It’s Dec 26th – 20 Updates to Make to Your Profiles

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Not everyone is recovering from Christmas Day or enjoying Boxing Day, so this is a great time to look at your social media profiles.  It is an even better time to update your profiles so that they are top-notch for 2014.  Here are 20 updates that you can do this week:

Forgo pet pics for your avatar - image Courtesy of soundcloud.com

Forgo pet pics for your avatar – image Courtesy of soundcloud.com

 Twitter

  1. Update your Avatar – This is your Twitter profile.  Why not use a good photo of you?  Be recognizable.
  2. Add your location – I love knowing where people are that I am connecting with.  I am not alone in this.
  3. Complete your Bio – I tend not to follow people who share nothing.  This is social media after all and it is about building relationships.  If you can’t share anything about who you are…you seem unfriendly.
  4. Make Use of the Header – This is a great way to show more about who you are.  Use it.  Don’t leave it blank.  That is just boring.
  5. Add a URL– Add your blog or website URL.  Again it is about sharing more about who you are.

Facebook

  1. Understand Different Features – For example, if you use Facebook for both personal and professional purposes, you may wish to make use of different lists for your friends, colleagues and business associates.
  2. Complete your “About”section – Fill this section out with as much information that you feel comfortable sharing.  Remember that you can set your security settings to share with friends only.Screen Shot 2013-12-24 at 10.56.55 AM
  3. Set your custom URL – Go to http://www.facebook.com/username/ and get your custom URL for your personal page and/or any pages that you administer.
  4. Update your Avatar –  When is the last time you updated your Avatar?  And…forget the cat pics.
  5. Have a unique cover photo – Standing out in a sea of social profiles is something that people usually want to do.  Having a custom cover photo shows personality.  Have fun, but remember that it is public and anyone can see it.  Don’t be Stupid – Social Media Can Get You Fired.

LinkedIn

  1. Photo – This is definitely the place that you want a professional photo.  This is your living resume and brand.  This is your time to shine.  Sharing a photo with another person is just weird and confusing.
  2. Be sure to get your custom URL – Like your photo this is important.  This helps in searches.
  3. Complete your summary – This is probably one of the biggest misses for people using LinkedIn.  This can be your elevator pitch.  Keep it short, accurate and punchy.  Whatever you do, don’t write about yourself in the first person.  That too is just weird!
  4. Get Recommendations – This is a great opportunity to showcase your skills and accomplishments.  The fact that others take the time to write you a recommendation speaks volumes.  When people prepare recommendations for others, it says just as much about that person as it does you.  People do not enter into recommendations lightly.
  5. Highlight & Describe your Experience – Another faux pas that people make repeatedly is only listing their jobs, and not outlining their experience.  Even if you are not looking for a job, this is your time to showcase your experience.  People use this information when recruiting for Boards of Directors, mentors and more.

Google+

  1. Think about SEO – Don’t over do it on keywords.  That won’t really get you a higher SEO rating. The unique algorithm used by Google will likely look at your variations on the same keywords as spam.
  2. Use a Good Avatar – This is a consistent message of this blog.  We all like to see who we are connecting with.  Some might think it fickle, but it is reality.  Go with it.
  3. Select a Solid Cover Image – Like in Facebook and Twitter, choose a good quality image.  Grainy images that are distracting is not the image you want for your brand – be it personal or business.
  4. Get your custom URL – This is still “relatively” new.  If you are able to get your custom URL, do it.
  5. Complete your About section – This should be a no brainer after reading the tips above.  It also applies to Google+.

These are just some tips for improving your profiles.  They don’t take long, so why not use this “quieter” time of year to update your profile.  You will have a head start on the New Year!

3 Critical Communication Tips Utilities Need During Storms

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Blizzards, hurricanes, tornados, flooding — you name it and these weather events can wreak complete havoc on our electrical grid, leaving thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of customers without power.

Image courtesy of the weathernetwork.com

Image courtesy of the weathernetwork.com

Most utilities, but not all, do a great job of getting the preparedness message out to customers in advance of the storm, and really strategic utilities have made the move to using social media to not only communicate information, but also to listen and engage with customers during and after the storm.  There are some great learnings from these utilities that we can all apply to our social media and customer service strategies.

