Sajal Agarwal, Thibault Dauphin, Evana Eko,
Robert Kahuanui III, Ishai Rosenberg, Nana Stephens

FIRM

Digitization of Business
Virtual communities
Businesses
(Customers)
FIRM
User generated content
End Users
User
Platforms

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 Vote for favorite designs
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 Purchase designs they care about
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 Customers can rate T-Shirts
By placing emphasis on customer input at the design phase of the business, Threadless.com is able to successfully leverage social media, to customize their designs to the unique tastes of each of their customers.

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Could mainstream fashion designers do this?
Can toy makers use this to allow kids to create their “Next Best Toy”?
Could auto-makers request submissions for car designs?
Could the hospitality industry use this to solicit clients’ input on amenities to have in their next hotel?
Could the government use this to solicit ideas for how to deal with certain issues – have people vote on ideas?

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Reaching Customers
Through Social
Media

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Retail – Flintstone Era:
 Focus on in-store interactions, focus groups & sales figures
 Avenues for obtaining customer feedback - few and expensive
Victoria Secret’s PINK:
 PINK Nation, has more interaction than main website
 Vote to have Alma Mater on PINK
 Use Facebook page to get feedback on styles etc
 One of few to create a fully functional mobile site
“Is it better to get MANY people to watch your video, or FEW of the right people?” Social Media is creating the bridge – making it possible to reach MANY of the RIGHT people; inexpensively!

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Could taste-driven coupons be developed?
Could location-based advertising be done? For e.g. customer enters a store and automatically, receives a text message about store specials
Could consumer focus groups become obsolete?
Could the customers become designers – submit underwear design and let customers vote on the
“Design of the Month”?
Could loyalty programs be revamped using tools from social media? For e.g. can I get a list of
“Consumers who bought X also bought Y – in the store?”

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 Doctors communicate with their patients online – share test results, appointment scheduling.
http://www.kp.org

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http://www.grubhub.com

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Tweet restaurant page to solicit menu recommendations from customers that are in the restaurant?
Anonymous conversations with strangers at the same restaurant?
Can Zagat ratings become obsolete? Can they be replaced by live and historic customer feedback?
Mobile clinics that go around taking samples etc, and send online doctors data electronically?
Online contractors for “Do-It-Yourself” initiatives?
Airlines allow customers to tweet about pre-flight, inflight and post-flight activities?

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Changing the way they govern

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U.K Government is on Facebook!!!
 Have an application that delivers daily feeds
 A means by with the Prime Minister sends news and updates
 Has a little over 500 fans
U.K Government is also on Twitter!!!
 Has 1.39 million followers
 Very news focused
… And on Youtube!
 The “Ask the Prime Minister” feature
 Users vote on top questions
 PM responds
UK Government uses Flickr to share photos of events http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/Social-Media-Example-21-UK-Government/

Virtual communities
Companies are using Social Media to get insights directly from the people who matter most - Their customers.
http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/

• Users can interact with each other.
• Ask questions, rate answers, share recipes, motivate each other.
• Save company money – less customer help resources

MySpace
Blogs
Widgets
YouTube
Facebook page

Widgets
Youtube
Facebook Page