Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category
If you are the Admin on a Facebook Business Page, you may have been surprised recently to see a new tab on your page called “Getting Started,” regardless of how long the page has been active. I know I was!
The tab is only visible to Admins, but it is still quite annoying, as Facebook arbitrarily set it as the default landing page for Admins, and there is no way to reposition it or change that. Not only is it taking up valuable Facebook page real estate, it’s really insulting.
After digging around a bit on social media blog posts and Facebook discussion pages, I learned that it appeared to be related to the number of “fans” the page has. (I really don’t know what to call them now that the term has changed to “Like” instead of “Fan” – “Likers”?) Facebook apparently assumes that if the page has a small number of “fans” the Admin must not know what they’re doing and therefore needs Facebook’s “help.” In this particular case, the page was established more for its offline benefits than online and garnering a huge following was not the intent, nor was interaction, given the potential legal liabilities involved. (But that’s another blog post!)
Because there was no way to remove it, I set about doing what it asked me to do in order to satisfy it and make it go away, much like Twitter’s welcome message. “Getting Started” wanted me to set up Mobile uploads, as well as link to a Twitter account. I changed the business’ phone number to my personal number by editing the Info tab; acquired the confirmation code by texting the letter “f” to 32665; submitted the code; then promptly edited the Info tab again, replacing my personal phone number with the business number. Step 1 was now satisfied. Moreover, the Mobile application had been installed using my phone number so if I really wanted to post to the business page from my phone, I could.
I was delighted to find the “Getting Started” tab disappear with just that simple effort. Had I been forced to satisfy Step 2 by linking the page to a Twitter account, I would have done so, then promptly denied Facebook access to it.
Facebook users worldwide have been lodging complaints with Facebook about this “helpful” feature. For many, finding a workaround it was more involved – they had to enter XXX in several areas of the Info tab such as business hours. Social Media blogger Danny Brown pegged the global mood correctly with his post “Facebook Pisses Off Users. Again”. That’s where I found my workaround – hope you find yours here!
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Tags: Danny Brown, Facebook, Getting Started tab, Social Media, Twitter
The first panel discussion is “The Bottom Line on Real Time” with panelists Bert DuMars, VP E-Business and Interactive Marketing, Newell Rubbermaid; Marla Erwin, Interactive Developer, Whole Foods Market; and Doug Ulman, President & CEO of LiveStrong.org; moderated by Steve Rubel, SVP, Director of Insights, Edelman Digital.
First topic was on how to begin, what changes Twitter has made in your organization:
Marla: Whole Foods just began with some employees on Twitter. It grew so fast that we had to bring in someone full time. Now we have one full-time and 3 part-time Twitterers. We issue a social media guide monthly from corporate, give them a few pointers, but the stores are self-managing.
Doug: It has really changed our organization.
Bert: We are concerned with brand building and manufacturing. We’re literally one step away from the consumer. We have 30 brands on Twitter, in multiple accounts with, multiple employees per account.
Steve: How do you measure success?
Marla: We do count followers, but measure success by whether the number rises or falls. Best measure is ReTweets.
Steve: How do you look at all that data, how do you link it back to a business objective?
Doug: We track across the issues, who’s taking action. Ex: health care reform debate – of 110,000 people who signed our petition, 70k came from Twitter. In 2009, first full calendar year we used Twitter, our online fundraising was up 17%. Twitter is the main driver to our website.
Bert: We have a lot of touchpoints where you will make the decision to buy one of our products. Twitter is one of them. From ROI perspective, must look at it wholistically. For the Sharpie brand it was repositioning. Twitter really helps with that.
Steve: You have to create surface area. How do you create enough scale? How do you stand out among the noise?
Doug: Twitter is a great platform that is part of a broader social movement. It’s less about us and more about giving our publics a platform to advocate on. Our followers then are able to engage their communities.
Bert: Don’t forget community. You have to build it up one follower at a time. Where it plays out is when you need it most. Recent Graco recall: major news outlets linked Graco to “baby dies” even tho it was in a competitor’s crib. By the next day Graco didn’t have to reach out, the followers, the community was doing all the work. Community based on trust, but it takes a long time to build, took Graco 3 years.
