Recently I was asked to do some consulting for a company. They were developing a strategy for their online presence and wanted some assistance. The strategy involved a lot of social media and made some fairly bold claims about the returns on their investment. Upon seeing this, the first question I asked was where was the research to back these claims. There was none, and worse there was no budget to do any market research. Fortunately they had a year’s worth of web metrics that I was able to analyse and offer some practical solutions.

Metrics are often under-utilised as a market research tool, whether it be the number of hits on a website or which demographic is watching a video. Careful analysis of your metrics can yield a wealth of information that you can then use to help develop your digital strategies. Here are three:

Analytics

Google Analytics is probably the most used web metric in the known universe but there are still people that either don’t know about it or fail to analyse the data. Sometimes all people use it for is to see how many hits their site is generating. It’s so much more than that. It can tell you how they reached your site, where they are based, how long they spent on the site, where they clicked out, plus a whole lot more. In the situation above, analysing the company’s data showed that their web site was attracting a different demographic from the one that they had started with. It had actually changed six months before and the company was completely unaware of the change. Once they found out it allowed them to adapt their strategy to better suit their new user-base.

Server Logs

Before Analytics there was the server log. Some people still prefer to log their own traffic or use it in combination with Analytics. I prefer to use a range of metrics simply because they provide me with different aspects of the traffic and it provides me with a better overview of my readers. There may also be security reasons for preferring to do it yourself or you just might not like/trust Google.

Depending on how your web server is configured there is a range of data that is being captured about the users who visit your site: where they are based, which site referred them, how long they were on the site. Many of the same things that Analytics provides. And there are even programs that will analyse this information and package it into a human-readable format (just perfect for your Powerpoint presentation or the end-of-year report). Here are two of the more popular analysers (they are also free):

• AWStats
• Webalizer

Insight

Even YouTube provides a selection of metric data for the videos you upload to their site. It’s called Insight and while you do need 500 or so views for all the features to become available it provides, as the name suggests, an insight into the demographics of who is watching your videos. Gender, age, location, plus there’s even a hotspot graph that shows when your viewers got bored and clicked away. All very useful for your online video market research.

Market Research doesn’t necessarily have to cost the Earth. By analysing the data you are already collecting, and by utilising the free tools that are available, you may find that you have enough information to base your strategies upon. And even if you do need to employ an research agency you may only require a subset of the data. Meaning you save time and, more importantly, money.

Oscar Wilde once observed, The only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about.

And he was right. Good publicity is great, but bad publicity is a PR opportunity. When things go pear-shaped in social media, they splat so hard and so fast it doesn’t seem possible to wash the stink off. With the right approach and strategies in place, however, you can turn a PR crisis around.

Let’s look at a recent example.

The Nestle Facebook Fiasco

Nestle had an ongoing issue with its reliance on palm oil in its confectionery products, the supply of which was being linked to the wholesale destruction of rainforests and dependent wildlife. As customers began voicing their concerns, a Greenpeace documentary made its rounds highlighting the extant of the environmental damage going on.

Overnight, shocked and angry consumers began joining Nestle’s Facebook page en masse to complain. The Nestle Facebook site found itself hosting ninety thousand new “fans”, all hostile. Some used altered Nestle product logos as their profile pics. But this wasn’t the problem.

The real trouble began when the overwhelmed PR rep in charge of the Nestle page threatened to delete posts by people with the defaced logo profile pics, on the basis that they were infringing Nestle’s trademark. When questioned on the validity and appropriateness of this, the rep responded with sarcasm.

Then, as the joke goes, the chocolate really hit the fan.

What went wrong here? A number of simple, and avoidable, errors.

For starters, Nestle was using its Facebook site as just another broadcast medium. Consequently, it was outsourced to a third party agency to manage. The PR rep handling the page was likely a junior staff responsible for dozens of other corporate social media accounts. When the crowd got ugly, the PR rep had no direct access to anyone of authority at Nestle. All the rep could do was point the detractors back to Nestle’s website to read Nestle’s views on the issue. In effect, that’s like talking to a pre-recorded message; it’s pointless, frustrating, and patronising.

And because Nestle didn’t seem to realise that its Facebook audience was strictly opt-in, it failed to capitalise on Facebook’s strengths as a community-building tool. It offered nothing to its few followers, most of whom friended it out of novelty value. Nestle therefore had no base of supporters and fans to counter the critics. When the mob came, the PR rep was on his own.

What could Nestle have done?

