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How not to run customer service.

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

A little quickie for you today…

I’m often amazed at the absence of business sense exhibited by many “mom-and-pop” stores. I don’t mean to malign them as a whole, but often they don’t understand that what they think is good for their business may hold them back. The unfortunate thing about this is that many have great products and could really expand and succeed.

As I read this Wall Street Journal article about coffee shops prohibiting laptops, I immediately noticed the actions of the Cocoa Bar with a customer on Yelp:

“Good luck staying open when you’re turning half your clientele out on a Friday night,” Hannah Moots, 23, wrote about Cocoa Bar on Yelp, a Web site where customers rate retailers. When Ms. Moots, who aspires to be an archaeologist, met her boyfriend at the coffee shop after 8 p.m. on a Friday to work on graduate-school applications, she was ushered out, she says, even though the place was almost empty.

“We had to power down or leave instantly,” Ms. Moots wrote in her blog. She left and went to a different cafe, where she later expressed her dismay on the Web. Masoud Soltani, a Cocoa Bar owner, confirms that he sent her a Yelp message: “I remember you very well…I would not think you would write such bad stuff about us.” Mr. Soltani says she is no longer welcome in his store.

Here you have a customer who was turned away from the place because of her laptop use. I won’t fault the Cocoa Bar for prohibiting laptops if doing so has been good for business. (The article doesn’t say, however given the web site I could see it being a problem at night.) The response, however, to simply “not welcome” someone to their place because of a negative review is just a bad idea and bad customer service.

Small Businesses (and large, you’ve made the mistake too): If someone maligns you on a web site, the WORST thing you can do is criticize them and ban them from your establishment. What does that say about your customer service? The better response might be, “We would welcome Ms Moots back to our establishment anytime, we just would like her to respect other customers by following our policy on laptops.” Now, not only does the Yelp community know that the owner can be adversarial, but readers of the Wall Street Journal do as well.

I did check out the Yelp page. It seems to carry a positive rating overall, but there are a significant number of negative comments. I only hope for Cocoa Bar’s sake that the other negative comments weren’t addressed in the same manner as Ms. Moots’.

Tags: customer service, yelp
Posted in Public Relations, Social Media | 2 Comments »

The Wall Street Journal attempts Social Networking (supposedly)

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

It’s ON! There are tons of articles, blogs and twitterers screaming how there’s going to be a “showdown” between LinkedIn and The Wall Street Journal as the latter creates the ultimate weapon in social media. That’s right, they’ve made a “LinkedIn Killer”

The widespread reports started with a TechCrunch article reporting that a concept was on the table. From there the report grew legs.

Will it work? Nope. It’s all hype. To be fair, LinkedIn isn’t positioned at the top of the social networking/media category, but I don’t think it expects to given its niche. When it comes to Business Social Networking, however, it dominates. In fact, there’s no other service. Is it possible it could get ousted? Of course. Is it likely? Not unless those in charge of the service are asleep.

MarketingPilgrim makes a few good points. NewsCorp hasn’t done very well with MySpace, which owned Social Networking when it was purchased. If they can’t hold onto a brand category throne, what makes them think they can dethrone LinkedIn from the Business Social Networking category? Perhaps its because the WSJ is about business? Likely, but that’s not sound brand thinking. The MarketingPilgrim article continues that The Journal hasn’t done a very good job of getting its online readership to use its existing profile/connections portal.

That’s Killer…
Internally they are already calling it the “LinkedIn Killer” [TC]. Lets review the list of other “Killers” on the market: The Blackberry Storm and Palm Pre were iPhone killers and the Zune was an iPod killer. Lets be straight, if they are in that mindset, they better give up right now. In fact, the brand cemetery is littered with imitation products and there are quite a few #2 products that try try try. Who leads Red Bull (energy drinks), Gatoraid (sports drinks), Coke (cola), and McDonalds (fast food)? No one. They were the first and they’ll stay #1 mainly because of that.

You might say that the industry is in flux, but Facebook ousted MySpace by being different, not the same. MySpace ousted Friendster by being different, not the same. WSJ Connect is undoubtedly trying to be the same, as “LinkedIn Killer” indicates.

I dare you to come up with one “Killer” that was branded as such and succeeded. Even if you do know one, how long did it take you to think of it and are there any others?

What the Wall Street Journal is going to do is weaken their core brand and divert resources that should be spent researching a better way to keep ahead of the Business Daily News category that they are in charge of. They’d be better off partnering up with or purchasing LinkedIn.

Of course, this is all speculation. Nothing’s been confirmed.

More Reading:
http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2009/07/27/daily55.html
http://inventorspot.com/articles/wall_street_journal_gunning_linkedin_30930
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/07/will-the-wall-street-journal-take-a-real-shot-at-social-media.html

Also:
22 Immutable Laws of Branding (Reis & Reis) [excerpt: http://synergynet.com/artman/publish/marketing_resources/branding_laws.shtml]
Chasing Cool (Kerner & Pressman) [http://www.chasingcoolbook.com/]
Brand Failures (Haig) [Google Books]

And just pay attention. It’ll become common sense.