Steve: Marla – how do you integrate Twitter with your other marketing initiatives?
Marla: The easiest way to track is by click-through on links. We cross-promote. We have a landing page on our website which lists our Twitter accounts. It’s a little harder to measure when we cross promote, but we do generate buzz. Ex. billboard advertising a flower promotion with “worth twittering about.”
Steve: Are you increasing your efforts on Twitter or integrating other platforms?
Bert: It depends on the brand. Some are having a lot of success on Twitter, a lot on FB. We don’t pick winners. We like them for all different reasons. You need to tie them all together and you have a compelling story, then you can reach the consumer where they want to be reached when they want to be reached.
Doug: There’s been a lot of chatter about electronic medical records. We used Twitter to put out a survey to gauge opinion, got 4,000 responses.
Steve: You are all a high interest brand or touch a high interest issue. What kind of advice could you offer to someone who is smaller or less well-known or doesn’t have a high interest topic?
Marla; Anti advice ; you can be a brand on Twitter, don’t have to be a person. Can pick out accpunt by logo. practical – some accounts wouldn’t fit.
Doug - Note – shameless self-promo – if you put a yellow wristband on your avatar it stands out (crowd laughs). Go to livestrongaction.org and get yours right now. I would disagree a little bit – creating unique, individual stories helps us the most to spread the message.
Marla – I didn’t mean to imply that you have to be a brand, just that you can be a brand (as opposed to some advice where you have to be a person.)
Bert – We are going toward more branded accounts. It helps in doing a search! At the end of the day people really want to talk to a person, so surround your brand with real people.
Q & A
For a brand starting out – how do you grow the audience? What would you suggest? Who handles your Twitter account?
Bert – Start slow. There are a lot of nuances in your own consumer and community groups. Be careful. A big part is just talking. Don’t go out and follow thousands of people. You’re just like a spammer at that point.
Marla – Our Twitter account is run by our content department, not marketing or pr. Put out info that is valuable and interesting.
Doug – Ours is is all internal, mktg. dept.
Bert – We manage it out of brands, some is marketing and communications, some by brand managers, will soon be including customer service.
How do you determine what conversations are important?
Marla – That can be a tricky one. We look at @ replies first, people talking directly to us. Try to respond to problems; compliments; it’s difficult, we have to sift through hundreds of conversations a day.
What about the use of Twitter with email marketing? What’s it bringing to the whole concept of social CRM?
Doug – 15 yrs ago it was all about your database. It doesn’t matter anymore. How many people do you have who are passionate about your cause? We aren’t doing email newsletters the way we used to, don’t use them much anymore. Communicating to people who follow us, who want the info, is more effective for us.
At what point do you outsource your social media?
Bert – Typically for a brand like us, at some point you get to a size where you don’t have enough employees to support the effort. I still think it’s important that the face be an employee, but wrapping them with researcher, content providers is important.
Where do you go from here with metrics?
Bert – It’s important to integrate with what the retailers do.
Doug – It’s about action, people leading with a mission and a cause.
Marla – Hard to say at the global level. On the local level, we’ve had a lot of success, so will be measuring a lot more at the local level.
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Tags: fundraising, Graco, Livestrong.org, Sharpies, Twitter, TWTRCON, Whole Foods
Laura Fitton is the author of “Twitter for Dummies”. Disclaimer here – she speaks in 140 sound bites! 
Laura’s 4 word guide to social media: Listen, Learn, Care, Serve
Twitter disrupts. What does it disrupt? Human isolation. There are approximately 140,000 APIs – watch what is going on in the tool space, it will make Twitter easier to understand. It’s not another place to advertise. It provides value externally and internally. The best uses of Twitter have not even been figured out yet!
Influence is more about providing attention to others.
Twitter Manners 101 – it’s what your mother taught you!
Dress nicely – your background and avatar
Introduce yourself – complete your profile, link on your site
Be a good conversationalist – Listen, respond, be relevant, be useful
What about Twitter campaigns? Please don’t. Focus on Twitter literacy.
