The Power of Influence

Airlines start to take to Social Media ...

Great piece by the NYT (they do seem to get this stuff) on Airlines and Social Media.

Here are some of the key points - and this is the link to the full article.

As the global recession and the consequent drop in air traffic force carriers to cut back on services and consider charging extra for everything from checked bags to onboard meals; the Internet, and social media Web sites in particular, is giving once-faceless travelers a global — and instantaneous — platform from which to air their grievances.

Confronted with these middle-seat Davids-turned-Goliaths, airlines, like other consumer-oriented businesses, are racing to find their own ways to use social media channels like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to forge deeper relationships with passengers — before things go wrong.

“Thanks to social computing, travelers’ tales are no longer confined to what they tell to their coworkers and neighbors,” said Henry H. Harteveldt, a vice president and airline and travel industry analyst at Forrester Research in San Francisco, adding that roughly 60 percent of travelers in Europe and North America engage in some form of social networking online. “They are out there in public for the whole world to see.”

Airlines in the United States have been the quickest to embrace social media as a low-cost public relations and marketing tool, in particular to spread the word about fare sales or to make announcements about new routes or services.

Carriers like Southwest Airlines, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines are among the most active users, each with online “followings” in the tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people.

“For most airlines that have a large following on Twitter or Facebook, it’s pretty clear that they have a few people dedicated full-time to it,” said David Beckerman, a vice president at OAG , an aviation market research firm. JetBlue, for example, which has more than 960,000 Twitter followers, has 35 staff members dedicated to updating its feed.

Still, he said, “it’s weird that airlines aren’t using social media more,” particularly in Asia, where large numbers of travelers are equipped with Web-enabled cellphones. Only a handful of Asian carriers, among them Malaysia Airlines and the low-cost Air Asia, use social media actively, he said.

Research Proof that Friends Influence Eachother's Puchase Behaviour on Social Networks

Just found some great research around the actual impact of social networks in buying behaviour.  It was done this year (09) using data from the Korean Socual Net Cywords (22m members out of a total population of 55m)

The study is being done by Sunil Gupta who is the Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

The basic conclusion is that yes - there is a significant causal relationship - but you (if you are a brand) need to know how to select the right group of people to target.  Get it wrong (as so many have by going cool hunting) and you will end up with a -12% result.

This research and findings corelated directly with our (vocanic) projects in the real world where we use our Groundswell(tm) methodology and technology to screen to find the right group to engage.

Below is an abstract of the paper, this is a link to the HBR Site to find it

"In spite of the cultural and social revolution in the rise of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace (and in South Korea, Cyworld), the business viability of these sites remains in question.

While many sites are attempting to follow Google and generate revenues from advertising, will advertising be effective? If friends influence the purchases of a user in a social network, it could potentially be a significant source of revenue for the sites and their corporate sponsors.

Using a unique data set from Cyworld, this study empirically assesses if friends indeed influence purchases.

The answer: It depends. Findings are relevant for social networking sites and large advertisers.

The core conclusion is that there is a significant and positive impact of friends' purchases on the purchase probability of a user.

In detail:

• However, there are significant differences across users.
• Specifically, this social effect is zero for 48 percent of the users, negative for 12 percent of the users, and positive for 40 percent of the users.
• "Moderately connected" - the 40%)users exhibit "keeping up with the Joneses" behavior. On average, this social influence translates into a 5 percent increase in revenues.
• Highly connected users tend to reduce their purchases of items when they see their friends buying them. 

This negative ocial effect reduces the revenue for this group by more than 14 percent.

This finding is consistent with the typical fashion cycle wherein Innovators or the super elite in the fashion industry tend to abandon one type of fashion and adopt the next when it becomes more commonplace in order to differentiate themselves from the masses.

Negative Word of Mouth in action - 3 million views at time of posting (4.2 Million 10 days later)

This brand (United Airlines) has a poor Net Promoter Score and is in decline - the net effect is that their cost of acquisition for new customers is increasing and financially they are suffering (Chapter 11)

This is the latest in the line of case studies where a brand's arrogance and unwillingness to listen to their customer (listen to the lyrics that tell the story of how he was ignored) is costing them dearly!

UPDATE 27 July 09

David Carrol posted this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_X-Qoh__mw saying that United has now (with viewership of his original video at 4.3 million) contacted him with an offer of compensation - after 12 months of him trying through direct contact with United.

Razorfish report makes clear the critical importance of Word of Mouth & Social Media

Your audience is skipping your TV spot with a DVR. They’re talking about your product on Twitter.

They’re chatting about you on Facebook. They’re searching for you on Google.

In a world that is increasingly empowered by social media, connected by screens, out of your control and enchanted by innovation, all that matters is the story your customer tells about your brand — your brand’s value, in 140 characters or less. Is it a good story? A bad story? Or just no story at all?

We respectfully suggest that what you say — or your agency says — about your brand or your product matters less than what your customers say about you. And what matters most to them is what your brand does.

Does your product delight them? Does your service annoy them? Are you useful and new, or boring and
difficult?

Forget the funny tagline or the award-winning TV spot — what does your brand do for your
customers? If the answer is “I don’t know what you’re talking about” or “Not much,” then
you can stop reading now. B

ut if you’re interested in brand innovation, if you’d like to transform your
brand into a new set of products, services and experiences, if you’d like to get your brand to stop
talking and start doing, then Fluent: The Razorfish Social Influence Marketing Report is for you.

 Download Razorfish SIM Report July 09

Speaking about WoM and Social Media Marketing in KL ...

 

Click the image below to download the full brochure and booking form.

I am speaking at the 6th Malaysian Media Conference about WoM and Social Media Marketing.

 

It will be interesting to hear what the world's first non-Japanese Geisha will be speaking about

 

The 6th Malaysian Media Conference (MMC) is an annual alumni of about

250 media pundits, industry specialists and key media decision-makers in

the fields of media, marketing, branding and advertising across Malaysia.

Amongst the speakers featured are thought leaders in their space from

Malaysia, Singapore, India, Australia and Japan.

 

Now is the time to lead. And the Malaysian Media Conference returns with

the theme: LISTEN, LEARN, LEAD.

 

In an age where a monologue is as hip as the fax machine, communications

has become all about interaction, conversations and engagement. This year

a stellar line-up of speakers have been gathered to give you an unforgettable

experience for one true knowledge-enrichment day……