Let’s not forget, by nature people are social. Generally speaking, this is part of the human DNA. In turn this means that people are sharing. They like to share what they’ve been doing, their opinions and their thoughts. Not only that but they also like to be heard.
Have you ever stopped to think about what people are saying about your brand? Now, I know a number of you will be thinking about the results of your last customer survey. You know the one I mean, the one where you asked the questions that you give you the information that you wanted to know. Just for good measure, you left an “any other comments” section at the bottom. Really, do you know what people are saying about your brand?
For most New Zealand companies, the answer is “not enough”. Think about it, during the average day, how many times do you hear someone mention ‘Apple’ or ‘iPhone’. I would hear such a reference, in a real offline world, at least twice a day on average. When I use online social networks, I am probably bombarded by people talking about this brand, 10 times as much.
As I visit people to talk about social business, I try to understand what they are doing through public social media. I find that they have a twitter account, a Facebook page and maybe even a blog. While they are actively tweeting and leaving messages on Facebook, there seems to be little discussion outside of their efforts.
The next thing I do is a search. I search for what people are saying about them on Twitter. Often I see only a couple of comments and nothing more. With the volume of tweets that go through Twitter, I would expect that this is a good benchmark for discussion happening across other social media. Recently, I have been blogging about not just customer engagement but also customer advocacy. As part of your social business planning, your company needs to consider how to get people talking about your brand.
Why is this important? This is more than getting your brand plastered over every billboard in town. This is about crowd sourcing and understanding customer/brand sentiment. It’s about gaining insight which will enable the business to improve internal process, come up with new and innovative ideas, become the market leader and above all result in increased revenue.
Recently, I went to visit a company to talk about what they were doing with Social Media. Before going to see them, I tried to understand what they were already doing and what was being said about them. I had been informed that they were going to be doing all of their marketing through social media, they weren’t even going to have a website. One would think that this was leading edge! The interesting thing was, I could not find them even through a google search. Things have changed for this company, they now have a website, so where did they go wrong?
After talking to them, they didn’t seem to have any plan in place. When asking them about this, they answered by saying that they make it up as they go, they do what seems right. I need to be frank at this point, if you don’t have a plan then plan to fail! You need to plan ahead. This company has the potential to cash-in on their market, but they are making a huge mistake.
During conversation, I used a recent incident of a video which went viral. There was a skateboarding competition at a local skate park here in Auckland, New Zealand. During the event, one of the organizers pushed a teenager off a skateboard, then that same person when challenged by another adult, put his hand around the other adults throat. All of this was caught on video camera. It was uploaded to the internet and it went viral. There were also a team of people handing out cans of spray paint to kids and encouraging them to graffiti the park. Here is the shocking thing, the company who handed out the spray paint was the one I just mentioned in my previous comment! They told me it was them.
The crazy thing was that at no stage was their brand mentioned on the television news, or most other media. They were really thankful for that. But did they miss an opportunity for people to be talking about them? Their unknown brand may have become a household brand over night. On the other hand it may have seriously damaged their brand. The problem is, they never had a plan or a strategy to help them either stop it from going viral or to maximise social chatter about their brand.
Watch the video below of the skate park event. Consider whether your organization has a plan in place which addresses a framework which could be acted on without it having to be a spur of the moment decision, either ending in triumph or catastrophe.
The top 10 things you never want to do with Social Media – avoid like the plague
Mon, Apr 30th 2012 3:11a Vaughan Rivett You’ve heard it said before, what you put on the web, stays forever! But how many people really heed this sort of advice? I have been trolling through the internet in my research for the top 10 things that you NEVER want to do with Social Media. I bet you’re already doing some of these things.
1. Don’t use text speak or other unnatural conversation
I’m sorry, but text speak makes you look dumb. If people cannot work out what you’re saying without too much ef [read] Keywords: applications
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Insider tip: It’s not social if your the’re not talking about you
Sat, Apr 28th 2012 10:24p Vaughan Rivett Let’s not forget, by nature people are social. Generally speaking, this is part of the human DNA. In turn this means that people are sharing. They like to share what they’ve been doing, their opinions and their thoughts. Not only that but they also like to be heard.
Have you ever stopped to think about what people are saying about your brand? Now, I know a number of you will be thinking about the results of your last customer survey. You know the one I mean, the one wher [read] Keywords: apple
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Business Gets Social – Roadshow – Coming to New Zealand
Mon, Apr 23rd 2012 4:44p Vaughan Rivett IT directors, managers and technical professionals can get the tools, tips and tricks needed to implement and use IBM’s industry-leading social, mobile and cloud solutions to build a nimble, innovative culture… enable collaboration between distributed teams… and beyond.
Attend this event and receive a technical update from the local IBM® experts on the recent Lotusphere® 2012 event held in Orlando USA. The event includes key updates and demonstrations on the latest social collab [read] Keywords: collaboration
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Turning customers into Brand Advocates
Mon, Apr 23rd 2012 3:11a Vaughan Rivett It’s one thing to have customers, and loyal customers, at that. But, what does it take to turn a customer into a “Brand Advocate”. This type of person is someone who will tell others about your brand with passion. In fact, they will most likely tell the world through the use of Social Media. There are three key components that need to be considered to transform customers into Brand Advocates:
Company Culture
Engagement
Exceptional Experience
Company culture is the for [read] Keywords: facebook
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I really don’t think you understand who I am – I am Social
Thu, Apr 19th 2012 2:44p Vaughan Rivett The other day I went to the supermarket to pick up a few food items (how many blog posts have I written lately which involve food?). I found a product which I liked the look of and saw that it had been reduced from $8.00 to about $5.00. As a result I decided to take two while taking advantage of the offer.
I went to the counter to pay for the goods expecting a total of $10.00. However, the cashier said that it came to $16.00. I questioned this and pointed out that there was a “Red-la [read] Keywords: facebook
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Forecourt attendant ‘gets’ social business
Wed, Apr 18th 2012 2:36p Vaughan Rivett Today I visited a petrol station to put fuel into my somewhat thirsty car. It was the Sommerville station here in Aucland, New Zealand. I did the normal thing and filled up my tank and went to pay for the fuel before leaving. I was wearing a polo shirt with the slogan “Get Social. Do Business” printed on it.
The service station attendant read the slogan aloud and smiled. He looked at me and said “You can’t do business if you’re not social”. I doubt t [read] Keywords: facebook
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Ever made “Social” eggs? – A how to guide to using videos for Social Business
Mon, Apr 16th 2012 3:00a Vaughan Rivett Have you ever heard how to cook a “Social” egg? Now I know that this has got you thinking, sounds a bit crazy maybe? Lately, I have been a home, by myself, with my wife and kids overseas (except for one). During this time I’ve had to cook my own meals. Past history would suggest that I should not be in the kitchen, in-fact, my wife usually sends me out to the BBQ to cook.
I decided that I would be adventurous and learn to cook a poached egg. I got out my iPad and sea [read] Keywords: blogging
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Reducing staff attrition rates through connected and engaged employees
Sun, Apr 8th 2012 10:40p Vaughan Rivett I’ve been reading a blog which is written by Flora, who has recently taken on a role as a Human Resources Adviser at a woman’s clothing chain, with stores all around New Zealand, Funky Town. Last Wednesday, she published a blog article entitled “Too much turnover“. She outlined some of the issues she faced with a turnover rate of up to 40%. A lot of this being driven by the use of casual and part time staff.
I’m not sure that this percentage can be looked at b [read] Keywords: facebook
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