FreshNetworks Blog

Time for a prediction: layered communications – a mixing of text, speech and video – will become a key issue for online communities in 2010 and beyond.

Two things this week got me thinking about the place for layered communications in online communities and social networks.

1. Seth Godin’s post: Reinventing the Conference Call in which he suggested“[voice] conference calls should be accompanied by an online chat room”
2. A podcast from SXSW: Strong Gaming Communities, text or speech.

Both of these look at the benefits of mixing a number of forms of communication. The mixing can be synchronous (i.e. at the same time) or asynchronous (one after the other). Either way, it highlights an interesting topic - how might people choose to communicate on social networks and online communities as the options for layered communications increase. And what additional benefits will it bring users and the owners of the networks?

Examples of layered communications

Layered commnications are a common phenomenon, here are a few examples:

1. In Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games, like World of Warcraft, players often use voice and text to co-ordinate battles. The podcast above will give you a better apreciation for this if you’ve never taken part in an MMO.
2. TV News segments often mix video and the spoken word with text to reinforce points, as do TV adverts. That’s traditional media and arguably it’s simply part of the video, but I think text within a video alongside speech is really an example of layered comms, because your brain is interpreting two forms of communication at once.
3. Whether you use Webex or YuuGuu (my favourite online meeting app) you’ve probably already sat through an online conference call where you watch a slide show whilst listening to a presenter and seeing them read and respond to questions posed using instant messaging and chat functionality. A great example of layered communication for which best-practice is still evolving rapidly.

Layered communitions in social networks and online communities

Social Media is all about conversations. Why should those conversations be limited to text in one place and video in another? Here are three trends to look out for in how communications in social networks might change five years from now. Some of this can already be seen today, much as William Gibson would say “the future is already here, it is just unevenly distributed”.

1. Flicking from text to voice in social networks – Just as built in speakers helped online audio take hold. Increasing usage of headphones, built in microphones and VOIP will drive many more ”click to speak” buttons. Some thoughts are better shared by voice and it will become common practice to flick between text chat and voice when communicating on social networks.
2. Layered voice and text in research communities – Online communities are a fantastic way for companies to carry out research. At FreshNetworks we freqeuntly build private communities for research. It’s a good tool for companies trying to understand their customers. The success of research communities relies upon making the research process engaging for participants. We’ve used layered communications to do just that and expect to see much more of it in the future. For example, a Research Moderator may ask questions using a webcast or audio link (much more engaging than a wrtitten questionnaire) yet respondents will be asked to use instant messaging or chat functionality to respond.
3. Video and voice in online communities – 2008 saw an increase in the number of sites that accept comments using video or voice as well as chat. It’s old hat for YouTube, but relatively new for blogs and rare on forums. I think online communities, especially those which have been built to engage members in story-telling and experieince sharing will start to see a much richer blend of layered communications in the future.

The key question is: What influences a user when deciding whether voice, video or text is more appropriate? and when will a synchronoous combination be the most useful thing for users?

Any ideas?

Zappos is a well-known social media case study. The Las Vegas shoe retailer was founded in 1999 selling shoes online. In ten years it has expanded to include other products like handbags and sunglasses, and it has grown to be a $1 billion per year business. Very impressive statistics, a good business model and a really good example of using social media.

For Zappos customer service has always been a critical part of the brand, indeed early on they made the deliberate decision to divert their marketing budget to customer service. They allowed customers to do things like try and return products for up to a year, only list stock that’s in their warehouse, encourage customers to call them about nearly everything, and they invest in ‘surprise’ free overnight shipping for most customers. Customer service comes first, with the aim to acquire customers through word of mouth and retain existing customers through good service. And for them this approach seems to have worked. It is also one that fits well with a strong social media strategy.

So Required Reading for Easter at FreshNetworks is this presentation by Brian Kalma at Zappos, showing how they have used social media and the benefits they have received. It’s great to see how these micro-interactions and the emphasis on customer service have had real word of mouth benefits for the brand. And then how this has translated into customers and loyalty. For me it is also great to see how they have worked internally to engage staff and involve them in making this process work – getting 440 staff to be customer facing and engaging with customers on a daily basis.

A great presentation and a great chance to learn from what Zappos have done.

Some more reading

• Zappos CEO Talks Culture Fit and the Importance of Creating a ‘Wow’ Experience (readwriteweb.com)
• Social Media Three For One (marketing.blogtanker.com)
• Some takeaways about organizational culture from Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO (beth.typepad.com)
• Guide: A Brand Strategy Checklist (thecauseisthehabit.com)
• Steve Rosenbaum: Circuit City Goes Bust: Zappos Flies High – Why? (huffingtonpost.com)

I just read about the Twitter plans of DiGiorno Pizza in the US. It’s a perfect example of getting over-excited about social media and putting the technology before the strategy.

Here’s a brand with the tagline “it’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno” and yet in order to create some Twitter Buzz they are planning to “deliver” pizza to influential Tweeters.

Is there a better example of fogetting brand values and the brand message for the sake of a quick bit of buzz?

They talk about building engagement, yet if they’re really after online engagment they ought to be thinking about sustainable conversations and relationships. Not one-off Tweetups.

I’m all for trying out Social Media and giving things a go, but this is so clearly off-message that I can’t believe it’s been thought through. It’s stinks of traditional PR/ad agency thinking applied online.

It is a couple of weeks since our last set of online community examples, with trips to the Marketing 2.0 Conference in Paris and Web Mission 09 in San Francisco taking up much of our time and space on the blog. But we’re returning today with a great set of examples from the healthcare industry.

