LocalSocialSummit_LSS11Day1Rpt_March2012

7/31/2019 LocalSocialSummit_LSS11Day1Rpt_March2012

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Edited by Dylan Fuller | localsocialsummit.com | Published 14 March 2012

Local Social Summit 2011

Day 1: Conference Report


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Page | 1www.localsociasummit.com | facebook.com/localsocialsummit | @locsocsummit

Contents

Executive Summary ............................................................................................ 2Trends & Themes to Watch in 2012 ................................................................... 3

Local Social Summit 11 Schedule - Day 1 ....................................................... 4

Opening Keynote: The Local Paradigm Shift 2011: Big Trends Edition ...... 5

Panel 1: Search vs. Social ................................................................................ 11

Panel 2: Finding Locals The View from Europe .......................................... 15

Afternoon Keynote: The Timely Death of the Daily Deal [and the Birth ofEveryday, Everywhere, Every Way Deals] - A Daily Deal Insider Speaks .... 19

Panel 3: The Right Place at the Right Time How the Real-Time World

Influences the Local Web ................................................................................. 23

Panel 4: The Changing Landscape of Local/Mobile Content ........................ 26

Panel 5: Super Social Business Field Studies ............................................ 29

Super Social Business Profiles ....................................................................... 32

About Local Social Summit & this Report ...................................................... 34

LSS11 Sponsors .............................................................................................. 36

Local Social Summit 2012: Dates & Information ............................................ 37

Sponsorship Opportunities for Local Social Summit 2012 ........................... 38


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Executive Summary

Local Social Summit (LSS) is a conference that explores the intersection of local andsocial media. Designed to ensure dynamic dialogue and networking among conferenceattendees, the summit features interactive sessions constructed to share knowledge andfind solutions by showcasing innovation, emerging trends and consumer insights.

The origins for LSS date back to the summer of 2006 at an event focused on the localsearch space that was attended by some of the biggest local media players in Europe,including Deutsche Telekom, SEAT Pagine Gialle, Schibsted Group and the Irish Times.Subsequently, Dylan Fuller & Simon Baptist founded Local Social Summit in 2009 as adirect response to requests from media companies and thought leaders in the localspace.

Local Social Summit 2011 (LSS11) was ourthird annual event, held in London onNovember 9th & 10th. LSS11 was an expanded event, held over two days, that included100 attendees, 40 speakers and six sponsors. We had 16 sessions: three keynotes,

eight panels, two talks, a fireside chat, one brand hackathon and one seminar on socialnetwork analysis. As always, engagement was high and the level of discourse worldclass.

Key Learnings:

1. Social media or social networking is no longer over hyped.The social webis transforming how consumers and businesses operate. Businesses can nolonger afford to ignore this paradigm shift.

2. Mobile has truly arrived. The combination of new technologies such as mobilebroadband, gps and apps together with consumer demand for new device types(smartphones and tablets) is the driving enabler for local commerce.

3. Everything is local. Local is not just about SMBs (small & medium sizedbusiness/SMEs) but is also about big brands and regional/nationalchains/franchises connecting with consumers at the local level. This hasprofound implications for the local and global economy.

4. Location is everywhere. Social is not just about data, trends and ROI (return oninvestment), but also very much about people, community and continuosengagement. Local is what is accessible.

Points for debate/disagreement:

1. Search vs. Social.Its too soon to settle the debate. No one could agree on therelative importance of search (i.e. Google, Bing, Yahoo, IYPs) when compared to

social channels (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp).2. What now?There is a big question around what next for local businesses after

they have signed-up for a social networking service. What do they do with theirFacebook fan page? Who should they follow on Twitter? Should they joinLinkedIn?

3. In-house vs. outsource. There was intense debate on whether it was feasible orscalable to outsource social media activities to third parties. This has significantimplications for a large spectrum of companies across online - including PR,yellow pages, technology providers, publishers and media agencies of all sizes.


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Finally, everyone agreed that there was much left to learn, problems to solve and hugeroom for growth for business at the intersection of local, social and mobile.

Trends & Themes to Watch in 2012

Incumbents are at risk. Many industries are only just catching up to the socialopportunity. Watch for an increase in PR from incumbents and action fromagencies, start-ups and technology companies.

Data is everywhere. The social/mobile explosion has created the big dataopportunity for businesses of all size. Location is a valuable and relevant signalwithin all that data.

Consumers demand great user experience. People are living, sharing andspending locally in new ways every day. Pull becomes Push and consumersdemand product and services from brands they know and trust. They want thiswith the same great user experience they already get from most good apps.

Big brand local. Just as many consumer facing product businesses are shiftingspend to direct marketing over time, so too are big brands with local stores areembracing social channels for dialogue-based interactions with their localcustomers.

The rebirth of local. Local moves beyond Groupon, Yelp and Angies List. Mobile broadband. 3G and 4G enables the connected consumer, who not only

checks-in and pins products but makes informed buying decisions andrecommendations on the fly via mobile devices everywhere. This trend willexpand and impact everything from groceries to fashion to restaurant to hotelsand more.

The next Internet arrives. Watch for an explosion in next generation data-drivensocial apps and the legislative backdrop in the works (both in the US and the

EU). The death of daily deals. Deals move to check-in specials, loyalty programmes

and other smart ways for business to incentivise customers Social outsourcing grows. The outsourcing space is wide open and full of

opportunity for smart service and technology providers. Watch for growth andinnovators from new places.

The personal algorithm becomes public. Facebook Timeline and other socialdata signals have huge potential for transforming how/when/where consumersaccess local businesses and buy services, this could impact everything from dailydeals to e-commerce to ratings and reviews.

CRM moves forward: adding a social and local layer helps to take CRM fromthe back office to frontline. This has implications for how companies are

organised and how CRM is integrated into local platforms.

[Please Note: this report covers day one of LSS11. A second report covering day two will be publishedseparately; if you are not already on our email list and want to receive a copy of report No 2 then please be

sure to contact the LSS team: [email protected]]


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Local Social Summit11 Schedule - Day 1Wednesday, 9th November, Wallace Space, London.

9:00 9:15 Welcome to the Summit: 3 Years & Counting - Dylan Fuller & Simon Baptist, Co-Founders LSS

9:15 10:00 Opening Keynote: Local Social 2011 The Paradigm Shift Picks-up Speed

Greg Sterling,Senior Analyst at Internet2Go/Opus Research, Principal at Sterling Market

Intelligence, Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land

10:00 10:45 Search vs. Social

Leader: Greg Sterling, Internet/Mobile Analyst

Panel: Dennis Yu, CEO Blitz Local; Kelvin Newman, Creative Director SiteVisibility; Grant Muckle,

Managing Director Upcast Social

10:45 11:15 - BreakFeaturing Has Bean Coffee

11:15 12:00 Finding Locals The View From Europe

Leader: Simon Greenman, MD Online European Directories

Panel: Michael Oschmann,Digital Industrialist and CEO Mueller-Medien; John Lervik CEO cXense and

former Corp VP at Microsoft; Miriam Warren, VP Europe at Yelp

12:00 1:30 - Lunch -

Plus 12:45-1:30 (optional): Brand Hackathon with Young & Foodish, Leader: Duncan Olge-Skan, EMO

1:30 2:15 Afternoon Keynote: The Timely Death of the Daily Deal [and the Birth of Everyday, Everywhere,

Every Way Deals]

A Daily Deal Insider Speaks - Perry Evans, CEO Closely

2:15 3:15 The Right Place At The Right Time: How The Real-Time Web Influences The "local" World

Leader: Seb Provencher, Co-Founder Needium

Panel: Ryan Mac Jones, Founder We&Co; David Ambrose, Mobile Lead Travelzoo; Phil Leggetter,Developer Evangelist Pusher, Stefano Diemmi, Proximitips/Buongiorno

3:15 3:45 - Break Featuring Has Bean Coffee

3:45 4:30 The Changing Landscape of Local/Mobile Content

Leader: Greg Sterling, Internet/Mobile Analyst

Panel: Niels Borgers, Lead Business Development Infohubble; Robin Allenson, Founder InnerBalloons;

Eric Freeman, Director of New Product Development at Schober PDM Iberia; Steve Ricketts, European

MD JiWire

4:30 5:30 Super Social Business Field Studies

Leader: Dylan Fuller, eBay/Co-Founder Local Social Summit

New: Eric Partaker, Co-Founder Chilango; Ben Hopkins, Co-Founder Naked Wines

Alumni: Stephen Leighton, Owner Has Bean Coffee; Daniel Young, Founder Young & Foodish

5:30 6:30 - Networking Reception - Brought to you by InnerBalloons

7:00 10:00 - Optional Event - Experience a Young & Foodish pop-up restaurant for yourself


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Opening Keynote: The Local Paradigm Shift 2011: Big TrendsEdition

Speaker: Greg Sterling is the founder of Sterling Market Intelligence, focused on the

Internets impact on offline consumer behaviour. Greg is a regular keynote speaker andmoderator at LSS. He is also a lead advisor to LSS on content curation and programmedevelopment. The aim of this keynote was to introduce the key trends that are drivingchange within the local and social media space. This talk set-up the overall themes fordiscussion during the two days at LSS11 and introduced the SoLoMo Mandala into theconversation.