From personal experience I can attest to the fact that leading up to a storm, good communications and PR practitioners go into a full-scale information-sharing mode participating in hundreds of media interviews while also sharing information via social media.

The real challenge and opportunity however, arises when the storm is nearing an end or actually finished and thousands of customers remain in the dark for hours, days and maybe longer.  So what do strategic and prepared utilities do?  They do these three things:

1.  BE PREPARED

Strategic utilities have fantastic plans in place for their customer interaction centres to take inbound calls, but they don’t stop there! They also staff for listening, engaging and responding through social media channels, while still engaging with the media and doing interviews.

The conversations that can most impact your brand will occur in these channels. Frustrated customers will share their stories and photos with people who they can commiserate with. Not being present will further frustrate your customers.

From My Archives - Previous Life at a Utility

From My Archives – Previous Life at a Utility

Take full advantage of visuals. Post your photos and videos – both your own and those submitted by customers – that show the damage to poles, lines, service loops and more. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and how true that is.  In the utility world we know that most damage takes place in hard-to-reach and isolated areas. Why not show what you are facing behind the scenes, the special equipment needed to reach transmission towers or broken poles?

2.  BE AVAILABLE

Have multiple resources trained and ready to use social media tools.  Most importantly, engage with your customers outside your normal working hours. Being available will go a long way to ensuring your customers that you are there for them.  Utilities need to be proactive and communicate according to best practices for each social channel that their customers are using.  Utilities that fail, don’t engage with the customers in the customers’ preferred channels.

From personal experience, reaching out to the customer immediately has lead to private conversations that then resulted in the customer publicly praising the utility for its attention and prompt response.

3.  LISTEN

Be sure to be listening in the space where your customers communicate. Conversations occur in multiple channels and missing a key conversation can do significant damage to your reputation and your relationship with your customers. Utilizing a monitoring platform not only ensures that you hear these conversations, but saves you valuable time that can be directed to engaging with your customers.

Now that we are in full storm season, what are your tips for utilities?  What would you like them to do? 

Don’t Be Stupid: Social Media Can Get You Fired

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It’s time to grow up and face the fact that social media, or what you say in social media channels specifically, can get you fired.  This is a message that I “try” to get across to University students and professionals that I coach on best practices for social media, PR and media relations.   Unfortunately not enough practitioners focus on this message!

Screen Shot 2013-12-23 at 1.07.50 PM

The now infamous Tweet

If there is one thing that we can take away from 2013, it is the fact that using social media can get you in trouble if not careful.  In the first quarter of the year we saw what many deemed a “shit-show-in-progress”  when Adria Richards, was attending a developer conference and not only tweeted about being offended by sexists comments made by two male attendees, but tweeted a picture of the offenders. Long story short, plus you can read the story in the link provided, the two men making the comments were fired, as was Adria.  There are many lessons to be learned from these events and some to be taken very seriously, but I will save those for another blog post.  The focus of this post is that a single Tweet can cause an avalanche that can’t be stopped.

Let’s look at the latest Tweet fiasco.  If you haven’t heard about Justine Sacco, I don’t know where you have been.  Her now infamous Tweet and her actual Twitter account have been deleted. In fact, it has been reported that she has deleted or suspended all of her social accounts.  Despite this, the now infamous Tweet lives on.  Did Sacco make a mistake?  The obvious answer is yes.  The court of public opinion has ruled on that.  Her one Tweet resulted in her being publicly called out, humiliated, fired and her social accounts taken over by people around the globe calling for action, some even threatening her. Did she deserve to be threatened?  No. She did not.  Should she have known better?  The answer is yes.  She was the Director of PR for a pretty well known company.  I am sure that this holiday season is taking on a whole new period of reflexion for her.  She has lost her job.  She had to shut down all her social accounts.  She is infamous.  She has had to publicly apologize for her error in judgement.  Despite her apology, people continue to Tweet to her and about her.  The Tweets are less than kind.