A strategy for dealing with offensive behaviour on its Facebook would have helped. Rather than focussing on protecting the brand, the PR should have been seen to defend its own community of Facebook followers first. Threaten to delete posters because they are disruptive, using offensive language, and drowning out genuine debate; not because they are mis-using your company’s logos.

Nestle missed an opportunity here to engage directly with their consumers. Someone at Nestle, preferably the CEO, needed to be monitoring events so they could step in and address any issues promptly. Even if their message was essentially the same as in their online statement, what was needed was the personal touch. The sense that Nestle really was taking the issue seriously, and genuinely cared about how their customers felt.

So how can Nestle turn this PR disaster into an opportunity? Since the Nestle name is currently linked to palm oil and deforestation, Nestle should talk up the connection instead of playing it down. Show the public that Nestle is aware there are problems, and that they are actively trying to minimise harm to the environment. Fund orang-utan habitats and rehabilitation centres. Source from ethical suppliers, and use their considerable buying power to encourage suppliers to behave responsibly. Show how small palm oil plantations actually benefit villages and lift people out of poverty.

It may take time, but by emphasising that the palm oil situation as it currently stands is a necessary evil, and plans are afoot to change this, Nestle can yet regain public confidence in their products. As long as they continue to engage with their consumers on a meaningful level by being respectful to them, and by being open and transparent with their actions.

Negative publicity is bad, but lack of action is far worse. Right when your brand is a hot trending topic is exactly when you need to jump in and change the direction of the conversation, and make turn bad PR into good PR.

Attribution: Slider Image by Jayel Aheram

Here’s a great video demonstrating some real life uses of social media in business. Not just large corporations either but also SMEs.

Gartner recently advised that by 2013 seventy percent of businesses will have guidelines for their staff’s activities within virtual worlds. I’ve just completed a set of behaviour and dress guidelines for a company that has plans to work in Second Life. I’ve adapted them and thought I’d share:

Many of the guidelines that a company currently employs for social networking also apply in virtual worlds. If you need some help in establishing those then here are 40 examples that you can draw upon for inspiration. There are a few issues that are virtual world specific that require special attention, however.

Learn the tools

While any interface requires some time to learn, virtual worlds usually have a sharp learning curve. While it may be possible to wing it on Twitter or Facebook virtual worlds are a different kettle of fish and frankly, nothing says n00b like an avatar that can’t walk in a straight line or know how to sit or otherwise interact with the virtual world. It looks and is unprofessional. It is as harmful as blink tags or animated gifs on your company’s website.

So take the time to learn and experiment. Not just how to operate your avatar but also various social etiquettes involved. Virtual worlds tend to be social microcosms and failing to learn the particular niceties can affect how your company is perceived in-world.

Managers: give your staff the training they need and time to master these new business tools. Encourage them to teach and to collaborate with others. Also provide them with the computing power they need. Don’t expect them to have to work from a 5yo laptop. It may be fine for their everyday work but if their avatars stagger rather than walk then they need a system upgrade.

Dress the part

Very few companies would endorse their reps attending a business meeting with a new client attired in a sloganed t-shirt and jeans. However I see this all the time in the virtual world. As I wrote last year first impressions matter. While that doesn’t mean you should only dress in a suit, it does mean that you should dress your avatar appropriately for the situation. When in doubt err on the side of caution.

Avoid Red Lights

Some virtual worlds like Second Life have red light districts – places of adult entertainment. Unless they have a work-related reason to be there employees should avoid adults-only locations. This goes doubly if they are attired in company logos or have a company cognomen.

Separate Identities

Ideally, employees should be encouraged to have separate work and play avatars. This minimises any issues with their out-of-work in-world play. It also separates their work and play in-world bank balances. Even then employees should act responsibly when using their alternative avatars.

Just as in the real world, when in the virtual world you represent the company. Feel free to engage, collaborate, share and learn in these new online environments, but do so responsibly.

Since the open beta period for Blue Mars began I’ve noticed that some Second Life content creators have been dismissing it out-of-hand. Mostly they claimed that the tools for creating content in Blue Mars were too hard to learn. Many also said that they were not interested in providing content for Blue Mars, and some even inferred that without them to provide the content Blue Mars would wither and die. As I stated in my earlier article, Blue Mars – Being Different, Blue Mars will ultimately be able to draw on a wealth of content, possibly more than Second Life currently does. So if I were generating real world income by providing content in Second Life I would seriously consider taking the time to evaluate Blue Mars as a prospective new market. It makes good business sense, and I can tell you that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands out there, who are eagerly waiting for you to let this opportunity pass you by.