Online communities in healthcare

On one level, healthcare would seem to be an ideal area where online communities can add real value to professionals, patients, families and carers, friends and others. We’ve written before about how user-generated medical content can add value to people’s lives, and why this online space is a great place for people to be sharing their experiences and stories and also finding and connecting with others in a similar situation to them. Online communities for healthcare can provide real insight and real support as the examples below show.

Mayo Clinic Blogs and Podcasts

There are a number of examples of healthcare providers making good use of social media and online communities, and Mayo Clinic are one of the most notable of these. They describe themselves as the largest not-for-profit practice in the world and treat about half a million people in the US each year. Their use of social media is a great case study of how you can use a number of simple tools to engage your stakeholders and how providing a range of ways to engage you can reach different people.  At FreshNetworks we believe that sometimes the best online communities can be quite simple, but effective, and this is the case with Mayo.

There are three main parts of the Mayo Clinic strategy and together they are starting to build an online community of people with a shared interest in the organisation, and in the topics they cover. On their own website they host a blog and a series of video and audio podcasts.  Together, these serve both as a way of them communicating internal developments and changes but also their opinion and expertise. Alongside this they run a YouTube channel where you can see expert videos and also videos that give you a real insight into the organisation, their clinics and the people who work for them.

The best online communities are often simple, providing a way to engage people around themes, topics and content that is relevant to them and you. For somebody like Mayo Clinic, this engagement is around their knowledge and expertise as healthcare providers. They also, through their blogs, videos and podcasts open their organisation to outsiders – showing you inside their buildings, putting forward their own experts and putting a human face and interaction on a large organisation. For healthcare organisation this kind of interaction makes all the difference – they’re about social interactions and real stories, online communities help them to show this.

AIDSPortal

AIDSPortal is a knowledge-sharing online community sponsored primarily by the UK’s Department for International Development and aimed at people who are working as part of the response to the global AIDS epidemic. The site provides professional and peer-to-peer networking and an online community where they can share experiences, knowledge and support each other with answers to questions and problems. Part of its purpose is, undoubtedly, to open up policy making and the UK governement sponsorship is a sign of this,  but as a service to those working in this area it is a powerful tool.

Whilst the Mayo Clinic case study was about engaging around their expertise and knowledge, AIDSPortal is about 4,500 professionals with knowledge, experience and expertise connecting with each other. They can share knowledge and articles, experiences, blog posts and answers to questions. But one of the strongest elements of this site is how it is organised.

Any online community is only as useful as the way that users can find and AIDSPortal is particularly strong in the way it organises this, allowing you to view data by region and country or by topic area. You let people dive into the content in a way that makes sense for them and organise their own content so that it fits with this. This is a large part of the battle of getting an online community launched and is an important aspect to work out during the pre-launch strategy stage.

Novartis’s CFVoice

CFVoice is an online community for people with Cystic Fibrosis, built and managed by Novartis, a pharmaceutical company. Launched in March 2008, the site has a clear focus on children, teens and young adults and on their families and carers. The site is indeed split into separate areas for each of these user-types, with a different mix of content, activities and games that each of them can do.

This online community is a great example of engaging different people in different ways – using interactive games as a way of younger audiences sharing their information, videos and personal stories for teens and the younger adults and discussion boards and forums for parents and carers. A different way for different members to use and gain benefit from the online community.

And for these members, the benefits are clear. They get to meet and share experiences and stories with people like them, people facing the same challenges and issues and people with similar concerns. And they can do this even if they don’t know anybody in that situation or aren’t able to reach them locally. For Novartis the benefits are also clear. Through the stories, questions, discussions and contributions they are able to get a real granularity of insight into the lives of people with Cystic Fibrosis, and the lives of their carers. This kind of insight has traditionally been difficult for them to obtain and is an area they would probably not have had the same level of understanding about. So benefits on both sides and a clear example of how to use an online community to engage different member-types.

See all our Online Community Examples

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Some more reading

• Mayo Clinic launches new culture blog (tissuepathology.typepad.com)
• Social media experience at Mayo Clinic (fastforwardblog.com)
• Engaging Healthcare Consumers using Social Media Tools (thielst.typepad.com)
• Sharing Mayo Clinic Goes to Facebook and other Social Networks (ducknetweb.blogspot.com)

At FreshNetworks we aim to bring you the best posts in social media, online communities and customer engagement online. In case you missed them, find below our top five posts in March.

1. How to use Twitter for PR

A great presentation from Corinne Weisgerber that outlines how brands can use Twitter for PR. From tracking and monitoring, through live-reporting and activism, to public relations and crisis management. A great introduction for anybody interested in the topic.

2. Social networks and online communities more popular than email

It’s now official. Social networks and online communities are now visited more often online than email. This is reflects the way people are now using the web, and how social media sites actually let us do new things, rather than being an new way of doing old things.

3. Social media ROI: Measuring the unmeasurable?

There is a lot of discussion about how to measure the ROI of social media. Some people claim it isn’t possible, but this just isn’t true. The key is to work out what you need to measure and why, and then work out how to measure it. Too often people don’t do this step.

4. Examples of online communities in the retail industry

As part of our series of online community examples,  we looked at examples from the retail industry. Case studies from Wal-Mart, Sainsbury’s and Starbucks.

5. Russia – the fourth largest social networking market in Europe

Whilst we’re all talking about Facebook and MySpace, Russia is becoming a big force in social networking in Europe, with the fourth largest market for users. Sites like Odnoklassniki (Одноклассники) and VKontakte (В контакте) are leading the market there and showing how a relative late-comer to broadband is rapidly becoming one of the fastest growing markets for social networking.