Screen Shot 2013-12-23 at 1.37.55 PM

A Tweet AFTER the apology from Sacco

When coaching clients I hope to help them understand that social media is public.  You may only have a small number of followers or friends on social, but the fact of the matter is that it is public. Sacco apparently only had a few hundred followers.  She clearly didn’t think about the worldwide impact that 12 words would have.

The key take away from these actions is quite simple:  when you share your thoughts in social media, you are “publicly” sharing information.  What you might think is funny or light-hearted or even informative could actually be offensive and perceived as insensitive and hateful.   Before hitting “send”, “share” or “Tweet”, pause and reflect.  Think about what “could” happen.

Now the questions is:  Do you feel sorry for Justine Sacco?  Why or why not?

3 Tips to Fix Your #Failed Mobile Marketing

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According to a 2013 Pew Internet study, 56% of Americans own a smart phone and 35% own a tablet.  Research from Canalys earlier this year predicted that tablet sales would increase by 59% this year.  In fact in Q3 of 2013, over a quarter of a billion units shipped worldwide.  So getting your mobile strategy right has never been more important for sales.  The C-suite no longer accepts applying outdated tactics that net poor results. (Please Click to Tweet)  So, here are 3 easy tips to fix your mobile marketing and sales now:

Image courtesy of businesstocommunity.com

Image courtesy of businesstocommunity.com

 1.  Understand that Most Mobile Device Use is Not Really Mobile

That’s right, the biggest mistake that marketers are making is NOT understanding how people are using their devices.  A joint study released by AOL and BBDO revealed that 68% consumer mobile phone use occurred at home.  Yes, they are using their devices at home!

Marketers need to have a two-pronged approach to reach the ‘at home market’ and the ‘on-the-go market.’  They have different needs.   There is an added level of complexity when understanding the use of tablets versus smart phones.  Marketers who succeed in mobile will be those who establish different strategies and tactics for each.

2.  Mobile Phone Use Does Not Equal Tablet Use

According to Pew, the demographics for those using tablets most include:

  • Those living in households earning at least $75,000 per year (56%), compared with lower income brackets
  • Adults ages 35-44 (49%), compared with younger and older adults
  • College graduates (49%), compared with adults with lower levels of education

In order to effectively reach tablet and smart phone users requires different approaches, particularly when it comes to advertising.  It is not a one size fits all approach.

3.  Advertising on Mobile?  Know Thy Device!

If you are still using the old “push” model of broadcasting messages in your  advertising, you are likely failing.

Marketers need to focus on micro-targeted “pull” campaigns that effectively result in the customer accepting messages. In addition to pull, Marketers need to forget banner ads.  While somewhat annoying to computer users, they are even less welcome on mobile.  They just aren’t scalable to mobile and therefore completely ineffective.

Finally it is important to know that those succeeding in the mobile market and netting sales have built relationships with customers.  Through these relationships, they have learned customer  preferences, including real-time location information.  They offer deals that result in real sales.  Starbucks for example leveraged mobile by offering a $5 credit to those who joined My Starbucks Rewards program.  This resulted in more than 500,000 downloads of the mobile app in its two-week trial period.

Take-Away Lessons:  

  1. Don’t push information.  Pull Information through offering something up to your customer or prospect.  What are the chances that someone who redeemed that $5 spent more than the credit allotted to him or her?  Probably pretty good.
  2. Understand how customers are using different devices and use appropriate tactics.
  3. Don’t annoy prospects and customers with annoying banner ads on mobile.  Be creative and delight your customers with real offerings to PULL them into your store or location.

If people thought that social media changed everything, mobile is like living inside a snow globe that someone continually shakes.  What changes are you making to your mobile strategy to accommodate for this different world?

7 Considerations To Choose the Right Corporate Spokesperson

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The choice of corporate spokesperson should never be taken lightly.  Never.  Having the wrong person representing you can damage your brand in the best case scenario.  In the worse-case scenario, it could destroy your brand.

Courtesy of evercleanservices.com

Courtesy of evercleanservices.com

The person or persons chosen need to be creditable, knowledgeable, well-spoken, but above all empathetic and likeable. There have been a few tragic situations over the last few years when brands seem to have forgotten this fundamental rule.

