Social media adoption promises plenty of positive benefits to modern businesses. It is simple, quick, cost-effective, and can help organisations to reach out and collaborate with wide audiences in a variety of interactive forms that simply can’t be achieved through direct communications. Forrester Research analysts predict that by 2010, 82% of all companies will be using social media marketing. Unfortunately there are now too many companies trying their hand at social media without a well thought through strategy. They are blindly jumping on the social media bandwagon without any clear understanding of how to implement it. Companies need to take a step back and plan sound social media strategies as they would any other projects they choose to undertake.

The first step towards implementing a cohesive social media strategy is to set clear aims and objectives. What exactly is the company trying to achieve with social media? There might be many aims, including: increasing sales; increasing engagement with customers; or even decreasing the amount spent on more traditional research and development. Each company must also decide what ‘success’ would look like, and how progress might be measured. This is an important consideration when attempting to prove the business case or ROI of any social media undertaking and to check that the strategy is headed in the right direction.

At the core of social media strategy is the need to fully understand customers, as well as understanding how those customers want to interact with the company. If user research has been conducted for previous projects, then this might be used as a platform from which to develop. For example, if a company has invested in personas during the development of their website, they might choose to update those personas to include their social media usage and help them better understand how any decisions made would feel from a customer perspective.

Of course a company should also listen to what is already being said about them. Social media strategists often talk about tracking ‘buzz’. It is extremely useful to understand who is talking about a company or product, where those conversations are happening and what is being said. This ‘buzz’ can also help to identify which people or conversations are exerting the biggest influence on customer opinion, and what proportion of the potential market are talking about the company in comparison to competitors. By better understanding these factors, a company will know what is being said to influence the perception of their company. There are free tools available for ‘social listening’, as well as extremely powerful subscription tools that can be used to more intelligently search the social space.

Listening to customers is an excellent starting point from which to begin developing a social media strategy. This can stem from understanding who is talking about a company and who is not. Gaps can be identified, or areas where people are not talking in complimentary terms. Once they have an informed idea of where these gaps are, a company can participate in conversations, or create content, with some knowledge of where to aim content and who they are aiming that content at. Solutions might include: participating in social networking sites; releasing podcasts; blogging; or creating a customised interactive widget for customers to use.

One all too common way in which companies still manage to get social media wrong is to head straight for tool and application rollout without any basis of solid user research. Additionally, user research should not end once this initial process has been completed – instead it should be regarded as an ongoing task, first engaging with customers and then measuring the effects of that engagement.

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• Episode title: Rasmus Soejmark from EveryMatrix
• Episode number: 14
• Series: Innovations in eGaming
• Duration: 22.40 minutes

Or, Download the Rasmus Soejmark podcast (9mb)

Listen now: Download audio file (foviance-gaming-ep14-rasmus-soejmark.mp3)

Alternatively you can read our podcast transcript

This podcast has a particular emphasis on multi-media contact centres.

• Episode title: Paul Weald and Penny Downs  On Customer Experience
• Episode number: 5
• Series: on Customer Experience
• Duration: 26 minutes

Listen now: Download audio file (paul_weald_rxp_and_penny_downs_multi_media_contact_centres1.mp3)

Or, download the Paul Weald and Penny Downs podcast (mp3, 11.2mb)

An abridged version of the conversation can be read in our September newsletter.

Alternatively you can read the podcast transcript

Keith McDonnell joins me this week to talk about Bodog Europe’s upcoming plans. I start the podcast by asking Keith about the Bodog brand as they have an innovative licensing model. We then go on to talk about what Bodog can bring to the highly competitive UK market.

• Episode title: Keith McDonnell from Bodog
• Episode number: 13
• Series: Innovations in eGaming
• Duration: 18 minutes

Listen now: Download audio file (foviance-gaming-ep13-keith-mcdonnell-bodog.mp3)

Or, Download the Keith McDonnell podcast ( 8.12mb)

Alternatively you can read the podcast transcript

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Andy McIver joins me this week to talk about the past innovations of sportsbooks, and the future changes in the industry.

