Blog - The Social Media Professor

Swedish Tech Musketeer to Build Mega Battery Factory

May 17, 2017 by Niklas Myhr 1 Comment

Peter Carlsson, Helena Kristersson, Ingela Carlsson & Niklas Myhr

[Update: On June 12, 2019, Northvolt announced that they have raised the capital required to build “Europe's first homegrown gigafactories for lithium-ion batteries”!]

In the midst of final exam week, I enjoyed a brief visit to Silicon Valley to learn more about the exciting tech startup Northvolt from its CEO, Peter Carlsson, the proud dad of Chapman University student Amanda. The event was hosted by the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley/San Francisco and by Silicon Vikings in a beautiful office space generously shared by global supply chain specialists Elementum.

Peter Carlsson, with a past as the Chief Purchasing Officer at Tesla where he spent four years reporting directly to Elon Musk, shared the plans of Northvolt to build a mega-sized, lithium-ion battery factory to be located either in Sweden or Finland. He explained how such a factory would play an important role in our world's much-needed transformation from a reliance on fossil fuels to one in which we can live on and efficiently preserve green and renewable energy.

Electrification of society

Peter admitted that it may still be a couple of decades before we regularly commute 500 km via an electrically-powered, self-flying aircraft ordered via an Uber-like interface but technically, that would be quite doable already today, he argued! Complying with regulations, however, would be another matter that could take a long time to resolve.

One bright spot in the transformation to green energy sources is the mining industry in which companies are willing to pay two or three times the regular price to buy an electric excavator. What many people don't realize is that mining companies actually spend enormous amounts of resources transporting exhaust fumes out of the mines in order to create a safe working environment. By using electric excavators instead, they could simply focus on transporting whatever treasures that they are digging for instead.

A Vertically Integrated Supply Chain for Battery Production

Whereas many companies are outsourcing many of the things that they previously used to do themselves in order to focus on their core competencies, Northvolt is choosing a different direction. In their aim to build the largest European mega battery factory, they also want to secure the access to as many of the necessary raw materials as possible either with direct ownership or at least via strong European supplier partnerships. Peter Carlsson emphasized the benefits of operating in Europe and in Scandinavia in particular thanks to its relative political stability compared to many other places where mining is done.

The Location of the Battery Plant

In collaboration with Business Sweden, Northvolt is currently undergoing an extensive screening process in order to identify where the best location of its factory should be. They had hoped to have a list of twenty cities to consider. They got forty! Even now, Peter shared, new cities and even new countries are approaching him to try to be added to their consideration set. However, Northvolt recently declared that they had narrowed the number of possible locations to a short list of eight Swedish cities and two Finnish ones, all of which fulfilled a number of criteria.

In selecting the winner, factors they weigh include the access to reliable energy supply, industrial-zoned land availability, logistical concerns, access to a skilled workforce, university collaboration opportunities, and the degree to which the city could attract foreign expert engineers to move to and live in the area long-term with their families. The plan is to move quickly to get down to only two final candidates.

Why build only one mega factory?

Given that my hometown of Piteå is not on the shortlist, my unsolicited vote that I shared with Peter went to Luleå even if Skellefteå would be a close second. I am confident that either of these two great cities would deliver if they were to be selected and I even proposed to Peter to build two, not “just” one mega factory given that they predict that Europe's demand will be calling for seven such mega factories around year 2025. His response was that he didn't want to risk being accused of suffering from hubris given that the magnitude of this project is large enough as it is proposing the development of one mega factory which will require about 4 billion Euro in investment.

I wish Peter and Northvolt the best of luck and his family a nice transition in their move from Palo Alto to Stockholm. I am also very much looking forward to visiting their Stockholm headquarters this summer with my Chapman University MBA travel course Business in Scandinavia!

SACC-SF-SV team Lucas Eriksson, Tina Bragfeldt, Helena Kristersson, Marcus Oldby & Sofie Birkfeldt

Navy SEAL Agility in the age of Spaghetti Customer Journeys

April 25, 2017 by Niklas Myhr 2 Comments

Chris Brull Kawasaki Motors Scott Shaffstall International Marketing MBA Chapman University — Chris Brull, Kawasaki Motors (kneeling), and Scott Shaffstall (center) at Chapman University International Marketing MBA class (pic by Andres Vaca)

Had the honor of having two exciting guests in my International Marketing MBA class at Chapman University, Mr. Chris Brull, VP Marketing for Kawasaki Motors and Mr. Scott Shaffstall, CEO and Founder at Gen Now Agency as well as Chapman MBA Class of 2014 alumni. Scott has worked for Kawasaki Motors both in-house and as a contractor and we had a good interplay of ideas through the evening with my students.

