In today's communications world, listening is often more important than talking. The Drum caught up with Kodak's chief listening officer Beth Lapierre to find out more about the brand's social strategy.

Should every major corporation have a similar "Listening" role? And what does it involve at Kodak?
As "chief listener", I am responsible for the leadership, governance and strategy behind our Digital Intelligence programs. At Kodak, we refer to Listening as Digital Intelligence, which is one part insights and one part analytics. The analytics piece is more tactical–the reporting, determining ROI on social media activation, etc. The insights piece is more strategic–identifying new niche markets, product insights, market research, etc.
 
There is a lot of love for the brand from both the professional and general public. Why is it necessary to "listen" so intently to the market?
Most companies do have something of a "listening" role today. However, most do not yet incorporate digital/social data. Companies are now beginning to understand the importance of unstructured, unsolicited voice of the customer data. The challenge is knowing how to use these insights to drive business strategy and guide day-to-day operations.
 
Kodak is an iconic brand. But it was in danger of becoming a "nostalgic" brand with the advent and rise of digital photography. How did Kodak alter its strategy to stay relevant?
Six years ago, when our social media program was in its infancy, the market reality was that Kodak was widely perceived as this very old company whose days were numbered. The looming question was 'how were we going to survive the transformation to digital?
When we started listening to our customers, we came to realise that our customers have such brand loyalty, and we were really able to have a conversation with them. A reassuring voice at a hard time. Social media was a more personal, informal channel for us to provide a behind-the-scenes look into what we were doing. 



How important is the role of social media to Kodak? 

Our customers expect information and content via social media channels like Facebook and Twitter, we need to make sure we're meeting their needs. Social is connected to most everything we do, from event activation to campaign execution. 



And digital - how has the brand embraced digital communications? 

We knew very early on that the use of Interactive/digital channels was vital to our transformation to a digital company. Digital is a very important piece of our marketing mix, and often, the heart of our communication platforms.


How do you track the success (or otherwise) of your social media activity? 

One of my first objectives, when starting at Kodak, was the creation of a Digital Dashboard. Our monthly dashboard provides a holistic view of Kodak online, our brand, our products and our competitors. It also includes the results from social media marketing initiatives from that month. To determine the ROI of specific activations, we use four common metrics–Reach, Engagement, Influence and Impact–in addition to reporting on the goal related to the overarching business objective.



Is social media only useful to build brands and start conversations? Or can it drive sales and push agendas? 

Building brands and starting conversations is table stakes. Driving sales is where the rubber hits the road. Those conversations you are starting should be pulling customers into the sales funnel or pushing them further to conversion. That is the goal. Not fans. Not followers. 



What is the best lesson you have learnt on social media?

I think the most important social-related takeaway is that it always has to tie back to the business objective. If your strategy, your programs and your resources don't align to your business goals, you'll want to reassess your approach to social. 



What other brands use of social media do you admire?

Dell does a great job. They really work meet customer need via social and interactive. Comcast nails social support. BestBuy's got social experience down pat.

Beth Lapierre is just one of the top delegates talking at the iStrategy events in Atlanta (13-14 sept) and Amsterdam (25-26 October).

iStrategy is an inspirational, two-day, digital media conference for senior executives who believe that the success of their business requires a sound digital strategy. iStrategy is held bi-annually at each of four regional event locations in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.
Lapierre will be joined by the likes of:

Atlanta
Chris Bruzzo, VP Brand, Content & Online, Starbucks; Daniel Slotwiner, Head of Measurement Solutions, Facebook; Craig Newmark, Founder, Craigslist & Craigconnects; Frederick Townes, CTO, Mashable; Don Steele, VP of Marketing, MTV Entertainment; and Michael Perman, Senior Director Global Marketing, Levi Strauss & Co.

Amsterdam
Noah Everett, Founder, Twitpic; Floris Cobelens, Global Director of Digital Media, Heineken; Naveen Selvadurai, Co-Founder, Foursquare; Alex Musil, EVP Product Marketing, Shazam Entertainment; and Gary Twelvetree, Global Brand Director, Barclaycard