Reading Reflection # 3

Chapter 11-The Goundswell Inside Your Company

Whereas the majority of Li and Bernoff's book has focused on utilizing groundswell technologies to best support users/consumers, chapter 11 was a very interesting and equally relevant take on how this approach can also be invaluable to your company from the inside perspective. This chapter especially resonated with me because I work in an organization (Boost Fitness) which I feel could strongly benefit from such tactics.

Boost Fitness is awesome at not having the overly hierarchical nature Li and Bernoff relate that larger companies typically have. However, as a trainer, while I appreciate the voice I have at the specific facility I work at (There are 3 in the central Mass/Metro-West are), I cannot say that there is any communication between trainers across facilities. Besides being coaches and motivators, from a business perspective personal trainers are always sales people. Whether literally selling training, or selling ideas and motivations to best help our clients, we are constantly selling! Li and Bernoff relate and illustrate using Best Buy and the example of Blue Shirt Nation how invaluable sharing information over long distances can be, especially for those in sales! Because of the fact that many people are asking the same questions, it can be a great resource to have a varied perspective on these common issues and be able to view all employee's unique and valuable perspective.

Li and Bernoff state the benefits of Blue Shirt Nation:

i. Listening- management and employees listening to employees
ii. Talking: communicate company-wide uniformly
iii. Energizing
iv. Supporting- promoting from within and building culture
v. Embracing

Just as many clients I work with have similar goals, many clients across the entire organization do as well! So why not create communication? There is huge potential for benefit. For all occupations (and perhaps sales/service more then any) the effective employee must place himself in the mindset where he is constantly learning. Furthermore, employers themselves can learn an immense amount from their employees, as the BSN case illustrates.


Every single day I go to work I try to leave a little bit better at providing my services and closing sales, because every day listening to my clients, learning from a mistake, or being in a new situation evolves my perspective. It could be as simple as saying: Ok, I have realized clients are much more successful when I set short term goals for them, but theses goals must be measurable. Then perhaps I learn, yes, short term goals are essential, but a long term measurable goal is necessary as well to ensure they see the big picture and continue to stay motivated! This is simply a basic example, but the applications are endless. Above all, company wide communication enhances what matters the most to management, employee skills. Additionally, it energizes and builds a community feel within the organization, something I personally do not have because there is limited interaction between the trainers at the other respective clubs. It is a win-win for both employee's and management! Of course, there are many depths this idea can be taken to, illustrated by the varying approaches of Avenue A/Razorfish, "Intelpedia," and Bell Canada.

Organization wide, multi-level communication: Invaluable!

In any organization where this is an entirely new implementation, it may take time to catch on, and a simple approach is likely best in the beginning (i.e. a basic "forum" vs. an in-depth "wiki.") Regardless, utilizing the Groundswell inside your company in any way WILL bring benefits, and is very cost effective. As Li and Bernoff caution: Consider the opportunity lost by not harvesting this potential!

-Sam

Additional Links:

http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/sme-tv-discovering-the-best-buy-blue-shirt-nation/

http://businessinnovationfactory.com/weblog/archives/2008/09/best_practices.html

Brand Analysis: Boost Fitness

Aside from my academic studies in communications and film, one of my other great passions is fitness. I enjoy the rewarding feeling of changing my body and its capabilities through exercise and hard work, and love to help others achieve their own personal goals! Two years ago I obtained my national accreditation to become a Certified Personal Trainer, and since then I have worked training clients here at Clark (both students and faculty), and more recently at Boost Fitness in Northboro, Massachusetts.

www.myboostfitness.com

Using strategies from Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff’s book, Groundswell (2008), This brand analysis will focus on the social media marketing presence of Boost Fitness, asking the question: Is the organization utilizing groundswell tactics effectively? If yes, how so, and if not, what areas can they improve in?

The good news is that one can immediately see Boost Fitness understands the importance of social media. They have newly revamped their website, and now offer links to their facebook fan page and a Boost Blog (started in Nov. 2010). They also have an “icon” link to Twitter, however it appears they have not set it up yet. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as Li and Bernoff state (chap 4.) if they do not master the “relationships” (rather then simply the “technologies”) then any aspects of their groundswell presence will be negligible. A quick look over their social network presence reveals they do have some work to go with establishing the relationships, as nearly all of their facebook group wall posts are what Li and Bernoff refer to as “shouting,” pitching sales or providing info, but not making a strong enough attempt to actually engage in dialogue with the participants. In short, they are talking to participants when ideally they should be talking “with” them. Not only will this create greater participation in discussion, but as is continually reinforced by Li and Bernoff, it makes business much easy for the company as customers often provide the best innovation. Even though Boost Fitness is not doing this currently, the good news is their attitude toward embracing the groundswell is positive, they simply have to change their approach. Let us now consider a few specific examples from their facebook page contrasting with other leading pages in the industry.

