Can brands really have their own virtual worlds?

We’re back from an exciting trip across the pond to attend AdTech New York, where the HuzuTech team demonstrated the virtual world platform that we have spent so long developing, HuzuVirtual. Our new white label virtual world’s platform has been designed so that brands can completely customise it and create their own virtual world without having the build the technology platform it’s based on.

One of the things people are excited about is the integration with our social networking platform, HuzuSocial. This means that publishers can offer secure and private social networking facilities as part of the virtual world experience - something that is becoming more important across all virtual environments - and link to Facebook.

But the really big deal about HuzuVirtual is that brands can have their own virtual world for a fraction of the cost of building one from scratch. This lets them create an interactive environment where they’re in control of the user experience, and of creating a world that reflects their brand values, rather than relying on a third party site.

We’ve developed a site to show how the technology works, including some really great features like the routing technology (which means an avatar will always follow a path - rather than walking ‘through’ obstacles), and the ‘motion’ sensors (car alarms going off when the avatar walks past them) here: http://paperworld.huzutech.com/. We’d love to know what you think.

HuzuTech (Ad-Tech) Reaching the tipping point - when should a brand build their own social community?

HuzuTech (Ad-Tech 2010 Reaching the tipping point - when should a brand build their own social community?

Click to view:

http://www.slideshare.net/GraemeHarvey/presentation1-adtech-new

The benefits of using social media in internal communications

Why use social media in internal communications? If you want to talk to Dawkins in accounts you could just get up from behind your desk and walk over there, right? But what if the accounts team is based hundreds of miles away or Dawkins works from home? Graeme Harvey, managing director of HuzuTech, looks at the reasons why businesses should be utilizing social media for their internal communications.

The increase in remote working and flexible working practices

Tuesday’s Guardian quoted a CBI report which revealed that 46% of businesses were allowing their employees to work from home, and this was in 2008. You can bet that that figure has gone up.

Businesses have increased their use of flexible and remote workers because of the massive benefits in increased productivity and morale, to say nothing of the vastly reduced sickness absences. But, as with everything there are drawbacks. What about communication? How can employees talk to each other if they don’t share an office? How can managers talk to them?

Many businesses have found social media to be the answer.

Familiar technology

Social media and social networking is everywhere. We all have at least one employee that uses sites like Facebook and Twitter, and this familiarity affords businesses the chance to use social media as an internal communications tool, helping the business reach its objectives.

Measureable impact

Like any business improvement activity, social media should be properly budget whether it’s being used as a marketing tool or an internal communications device. Proper budgeting will allow the manager to look back and know what benefits the system has delivered.

Brainstorming

The days when the manager would call the team into a meeting for a quick, unscheduled, brainstorm around a topic, are quickly disappearing. With more people working outside the office, some may not even be there to share their ideas, which would have a negative impact on the business. Social media tools allow team members in a myriad of locations to hold discussions at the click of a button using tools such as Skype to talk to each other and exchange information during the conversation.

A 2010 survey of internal communications professionals by Melcrum identified innovation and idea exchange as the main benefit of using social media internally, with employee engagement, knowledge management and collaboration coming in at second and third place.

The same survey highlighted how important the respondents felt it was to encourage employees to collaborate, especially when some of the employees were based overseas. They also found it invaluable for community building and engaging Gen Y.

The way that the world does business is changing and internal communication practices need to keep up with theses changes if businesses don’t want to be left behind. For more details, including what businesses should do once they decide to implement social media for internal communications, see our new insight guide “Innovation and Idea Exchange”: social media and its role in internal communications, available from our website

http://www.huzutech.com/Insight/social-media-and-its-role-in-internal-communications.html

Own your own or build a Facebook community

The concept of online community, and brands engaging directly with their customers, prospects, critics and stakeholder, is still relatively new; and many companies considering a move into social media are nervous of the perceived loss of control. Graeme Harvey, managing director of HuzuTech explains more.

So for many the starting point is Facebook. With 400 million active users spending 500 billion minutes per month it is undoubtedly important for a consumer-facing brand to create and own its own Facebook page. But it is not without issues, not least company pages created automatically, sometimes with content from unauthorised sources.

