In the footsteps of Yahoo and Google Hackathons - P&G gathered a group of social web companies, geeks, marketers, agencies and P&G folks to Cincinnati this week for one night. The goal? To demonstrate and learn about the power of networks and the impact of the digital world as it relates to marketing. The press, madison avenue, and some bloggers [see complete list below] have written and focused on the the tactics of the event - using twitter and other online tools to promote & market a cause. In my mind there is also a larger point and challenge.
How do you teach a large, process driven organization to be innovative, work organically and think socially?
The hurdles to "getting digital" are not a technical understanding of the tools - they are cultural and organizational. There are basic principles at play on the social web that need to be understood before one can jump in.
Some principles and dynamics to think about:
- Opening up & loss of control
- The collaborative & organic nature of the medium
- The power and dynamics of network effects
- The importance of constancy and participation vs big grand gestures
- The personal intimate nature of the medium
- The importance of trust and relationship
- The always on - 24/7 nature of the web
The only way one can understand and learn these attributes is by DOING. For those of us who live and breath this space, unpacking this etiquette seems stilted - we take the basics for granted. To learn how to be a good "digital citizen" you need to understand the rules of the road. Heck - even those of us who have grown up in this space can't keep up and continue to reinvent the rules.
The evening was chaotic and energetic. There were plenty of learning's on "both sides". In full disclosuse [as many of you are aware] I have been working with P&G for the last year and a half as a "social web sherpa" of sorts, so it was exciting to get a good chunk of the digital ecosystem in a room to hash out and demonstrate some of these issues in real time. I was not consulted on how the experiment was set up. I probably would have eliminated the competitive nature and spent a bit more time on strategy and set-up ahead of time, but overall it was interesting to see the dynamics at play.
Here are some of my quick learning take a ways:
- Many of the P&G folks' thought the first task was to figure out the messaging of the campaign, where as the external folks just dived right in in plain English.
- The social web folks jumped on their networks first without necessary realizing the impact and focused on a long tail one-to-one approach figuring that network effects would take over.
- The P&G folks understood the need to identify where to get the biggest bang for their buck.
- The speed nature of the exercise brought out some incredible creativity. I had a sense that this freedom was very liberating for the P&G folks once they got into it. Some of my teammates quickly brainstormed a quick rap [yeah-it's dorky, but they did it without planning or thinking about it too much. We even got the team at Pandora to write a catchy little ditty. [Thanks Tim. It arrived a bit late, but kudos to them for jumping in. Compare that to the month long planning cycles most companies go through.
- The P&G folks were often very process oriented and the invitees where comfortable with more chaos - meeting somewhere in the middle brought out the best.
- Even the "digerati" who understand the principles of the social web stepped over the line a bit in the exuberance of the moment - to me this is a cautionary tale about the future of "influencers" and everyone's personal understanding of their relationships, networks and personal brand. Just as in the real world you are judged by your actions - so too are you judged online. Remember - Google is now the long tail of reputation.
- The need for a different set of skills and expertise - teams needed a human connector to bring it all together and a catalyst to kick it off. I see this as a growing skill set in business as a result of the social web. Think Community Manager meets Senior Executive.
In the end this was not about cause marketing - it was about demonstrating and learning the importance of the new principles and culture of the social web. It is easy to say the big guys don't get it and walk away. You only learn by doing. I have a big cynical side, but I I have more faith in the social web and people. I think that bad behavior will ultimately NOT be rewarded and I would rather educate and teach those who don't get it the rules of the road upfront. We want big companies to take risks and experiment - let's not slap em too hard when they put a toe in the water.
Other event-related posts [thanks Peter]:
- Everything Typepad: Get A Cool Shirt, Save The World
- Peter Kim: Recap on P&G digital night
Note: make sure the check out the comment threads on brian and peter's blogs - good dialogue and healthy debate!
Thanks for sharing that. This was the best, seemingly balanced review of the night and run down of the positive and negative takeaways.
I still think at least one of the non-P&G digerati should have stood up and voiced a concern as soon as the idea was unveiled but I guess people were too caught up in the moment to question tactics.
Posted by: Gerard | March 13, 2009 at 02:22 PM
Shame that companies are now viewing people's networks as advanced tools for bypassing spam filters.
Posted by: Joe | March 13, 2009 at 03:05 PM
I think that they have to learn that this does NOT work..law of diminishing returns....the only way to learn is to try. I agree that the experiment should have been set up differently - hopefully the take-away will not be to spam. There were definitely "icky moments". The spam your networks - seems to be the prevailing trend. In activity streams on facebook, influencer marketing etcetera. Ultimately it doesnt work - the real thing that works in giving to get and being part of the network - that takes a dynamic change in organizational structure that most companies have not yet figured out.
Cheers,
D
Deborah Schultz
Technology changes, humans don't
[email protected]
http://www.deborahschultz.com
cell: 917-848-1016 (PST)
Posted by: Debs | March 13, 2009 at 11:06 PM
Great take aways, Deb! We have worked with many brands as well and find there is a great deal of enthusiasm and genuine interest in trying to make sense of the social media impact on their world! The human component is so important as we all strive to understand how to bring technology and people together both online and offline! Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Vicki Rellas | March 15, 2009 at 08:43 AM
Hi Deborah, I don't quite understand what you mean by "The importance of constancy and participation vs big grand gestures", could you tell me about that. Thanks a lot.
Posted by: Meral / Digitalks | March 16, 2009 at 02:05 PM
Very interesting insight. This is the real truth about social media. You have no other choice but jumping into it asap. And when you realize how huge and deep are the impacts on your organization and staff, it is too late for you to turn back. I have recently worked for a big pan-european insurance company and can tell you they are decades away from the shift we are discussing on here - yet I would be excited to help them implement the cultural and organizational changes going along with adoption of social media as a internal communicational tool.
@Meral/Digitalks : I guess what Deborah pointed out here was that corporate top-down communications are no longer efficient on individuals within yet pyramidal organization, and that what really works with social media is 'constancy and participation', which means real involvment by the people, which means that management are ready to re-allocate ressources to serve the new needs.
Posted by: Pierre Mangin | April 03, 2009 at 04:39 PM
Pierre - well said - exactly - reallocation of resources and looking at everything a company does from the human customer side of things - it's a new world!
Cheers,
D
Deborah Schultz
Technology changes, humans don't
[email protected]
http://www.deborahschultz.com
cell: 917-848-1016 (PST)
Posted by: Debs | April 04, 2009 at 08:22 AM
In general people dislike being "sold". People want the freedom to choose and feel comfortable when purchasing any product or service. A new internet network marketing concept called attraction marketing is getting a whole lot more attention and deals with that. One primary focus of the attraction marketing formula is developing personal relationships with existing clients and become a person of value, so that they have the underlying feeling of attraction and want to come back for more.
Posted by: Authority Networker | April 24, 2009 at 03:16 PM
Hi Deb-
Hmm... interesting. The culture clash is not surprising but I'm impressed P&G wants to listen and learn.
We spoke briefly after your panel at the Web 2.0 conf in SF. I'd mentioned my work as a community mgr at Nickelodeon and you'd wanted to connect afterward, but your LinkedIn invites require an email address. Feel free to send me an invite if you want to chat more about my experience there.
Posted by: Valerie Kameya | May 17, 2009 at 11:26 PM
Valerie - Thanks!
Yes- I definitely want to keep in touch! Thanks for the comment.
Cheers,
D
Deborah Schultz
Technology changes, humans don't
[email protected]
http://www.deborahschultz.com
cell: 917-848-1016 (PST)
Posted by: Debs | May 18, 2009 at 07:23 PM