[Note:Gregs Presentation has 44 slides:download the complete deck on Slidehshare.Weve include aselection of key slides within and at the end of this summary.]

Keynote Summary:Everyone is interested in local, but theres a gap between intentions and the skillsrequired to deliver on those intentions. This comment from Greg near the beginning of

his presentation neatly summed up his opening keynote, and set the tone for the twodays of the Local Social Summit.

Six Big Themes

Greg then set out six Big Themes [Slide 3]:1. Hypelocal2. Mobile momentum continues3. Social media, SMBs and the Now What?

problem4. Local data tsunami5. Payments and real-world analytics6. From clicks to transactions

Everyone isinterested in local,but theres a gapbetween intentionsand the skillsrequired to deliver onthose intentions.

Greg Sterling
http://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/opening-keynote-local-social-2011-the-paradigm-shift-picksup-speed-by-greg-sterlinghttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/opening-keynote-local-social-2011-the-paradigm-shift-picksup-speed-by-greg-sterlinghttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/opening-keynote-local-social-2011-the-paradigm-shift-picksup-speed-by-greg-sterlinghttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/opening-keynote-local-social-2011-the-paradigm-shift-picksup-speed-by-greg-sterling


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Hype-Local - Resent Historical Perspective:

Between 2000 and 2007, local was relegated to small businesses. Now everyone isinterested. The essential point about local is the connections between offline andonline.

Rough Timeline [Slide 5]

Before 2000: Local was hot as part of internet-everything bubble Before 2000 2007: Local misunderstood, underappreciated After 2009: Mobile helps make local transparent and sexy Premium product: Local impressions/calls/clicks pay/command a premium (e.g.,

Nexage, xAD, AT&Ti, etc.)

Not just for SMBs anymore:86 percent of national marketers surveyed intend to look for ways to bettermodify, adapt, and localize their marketingcontent, messaging, and prospectengagement practices. Clearly, localized marketing is becoming acriticalarea ofstrategic focusand competitive advantage forbrands.(Source: CMO Council study of brands/agencies October, 2011)

Mobile Momentum:

Key points [Slide 9]: By 2015 more mobile/wireless internet users than

fixed-line users multiple predictions Between 30% and 40% (or so) of EU5 have

smartphones

UK smartphone penetration 40% (50% by Q1 2012) US smartphone penetration: 43% In US and UK roughly 7% of Internet traffic coming

from non-PC devices US mobile internet audience now 100M users

The aggregate numbers dont necessarily describe the uptake of smartphones by themost desirable consumers. [Slide 11]

Mobile Web/Apps Huge (Death of the Web?):

Flurry recently contended that people spend more time on mobile than they do onthe desktop web. [Slide 12]

The most time is concentrated in the top 10 apps, with more time being spent in apps

than on the mobile web. [Slide 13, 14]

The Fourth Screen:

The tablet meanwhile is a fourth screen a mobile/PC hybrid. [Slide 16]

Its also a supercharged ecommerce platform; its much more commerce-friendlythan mobile.

And tablets are cannibalising PC usage.

Smartphonegrowth is themost profoundchange Im

talking abouttoday.

Greg Sterling

LSS Insight: Not specifically called out by Greg but implied by this section is theemerging trend of what we call Big Brand Local this is an emerging challenge forregional/national/global brands that need to engage with consumers at a local level.This topic was explored on Day 2 as part of a dedicated panel on the subject.


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We will see more and more primary internet access via mobile, but often from thebottom of the demographic curve (by younger and more urban consumers). [Slide18]

Voice The New Touch Enables a Star Trek Future:

Apples Siri has taken the voice interface mainstream.[Slide 19]

As either Simon or Dylan said: Voice is the new touch[Note: credit for this quote goes to Simon Baptist]

Both Google and Microsoft will be compelled to respond.

Mobile Deals: Deals and offers are the preferred form of mobile advertising for consumers; they

dont want the other forms of ads on their mobiles. [Slide 20]

What is social media:

Social media is much broader than just Facebook and Twitter. [Slide 23]

Social media is: Consumers talking to each other online Consumers talking about companies, products and brands User-generated content

Voice is the newtouch

Simon Baptist

LSS Insight: The combination of mobile and viable 4th screen (tablets/iPad) alongwith apps, app stores and true voice interaction will only increase the adoption oflocal and social service via mobile devices. We also see these accelerating thedeath of the web and empowering the connected consumer.


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Online word of mouth

Mobile is inherently social, and not just because people are accessing Facebook ontheir phones. [Slide 23]

Facebook has 350 million active mobile users globally Twitter has 100 million active mobile users and 46% of active users make

mobile a regular part of their Twitter experience Overall comScore says US mobile-social networking audience just over 70

million 40 million US mobile users access social networks (including blogs) daily.

The Now What Problem:

The compressed timescale in which SMBs have adoptedFacebook is very surprising, but its been a mixedexperience. [Slides 26, 27, 29]

Its the Now what? problem

And theres not much help out there forthese people. Business owners or surrogates set up accounts

They often dont know what to do after that How to measure ROI, how to think about social They lack education, best practices advice Range of third parties now trying to help But how much of social media can be outsourced?

Life and Like:

The dominant reason people like a brand is to get a deal. According to Nielsen, onlynine per cent of people who liked a brand wanted news from that brand. [Slide 31]

So brands are bribing people to become their fans.

Local Data Tsunami:

Local data is being crowd-sourced and created by merchants, and its being senteverywhere by APIs. It enables publishers to do many more things than ever before.[Slide 32]

Mobile Payments & Real-World Analytics:

The era of mobile payments has begun and eventually online ads and offlinepurchases will be connected in a closed loop at the point of sale. Of course there arelots of privacy issues, which will be more important in Europe than in the US. [Slide34]

Companies are starting to use mobile phones for real-world analytics, ie collectingtraffic data for physical stores. The problem was that people would disappearbetween online and offline interactions. Now were able to start linking these thingsup. [Slide 35] Many companies trying to connect online and offline data/purchase behaviour Check-ins and other methods being used by Euclid to track in-store presence Lots of mobile promotional efforts (i.e, offers) to get people into stores Eventually much closer visibility on which ads delivered in-store visits, even

purchases

If youre a smallbusiness, what do youdo in social media afteryou set up youraccount?

-Greg Sterling


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Deals From Clicks to Transactions:

Deals are introducing a transactional focus to local. Theyre much more tangible forSMBs than paying for clicks. [Slide 37]

But companies are split on whether theyd do a deal again theres only a 50%repeat rate. [Slide 39]

Theres some diversion of ad spending from traditional marketing to deals; were notgoing to see SMBs pulling out of advertising wholesale, but the money is moving.[Slide 40]

The change is impacting on the traditional media that SMBs have always used.[Slide 41]

The criticism of the whole deal approach is that when you get into it, you conditioncustomers to expect a discount.

LSS Insights from the Opening Keynote: Local is global not just SMBs but also big brands.

Mobile is the big driver both smartphones and the 4th

screen (tablets). The big hits are winning - the head is winning vs. the long tail in apps and

consumer attention. SMBs need help opportunity here for third parties outside of Facebook and

Google. Local data lots of it, good and bad challenges; social media and apps

change how user consume, edit and trust data. Closing the loop via offline and online linking using smart analytics,

payments and other physical techniques. This will help the commercial valueof local plus social to be realised and measured like never before.