Over the course of many years in Public Relations and Crisis Communications I have been both a corporate spokesperson and coached others.  It is not an easy task. When dealing with death, there are just no words that can make anyone feel better. That is why it is so critical that you have someone who can give information and facts and most importantly have real and genuine empathy. You can’t fake empathy. You can’t fake the terrible feeling that you have knowing that a human-being has died. At this point the spokesperson must do his or her best to share information that will help make some sense of the tragedy without inflaming victims and loves-ones who are experiencing complete and utter loss, disbelief and anger.

A few months ago I listened as one corporate spokesperson spoke on a very, very tragic situation here in Canada. I did not envy him or anyone who had attempted to coach him. This level of tragedy was unknown in our country and facing those left behind was not going to be easy. Suffice it to say, the conversation did not go well. The words chosen and even the tone used, were wrong. I listened in disbelief. Only days later I listened to a follow-up interview. My only words to describe what I heard was:  why isn’t someone saving him from himself? Again the words chosen would only inflame the victims’ families.  

Brands can mitigate this by having the right person in place.  I offer the following advice to brands to avoid having the wrong spokesperson:

1.  Know the abilities of your employees, including your executives.  Choose a spokesperson based on knowledge and the ability to be empathetic and likeable, not based on position.  While it is true that PR people will “typically” recommend that the most senior person speak out to “take responsibility” in very serious circumstances, avoid this if your most senior person does not come across as caring, patient, and likeable.  

2.  Have a regular cadence of training for your spokespersons.  Don’t wait for a tragedy.  Have mock interviews with cameras, people playing probing and tough reporters. Be sure to watch and critique the interviews with the spokespersons.  

3.  Get 3rd party impressions of the spokespersons.  Play on-camera interviews with the audio turned off.  Ask what people felt about the spokesperson.  Did they feel that he or she was telling the truth or hiding something?  Did the person look angry, sincere, or arrogant?  You need to know this before an issue emerges.  

4.  If necessary, retrain after the the feedback.  If there is no improvement, replace the spokesperson.

5.  If the unthinkable happens and the spokesperson is called into duty, respond quickly.  The longer you wait, the more inflamed people will be.   Review and assess the person’s experience.  Be honest and really critique the situation.  This is the time that you need everyone doing the right thing for the victims and their families.  

6.  Change spokespersons if necessary. Do it and do it swiftly.  

7.  This one is most important:  Be human.  You are dealing with a tragedy.  Remember that.  You are not the victim. 


Tragedies are never easy.  The role of the spokesperson is do the best job to provide the facts and not inflame people.   

(Note:  a version of this same blog appeared previously in my old blog.)

 

 

You Are Rude, Don’t Blame Your Job

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In this always-on fast-paced world we are all super connected to our technology.  We want to be on top of the latest email, tweet or Facbook post.  We want to appear cool and suave by responding quickly with some witty retort.  We want to feel important. But have you ever wondered how you really appear to others?  Have you ever thought that you might come off as selfish and self-important?  You should!  Are you innately rude?  You just might be.

Before going any further I have a confession to make: I “was” one of those people who had her phone physically connected to her body.  I even slept with the darn thing.  Every buzz or vibration was checked quicker than a cowboy could pull his six-shooter from his holster.  I prided myself in how quickly I got back to people regardless of the day of the week or the time of day.  When meeting with people I sometimes was only half there.  I was focused on that darn phone. I didn’t stop “being on” even when dinning with family or being invited to dinner parties.  Christmas get togethers also didn’t get my full attention.  I was “always” on.

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Image compliments of www.zazzle.com

Then one day it struck me that I was being really rude.  I mean really rude.  I wasn’t raised that way and I like to think that normally my manners are pretty good.  It is actually important to me.  So, how do I justify this behaviour?  Well, I take full responsibility and admit to liking the feeling of “feeling important.”  Really though, I wasn’t important.  Instead, I taught people that it was o.k. to infringe on my personal time and that I was at their beck and call 24/7.  I taught people that it was acceptable to take advantage of me.  This wasn’t fair to my family, my friends or even to me.

I wish my epiphany had resulted in my own self-awareness, but I can’t claim that.  Two things happened in one day that hit me like a hammer.  Two separate meetings taught me important lessons.