Let me state up front that Blue Mars may fail. It’s an uncomfortable truth that all the developers may be wasting their time, that Blue Mars may never reach the critical mass necessary for it to generate a return. But then again, at the other extreme Blue Mars may be the Microsoft or Google of virtual worlds and just as Microsoft and Google have, Blue Mars may have such a strategic advantage that it sweeps all its competitors – including Second Life – into insignificance.

What should you be looking for?

It’s too early to tell whether Blue Mars will mature into a viable market. It’s too new. There’s still so much important work to be completed. However, there are some elements that may be appealing to an SL entrepreneur wishing to expand. I don’t have any insider information but I expect in an attempt to woo both developers and residents into this new environment land prices are going to be very competitive. Maybe only a fraction of what the equivalent would be in Second Life. This means lower startup costs.

Also, being an early adopter means that the lines of communication to the developers of Blue Mars are likely to be more open. At this stage the community is small and if you have an issue you are more likely to be heard and have that issue enacted upon. This is especially important with regard to governance issues.

What difficulties may you face?

If you’ve only ever used the Second Life tools to develop with then you’ll need to learn a set of new skills. However, much of what you have learnt will still be relevant, only the application and name may be different. You also have a choice of tools – from the free like Google’s Sketchup to the professionally priced Maya. Now is the time to learn how to use those tools – when most of your competitors are on an equally footing and everyone is learning the system. Your consumers are more likely to forgive your mistakes in such an environment. If you are already using these multi-industry standard tools then you may have existing content that you can import directly into Blue Mars. This will save you time and perhaps money. Your upstart time could be slashed.

Unlike Second Life, most development happens outworld. If you’re used to having a social aspect when building then you may miss this. However, it is possible to supplement this need by using social networking tools like Twitter, Facebook or IM. Developing offline does have a distinct advantage in that you can always back your work up.

Probably the biggest difficulty you will face is that Blue Mars is not Second Life. Your expectations about what is possible and how things should be done are going to be skewed in favour of how you do them in Second Life. The best remedy for this is to keep an open mind. Blue Mars is a rapidly evolving platform and you’ll see improvements over the course of time.

What can you bring to Blue Mars?

Your brand is the most obvious. If you have an established brand that is beloved in Second Life then you have an opportunity to bring it into Blue Mars and expand its influence. You’ll already have an advantage over new developers because you’ll have an existing client base: your fellow SLers.

The other thing you can bring to Blue Mars is your knowledge about how to run a successful small business. Running a small business is hard. It doesn’t matter whether that business is in the real world or the virtual world. Workflow, marketing, customer service. Those hard-learnt lessons are just as applicable in Blue Mars as they are in Second Life.

You may believe that you can ignore Blue Mars until it evolves into an economically viable platform. This wait-and-see approach is giving a free-kick to your competitors. They’ll be able to learn the system, guide the development and develop a reputation that will make it harder to compete with when you do finally decide to make the transition. Now is the time for evaluation and even if you choose not to make the leap immediately it is important that you learn the skills that will help you compete in this new environment should you eventually utilise it.

Blue Mars is an exciting opportunity, but every business is different. Whether it is the right thing for your business will depend upon you and your desires. It is vitally important that you spend enough time to carefully evaluate it. Blue Mars will not be a viable option for every SL entrepreneur, but you should make that decision for yourself based on a solid analysis. Otherwise you may discover that not only have you missed a valuable opportunity but that your competitor has snapped it up.

We are working on behalf of a high quality small Feature Film and Music Production company owned by NAME ACTORS. Yes, NAME ACTORS. ACTORS with NAMES. Not NOBODIES like YOU. Projects are QUALITY INDIES with literate scripts (ie. NOT horror – we hate HORROR. STOP sending us HORROR scripts. They’re too scary for our NAME ACTORS). NOTE: WE ALREADY HAVE the writing, directing, acting, singing, musicians, and producing covered. WHAT WE NEED : ONLY ONE – or a MAXIMUM TEAM of 3 TECH PEOPLE – we’re not sure – who have ALREADY worked together and can show their collaborative TECH work.

This is a UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY!. You’ll be working with NAME ACTORS, for no money but just think – NAME ACTORS (as in ‘I got screwed by NAME ACTORS’). Speaking of which you must be over 18 years of age or have decent fake ID – we won’t check too hard. Oh, and you must look hot. SUPER MODEL HOT. They are NAME ACTORS after all. In fact if you’re really SUPER MODEL HOT you may not need to have any technical skills at all. Contact us. Remember to send a photo or lots. Video is nice too. Boys, girls – we’re not picky.