As the theme of the day was international marketing communications, the discussion inevitably involved how you today need to use digital and social media channels to engage with prospective and existing customers. For example, when I asked Chris Brull about his take on customer journey mapping, I got the following intriguing response:

Chris Brull, Kawasaki Motors, Chapman University International Marketing MBA class

“Journey mapping is definitely important but it's table stakes now, everyone should be doing it so you get it with the insights you gain along the way but in this business, with one brand and all the sub-brands we have, it's spaghetti thrown all over! It's not as linear as it was when you were watching 30 second spots, perhaps with some direct mail, you see a billboard, print magazine, and you go in and hang at a dealership.

The minute you think you've got the map set, it changes, cause you guys (looking at my students), your generation have blown up every piece of marketing technology and in fact today's is already getting old. Why do you think Facebook is trying to reinvent, reinvent? Now the map goes everywhere cause everyone is insanely distracted, they've got their handheld, they've got their entire lives in their hand, so how are you going to connect? Is it a CRM program, an email program? I've gotta be on it 24/7, I've gotta be completely ready for every eventuality, it's almost like Navy SEALs, when they go in, they are ready for everything! It's insane!

But we've got to stay on it, I call it walking point, like in those war movies, they are out there in the jungle, it's scary, you've gotta know where you're going, sometimes you don't, it's dark, you get ambushed, you get shot, but you've gotta get back up, you need to be resilient. Sometimes I'd like to get in front even further but you don't want to get too far ahead. Where are my marketing partners, my agencies? Sometimes those guys want to play it safe but cannot be left too far behind.

What it really boils down to is that you have to be present, you've gotta know your customer completely, then you have a chance at engaging them in the right way in the right channel at the right time.”

Scott Shaffstall clients Gen Now Agency — Scott Shaffstall on clients of his Gen Now Agency

Exciting times to be in marketing, right? Or is it getting almost too scary? Are you feeling agile like a Navy SEAL out there? At least, I am confident that the role of social media to engage with prospects and customers in various channels at different times is not going to go away anytime soon. While the customer journey may become ever-more unpredictable, I predict that social media will play an even more important role going forward both for helping detect the need for and for actually engaging with customers through real conversations.

In fact, I believe so strongly in that the brands that manage social media engagement right are going to find more opportunities to succeed even in an age of marketing automation. This could be their key differentiator. That is why I am writing a book titled The Social Customer Journey and I would be thrilled if you choose to learn more about it by filling out the form below, thank you!

Ski Warmup for Social Media Marketing World

March 20, 2017 by Niklas Myhr Leave a Comment

Warming up for this week's Social Media Marketing World 2017 conference while on skis at Mammoth Mountain. Click the video below to join the ride where I share some thoughts and expectations.

I apologize for the wind noise in the video, I need to cover the mic next time I do a skiing vlog! Anyway, some of the key points I discuss are outlined below.

Chapman University Continues Volunteering Tradition

For the 3rd consecutive year, Chapman University is represented at Social Media Marketing World with volunteers helping run and deliver a world-class event. Please see earlier blog post about Chapman University volunteers at Social Media Marketing World 2015. Quite the community has grown around volunteering for this event and many come back year after year. I certainly am looking forward to seeing many of the friendly faces again! See pic here from the registration crew in 2016!

What would you like to learn?

If you would like me to pick up some insights around a particular topic that you are interested in, certain thought leaders you'd like me to interview, please let me know and I will try to pick up some valuable information for you. If you cannot make it to sunny San Diego yourself, you actually can buy the Virtual Pass for Social Media Marketing World which gives you access to all the sessions in recorded form to allow you to stay up to date. You can also make sure you are subscribed to my email newsletter which I plan to use to share some of the trends, tools, and tactics that I identify during the event.

Digital Marketing Strategies

As a “Digital Strategist,” I am keen to learn more about what the most effective strategies are within the realm of both social media marketing specifically, but also digital marketing strategies more broadly. How do you find the right balance between the use of smart tools with marketing automation and true social engagement in which you have to spend more of your time actually building and nurturing customer relationships? Also, what does it mean to be a digital executive today? To what extent does the company brand depend upon the CEO having a presence on social media? Moreover, how can you use marketing analytics to learn what works best for you, what activities you should engage in more and which ones to do less of? Those are some of the issues I will be trying to cover and again, if you are interested in what I learn, please ensure that you are subscribed to my updates further below or if you are really into it, I suggest you consider getting the Virtual Pass to Social Media Marketing World.