The first meeting was with a Vice-President that I reported to at the time.  When meeting with him you couldn’t help but feel like the center of attention.  After all, he stopped what he was doing.  He physically got up from his desk and sat at the meeting table with you in his office.  I am sure that he did this intentionally.  First and foremost he was moving away from any distractions on his desk.  Secondly he was moving away from the telephone on his desk.  His attention was 100% focused on you, the person he was meeting with, not anything else.  Even when his mobile rang, he ignored it.  The first time it happened I said it was ok for him to answer.  His response:  “No, it is not.  I am meeting with you.  You scheduled this time to meet with me and I agreed.  This is your time.  If there is a crisis or an emergency, someone will come to get me.”  I always left his meetings feeling respected and full of purpose.  Sure, we didn’t always agree on everything, but nonetheless I felt respected.

The second meeting was with another member of the executive team.  In this case we were meeting about an important strategic issue that needed a timely solution.  During the meeting the executive member answered no less than four calls, made three unrelated calls, accepted non emergency interruptions from colleagues and checked Facebook – which he said he “had to do.” Rather than feel respected I was frustrated when I left the meeting.  We had accomplished nothing.  He asked me to come back a couple of hours later.  I had to reschedule my afternoon to accommodate.  When I returned the next time, it was pretty much the same scenario.  Another hour passed and we accomplished nothing again.  I was asked to return later yet again.  It was the same thing.  In the end it took six hours of meetings to accomplish what could have been accomplished in 45 minutes.  It was not only a colossal waste of time, but it was indicative of how that individual thought of people.  It became very clear, very quickly that this was his M.O.  He did this to everyone.  

Screen Shot 2013-12-16 at 3.20.56 PM

Image compliments of business-technology.co.uk

So this was my epiphany.  I experienced what it is like to be treated respectfully.  I experienced what is like to be treated without respect.  One person valued both me and my time.  One person did not.

The real question however is whether or not you are respecting your colleagues, family and friends?  What about yourself?

7 Ways to Creep Out Your Customers with Direct Marketing Campaigns

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As a professional marketer, I thought that I had seen it all when it comes to the good, the bad and the ugly of direct mail campaigns.  I was wrong.  Last week my husband received a letter from a vendor, who shall remain nameless, that left both of us scratching our heads.  We thought it was a hoax to make this vendor look bad.  However, after speaking with a representative on the phone, sadly, we learned that it was a real marketing campaign.  In my opinion, it was an epic failure.  It was such a bad piece of marketing I just had to write this blog post outlining the 7 ways they failed using this Direct Mail Campaign.

Now, before I get to my list I want to qualify why I am writing this post.  This letter was so out of character.  It just does not meet the established brand that this company has built.  In trying to figure out what was going on, we thought for certain that it was someone who was trying to embarrass the company.  The other thought we had – honestly – was that someone had too much to drink, had what he or she thought was a brilliant idea, then wrote a letter to execute on said brilliant idea.  I don’t want to embarrass this company.  I believe that they are a good company.  I believe that they just don’t understand marketing and what works and what freaks people out.  We are a customer and aside from this bizarre twist, have been very impressed with them.  That being said, if this was an authentic campaign, there are a few lessons learned.  So, let’s get to the list:

1.  Always Use Letterhead 

When sending out a promotion to your customers, always use company stationary.  Using your name and your spouse’s name for the return address versus the company information is not a best practice and, it is confusing.

The same goes for the actual letter.  To help people understand where in fact the letter has originated, using letterhead makes it clear from the get-go.  I shouldn’t have to read a three-page letter to get to the end to figure out who sent it to me.

2.  Properly Address Letters

Since I am a customer having my name, or in this case my husband’s full name on the letter is a good idea.  The same goes for having our full civic address.  Addressing a letter with only a person’s first name and a number missing off of the civic address is kinda weird if done intentionally.  The Post Office put a question mark on the letter.  Even they were confused and took a guess.

As customers, don’t you know our name and address?  After all, it was on the bills that you sent us and the service technicians made it to our house o.k.

