Audience Engagement in SMM. Chapter Four

Transcription

1 Audience Engagement in SMM Chapter Four 29

2 by Tyler Altrup, Solutions Architect, Badgeville Strategies to Engage Attendees: The Science of Gamification Gamification has evolved beyond its buzzword roots and has now become a proven and widespread engagement strategy. People want to gamify their websites, their communities and their internal applications. They want game-like experiences on the show floor, during education sessions and on all their social channels. In fact, according to Gartner Research, 70 percent of Global 2000 companies will use gamification solutions by ¹ 1 Gartner press release,

3 So what is gamification? Quite simply, it s the process of using game, social and reputation mechanics to drive desired behaviors. Members not posting enough in your community? Offer points for each post that can recognize them as key influencers. Buyers not visiting enough booths? Create a scavenger hunt on the show floor that drives them to specific booths for relevant information. Virtual event attendees not participating during sessions? Create a leaderboard online that designates various titles for various levels of involvement. Events are unique in that they have many technology touch points mobile apps, the show website, maybe a community, multiple social media fronts, check-ins and other digital activities. Gamification can help to: + Unify: Tie all pieces of the event experience, including online and offline behaviors, together into a single program + Motivate and Recognize: Engage attendees more fully in the event and recognize them for that + Optimize: Analyze behavior data to constantly improve programs Live Customer Example Starting in 2012, Badgeville began supporting a Fortune 100 technology company which hosts an annual user conference, attended by as many as 15,000 customers. This enterprise wanted to increase the engagement level of its online user community. It had more than 250,000 community members, but faced a challenge in motivating them to post messages, complete profiles, answer questions, etc. The firm needed to encourage members to do more to stay actively engaged within the community and to increase the community s utility and value to all members. To do so this company worked with Badgeville to create a system that awarded points for various activities 180 points for posting a blog, 160 points for starting a discussion, 200 points for answering a question, and so on. The annual user conference was tied into the program as well, with activities such as checking in with your badge at a designated location earning community points. Tyler Altrup s Top 3 Best Practices Engaging attendees through gamified experiences has many benefits, including improved booth traffic and lead gen; connecting all the technology touch points of your event into a single recognition program; and motivating the behaviors you want while delivering a more meaningful experience for attendees. If you want to get started with your own gamification program, here are three tips from Tyler Altrup at Badgeville. 1. Design first for simplicity. Identify the four or five key event behaviors you want to influence. 2. Define a specific mission...that captures all your event technology touch points for those attending. (And use social technology so those who couldn t attend can follow along.) 3. Focus on your rewards. What will motivate your attendees? Status? Recognition? Access? Privilege? 31

4 Next, we created a series of missions. Online it might be 50 comments to unlock a Master Commentator badge, or 100 visits to the community to earn the Frequent Visitor badge. At the show, groups of relevant booths were tied together into tracks. As a member s point total rises, they earn rewards. Rewards provide virtual recognition on a community profile, but we also leveraged various social media platforms to give social recognition. Beyond that, however, we want to offer access and privilege. Anyone unlocking a certain badge, for instance, might be entered into a raffle for a personal meeting with the company s senior executives or subject matter experts. You can certainly give away ipads or other prizes, but we see that virtual rewards, social recognition and special privileges can be even more impactful. It s also crucial that the badges are framed as a component of their expertise. We didn t call it the booth adventure badge. We called it the Product Expert reward. The system of rewards and missions must be relevant and meaningful for all participants. On the show floor, we tied together several relevant parts of the experience. Exhibitors saw more booth traffic and contacts, and the firm was able to understand more about those in their community and their interactions with the company. The experience can also work to extend the event s life cycle to motivate behaviors before, during and after. You can even look at rewarding cross-event behaviors at partner or affiliate events. This Badgeville customer awarded activities at its own show as well as partner and affiliate events. Delivering Business Outcomes Gamification platforms and design strategies can drive substantial value for event programs. First, they provide event managers with a toolkit to connect the many attendee behaviors into a single system. They also motivate and recognize attendees to drive increased engagement, including scanning and lead generation. Most importantly, technologies like Badgeville working with event management technology enable event managers with the data to understand their audiences and the tools to influence them. Tyler Altrup Solutions Architect, Badgeville Tyler Altrup is a Solutions Architect at Badgeville, The Behavior Platform. Badgeville is the #1 gamification platform. With over 200 global customers, Badgeville offers gamification solutions for marketers, sales & services managers, HR leaders and product managers to increase customer loyalty and employee performance. Badgeville s customers include Samsung, Deloitte, VMware, Oracle, Universal Music, NBC, and more. Tyler specializes in strategic design for gamification and behavior management programs for Badgeville s clients across virtually every industry. In his previous role with EMC, he managed social insights, social monetization and gamification while leading the launch of RAMP, EMC s Recognition, Award, and Motivation Program on the EMC Community Network (ECN.) He is a frequent blogger on all three topics, as well as music and gaming, at Gamification.co, GamifiedEnterprise.com, and TylerAltrup.com. Visit badgeville.com for more information. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tyleraltrup 32

