“Many companies turn to outside agencies for help designing self-service channels or products — but the more lasting value of the partnership is often the agency’s ability to influence its client’s culture and process. In addition to sharing their design methodologies, agencies can help clients navigate politically dangerous waters, get people in different organizations talking to each other, and break down barriers to conflict resolution. Seek out agencies — like Management Innovation Group — that actively aim to improve corporate culture and process through design projects.”

But so far, small companies and start-ups have dominated this space. Amazon represents the closest example we have to a large, established company using social media productively, and Amazon is only ten years old. Small companies looking for disruptive innovations have moved quickly to establish interactive relations with customers online. And perhaps because they are relatively resource-poor — necessity being the mother of invention — start-ups have leveraged the public as their writers, editors, and collaborators. Can large companies play too? We think so.

The Management Innovation Group has developed a framework for any company considering how to build a social media platform. Fundamentally it’s about asking the right questions at the right time, and having the experience to know what the right answers look like.

We start by teaching our clients to identify consumer segments and the opportunity to serve them. This research needs to look across current and potential customer types, and mix questions from ethnographic and marketing points of view. The results should express segments in terms of behavior and lifestyle affinities rather than demographics.

After understanding our customer segment, we explore which business benefits are desired and possible. Being explicit at this stage helps answer hundreds of downstream design decisions. Are you trying to succeed in customer acquisition? Publicity? Customer research? Building a scalable product platform? Viral marketing? Lower development costs?

Having defined our goals we can develop a combination of business process and technology. Again, the right questions are crucial: What is the potential size of the customer base? How do you solve the chicken-and-egg problem of building a critical mass of customers? What are the relative merits of social networking and social media? How can you combine social media with traditional, centrally-produced media? Should you buy, build, or partner?

This approach might look backwards from your typical business strategy or technology development, and it should. Social media platforms that neglect to put the customer first never fail to fail. Companies that over-prioritize software selection or purely selfish business needs are vulnerable to a steady stream of agile, customer-focused new competitors.

While many companies will want to enhance their business with social media, not all will succeed. A social media platform doesn’t simply mean adding an online forum or blog. It requires a shift in organizational mindset, a mindset of constant and immediate customer interaction, customer-driven innovation, and exponential network effects. Only companies willing to make this shift will have the discipline to ask the right questions.

Keywords: Web 2.0, participation, blogs, wikis, forums, ratings, web applications, services, internet

A one-day seminar from the Management Innovation Group

Schedule

March 23, 2006 at the Information Architecture Summit in Vancouver.
Scott Hirsch, Victor Lombardi, and John Zapolski of MIG will be joined by
Harry Max, Independent Consultant, formerly of DreamWorks Animation
Mark McCormick, Director of Design at Wells Fargo

August 17, 2006 in Denver, Colorado.

Description

While the skill level of design teams has increased dramatically over the last several years, many still lack the tools necessary to understand and articulate the broader implications of their work within a complex and dynamic business environment. The most successful are better at recognizing the roots of strategic change and opportunity, assessing the potential impacts on their organization, and determining what to do and who to involve in getting it done.

This workshop introduces participants to a new way of thinking about cause and effect in complex organizations — within functional groups, across departments, beyond business units, and across industries. Participants come away with a set of tools to identify social, cultural, economic, and technological change, match products to emerging and changing markets, develop strategies to capture market value, and change organizational capabilities to reflect changing market and technological dynamics. Special attention is given to learning how to create and maintain a workplace and culture that facilitate and sustain innovation and change.

Questions

Here are some of the basic questions that we will help participants answer, both in general and in the context of their companies:

• What is a business model? A value proposition? A business strategy?
• Given my role, what contribution am I making to my company’s success?
• How does my function deliver value in my company’s business model and value proposition?
• How do I determine how to choose my battles wisely: which high-value projects to push and which can stay on the back burner?
• How do I say “no” to bad projects? What language will be most convincing to my management and stakeholders?
• How can I get more visibility for my function in my company? How do I build alliances with like-minded stakeholders?
• How do other functions typically understand business problems, and how does that compare to the perspective from my discipline?

Who Should Attend

This session is designed specifically for managers and leaders who seek to use design as a strategic tool to understand and influence organizational change. While a deep knowledge of advanced design principles is not necessary for this session, participants should be willing to explore their roles as leaders and change agents within their organizations.

Types of attendees most likely to find this workshop compelling include:

• Managers of design teams
• Product Managers
• Entrepreneurs seeking to build a culture that values design
• Design practitioners who report to a non-designer manager
• Anyone who aspires to enhance their role as an internal change agent

Comments from Recent Participants

“The presentations were full of useful information, and Scott, John, and Victor were very responsive to the group’s needs and questions. I appreciate how the whole day was planned in sequence: multiple levels of experience and different points of view were considered. I felt engaged in the conversation and left the talks inspired to investigate the topics further and continue the conversations.”
Jon Littell, Hot Studio, Inc.

This poster presents an overview of value creation through social media in contrast to broadcast and interactive media.