Best approach is to set simple standards…excellence, authenticity, engagement
Produce feeds of cool, useful things; publish & subscribe; work to not be rejected as spam!
www.oneforty.com has toolkits
Think YOUR customers aren’t on Twitter? Twitter has off-platform benefits too, such as:
Get found (SEO): Even very common words dominate. Choose the Google AdSense word you spend your last dollar on – get that as a Twitter handle
Research
Fresh content: abundant content, display anywhere (widgets, embeds, filtering, search), cloud profile
Word of Mouth: pass-along and ReTweet norms, celebrities, influencers, journalists, bloggers
Media and PR: Publish, become known, be helpful
What about measurement?
No – number of followers
Yes – follower engagement
What are the measurable links?
Clickthroughs, conversations, context
Tweeples in the water: retweets, reposting your links
Others pointing toward what you do
business.twitter.com
What’s on the horizon, what trends should we watch for next? Better tools
twitter.com – watch what they’re doing with promoted tweets, business accounts
Q & A
What are the specific apps that will help clients find their products, services – search based applications?
Q: How to be a better conversationalist?
Think about what your good at and be that. Be it enthusiastically!
Q: Frequency of a message? The etiquette of that? Repeat your message?
It’s okay. There really isn’t a Twitter police. It works for Guy Kawasaki. Twitter is about finding the right people, which is why your engagement is important. Use followcost.com to find out how annoying a tweeter will be. Laura tweets on average 10-15 x day.
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Tags: @pistachio, Guy Kawasaki, Laura Fitton, oneforty.com, Social Media, Twitter, Twitter apps, TWTRCON
Blogging from 30,000 feet somewhere between Atlanta and NYC, on my way to TWTRCON NY 2010, the Twitter for Business conference. If you read my post about this Twitter experiment you’ll know that I am flying AirTran Airways, compliments of Jaguar Data Systems, Inc. I discovered early on they are not active in social media, Twitter to be specific. That’s a shame because they could have made great use of the channel this morning.
I arrived at Southwest Florida International Airport and checked the departures for my gate. Every departing flight was listed except for the AirTran flights. It seems they had some computer trouble last night. What did they do to communicate with their passengers this morning? Nothing. No email, no phone call, and certainly no tweet. Their latest Facebook post was Friday at 4:06 welcoming new employees. Not a word about what to expect when arriving at an airport. Where’s their crisis communications plan? I went from gate to gate to find my flight. Thank goodness I didn’t depart from Atlanta, as my seat mate did!
AirTran could have posted a customer service representative at the head of the concourse with a clipboard and list of gates; they could have resorted to good old fashioned cardboard signs; anything to allay the discomfort of the arriving passengers.
I walked down the long corridor to the airplane, and there was no one to greet me. I’m no VIP, but remember I am flying business class, courtesy of Jaguar Data. Nobody at the door, so I wasn’t even sure if they were ready for me to board. I timidly (okay, those of you who know me know that’s not true) poked my head in the door to ask if it was okay to board.
Service on board was great, flight was smooth, it seems the only place AirTran is failing is on the ground. But that’s where all flights get their start isn’t it? Who do you like to fly and why? have you had any social media experience with other airlines?
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Tags: AirTran, crisis communications plan, Jaguar Data Systems, Social Media, Twitter, TWTRCON
I am thrilled to be attending TWTRCON NY 2010 (http://twtrcon.com), a one-day conference on using Twitter for business taking place June 14, 2010 at the Hilton New York, all because of an experiment!
TWTRCON NY 2010 will focus on how companies using the real-time web and location-based platforms are transforming businesses and driving revenue. Industry experts including Martha Stewart, Dennis Crowley (Foursquare), Marty St. George (JetBlue), Frank Eliason (Comcast) and Brad Nelson (Starbucks) will share best practices for implementing the real-time web to drive bottom line results.
The conference will include panel discussions and case study sessions covering:
Location-based marketing strategies, with Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley, Gowalla CEO Josh Williams and Starbucks’ Brad Nelson
The bottom-line value of the real-time web, moderated by Steve Rubel, with panelists from Domino’s Pizza, Newell Rubbermaid, Whole Foods Market and LiveStrong.org
Customer service and real-time response, with Comcast’s Frank Eliason, PepsiCo’s Joshua Karpf, AT&T’s Shawn McPike and NASA’s Stephanie Schierholz
Social media’s impact on the media industry, with panelists from The Huffington Post, the Associated Press, The New York Times, Syfy Digital and moderated by paidContent.org founder Rafat Ali
Real-time search, with Google Search product manager Dylan Casey
Twitter business case studies from Dell and TurboTax
This is an all-star line-up of marketing, public relations and social media experts! My attendance at the conference is courtesy of Turbo Tax, a conference sponsor, and it originated with an experiment on micro-blogging site Twitter.