5 by Joanna Belbey, Social Media and Compliance Specialist, Actiance Managing Social Media Compliance within Financial Services Industries Could tagging photos on Facebook of clients at a company event be considered a testimonial by the Securities & Exchange Commission? Are the 2011 annual meeting LinkedIn posts from an ex-employee e-discoverable? Will your event live-tweeting policy prevent a Gene Morphis-type incident? (You ll recall, Morphis is the ex-cfo of clothing retailer Francesca s, who was fired last year for improperly communicating company information through social media after he tweeted Board Meeting. Good Numbers=Happy Board six days before earnings information from the first quarter was scheduled to be released.) The fact is, social media compliance is still new, and many regulations have yet to be tested. Frankly, there s still question as to whether the rules applied to registered persons even have to be followed by those in other departments. It all really depends on your corporate culture. Every compliance department has its own way of interpreting the rules into daily operations. The guidelines issued by regulators are not prescriptive. They re meant to be interpreted. In January, 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued its first guidance on social media. Regulatory Notice 10-06: Guidance on Blogs and Social Networking Websites, breaks down the regulations into four main categories. And while each type of financial services firm (institutional, insurance, retail banking, securities) has its own set of rules, and its own regulators, most follow these same general concepts. 33

6 Social Media: Blurring Event Lines It should be noted, as well, that most of these regulations were put in place to protect investors and the general public. Whether they apply to company meetings where only employees are present is open to some debate. Social networks, however, by their very nature, can often blur the line between in-house and outside communication. And again, the corporate culture at individual firms will vary, and whether regulated or not, some firms tend to use these guidelines as best practices to be applied company-wide. 1. Recordkeeping. All written communications for business as such must be captured, archived and made e-discoverable. If litigation arises, regulators want to see who said what, to whom and when. So you can imagine how this might affect a live-tweeting policy at an event. You re either going to need a software program to capture the tweets, or you re going to have to print out each tweet, have it initialed and filed. It s been easier for some firms to simply ban the use of Twitter at events. 2. Suitability. Financial advisors must make recommendations suitable for each individual customer. Since you can t possibly make the same recommendation to all who are following you, most companies prohibit recommendations on social media as well as recommendation engines such as on LinkedIn. 3. Advertising. Ensuring that ads are truthful, and not misleading, static ads (think print and web banners) must be pre-approved by a principal of the firm, while interactive communications (LinkedIn or Facebook posts, for instance) can be supervised after the fact. What percentage the compliance department wants to see is set by each company. Testimonials fall under the advertising category, as well. They re prohibited by the SEC, and the bar is set so high by FINRA that most firms simply don t use them. 4. Supervision. This is probably the most important one. You are required to have a plan and a process in place to look at all written communications. But it s not enough to have the plan there must be evidence you ve followed it. I know firms that literally take screen shots of their Facebook page daily and have it signed off on and filed. The Risks of Using Social Media + Data Leakage. Inadvertent or malicious leaks of intellectual property, trade secrets, client information, etc. + Incoming Threats. Employees know not to click on suspicious links, but within social media we relax and share, inviting malware, spyware, inappropriate content and more. + Rules and Regulations. There are over 10,000 rules to wade through from various regulatory bodies that impact social media and it s growing daily. + Employee Behavior. Everyone employee is now the face of the business good or bad. Joanna Belbey s Top 3 Social Media Compliance Best Practices Using social media at financial services events requires great care. Strict guidelines need to be followed. 1. Recordkeeping. Once you decide which social media platforms you re going to use, devise a plan for capturing, archiving and making your posts e-discoverable. 2. Supervision. Have a plan and a process in place to look at all social media communications and make sure there s evidence you ve followed the plan. 3. Compliance. Work with your compliance department. Explain the positive effects social media could have on your events. Will it drive more attendees? Enhance learning? Be specific. 34

