Manage To Change

Web 2.0 Expo: Sessions from Day 2

Highlights from three of the sessions I attended today at the Web 2.0 Expo: 

User-Generated Censorship
Annalee Newitz, wrote an article in Wired, I Bought Votes on Digg, to illustrate how people can manipulate social networks. 

In today’s session, she contrasted the wisdom of crowds with their potential destructive nature.  Annalee went through several sites (Blogger, Flickr, YouTube, Digg, and Wikipedia) illustrating that clear rules, quick follow up, and easy ways for users to filter content (preventing them from “stumbling on to content that upsets them”) can prevent unwarranted censorship.

Web 2.0 Product Management: Optimizing Metrics and Viral Growth
Dan Olsen’s session on Web 2.0 product management was likely the most comprehensive and tangible session I’ve attended.  The only problem was that there was no way to take notes fast enough to keep up with him!

Dan spoke about how the lines between product management and marketing have blurred since many products are spread virally, by the customer not by marketing and sales.  On Facebook, for example, it’s your friends, acquaintances, and colleagues that get you to join, not the Facebook marketing department (if there even is one!).

Most of the presentation was concerned with how to define, measure, analyze, synthesize, implement, and impact metrics to increase ROI. 

If I hear that he’s posted his slides on his website, I’ll let you know. 

Every product manager should look at them!

The Next Generation of Tagging: Searching and Discovering a Better User Experience
This session was fascinating.  Kakul Srivastava, product manager at Flickr, discussed how combining user tagging with finely tuned algorithms can result in “inferred tags.” 

Inferred tags make it possible to disambiguate tagging (know that Washington means Washington DC and not the state, the president, or the mountain). 

How often tags are used (identifying “hot tags”) or if there are spikes in usage or searching helps identify breaking news or items of interest.

Working with Publishers 101

Lately I’ve found myself talking to companies that want to work with publishers, but they’re having a difficult time getting any business.

In almost every conversation the same issue surfaces.

The vendor wants to make the publisher understand their unique value proposition.

However, the vendor’s general knowledge of publishing is often lacking and their specific understanding of the publisher they’re “targeting” is virtually non-existent.

The vendor wants to be treated like a partner, but they don’t act like one!

All publishers may create and manage content, deliver it via multiple channels, and engage in marketing activities, but they are all different.

A publisher’s ability to innovate around content is critical, yet many publishers are having a hard time evolving. They know it too!

Many would like to explore vendor partnerships, but few vendors take the steps needed to gain the publisher’s trust and respect.

If you want to work with a publisher, start by remembering these points:

You don’t know everything.

You need to listen.

It’s good that you know your product’s strengths, but you must respect the publisher’s strengths too.

Be confident and offer your expertise, but understand that there is no plug and play.

Your expertise needs to be combined with their experience and reconfigured to arrive at the right solution.

Times are changing. Some publishers will make it and some won’t.

None of them will engage you along the way unless you take the time to understand their business and culture.

(Reposted from June 2007)

Getting Used to a Mac

As of yesterday I’m a Mac user!

Why did I switch after 26 years on a PC?

Vista.

Even though Vista was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” this has been coming for years.

As soon as Apple started to care about the business user PC’s were in trouble.

The transition hasn’t been flawless but I’ve been very impressed with how Apple has handled issues.

One thing I find interesting is that they are less willing to put up with imperfections than I am.

It made me realize how often I’ve “lived with” something on a Windows machine that I shouldn’t have.

As long as my machine wasn’t blowing up and I could get my email, drivers that weren’t compatible and other glitches were tolerable.

Shame on me!

Is There Anybody Out There?

Remember my experiment with Jott last week?

Well someone from Jott came by the blog to offer their support. Good for them!

It’s relatively easy for someone to find instances of their company, product, or brand on the web and see what people are saying about them – yet, few companies do.

Or if they do, few comment or participate in conversations.

Harvard Business Review did, very well I might add!

Dell did.

Volvo didn’t.

United Airlines didn’t.

HP didn’t - not even once.

Starbucks didn’t.

LinkedIn didn’t.

Twitter, Microsoft, Second Life, Apple, YouTube, American Airlines, and many others, all didn’t.

