A Design Thinking Approach to Online Engagement  – Create richer and more long-lasting engagement

With my ‘Design Thinking’ hat being firmly on for the last few years I have no doubt that applying Design Thinking principles to any Product or Service initiative comes with enormous benefit and, for this presentation, I wanted to introduce some of the core pillars and foundations of design thinking and relate these to Social Media and customer engagement.

Thinking about Social Media Engagement from a Design Thinking position is as valuable as using Design Thinking product development and any innovation program.

Agenda

Broadly my agenda was to:

• Introduce the audience to the pillars of Design Thinking
• Explore the Pillars and related concepts in more detail as they apply to Social Media
• Touch on the notion of Social Business
• Summarize and conclude

I often fall back on a pretty standard quote to kick off these presentations:

“Design schools emphasize abductive thinking—imagining what could be possible. This new thinking approach helps us challenge assumed constraints and add to ideas, versus discouraging them.”

– Proctor & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley

Lafley 2008, The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation Quoted in Business Week 28 July 2008

It’s a provocative quote for sure.  Have you ever been in a meeting when someone says, ‘we can’t do that’ or ‘that’s never going to work’?  Well, Mr. Lafley was talking about them; we need less people like that and more who are willing to think about new ways of doing things – people who are excited about the possibilities of tomorrow rather than those constrained and burdened by the legacy of the past.

The Sweet Spot

At the heart of the Design Thinking is, if you like, the sweet spot where three key considerations meet.  They are:

Human – is it desirable?

Business – is it viable?

Technology – is it feasible?

Because of the continued changes and developments in technology and the recent, almost revolutionary, opportunities now open to us as individuals and organizations in how we can communicate and interact, it’s understandable that we might forget some of the basic drivers that motivate us as human beings.

Amongst the myriad of motivators, we still want to be recognized as individuals; we still desire great experiences and we still want things to be easier. 

But technology is compelling and too often becomes the driver for innovation rather than the enabler.  Don’t be tempted to look at technology as something cool that you think you should use.  Look at what’s wanted and needed by people and then think how technology could help.

And then ask yourself if you are doing this for sound business reasons.  Is what you are thinking about doing going to benefit your business in some tangible and measurable way?

I sum up the happy sweet spot where all three considerations come together as:

Understanding your consumers, and then doing something that addresses (at least some of) their, needs, desires or wants – and doing it for sound and understood business reasons with the appropriate use of technology and tools

The New Loyalty

The new ‘loyalty’ is about getting permission to be invited into a consumer’s attention stream.  In the case of Facebook, for example, this phrase resonates almost literally.

How do we get permission?  In my presentation I describe it as:

It’s about establishing a relationship based on a more emotional connection – people will engage with companies and organizations they perceive as understanding them – they love personalities

When I say ‘personality’ I’m not talking about celebrities – well know ‘personalities’ I’m thinking more of someone behaving as a person.  Think about why your friends are your friends and how they communicate with you.

They know how to speak with you and how to have fun with you because they know you.  They say things to you that are relevant to you and/or the friendship you have.  You discuss things that are mutually interesting and they know not to call you early on Sunday mornings.

You have a history with them.  The history that you share and the histories that are exclusive determine your interactions and shape your ongoing relationship.

And with the intimacy that Social Media now offers these kinds of relationships can develop between organizations and consumers.

In my presentation I describe this as Your now having the opportunity to see your customers as ‘real’ people – not just as numbers on a spreadsheet.

Who are they really?

What do they like?

What are their broader lifestyles?

Rapid Prototyping

In Design Thinking we talk about ‘Rapid Prototyping’.  In traditional product design terms this means quickly mocking up a product and giving it to people to hold and ‘use’ with a few to quickly understanding what will work, what else might work and other useful user insights.

With old marketing campaigns we might have taken weeks in the development, refinement and deployment and then waited days for some number indicators as to its success.

Now we have instant feedback to messages both in terms of their content and their style.  We can see what resonates with people – what resonates between them and us as a brand and a consumer and also what resonates within the consumer base.

Create a strategy – set out a plan for different type of messages at different times about different things.  See what works.  And build on it. 

You could even ask your customers directly what they want.  I’m sure they won’t mind!

In the second part of this piece I will go on to talk about customer journeys, storyboarding experiences and Social Business.

Join me then.