We offer you an UPGRADED Credit on the film and potentially grow with our company : People new to the industry but proficient with TECHNOLOGY are welcome, as are more experienced individuals who have updated their skills. WE NEED a Super-Techie who can:

1. Shoot and Light a Digital Feature
2. Edit the Feature
3. Record and master a Music Album/Sound for the Film.
4. Be really needy and insecure.
5. Do it all FOR FREE!
6. Has their own cape and spandex.

It is of utmost importance that you have ENTHUSIASM for the TECHNOLOGICAL aspects of Film and Music Making. For EXTRA credit : if you can also design a “Flash” Skills Website for the project. Massages are nice too.

Remember, you will be working for NAME ACTORS. An opportunity not to be missed.

* Lampooned from an original positions vacant ad – I didn’t need to change much.

For people in Perth, a good friend of mine, Bret from Free Beer, is running a series of web promotion seminars aimed at businesses that want to increase their web traffic. Bret’s stuff is always top notch and at only $75 is an absolute bargain. I highly recommend that you check it out.

At about the thirty minute mark of my wife’s nearly two-and-a-half hours wait for a doctor this morning I came to the conclusion that there must be a better way to do doctor’s appointments. Being stuck in a crowded waiting room – usually full of sick people – is never any fun. Being stuck with a bored child is a clear and present danger banned under the Geneva Convention and the United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights. It really is a ‘hurry up and wait’ situation as you’re required to be on call and remain in the immediate vicinity. Clearly this is a waste of everyone’s time, so what’s to be done?

Most waiting rooms have a range of ways to relieve the boredom. From ancient magazines to a token scattering of broken toys to the television stuck on the one channel. However the biggest problem is not the wait itself but the lack of feedback.

Consider a system where you’re told upon arriving for your appointment that the doctor is running behind schedule and that you’ll be SMSed or IMed when you need to return to the waiting room. Especially if you’re told the earliest return is likely to be in 2 hours. What would you do? Now, you could choose to stay in the waiting room anyway, but I bet most people wouldn’t.

Or how about a digital screen or board showing either the names in the queue or, if that’s too much of an invasion of privacy, a number that you’re assigned upon arriving for your appointment. At least you’d know that if there are five people before you in the queue it’s alright to dash off to the toilet.

Neither of these systems would be hard to implement. The medical staff already scan your documents and digitise the queue when you arrive, so why not keep the patients informed by making that data available? Even allowing for prolonged examinations and emergencies a 15-30 minute wait is much better than being on call for 150 minutes or more.

Medical practices are foremost a business, so it’s very wise for them to offer good customer service. Even in public hospitals it’s good practice to consider the comfort of of the patients waiting to be seen by the medical staff. Providing up-to-date information and feedback is a straightforward way to ease what is already for most a stressful situation.

I spent another great session at the VIO seminar in Second Life on Monday morning (my time). Xander Newman covered how to deal with real life businesses that are using Second Life for vCommerce. All great stuff and it, deservedly, drew an awesome crowd. However, at the usual after-seminar discussion someone mentioned that they wished they could buy pizza using Second Life. Buying real life goods from a virtual world is not a new thing. Both Dell and American Apparel tried it in Second Life back in 2006. By all accounts both were dismal failures. Likewise delivering pizza (or any other real life product) faces some monumental hurdles to make the experience both worthwhile for the retailer and a valuable alternative to the comsumer.

Believing that something mundane is cooler, better, more elvish when done in Second Life or any other virtual world is hardly a new phenomenon. Back in the late eighties it was considered cool to use the command line to trigger the Coke machine to deliver a can of Coke at the local university computer club. In the nineties it was considered cool to order pizza over the web. The geek-set in particular are known for pushing the boundaries of technology in order to achieve an otherwise mundane result. There’s nothing wrong with that, in fact pizza ordering over the web has become a major marketing differentiation point for some companies. One that their competitors have rapidly employed as well. However doing something for fun and making it into a viable business solution are two very different things.

Consider the problems associated with attempting to deliver pizza from Second Life:

1. Pizza has a limited shelf-life period and so must be provided locally (usually within 30mins or it’s free =). Second Life is global. So any pizza franchise offering orders from Second Life must have a worldwide network of stores. The only pizza chain I know that has anything resembling that is Pizza Hut and they don’t even have a global ordering system for their web interface
2. Most pizza places are open (and deliver) only during limited hours. Second Life is open 24/7.
3. There’s nothing linking your Second Life avatar to you and your delivery address. Therefore the potential for fraud is high. Especially with non-pay info accounts.
4. The Second Life populace is extremely small in comparison to other (and more useful) ordering options like the web or telephone so the ROI is likely to be comparatively small.

