Hallmark’s Journey into Social Media

Experiences and Learnings

LISTENING

J.C. Hall

(1891 - 1982)

Social Media Listening

2000 - launched first consumer community for the purpose of research.

2005 – pilot w/ Umbria to understand the Hallmark brand in the social space.

2007 - pilot with Spiral 16 to understand Influential Bloggers.

2009 - major RFP with 8 vendors – find partner for research and marketing.

2010 - consulted with Ben Smithee; contracted with Collective Intellect for a look into holidays, ornaments.

1 Hard Question“Is there a framework we can use to understand social media data?”

3 “Simple” Questions1. “Can we use social media sources to get

new product ideas?”

2. “Can we use social media data to create marketing interventions ‘in season?’”

3. “Could we use social media data to help understand people and their lives?”

Hard Question“Is there a framework we can use to

understand social media data?”

Discovery

Monitoring

Specific Topic

Open Search

“Ocean” of Data

Small “pond” of data

Ways of approaching the data

Wha

t you

’re tr

ying

to a

ccom

plis

hBrand Reputation

KPI’s

Understanding peopleUncovering white

space

Topics + dashboard

Social Media Analysis Space?

Source: Hallmark CU&I, 2010

Hallmark Social Media “Listening” Activities

Focus

We Lead

Consumer Leads

Breadth of Learning

Single Stakeholder

Multiple Stakeholders

Listening audit showed that activities are many and varied

Hallmark Initiated Conversation

Consumer Initiated Conversation

Breadth of Learning

Single Stakeholder Multiple Stakeholders

Focus of Conversation

9

Dimensions of listeningFeedback is more about the brand and rational

Discovery is more about the consumer and emotional

Source: CEB

Listening activities tend to fall towards feedback and tactical

Source: CEB

Research Landscape

Qualitative Quantitative

Structured Data – it is what we made it

Unstructured Data – it is what it is

FocusGroups

CommunitiesEthnographyObservation

PA’sMultivariateTrackers……

Social Media

Where does social media data play in the research landscape?

3 “Simple” Questions1. “Can we use social media sources to

get new product ideas?”

2. “Can we use social media data to create marketing interventions ‘in season?’”

3. “Can we use social media data to help understand people and their lives?”

What Did We Conclude?

• Getting “New” Product ideas is very hard!

• If you do lots of traditional research and ideation, chances are you’ve heard of thought of everything you will uncover through social media.

Some Thoughts on In-Season Marketing

• Twitter promotional sweepstakes generated major spikes in Hallmark Ornament Mentions

• Hallmark Gold Crown store visits emerged as a conversational theme - how could that be leveraged?

• Emotional connection to Hallmark brand ornaments vs. those bought in Wal-Mart or Target – how could that be leveraged?

• Focus on connecting the troops and their families – what would that look like?

What Did We Conclude?

• Beware of making any marketing suggestions without having Marketing in the design and analysis discussions!

• Research in social media begins to “rub up against” Marketing and can create friction!

Thoughts Going Forward

What Have We Learned About Social Media?

• There are new vendors emerging daily in the social media listening space.

• Most vendors provide the same capabilities – it is hard to find differentiation.

What Have We Learned About Social Media?

• Social media data is messy (spam, advertising, porn, context) and requires significant validation and cleaning – suppliers are getting better and better at this, but it is still an issue.

• Text analysis capabilities vary from vendor to vendor – you have to know what questions to ask to know what you’re getting.

• Sentiment analysis is about 75-85% accurate (based on external research) and everybody does it at some level. It is of limited value.

• It is difficult to classify individual contributors – but not impossible, and it costs more. This capability is still emerging.

What Have We Learned About Social Media?

• Clear and specific listening objectives are essential to getting meaningful data and information from listening efforts.

• Social media conversations can be very rich and could support many different aspects of our business.

• Getting meaningful learnings and insights is very time and labor intensive, despite the software tools. There is a learning curve!

Social Media Data is…

- Self-selecting/Opt-in – - Participants who create social media content

must opt-in or choose to participate. - They may or may not represent your target

consumer. - They do not necessarily constitute a “probability

sample” of the population. - The researcher is not establishing the topic and

controlling the conversation, but rather listening to whatever is posted.

Social Media Data is…

+ Not recall-based – – Recall data is known to be the least reliable

source of data. – Recall is usually the result of some stimulus

(question, prototype) that can affect what the respondent recalls (due to priming).

• Social media data is less subject to recall biases and errors, as it usually represents comments and observations made “in the moment” or shortly thereafter.

Social Media Data is…

+ Longitudinal and Instance-based – – Tradtional MR is usually instance-based

feedback/insights, social media research can represent “flow of life.”

– There is a constant stream, or flow, of social media data continually being created.

Social Media Data is…

+ Self-recording/Archival – – Conversations, both public and private, within

the social media environment are archived and available for others to consume at will.

– Conversations with people in traditional research methods are recorded, but are generally only available to permission-based viewers/listeners.

– This creates an interesting blend of liability and value to researchers and brands.

• Data Transparency –  • Data Ownership –  

• Blurring Boundaries between Research and Other Divisions –

Paradigm Shifts for the World of Market Research

• Control of the Environment –  

• Blurring of Qualitative and Quantitative –  

• Re-thinking Sampling –

• Disproportionate Influence of Respondents  

Paradigm Shifts for the World of Market Research

• Shrinking space between brands and people. Social media has “leveled” the playing

field for both consumers and brands.

 • Relationships are the Ultimate Sources of

Insights within Social Media –

Paradigm Shifts for the World of Market Research

Food for Thought

Just as Technology is NOT an Idea, so Social Media Listening is NOT an Idea! Both are means to achieving whatever it is we want to achieve!

Spectrum of Desired Outcomes

Protect the Brand

Understand People’s Lives

Grow Revenue This Quarter

Resources: People, Time, & Money

Food for Thought

http://www.slideshare.net/CuratingPixels/utilizing-social-media-to-understand-people

http://bit.ly/UnderstandingPeople

Social Media Research White Paper

QUESTIONS?Tom Brailsford – Hallmark Cards, Inc.

tbrail@hallmark.com816-274-3989