Value Levers in the Professional Service Sector

Norton Rose Fulbright is a leading global legal practice offering a full business law service to many of the world's pre-eminent corporations and financial institutions. Norton Rose has offices based in over 50 cities across Europe, Canada, the United States, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

In this blog, I will be taking a look into how this organisation enhances their business through the use of blogs and twitter as well as making connections to the Social Technology value levers in Marketing and Sales.

Twitter

Norton Rose Fulbright has dedicated Twitter Accounts. Not just two or even five…but seventeen. These dedicated accounts are:

•        The global North Rose Fulbright Account
•        Key Industry sectors (6 of these)
•        Jurisdications (5)
•        Services (4)
•        Graduates (1 – UK Graduate Program)

Below is a screenshot of their current dedicated twitter accounts.

To me, this seems a bit too over-the-top. Is the amount of Twitter accounts hindering the business or enhancing it? Through research of whether having multiple dedicated accounts is actually beneficial or not, I found that basically the main concern is that the customer service model will get too complicated – customers will have difficulty knowing where to direct queries, which account would be most valuable to them etc. Richard Guerrero, the creator of the Dell Outlet Twitter Program, was also facing the same question - beneficial or detrimental? In a Brandwatch blog post, he says "if there are multiple and varied (i.e. unrelated) audiences that desire different information or engagement, lumping them [accounts] together may lead to confusion and lack of satisfaction of those disparate desires".

In North Rose’s case, I can clearly see that because each account has a very, very specific focus area, that this use of social technology is definitely enhancing their business, and is making it much easier for customers to find the information they need. Not only this, but it also makes it easier for the business to direct specific marketing and sales content towards their desired audience.

Take their Global Twitter Account for example. They have recently written a Bulletin on Social Media Laws. As this applies to the core of their business, this article has been shared on their global account.

Blogs

Norton Rose Fulbright also delivers numerous blogs to their audience. These blogs are specifically focused on, you guessed it, Law. Not only do these blogs give a useful insight into what the business clearly values and is about, but it also demonstrates their knowledge and passion for the field. The blogs are professional and insightful. Though it isn't as 'hands on' and interactive as their Twitter accounts are, this social platform still enhances the business' image.

Marketing and Sales Value Levers

This enterprise uses Twitter for their Marketing and Sales, focusing on the value levers of:

• Customer insights
• Communication and interaction

Twitter is used to promote their blog, making it easier for customers to find the content they really want.

Customer insights

By directing specific content through those specific Twitter feeds, to people who are actually interested in that specific content, Norton Rose Fulbright can gather insights about their services, opinions of them and their competitors and perceptions on what the followers want out of their services/products. These insights can then be used to tailor service requirements and service information. From there, they can then repeat the process, giving customers what they want each time and enhancing their business. The McKinsey report (2012) indicated that "analyzing the interactions on social platforms can provide unprompted feedback on campaigns and help assess general brand health" (pg. 38). 

Communication and interaction

"Social technologies offer a way to achieve efficient distribution of messages. i.e. communicating directly with customers at very low costs and with highly targeted messages and content..." (McKinsey Report, 2012, pg.38).

As mentioned previously, specific blogs and content are directed to and promoted through the relevant Twitter account. This distribution of messages through a highly interactive portal allows customers to freely interact and communicate on these posts. This communication and interaction between enterprise and customer means that the customers are feeling more involved, their thoughts and opinions are being heard and the business is communicating directly with customers at a low cost and enhancing their business through customer satisfaction. These customers are more likely to use Norton Rose Fulbright's services when they are needed, as they feel they already have a connection with the enterprise.

Overall, Norton Rose Fulbright successfully uses the values levers to enhance their business in the Professional Service Sector. Through the use of numerous social technology platforms, their customers can find the appropriate information and the business can successfully market their positive image and their outstanding services.

Black Milk Clothing and their Social Technology Value Levers

Black Milk Clothing is an Australian clothing company, based in Brisbane, that provides fashion lovers with unique leggings, dresses, tops, skirts, gym wear and swimwear (mainly nylon based clothes). They are all kind of like collectable items. Some items are limited, some insanely limited, and those who collect and reach certain milestones get a custom made piece, just for them. Pretty cool, huh?

Black Milk is extremely customer and community orientated. Their followers are called ‘Sharkies’ and there are many Sharkie communities out on Facebook with different focuses – Creative groups, Queensland based groups, fitness groups – all just for Black Milk lovers. As Black Milk is solely an online company, they have had to rely on their online presence to get themselves out there and generate followers and ultimately sales.

