Charlene Li On Social Computing

(Continuing notes from today's Forrester Consumer Forum. More here.)

Charlene: "Focus on the relationships, not the technologies."

Who's using social computing technologies?

Who's Using Social Computing?
Originally uploaded by christophercarfi.

Four levels of participation: "The Participation Pyramid"

• Creators - bloggers, etc.
• Critics - commenting, ratings, reviews
• Collectors - bookmarking, "save to favorites" in youtube
• Couch potatoes - passive

Social media: "It's not about the media, it's about getting people to participate."

Key point: Build community. If community exists, then dissemination is easier, wider (yahudi video #1, not the mentos guys)

Burpee Seeds: "November sales increased by 4x because of RSS"

• Changed twice-yearly experience to a daily experience
  
• Adding reviews with BazaarVoice increased the clickthrough rate by 43%

Anecdote: BassPro used feedback to redesign poor product. One lure had poor ratings, BassPro noticed, connected with manufacturer, and now redesigned product is selling well.

Getting Started

• Decide how involved you will be with social computing
  
• Map out what relationship you want to build
  
• Listen to what is being said to find unmet needs
  
• Participate in the conversations

How to start

Start with RSS because it's easy and impactful

• Put press releases in RSS


• Use blogs when you have something to say
  
  • Anyone can have a recruitment blog
    
  • Anyone can have an internal blog
  
  
• Deploy wikis where knowledge is needed
  
  • "Less frequently asked questions"

Test original podcasting sparingly
- Start with earnings calls and executive presentations

Best practices in social computing
- Be ready to act on feedback
- Relationships can be messy, be prepared to make mistakes
- Use existing marketing metrics to gauge your success

Key quote: "Markets may be conversations...and trust and relationships create marketplaces."