3.  State the offer up front and be clear about what you are offering 

This isn’t a nice to have in business communications. It is a must.  Both my husband and I read the letter numerous times and we still didn’t know what was what.  The tone and language was so odd that it sounded like the sender of the letter didn’t realize that we were already customers.  Instead, it sounded like if became a customer now, we would get a envelope of cash!  Seriously…the letter said this.

Image courtesy of waterschurch.org

Image courtesy of waterschurch.org

Even after calling and speaking to an employee, we were confused.  After telling the representative what work they executed for us, I asked point blank, “what is the offer.  I don’t understand.”  The response:  if we needed anymore work that we would get what was offered in the letter.  It made no sense.

4. Have Your Letter Proofread

We all make mistakes.  I have read textbooks, marketing materials, blogs and letters with a typo.  It happens. It’s embarrassing. We hate it when it happens,right!  However, when the letter is filled with grammatical errors and it rambles on without purpose or real coherence, it kinda leads the reader to the conclusion that someone really was drinking when they wrote the letter.  Not the right impression to be making.

5.  Use the Right Tone 

Using threatening, or what can be perceived as threatening language, when trying to sell is not exactly a Best Practice.  Saying things like “I must give you  this WARNING…” and “This Time You have NO Excuse!” would not be a recommended approach. Kinda left me feeling like I should run for the hills.

6.  Use Capital Letters Judiciously

Using capital letters according to the grammar rules is cool.  Using them repeatedly for entire sentences or words means that you are yelling at me.  Again, not exactly the experience I want from someone trying to sell me something.  I personally shy away from people yelling at me.

7.  Never, ever, ever start a letter like this: 

“It’s 1:43 am and I can’t sleep…Alright, let me give you something no one else will.”    For the love of all that is good and pure in this world, please, please don’t start any letter…ever like this.    Talk about starting out on the wrong foot.  Think about it for a second.  No letterhead, the envelope wasn’t properly addressed and the return address was from people I don’t know.  Holy $#!+.

So, now that I have gotten this off my chest and on paper I feel a little better.  I hope that others will take this advice and use it.  I hope that I never ever see another letter like this.  How about you?  Have you ever received something like this in the mail from someone trying to woo you and get your business?  Do tell!

5 Ways Small Business Can Leverage Social Media for Real-time Market Research

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As a small business owner and a professional Marketing and Communications Practitioner, I know the value of market research.  When I worked for large organizations, we often hired agencies to provide specialized research services. However, we smaller business owners just don’t have the luxury of the big budgets that the larger organizations enjoy.   We also don’t have a lot of spare time.  So, I wanted to share 5 really easy ways that small business can leverage social media for real-time market research:

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1.  Maximize your membership in existing groups like Facebook, Linkedin and blogs to gain valuable insight into what topics are hot. By being an active listener you can find emerging themes.  You can learn quickly what, if any, conversations taking place about your brand.

For example, if you own a restaurant you can learn about trends that are happening in food preferences.  If your customers and/or target market are discussing local organic foods as being important, you could start promoting the local fare that you have on your menu.  Alternatively, there might be an event – perhaps a beer festival – that you would want to promote and create a menu pairing for the various types of beer being featured at the festival.

2.  Use Twitter Lists to organize key stakeholders, customers and Influencers.  Using lists saves time when you want to focus on specific information and/or people.

For example, if there is a specific vertical that you want to penetrate, make a list and add the people you see Tweeting on the topic. You can then easily learn who is in that space.

3. Conduct Facebook surveys to reach out to your followers and ask them specific questions — keep the same questions so that you have consistent data. One of the benefits of doing this type of research versus a focus group is that neither the facilitator nor any other members of the focus group will unintentionally influence the participants. You can have your survey be anonymous or with a customer name attached to it.

For example, if you are uncertain about carrying a new product, you can ask your community.  You can develop a simple questionnaire that you can send to all your followers/subscribers or those who have “Liked” your Brand Page.  By reaching out to your customers you are demonstrating that their opinion matters.  You are getting a first-hand account of what they think about the product.

For more information on how to set up your survey, visit Facebook’s survey page.

4. Use Pinterest to determine what photos are being pinned from your website.  This can be an invaluable tool. Learn what is popular and by default, what is not.  Learn what is resonating with your customers through your visuals.