TV Interview on Working from Home in the Digital Age

March 11, 2017 by Niklas Myhr 2 Comments

Much can be said about the pros and cons of working from home. Some think that working from home is better as they feel that they face too many distractions in an office environment so that they need to work from home to get things done, at least for demanding work that requires your full attention. Others find that surprising distractions can happen at home, too, just as Professor Robert E. Kelly learned while he offered his views on South Korea's political turbulence after the prime minister was impeached.

Inspired by Dr. Kelly's troubles keeping his kids out of the broadcast, I was interviewed by CBS LA's Stacey Butler and they also made the rounds near Chapman by asking people on the streets around the Orange Circle in Old Town Orange if they had experiences with working from home. Please enjoy the clip below even if the quality is not great as I literally filmed the live streamed news segment on my desktop screen using my phone.

While I recognize that the impeachment of the prime minister was a historic and important event in South Korea, I could not resist laughing out loud when I saw how Professor Kelly's young children stormed his home office. What was funny was the stark contrast between his happy children and his own attempts, only half-successful, at keeping a straight face.

Kudos to BBC News for making this 1-minute “blooper reel” clip available on their YouTube channel. I first saw this clip shared on my brother David Myhr‘s Facebook feed and, in turn, I shared it with my friends adding a comment that this showed the risks that you take while live streaming as just about anything can happen.

I will be on @BBCNewsMedia / @BBCWorld in 10 minutes to talk about the Korean impeachment.

— Robert E Kelly (@Robert_E_Kelly) March 10, 2017

A few hours later, another Facebook friend complained that her feed was over-saturated with this video and as I didn't want to annoy people, I removed it thinking that it had served its purpose by then. However, five minutes later, CBS Los Angeles evening news called and wanted to interview me on camera and I had to rush to Chapman University as I ironically enough was “working from home.”

As I only had half an hour to prepare, I crowdsourced some ideas from my Facebook friends who quickly came to the rescue offering many interesting observations regarding the tradeoffs involved (thanks!). In favor of working at home was arguments such as the efficiency of being able to skip the long commute and the ability to focus, but the downside could be that it is hard to remember to stop working, the lack of social interaction with colleagues, plus the aforementioned risk of being disturbed by people at home.

In the interview, I tried to explain the viral nature of the video:

We are overburdened with information, we get too much of the serious stuff so sometimes we take note of things that are the abnormal.

Also, I stressed that workers at home don't necessarily have to wear formal clothing but rather that the important thing was that the employee is feeling productive. I even said that with even more people working from home, it may become unprofessional to be too professional. Takeaway? Take yourself lightly, as Stacey Butler so eloquently put it in the conclusion of the story 🙂

The 7 Ps of Live Streaming Success

March 6, 2017 by Niklas Myhr 4 Comments

There is something about live streaming or live video that a recording posted after the fact never can reproduce. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that unexpected events can occur that cannot be edited out. But I think that producing valuable live streamed content is about more than giving people watching the hope that they can see a train wreck happening once in a while however fascinating that might be. Indeed, in a business context, if used right, I strongly believe that live streaming represents a great opportunity for both marketing and sales.

While I have experimented some myself as a live streamer, I have also learned about what seems to resonate with people by being a lurker on other people's live streams. I also very much enjoyed attending the recent Summit.Live LA to network with (see pics of terrific people below!) and listen to prominent live streamers and get a sense of what is going on in that growing community. In this post, I will outline some success factors for producing live stream content that your followers will appreciate and be likely to share with their followers.

Passion

Whatever personality you have, you have to work a little bit harder to truly show up and make you and your personality noticeable via live video. No, not everyone can be as passionate like a Gary Vaynerchuk but still. If you really focus, you actually can be a little bit “more you” than your “regular you” to allow for your personality to shine. Gary Vaynerchuk shows up in a passionate manner for every episode of his popular #AskGaryVee Show and while his show is posted on Facebook and on YouTube after the fact, it is also being live streamed via Periscope as it happens. That is, there are no second takes or much editing involved except for the preroll intro that the eminent “Team Gary” adds to the recorded version. See the following clip for the #AskGaryVee Show Episode #222 in which I was honored to be featured during my “reverse internship” for Vayner Media.

