garykoelling

Steve Bendt and I are trying to get straight how what we've learned over the last three years in the world of social technology (bsn , giftag , etc ) can be put to use across more broadly. We've been fiddling around with some thoughts, trying to get it to make sense for our employer - Best Buy. Below is a slide share of where we are topline - each slide has specifics that will be attached.

And here are some of our thoughts in progress reprinted from Steve's blog :

Background:
Marketing goals and our translation for being social (=)
1) Create greater emotional connection to the brand= Be Believable
2) Enable local growth= Try things
3) Nurture a culture of participation= Bring people together

Open is the Strategy- Agile is the method for getting there

n=1 Serving 1 customer at a time must shift to

R=g opening resources (R) to the global community (G)

Principles of Open
Trust
Participation
Iteration
Meritocracy

Build test and harvest user-centered programs that using a small fast and cheap model of iteration that enables the brand to make and sustain friendships

Core to the Open Strategy is the Magnet Effect

• Opening the conversation pulls in passionate people- Everyone can participate and they’re usually the ones who have thought about it
• Opening the conversation pulls insights out- get to know what people really want- not what we think they want. Helps us develop meaningful applications
• Acts as a polar opposite to group think- eating our own dog food.
• Opening the conversation brings people together under a common goal- with no obscurity

Methods to take us to open:

• Apply to low criticality initiatives- need to protect the core biz
• Know that the requirements change very often
• Organize small teams- no more than 5 people and no meetings longer than 30 min
• Embrace the chaos
• Try v. Plan- put the idea out early, get too much feedback
• Collaboration v Control- admit you don’t know
• Flex v. Follow

Please feel free to comment and critique