I’ve read many detailed accounts of others’ brand experiences, and also rarely see a comment from the brand owner.

Reports can be positive or negative and there are still no responses.

I’m not sure why this is.

The popular perception is that they either don’t know people are discussing them or they don’t care. No one actually knows because they aren’t saying anything!

Do you look for mentions of your product on the web?

What do you do when you find one?

Photo credit & an interesting blog.

When Habits Collide

Sometimes it only takes one comment to stimulate your thinking. Phil provided that comment yesterday in response to When Brands Collide:

“You know, Internet service providers noticed the same thing. At first, they thought we would never change our e-mail address, so they thought we were trapped.” [Emphasis Added]

The premise of yesterday's post was that people are finding it easier to move from one product or service to another and they’re doing so more frequently.

A change that might have taken them years to make, now takes months or weeks.

Unfortunately, while consumers are finding it easier to change or replace products, many companies are finding it more difficult.

Rather than creating products, services and features their customer would value, they turn to “stickiness” with a flawed intent.

They believe they can trap customers on their platform.

That used to be true – but times have changed.

The only true stickiness is a phenomenal, accessible, and relevant product!

When Brands Collide

Months ago, a friend of mine was buying a smart phone for the first time. When he polled people about what to buy, it seemed that they had stayed with the products they’d first bought.

I’ve been no exception. Having started with a Blackberry, I was so anxious to get the Pearl that I moved from Verizon to Cingular to get it faster.

It appears to take a significant disappointment in your current product or a major breakthrough in a competitive one to inspire change.

I had access to my first PC at 18. I’ve worked on a PC ever since. Next month I’m getting a MacBook and I don’t expect to look back.

Vista was my significant disappointment.

Although I love my Pearl, I expect that I will soon be the proud owner of an iPhone.

I have an iPod Touch and I love it. As soon as I can rationalize the purchase of an iPhone, bye, bye, Blackberry.

My Blackberry has never disappointed me. It’s just getting out maneuvered.

What’s interesting is that switching products is becoming easier for me:

PC to Mac = 25 years

Verizon to Cingular = 10 years

Pearl to iPhone = 1 year (estimated)

Product developers should be worried.

Starbucks: The Decline

It used to be that every so often Starbucks would give you your drink for free. No fanfare. No formal offer. Just, “Thanks, it’s on us today.”

I felt appreciated when they handed me that coffee.

Recently, the baristas were giving this coupon to everyone.

Looks great – right?

Now read the back.

This is why Starbucks isn’t what it used to be.

It went from handing you a free drink with no strings attached, to printing up a coupon that offers a free drink if you come in on a weekend, if that weekend is in September, and if you buy another drink that cost more first.

Customer appreciation just isn’t what it used to be!

Marketing to Me

Professional marketers need to define some new demographics.

Age, for example, doesn’t seem to be an accurate indicator of someone’s desire to get their news from the Internet, to buy new gadgets, or to research medical conditions on the web.

For many products and services geographic location is irrelevant (other than to determine tax rates).

Gender, again, seems to be of limited use in predicting behavior as is the fact that someone is a parent or the number and age of their children.

I don’t cook. I don’t read glamour magazines. My favorite color is black. I have been known use online publishing, Twitter, and Facebook. I’m over 40.

I could be your biggest fan if you’d just give me a chance. I am just as likely to talk about your product’s virtues as I am its deficiencies and I am very well networked.

So PLEASE find a way to market to me that doesn’t insult my intelligence or assume I’m someone I’m not.

A Recipe for Mediocrity

Our competitors usually aren’t cheating.

They aren’t “gaming” the system to look better than us.

It’s not that they have better connections, steal our ideas, or undermine our success.

If they’re winning, there’s a reason.

If we’re not, there’s a reason.

Perhaps we should stop lamenting about our position and start looking for those reasons.

If we don’t, we’ll always be trying to catch up and we never will.

Closing the Deal

What separates the highly regarded and effective sales person from the rest?

Their focus is on the client and they understand where and when opportunities exist.

They maintain their welcome because they are sensitive and responsive to the needs of their potential client.

Their presence in the process adds value even when the timing is off.

They are much more likely to get work when it’s available because they aren’t trying to close the deal before there's a deal to close!