Clearly they have frequent posts, but they talking at their consumers rather than conversing! Farther down the page there was one instance where dialogue between members and management was started up.

Immediately there are several differences with this post. First, it is an original post rather then simply a reposting of a link from their blog. Rather then an “info-blast,” it is a personable notice. Now regard the comments below. The “groundswell” is taking hold even though that was not the intention of the poster. Simply giving the Boost community a place to converse instantly facilitated two very beneficial outcomes, buzz and new product and marketing ideas. Not only did this action “energize” the groundswell, it was completely free. Simply by providing a forum for communication, by talking to fans as if they were in a “relationship,” they very effectively used the groundswell, by accident or not. Boost fitness needs to do this on their facebook page MUCH MORE. I like to use the analogy of social media as one big cocktail party. If you walk up to a group of people and a) Try to sell them a product immediately, or b)tell them a long story they don’t have the time or interest for, they will at best hear you out, at worst walk away, and 99% of the time very little will come from your interaction. No one else will join in the conversation, the ideal scenario. Blog links and articles can be helpful, but they must include a semblance of “relationship,” THEY MUST NOT BE ALL TECHNOLOGY. This can be as simple as prefacing the link with a statement and question. For example, lets examine on of their most recent postings, the article “Are You Drinking Enough Water?” The effectiveness of their attempts at energizing could be increased ten fold simply by prefacing it with something such as:

“This article has really made a difference in the way I train! What do you guys think? Do you feel like you get enough water? What are some of the ways you help make sure you are adequately hydrated?

Even a statement as simple as this makes a potentially huge difference. Now, instead of seeing Boost Fitness Facebook as a mindless automaton, fans are reminded of the truth that there is a person behind all of this! Furthermore, as Li and Bernoff State, perhaps the most important groups to reach regardless of the technological medium are the critics and creators. As of now, Boost could certainly benefit from their presence! Responding to a question like the above query gives participants a direct opportunity to accrue the psychic value we all hold in significance in some way. As Li and Bernoff relate, it is important to appeal to people’s humanistic and altruistic motivations. A conversation as simple as this could start out as a simple energizing attempt, but lead to much bigger relationships and innovations that will be extremely beneficial to both the management and clients. For example, dialogue could begin with “I like such and such water bottle, its big, but not too big to fit in the side of the treadmill,” and continue towards “You know, I have heard a lot of complaints about the lack of a water fountain on the second floor. Do you think that could be something you guys could look into in the future? Thanks!” Boost needs to realize that embracing the Groundswell hinges on the ability to make customers an invaluable and involved part of their innovation. They are actually very receptive to dialogue such as this in traditional person to person communication, but again, need to facilitate these RELATIONSHIPS with their social media ventures.

With this in mind let us take a glance at a few facebook pages from other fitness companies. Keep in mind, boost fitness is a privately owned gym, and does not have the immense budget of these “Globo-Gyms,” but nevertheless, the lesson learned is the same! Even better then that, thankfully it can be done very cheaply!

Notice: Not only does asking a question personally involve members in dialogue, it motivates them personally (as well as encouraging them to come into the gym more/purchase more classes!) One woman even suggested a potentially new target market, and at none of the cost of a focus group, survey, etc.

Notice: Questions creating buzz and relationships both within the user community and between the user and company!

Notice: Questions can be effectively targeted toward specific audiences! Also note the personalized response.

Notice: Groundswell feedback is invaluable for employees as well! From posts like these a trainer such as myself could easily assess their performance against what clients clearly love. Trainers can ask themselves questions such as "do I have enough enthusiasm? Maybe I could pump up the encouragement? Ahh, high energy music, thats a great idea!" These are general examples, but the application is endless.

For next assessment, I will focus more on the specifics. Yes, "relationships" are important, but what are some of the best ways to establish long lasting and effective "partnerships" that are mutually beneficial? I will also delve more into Twitter and Youtube integration.

Let me know what you think! Which Facebook/social media posts do you find yourself most likely to respond to?

-Sam