SoLoMo drives new transactions we move further into a post click era. Apps continue to dominate access, thus death of the Web is a real shift.


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Selected Slides from Opening Keynote (Slides 12, 25 & 38):

For thecomplete slide deck go here on Slideshare.
http://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/opening-keynote-local-social-2011-the-paradigm-shift-picksup-speed-by-greg-sterlinghttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/opening-keynote-local-social-2011-the-paradigm-shift-picksup-speed-by-greg-sterlinghttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/opening-keynote-local-social-2011-the-paradigm-shift-picksup-speed-by-greg-sterlinghttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/opening-keynote-local-social-2011-the-paradigm-shift-picksup-speed-by-greg-sterling


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Panel 1: Search vs. SocialModerator: Greg SterlingPanellists:

Dennis Yu, CEO Blitz Local

Kelvin Newman, Creative Director SiteVisibility

Grant Muckle, Managing Director Upcast Social

Background: The idea for this panel was a celebrity death match style debate onsearch vs. social. No holding back.

By search we mean search engines, we could just say Google, but we wanted togive the other search engines a chance and there is vertical and product and local

/IYP search options for consumers. By social we could just say Facebook, but there is Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare,

Tumblr etc, plus a myriad of new social services and social enabled mobile apps.As the chart below illustrates Facebook has grown very quickly in terms of overall trafficsize online. This adds some data context to our interest in the search vs. social orFacebook vs. Google debate.

Chart Source: Silicon Alley Insider -http://www.businessinsider.com/sai

The place where we wanted to start our exploration was from the perspective of a smallor medium sized business (SMBs/SMEs) or a local business. Many local and smallbusinesses are investing in social in a big way. Why?

As a business which of these two channels should you invest your limited timeand effort into developing?

Which will benefit your business the most?
http://www.businessinsider.com/saihttp://www.businessinsider.com/saihttp://www.businessinsider.com/sai


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Which works better search or social?

Does social offer advantages compared to search?

Search or social which would you choose if you could only focus on one?

Does social trump search?

Panel Summary:How do you define social media?This was Greg Sterlings opening question for the panellists in a session intended to diginto the nuances of how search and social differ, in terms of execution and effortrequired, and in terms of what equals results.

Dennis Yu, CEO of Blitz Local, was the first to respond, defining social media as word-ofmouth marketing where you can see how much influence people have. But he was keento challenge the view that social media is just another channel. Its not, he said, itsan overlay over everything else.

And he also introduced one of the key themes of the

entire conference, that of customer acquisition versusretention. Most fans of a brand on Facebook, he pointedout, are existing customers.

Kelvin Newman, creative director of Site Visibility, thentook on the task of defining social media. Social mediais a return to the way commerce used to work in the past [i.e., word of mouth], with themost important change being the complexity we see now compared to the old days.This, he said, was what was creating the need to fall back on platforms.

Grant Muckle, MD of Upcast Social, agreed with Yu that social media is not just aboutmarketing. The fact that social media lets people share things online means it appeals to

marketers, but is also the reason why they have struggled to make it work for them. Thefact that its also a powerful customer service tool creates huge conflict in how brandsmanage their use of social media.

Yu gave the example of Korea Telecom. They think social media is marketing, he said.They want to shift calls to their call centres onto Facebook. But theyve found itincreases the interaction time, and therefore increases cost.

So is social media a marketing tool or a customer service tool?Newman said that if he had to pick one, it would be CRM. But he also said that theproducts with the best word-of-mouth tend to be the best products.

Grant Muckle pointed out that social media can drivesales quite successfully. A lot of people makecomparisons of results from social media with searchconversion rates, he said, but a lot of the effectivenessof search is due to brand activity further up the funnel. Ifyou strip out the brand effects, the conversion rates forsocial and search are similar.

Social media is a returnto the way commerceused to work in thepast

-Kelvin Newman

If you strip out thebrand effects, theconversion rates forsocial and search aresimilar.

-Grant Muckle


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A member of the audience made the point that part of the importance of search is as aback-up to other marketing activity, so that once youve alerted customers to what youdo, they can find you. The flipside of that is that if they cant find you on search, peoplethink theres something wrong. Whats happening in social media now, he suggested, isthe same thing. If you dont have a social presence, people think theres something

wrong.

Yu returned to the balance between acquisition and retention. We talk about thecustomer funnel, but its really an hourglass, with the waist being the transaction [andthe bottom customer loyalty]. Whats been missing is the bottom part of that hourglass,but social can play at the top and bottom. Were looking at the ways social can be usedto drive loyalty and repeat business. Whats important is to align all the differentchannels in the hourglass, but what were finding is that the bigger a company is, theworse theyre doing this stuff, because of the silos in their operation. Yu also highlightedthe issue of critical mass in how social media and search can work together. Wevefound the base level is 250,000 fans in the US. At that level, theres an 80% chance that,when you show an ad, people will see that a friend likes it. And weve found that that

doubles click-through rate and cuts the cost of PPC (pay-per-click).

Search or social which would you choose if you could only focus on one?Sterling acknowledged that, although the panel had been intended as a battle betweensearch and social, the answer to which you should use was clearly both. So he askedwhat the optimal way was for companies to leverage their use of search and social on alimited budget.

Newmans answer was not to spread the budget too thinly by doing too much. Rather,he said, do one big experiment. And be pragmatic; concentrate on one platform whereyou can be confident of the results. He also pointed out the huge value in understandingthe algorithms of social media testing to find what works best and understanding how

best to communicate with your audience.

Dennis Yu agreed that companies shouldnt just jump into social media. His view is thatwhat makes social work for a company is the content it has. Youve got to have goodcontent testimonials, reviews, whatever. Its not about the ad budget, its about thecontent. And he highlighted the key difference between search and social.

Google+:In response to a question about the future of Google+, Newman said he thought where itmight succeed was by being more business-friendly than any other social network. As hepointed out, they already have your credit-card details from Adwords.

In social media, you know who the consumer is, but not what theyregoing to buy. In search, you know what people want to buy, but not whothey are. So you need different strategies for both.

-Dennis Yu


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But Muckle was sceptical. When Google search became successful, it was because theworld needed a great search engine. I dont think the world needs a great social networknow.

The final word went to Dennis Yu. Social media is not a tech play, he said. The key

with social media is amplifying what your fans are saying about you.

LSS Insights from Panel 1:

Social media is:1. about word of mouth marketing;2. an overlay for everything else;3. an important customer acquisition and retention tool.

If a business doesnt have a social presence then people will think there is aproblem.

Its not a customer funnel but an hourglass:o acquisition transaction retention customer lifetime value.

To make social work you need great content. Panel agreed businesses should use both social and search channels, but

that each required a different strategy.


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Panel 2: Finding Locals The View from EuropeModerator: Simon Greenman, MD Online European DirectoriesPanellists:

Michael Oschmann, digital industrialist and CEO Mueller-Medien

John Lervik CEO cXense and former Corp VP at Microsoft

Miriam Warren, VP Europe at Yelp

Background: The aim of this panel was to discuss the local search space from theperspective of three stakeholders - 1) users/consumers; 2) media owners/publishers;and 3) the SMBs/local business. We also wanted explore the two big disruptions in localsearch - which we define as social media and mobile access (ie, smartphones withapps).

Panel Summary:

The key themes that emerged were:

The challenges posed to businesses by the proliferation of competing eco-systemsaround the major platforms;

The need for service providers sales teams to fully understand what theyre selling;

And the dangers of being an innovator.

The session also covered one of the topics that ran through the entire conference: The importance of accuracy in local data.

The audience also took the opportunity to quiz Warren about Yelps current performanceand future plans.

SoLoMo:Simon Greenman opened the session by stating that the next wave of online businessis going to be about mobile, local and social, with huge room for growth in the spacewhere the three meet. He predicted the pace of change of the past five years wouldcontinue and probably grow.

Yellowpages Not Dead Yet:So he began by asking whats going to happen to Yellow Pages businesses. Theresponse from Michael Oschmann was that, as everybody has spent the past five yearssaying Yellow Pages is dead but theyre still here, he thinks theyll survive. Moreseriously, he pointed out the advantages his company has as a family business, beingable to take a long view. My most important task is to keep my team enthusiastic aboutthe future, he said. If I can do that I have no doubt well survive.

