Embracing the Groundswell: How Twitter is Transforming the Five Corporate Objectives

Chapters 9 and 10 help to illustrate the ways in which companies can embrace the groundswell movement in order to accomplish their five primary corporate objectives of listening, talking, energizing, supporting and embracing. The chapters outline the ways in which companies have begun to rely on close relationships with their customers and feedback campaigns in order to yield a better sense of what customers want and look for out of their favorite brands.


This phenomenon has signaled an important shift in media, marketing and branding. Similar to the way that other industries such as news media and journalism have been transformed by social media, marketing and branding is no longer conducted by elite professionals and fancy firms. Social media has transformed branding and marketing to be oriented around 'grassroots' level engagement of the consumer base, while in the past may have been more of a top down approach in so far as executives and marketing professionals made the calls about advertising and product decisions.

Twitter has also emerged for news media delivery

The "democratizing innovation" is the new reality for companies and the playing field has become more equalized; any consumer that utilizes social media has significance to companies and brands. The comments and posts by individuals can amount to replies and actions from companies, even drive their future decision-making. Not only has this transformed what companies decide to do but it has also effected how. Democratizing innovation also allows for faster development as companies no longer have lengthy research or testing phases of their products. In contrast, many brands have used social media and digital platforms to seek responses and suggestions from their consumers as demonstrated by the Credit Mutuel and Del Monte examples.

This screenshot demonstrates customer service capabilities on Twitter

Twitter may be the social media platform that allows for the most direct influence of consumers. the structure of the platform allows for quick and easy yet influential dialogues between consumers and brands. The features such as hashtags. tagging and direct messaging help to facilitate a simple exchange. In addition, the linear and sequential nature of the platform helps to make sure that a user scrolling through their timeline never misses a post from the accounts they follow.


Twitter has made changes recently in order to better facilitate these interactions between users. More specifically, Twitter has created a customer service tool for brands. These two new features are a Tweets to Direct Message feature which call to action button will be added for when businesses and customers want to transition to a private conversation and the Customer Feedback feature which enables people to privately share their opinions with a business after a service interaction. With these new added features Twitter will only assist companies in continuing to embrace the groundswell movement and to further develop their energizing component of the five corporate objectives.

Capitol Hill and Social Media: How These Platforms Are Transforming Business As Usual in Washington

Have you ever called or written to your elected officials in Congress concerning an issue you felt strongly about? Most of you probably haven't. How about follow your elected officials on social media? Many political officials across the aisle and at all levels of government are using social media as a way to engage with their constituents and give them an inside look into the daily happenings inside the beltway and on the campaign trail. As of fall 2015, almost half of lawmakers in both houses of Congress are using social media to communicate directly with their constituents.

Which politicians are on social media and what is the extent of their reach? A recent study conducted by the Organizing Center, a bipartisan political advocacy group based in Washington, DC, has compiled research into these questions by identifying and analyzing how lawmakers and their offices are engaging with constituents by studying  lawmakers’ social media accounts and ranking them on a quantitative index. In order to quantify this information each member of Congress was assigned a social media responsiveness index or SPRI score which was based on four components: 1) the size of the officials' Facebook audience, 2) the openness of the Facebook page to comments (can the constituents leave a comment on the page or is it restricted to posts shared by the lawmaker) 3) how many followers the lawmaker has and 4) how the lawmaker interacts with their followers on twitter.


A recent Facebook post from Sen. Warren-MA on the passing of Justice Scalia
 

Senator Cory Booker of NJ received a perfect SPRI score of 2 on the assessment and was the only Democratic senator to receive a perfect score. I have followed Senator Booker on social media for several years, since he was the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He has always been very good on social media, his posts range from personal like diet and exercise, asking constituents in need of help to call his cell phone directly through direct messaging exchanges. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of MA, who is known for her fiery viral
videos of speeches from the Senate floor, received a score of 1.



An example of a personal share by Sen. Booker
 

On the Republican side, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott matched Mr. Booker’s score of 2, and along with Texas Sen. John Cornyn (1.5) and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley (1.3) were listed as the “Red State Social Champions” for the ways in which they use social media to keep their constituents engaged. The study also revealed that during the period used to quantify, August 2015, that Democrats were generally more responsive on their social media but that congressional Republicans had more followers.



