BarnRaisers

Many people have opinions on what makes great content.  One  is case studies.  But case studies usually aren’t at the top of the list.  

They are generally listed behind your voice (e.g. be authentic, be helpful, be passionate, be transparent) and even grammatical advice (e.g give tips, ask questions, use subheads and bullets to make it easier to read). 

In my opinion, case studies deserve a higher place in the content pecking order.  

Within the last year, I’ve written a number of blogposts using case studies.  They attracted a stong readership.  They’ve brought in business.  Just as important to me, they created relationships with people all over the world who share the same interests.  Here are the posts and how they use case studies:

1. 34 case studies that prove social media ROI
2. Another 33 case studies that prove social media ROI
3. 16 case studies that proe social CRM
4. 6 social media ROI case studies with something in common, courage

It is fair to say social media and ROI are topics of interest too.  But these topics would be of little interest and value without substantiation from case studies and it is the case studies that make the topics come to life.

Here are 27 reason case studies always make greate content:

1. They begin a dialogue with proof of results
2. They make the topic real
3. They are objective
4. The are quantifiable 
5. They establish relevance
6. They go well beyond personal opinion
7. They show you’ve done research to proof your point; you’ve put your money where you mouth is
8. They make your conviction plausable
9. The show readers the mutual respect of being smart enough to decide for themselves
10. They open up a conversation where everyone participates with the same information
11. They teach something new  
12. They tell a story
13. They present challenges 
14. They show how challenges are overcome
15. They show creative thinking
16. They show resourcefulness
17. They demonstrate innovation
18. They serve as a model for success
19. They outline the steps someone or some people used to get there
20. They demonstrate how category or industry leadership is achieved
21. They capture entrepreneurial drive
22. They are never “cookie-cutter” solutions
23. They create an admiration for the people, companies and brands featured 
24. They are inspirational
25. They are aspirational
26. They are passed on and shared

In my own case study work, I’d been inspired by the creative thinking of Joe Sorge, an owner of a restaurant and hospitality chain that includes AJ Bombers and a founder of Kitchen Table Companies that helps small buisnesses and the resourcefulness of Mari Luangrath, the owner and founder of Foiled Cupcakes.

They have written back to elaborate on their stories and personal values.  It taught me the #27th reasons case studes always make great content; they build relationships and create friendships.  

Do these give you enough reasons why case studies always make great content?

Needless to say, I am of the opinion social media and sales are not mutually exclusive.  But my opinion aside, take a look at 4 charts that make the point convincingly.

CHART #1 (FACEBOOK):

The top reasons people press the “Like” button on Facebook is to have a sales relationship with a brand - either to receive promotions, coupons, stay informed and show their support for companies.  In other words, when consumers are on Facebook, what we are saying to brands is “talk to me because if I like what you do for me, I’m going to be your biggest fan.”

This chart comes courtesy of Ann Handley and Marketing Profs.

CHART #2 (TWITTER):

How does Twitter drive sales?  For over 40% of the time people are on Twitter, we spend it learning about products and services, listening to what others have to say and giving opinions.  That explains why over 20% of the time we’re on Twitter, we’re ready and willing to buy directly off Twitter.  We’re also seeking customer support for another 20% of the time to show it’s not just sales, or a good deal we want, but a relationship.

CHART #3 (SOCIAL NETWORKS)

For every hour we spend on online, we spend the most amount of time on social networks, almost 15 minutes of every hour.

Roughly half of the time (approx 6+ mins), we are seeking out products and services and looking to have a sales relationship with brands.  Even if all other sectors worked as effectively 100% of the time (which of course they don’t), none present the same opportunity as social media.  It would be fair to say if you want to build a sales relationship on the internet, social media is the best place to do it.

CHART #4 (THE FUTURE)

This sales relationship dynamic is going to increase.  Because of all the outlets online, the time people spend on social networks is growing  in leaps and bounds (>40%), while other sectors are relatively flat or declining (+10% to -28%).

