Boomers and Social Media

© 2009 Patricia Seybold Group

Boomers Online: Social Media Comes of AgeMatthew Lees, Patricia Seybold Group

Boomer Business SummitLas Vegas, NVMarch 19, 2009

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Is this What All the Hype is About?

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Social Media is Like…

• “Social media is like water…”

• “Social media is like ice cream…”• “Social media is like the Matrix…”• “Social media is like punk music…”• “Social media is like working out…”• “Social media is like speechwriting…”• “Social media is like a box of weather…”• “Social media is like a Mr. Bubble Pool Party…”• “Social media is like visiting a good hair stylist…”• “Social media is like Bam-Bam [of the Flintstones]…”• “Social media is CB radio (& Twitter is just one channel)…”• “Social media is like recess…”• “Social media is like the seventh grade…”

• “Social media is a lot like high school…”• “Social media is like parenting…”

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Social…Media, Networking, Technology

Profiles

Ratings

Reviews

Rankings (reputation)

Tagging

Kudos

“Most popular…”

Email

Blogs

Forums

Chat/IM

Wikis

Podcasts

Videos

Ideas

Wisdom of Crowds

People + Content + Tools + Opinions + Goals

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Snapshot: Social Networking Services

Service/Site Founded Members Countries Other InformationLinkedIn 2002 37 million 200 Half outside US; execs from all F500Plaxo 2002 20 millionRyze 2001 500,000 200Spoke 2002 40 million 2.3 million companies

Bebo 2005 N/A AOL (2008) Facebook 2004 175 millionFriendster 2002 90 million 90% of traffic from AsiaHi-5 2003 80 million 200 Latin America, Europe, AfricaOrkut 2004 Google; 50% Brazil; ~ 4% BoomersMySpace 2003 > 100 million

Twitter 2006 ~ 6 million ~ 55 million monthly visitors

Flickr 2004 Yahoo (2005); 3 billion imagesYouTube 2005 Google (2006); 100+ videos/day

eHarmony 2000 20 million ~ 236 marriages/dayMatch.com 1994 15 million 37

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Boomers, the Internet, and Social Media

• >90% of Boomers use email

• 70-80% of Boomers are online

• Boomers make up ~35% of the Internet population

• Since 2005, broadband access for Boomers has tripled (still onlyin the 50%-65% range)

• About half a million Boomers have Twitter accounts (8-9% of ~6 million)

Source: Pew Research Center

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Source: Pew Research Center (Pew Internet & American Life Project) January 2009

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Source: Pew Research Center (Pew Internet & American Life Project) January 2009

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Facebook Stats

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Orkut Stats

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Goals/Benefits to the “Sponsor”

• Awareness Google is your Home Page– Buzz/PR/Branding– Education– Lead-Generation

• Information, Knowledge, Insight– R&D– Marketing Messages– Publicity (early warning)– Competitive Landscape

• Customer Loyalty, Satisfaction– Long-term Relationships

• Revenue– Direct Sales / Upsell– Referrals– Advertising and Sponsorship

• Savings– Support (e.g., call deflection)– PR (see above)– Customer Insight (see above)

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Social Media for Marketing & Customer Service

Service/Support

Promotion

Brand Management

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Social Media for Brand Engagement

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Social Media for HR

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Social Media for Brand Engagement and PR

8,000+ videos

$57K to winner

Brand engagement vs. headaches

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Social Media for Market Research / Product Development

Quality vs. quantity

Infrastructure to support the program

Taking action and communicating

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Social Media for Marketing (Awareness)

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What’s Not New about Social Media

• What Is New– Scale (Many-to-Many)

• Network Effects• Customer Visibility

– Ease (Low-Cost Technology + Connectivity)

• What’s Not New about Social Media– Human Behavior– Human Needs– Good Business Practices

• What’s Essential– Jumping in – Being part of the conversation– Understanding needs and providing value– Being authentic and transparent

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Goals/Benefits to Customers

I want to…• Strut my stuff• Express myself• Find answers• Solve problems• Learn• Get access to experts and insiders• Help others (and feel good about it)• Find out about things before everyone else• Help me do my job (better, faster, cheaper…)• Connect with others who have similar needs and interests• Have fun!