Andy has been extremely successful since becoming Sportingbet CEO in October 2006. At the time, the US had just passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) which resulted in Sportingbet having to offload their US facing businesses which represented 80% of their business. Andy had to refocus the business and target other markets in Europe and Asia. They have been very successful in doing this so I asked Andy what were the key factors in their success. In the podcast we also talked a lot about the future both in terms of the technologic advancements and the likely consequences of regulation and consolidation in the industry.

• Episode title: Andy McIver from Sportingbet on Sportsbook
• Episode number: 12
• Series: Innovations in eGaming
• Duration: 17 minutes

Listen now: Download audio file (foviance-gaming-ep12-andy-mciver-sportingbet.mp3)

Or, Download the Andy McIvor podcast (8 mb)

Alternatively you can read the podcast transcript

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Prompt Communications recorded Foviance’s CEO, Paul Blunden, on the business cultures and differences between the UK and US. Paul discusses meeting etiquette, financial regulations and some of the benefits of our differences both in the US and also Europe..

This short podcast covers how Foviance is expanding and looking at its presence across Europe, focussing on Eastern Europe and Asia, (specifically Shanghai) together with looking to opening up in the US in 2010. Paul talks about what this means for the company and how important choosing the right position is in such a large country as the United States.

Foviance is interested in research around population growth within cities like LA and NYC, but also the mature Western European cities in different areas.

Listen now: Download audio file (foviance_podcast_001.mp3)

Or, Download the Paul Blunden podcast (10.4mb – Duration 5 minutes 43 Sec)

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Interview with Jason Spencer, MD of Millward Brown

• Episode title: An interview with Jason Spencer
• Episode number: 3
• Series: Expert Interviews
• Duration: 35 minutes

Listen now: Download audio file (foviance-expert-interview-jason-spencer.mp3)

Or, Download the Jason Spencer podcast (16mb)

An abridged version of the conversation between Jason Spencer and Paul Blunden can be read in our June Newsletter.

Alternatively you can also read the Podcast transcript

This weekend I caught up with Marcus Wareham, CEO of Mfuse. We talked about the challenges Mfuse face in providing the mobile offering for sportsbook operators such as Ladbrokes, Bet365, and Sportingbet.

We also discussed how the developments in mobile technology, in particular the increased use of the touchscreen, are going to change the betting experience for users.

• Episode title: Marcus Wareham from Mfuse on Mobile
• Episode number: 11
• Series: Innovations in eGaming
• Duration: 16 minutes

Listen now: Download audio file (Foviance-Gaming-ep11-Marcus-Wareham-mFuse.mp3)

Or Download the Marcus Wareham podcast (8 mb)

Alternatively you can read the podcast transcript

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Foviance’s founder, Catriona Campbell, recently spoke at a number of gaming conferences including eGaming Review’s Power50 and Bullet Business’s Online Bingo Summit. I caught up with her last week to talk about the main topic of the presentations she gave – Social Gaming. We talked about the challenges operators have in engaging their players both on their own sites and on the web in general.

• Episode Title: Catriona Campbell from Foviance on Social Gaming
• Episode number: 10
• Series: Innovations in eGaming
• Duration: 11 minutes

Listen now: Download audio file (foviance-gaming-ep10-catriona-campbell-foviance.mp3)

Or Download the Catriona Campbell from Foviance podcast ( 5.5mb)

Alternatively you can read the podcast transcript

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Brian MacSweeney joined me on the podcast this week to discuss Live Betting which has really revolutionised sports betting in recent years. Brian founded Boolabus, a product development company specialising in the online betting and gaming sector. Previously he was managing director at Endemol Gaming, where he moved them from the traditional brand licensing model to a product development / distribution model.

In the interview I talked with Brian about the recent developments in live betting and how he felt the area would evolve in the future. We also talked about what innovations in the industry he felt had made the most impact and also the key areas he felt would change the gaming industry in the next couple of years.

• Episode title: Brian MacSweeney from Boolabus on Live Betting
• Episode number: 9
• Series: Innovations in eGaming
• Duration: 16 minutes

Listen now: Download audio file (foviance-gaming-ep09-brian-macsweeney-boolabus.mp3)

Or Download the Brian MacSweeney from Boolabus podcast (8mb)

Alternatively you can read the podcast transcript

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