These last two chart come from Jeff Bullas and his recent post, Latest Research Shows Social Media Usage Up 43%.  Thank you Jeff.

If you need proof from real life examples, here are 67 Case Studies that Prove Social Media ROI.

What do these charts tell you?

I’ve been to a good number of companies this year where there has been management resistance to social media.  The most often cited reason is a perceived inability to prove ROI.  Social Media Examiner says the #1 question companies ask is “How do I measure social media return on investment?”

So, one week in September, I devoted an hour each day scouring the internet for case studies that prove social media ROI.  In short order, I found 67 case studies.  Not a small number and too many to fit into one blog post.  I broke it into two, 34 case studies that prove social media ROI and 33 more case studies.  In total, there were 67 case studies that prove social media ROI through hard metrics like:

• Increased sales
• Shortened sales cycle
• Higher closing rate
• New leads
• Lower internal operating costs
• Decrease in customer issues

Last week, I had the pleasure of teaching a class on social media ROI at Rutgers and highlighted case studies in each of these areas. Rutgers is among the first universities in the country to offer a Mini-MBA in Social Media Marketing.  10 other teachers covered key topics in other areas of social media as well.

Questions from students made me realize, in addition to the numbers, all the case studies had one other characteristic in common: Courage.  Here’s  a sampling of the stories to explain why.

1.  INCREASED SALES (AJ BOMBERS):  After six month of break-even sales and no money for traditional marketing, Joe Sorge, the owner of AJ Bombers, a burger restuarant in Milwaukee, started using Twitter to attract customers.  Within a year, weekly sales increased +60%. What happened?   Joe spoke to the Rutgers’ class via Skype.  Someone asked why start tweeting?  In Joe’s case, he said, “I was sacred.  I opened a restaurant in Milwaukee at the worst time in the worst economy since the Great Depression.  I sat at my computer wondering how I could make this work. When I found people on Twitter talking about my restaurant and my burgers, I jumped in.”  Good feedback from customers on Twitter helped build relationships and Twitter followers soon accounted for 75% of AJ Bomber’s customers.  AJ Bombers now has 11,000+ Twitter followers, success with Foursquare, a ”Food Wars” episode on the Travel Channel and the sales to go with it.  Joe recently started a company with Chris Brogan to help small businesses called Kitchen Table Companies with a show on The Pulse Network.  Here’s a video of a 2010 social media profile in courage.

2.  SHORTENED SALES CYCLE (BLENTEC): In 2007, Blendtec, a company that manufactured blenders since the 1970′s was having flat sales.  They produced commercials for YouTube that cost less than $1000.  Company sales then increased +700%.   The “Will It Blend” commerials featured CEO Tom Dickson.  Tom blended everything from broom handles to good balls to iPhones and iPads in Blendtec blender.  For a product who benefit has to be seen to be believed, video was the perfect medium. Some of the commercials have been viewed over 9,000,000+ times.  But the  company took a big risk.  They put their CEO out there where he could be viewed as either a charismatic presenter or a clown.  The benefits of that risk, and the courage of the management team, are shown in the viewership numbers from Alexa once the commercials started on YouTube.

3.  HIGHER CLOSING RATIOS: (FISKARS): A 300 year old Finnish company that makes fine cutting tool created an online social community of crafting enthusiasts called  “Friskateers” to reach the underutilized channel of small retailers.  It resulted in a 3X increase in company sales.  But it didn’t begin that way.  According to Suzanne Fanning, Director of Communications at Fiskars Americas, it started as a way to have an “emotional bond with consumers.”  Try selling that to a company of highly rational engineers.  But once the community started swapping product stories and generating new ideas, resistance went away.  Now, Fiskateers are a major company driver of innovation.  Not to mention a major cost savings on traditional focus group research.