The 10 Social Technology Value Levers published by McKinsey Global Institute in 2012 provides a vast insight into unlocking value and productivity through social technologies across several functional areas. In the diagram shown below, you can see these areas and value levers associated with them.

                                                       McKinsey Global Institute (2012)

In this blog post, I will be focusing on the Marketing and Sales area and discussing 2 of the value levers associated with this functional sector. These are value levers:

4. Derive Customer Insights

and

5. Use Social Technology for marketing, communication, interaction.

So, besides their website, Black Milk also uses Facebook, Instagram and even Pinterest to derive customer insights and deploy their marketing strategies. They also use all these social platforms as a basis for communicating and interacting with their customers.

From their Facebook wall, you can see customers asking questions about sizing and what’s to come in the next release, providing testimonials and even giving their own insights in what they should design or include in future releases.

Black Milk can see from these customer insights what the customers want and are interested in, and can then implement these interests in the future. This not only benefits the customers by keeping them happy, interested and excited, but the company also benefits from their customer satisfaction (repeat customers, happy customers, loyal customers) and also their sales will continue to improve if their products are in demand (which from the customer feedback, they know they will be). They can somewhat foresee and generate sales leads. The Social Economy: Unlocking Value and Productivity through Social Technologies report by McKinsey (2012) mentions that consumers purchase goods that are better suited to their needs. “When these better products increase total demand, both individuals and enterprise can capture value.” (pg. 13).

Similarly, their Pinterest page allows customers to interact with staff and gain much needed answers before the items are released for sale. As you can see from the images below, customers and staff are communicating freely with one another, keeping interactivity and engagement up.

Again, Instagram shows what customers like, and don’t like. Question’s are asked here too, though not as much as through other social technologies. This social tool is mainly used for marketing their products, though not only on their models, but also on the Sharkie’s that have purchased their nylon goodness. Black Milk repost everyday customers wearing their clothing. This is highly beneficial to consumers, as they can see different body types wearing the clothes, different styling options, and can also connect with other Black Milk lovers. This platform, through the comments and number of likes, is a great indication for the enterprise as to what products their followers like more over others. 

Black Milk obviously benefits from this as it shows their current and potential customers that they are very community oriented and love to show off their products and their customers. The Social Economy report perfectly states that one of the main benefits of using social technology is that “People derive great personal satisfaction from the relationships they are able to maintain, the information they can glean, and the communities they form through their use of social technologies” (pg. 13). I believe that this works both ways – for individuals and enterprise. There is great satisfaction in knowing that the enterprise you are spending your hard earned money on to look fabulous cares about you and your needs. Additionally, there is great satisfaction in knowing that your customers are staying loyal because you are listening to them and their fashion desires.

It is evident that social technologies have a strong impact on marketing and sales. Don't get me wrong, if these levers are handled incorrectly when dealing with a customer, then that could also be disastrous. Hard work needs to be put in by the enterprise into managing these numerous social technology tools, thoroughly keeping up interactivity and communication with customers, and being open to deriving customer insights. This case study shows Black Milk is taking full advantage of this particular value lever and are reaping the benefits. 

Thank you for reading! I look forward to your comments and feedback!

Networking - social technologies to boost business and self

Though I adore technology, I'm not quite well acquainted with social technologies as I'd like to be. I have a Facebook (as most 20 something year olds do) and I only joined the Instagram community 10 months ago when I succumbed to peer pressure. I had no idea what the use of hash tagging was or why you'd even want to #hashtagallthethings. Oh, I have LinkedIn too, though I haven't updated it since it was created beginning of 2013 and to be honest, I don't even know what it's really used for or why I joined that community.

Onto Social Media, I've always had an interest in using Social Media to 'get out there'. Currently, I am doing an internship as a Social Media Manager - helping to increase the company's business by using Facebook as a free advertising tool. You don't need to do extensive research to see that using Social Media tools for networking, promotion and interaction with customers is a vast part of current marketing trends. You see it everywhere - businesses big or small, freelance designers, artists, bands, Aunt Mildred's dog - all use Social Media as a platform for communicating with people who care.

Have a look at Deloitte's video (and article) on Social Networking to Social Activation. It talks about driving traffic back to your website/business by using the power of customer reviews and feedback. Again, you don't need to do a ton of Google searches to see that reviews are a big advocating tool for businesses (although I did anyway). We look at reviews of products, services, even restaurant reviews performed by previous clients or customers to determine whether these products or places are worthy and what we need. Even Facebook pages have star ratings and a section for testimonials for others to see what all the buzz (or lack there of) is about.