So, it’s always struck us as strange that companies should take their first steps in social media by creating a community on a social network where they have no control at all. Why give away all that valuable customer data and advertising revenue to a third party? Or limit yourself to someone elses functionality?

Early adopter brands are increasingly using social media communities as part of their customer relations strategy. Eircom, the Irish telecoms operator, has created its own, highly successful customer community – eircom connect – which complements its existing customer support services, and improves online customer communications by opening up a genuinely two-way dialogue with customers.

Could you do this on Facebook? The answer, simply, is no. To have a meaningful engagement within a customer community, you need more than the kind of forum provided by Facebook.

So, what are the key things to consider if you want to create a social media community?

What are your objectives?
Firstly, work out exactly what you want to achieve. If it is to provide a great customer service experience, you need to consider what tools your customers will expect from you. Do you want the community to act as a sales channel? In which case, you need the facilities allow this to happen.

What is the killer reason for people to come to your site?
Like any site, a branded community has to have a compelling reason for consumers to visit. That might be because you provide specialist information or unique content; or because consumers can get great deals, that they can’t get elsewhere; or because they can take part in an experience online; or because it’s your customer service hub and your customers get great service there. Plus, good communities are a two way street consumers should get the opportunity to interact with many fellow consumers rather than the one to many communication that is common in static marketing websites.

Can the community become self-funding?
Consumers are often more receptive to relevant advertising on a specialist community than they are on a generic social network. You might consider some targeted advertising; or a sponsored area of the site (for example, if you’re a fashion retailer, you might have an area of the community sponsored by a fashion label that you stock). In this way, you can create a community that actually generates value and income. Because members of communities are self selecting – they are actively interested in the topic that the community covers – they are much more likely to respond positively to tightly targeted advertising than consumers without a specific interest.

How will you measure success?
The size of a community doesn’t necessarily reflect its success. On an owned community, you can measure: what action consumers take after being on your community; what are the most profitable areas of the community; who are the most valuable members of that community – so you can reward them and encourage them to be your advocates; and what, ultimately, the financial impact has been of the community (by including a sales channel, for example). You should also keep a close eye through social analytics on areas that are not operating to plan and react quickly to any negativity or issues created.

With your own community you have a wide choice of tools that you can provide to its members, from activity streams and private messaging, through comment and rating functions to connect functions - so you can connect to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc and share content between networks.

As the community manager you can utilize tools that allow you to generate income through sales or advertising; targeted content; and analyse activity and commercial success.

The level of control that a brand can have on its own community, as opposed to a third party social network page, is what makes it such a compelling proposition. If the barrier to social media take-up by brands is control, then providing a social community within the brand’s ultimate control seems to be an ideal answer.

Promoting Social CRM

For brands looking to improve their customer relationship management, customer communities can be an effective part of a planned multi-channel strategy. For many brands their customers are now the first line in customer relationship management. Consumers are increasingly likely to search for solutions online if they have an issue with a product or service, and many end up finding the answer not from a company representative, but from a fellow consumer who has encountered the same issue in the past.

Although brands cannot and should not manipulate this process, they can provide a place where consumers can come together to form a community, which will become their first port of call if they have a problem to solve or experience to share. Rather than phone the customer service team and answer a list of question to find the solution, customers can go to the community for assistance, helping to alleviate the pressure on call centres. The community becomes part of the customer services mix alongside telephone, email and face-to-face support.

Of course, not all brands will want or need to set up their own customer community. Some may find the community pages on Facebook more than enough for their customers needs. But as their fan base expands, they may want to deepen levels of brand/consumer engagement which Facebook pages currently limit.

What social CRM offers is an opportunity for brands to engage customers over social media, and respond to criticism and complaints head on, rather than burying their heads in the sand. Most brands realise that fans and haters will be there even if the brand is absent. In fact, a failure to engage can alienate the brand from consumers and help foster negative sentiment. Providing a customer community is one way for brands to show that they support and appreciate this contribution.

Other trends we’re seeing at the moment include brands starting to establish social hubs - communities where fans can engage with each other rather than the brand, and talk about interests rather than service or product issues. Brands are also seeking to engage employees and promote company ethos by turning the company intranet, previously used as a knowledge base, into a more social experience.

If you are considering setting up a customer community we have come up with a list of key things to consider, which you can find here. www.huzutech.com