1. The Cisco Social Media Listening Journey

    Tuesday, 11 Jan 2011 9 Comments Posted by:

    Social Media is not just a fun trend, it’s something that can really help drive business value.” – Jeanette Gibson, Director of Social Media Marketing, Cisco

    Cisco has been using online social media listening as a way to inform business decisions for some time.  An early example of this was the Cisco Unifed Computing System solution launch where the use of Social Media tools began three months prior to launch.   Through social media monitoring, Cisco learned what messages resonated with the market resulting in a shortened sales cycle, increased engagement and lower cost.

    Stephanie Marx manages centralized Listening efforts at Cisco and has mapped the stages of the Cisco Social Media Listening Journey along the 5-stage Social Engagement Journey that we recently introduced. Cisco’s Journey is a great example of the evolution of Enterprise Social Media Monitoring within an organization.

    Screen shot 2011-01-11 at 7.52.24 AM

    Stage 1 of the social media listening journey is traditional command and control. One-way communication is dominant and there is no effort to listen to online social mentions as a form of insight.  Any social listening would be focused on numbers and not insights from what is being said.

    Stage 2 describes some use of listening platforms to report on the basic conversation landscape (who, what, how much) but the efforts are siloed.  Teams are genuinely trying to understand what is being said.  There may be multiple platforms being used across different teams that are disconnected to one another.

    Cisco has teams in Stage 3 where the data from listening has turned into actionable business insights.  The process has become operational, where workflows for engagement have been created and the insights are shared broadly across the team.  The Cisco Small Business team has an efficient listening and engagement operation that is a “key part of their strategy and contributed to a 200% increase in community growth in Cisco’s Small Business external social channels.” – Social Media Best Practices for B2B Communicators

    In Stage 4, listening begins to deliver real business results. Executive support is broad, and engagement efforts are built into forecasts and annual plans. Listening data has been matched with traditional data for a real-time understanding of the overall health of the brand.

    Final Stage

    Stage 5 is the ideal use of listening in the organization, where the data informs decision-making. All teams are trained and empowered to engage online, just as seamlessly as they would pick up the phone when it rings.  There is consistent measurement across the company that is shared with senior executives.

    Cisco is still on this Journey and they have found that different teams within the enterprise can be plotted in different stages.  While the Social Engagement Journey describes the stages of an enterprise as a whole, it is flexible enough to apply to business units within the organization.  This is a great example of how the Social Engagement Journey can be applied to a specific activity within your organization.  Thank you to the Cisco team for letting us share this.

  2. The Anthill is Growing for More Listening

    Tuesday, 16 Mar 2010 No Comments Posted by:

    Ant’s Eye View is thrilled to announce the addition of Stephanie Nahas to the Austin anthill.  Stephanie is a graduate of St. Louis University where she majored in Business Administration & Marketing.  Since graduating, she has worked as a Search Specialist for the global search engine marketing consultancy Outrider LLC.  There she helped her clients reach their business objectives through strategic planning, insight, and execution of search campaigns.

    Stephanie’s strong background in search and account management will aid her greatly in her role as Listening Analyst. Stephanie’s interest in socially driven consumer engagement and her understanding of the importance of listening to online communities is a perfect fit for providing the valuable insights provided through our Listening 360 service.

    Stephanie is new to the Live Music Capitol of the World, where she will be able to explore her interests in fashion, design, and music!  Please join me in welcoming Stephanie to Austin and to the team!  You can follow her at @steph_nahas.

  3. Ant’s Eye View Seeks Good Listener

    Sunday, 13 Dec 2009 No Comments Posted by:

    That’s right folks, another job opening at Ant’s Eye View and this one might be the one for you.  We are looking for a Listening Analyst to join the colony and expand our Listening practice.

    This is a cutting-edge job, so experience can come from a number of different places.  Perhaps you have experience listening to customers and helping to take action on the feedback you hear.  You may have listened to customers through online communities, surveys or other avenues.  Maybe you have spent a lot of time on twitter, reading what others have to say about a specific topic.

    If you are ready to use your experience to partner with clients and listen to online conversations for business insights, we’d like to hear from you.  Ant’s Eye View offers a fun and collaborative environment with 401k and Healthcare benefits.  Check out the job post for more details.