Vincent Ducrey on hub management and the power of influence

Vincent Ducrey is an expert in information management, specializing in the study of real time information spread. Vincent expertise stems from his ten year career in all areas of marketing and communications: entrepreneurship, strategy consultanting, manager communities, and finally new media adviser at the French Government.

We have asked him to answer and clarify a few points relating to Hub Management and its fascinating influential potential.

Could you explain the “Hub management” method that you developed and that you present in your book “Le Guide de l’influence “?
V.D: First of all, at the centre there is the “Hub”; it is the way of mapping today’s communication-media-internet landscape that I’ve developed. It allows each company to identify the factors that influence the perception of their brands and helps companies to structure their media environment. The “Hub management” itself is the operational method of controlling the messaging in this environment. A hub operation management can take different forms, depending on your objectives: the launch of a product, reacting to negative messages, messages centred around the organising of an event, etc.. It involves using all the subtleties of the Hub mapping, taking into account the influential potential of the selected tools of communication and the speed of circulation of the information, so that your message has the greatest impact in the media sphere.

All brands tend to go digital in order to create “the buzz”, in what way does the hub management change this way of thinking through the concept of influence?

V.D: The overall purpose of a buzz campaign is to create media hype on a short term basis, such as ensuring maximum audience visibility, but which will ultimately disappear after a few days. It is a boost to an individual campaign, for the launch of a product for example, but it has no impact at brand level. On the other hand, the influence strategy is about establishing a brand image in the long term and in all areas of the media environment. This influencing operation is part of a comprehensive approach, which is not simply to just “create hype”. This strategy has to be planned, tested, adapted and finally evaluated. In doing so, this should help you determine exactly what points you scored in each area of the media world. This strategy combines actions across the entire media sphere: the Web, newspapers, on the ground, radio … This is of course according to your budget and your goals. This process of influence involves the entire chain of information and communication, allowing you to build relations over time.

Do you really think that companies have already moved to real time communication and that the merging of online and offline marketing is a reality?

V.D: That is clearly not the case everywhere and it should not necessarily happen in all cases, it depends on the type of business and industry. For example in ‘Le Guide de l’influence’, I speak with Frank Farnel, Director Communications and Public Affairs EMEA GE Energy Europe. In his job, the curve of the product life cycle of its –turbines, for example, spans three decades! It is therefore difficult to act in “real time”, even if forward thinking is necessary because, as he says, “there is no product that does not require intelligence, understanding of the tools and an integration of all these tools in terms of business growth strategy.”Therefore, integration of online and offline marketing is inevitable, and indeed in my book I propose a range of tools and actions to achieve this. However, in terms of the move to real time, this should really be adapted to the characteristics and the challenges of the brand, business or industry. The mistake would be to move to real time communication just for the sake of it, without any thought to the approach behind it.

What Web 2.0 tools would you recommend to our readers wanting to be efficient in HUB management?

V.D: The chapter on the 101 tools of HUB Management is a useful part of my book, aimed at sharing with the greatest number of individuals, the tools that are available to communicate or follow what is being said online, at lower costs. For Web 2.0, I think we should rely on search engines for online discussion such as “Who’s talkin”, which allows real time visualisation on what is being said about you or your brand on the Web – sites, blogs, micro blogging, etc..These kinds of tools are essential today for those who want to have a competitive outlook. I follow also the platforms that are created around Twitter, such as “Paper.li”. This site automatically creates a customized daily “newspaper” by aggregating information published from the Twitter accounts that you follow. I really like video tools such as “Viral video chart”, which gives a clear view of videos that are trending on the web. Beyond that, what matters to the “Hub Manager” is a certain attitude, being constantly on alert to everything that happens and not hesitating with including yourself in the daily technology outlook to be sure that you stay one step ahead of the general public uses.

How do you think the media sphere will evolve in the coming years?

V.D: There are several phenomena that have to be taken into account. In the Guide, I use the term “tectonic plates” to describe the movements that are currently influencing the different areas of the media world, which will prompt future major developments in the industry. For example, it is clear that the media that are at the source of the information, “the raw media” (news agencies, online news sites, pure players, ongoing news channels, etc.) are becoming more and more important in comparison to traditional media (press, radio, terrestrial television channels). At the same time, the participatory media platforms including online discussion platforms (blogging, social networking, etc.) are revolutionizing the perception that consumers have towards information. Raw media and social media tend to overlap each other. This is already happening with Twitter where users “tweet” links to online news wires. In this context, the traditional media have to adapt their materials to real-time requirements. We will soon see if the iPad is a solution to this challenge. In addition, innovations such as augmented reality and geolocation will heavily transform our behavior and our practices. In general, the media world will be reorganized around the media that provide real time information for a public that is increasingly fond of the most up-to-the-minute and exclusive information.

For those requiring more information about THE GUIDE OF INFLUENCE, you can buy the book here.