As a marketing, PR and social media consultant I am constantly repeating the advice to listen, to monitor, social media channels. I have a modest following and would not consider myself an influencer, but the beauty of Twitter is that it is an equalizer. By simply using a brand’s Twitter user name or a hashtag in your tweet you have broadcast your message to potentially millions of people, depending on the trending topics and who may be searching them. (A hashtag is simply placing # in front of a word or phrase and Twitter automatically returns all tweets containing that word or phrase when you search for it.)
In early April I began tweeting occasionally about TWTRCON, mentioning JetBlue, AirTran, the Roger Smith Hotel. I wondered if it would be possible to arrange a trip to New York for the conference, all comped, all via Twitter. With the conference fast approaching, I ramped up my conversations last week and finally by using the #fail hashtag I got the attention of JetBlue and the Roger Smith Hotel. The #fail hashtag is universally understood to mean that the person or company referenced in your tweet failed to deliver, in your opinion. The Roger Smith Hotel replied within minutes with an apology and although they had to decline my request for a comped room, we did have further conversation, they extended me a discount and I am staying there for the conference. In the meantime I addressed the Hilton New York, who responded immediately, after just one mention (no #fail hashtag). They too declined to comp me, but were also very gracious.
Transportation was another matter. I finally sent a public message to Martin St. George, the senior vice president marketing and commercial strategy for JetBlue Airways, who is speaking at the conference, and four hours later received a reply from the personal account of a JetBlue designated tweeter (not the official JetBlue account) declining the request as well, but not so graciously. I brought Delta into the mix, and got a reply within three hours of my tweet. They too are unable to comp me, but were also very friendly in their replies. I discovered AirTran is not active on Twitter, although the brand is discussed. They are definitely missing an opportunity.
I will be flying AirTran to the conference however, compliments of Jaguar Data Systems, Inc. a full-service integrated marketing, direct mail, and digital printing company headquartered in Fort Myers.
I don’t consider the experiment a failure. I did manage to get a complimentary registration and one of the convention guests has offered me a ticket to the after-conference networking sponsored by Dell. My airfare was provided. I have expanded my Twitterverse (Twitter + universe) and had several great conversations, including exchanges with Mr. St. George! I’ll have the opportunity to gain knowledge that will benefit my clients and to experience the Roger Smith Hotel, noted for their extensive and innovative use of social media in the hospitality industry. I have experienced first-hand both good and dismal social media based customer relations and will be able to use that in my consulting work. I have the basis for an interesting case study. All in all, I’d give the experiment a big WOOT!
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Tags: Brad Nelson, Dell, Dennis Crowley, Frank Eliason, Hilton New York, Jaguar Data Systems, JetBlue, Josh Williams, Martha Stewart, Marty St. George, Roger Smith Hotel, Turbo Tax, Twitter, TWTRCON
NOTE: I am thrilled to be attending TWTRCON NY 2010, where I will hear from the founder of Foursquare Dennis Crowley as well as Josh Williams, the founder of Gowalla. It came about through an experiment I conducted on Twitter. I will be posting here and tweeting throughout the trip. You can follow me on Twitter.
From March 3, 2010 – The rally cry of real estate has become the status symbol of social media. Sifting through the multiple listings of Tweets, posts and updates from the recent SXSW Conference, one trend is clear – the boundary-lessness of social media is all about location, location, location.
The growing popularity of Foursquare (I’m on it, are you?), Gowalla and the integration of geolocator applications to Facebook, Twitter and other “veteran” social media networks mean that hyperlocality, once the domain of your local newspaper or community newsletter, will bring the virtual world into the real world, in real time.