It is quite easy to do: simply go to your browser and type:  http://pinterest.com/source/YOURWEBSITEHERE.com/.

5. Use Twitter Hashtags to search and track relevant conversations.  You can use hashtags to monitor conversations about competitors, different product lines, events and more.  You can use existing hashtags or set up your own.  They are simple to use.

For example, if you are hosting a user-group and you want to know what the buzz is both leading up to and during the event, you could create a hashtag specific to your event.  Once you do this, be sure to share it with your organizers, sponsors, delegates, etc.  It could be as simple as #CustomerSpeak2014.  By simply searching your event hashtag, you can monitor all the chatter.  If you notice a problem emerging, you can be proactive and take action.  You can then share the solution using the hashtag, letting your delegates know that you were listening.  You can also use the hashtag to monitor post-event conversations and use that intelligence for lessons-learned.

These are just five examples of how you can use social media for real-time market research.  What are some other channels that you use and what have been your results?

Your Employees’ Lack of Manners is Costing You Money

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Customer service is not just about how you “appear” on line.  Good customer service is not just talked about.  It is lived.  It is how your employees represent your brand day-in,  day-out, online and in person.  Can you say confidently that your employees understand that having good manners directly impacts customer service?  What is the cost of poor manners in today’s retail environment?  Let’s take a look!

Wicker Emporium, an example of GREAT customer service!

Wicker Emporium, an example of GREAT customer service!

Think about the last couple of times you entered a retail environment.  Think about how you were greeted, or not.  Think about whether or not the staff made eye contact, or not.  Did they say hello, excuse me, or even continue talking amongst themselves, ignoring you.  How did you feel?  Better yet, how likely are you to return to such an environment.  The answer to the last question depends on how you answered the previous ones.  Well, everyday your customers are asking the same thing about your establishment and depending on the answer, your staff’s lack of manners could be costing you money.

I don’t like rudeness.  Never have.  To me rudeness is an excellent indicator of the type work one can expect from such a person.  If someone is that self-absorbed to not think about others, it is a bad sign.  Some may argue this, but it is how I feel.  Regardless research shows that rude employees are costing your company money.   Customers leave companies where rude behaviour is the norm.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the HBR blog post:  The High Cost of Rudeness at Work.

To make my point, let’s look at two very recent experiences that I had at local stores.

Winners also known as @Winners online:

Winners has been a place that I love to browse.  I confess that I go there at least once a week.  And, many times I don’t leave empty handed.

I was not however, particularly impressed with my visit Friday of last week.  I can get past the fact that not one employee made eye contact with me while I was shopping. No big deal.

What I find unacceptable is really bad manners.  I was standing in an aisle looking at some items on a shelf.  I was about 2 feet away from the shelf.  There was ample space behind me.  I was just about to pick up an item to look at it further when a staff member walked down the aisle toward me.  The polite thing to do would have been to walk behind me.  Or, at the very least, if there was not enough room, walk in front of me by first saying two simple words.  Those words:  “excuse me.”  This did not happen.  She did not walk behind me.  She walked right in front of me and did not even make a sound.  I had to move backwards to avoid being bumped by the store clerk.  Yes, had I not moved she would have ploughed right through me.  This annoyed and angered me.  I couldn’t help saying “certainly” loud enough so that she would hear me.  She did look in my direction, but I doubt that she understood her rudeness and the message she was sending about her values and by extension, the values of the store.

The question that stays with me however is simple.  What would have happened if an elderly person would have been standing in my place.  What if that person could not have moved as quickly and steadily as I did?  Would she have pushed through anyway sending that person falling to the floor?  I hope not.  I really hope not.

My opinion only worsened when I arrived at the counter to pay for my item.  There were three staff members there, including miss non-manners.  They were talking about a customer and not in a positive light.  They were very vocally complaining about a lady in great detail.  So much detail that I am fairly certain I know who they were referring to.  Completely inappropriate.  So she bought a bunch of stuff and returned it.  So what!  That is her right.  I can only imagine what was said after I left the store.