4.  NEW LEADS (FOILED CUPCAKES):  A Chicago company that bakes cupcakes generated 93% of its business through social media leads to surpass revenue targets by +600%.  But, the most impressive statistic is this company has no storefront (it sells only through a website) and no way for consumers to experience their product (before they buy) unless they establish a relationship with them through social media.  In an interview with Beth Harte, owner Mari Luangrath says, “we know every single one of our customers by name. We’ve probably had a good Twitter or Facebook conversation with them before they even call us.”  That’s courageous customer relationship marketing.

5.  LOWER OPERATING COSTS (IBM): Invested $100 million in company generated new product ideas and saw a return of $100 billion in total revenue for a 10-to-1 ROI with a 44.1% gross profit margin.  Best of all, they did by relinquishing control and letting employees set up the own blogs and “crowdsourcing ‘Jams’” to collaborate with one another globally.   There was no IBM corporate blog or Twitter account but there were 17,000 internal blogs, 100,000 employees using internal blogs and as many as 500,000 participants in company crowd-sourcing “jams.” IBM showed courage by relinquishing control.  It generated a huge amount of cash.

6.  DECREASE IN CUSTOMER ISSUES (BEST BUY):  Imagine if you said, “I’m going to poll my customers on the customer service they want and deliver it on their terms.”  That’s what Best Buy did in creating the TwelpForce, an employee community customer service group that works through Twitter to answer customers questions and concerns.  The employee community grew to 2,200 employees within 3 months and responded to over 13,000 customer questions, concerns, and opinions. The Twitter feed @twelpforce now counts over 32,000 followers and the number of questions averages 100-125 per day and is considered a key value-add by customers and the company.  My guess is Best Buy is having a very good Christmas season so far with the help of TwelpForce.

Colleagues tell me 2011 is likely to be a year where more companies embrace social media as a valuable marketing tool.  The graph below from Google Trends indicates social media is here to stay.  But courage, I’ve learned from these case studies that’s something that always supersedes trends.

Do you think courage plays a role in social media ROI?

To answer the #1 question (according to Social Media Examiner), “How do I measure social media return on investment?,” we found 67 case studies that prove social media ROI.  We thought 67 examples was a large enough sample to prove social media ROI.  People asked: What did you learn?

Here are 7 social media best practices all 67 case studies have in common.

1. HAVE A BUSINESS STRATEGY:  For example, let’s say the business strategy is to increase sales (which figures into most in some way).  The role of social media is to amplify this strategy.  That’s what COFFEE GROUNZ did when they decided to use Twitter as a direct sales channel and it boosted company sales +20%.  DELL also set up Twitter as a direct sales channel with the “Dell Outlet” and booked $3,000,000 in sales/year from a negligible investment.  29% of people on Twitter right now are looking for deals on products and they spend 50% more online than people who don’t use social networks (source: comScore).  Both of these brand were in the right place but first they had a strategy.  It shows you don’t need a social media strategy, you need a business strategy.
2. SET MEASUREMENT CRITERIA FOR ROI:  IBM decided to let their employees use blogs as an incubator for new business ideas.  The company funded the ones that generated the most visits and collaboration. There were 17,000 blogs set up. There were 100,000 employees publishing posts and 500,000 employees participating in crowdsourcing company “jams.”  How did all these measurement add up?  IBM invested $100 million in new products generating $100 billion in total revenue for a 10-to-1 ROI with a 44.1% gross profit margin.
3. IDENTIFY TARGETS: When owner, Joe Sorge, of AJ BOMBERS in Milwaukee WI was surfing the net one day, he noticed a food critic who had great things to say about his restaurant’s burgers.  He also noticed the critic posted her review on Twitter and she had 400 followers.  Joe started a conversation with a genuine Tweet of thanks and appreciation.  The conversation developed, so did the Twitter following. Now, 75% of AJ BOMBER’S customers come from Twitter.
4. JUMP IN:  COCA-COLA achieved its strongest global marketing integration ever with Expedition 206, a social media promotion where a small group of travel ambassadors went to 206 countries over 365 days to “generate happiness” and published on social networks.  It enabled global promotion execution among 3,500 Coca-Cola marketers around the world.  That’s jumping in.
5. USE IMAGINATION:  You can’t get more imaginative than blending an iPhone, iPad, golf balls, broom handle, Bic lighter and a glowstick in a blender.  Not all at the same time mind you.  That’s what Tom Dickson did with his BLENDTEC commercials on YouTube. One of his commercials have been viewed over 9,000,000 times.  Most cost about $1000 to make.  They’ve increased company sales +700%.
6. SHOW FLEXIBILITY:  KFC and STARBUCKS are two companies that ran downloadable coupons on social networks.  When consumer demand for the coupons outpaced supply and both ran out of supplies, KFC still made good on its featured chicken sandwich.  The result was positive PR that more than made up for the cost of the food.  STARBUCKS, on the other hand, turned customers away only to find CARIBOU COFFEE honored their coupons and a lot of customers turned away from STARBUCKS to their competitor.
7. HAVE COMMITMENT:  To get to the 77 case studies that prove social media ROI, we reviewed 100′s.  The ones featured made the cut because there was a stick-to-it-ness to all of them.  They had a plan.  They executed it well.  They saw it through.  These are business principle behind social media success; one being ROI is not going happen unless you’re “in it to win it.”