One option that may work as a marketing solution is linking a Second Life object to a web interface so that clicking on the object brings up an external web site where you can order your pizza. That doesn’t get around the first two hurdles mentioned above but it may be worth examining as option for a major pizza chain. Certainly the initial outlay would be minimal. However, it may still be non-viable until Second Life has better browser implementation.

So, if Pizza is problematic then what about other real life goods? One option that at least initially looks appealing is the furniture market. An organisation like Ikea who have a worldwide distribution network could conceivably benefit from having a virtual showroom where consumers could see their virtual items on display, buy the virtual item and then try them in a mock-up of their real life home or office.

However even here we’re faced with hurdles that may make the idea non-viable:

1. Second Life’s modelling features are very limited. Getting exact models from an external source and importing them into Second Life is difficult. Second Life only accepts a small number of modelling formats.
2. Even when you’re able to import the models, Second Life may not be able to render them exactly as they appear in the real world. This may create potential legal problems depending on where you are delivering the goods. A disclaimer mentioning the possible differences between the virtual and real-world objects may suffice but what if it doesn’t? It’s something that needs considering during the planning stages
3. At least in Ikea’s case, different stores sell different goods and sometimes at different prices. This means that ordering in Second Life and having the local store deliver it can pose a problem.

Delivering real world goods using a virtual world interface isn’t impossible, but it should never be done just because you can. The questions that always needs to be asked are why is this better? Why are we doing this? How is this helping us? What makes this better for the customer? Only after you have answered them should you consider implementing it.

Over the last few years business has shown a great interest in using virtual worlds for enterprise. Everything from seminars and conferences to virtual trade shows and retail. However, after an initial flurry of activity many soon abandon them. For some the required learning curve is too high to be an effective tool. For others the return on investment is not high enough. Whatever the reasons, no virtual environment seems to have really delivered what enterprise needs for its mass adoption. That may be about to change.

e-lounge's Entry Page

Yesterday I toured Lenovo’s eLounge. eLounge is the beta test for Nortel’s web.alive project chainsaw which is based upon the Unreal engine. web.alive is a multi-featured true-3d virtual environment offering cutomisable avatars, voice communications, security privileges and inworld item interaction. Unlike most virtual environments however web.alive runs in a web browser. It still requires a software download to run, but currently the initial plug-in is only a few hundred kilobytes (yes, kilobytes not megabytes =). That said, there is a delay as you first visit as the plug-in downloads all the required objects and textures but we’re talking only a few minutes here. Subsequent visits access much faster.

The graphics are detailed and richly colourful. The controls are devilishly simple. Anyone that has used a first-person shooter like Doom can easily master using either the arrow keys or W-S keys to move forward and backward and the mouse to look around and change direction. You can use the s and d keys to strafe but unfortunately the arrow keys (my preferred option) don’t allow you to. The voice communications are clear and offer seminar speakers the ability to throw their voice to everyone in the room. Voice also doesn’t travel very far so its possible to have a conversation with those in the same area without disturbing others (or the speaker). It’s also possible to restrict voice communications to only those within a certain room or area thus allowing confidential meetings.

Interacting with inworld objects is also simple but suffcient. A series of red balls allows you to manipulate objects and proximity sensors allow additional information to be delivered directly into the browser. Speakers also have access to presentation and video delivery utilities. Security privileges prevent those not delivering presentations from accessing the stage or the presentation area of a meeting.

The avatars are sufficiently detailed and customisable. There’s even the ability to import a photo from various online sources like Flickr or Facebook and have that used for your avatars face. However my attempts at doing this failed. The sound is delivered in stereo and spatially aware, so you can tell from which direction a speaker is addressing you. There’s also a visual cue in the form of an arrow directing you towards the speaker should you not be using a stereo headset. My headset worked straight away without any additional configuration whatsoever.

While eLounge is free to visit I don’t currently have any pricing information for the web.alive technology. I have been told that pricing is based on a peak capacity lease spread over twelve months. I’m very impressed with web.alive and the Lenovo eLounge. The use of the unreal engine and delivering the content to a web browser is a stroke of brilliance. As my tour guide, Chris Hardy, said, the gaming industry has spent years working out how to deliver graphics and sound across the net. Why not use that? Presuming that the price is right and it scales effectively, the small learning curve and the platform’s focused capabilities make this something I really believe is a must-have tool for business.