I’m changing tack! To follow my continued interest in creating better communities, better teams and better ways of working together, I’m leaving the social media ocean, which has met many of the needs of individuals but has struggled to build collaboration and dependable communities.

So  as I head into new waters, I’d like to invite you to join me.  The new waters are:

The Sea of Meetings

We all have meetings and I guess we all feel they could be a bit more efficient.  I’m going to be focusing specifically on the structure of meetings: agendas, minutes and actions – helping people to get the meeting, this fundamental unit of team work, right. How can we use web technology to make meetings altogether better and more productive?

The blog for this is http://www.themeetingminutes.com – a web resource for anyone searching for advice on running great meetings. It features my own posts and also guest posts – so if you have a view of meetings that you’d like to share – ping me a mail (toby@pailz.com) – and I’ll send you a brief.

TheMeetingMinutes.com - meeting advice blog

The Big Game River

Games are everywhere, we play them everyday, we just don’t usually call them out as such. Whether it is ‘levelling up’ at work with a promotion or losing points on your driving licence, the mechanics of gameplay are often used.  Over the next few years, as a new generation of workers join the workplace, those brought up with the benefits of game playing, will expect those same benefits when applied to work. Common game benefits such as transparency of how to win (which points make prizes) and visibility of progress and where you stand versus colleagues (leaderboard) will become standard.

I’m launching a blog to track and analyse this change – called ‘Gamification Of Work‘ – do subscribe and keep track on the Game Layer at the top of the world….

And social?

I’m afraid that means the end of blogging at The Social Bazaar – the social layer is built, it is now widely understood, now on to build the game layer…  join me

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More petals mean more social engagement [Photo credit: The Big Quack via Flickr

Indeed, one of the participants was a full time social game designer and the session prompted him to fix a negative daily loop on his application today!

A key question that came up, which is worth discussing here in the blog, is what percentage of acquistions are likely to come from the viral engagement channels (the viral petals in our model) versus from the initial discovery (the stem).

This relates to the virality of the app, as measured by the viral coefficient (the number of earned users you get relative to each paid user). Obviously benchmarks vary wildly depending on the application type but I would say that if you see 30% uplift (a viral coefficient of 0.3) on your initial discovery then you are doing well. For a product to ‘go viral’ – i.e. to spread of its own accord you would need to see a viral uplift of at least 100% – for each person you add they bring in at least one more.

Facebook Credits: could they be a new global currency?

Facebook Commerce is coming, haven’t you heard?  Doing business with your customers via Facebook is the next big thing. So, if you’re lagging behind in this space, what should you do to get ready?

1. Build a fan base

Creating a Facebook fan page (or 100 fan pages) creates you a beachhead on the world’s favourite social network and an owned audience channel to engage with your fans for as long as they ‘like’ you.  Companies like Syncapse [Disclosure: where I work] or any of the Facebook Preferred Developer Consultants will help.

2. Integrate social plugins to your website

Take a look at The Huffington Post - note how it uses your Facebook identity to provide you a personalised experience – the news as recommended by your friends. Go and do likewise.

3. Create a Facebook application so you have permission to message your Facebook fans via email.

A Facebook application, whether a competition, a game or utility, will give you access to the social data you’re going to need to be successful – at minimum it’s a way to send a push message to your customers via email.

4. Understand Facebook Credits 

Facebook Credits could be the global currency of the future – but every transaction will cost you 30%? Seems a crazy percentage? Well it’s for real, you’d better look at your your financial model in light of this. Credits are only accepted for virtual goods at present but understanding why they are worth 30% is perhaps your first port of call.

5. Start trialling today

Take one part of your business and start trialling some aspect of Facebook commerce – there are off the shelf tools to try, as you can see from my own Facebook shop.  The only thing is clear, doing nothing and just ‘listening’ as so many companies seem to be doing, is no longer an option.

Social media content should be like a canape - quick to gobble and easy to digest. Photo: sushi♥ina

Too many brands and companies are trying to create immersive and complex experience for their customers on social media.