Do you have other social media best practices you would include?

Last week, we published, 34 Case Studies that Prove Social Media ROI.  This week, we’ve added another 33 to bring us to 66 case studies that prove social media ROI.

The purpose: Prove (with 67 examples) the value of social media and understand the ROI principles at work to help any brand thinking about using social media to build their business.

The 67 case studies (33 below/34 in the blog below this one) cover B2C, B2B, profit and non-profit areas.  They include businesses big and small.  They prove social media ROI based on:

• Sales
• Shorter Sales Cycles
• New Leads
• Improved company operations with internal cost savings that return money to the bottom line
• Mass reach (at a fraction of the cost of mass media)
• Innovations and new product ideas from customers
• Social good

The business principles: Clear business strategy + Defined measurements goals + Willingness to jump in + Imagination + Commitment =   $$$ROI

We asked for input along the way.  Reineke Reitsma, a Forrester Analyst in Amsterdam, asked for some social media programs that failed.  We have two; one from KFC and one from Starbucks.  While both “failed” because the companies were not prepared for overwhelming consumer response, they show the ability of social media to drive demand.  When customers came en masse, the two companies reacted in entirely different ways.  I’ll let you judge who showed good social media manners and bad.  They’re below as well and were referred by  Tom Chernaik, a friend in NYC and Co-Founder of Cmp.ly, who I thank.

So the next time someone at your company questions whether social media has proven ROI, refer them to these.  You might also ask:  Are there 67 case studies that prove ROI for what our company does?

