Overall: IBM Global Services
Usability & Effectiveness: IBM Global Services
Content, Features & Capabilities: Accenture.com
The ripples of IBM.com’s latest site redesign reached the professional services segment this year and has rocked Accenture.com’s first place ranking. The question now is whether or not the tide will turn in 2012. Here’s the rundown from first place to last: Read More→
Overall: Oracle.com
Usability & Effectiveness: IBM Software Group
Content, Features & Capabilities: Oracle.com
With two companies performing complete site overhauls–and one nudging its site into place over the past year—rankings were bound to change in 2011. So which sites were the major movers and shakers over the past 12 months? Which ones are the sites to watch through 2012? Here’s the rundown from first place to last: Read More→
Why The Gap’s latest social media strategy workedDid you hear that the blue jean giant The Gap announced a new logo? Yeah, it didn’t create a blip on my radar either. I work in the tech biz, and I don’t shop at The Gap.
But what did get my attention is how it’s re-branding effort bombed (and was subsequently pulled) solely based on the public outcry on social media outlets.
There are many blog posts and news outlets weighing in on The Gap’s misguided design decision, and the stunning influence social media can have on corporate decisions. Some blogs even present the intriguing (if not a bit far-fetched) hypothesis that The Gap’s social media strategy was actually an ingeniously crafted publicity stunt formulated to increase holiday sales and bolster waning stock performance.
So was the The Gap’s decision to announce its new logo using Facebook and Twitter a public gaffe or social coup? President of Gap Brand North America, Marka Hansen believes they “did not go about this the right way.” Sorry Ms. Hansen, I disagree. To my mind, it is proof positive that when a company employs social media properly—intentionally or accidentally—it strikes gold. Read More→
Real people, real voices, real timeWhile the SMB & mid-size market are using social media to just get their name out to the masses, large companies are learning how to use social media & communities in tandem for a whole new purpose. And it is literally changing the face of IT.
Large IT companies don’t need to get their name out there. I mean, who doesn’t know IBM, HP, Apple, or Dell? I would bet that even your grandmother knows the name of one of these companies, even if she doesn’t know how to use a mouse. So, aside from using social media as a slick press release system, how do large companies use these outlets to their advantage?
Dell’s Storm Sessions aren’t getting much traction, but you shouldn’t count them outI can remember when flash mobs were a hot topic in the media; essentially a group of people with more time on their hands than good sense. I figured this phenomenon would go the way of the mosh pit.
Who knew that Dell.com would try and harness it as a form of online community behavior?
Here, I’m talking about Dell.com’s Storm Sessions which nestle within its Idea Storm community. In simple terms, this is the place where Dell throws out an idea or question for community members, starts the clock, and lets community members throw in their opinions.
Gabfests can be open for a month or a few days. Once the clock has run out, the session is closed, Dell reviews the comments, and shares how/when Dell will act on the information.
I’ve been watching Storm Sessions for about six months to see if this idea would gain any traction within Dell’s community ecosystem and gauge the kinds of issues and questions Dell would pose. Read More→
It’s 5 o’clock — do you know what your moderators are doing?I’ve been doing deep dives into some communities on the Web and have decided that many of them are time bombs waiting to go off in companies.
To see why, let me take you on a quick trip down memory lane.
In a previous life, I was a strategic consultant to major IT companies – and once found myself presenting to Wang Lab’s Board of Directors. The topic of the day was customer satisfaction. A cadre of VPs were telling Dr. Wang that customers loved the company. Our customer satisfaction surveys showed that the peasants were getting ready to storm the castle, pitch forks and all.
Wang’s solution to the problem was simple. The company’s engineers and support staffs were mobilized to visit all of Wang’s major customers, chat up product benefits, and listen to their needs. Six weeks later, the company had to sponsor a series of mandatory classes to teach its technical staff how to talk to customers, and wear a suit and tie. Customer satisfaction never improved — and the end game is now industry lore.
Fade out a couple of decades later and we have the same situations brewing in digital form. To see why, consider a couple of examples I ran across the other day.
There are plenty of ways to design reward programs. This isn’t one of them.In my recent online communities strategy report, I stressed the importance of designing reward programs to encourage visitors and members to engage in the conversation, rather than lurk and listen. It’s the secret to the success of the largest and most vibrant communities – whether they are targeted at brand building or product support.
The issue is, of course, what kind of reward program? Should companies dangle an iPad or a cruise in front of members or go for bragging rights?
Bragging rights are the most popular and arguably the most effective. These programs are usually based on a point system. Members get points when they answer a question – and receive additional “Brownie points” when the answer actually works.
Point levels create a pecking order where members with the highest points qualify for a particular status – and thus, more community trust. Typical levels range from Contributor (clueless but participating) to Expert (actually knows what s/he’s talking about).
As an aside, it’s worth mentioning that Oracle.com’s Ace program has an interesting variation on the theme. It allows members to vote for other members to become an Oracle Ace – the highest status on the OTN site. It’s a great way to allow the community to decide who really provides value (vs. activity) – although the ballot process requires the company to sponsor the contest and handle the back end logistics. (Think of it as a really complicated Cosmo quiz with some bite.)
And then we have HP, who uses a series of point systems with some very odd twists. Read More→
It’s time to stop fiddling around and apply them where they matterThe French have a wonderful phrase “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”. It’s an elegant way to say that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
That’s certainly the case when you consider the complex B2B buying process. Since our last update in 2006, this process remains the same. It’s still dictated by task forces and committees who must wade through 17 steps to get to the finish line. Participants are still purchase influencers, rather than the decision makers companies crave. Websites still influence only 5 steps in the buying process.
But that doesn’t mean that everything remains the same. Read More→
This week we started our Q1 evaluations of 23 Websites, plus additional sites selected by our clients for comparison.
We’ve mixed up the siteIQ eBusiness Index for 2010. In some cases the decision was based on eliminating Websites that haven’t improved over the past year and don’t provide any good or best practices worth tracking. In other cases, sites have fallen off our list because they don’t exist anymore. That would be EDS.com which was integrated into HP.com — and Sun.com which went off the airwaves last week.
In both cases, these sites are a loss to anyone who cares about good and great practices. Don’t bother to follow them to their new homes. Their presence inside of their new parent’s sites is nothing to write home about.
Here’s some more about the new sites added to our roster – and why we’re singing “auld lang syne” to others. (If you are a siteIQ client you can read more about what we expect from these and other leading sites in 2010 in our new executive brief in the siteIntelligence Research Center). Read More→
In my last post, I listed the five mistakes companies make when planning and operating their online communities. Mike Moran, one of the industry’s smartest search marketing gurus (and a former IBM.com’er), offers three pieces of great advice about how to carefully start an online community in his latest blog. Given what we’ve seen, I couldn’t agree more.
Idea communities factored greatly in our new report about the best and worst IT communities, and Dell.com’s IdeaStorm ended up as the poster child for an idea community gone off the rails. For those of you who want to avoid this fate, Mike ‘s related blog Do it Wrong Quickly offers three points that can help keep a lot of companies out of the ditch.