Now, let's get down to how these social technologies and tools can help a student or those about to graduate and looking for a job. As a design student, I looked into free tools to advertise my work and get my presence known in the online world, so that that online presence will be driven back towards me. My best friend and I are collaborating together (for one of her assignments) to get ourselves out there. We've decided to do a market stall, and although this is one form for advertising ourselves and networking with others who come to our stall face-to-face, we can look into expanding our network in a business and customer sense by creating a Facebook page and Instagram page and sharing that amongst our current network, and ask for those to share it around their network. These online page addresses can be placed onto our business cards to direct people towards our little business in that way too, then they can follow and contact either of us in a more 'modern' sense.

So, I don't have Twitter and have never been interested in having it, but I wanted to touch on it briefly to gain more insight into this trend, so for this blog I did have a play and researched it. People (such as bands, celebrities, sporting stars, socialites) use this social tool to engage with their followers. In terms of using this tool for students and job seekers, I personally believe that there are more effective resources out there. Perhaps once a designer gains more interest, then Twitter could be a great way to keep their followers up-to-date. I'd love to hear what you guys think about Twitter?

Lastly, LinkedIn is a great online professional network not only for those seeking jobs, but also for employers looking for fresh talent. There are over 300 million LinkedIn users with two new users joining every second. That's a lot of potential employers and potential opportunities - yay for online networking! With the statistics I found through my research for this week's blog, it has definitely driven me to pay more attention to my current LinkedIn profile and update it like a responsible student, soon-to-be graduate and employee. Not only will this tool be a great way to network and get out there into the real world, but using other platforms of Social Media previously mentioned, I believe, will also be highly beneficial. 

Hopefully this blog has given you some food for thought. I'd love to hear your insights! Thank you for reading!

First blog! - Blogging Success and Strategies

Wow. After a long weekend at a Cheerleading event, I am finally starting my first blog ever. I've always been interested in blogging, but never found the time, and let's be honest, I didn't know the first thing about the blogging world. Though, luckily for me, I was fortunate enough to secure an internship at Bluewire Media as a Digital Designer, where I worked on an e-book, 'How To Blog for Business.' I highly recommend checking it out! And feel free to admire the design work and cute little icons!

Getting back on track now, I didn't know it then, but this e-book would be incredibly helpful for my final semester of University in the subject, Enterprise 2.0. Though the goal here isn't to blog for business, the interviewees still provided a great insight. So let's get down to business, shall we?

The purpose of this blog, other than it being a required unit, is to get out into the online world, practice my writing skills and gain insight and knowledge in regards to blogging. I aim to incorporate my interests and immense love and passion for sport into my blogs if possible, and interact with like-minded people as well as those with different creative minds and opinions. Using the strategies I have learnt through research will hopefully guide in creating useful, engaging posts and gain readership.

Studying successful blogs really aided in this first post. I just have to stop myself from having too much fun and getting carried away! Darren Rowse, founder of ProBlogger, is a very professional blogger. His content and writing style are both engaging and useful. He mentioned in the e-book "The more you put in, the better the results, and that is pretty much like anything in life". Which is true, don't you think? The harder you work to gain that standing tuck, start a business, create that perfect final product, the better (and faster at times) the results. Stickability. I like that. That is 'so me'.

Much like Rowse, Copywriter Glenn Murray and Storyteller Jonathan Crossfield also have the same style blog - professional yet engaging, though their content varies, which provides a different experience. Murray and Crossfield also mention how persistence is the key...I see a common denominator emerging here!

Finally, Liz Strauss mentions in her interview and blog, Successful Blog, that "...one of the main ingredients of a successful blog is a voice and great content that only you can provide, because information is everywhere on the internet, though there is only one you..." Hence, why I'd like to find a way to emerge my interests within this blog. I'm a sporty final year IT/CI student who loves Marvel (seriously, give me Marvel or give me death), likes to cite the Green Lantern Oath while I eat kebabs, loves Lord of the Rings and has a passion for All-Star Cheerleading. Hopefully including that within my blog, whilst still keeping on track of the task can give me a voice that is unique. So with that said, here are my strategies:

The Strategies

- Keywords!

- Keeping the posts professional yet fun

- Study similar blogs

- Absorb feedback (I like to think I'm a virtual sponge)

- Be involved within the blogging community

- Keep at it, keep at it, keep at it

- Provide readers with a unique/interesting voice and great content

Pretty straight forward, right? Here's hoping with these strategies each blog improves. Practice makes perfect! (See what I did there? Sports talk. Nailed it.)

Thank you for reading! I look forward to your comments and feedback!