The reality is that social media content should be quick to read and easy to digest. That’s because social media is the equivalent of a drinks party – we’re standing up, talking to lots of people, we haven’t sat down to a full meal.

When I sign up to your website, that’s when I’m ready for a full meal – that’s the time to give me white papers, full game experiences, complex competitions.

When I’m on social, I’m a butterfly, fluttering past, think yourself blessed if I stop by to nibble on one of your content canapes. That means 140 character twitter posts that say everything you want to say, Facebook wall posts that include a single meaningful photo and youtube videos that are under two minutes long.

Lynx Angel Ambush using 'Augmented Reality' at Victoria Station

First the Spark – we have the ‘lynx angels that lose their halo’ tv spot ad.

Then Ignition – this is extended by providing an experiential ‘augmented reality’ angels that drop down at Victoria station.

And Fuel – publishing on YouTube amplified the campaign and the ambush. And the result? – a further 300,000 views of the Victoria station ambush.

Nice marketing work. Though not exactly biblically accurate…. ;o)

Michael Wilson - the epitomy of social media style?

So what is Social Media Style – if you’re working in the industry it’s important.

We know it’s not suits, that was for the 90s but it’s not dress down t-shirts and slacks either.

Social Media Fashion is the ultimate in between – the de facto dress code is in fact – sharp shoes, designer jeans, shirt and blazer. If it’s sunny then you should really be wearing shades.

Check out Michael Wilson above, one of the trendier people in my life at the moment (Disclosure: he sits opposite me at Syncapse).  Let’s break down his wardrobe:

- Shades by Ray Ban
- Long Coat from Benetton
- Shirt from Got Style (Toronto)
- Jacket and Shoes – custom made in Vietnam
- Jeans by Paul Smith
- Socks by Happy Socks

So there you go. I know you’ve been wondering but at last a real guide to what to wear to that next social media party.

And for what not to wear? Well coming soon to a blog to you

My Payvment Facebook shop is up and running

I’ve been playing around with Payvment recently on my, self styled, Facebook Public Figure profile.

There is of course competition, and I’ve highlighted the main contenders below:

Payvment - http://payvment.com/facebook/

Milyoni - http://www.milyoni.com/

Alvendi - http://www.alvenda.com/

UsableNet - http://www.usablenet.com/the-platform/usablenet-facebook/

Wishpot – http://www.wishpot.com

Of these, Wishpot is worth highlighting for bigger brands as it doesn’t try to rebuild the full ecommerce experience within the Facebook channel. For getting started with social likes around products it looks the right product.

Fabio De Bernardi, the European evangelist for the product, told me  ”Wishpot decided NOT to follow the usual approach but rather to be a storefront which redirects to the merchants ecommerce to finish the transaction. This was because of several factors, among which ease of integration (which helps keeping costs down), to avoid reducing traffic to the merchant’s site and to allow the merchant to get people’s sign ups (when needed)”

Notwithstanding Wishpot for companies with existing ecommerce sites, my personal storefront is up and running with Payvment, visit my Facebook shop and buy your first product within Facebook – for just £2 I’ll give you a cheery wave and a smile, digitally if necessary!

Petal Model for Social Engagement

I want to introduce a new model for planning social engagement around your application or page. I’m calling it the Petal Model as it has four ‘petals’ that you need to think about when designing for social.

The diagram above shows the model, now here’s the explanation!

Discovery – this is where completely new users find out about your page or app.  This might be media traffic driving or from another channel (website or email for example)

Active Viral Loop - this is how users will get their friends to engage. It’s active because it requires the user to do something additional to entice their friends in – it might be publishing a post on their wall or inviting a friend to join in a game.

Passive Viral Loop – this is how friends discover the application indirectly – for example seeing a friend in the leaderboard, seeing that a user has invited a mutual friend and clicking in to see what the fuss is about.

Positive Daily Loop – this is a reward a user can get each day they return to the application. Typically this might be a daily virtual coin bonus or in an online farm this might be some crops that can be harvested.

Negative Daily Loop – this is the penalty for what happens if you don’t return. In our online farm this might be that the crops die, the farmyard overgrows with weeds and so on.

