virginia.miracle | Virginia Miracle

SMMS to Address Scale in 2012

By virginia.miracle | January 10, 2012

Crossposted from my new blogging home at Spredfast. I am thrilled to be there. More about my new job can be found here.

I am kicking off my second week of growing Spredfast’s professional services offerings to drive customer success and reduce time to value. It is a perfect fit for me – I’ve spent the last 10 years in roles on both the brand (Dell) and the consulting (Ogilvy) side helping organizations adopt Word of Mouth Marketing and, later, social in a way that makes sense strategically and can be executed well tactically. Early in the journey, my time was spent was spent convincing organizations that they needed to start listening and get involved. Later on, the bulk of my work progressed to actually putting together well-organized corporate presences and campaigns while, in many cases, cleaning up some social media driftwood cluttering the ecosystem. In the last year, however, we have seen complexity explode. Now instead of simply trying to stem social voice proliferation, we see strategies where the whole company can truly benefit from more and more parts of the organization being heard. But how can you manage a proliferation of voices – Continents, Countries, Brands, Products, Regions, States, Reps – and NOT confuse the customers who want to find us in their social spaces?

That’s why I’m here. 2012 is the year to tackle this complexity at scale and Social Media Management Systems (great Altimeter review on the space here) will play a critical role for those organizations serious about being able to get a handle on their social footprint – from governance to real time, rolled up analytics – and be able to prove that they are making progress against social business goals. Getting to that point, however, takes more than great technology configured correctly. It takes clear articulation of goals, KPIs and strategy. It takes savvy understanding of organizational dynamics. And perhaps most challenging – it requires behavior change. That’s when the fun begins.

As our journey progresses and my knowledge grows about traits of those brands successfully scaling the social business hill, I’ll update this space with some of the broadly applicable lessons. I hope you’ll join in – “network learning” will get us all further faster.

We Need More Tweets!

By virginia.miracle | September 26, 2011

(this cross-posted on Ogilvy’s Fresh Influence blog)

NeedMoreTweets — Image by John Moore @brandautopsy

On a panel last week for a WOMMA event at Chicago’s Social Media Week, I had the pleasure of sitting with Keller Fay’s Ed Keller, Brains on Fire’s Robbin Phillips, and Social Media Today’s Robin Carey to discuss social media measurement under the heading of “Is WOM worth it?”. In the context of that discussion, I talked about the siren song of social media counting (vs. measurement) and the trap that we too-frequently see: social media “cases” that end by rattling off 20 different social media metrics that do not track to a meaningful business metric. To illustrate, I mentioned that no CEO is not banging the table looking for more tweets (which BrandAutopsy riffed into the above), he’s looking for shareholder value – sales, market share, preference, purchase intent and a legion of other measures that can not be ripped off the back of Facebook insights.

So, with that in mind and the voices of my esteemed co-presenters in my head, I put together a list of 4 potential measurement pitfalls that can kill your social media measurement program before the horses have left the stable:

1) Setting the wrong objectives. This sounds silly, but often an activity or “client brief” will be mis-translated as an objective. For example, “run a high-impact event” is an activity, but “increase consideration and share of voice among X audience” attending that event is an objective. TEST: Can it be measured? If the answer is no, it isn’t an objective.

2) Determine the meaningful (vs. diagnostic) KPIs before you begin: Chances are, meaningful KPI’s will require measurement techniques beyond simple, spoon-fed social media metrics like likes and shares. Take a walk through our Conversation Impact(TM) white paper to determine how to craft meaningful Reach, Preference, or Action KPIs.

3) Find where your audience is interacting on a relevant topic: Yes, Facebook has 800 million people and likely some of them are in your desired “audience” but they may not be on Facebook to discuss their mother’s prescriptions or whatever topic that you may have value to add. The important second step to “going where the party” is already happening is not just determining where your audience is, but how they are using social media for different things – where do they share recipes vs. look for snowboot recommendations? While they could light up for FB, Twitter, Flickr, etc it will be critical to understand the relevance of those platforms to their lives to put together a measurable strategy.

4) Plan to measure: If you put together a measurement plan after you’ve already begun, you have lost your chance at a baseline and being able to know the true impact of your efforts. Ed Keller admitted that he often gets calls halfway through campaigns at which point, there are limitations on the types of measurements that can be taken. The baseline is going to be the key to your “winning” metric such as “Increased purchase consideration by 45%”. That is the type of metric that CEOs do care about and will keep your social media efforts on strategy and in budget in 2012.

Sandsculpting Your Social Strategy

By virginia.miracle | August 28, 2011

Archisand sculpts the Intel logo at BlogHer '11

Its been a long hot (hottest on record in Austin) summer and its nowhere close to over.

But it has been rich in experiences and inspiration. The launch of Google+? The fundamental change in the way we experience earthquakes and hurricanes due to social media? Interesting enough to get me to follow @irene, but definitely not over the inspiration bar.

This summer, I have had a number of seemingly chance encounters with what I have come to know as “sandsculpting”. It began when my best friend took her sand work on our annual beach trip just a bit more seriously this year – constructing the “Sand Turtle” still discussed by my 4 year old. But I don’t think I consciously knew that sandsculpting a professional pursuit until it was out in force at BlogHer’11 (see above).

But it was not the beauty of the creations, but the reasons for pursuing sandsculpting that inspired me to find a renewed love of my own work. In addition to doing their thing at BlogHer, Archisand had recently built a huge display of scenes from Sydney Harbor at the US Open of Surfing earlier in the week (Video Here). A colleague who had spoken to them there told me their unofficial story. They were a group of talented architects who got burnt out on what they were using their talents on at work and started making extreme sand castles to blow off steam and flex their creativity. Eventually some of them were able to turn it into a fiscally responsible pursuit.

