Reviewing Groundswell: Thoughts on Communicating through Social Technologies

It's no secret that the Internet has changed the way we live. Just over the past decade, a multitude of social media sites have emerged; sites like Facebook, Digg, Helium, and Youtube have allowed people to share information and connect in a way that's not possible offline. What's becoming more apparent, however, is the role that these technologies are playing commercially. Customers are freely sharing their business experiences with each other online; furthermore, they are building Web communities that make them less dependent on corporations. This is the power of the groundswell.

Overview of Groundswell

Groundswell is authored by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, both principal analysts at Forrester Research at the time the book was published. The term groundswell, as defined by the authors, is "a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions." Not only do social technologies present a powerful way for companies to spread the word about their offerings, but they also allow companies to engage in the conversations that are already occurring. As the popular saying goes, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

I found Groundswell to be particularly interesting, since it relates directly to what I do: internet marketing. However, the book isn’t all about marketing; it’s also about communicating digitally. The book discusses how the language a company uses on its blog or forum is critical in relating to its customers. The examples in the book illustrate that a company must communicate with the customer as a person, not as an organization. Additionally, the book stresses the importance of presenting content in a way that is clear, organized, and easily accessible to the end user.


Developing Your Groundswell Strategy

Groundswell offers several recommendations to help companies design their own groundswell strategies:

Determining your customers’ social technographics

Author Josh Bernoff originated what’s known as “Social Technographics.” This is similar to demographics and psychographics, but focuses on technology behaviors. Understanding the technographics of your customers can help you decide on the social technologies that best suit your customers. The Social Technographics Profile Tool is posted on Forrester’s site, and classifies companies’ customers into six groups. The general distribution of these groups, in relation to Americans online, is as follows (there is some overlapping):

• Creators: Publish blogs, articles, videos, etc. at least once a month: 18%
• Critics: React to published content by posting comments and reviews and editing wikis: 25%
• Collectors: Save URL’s and tags on social bookmarking sites, vote for sites on services like Digg, and use RSS feeds: 12%
• Joiners: Participate or maintain profiles on social networking sites: 25%
• Spectators: View content on social media sites: 48%
• Inactives: Do not participate on social media sites: 44%

Your audience doesn’t need to include a large percentage of creators, critics, and collectors for you to succeed in the groundswell. For example, companies who target older customers can create a strategy that focuses mainly on spectators. In targeting these customers, it would make sense to concentrate on technologies like videos and blogs, since they do not require creating profiles or actively posting content.


Using the POST method for groundswell planning

This method was designed by the authors to provide the framework for assembling a clear and logical groundswell plan. It consists of four key elements:

• People: Are your customers interacting with social technologies? If so, which ones, and how do you use them? If not, are they ready for these technologies?
• Objective: What are your goals in developing a groundswell strategy?
• Strategy: How do you want relationships with your customers to change? How will your objectives be achieved?
• Technology: Which technologies should you pursue?


Choosing a groundswell process to complement existing business functions

In relation to the second component of “POST,” there are five main objectives that companies pursue. The authors recommend choosing the one that matches the objectives of your company as a whole:

• Listening: Understanding your customers’ mindset (Complements Research)
• Talking: Spreading messages about your company (Complements Marketing)
• Energizing: Focusing on your most enthusiastic customers to facilitate your viral marketing (Complements Sales)
• Supporting: Creating tools to enable your customers to support each other (Support)
• Embracing: Integrating customers’ feedback into your business processes (Development)

Since most of the book is dedicated to these five functions, I’ve provided some examples and insight on each one below.


Listening to the Groundswell

Listening includes activities such as monitoring personal blogs and reading product reviews.

Perhaps the most interesting concept relating to listening is that of a private community. A private community, as defined by the authors, is “…a continuously running, huge, engaged focus group.” It consists of members who regularly post their thoughts about a particular company or brand, in exchange for incentives like gift certificates and free products. These members are recruited and managed by consumer research organizations like Communispace, MarketTools, and Networked Insights. Online communities are used by many large companies like Charles Schwab and Unilever.

The book also mentions brand monitoring companies like MotiveQuest, Buzzmetrics, and Cymphony. Unlike online communities, these companies focus on the overall “buzz” a company or brand generates online. Through monitoring the Mini-Cooper brand, for example, BMW learned that more buzz (mostly positive) was generated by Mini owners than Mini buyers. Therefore, the company changed its marketing strategy to target owners, not buyers – something most car companies don’t do, but something that definitely works.


Talking to the Groundswell

Talking involves activities such as posting videos and creating interactive blogs. This is clearly different from traditional marketing channels like television, where customers often feel like they are being “shouted at.” Talking targets customers in the “middle” of the marketing funnel, and aims to move customers from the consideration phase to the preference stage.