Had I not had a gift card that I needed to redeem, I would have left the store.  I did make a purchase. I should note however, and this is where I hope Winners is listening to social media conversations, I won’t be going back any time soon.  I hope that this employee is just one person who is so self-absorbed that she doesn’t see how her actions reflect not only on her, but also on the store that she is representing. Furthermore, I hope that Winners has the gumption on a go forward basis to train its employees to vent in private.  Sure, we all have to vent, but don’t vent about customers where customers can hear.   I can’t imagine that these are the values of the Winners store overall.  Surely Winners doesn’t want to be known for rudeness and customer put downs, right?  I don’t think that this is what Winners means when they say that “Everybody Loves To Get A Surprise.”

Thankfully not all stores are like this.  I want to give credit to those that do great customer service too! These are the stores that I will go back to over and over and over again.  I know that I am not alone in this.

Wicker Emporium or “@Wickeremporium online: 

Wicker Emporium on the other hand is always a great experience.  I cannot ever think of an experience in the 25+ years of shopping there that I have ever witnessed rudeness.  Just the opposite actually.

The staff always make eye contact and say hello when you enter a store.  Often times they are busy waiting on other customers and “focusing” on those customers.   I like that they focus on the customer they are dealing with.  It shows that they are paying attention to the customer and in that moment you, the customer, matter.  As soon as they have a chance, they do greet you.

In other cases where they are busy restocking and reorganizing the store they always come to see if you have questions and/or need help.  These ladies, and I say ladies as I have only ever seen women working there, could teach some other retail stores how to “BE” great customer service people.

To all the ladies at Wicker Emporium, and I hope your head office is listening, you rock!  You are great ambassadors for the Wicker Emporium brand and you should be recognized for this.

Do you have a customer service success or failure story to share?

5 Reasons “Share If You Agree” Posts Drive Me Crazy

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You know these Facebook posts.  The ones that profess love for your family, or that your son or daughter is the most wonderful in the land, or you will be friends for eternity and if you agree you should share (or Like)!  Just this morning I have 15 in my Facebook feed.  Seriously 15!  And, on top of that they were one right after the other.

Share if you agree

So why do they drive me crazy?  Here’s 5 reasons why:

5.  Can you say SCAM?

First and foremost I have to say that sharing a post, or liking a post, is not going to make you rich, have your luck change over night, or make someone fall in love with you.  Of course I am referring to the posts that claim if you share (or Like) it, something miraculous will happen within a set period of time.

4.  Exploitation

People who set these up such posts are often praying on someone’s insecurities or fears.  Think about the posts that show sick children or accidents.  Think about the ones that say “share if you hate [insert disease], ignore if you don’t.  Really?  By ignoring said post I like a disease?

3.  Pollution

Yes, I am calling if Facebook pollution.  It is polluting my Facebook newsfeed and taking away from the things that I want to see.  Real updates from people that I care about.

2.  Social Proof or Herd Instinct

A formal and proven psychological phenomenon, as discussed in depth by Dr. Robert Cialdini, demonstrates that people are influenced by their friends and also the number of people (the herd)  who are involved in an act.  So, if you see that 100,000+ people, some of which are your friends, have shared a Facebook post you feel that you must do it as well.  You want to be a part of the herd.

1.  You Are Making Someone Else Money and You Don’t Realize It!

This is the number one reason for me.  People are playing on all the reasons stated above to make money off of people who don’t realize it.

When someone creates these posts they have a very deliberate motive:  to make money. I am not talking about the companies who create Facebook Contests in order to get you to share or like their page in exchange for the opportunity to win something.  This is legitimate and the business is being up front with you.

Stupid Share

I am talking about the people who want to do this without being up front.  What they are doing is working with Facebook’s algorithm .  By getting more likes, shares and comments it is improving someone’s ranking in the algorithm (some used to call this the EdgeRank) and therefore this means that the better the ranking the more it will show up in other people’s newsfeed.  So, what does this have to do with the price of tea in China?  Everything.  Once the original page hits a certain threshold, the owner can sell the page to another party.  Because it is so popular, it has a better price tag.  The new owner can then update some information and have a ready made community to spam, I mean share information with.  Yup, that is what it is all about.  Dollars.

So, if you agree with this post “Like” and “Share”.  If you don’t, just ignore.