Definition, frameworks and best practice advice from Accenture and Altimeter analysts

In October 2010 Accenture published a useful new guide to social CRM summarising the transformation required in organisations by the advent of Social CRM. This is useful addition to the framework of 18 CRM processes of Social CRM covered in the Altimeter Social CRM report from earlier in 2010 covered later in this briefing. We think Social CRM and Social Business are still useful concepts to explain the changes to a business needed for the transformation to make full use of social media - the 18 Use cases of Social CRM for example really shows the scope of social media is much more than posting updates on social networks.  The Accenture report summarises the transformation as follows:

Old world

This seems to be the situation c2000. Here a combination of outbound and inbound marketing occurs through a…

The development of Facebook's strategy including business and revenue model

You use Facebook, but have you ever wondered about its business model and how it has evolved? In my E-business and E-commerce Management book we have reviewed the development of Facebook for over six years now. I think it's still a great case study for both students and professionals to learn from, since it shows many of the success factors needed for a new start-up, including the risks of alienating users when their privacy needs are not listened to.

It’s incredible that Facebook now has more than a billion monthly active users worldwide, yet has fewer than 5,000 employees.

In this case study which we aim to keep up-to-date between the new editions of my books, I have structured the review of Facebook strategy using some of the customer-related aspects of the Business Model Canvas.

Facebook's value proposition

In 2013, the Facebook mission is simply to 'make…

The One Infographic About the Digital Revolution You Need to Understand

I really like this infographic, it reveals why marketing is so much more complicated than only 5 years ago, in one fantastic visual. The implications for managing marketing are well worth checking out - it has a commentary by David Edelman of McKinsey on his LinkedIn blog. …

Learning from an example of how one startup failed

Ecomom was a small startup internet retail company selling earth friendly mom and maternity products including food, toys, apparel, and other baby related items. With headquarters in Las Vegas and San Francisco and a third-party fulfillment in Los Angeles, any volume could be shipped within 24 hours. Founded in 2007, by 2011 it had turnover of just over $1 million, but a further round of investment of $12 million required further growth, but at what cost? Business Insider describes the story of the eventual failure of the company in 2013  With hindsight it's difficult to understand investment in the company, but perhaps this was buoyed by the success story of Tony Hsieh building Las Vegas-based Zappos into an online shoe and retail business that Amazon acquired for $1.2 billion. Of course, investors, require growth and Ecomum did achieve revenues of nearly $4 million in…

Our roundup of research insights and best practice advice from the month

Doesn’t time fly? On the 30th April 2013 the WWW was officially twenty years old. How it’s changed and what a “wild ride it’s been” as someone @replied when I shared this. We certainly owe a debt of gratitude to Sir Tim Berner’s Lee, not only for the invention, but also his dedication to keeping it open through his work with the The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and other non-commercial organisations.

As always, this summary is based on updates in 5 key areas of online marketing.

Strategy and planning

The evolving skills of the modern marketer - one of most popular posts this month shows in a visual way what success on today’s WWW requires, particularly with integrating with other channels of course. …

Hubspot survey shows challenges and even greater opportunities for Inbound Marketing

Value: [rating=4]

Recommended link: Inbound Marketing Research, Update European Edition Now Available

Marketing in Europe? Hubspot have just released their European report on Inbound marketing, after gathering insight from over 400 Marketers in Europe to find out the key tips and strategies of how Inbound Marketing is successfully adopted, priorities and challenges this year. It also shows comparisons between marketing in Europe Vs the US.

Top 3 sources for lead generation for European Marketers is Social Media, SEO and Blogs!

 

Inbound Marketing is no longer the latest ‘buzzword’ since companies have been implementing it for years now since digital and social media marketing channels have been available. The question is: how effective is it? The notable shift from ‘interruptive…

How today's Global Digital Marketing Leaders can get closer to their customers

There’s really no better way for global digital marketing leaders to learn about marketing to a new international market, or emerging market than by living in one, or two, or by visiting. I noticed that Marc Benioff of Salesforce has recently kicked of a Company Customer Tour and last year visited hundreds of customers worldwide Although The Internet, makes doing business in an international context far easier than ever before there is still a need for close customer understanding from personal contact. Having recently moved from Egypt, Cairo, to Qatar, Doha, previously having lived in the UK and working virtually with counties in Latin America, Russia, Central Eastern Europe and Asia, as part of a multinational marketing team, I have a few year’s experience of…

The Modern Marketer is Part Scientist and Part Artist? Are you balanced?

On a daily basis, social and digital marketing platforms are evolving and developing. In the same way, Marketers are embracing these changes through upskilling or using their hidden skills. This Infographic, from SalesForce and Pardot, visualises the new Marketer as having two sides to their skillset as an 'Artist' and 'Scientist' - balancing creativity and analytical skills. This has always been true, but the Scientist is more to the fore today? For example, Social Media = (Artist) and Manage your digital Relationships + (Scientist).   As well as being part artist, part scientist, modern marketers also increasingly have some of the most ridiculous job titles.…

Setting up the right process and tools to improve sales

Start up brand Tatu Couture design and manufacture luxury British lingerie which is sold through stockists in the UK, Paris and New York. Tatu Couture has a unique vision to push the boundaries of design and innovation with its trend setting luxury lingerie and designer body wear. All their goods are manufactured and hand finished in the UK.

Overview and Digital Strategy

Tonica supported Tatu Couture by creating a four stage strategy to increase digital presence. In addition to the stockist route, Tatu Couture were keen to increase their own direct sales, so we had two simple objectives for the work – to increase visits to tatucouture.com and increase sales from the site.

Social media campaign approach

Step 1 – Take Control Like many small to…

A Wordpress plugin that shows how everyone can manage their content calendar

In a previous post I wrote about an editorial calendar spreadsheet which we have created to help marketers manage their content marketing. While the spreadsheet allows you to plan and manage different types of content within a team, operational tools are useful too. In this post I wanted to share a tool we use with it for managing posting on the Smart Insights website - The Wordpress Editorial Calendar plug-in. It will be particularly interesting for Wordpress bloggers who don't know about it, but may also interest others since it shows how you can make your editorial process more streamlined. I first heard about this plugin through Chris Brogan who describes how he uses it.

About the Editorial calendar plugin

The plugin works with the basic blog functionality you have come to know and love in WordPress.…