The desire for connection on the human level will never be replaced by an avatar (sorry Mr. Cameron), and it seems social media has come full circle. Despite the intricate webs woven on the social networks, people still want to say “Let’s do lunch”. The question of “Where?” may be answered based on a Foursquare “Tip List” or a “Yelp” comment, but face-to-face will never be replaced, hence the onslaught of new applications to answer the challenge of interoperability. Read a great post about the trend here, by Patrick Kitano, writing for Social Media Today.
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Tags: avatar, Dennis Crowley, Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla, Josh Williams, Social Media, Social Media Today, SXSW, Twitter, TWTRCON
From September 18, 2009 – Sara Lee is missing the mark with its new social media campaign promoting its deli meats, as evidenced by the comments beginning to appear on the dedicated video channel for the trio of Web cam-produced “Mama Sagas”.
Although I suffered through all three, it’s likely that viewers will not bother to click past “A Working Vacation” wherein the working mother is recording an “encouraging” message to her husband on how to take care of the family while she goes out of town on business. Words like “demeaning” and “disrespectful” are used, and not by men (although I’d love to hear a man’s view on this one – watch it and come back here to comment). I raised three children and never stuffed tissues up my nose to make flower shapes like the Mom on “What to Tell the Children” does. And really…the litany of “disasters” in “Dealing with Disaster” is just a typical day when one’s life is spent as a “domestic engineer” (my term!), not to mention that the video is out of focus.
Then a quick trip to the Facebook fan page in hopes of printing out the $3 coupon and guess what? It’s not available. Technical glitch? Déjà vu all over again, remember Oprah and the KFC coupon? Someone please tweet “FAIL Sara Lee”. Never mind, I will.
The concept is a good one, apparently rooted in sound public relations strategic planning. “We’re really looking to build consumer relationships with our brand using social media,” said Becky Thomas, in an interview on DMNews.com Thomas is the assistant brand manager at Sara Lee Deli. “If you have a brand ambassador making a personal recommendation to their friends in their social space, then that recommendation is really going to matter.” Truer words were never spoken and Sara Lee employed a good mix of social media channels for this effort. Will the videos get a lot of play time? Probably, but not for the positive effect Sara Lee hoped to have.
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Tags: "Mama Saga", Sara Lee, social media campaign, working mother
From July 28, 2009 – These Top 10 Rules of Twitter Etiquette were originally posted in February 2009 by Michael Kwan and Morten Rand-Hendriksen in their respective blogs at Beyond the Rhetoric and Design is Philosophy. They resulted from observing a “Twitter battle” in the Vancouver area which they described as attempted social suicide.
A relatively well followed Twitter personality decided that a late Friday night would be the perfect time to “call another Tweeter out” as a “fake” and take what should have been a personal disagreement into a very public and very damaging shouting match. For well over two hours the attacks evolved from personal insults against one person to a frontal assault on all the people who tried to talk the guy off the rapidly narrowing edge he put himself on. By 2 am innocent bystanders were promptly stamped down, called retards and accused of everything from being stupid to being child molesters.
As the bizarre story unfolded it became clear that even seasoned web veterans are having a hard time grasping the new world of social media, in particular the fact that with great exposure comes great responsibility and that even a small misstep can have wide reaching and hugely damaging consequences. So they put together a list of 10 Twitter Etiquette tips to keep your online presence one you can live with both now and in the future. They are reposted here, with a few tweaks relevant to my political views and affinity for rabbits. Enjoy!
1. Avoid Personal Attacks at All Times
If you want me to follow you on Twitter, I want to see that you are a mature and civilized individual. If you go around spouting insults, spewing racist slurs, and otherwise attacking other Twitter users, you’ll quickly find yourself shouting into a black hole. No one will want to hear what you have to say. There’s nothing wrong with having a controversial opinion, but you should be discussing the issues in a calm and mature manner. Attack the issue, not the person.
2. Keep the Personal Vendettas Out of the Public Sphere
When you are in a nice restaurant, it is inappropriate to get into a shouting match with your dinner companion. This ruins the dining experience for the other patrons. This shows a complete and utter lack of class. If you have a conflict with someone, work it out in private. Interacting on Twitter is no different than interacting in any other public place. Take the fight to email, instant messenger, or a phone call instead. Resolve your issues there, because you never know who may be listening in on your war on Twitter.