There were differing responses to Greenmans question about who the winners andlosers would be over the next five years. Warren highlighted the importance of content

the next wave of online business is going to be about mobile,

local and social, with huge room for growth in the space where thethree meet.

-Simon Greenman


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and the lack of brand loyalty in the space, while Lervik talked about the importance ofpartnership, saying that the winners would be companies that could partner withpublishers to get more traffic and wider distribution.

Online Ecosystems:

The theme of competing platforms and ecosystemsemerged when Greenman asked whether companiesshould be more worried about Google or Facebook.Lervik replied that Google has always been theenemy, while Facebooks plans for the local space arestill unclear. But he noted that Facebook could beleveraged as a partner in this area more than Googlecan.

Miriam Warren added that Facebook is a great wayto distribute content, for example in the way that itallows people to share reviews with their social circle.

Michael Oschmann meanwhile highlighted the growing complexity and competition inthe space as ecosystems develop around the competing platforms, and the challengethat presents to Yellow Pages-type businesses.

Oschmann continued to saywe cant produce ecosystems for ourselves. We have toadapt to the rules of each different ecosystem to get reach. And there are moreemerging. Is Foursquare an ecosystem? If it is, weve got to adapt to it.

One audience member picked up on this, asking whether, if the trend is towardsplatforms and ecosystems, a local ecosystem can be built. Warren responded by sayingYelp is building a local ecosystem which they want people to use through the API. We

know we need to get that data, and that we need to pay for it, she said.

Small Business (SMBs):Next, Greenman turned the focus on the small businessesthemselves. Theyre confused by this new world, so whatshould publishers be offering them?

In reply, Oschmann explained his own companysapproach. We define ourselves as a sales force morethan as a product, he said. Our challenge is that oursales force needs to understand what theyre selling, aswell as getting the SMBs to understand. We have to get

what were selling in front of our sales force and get thementhused.

John Lervik too sees this as crucial. The challenge is to create products that are sosimple the sales force can understand them, he said. Whats critical is to take complextechnology and put it in simple terms for the advertiser and the sales force. Then wehave to distribute the ads more widely, so we need more partners in order to get morereach. But we also need more performance-based models to get more reach too.

We cant produceecosystems for ourselves.We have to adapt to therules of each differentecosystem to get reach.And there are moreemerging. Is Foursquare anecosystem? If it is, wevegot to adapt to it.

-Michael Oschmann

Publishers need toregain power in theirstruggle against Googleby understanding moreabout their users.

-John Lervik


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Warren also used her own company as an example. People come to Yelp searching fora plumber because they need one, she said. So as an SMB, you need to be there sopeople can find you. Our tools are all about connecting SMBs with their customers.Quizzed by Greenman she agreed that signing up SMBs is about more than direct saleschannels, explaining that the company really benefits from people going into a business

and telling them they found them on Yelp.

Information and Data Accuracy:Accuracy of information was a theme that occurred throughout the two days of thesummit, and it was raised here by a question about whether customers are looking foraccurate and complete reviews on local businesses. Warrens response was that Yelpemploys local people in every city it operates in to make sure its content is accurate.Accuracy is super-important, she said. Youve got to have people on the groundlooking for inaccuracies, and theres no silver bullet other than more people.

This idea of adding more eyeballs to reduce inaccuracies prompted a question aboutwhether widespread adoption of mobile would help. Oschmann argued that sometimes,

rather than producing your own reviews, its easier to adapt to an ecosystem that alreadyhas them.

So whats the benefit to me, as a consumer, in producing content for you, the panel wasthen asked. Some people like to help other people; some like to be famous, Warrenexplained. Some just want to remember where theyre been and the experience theyhad. Theres no financial incentive from us.

The Yellow Pages Brand:Another question concerned the Yellow Pages brand and whether, with its diminishingrelevance to consumers, Yellow Pages publishers should rebrand. Lerviks answer wentback to the question of partnerships. He argued that the brand is still a strength when

talking to merchants, but that in order to reach more customers, Yellow Pagesbusinesses need more partnerships with publishers.

Someone else in the audience raised the issue of the industry creating products in ahorizontal way, and asked whether verticalising them might be a better approach.Lerviks response was that this is partly a technical issue. Theres a lot of technologythat can help you repurpose content, he said. We believe that by understanding thecontext of the user, we can personalise of contextualise the content. Publishers need toregain power in their struggle against Google by understanding more about their users .

On Innovation:Innovation was the next subject to come under discussion, with a question about why

regional Yellow Pages struggle to come up with new products to compete with the likesof Yelp and Groupon. Oschmanns response was that its hard for establishedcompanies to countenance failure. Its always harder if youre losing something than ifyoure winning something, he said.Its hard to create an organisation that risks failure;its much easier for small start-ups to fail. Thats why we have a hybrid approach.

Lervik agreed. Its very hard to reinvent yourself if youre not in a crisis, he said. Thebest way to do so is in separate companies or start-ups, because theres no incentive to


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disrupt a successful business; look at Microsoft. Apple is very different, because it hascreated a culture of reinvention.

Oschmann also pointed out that you dont need to be an innovator to succeed. As hesaid, there are loads of people by the roadside who failed while trying to innovate.

Yelp and Web 2.0 Matures:This led Greenman to ask Warren about how Yelp sees itself as it moves from being adisruptor to more mature, established business. Warrens response was that while in theUS Yelp is The Man, in Europe its barely a toddler.Were figuring out how to do whatworked really well in the US and take that to ten different countries and cultures, shesaid. Vienna now looks like New York four years ago. Its a big challenge for a companythats been very successful in a big market. We never feel like everyone in Europeknows who we are. For the team in Europe, the challenge is to make Yelp work in allthese different markets, and its going to be a long road.

Warren was then asked whether Yelp has the resources to change its model in Europe

to respond to the problems that its seen in San Francisco. Her reply was that thecompany has to be in a location first in order to see what works and what doesnt (Weneed to make tweaks to show we know Austria isnt Germany), but she said Yelp isntcurrently seeing any problems with its business model. She cited growth in London thatis faster than expected, and then went on to praise European entrepreneurs. They haveto think about multiple countries, cultures and currencies from the start; in the US wedont have to do that so I really admire people like that.

What kind of companies in this space would the panellists invest in?

Miriam Warren said that she was really interested incompanies encouraging community sharing: we dont all

have to buy a shovel, we can share.

Im interested in companies that can take away thetechnological pain, Lervik said.

Oschmann offered: Companies that can simplify thecustomer experience or make it more relevant.

[On] communitysharing: we dont allhave to buy a shovel,we can share.

-Miriam Warren

LSS Insights from Panel 2: The Yellow Pages:

o Are not dead yet.o

Is still a strong brand with merchants (SMBs/SMEs). Producing simple products for SMBs is one of the biggest challenges and liesat the centre of sales success.

Local data accuracy is very important and this remains a challenge. Facebook can be leveraged much more as a partner in local than Google. Yelp growth in Europe continues and is an important channel for many SMBs

(another potential problem area if users cant find the business on Yelp).


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Afternoon Keynote: The Timely Death of the Daily Deal [and the

Birth of Everyday, Everywhere, Every Way Deals] - A Daily Deal

Insider SpeaksSpeaker: Perry Evans, CEO Closely

Background: The industry surrounding Daily Deals is rapidly morphing from one-deal-per-day delivered via featured email campaigns into offer exchange networks and livemobile commerce plus loyalty promotion. This keynote profiled the main changes, andhighlighted the challenges to merchants, media publishers and consumers within anindustry in rapid reconstruction. The slide deck from this keynote isavailable onslideshare hereand has 18 slides.Keynote Summary:Individual deals have gone, to be replaced by a more complex approach that offersmerchants better segmentation, better targeting, and the possibility of moving to a yieldmanagement model. That was the message from the second keynote presentation of

LSS 11, delivered by Perry Evans.

Daily Deals Started as a Simple ConceptThe daily deal was a very simple concept in creation and execution, he started bysaying. One deal per day, per metro area, emailed to you, with a group tipping point.

Now, a year later, there are many deals at variable times and of variable value, availableacross locations via email and mobile, and the tipping point for individual deals has gone(slide 3). The concept has been atomised.

