms of social computing.

Qualified, former IBM employees might find it satisfying to work on a project from time to time. They already have a vested interest in the continued success of IBM, as pension plan participants, and they could enjoy the work knowing they were not going to be permanently back on the payroll.

By establishing clear guidelines and setting expectations from the beginning, and by accepting and embracing the changes occurring outside the firewall, a large company can adjust into the "groundswell."

Bottom line considerations will always be bottom line. Proprietary information is still proprietary. Employees and, in this case, former employees are empowered. Managed disruption occurs from within and for the benefit of the corporation.

Chris Almond is definitely a brand unto himself. Chris is also a valued employee of IBM. Other large enterprises - and those not so large - would be wise to learn from his example. Chris says he's very happy at IBM.

Please read the social computing guidelines being used by IBM and comment below on them or anything else I've written. You don't have to agree with me. In fact, critical thinking is encouraged.

The Role of Metrics in Driving Interactive Performance

jason — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:10:55 GMT

How does one determine the ROI of social media?

If you're using social media as a business tool, or even just considering it, this is probably one of the most head splitting questions you are asking. It also happened to be the central question of our IA08 panel "The Role of Metrics in Driving Interactive Performance".

Did we answer the question? I'm not entirely sure if we did, but the panelists (aka The Social Media Dream Team) raised a lot of really good points about the measurement of social media.

Read on in our post-conference blog on the subject...

Social Commerce: Word of Mouth, applied to Business

devans — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:39:02 GMT

The subject of "social commerce" -- social media applied to business and specifically to commerce-related transactions and customer processes -- is gaining in recognition as a significant tool in the standard business toolbox. For example, of the top 100 retailers with online operations, 50 are using the Bazaarvoice social commerce platform. Powering these commerce applications is, at the core, social media: digital word of mouth turned media, produced and presented by current customers for consumption for consumption by potential ones.

If you're wondering about who is using social media -- and in particular experiencing it in the context of a purchase -- the answer is "everyone," a point driven home in a recent Universal McCann study. It's basically a given that if you sell it, someone else is talking about what happened after they bought it. That conversation is being tapped and inserted into the purchase funnel, right in between your ad (awareness) and the check out (point of sale).

The rise of social media good news for those brands with a tight link between Marketing--where the expectation is set, and Operations, where the promise is delivered on. These are just some of the topics I'll be speaking about at the upcoming Interactive Austin conference in June. I hope to see you there. In the meantime, let me about your experience with social media and its use in your company.

Interactive Social Media Metrics and Parenthood

steve — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:35:48 GMT

This evening I stumbled upon some research findings that each of you who are parents will surely relate to. Namely 91% of mothers prefer to purchase brands that other moms have recommended.

Wow, that is a powerful idea! As marketers, we spend so much on traditional media and new media, and in the end, the buyer's purchasing decision is most heavily influenced by referrals that occur on a personal level rather than originating from your tightly controlled marketing message. I am speaking about the thickest root of any truly successful business, namely word of mouth from a current or former Client and Customer.

With that in mind, I'd like to introduce a video you may find interesting. Dave Evans was recently interviewed as part of a South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) Festival promotion. Dave is our own FG SQUARED Social Media Practice Director and a very close friend of mine. I wanted to share this interview with you because I find it very timely and relevant to innovative business folk. Perhaps the biggest question I continue to face is "How should I measure the ROI impact of interactive social media?" Dave is a forerunner in this kind of thinking so I thought you should hear more about what he has to say:

http://blip.tv/file/701835/

After watching the full 20 minutes of Dave's interview, I'd love to know what you are thinking. Even if all you have to share is a chuckle about the Red Bull he is chugging throughout the interview.