The book gives the example of Blendtec, a blender company that was popularized by its “Will It Blend?” Youtube videos. I think videos are a great marketing channel, regardless of how expensive your product is or how limited the target audience is. Videos are relatively inexpensive to produce, and can generate thousands of views in a matter of months (depending on overall entertainment/information value).

Another example of “talking” to the audience is seen on BeingGirl.com. This site was created by Procter and Gamble, and targets pre-teen and teenage girls who are looking for online support – mostly in the area of health issues. The company offers information and advice from P&G staff, while promoting its brands through prominent advertisements, free samples, and the “Product Assistant” tool. It seems that a major factor behind the site’s success is the “voice” used throughout the site. The audience can definitely relate to the site’s design and content. For example, this is the message I received after creating my BeingGirl account:

“Welcome to beinggirl! Now you’ll receive a rad beinggirl newsletter every month full of all kinds of stuff you need to know about being a girl. Wanna see a sample? Click here, if you don’t want to receive our cool newsletters.”

I was especially impressed by this example, since I personally know P&G to be an “established” organization with traditional views (during my work at Razorfish, I worked with several P&G brands). It is only during the past few years that the company has made social media a priority in communicating with its customers. From what I know, it’s definitely working.


Energizing the Groundswell

Energizing involves using your most enthusiastic customers to “spread the word.”

An example which illustrates the importance of effective digital communication in the groundswell is Constant Contact. A couple of years ago, this email marketing company created a community called “ConnectUp!” The community consists of numerous user-generated forums through which Constant Contact customers can interact with each other. After one of the customers complained about a bad customer service experience, the company was quick to respond. The response was friendly, apologetic, and informative. Here’s an excerpt:

“There’s no excuse for the person on the phone to be rude to you. HOWEVER, Constant Contact is just protecting their integrity…I would suggest fine-tuning your permission reminder…and writing it as specifically as possible…”

The company clearly energized its disappointed customer by showing that it cared.

One of the most interesting case studies in the book was that of Lego. The company has a “support forum” specifically for its AFOL’s (“Adult Fans of Lego”) called LUGNET (Lego User Group Network). These customers are heavily into the Lego culture, and eagerly share their passion through social media. Lego has recruited several of these AFOL’s as “ambassadors,” and compensates them in return for posting on the forum regularly. I connected with this example, since I am a big Lego fan as well.

Energizing is important for any company, since it saves marketing dollars. What can be better than having your customers market for you?


Supporting the Groundswell

Supporting takes energizing a step further. It basically allows customers to share information about a particular company or brand, and in doing so, develops a network of connections on which they can rely. Supporting commonly involves the use of forums, wikis, and blogs.

For example, Massachusetts General Hospital has a support network called CarePages. Through this network, which is essentially a blogging system, patients are able to communicate with friends and family more easily.

Support systems are often used by technology companies to allow customers to troubleshoot each other’s problems. The book illustrates the example of Dell’s community support forum, in which a user called “Predator” regularly responds to postings. Through his own technical knowledge, Predator has resolved many technical issues presented by Dell users.

Although they are great for all organizations, support systems are especially beneficial for large companies. In essence, these systems transfer the responsibilities of informing and assisting customers to the customers themselves. Ultimately, this translates into a cost savings for the company.


Embracing the Groundswell

Embracing involves drawing customer feedback into the development process. This trend is growing, as companies are realizing that the best way to win sales is to let the customers design the products.

For example, Del Monte Foods worked with MarketTools to start a private community called “I love my dog/Dogs are people too.” The site asked visitors what their dogs would eat for breakfast on the “ideal perfect day.” Del Monte discovered that bacon and eggs was a common response; subsequently, it introduced Snausages Breakfast Bites.

The book also discusses using idea generation and ratings systems to integrate customer feedback. An example of such a system is Salesforce.com’s IdeaExchange. Through IdeaExchange, the company learned that many customers found one of their advertising tools disruptive – eventually leading to its elimination.

Embracing is the most involved of the five groundswell processes. It is also a fast-growing trend which will define business processes in the future.


How Groundswell Can Transform Your Company

Li and Bernoff give practical advice for introducing groundswell in your own company. Since many top executives (especially in larger, established companies) are comfortable with traditional marketing channels, they may decline requests for connecting with their audiences through social technologies. The authors advise starting with a few employees who are receptive to groundswell thinking, and have them use groundswell strategies in day-to-day activities. Once this mentality spreads to top management, the entire company’s culture will be transformed. In other words, the process could be described as educating -> empowering -> transforming.