So is this a flash in the pan. We have to balance the SMBs reaction to the first versionof the deals product which was indifference (slide 4) against the need to address this

new audience, the mobile social consumer, in a new way (slide 5).

Slide 6

Direct Marketing Finally Falls to the Internet RevolutionMeanwhile, DM has been the last pillar of marketing to fall to the internet revolution. Thedaily deal has introduced concepts that have brought about that collapse. Whats moreinteresting is that it will enable the match of supply and demand in ways never beforepossible.

.
http://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/lss11-the-timely-death-of-the-daily-dealhttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/lss11-the-timely-death-of-the-daily-dealhttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/lss11-the-timely-death-of-the-daily-dealhttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/lss11-the-timely-death-of-the-daily-dealhttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/lss11-the-timely-death-of-the-daily-dealhttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit/lss11-the-timely-death-of-the-daily-deal


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Businesses meanwhile love the underlying concept of the daily deal the guaranteedpre-paid transaction but they hate the business model and they hate the lack of control(slide 7).

So there are some shifts going on in theindustry around product patterns,distribution, the merchant experience andconsumer targeting (slide 8). The first isaround product patterns. Groupon Nowwas an early product failure from acustomer perspective, but theyre shiftingthe business to real-time promotion. Trialsshow that businesses are very positiveabout the proposition what if you had apromotion that could be turned on and off.But its still a nascent product.

Were also seeing the segmenting ofdeals by different product types.

Then theres the question of return visits and loyalty (slide 9). The problem with dailydeals is the number of people who then come back. At Closely we came up withpersonal deals to encourage repeats, and Foursquare is doing similar targetedpromotion types. Were also seeing time-based bonus deals, which incentivise people tocome in to the business at certain times in a move towards yield management.

And all these approaches are solving the problems of the merchants business in amore sophisticated way.

Distribution of Deals Changing RapidlyThe distribution of deals is also in rapid transition (slide 10). Theres currently a poormatch in the supply and demand of deals. Networks like Google Offers will act as a newad marketplace for deals, so the food chain is in formation, going beyond the siloscreated by the likes of Groupon and Living Social. And they mean that businesses thathave failed to capture a list of their customers email addresses can still take advantageof the deal mechanism.

Theres also an expansion in the placement of offers, with ways for commerce tohappen being embedded in the ads. Coupon distribution and ads are merging; thatswhy Google is in this space.

As for the merchant experience (slide 11), SMBs are currently being overwhelmed bysales calls from deal providers. That means theyre retreating to trusted brands andrelationships, and it makes it hard for companies that are just coming into the market tocompete on price.

New Tools for BusinessesTools are also evolving quickly businesses are being equipped with better tools.Bloomspot for example is capturing data around patterns of purchase and promotions.

Then daily deal means thatprice is now being pushed toconsumers. Also, consumershave to be re-acquired more andmore. The idea of a loyalcustomer is a fallacy; people arecontinually being offereddifferent choices and they needto be re-acquired. And its veryhard to turn the clock back.

-Perry Evans


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In customer targeting, Google Offers is pretty clever in terms of personalisation, forexample in creating hangouts. Filtering is critical, as is verticalisation, and people have tobe able to search by the availability of deals.

This is all leading to an industry shakeout (slide 13). Were seeing the collapse of the

just like Groupon plays, and the companies that are still there are finding its not aseasy as it seemed. The cost of creating an email list has tripled in the last year and click-through rates are dropping. Plus theres a lack of loyalty among merchants to dealproviders.

Also, its not about selling the same stuff over and over, its about getting into the walletof the consumer and creating a bias towards action in your favour.

This has implications for local media. If you look at the hotel industry (slide 15), whenyou bring price into the equation and you have tools to create demand in interestingways, that causes change and people have to pay attention.

Redrawing Promotion Distribution from the Ground Up?I think this is heading towards media being a layer above what businesses do with theirexisting customers.

Evans was then asked whether the revenue forward model is the best way.There is a range of types of promotions, he replied.The big thing businesses dontunderstand yet is that when you understand and own the transaction, you can do

something much more interesting. You can take the information, add more and dosomething more targeted. For example, you can target people who come in on aMonday or Tuesday to get them to come in more regularly. Your customer list becomesa living thing.

Data is Key to Long Term Value in DealsAnd that data is the reason you want to move from offers to deals. You want to collectthe transactional data. A lot of local media companies went into the deal space, failed,and got out again. Instead they need to think about commerce-driven offers.


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The final question was about the tour bus effect the problem of merchants offeringdeals to entice in customers who never come back, but just continue looking for the nextdeal.

Groupon as a Media Company

Groupon is a media company, Evans said. Their job is to get people back on the busfor the next offer. Also, research has shown that after doing a Groupon deal, themerchants Yelp rating falls by half a point, mainly due to them not being prepared forthe demand generated. And theres only so much you can do to help a business takeadvantage of a deal in terms of customer service. But there are also lots of tools aroundthat allow you to pick the people you want from that tour bus and get them to come backto you again. Its part of the process of re-acquiring customers.

I think that deal provision will be more of a serviced model than self-service; a servicenetwork model rather than a sales network model.

LSS Insights from Afternoon Keynote: Daily deals started as a simple concept, but has become complex for

merchants. Direct marketing finally falls to the Internet revolution. The distribution channel of deals is in flux and changing rapidly. Tools for local business around daily deals is evolving quickly. We need to think about redrawing promotion distribution from the ground up. Data is key to long term value in deals. Groupon is a media company.


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Panel 3: The Right Place at the Right Time How the Real-Time

World Influences the Local WebLeader: Seb Provencher, Co-Founder NeediumPanelists:

Ryan Mac Jones, Founder We&Co

David Ambrose, Mobile Lead Travelzoo

Phil Leggetter, Developer Evangelist Pusher

Stefano Diemmi, Proximitips/Buongiorn

Background:The rise of the real-time Web is well documented. Propelled by both the socialnetworking revolution and mobile device ubiquitousness, were seeing the birth of new

user services and business opportunities.

Panel Summary:This panel set out to explore the time element in the local/social web; to try to discoverwhat kind of content works well in real time, what the benefits are for consumers andwhat kind of business models can be developed to leverage the time dimension.

What is the Real Time Web?Once again, the session began with definitions, with Seb Provencher asking thepanellists to define the real-time web, and then asking them how important the timedimension is.

Stefano Diemmi answered that time is most important for short pieces of informationand in sharing social interactions. Leggetter built on that by adding that real time tends tomean data still has relevance once its published. He described the difference as beinglike registering for a subscription to information compared to looking for historicalinformation.

Ryan Mac Jones was more metaphorical,likening real time to a giant trampoline withinformation bouncing around. But he alsopointed out that one of the problems aroundreal-time content is the lack of context.

At We&Co were trying to add a people layer onto a places layer. Were askingcustomers to thank an individual for a piece of service, he explained. We want toquantify that and use it to help push service businesses forward.

Phil Leggetter and Diemmi agreed that one of the advantages of real-time is to makeweb sites richer through the use of dynamic content, something that Leggetter regardsas the next step for the online experience.

[the real time web is like]agiant trampoline withinformation bouncing around

-Ryan Mac Jones


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Adding real-time interaction makes shops more relevant and more interesting for theuser, Diemmi added. It means for example they can have a real-time Q&A function thatallows people to ask questions of other customers.

He also pointed to the reappearance of reverse

auctions a long-promised web business modelas another example of the effect of real timeinformation, a development which Provencher,David Ambrose and Jones all confirmed.

Reverse auctions are cutting across everything, Jones said. A lot of big brands aregoing to have trading desks for this. P&G has already stated that its planning to operatein real-time mode, using point-of-sale information coming in live. And its alreadyhappening on the marketing and PR side where brands are monitoring the news to seehow they can take advantage of events, the way Oakley did in giving sunglasses to theChilean miners before they emerged from underground.

Moving on from this, Provencher asked the panel whether they thought there werelonger-term benefits to customers of the move towards real-time information. There wassome head-shaking, with Jones pointing out that customer convenience was behind allthe moves to adopt a real-time approach. But while Jones agreed that the driving forcewas the ability to meet an immediate customer need, he also pointed out that seeingyour friends checking in to a location creates a wish-list in your head for future action.And he highlighted the longer-term benefit in building brand equity for companies thatare seen to respond in real-time.