33 MORE CASE STUDIES THAT PROVE SOCIAL MEDIA ROI

1. ADIDAS: Used social networks to do guerrilla marketing on mobile (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, SMS) in and around NBA All-Star Game and increased retail sales 20X goal in Las Vegas (where All-Star Game occurred).
2. AMERICAN RED CROSS:  During Hurricane Katrina, multiple organizations had trouble coordinating and sharing information connecting children to their parents.  Because 44% of web users found social network as an alternative, social media reconnected more families than organized support and regular media combined.  “One person can take a photo. One person can post a message…and it changes our understanding of a situation immediately,” said Macon Phillips, special assistant to the President.
3. BARACK OBAMA:  Social media campaign for the President on My.BarackObama.com raised $30,000,000 from over 70,000 personal fund-raising pages, 400,000 blogs, 35,000 groups and 200,000 offline events.  I sometime wonder, when social media was so successful getting the President elected, why it’s not being used more strategically, now.
4. BARE ESSENTIALS:  Makeup manufacturer used combination of e-mail and social media to achieve unique visitor engagement rate  of 75% and equivalent conversation rate to mass media channel at a small fraction of the cost.
5. BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH:  The updating of personal status on social network pages for women with breast cancer received more media attention on CNN and newspaper networks than the paid efforts of numerour PR firms.  The difference, of course, was the former was a marginal investment and later was paid support.
6. COCA-COLA: Achieved strongest global marketing integration ever with Expedition 206, a social media promotion where a small group of travel ambassadors went to 206 countries over 365 days to “generate happiness” and published on social networks.  It enabled global promotion execution among 3,500 Coca-Cola marketers around the world.
7. COLGATE: Launched Wisp, disposable toothpaste, through “Be More Kissable” social media video campaign (+30 more involvement) that ran on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.  It achieved reach of 10,000,000+ rivaling mass advertising at small fraction of the cost.
8. DIGITAL:  Magazine/blog/website with pay-per-click business model linked social media outreach to SEO for site authority.  Goal was to deliver 10,000+ viewers to show profitability; social media delivered 100,000+ viewers for sustainable success.
9. FORD FIESTA: Used social media for U.S. launch to generate mass reach, build relationships with key targets and achieve reservations-to-conversion sales rates that were 10X higher than expected.  On YouTube, Ford Fiesta generated 6,200,000 views with 132,000 consumers raising their hand for more information.  On Flicker, there were 750,000 views; 83% were new to Ford.  On Twitter, there were 40,000,000 impression; 30% were car buyers under 25.
10. EMC: B2B social media effort that achieved business transformation by creating a global company-wide social community, EMC ONE.  This connected and increased collaboration resulting in double-digit revenue growth in more than 60 countries.
11. EMERSON SALON: Saavy used combination of blogs, Facebook and Twitter to reach 75% of their customers and drive positive reviews on Yelp.  This built business because 90% of all purchase decision begin on the internet and 85% are looking for an independent review.  Co-Founder, Matt Buchon, said “it’s rare for even a walk-in customer to come in and not have be read our blog or seen our tweets.”
12. FELA:  Off broadway play, Fela, created Facebook campaign, aimed at Facebook users with interests like theatrical shows or Afro beat.  They spent $4,400 in time, management and Facebook ad costs and generated $40,000 in ticket sales for ROI of 9-to-1.
13. FISKARS:  300 year old Finnish company that makes fine cutting tool created online social community of crafting enthusiasts called  “Friskateers” to reach underutilized channel of small retailers for a 3X increase in company sales.
14. FOILED CUPCAKES: Generated 93% of its business through social media leads to surpass revenue target by +600%
15. GENERAL MOTORS: Launched “FastLane,” one of the first blogs personally written by senior executives.  Customer feedback given through a blog saved the company $180,000/year versus traditional focus group research not to mention the enormous good will of company executives responding to consumers, not a focus group moderator.
16. H&R BLOCK: Tax preparation is a highly seasonal business.  H&R used Facebook and Twitter to provide immediate access to a tax professional for Q&A in the “Get It Right” social media campaign.  The effort secured 1,500,000 unique visitors and answered 1,000,000 questions for a 15% lift in business versus the prior year when there was no social media “Get It Right” program.