Presence

Part of the appeal with live streaming is the sensation you can feel by being present with someone else in the same, albeit virtual, room at the point of time. For example, an influential person running and hosting a live webinar has to take that same time off everything else exciting they may have going on in their lives and instead spend it with you. You become equals of sorts. At least for a small amount of time here or there. Someone who always shows up with a full focus on the guests and the live stream is my friend Mitch Jackson and his cohost Jen Hoverstad of excellent weekly show TheShow.live. When I had the pleasure of being interviewed there, Jen was having a great substitute host as well, Nick Rishwain and you can see this episode below:

Purpose

Summit Live Lunch Mitch Jackson Niklas Myhr — Summit Live Lunch

Try to have at least one key message in each broadcast that delivers something of value to your followers. Perhaps you can outline some key talking points about what you would like to share during a particular session? Having a purpose is also about caring about the connection you can make with viewers and perhaps your key purpose is simply to listen intently to their concerns and offer some emphatic response to show that you care. The key is that your purpose should be aligned with what your followers value and that you are generous with what you offer them whether it'll be in the form of say educational, inspirational, or entertaining content.

Profit

Eventually, if you are considering doing live streaming as part of your business and not merely as a hobby, you need to consider how your live streaming activities fit into your overall business model. If you cannot connect live streaming to some revenue-generating outcomes, you likely will not persist. In this regard, live streaming can help generate revenue in two major ways. First, your live stream could be a way for first-time visitors to your world to get to know you in an expedited manner as they actually get to “meet” you at least online. Obviously, you need to find a way to bring your live stream to their attention either by advertising it or having your followers share it with their connections. Second, you could also live stream to strengthen customer satisfaction and loyalty amongst your existing customers which could make them buy again and perhaps buy more as well. What most seem to do in terms of live streams and monetization is to encourage their viewers to sign up for their email list so that they can deliver valuable content to them until they are ready to buy something from you. Most would be hesitant to buy and marketers nervous to try to sell on the first encounter.

Niklas Myhr and Casey Zeman — With Webinar and Live Streaming Pro Casey Zeman

Still, in some cases, the live stream encounter becomes so powerful that it even can result in immediate profitable outcomes even from first-time visitors during the broadcast such as via a live webinar. A webinar is typically is designed to deliver 60 minutes of valuable content which then turns into a pitch for something that you have to offer to those who are likely interested in you and your offerings if they are still on the line. Increasingly, live stream platforms are also embedding payment mechanisms in various formats to accommodate those who would like to be able to sell something during their live streams. For example, a “hot” platform at Summit.live was one of the sponsors, Busker [update: no longer in business]. Busker allows fans to either send hearts or tips to creatives that they enjoy such as musicians. YouTube live also allows for so-called Super Chat by which fans can pay say $5 to have their comment prominently displayed at the top of sometimes noisy comment fields.

Patience

I noticed the need to be patient myself as I ran a Facebook Live stream (see below) during a walk in LA between two sponsored evening meetups. It took a while to get just a few viewers but you also need to keep in mind that you can choose to post the video after the fact as well and once I did so, that video got a thousand views in short order. That is, don't hang up just because you don't have any viewers or perhaps only have a couple of viewers in the beginning of your broadcast. Some make the mistake of quitting too soon or launch into a planned monologue which gets lost in a virtual black hole. It may take some time before people find your broadcast and Facebook Live now sends a message to the broadcaster to hold tight while they are spreading the word about your live stream to build an audience. So what you can do is to welcome the few early birds and chat with them casually about where they are from, how their day is going and do some small talk just as you would if you greet early arrivals to your talk at a conference.

Planning

To avoid the problem with empty virtual rooms, you would be well-advised to preschedule your broadcasts and make it an event that you promote via social media, email, etc. If you get people to add the meeting to their calendars, even better and you could also send them email reminders as the event gets closer. Some do a regular broadcast say weekly on the same day at the same time to also establish a routine so people may start getting used to looking out for you at that time even without a reminder or calendar appointment so that is maybe something that you would like to try.

Persistence

Whereas patience above was about being patient within a specific broadcast, here I use the word persistence to capture the essence of not expecting immediate results from just a few episodes of live videos. With a long-term, consistent output of quality live streams, you will gradually begin to grow your audience one person at a time. It is true that many will never become widely known or ever achieve virality in any major way. Still, you may begin to build a close-knit community of people who truly resonate with you and like Kevin Kelly wrote, you “only” need 1,000 true fans to have a career so go get it! Ok, while that number sounds more attainable than a mainstream breakthrough, it should be pointed out that Kevin Kelly argues that earning 1,000 true fans still is a matter of hard work and persistence but by being generous and persistent, you too can earn those followers over time! P.S. If you would like me to live stream more, perhaps via the Professor.live domain that I bought, please sign up below 🙂