7 To Tweet or Not to Tweet at The Event What to include in a social media use policy for events As social media grows in importance as a tool for event planners to excite and engage attendees before, during and after an event, outright bans on the use of it can limit the experiential value of the event, and soften the effectiveness the planner can have on event outcomes. Two to three years ago, use policies tended to prohibit all social media. But the majority now allows at least business card-type information on LinkedIn. But still no posting. The next step is usually a controlled corporate presence, with maybe a dozen people allowed to post. If you re feeling restricted by social media prohibitions in your organization, the first step is the compliance department. Explain the positive effects social media could have on your events with specific examples of how it will improve the effectiveness of your events. Will it drive more attendees? Enhance learning? Be specific. If, like a surprising number of firms, you still have no social media use policy, offer to draft one for at least the event department. In addition to helping prepare the event use policy, plan to work further ahead than normal. Think through as many of your Facebook and LinkedIn posts and tweets in advance and have them pre-approved. The important thing to remember is that pretty much everything is possible if you have a compliance policy for it. + Which networks you ll use and how. + Which social networks will not be used. + Who will be allowed to post on the approved networks and how often. + The rules and guidelines the posters must abide by. + The types of content that will be allowed educational, motivational, marketing, etc. + What percentage of communications you ll have pre-approved, by whom and when. + The training you ll set up for posters. + The use (or non-use) of photos in social media. + The use (or non-use) of clients in social media. + The specific guidelines on the use of social media live, on-site. + What guidelines will employees at company events be held to? No photos? No tweets? Will Facebook check-ins be allowed? + What is the plan for capturing textpolling or other written communications designed to increase engagement on-site? + Prepare a risk-based approach for the frequency of event social media monitoring and review. Joanna Belbey Social Media and Compliance Specialist, Actiance Joanna is a Social Media and Compliance Specialist for Actiance. She helps regulated firms (such as securities and insurance firms) use social media effectively, while complying with rules and regulations. Joanna is an enthusiastic user of social media (follow her on and provides strategic counsel and support on best practices for digital marketing and content strategies. At the intersection of social media and compliance, Joanna speaks and live tweets at events such as: LinkedIn s FinanceConnect 2013, CEFLI, LIMRA / LOMA, Social Media Week, SIFMA Social Media Seminar, SIFMA Tech Leaders Forum 2012, Net. Finance, OpenText, Social Media World Forum, Utilities + Energy Compliance, JD Power Financial Services Social Media Roundtable, Annual Digital Marketing Services Summit and several Business Development Institute webinars and in-person events. Joanna joined Actiance after running a financial services compliance training firm for several years. Prior to that, she led content development, marketing strategy (digital and traditional) and delivery for as many as 350 financial services compliance education programs per year at FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) for six years. Joanna came to FINRA with 15 years of experience consulting with C-Level executives to develop marketing and digital strategies for products designed for the financial services industry. She is a member of the Financial Women s Association (FWA) Communications and Digital Media Committee, is pursuing a Film and Video Production Certificate at New York University, and graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. 35