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Examples of Boomer Customer Scenarios

I want to…• Learn how others are using a particular new medication.

• Connect with others who are caring for an elderly parent.

• Educate others about my experience with a surgical procedure.

• Make smart financial decisions (learning, saving, investing, etc.).

• Have an impact / make a difference / share my experience.

• Pursue the hobby I have been putting off.

• Get travel tips and ideas.

• Meet someone.

• Find a job.Your success comes from helping your

customers (or prospective customers) be

successful in achieving their objectives…

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Boomers Contributing through Social Media

# of Posts: 6,224# of Files Created: 51# of File Downloads (in past 30 days): 7,732Average Rating (scale of 1-5): 4.7File Exchange Rank (3,539 members): 17~ 20 hours/week

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“I retired a few years ago. When I did, I thought of doing some sort of charity work; perhaps Habitat for Humanity. But I realized that the best thing was to use my skills in mathematics to teach others. While I'm not bad with a hammer, I'm arguably very good at mathematics…”

“So what I do is multi-fold…• Review submissions on the File Exchange.• Submit my own tools as I find time to develop them.• Answer questions on optimization, modeling, curvefitting, splines, and numerical analysis in general.•Answer questions that arrive directly from e-mail.”

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“And of course, its always nice to see when one of my tools gets a reference in a doctoral thesis or a paper or book somewhere. Really though, I just see what I do as a way to give back to the world, now that I can do so.”

“All of these things have some teaching aspect. I'd like to see people learn to write high quality software in less time than the years it took me to learn. When I review a submission, I try to go into great detail on what is wrong, what can be improved, what I like about it.”

“I learn stuff all the time.”

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Boomers Sharing their Stories

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Boomers Sharing their Stories

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Boomers and Social Media (1)CATEGORY BEHAVIOR APPROACH

Media Awareness Old-media savvy; more aware of being marketed to

Think long-term relationships, not (only) campaigns

Ask (for content, input, data, etc.), but be transparent, provide value, take action, and communicate results

Consuming Content More comfortable consuming than creating; grew up on analog media

Make it easy not just to search, but also to findwhat they’re looking for

Creating Content Will create when (a) it’s easy, and (b) there is need/value

Lean toward being more articulate (slower, higher quality)

Provide a low barrier to entry; make everything quick and easy (but not simplistic)

Boomer content is higher value content (SEO)

Reach out to active users and influencers

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Boomers and Social Media (2)CATEGORY BEHAVIOR APPROACH

Social Purpose More willing to help others (“do well while doing good”)

Provide ways to let Boomers help others (answer questions, solve problems, share experiences)

Social Identity More context aware; less comfortable mixing private and public, personal and professional

Respect privacy; ask only for information that has a purpose for them; give them control over their identity (esp. who can see what)

Social Interactions Grew up with face-to-face; build virtual networks more slowly (more incestuous?); value personal interaction

Make it easy to find others and share content (within and without); reach out and touch someone

Social Currency High premium on reputation and trust; take seriously giving/receiving recommendations

Support credible reputations and trusted content

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Challenges

• The Network Effect– Value prop comes from the size of the network itself– Cannibalization how many networks and communities can people

realistically participate?– Don’t have to DIY

• Organizational– Social media is extremely cross-organizational– Common hindrance: organizational culture– “Shared” control (not “loss” of control)– Relatively inexpensive, but still takes financial and human resources

• Fear of “Undesirable” conversations– Legal and PR risk– Relationship risk (airing dirty laundry)

• Measurement and Attribution– Can be tough to identify clear ROI

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Key Takeaways

• It’s still new, but it’s not going away; join the conversation

• Adoption among the 78/79 million Boomers will only increase (both social media consumption and creation)

• Business is still business

• Google is your home page

• Help your customers/prospective customers succeed in their goals

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The Patricia Seybold Group

Matthew [email protected]

Twitter: @mlees

NEW - Social Media

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Patty [email protected]: @pattyinboothbay

“Outside Innovation is a landmark book in its revelations on customer-led innovation.”-- Tom Stemberg, Founder/Former CEO of Staples

http://www.amazon.com/Outside-Innovation-Customers-Co-Design-Companys/dp/0061135909/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt/002-6610129-1727207?ie=UTF8