Sen. Grassley-IA known for being colorful and animated on Twitter

 

Sen. Cornyn-TX on voter ID laws

The advocacy group conducting the study advises that if your elected official has a high SCRI ranking then it may be good to reach out to
via social media, otherwise a traditional call or letter might be the better way to go to get the response that you need. This study may help to illustrate how social media can be a new and yet important tool for lawmakers to gauge their constituents views on difficult issues and also help to craft and communicate their ideas and their vision. How might this information change how you interact with your elected officials? Will you give them a follow or a tweet next time you want your voice to be heard? Interested in learning more about your elected officials stack up? Visit the Organizing Center to learn more about this and other work they have done on social media in politics!

                                                                        

 









The Groundswell Movement: Social Media and the Power of the Fan Base

The relationships between consumers and the brands and products that they love has dramatically changed as demonstrated by the Groundswell movement. As outlined in Chapters 5 and 6, companies and organizations have to listen and respond to their bases and target audiences. Social media helps to facilitate new possibilities. Social media has enhanced the power of the consumer and has forced many companies to switch from top-down marketing strategies to more of a grassroots approach to their decision-making that is largely informed by what their fans and target audience is posting on social media.

Social media following is transforming ratings and the fate of television 

One example that clearly highlights this phenomenon well is the relationship between television shows and their viewership. The television industry has been completely inverted in the last few years with the rise of streaming services and original content produced by non-network platforms such as Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Yahoo TV and others. Historically, the major television networks would battle for the best shows, the highest ratings and to draw the largest audience at target times or 'prime time television'. In the past ratings as assessed by viewership would determine the fate of a television show and whether it kept on the air or renewed. However, the television industry as not only been uprooted by the new viewing and creation platforms but also new social media and marketing. 

TV Guide cover highlighting the role of the fans in bringing the show back 

Today, viewership and ratings continue to be important however devoted fan bases are proving to be a mobilizing force for their favorite shows. As highlighted in the chapters, existing fan groups and social media profiles for established brands can be really influential. Brands and companies should work with these fan groups, their bases and engage with their social media or organizations. Several tv shows have been revived or returned to the air on alternative platforms due to the enthusiasm and mobilizing of their fan bases. Shows like Community, which once aired on NBC, struggled with ratings after a few seasons but due a campaign by their fans on social media, the show returned and after facing cancelation by the Network, was picked up by Yahoo for its sixth season. The revival of once popular shows returning to streaming services such as The X-Files, Gilmore Girls and Arrested Development among others, highlights that the fans are extremely influential. Nielsen, the primary source for television rankings and ratings, has now begun an entire sector dedicated to tracking social media analytics and to compile separate rankings based on social media engagement.

Is 2016 the Snapchat Election?

Social media has become the primary source of news for young people in America. Social media serves purposes that go beyond entertainment and can be a important tool for mobilizing and engaging voters in an election or for a campaign. Snapchat is one social media platform that is really having its moment this election cycle. 

                                                                                                           

 While Snapchat has been previously categorized as an application that facilitates inappropriate or explicit content between young people, fueled by its feature that the content 'disappears' after a certain duration. Snapchat now has activity from nearly 100 million people a day and more than 60% of the smartphone users who are between the ages of 18 and 34 in America. These is a key demographic to reach politically, as young people are passionate and have issues they care about, but are likely not turning out to vote in large numbers. 

A screen grab from Snapchat during the most recent GOP debate shows how users can engage

Recently, Snapchat has added new features that allow companies and organizations to make short interactive stories that users can click through. These stories may contain news and frequently feature bright images and fun video, maybe a silly question or a fun sound bite. Media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and Vanity Fair use Snapchat story feature to bolster their digital content and engaging users that may not be traditional users of their products. Political campaigns and political organizations have begun to do the same thing. Organizations like the White House, Hillary Clinton's campaign for President and a series of United States Senators like Cory Booker of New Jersey have utilized Snapchat as a way to connect with their constituents and the American public. 

A portion of a Snapchat story about the issues 

From an early Democrat debate

Candidates for president have used Snapchat to film clips from their rallies, highlight parts of their speeches, show footage from the behind the scenes of a campaign and perhaps most importantly, have used the platform to create and distribute political advertisements. The short and user friendly features can allow the mobilization and inclusion of millions of users to see content from candidates that is more personal and intimate and tailored to what they want to see on the particular platform. 

Political institutions have a unique challenge in the new frontier that is Snapchat and that is making content that is fun and engaging, while also serious enough to remain politically legitimate. Snapchat is a great opportunity to reach young people and users who may not have voted before or who are still new to the political process.