3. Respect the Opinions of Others
Not everyone is going to agree with you all of the time. This is a fact of life. Whether you posed the question yourself or someone chimed in on their own, respect the opinions of others. This doesn’t mean that you have to agree with what they have to say, but it does mean that you should respect their right to say it. Going back to the first point, feel free to debate the issue, stating your case and why you feel the way that you do. That’s fine, but you should never escalate the debate to personal attacks.
4. Do Not Tweet While Intoxicated
When you are under the influence of alcohol or you are feeling particularly emotional, it is perhaps best to unplug from the matrix. If you’ve had more than a few drinks, there’s a good chance that you’ll say something you don’t really mean or express something that you’ll regret later on. You are not calm. You are not composed. When you are drunk, don’t grab your iPhone and start tweeting out your hatred of everyone and everything. This is social suicide; it’s like running toward a group of police officers waving around a loaded gun.
5. Get Out of the “Bar Fight” Mentality
Don’t pick a fight with the peacemaker. With the spat that happened over the weekend, one of the individuals went on to insult, attack, or belittle anyone who chose to get involved. Some of these people were simply trying to tell them to calm down or take the battle to a private arena. They were trying to help. They were trying to prevent the social suicide. In short, they were trying to be good Samaritans and peacekeepers, but in doing so, they entered the line of fire. If you are having a disagreement with someone online, don’t automatically assume that anyone else who gets involved is against you or out to get you. They could just be trying to put out the fire.
6. Keep the Private Private (Direct Messages (DMs) Are There For A Reason)
If you have something to say that is only of interest to one or just a few people, whether it be expressing your love, planning a lunch date or airing your grievances, use the Direct Message function. Not only are these things not appropriate for the public stream but there is little chance your followers are interested in your everyday practicalities, confessions of love and hateful bickering. In addition, there is no guarantee your followers are also following your friend so they might only get one side of the conversation. And finally, if you announce to the world where you are having lunch, the nutcase stalker you didn’t know you had might very well show up.
7. Don’t Flood the Stream
Twitter is less of a communication tool than a collective-stream-of-consciousness artifact. And in this lies both its appeal and its most serious annoyance. Unless Twitter users are utilizing some form of Twitter management tool like Hootsuite, the face of Twitter is the stream populated by a chronological list of the most recent tweets from all the people you follow. This is great in a kind of bizarre social gestalt kind of way until one or two of them start flooding the stream with tons of Tweets over a short period of time. And even though it might seem to the poster that they are just carrying on a (mostly one-sided) conversation, they are in reality taking over the feed for those presently watching. And like in any other social situation, whether it be a party, a meeting or a forum, dominating the conversation is rude and an excellent way of losing your followers. Twitter is a microblogging tool. If you have a lot to say, put it in your regular blog or write a book.
8. Apply the Foot-in-mouth Test Liberally
Twitter is a great place to prove you are suffering from a severe case of foot-in-mouth disease. 90% of the time the stuff you post on Twitter is completely benign. But there may come a time when you will post something that may anger someone either intentionally or unintentionally. So before you post anything, consider this: Would you want your kid sister, mother, future spouse, boss or mother-in-law to read it? Because chances are they will. If the answer is no, your rant is better left in your notebook or your therapist’s couch.
9. If You Can’t Say Somethin’ Nice, Don’t Say Nothin’ at All
This line of wisdom came straight from the bunny’s mouth – “Thumper” in the Disney classic “Bambi”. If you’re angry and feel like lashing out either directly or indiscriminately it’s better to step away from the keyboard and take a walk. In the heat of fury you are likely to say things you will regret but things said cannot be unsaid. Ever (see point 10). So rather than ruining your social life and insulting the people that respect you, remember that this too shall pass.
10. The Web Is Forever
It’s been said many times before but apparently it needs repeating: Anything and everything you put on the web remains there forever. Searchable, traceable, sourceable, ready to resurface years later. That’s the case for text, pictures, audio, and video and yes, Twitter posts. So that bat you planted in some guy’s face via a not-so-finely worded Tweet yesterday may very well come back to ruin your chances at a job 20 years from now.
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Tags: Hootsuite, Social Media, Twitter