17. KFC (BAD EXECUTION BUT HONORABLE BEHAVIOR): Ran coupon promotion on Facebook and Twitter for a Free Grilled Chicken dinner.  High value resulted in coupons passed around virally on the internet and KFC franchises ran out of food; yet, they honored everyone who came with a coupon, eventually, and people appreciated their responsible behavior.  Check out Starbucks for a similar promotion and a company who didn’t behave so responsibly.
18. JIMMY CHOO:  Best known as a designer for women’s shoes, Jimmy Choo used Twitter to geo-locate and feature upscale stores where their sneakers were available and saw a +33% increase in sneaker sales, a 40% increase in positive mentions and 4,000 participants in his Twitter effort.
19. JOHNSON & JOHNSON (BABYCENTER.COM) 8 year old online/social media community connected and engaged 8,000,000 new and expectant moms in the U.S. (78% of total) and another 16.5 million in 21 countries.  A major profit center for J&J and, in fact, a major social brand.
20. JOIE DE VIVRE:  A company that operates 33 luxury hotels in California on Tuesday nights broadcasted special $79/night deals to its Twitter account of 10,000 followers and Facebook page of 5,000 fans.  It booked roughly 1,000 rooms, that would have stayed empty with virtually no investment.
21. JUSTIN BOOTS: Attributed 95% of sales to social media on a budget that was half of traditional media.
22. KINAXIS: B2B supply chain management company used 18 employee bloggers and focused on category thought leadership and it generated over 42,000,000 leads.  That’s 2,180,000 per blogger.
23. KRAFT (TOLBERONE): In the Phillipines, Kraft wanted to make Toblerone, a Swiss chocolate bar, synonymous with gratitude.  The company established October 20 as the country’s National Thank You Day.  Website, http://www.thankyoudayphilippines.com/museum, and social network outposts generated nearly 500,000 hits and Toblerone sales escalated 132%.
24. MARS (PEDIGREE): As part of integrated “Pedigree Adoption Drive,” Pedigree created “Become a fan, help a dog” Facebook group.  When campaign started, there were 55,000 fans.  At the end, there were 1,000,000+.  In terms of involvement, users sent 6,000 photos, 50 videos, 1,000’s of comments and, most important, made donation for 1,100,000 bowls of dog food.
25. PAGANUM FARMERS MARKET:  Small network of UK farmers proved blogs and social network advertising produced better return on investment than any other online or offline consideration.
26. PETCO:  Leveraged the voice of their customers by implementing the Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews solution, which went live on their site.  As a results, website clicks were nearly 5 times higher, Top-Rated Products category had a 49% higher conversion rate and customers spending saw a growth of nearly 63% on PETCO’s top-rated products.
27. PIPERSPORT AIRPLANES:  Sold $140,000 airplanes online through search optimized video content and social networks.  The sale of the 1st plane drove ROI through the roof.
28. QUICKEN: Launched social community and blogger outreach to build long-term relationships with future and potential customers and provided free credit reports/scores, home value report and mortgage recommendations. Quizzle.com received over 425,000 visits and 70,000 accounts were created without a dollar spent in traditional advertising.
29. STARBUCKS (BAD EXECUTION AND BAD BEHAVIOR):  Like KFC (above), Starbucks ran limited duration coupons through social media in limited markets.  Coupons spread virally on social networks but Starbucks, unlike KFC above), wouldn’t honor them.  So Caribou Coffee did, instead.  Their competitors gained a lot of new customers who better taste in their mouth for Caribou than Starbucks.
30. UNILEVER (AXE): Launched an online contest through social media and created a website, AXERide.com, for registrants to interact. The contest directed contestants to upload a digital photo of his car and explain in a short essay how tricking out a car would help them get the girl. AXE received more than 30,000 visits and four times the number of entries as compared to previous AXE competitions.
31. VITABIOTICS: Health supplements manufacturer builds community of 13,000 that it uses for learning, insights and trial of new products prior to going to market.  Product trials have 95% completion rate and save the company $100,000’s annually versus traditional research and test marketing.
32. WET SEAL:  E-commerce teen clothing store for girls created “community” section on the web site for users to design their own clothes, publish for reviews and leverage “wisdom of the crowd.”  They saw a 21% increase in revenue driven by a 10% increase in sales and a 10% increase in the average purchase per customer.
33. WHOLE FOODS:  Maintained 200 Facebook accounts and over 150 accounts.  While the accounts have different topics, they all focus on business happenings supporting a clearly defined business strategy for social media.