This got me thinking about the limiting mindset that much of solid social strategy is “block and tackle”. The relentless pursuit of relationship and connection can be tedious and exhausting – if we let it. But good strategy doesn’t have to be “eating your wheaties” alone. While the basics must be done, it is doing them beautifully that will inspire yourself and those around you. I have found new inspiration in big, creative sandcastles of ideas (built on the firm base of solid strategy) and insodoing have reawakened my love of my own profession.

If your social strategy has been in motion for a year or more without a second opinion or a new shot of creativity, use your knowledge the weekend eyes of an architect to sandsculpt it into something new that re-inspires you and will be more likely to inspire your customers.

Coaching from Andrea Jung

By virginia.miracle | April 29, 2011

0922_1_andrea_jung_280x340 Andrea Jung is a rockstar. Frankly, anyone who is a CEO of a company of Avon’s social and financial importance for more than a decade would be. Yesterday, I saw her give a public address on leadership to an audience of largely women. She was down to earth, inspiring, and highly quotable. A few of my takeaways and their applicability to social media below:

Listen to your compass, not your clock – When Andrea Jung was passed over for CEO of Avon in 19997, it made headlines. She was offered 2 other CEO positions at other companies. It would have been easy to feel slighted or embarrassed and hop companies to earn the next checkmark on her resume. But Avon’s mission of economically empowering women inspires and connects with her. And staying true to that compass is what laid the ground work for a more meaningful, long term success to flourish.

You can’t reinvent your company if you can’t reinvent yourself -After missing earnings and falling out of favor with Wall Street, Andrea knew she was at risk of being fired in a quarter or 2. a coach advised her to “fire herself” and walk in the next day as if it was her first day at a new job. She could then approach and assess the company’s situation with fresh eyes and energy and start anew.

Proceed ethically – As Thomas Jefferson, “In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock.” So many business leaders have found themselves at the core of corporate scandal. They tend to be shorter lived and their shareholder value returned far lower.

“Communities have never needed companies more” – Choosing to be in the private sector does not mean you are opting out of a live of service. The public sector can not meet the needs of our country or the world – and it is up to corporate citizens to stand up and do their part for the benefit of all.

Prioritize, and be present – So many working parents are constantly making micro daily tradeoffs about family and work. They are difficult and constant. Prioritize, make your decisions and then drop the guilt. Once you are in the most important place for you to be present, you owe it to your companions to fully be there.

So much of this has direct applicability to our little social media corner of the world:

Because we’re moving so quickly, career focus often is on quick hops and ticking title boxes instead of finding a company, team, mentor, client, mission or purpose that gives you passion. Once you’ve found that the rest will follow.
The WOMMA ethics code is just one incarnation of a way to make sure you are swimming on the straight and narrow of the social media current.
Social media has brought with it a massive case of divided attention syndrome. The temptation to live tweet/Facebook/document your life instead of focusing on the humans around you is very strong! Be present and see what happens…

Austin: Social Business Capital of the World

By virginia.miracle | March 9, 2011

In the summer of 1998, I left the only place I’d ever lived – the East Coast – to start a life in Austin, TX. The recruiting pitch for Austin (memorialized in the Fast Company article Insanity, Inc) offered the opportunity to be part of an exciting company doing unprecedented things in an unexpected place. Austin was going to become “Silicon Hills”. A place where talent would be attracted for the high quality lifestyle and low cost of living, and venture capital would fall like rain. And did I mention it was 70 degrees in January and the company had a fleet of speedboats? None of that hurt, either.

The promise of Austin turning into Silicon Hills seemed optimistic even to a gullible college graduate, but I have to admit, it has pretty much come true exactly that way. Stalwart tech hardware employers like Dell, AMD & Freescale spawned many of the entrepreneurs who went on to found & fund here in Austin launching companies like Bazaarvoice, HomeAway, & Spredfast to name a few. And this success only attracted more like minds to the city.

Ogilvy doesn’t have a current physical office here and yet, you could say the whole city is our office. We hold meetings at Shady Grove, Texas Honey Ham, learn about new companies at Dominican Joe’s and I can learn more about what is cracking in town at a barbecue or a shopping trip than I could in a month of conference calls. Beyond the individuals who work for our company alone, we are part of a thriving community of like-minded social professionals who have chosen for one of a host of reasons to make Austin home.

In the words of Kate Neiderhoffer, Quality of life in Austin is simply higher than in the more fast-paced, cut-throat, nail-biting enclaves of the US. Austin is the perfect mix of intellect, athleticism, family-friendliness, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit. And like attracts like: this unique combination makes us the most ripe breeding ground for social business – thinkers and doers. You won’t believe the people you run into at Whole Foods headquarters… People often dream of moving to NYC. Living in today’s Austin makes me wonder whether people will soon dream of someday making it in Austin with the same tenacity.

The part that no one would could have predicted was the fact that beyond “tech”, Austin would attract and develop a huge amount of social business talent (maybe Silicon Hills was meant to become Social Hills). I am proud to be part of the next phase of Austin’s growth and development into the World Social Business hub. And I’m especially excited for the coming week – when the rest of the social practitioners from around the world join us for margaritas, inspiration, and a slice of the Austin experience at SXSW. On behalf of all of us who have gone “all in” on social & Austin, Welcome Home.

This post part of a blog ring of social business leaders from around town, check the links below for the takes of:

Kathy Mandelstein, of IBM and Austin’s Social Media Club

Peter Kim, Dachis Group via Forrester

Aaron Strout, head of location based marketing for WCG and the “stroutmeister”

Greg “Chimoose” Matthews of WCG

“Turbo” Todd Watson of IBM

And brother Spike Jones, of Fleishman-Hillard