Provencher also saw the move towards demand forecasting and yield managementimplicit in capturing real-time data, a key theme throughout the event. As he said, brandscan use this data to spot trends and then manage their resources to meet them. With

this in mind, he asked what the benefits of real-time are to the merchants, and what kindof mindset they would need to take advantage of it.

Joness response was that they need to be agile, while Ambrose referred back tocomments that Closely CEO Perry Evans made in his earlier Deals session about thehotel industry.

Hotels have revenue managers who predict demand and use variable pricing to fillempty slots. They work with online travel agents and it becomes quite complex, he said.Lots of other sectors arent that sophisticated yet.

At a more basic level, Leggetter re-iterated the opportunity companies have to

differentiate themselves from their competition by responding to customers questionsand complaints, while Provencher mentioned the importance of listening to customers aspart of delivering service and Diemmi talked about the opportunity real-time creates formerchants to have a dialogue with people who are not in their shop to try and enticethem in.

A delegate then asked how a real-time approach plays into customer service, to whichAmbrose replied that it puts a lot more emphasis on interface design and the need tomake that interface more responsive.

Adding real-time interaction

makes shops more relevantand more interesting for theuser

-Stefano Diemmi


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This was followed up with a question about how customers value speed of responsecompared to engagement with, and trust in, a brand. Jones replied by talking about thesize a company has to be before a real-time response is possible.

How big do you have to be before you can chase those one-off Tweets? he asked.Provencher suggested setting categories of response time depending on the type ofbusiness; as he said, you want a quicker response from a restaurant if youre hungrythan from a car dealer when youre buying a car.

Another delegate said that this whole world of real-time communication sounds like anightmare for a small business owner who just wants to run his coffee shop.Wont they be swept away when Starbucks starts doing all this stuff? he asked. Whatcan we do to empower those small merchants?

Diemmis reply was that theyll have to find different ways to compete, differentmarketing and promotional efforts.

Finally, the panel were asked who they thoughtwere offering the best customerexperiences around real-time data.

Diemmi: services that deliver information about whats on and where to go. Froma business perspective, those delivering vouchers.

Ambrose: Yelp, although theyre not pushing their real-time content yet.

Leggetter: Foursquare, although people arent using its real-time elements muchyet either.

LSS Insights from the Real-Time Web Panel: The problem around real-time content is the lack of context.

The real-time web is a challenge for SMBs, especially when it comes tospeed of response and CRM types of interactions. The growth of reverse auctions is a trend to watch in 2012. Forecasting and yield management will continue to evolve and become part

of the wider retail and FMCG business landscape. Using the real-time web will become a competitive advantage for many

businesses, both to acquire customers but also as a CRM tool. In 2012:

o Will there be a check-in battle between the likes of Yelp, Foursquare,Facebook and new local vertical apps?

o Will we finally start to see the promise of deals linked to check-ins forlocal merchants?


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Panel 4: The Changing Landscape of Local/Mobile ContentLeader: Greg Sterling, Sterling Market IntelligencePanelists:

Niels Borgers, Lead Business Development Infohubble

Robin Allenson, Founder InnerBalloons

Eric Freeman, Director of New Product Development at Schober PDM Iberia

Steve Ricketts, European MD JiWire

Panel Summary:This panel aimed to answer the question when data is so available, how do you createvalue and differentiation? But it quickly turned into a session about why most data aboutlocal businesses is so poor, and what can be done about this..Local Data QualityRobin Allenson started the discussion by pointing out that a lot of the data out there is

junk, which means that data validation is hugely important. And he highlighted theproblem faced by SMEs, which is how to keep track of all the information aboutthemselves out there and make sure its accurate.

Eric Freeman picked up on this point, agreeing that not alldata is equal but going on to say that perfect data isimpossible. The trick, he said, is to know what your usersare doing with the information so that you can align yourdata with what your users want. This approach does holdout some hope for improving data quality.

Data quality rises to the needs of the most demanding users, he said. Its also a greatopportunity to ask your users what they want from you.

Steve Ricketts agreed that data quality is crucial, but he also stressed the importance ofcontext. If Im in a shop and log in to that shops website, I should get a differentexperience to the one Id get if I visited their site while I was in their competitors store,he said.

Highlighting the problems of data quality, Neils Borgersnoted that there are 35 Foursquare check-in points at

Amsterdams Schipol Airport. But Allenson challenged thisview, arguing that its the wrong way to think aboutFoursquare. Their data is good enough for their users,he said. Youve got to look at all the sources of data andunderstand their respective strengths.

This led Ricketts to raise the point that its a companys business model that determineshow much they can spend on data, and how much that data is worth to them, withFreeman noting that data cost is not an item that appears on most companies budgets.The belief is that data is free, he said.

Data quality rises to theneeds of the mostdemanding users

-Eric Freeman

There are 35 Foursquarecheck-in points at

Amsterdams SchipolAirport

-Neils Borgers


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Consumer Response to Local Content QualitySterling then tossed out a statement for the panellists to either agree or disagree with; ifyoure a well-known directory, you can get away with sloppier data than a start-up could.In other words, he said, customers are not punishing low-quality data sets.

Ricketts disagreed with the point about customers, arguing that some customers are, butso infrequently that its invisible. But he agreed that start-ups need better data than theirestablished competition, in the same way that they also need to offer better services andperformance.

Allenson said he would expect data quality to go up as it becomes more widely used.Theres a hugeamount of frustration around the poor quality of data on mobiles, hesaid. So were starting to see crowd sourced businesses emerge for data collection andverification. Foursquare gets round the frustrations of bad data by allowing people tochange it.

Data Needs Vary By Vertical

Sterling then argued that the quality of the data needdepends on the business sector in question. Eventsand movies need very clean data, he said, while aplumber just needs his phone number to be right. Hethen asked whether the data quality problem is due, atleast in part, to fragmentation, to the huge proliferationof places where this data can be found.

Allenson agreed, but also pointed out that the other partof the reason is a lack of resource. Data quality isappallingly low because the resource required to keep itupdated is too great. The reason Yelp is so great is

because they go from city to city, verifying as they go.

Consumer Services Built on Local DataThe discussion then moved on to what services can be built on top of data thatcustomers might value. Ricketts highlighted an interesting difference between therequirements of US and UK customers. People looking for a local shop online in the USwant to know about the sales promotions its offering, he said. In the UK, its reviews.Distance makes a difference too; the importance people attach to product availabilityinformation increases with the distance they have to travel. And he pointed out that afifth of smartphone users have changed their behaviour in-store as a result of informationtheyve got through their phone.

How Should IYPs Differentiate?Finally Sterling brought the session back to its original premise. Youre advising smallYellow Pages publishers on how to differentiate themselves, based on content anddata, he said to the panel. What do you tell them?

Allensons response was that they shouldnt claim to be unique, the best or completesources, because the merchants theyre talking to know this isnt true. His advice? Offerclients a joined-up view, and start small.

Data quality isappallingly lowbecause the resourcerequired to keep itupdated is too great.The reason Yelp is sogreat is because theygo from city to city,verifying as they go.

-Robin Allenson


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Freemans answer was even more fundamental; understand what your customers arelooking for.

And Ricketts returned to an earlier point: Differentiate yourself through high-quality data,but surface it according to how people want to use it.

LSS Insights from Panel 4: Data quality is super important. Accuracy and quality of local data is a problem that still needs to be solved. Needs vary by vertical. Users are still frustrated. Opportunity exists for building great consumer services on local data. The model Yelp and others like Foursquare are using is pretty impressive,

and generally good enough based on most user context. User experience is the key to using local date effectively.


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Panel 5: Super Social Business Field StudiesLeader: Dylan Fuller, Co-Founder Local Social SummitPanellists:

Eric Partaker, Co-Founder Chilango

Ben Hopkins, Co-Founder Naked Wines

Stephen Leighton, Owner Has Bean Coffee

Daniel Young, Founder Young & Foodish

Background:The Super Social Business panel brought together four entrepreneurs who are usingsocial media to power the growth of their businesses. The aim of this panel was tohighlight real case studies from business owners using social media that all have somelink to local. These businesses are probably all outliers, they are innovating and pushingthe boundaries of what is possible. These are super social businesses. Two of thespeaker (Stephen Leighton & Daniel Young) were alumni who had spoken on similarpanel at LSS in 2010.