The authors also recommend introducing the groundswell in small steps, and to measure success along the way. For example, Unilever built on the success it experienced with its Dove videos to promote other brands like Axe.


Using Groundswell In Your Own Company

The companies that are truly successful are the ones that make groundswell a part of their own organizations. Many organizations are moving beyond traditional “intranets” and creating Web sites dedicated to facilitating employee interaction. For example, Best Buy’s Blueshirtnation.com allows employees to share experiences and information relating to their jobs. This has ultimately led to more motivated and dedicated employees.

Razorfish uses a wiki to build this connection. The wiki serves mainly as a collaboration space, allowing employees to post notes and documents on various projects. Having worked at Razorfish, I have experienced how useful the wiki really is. I often worked with teams in other offices (including international offices); using the wiki allowed me to share client deliverables, meeting times, and other important information.

What I especially admire about Razorfish’s wiki (and something that the book mentions as well) is the fact that the CEO, Clark Kokich, makes frequent posts. Clark communicates to his employees directly on key issues that affect the entire organization. I was at Razorfish at the time it was acquired by Microsoft; during this time, I (like most of my fellow employees) had many questions regarding the deal. I found great reassurance through reading Clark’s posts, and he ensured that none of his employees were “left hanging.”

An important point the authors make is that companies, unlike the outside world, are affected by “Inactives.” Employees who show no interest in the groundswell often dampen participation in the rest of the company. It is important to constantly “energize” this group, as well as others who interact with these employees.


The Future of Groundswell

Over the next few years, technologies like blogs, wikis, feeds, and the mobile internet will become an even larger part of our lives. Product cycles will become faster, due to the increased availability and integration of customer feedback in development processes. Traditional marketing channels will lose ground, and the number of e-commerce sites will continue to grow rapidly. As stated in a fairly recent Mashable article, “…old media has to get into new media, but each company involved needs to utilize what it does best while still building out those verticals…” This suggests that there should be more of an integration of new media and old media, rather than a virtual replacement. As illustrated by the book, social technologies are not suitable for everyone; certain audiences can still be reached best through traditional channels.

A trend that the book does focus on is seller communities. Sites like eBay, Craig’s List, and Amazon will increase dramatically in the next few years, and will become the preferred purchasing channel for many more customers. While the number of e-commerce sites will grow, many of these companies will find themselves joining seller communities.


More thoughts on the book

I enjoyed reading Groundswell. Since I’ve worked in Internet Marketing over the past several years, I’ve experienced many of the technologies and concepts mentioned in the book. As a Search Engine Marketing Account Manager at Avenue A|Razorfish (now “Razorfish”), I used Digg to promote Disney’s new DVD releases, and Youtube and Flickr to promote iBot’s mobility chairs. At SoldierCity, I’ve used Ezinearticles to promote our dog tags. I've observed firsthand how these technologies can increase exposure -- and ultimately revenue -- for your business. However, my main purposes for doing all this was to gain visibility in search engines. The book has taught me the value of using these tools to communicate to your customers in a way that empowers them.

I also learned a lot from the case studies in the book. I fully agree with what Tom O'Brien (CMO of MotiveQuest) posted on his blog, A Human Voice: the book is a lot like Cluetrain Manifesto, but is more promising since it balances its philosophies with relevant examples. Understanding the objectives of the companies in the studies and viewing the various social technographic profiles has enabled me to understand the approach I should take in creating groundswell strategies for my company.

In general, I liked how many of the concepts were structured into organized processes. I now understand why they call it “social computing” – developing an appropriate groundswell strategy not only requires creativity and interpersonal skills, but also involves a carefully laid out methodology.

One of the only things I didn’t like about Groundswell was that many of the case studies focused on large companies. My hunch is that most people reading the book do not belong to large organizations. Similarly, the cost and revenue figures seem considerably higher than what they would be for small to medium size companies. I also would have liked to see more case studies on companies who target female customers. According to an Ad-tech blog post published a little over a year ago, 66% of females are online vs. 64% of males. I’m sure this number hasn’t changed considerably.

From a digital writing perspective, the book was well-written. The chapters and sections were organized, concise, and easy to read. However, I agree with Kevin Allison in his Financial Times article that the book does lack "pop culture pizzazz." I think the authors could have improved the book's readability by using a less formal tone and even a little humor.

Another thing I noticed was the absence of appealing graphics. In particular, I think the excerpts from the various blogs and forums are a little plain. Instead of showing them in simple text format, I would have liked to see screenshots of the various web pages discussed. Even partial screenshots would help to convey the overall design and content of the sites.

Overall, Groundswell is an excellent book, and I would recommend it to anyone who’s interested in making a difference in their organization.