By considering all four types of loops in a social application you will be well on your way to ensuring you are maximising your social engagement and the spread of your application.

Don’t forget that just as a flower can have many petals, there is no limit to the number of petals you have in your application.

As an exercise, why not look at a game like FrontierVille and count the loops you can find – you may be surprised just how many there are…

On the face of it, a sophisticated loyalty card scheme, such as Tesco Clubcard, only really benefits the consumer by offering price advantages. For those that take a little time to consider and use the vouchers that means money off. Well we all like that.

However, I wonder whether there are more benefits such as being prompted to buy products that you forgot last week, or even new products that you had never considered using before. There is an added benefit of relevance that we often disregard but still matters. Indeed it could matter more than price.

Let’s take a fictional Susie shopper. One week, she buys Arial powder for the washing machine and a bottle of Sunsilk shampoo. She uses her loyalty card so Tesco, or another supermarket knows what she has bought.

Overnight, the data analysis engines run and they find that there are “holes in her basket” – products she didn’t buy. These holes represent upselling opportunities for the retailer. So, in her next batch of vouchers, she is offered £1 off Sunsilk’s conditioner and 50p off a bottle of Comfort to improve the softness of her clothes wash. Susie then uses her vouchers and buys these companion products and, low and behold, her hair is shinier and her clothes are softer.

The retailer might argue, fairly reasonably, that these tangible benefits have improved her standard of living above that of her friends. Lots of tangible benefits together can improve ones quality of life – she feels happier, cleaner, more beautiful and so on.

The new opportunity for online marketers is to combine point-of-sales information (perhaps via e-commerce) with social data and social advertising from sites such as Facebook, to deliver a similar opportunity for consumers, only online.

There is of course a privacy argument and such schemes should always be on an “opt-in” basis but for those that do, there is the added advantage of having relevant adverts served, at the right time, at the right price, for products and services we might actually want.

To see this in action we only need to look to the online games companies. In games such as Farmville it’s standard practice to understand the current status of a player (whether they have a barn or not for example), what they are trying to achieve (trying to get to the next level) and to make them an offer so they can short cut by paying a small fee (£2 to upgrade to a barn and make it to level 6).

The games companies can achieve this because they control everything – the status, the objectives and the marketplace (not to mention the currency and prices…). For ordinary companies they may only see one piece of the puzzle which is why Social data becomes so important.

Using, on an opt in basis, social data from sites such as Facebook, combined with activity data from platforms such as Syncapse Platform, we can start to build a picture of our customer and make them advertising offers entirely relevant to them individually – “you just got engaged? I see you’ve been looking at our Maldives pages? Here’s ten reasons why you should choose the Maldives and a great offer on our honeymoon packages”. Or perhaps we want to prevent customer churn – “I see you’ve been buying pet food from us but you’ve just become a fan of our competitor store – what have we done? Here’s some vouchers to lure you back!”

Yes it does get creepy. Yes it requires significant privacy controls in place throughout the digital experience – but it provides an a new way to reach consumers for marketers and for consumers it might just bring the benefits of loyalty cards to other places in the market. What do you think? Creepy or Convenient?

Now for me, I’ve just organized a dinner party on Facebook, who is offering me my money off wine vouchers…!

The Nudge Logo we eventually launched the company with

It’s a little known fact that the popular Nudge logo above actually started life as a crowdsourced design.

Crowdsourcing using 99designs.com, a popular web 2.0 site, involves running a design competition over a week where all the participants can see other entries.  The person running the competition can feedback immediately a new logo design is posted, so ensuring a fast  iterative loop that the whole crowd participating in the competition can benefit from.

In Nudge’s case the final logo was finished off by Nudge creative director Steve Folkes but the main idea – using the letters n and u to create a gentle sense of nudging movement came from the crowd (credit here to the competition winner Tim Shundo)

Now Nudge has been successfully acquired by  Syncapse, I can definitely say crowdsourcing worked for us. Thank you everyone!

Here’s Tim’s winning design below:

Winning entry for the 99designs Nudge Logo competition by Tim Shundo