Panel Summary:The discussion started with introductions to each business and speaker to set the scene,first by Dylan Fuller and then each entrepreneur spoke,

Stephen Leighton, Owner Has Bean Coffee:In the past we focused very much on educating ourcustomers through social media, he said. Whensomeone buys coffee from us, we send out a videoof me talking about the coffee so were tasting ittogether. Were now taking our business into cafs,so weve made a couple of videos explaining tocaf owners what we offer and have shared thosevia social media.

Daniel Young, Founder Young & Foodish:Young explained that he had been a New York-based author writing cookery booksbefore he realised how competitive that was. He relocated to London and launched apop-up restaurant business. He looks for greasy spoon cafes to take over for anevening, then brings in top chefs to cook one caf-style dish for each event, recruitingthe audience via social media.

Ben Hopkins, Co-Founder Naked Wines:Hopkins was originally one of the founders of Virgin Wines. Thats where we made allour mistakes, he joked. He described Naked Wines as a farmers market for wine. Itsa community of wine lovers and wine makers. We recruit customers via partnerships withother online businesses, either through vouchering, paying commission or payingadvertising fees, and we also promote like-minded businesses to our customers. Weretrying to cut the 33% sales and marketing cost on a bottle of wine and give that back tothe customer, and we do that via an investment model. So we have angels who are ourregular customers and their money is invested in allowing winemakers to make the winethey want to make.

People buy from people,and thats what builds abrand on Twitter,

-Stephen LeightonHas Bean Coffee


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Eric Partaker, Co-Founder Chilango:Finally Partaker explained how he had been inspired to launch Chilango by working atSkype. Theres nothing revolutionary about what Im doing, and that was what struck meabout Skype. VoIP had been around for a while, but Skype just did it better than anyoneelse. We use feedback via social media to

improve the business, he said. I do all theTwitter management myself. I used to worry aboutwhat I should say, but then I decided I should justtalk. Everyone on the panel agreed this was acrucial point.

Authenticity is Key:People buy from people, and thats what builds a brand on Twitter, Leighton said.Having your own voice is super-important. Ive done 156 video podcasts now; I editthem myself and people know that I edit them myself, they know its me talking.

Building Businesses Around Community:

Young pointed out that the link between all the businesses represented on the panelraised the issue discussed earlier in the day, that each is built around a community. Itsabout interaction and engagement, Partaker said. Theres so much choice that loyaltyhappens through the restaurant experience, and through keeping a relationship withcustomers afterwards.

A delegate asked what the panellists thought of Groupon:Hopkins replied that, while its the same model as Naked Wine, its not an audience hewants to promote to. I think Groupons got a limited life, he said.

Partaker too was unimpressed. I dont think theyre local enough; people walk fiveminutes to our restaurants, he said. The type of people Groupon attracts are just

looking for the next deal, so its not attractive to me to sell them food at a 60% discount.

The rest of the session focused on how the panellists balance the time they spendon social media with the other aspects of running their businesses:Partaker picked up on a point made earlier in the day by Dennis Yu. Its a huge trap tomake social media justify itself, he said. Its just a tool that allows you to do thefundamentals of business more effectively. In terms of ROI, its hard in the restaurantspace, which is a cash business, when you give people a voucher. Are they going tocome back?

Hopkins reinforced another view from a previoussession, that people think theres something strange

going on if they cant find you on social media. We dont sell through Facebook or Twitter; its moreabout them being another channel, he said. Alsopeople would question why if we werent there. Butsocial media is also starting to look like CRM. Werefinding our customers defending us against criticismonline.

social media is alsostarting to look like CRM.

Were finding our customersdefending us againstcriticism online.

-Ben Hopkins, Naked Wines

We use feedback viasocial media to improvethe business

-Eric Partaker, Chilango


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The extension of the question about balance is whether social media can be outsourced.One delegate asked if the panellists would have outsourced their social media activitiesfrom the beginning, if they could. Partaker replied that he would have done, because hewas scared of what to say in what was new medium for him. Now weve tried PR peopledoing social for us, and the tone-of-voice they used was off, and our followers noticed I,

so I do it all myself.

Young admitted hed made loads of mistakes insocial media, but he argued the same mistakeswould have been made even if hed outsourced,because hed have told his agency to do the samethings he did. And he learned from his mistakes.People have to figure it out, he said.

Hopkins too rejected outsourcing for similar reasons. Its really important to do socialmedia in-house, he said. Thats the way you get the skills to run your business.Absolutely get advice, but at the end of the day it has be your voice.

And Leighton echoed the point. Social media has nearly killed me, he said. If I couldoutsource it I would, but theres no PR company or social media agency out there thatknows as much about coffee, about the effect of altitude, about the different varietals,about the roasting process. What weve done rather than outsource is add more peoplein house to help me with the social media workload.

LSS Insights from Super Social Business: Social media can help with both B2C and B2B business. Authenticity is Key. People buy from people. Building a business around a community is good for revenue, for loyalty, for

the consumer and the business owner. Business owners already successful with social media do not like the

Groupon model. Social is not just about ROI, its about doing the fundamentals of business

and about engaging with customers. Social is already about CRM and being on the right channel, not just selling

products.

[businesses] have to figure itout[it = social media]

-Daniel YoungYoung & Foodish


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Super Social Business Profiles

ChilangoCategory: Restaurant, MexicanLocation: LondonSize: Small, 3 locationsWeb:http://www.chilango.co.uk/Blog: NoneFacebook (2594 likes):http://www.facebook.com/ChilangoUK Twitter (1325 followers): @chilango_ukExample Use of Social:

Launching the Chancery Lane restaurant with heavy use ofsocial media. Great authentic voice on Twitter.

Local Part: Local restaurant, thats 100% local

Naked Wines

Category: Mail Order/e-commerce, WineLocation: NorfolkSize: Medium; 68,000+ wine angle customer who spend 20 ormore per monthWeb:http://www.nakedwines.com/Blog: None but website is a wine social network for consumersand wine makers; which means lots of daily updates and dynamiccontentFacebook (14,733 likes):http://www.facebook.com/nakedwinesTwitter (5164 followers): @NakedWinesExample Use of Social:

Wine community, Facebook contests, online wine tasting thatsold 80k worth of wine in 24 hours.

Local Part: Buys wine direct from buyers, organizes local events,delivers direct to your door
http://www.chilango.co.uk/http://www.chilango.co.uk/http://www.chilango.co.uk/http://www.facebook.com/ChilangoUKhttp://www.facebook.com/ChilangoUKhttp://www.facebook.com/ChilangoUKhttp://www.nakedwines.com/http://www.nakedwines.com/http://www.facebook.com/nakedwineshttp://www.facebook.com/nakedwineshttp://www.facebook.com/nakedwineshttp://www.facebook.com/nakedwineshttp://www.facebook.com/nakedwineshttp://www.facebook.com/nakedwineshttp://www.nakedwines.com/http://www.facebook.com/ChilangoUKhttp://www.chilango.co.uk/


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Young & FoodishCategory: Food critic and pop-up event leader.Location: London

Size: One Man BrandWeb:http://youngandfoodish.com/Blog:http://youngandfoodish.com/blog/Facebook (1465 likes):https://www.facebook.com/youngandfoodish Twitter (1789 followers): @youngandfoodishExample Use of Social:

Twitter, video, burger swarm, iPhone app, EventbriteLocal Part: Events are 100% local

Has Bean CoffeeCategory: Mail Order/e-commerce, also sells to coffee shopsLocation: StaffordshireSize: SmallWeb:http://www.hasbean.co.uk/Blog (at least 4):http://www.inmymug.com/Facebook (2086 likes):http://www.facebook.com/hasbeancoffee Twitter (5897 followers): @HasbeanExample Use of Social:

In My Mug videos, Twitter personality, B2B videos, is on mostsocial channels (audio boo as well)

Local Part: Buys beans direct from the growers, local coffeeshops stock it, delivers direct to your door
http://youngandfoodish.com/http://youngandfoodish.com/http://youngandfoodish.com/http://youngandfoodish.com/blog/http://youngandfoodish.com/blog/http://youngandfoodish.com/blog/https://www.facebook.com/youngandfoodishhttps://www.facebook.com/youngandfoodishhttp://www.hasbean.co.uk/http://www.hasbean.co.uk/http://www.hasbean.co.uk/http://www.inmymug.com/http://www.inmymug.com/http://www.inmymug.com/http://www.facebook.com/hasbeancoffeehttp://www.facebook.com/hasbeancoffeehttp://www.facebook.com/hasbeancoffeehttp://www.facebook.com/hasbeancoffeehttp://www.inmymug.com/http://www.hasbean.co.uk/https://www.facebook.com/youngandfoodishhttp://youngandfoodish.com/blog/http://youngandfoodish.com/


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About Local Social Summit & this Report

"The event attracted the real thought leaders in the industry alongside traditionalmedia companies that are negotiating their way in social from a local

perspective.- Ben Barney, CEO, Akesios

Great job, again."- Perry Evans, CEO Closey

"Best conference of 2011."- Dennis Yu, CEO Blitzlocal

"LSS'10 and LSS'11 were both a great success."- Greg Sterling, Search Engine

Land/Industry Analyst

Local Social Summit is an independent event for knowledge sharing and networkingthat explores the intersection of Local and Social Media. We strive to educate andinspire with a focus on the cutting edge by showcasing emerging trends at theintersection of Local, Social and Mobile. LSS is designed for a wide spectrum of LocalMedia stakeholders, including publishers, advertisers, start-ups and investors.

LSS has grown from a pioneering invite-only event series called Local Search Summit.It was during the winter 2008 event in Dublin hosted by the Irish Times, where theparticipants began to talk about the profound disruption Social was already having onLocal. Shortly afterwards, the decision was made to widen the audience for the eventand the first LSS was held in London in 2009.

The co-founders would like acknowledge and thank the LSS advisory board for all theirimportant contributions and time invested in helping make LSS the industry leadingevent for local social. As one 2011 participant who goes to more than 20 events in ayear globally said: LSS was the best conference I attended in 2011, thanks!

The LSS 2011 Advisory Board Included:

Greg Sterling Analyst and contributing Editor for Search Engine Land.

Seb Provencher - Web entrepreneur and Co-founder Needium.

Perry Evans CEO at Closey. Serial entrepreneur.

Jonathan Ewert CEO at Codero, proven c-level executive.

Mike Abeyta - Co-Founder and Director, Akesios Search Analytics.

Thank you advisors!

Local Social Summit can be found on the Internet at the following locations:

Slide Presentationsslideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit

Facebookfacebook.com/localsocialsummit

Twitter@locsocsummit

Tumblr -localsocialsummit.tumblr.com/

YouTube -youtube.com/user/localsocialsummit
http://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummithttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummithttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummithttp://www.facebook.com/localsocialsummithttp://www.facebook.com/localsocialsummithttp://www.facebook.com/localsocialsummithttp://www.twitter.com/locsocsummithttp://www.twitter.com/locsocsummithttp://www.twitter.com/locsocsummithttp://localsocialsummit.tumblr.com/http://localsocialsummit.tumblr.com/http://localsocialsummit.tumblr.com/http://www.youtube.com/user/localsocialsummithttp://www.youtube.com/user/localsocialsummithttp://www.youtube.com/user/localsocialsummithttp://www.youtube.com/user/localsocialsummithttp://localsocialsummit.tumblr.com/http://www.twitter.com/locsocsummithttp://www.facebook.com/localsocialsummithttp://www.slideshare.net/LocalSocialSummit


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This Report & ContributorsThis report was edited by Dylan Fuller, Local Social Summit. You can follow him onTwitter@afullerview.

Mike Nutley wrote the bulk of the session summaries. You can find him here onLinkedIn:http://uk.linkedin.com/in/michaelnutley

Thanks again to all our speakers, panellist, moderators and attendees.

Local Social Summit (LSS) was co-founded by Dylan Fuller and Simon Baptist.

Contact details:

[email protected]

[email protected]
https://twitter.com/#!/afullerviewhttps://twitter.com/#!/afullerviewhttps://twitter.com/#!/afullerviewhttp://uk.linkedin.com/in/michaelnutleyhttp://uk.linkedin.com/in/michaelnutleyhttp://uk.linkedin.com/in/michaelnutleymailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://uk.linkedin.com/in/michaelnutleyhttps://twitter.com/#!/afullerview


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LSS11 Sponsors

We want to thank our sponsors for their support, input and for being forward thinking.Without sponsors Local Social Summit would not be possible.

BlitzLocal serves retail and and franchisedcompanies that need local presence.http://www.blitzlocal.com/

deCarta is the leading provider of advanced andcomprehensive geospatial software platforms fortodays cutting-edge Internet, mobile, personalnavigation and enterprise location-based service(LBS) applications. http://www.decarta.com/InnerBalloons helps traditional publishing

businesses innovate into vertical and local searchplayers and help these niche sites drive greaterrevenues and profitability.http://www.innerballoons.com/JoinHere provides a social engagement platformthat enables businesses to consolidate andorganize their social network.http://www.facebook.com/JoinHere Needium is a social lead generation tool for SMBs.

http://needium.com/

Social Media Research Foundation: We aresocial media researchers who want to create opentools, generate and host open data, and supportopen scholarship related to social media.http://www.smrfoundation.org/

If you are interested in sponsoring Local Social Summit 2012 in November pleasecontact us on email: [email protected]
http://www.blitzlocal.com/http://www.blitzlocal.com/http://www.decarta.com/http://www.decarta.com/http://www.innerballoons.com/http://www.innerballoons.com/http://www.facebook.com/JoinHerehttp://www.facebook.com/JoinHerehttp://needium.com/http://needium.com/http://www.smrfoundation.org/http://www.smrfoundation.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.smrfoundation.org/http://needium.com/http://www.facebook.com/JoinHerehttp://www.innerballoons.com/http://www.decarta.com/http://www.blitzlocal.com/


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Local Social Summit 2012: Dates & Information

Local Social Summit 2012 (LSS12): is scheduled for 14-15 November 2012 inLondon. We are confident that LSS12 will exceed all previous LSS events in terms ofcontent, engagement, insights, learning and networking opportunities. We are alsoworking on plans to offer LSS attendees and sponsors additional benefits, so pleasestay tuned.

Additionally, London is hosting the Olympics this year, the first truly 100% digitalOlympics. We will be on the front line of this exciting global event and we are sure thatthis will be a major topic for LSS 12.

Topics for 2012 will include:

SoLoMo Picks up Speed

Social Travel

The Connected Consumer

Insights from London 2012: The 1

st

Digital Olympics Big Brands Local

Super Social Business - New Case Studies

Innovation in Local Social Vertical Apps

Social Network Analysis

The Local Facebook Opportunity

Attending LSS12:If you are planning to attend LSS12 the Early Bird tickets are now available here -http://lss2012.eventbrite.com/
http://lss2012.eventbrite.com/http://lss2012.eventbrite.com/


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Sponsorship Opportunities for Local Social Summit 2012

Sponsoring this event gave Akesios considerable exposure and networkingopportunities to both the market influencers and to prospective clients.

- Ben Barney, CEO, Akesios

LSS is funded by our proud and forward-thinking sponsors who receive visibility asthought leaders at exhibition/breakout sessions (workshops, labs, the demo zone etc),networking and other benefits according to their sponsorship level. Sponsors areselected based upon their ability and desire to contribute to the dialog of the conference,and to provide the highest value content to the attendees.

Past attendees include people from companies including: BBC, Burger King,Deutsche Telekom, eBay, Eniro, Facebook, Foursquare, European Directories, Google,ITV, Lyris, Microsoft, NDS, Northcliffe Media, Nokia, Nomura, Ogilvy Interactive,Schibsted, Seat Pagine Gialle, Sky, Swisscom, The Toronto Star, Travelzoo, We AreSocial, Yell and Yelp.

Over 60% of the participants are at board or executive decision making level with titleslike: CEO, CTO, CxO, Managing Director, General Manager, Senior Vice Presidentand Founder.

For more information on speaking and sponsorship opportunities for LSS 2012please contact us on email: [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

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