Tags: Branding, LinkedIn, Wall Street Journal, WSJ Connect
Posted in Branding, Social Media, Strategy | 2 Comments »

The old numbers won’t do it anymore.

Monday, July 20th, 2009

This isn’t the first time I’ve blogged about this…

Ignoring a customer is a calculated risk. In the past, a scorned customer really couldn’t impact your business, especially for large national corporations. Today, thanks to the Internet and its viral nature, that one complainant can impact your business far more than the cost incurred by fixing the problem.

Take the story of Dave Carroll, a musician who had the misfortune of a broken guitar from flying United Airlines. In a creative kick to United’s shins, Carroll wrote a song and produced a video about his situation. This video has enjoyed a viral growth. It works for Carroll, what musician wouldn’t want the coverage he’s received. United, on the other hand, is left limping.

Lets do some advertising numbers. The video itself has 433,294 views as of this morning. That’s almost half a million impressions for advertising folk out there. Compare Internet impressions to an impression of a regular TV commercial and they are more significant. How much more significant? When you consider that youTube is a pull medium, than the answer is “very” – it means people are watching and paying attention, moreso than TV.

United’s reaction to the video was to finally contact Carroll. Unfortunately for United, I have a feeling that this little black spot on their record will entertain the Internet for some time. Little memes like this don’t just go away. United was smart to take such a proactive (and not adversarial) response to the video. It makes for better PR. It would have been even smarter to have better customer service. Your company should ask itself, “Can our policies towards customers damn us on the Internet?” If you don’t know or can’t come up with a quick response, you should consider an audit.

If your company hasn’t quite learned how bad or good the Internet can be for you, then you should take heed of this and other stories. If you’re large enough for something like this to matter, you should have a channel-for-channel response addressed in your crisis plan. That is, are you ready for a YouTube response to a YouTube attack, or a Twitter response to a Twitter attack. If you don’t, you’re likely to find yourself scrambling when something like this happens to you.

Maybe someday I’ll post a compendium of companies who scuffled on the net and lost, but for now, I’ll leave you with a funny song.

Tags: crisis communication, customer service, dave carroll, United Airlines, youtube
Posted in Public Relations, Social Media, Strategy | No Comments »

A Real-Life Analogy to Bad Advertising/Social Media Campaign Thinking

Monday, June 29th, 2009

I’m not sure how I ended up with a free Condé Nast Traveler subscription, but since I wouldn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, I read it happily. Somehow they must have found out I love traveling. That’s irrelevant though, I just needed a lead.

I was set to write a blog about branding this week when I happened upon an article from the June issue that peaked my interest. Condé Nast sent three people to Moscow, one with a Blackberry, one with an iPhone and another with a guidebook. The intent was to show which was the best in getting folks around.

Details notwithstanding, the guidebook won in most categories and overall. The iPhone and Blackberry, while nice devices, have their limitations. The guidebook, with its research and careful editing worked great in most situations and even fostered a little social networking and conversation, if you will.

“PERFECT!!!” I thought. I know so many people who put so much trust in technology and toys that they lose sight of the tried and trusted methods of doing things. I sometimes fall into that trap myself. I think we all do.

So many businesses and agencies run campaigns using the latest and greatest. Recently, social media has taken prominence – as if it could bring throngs of customers and revenue to even the worst business. Wrong thinking.

I won’t suggest that social media is bad. As a matter of fact it’s a great way to reach some tough demographics. In some cases it might be the only way. You shouldn’t depend on it though. One of the most appropriate quotes in this article highlights what I constantly tell people: “I will [not] travel without [an iPhone], guidebook, a laptop and a willingness to talk to strangers.”

Integrated.

The point I’m making here is to integrate your campaigns. Integrate what you’re doing. Never depend on one medium. If you do, you could end up stuck, out of cash and wondering what you did wrong. One area of life imitates another.

And oh yeah, if you’re traveling, I suggest using a guidebook. I might even suggest subscribing to Condé Nast Traveler.

Tags: Advertising, campaign, Condé Nast, new media, Social Media, Strategy, Technology, traditional media, travel
Posted in Advertising, Social Media, Strategy, Technology | No Comments »

The Revolution will be Twitter-vized

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

It’s been a while, but I remember how revolutionary it felt reading the results of the OJ Simpson trial over an IRC channel in 1995. Now, over a decade later, a similar torrent of massive proportions is happening over a brand new medium, a new subset of the Internet: Twitter.

In case you’ve been in a media vacuum: In Iran, many claim that the results of the June 12th election are invalid and that the election was rigged. The reaction has been described in the same terms as the 1979 revolution that shaped the current Iranian government.

I’m not here to play pundit on the situation, but rather comment about how Twitter has provided more information than traditional news media.

According to numerous credentialed and informal sources, foreign media cannot report directly on the ongoing situation in Iran. In the past, combating this media blackout would involve a few select individuals with sneaky access to the outside world. Regardless, it would still be limited and slow to flow.

Today is different. Thanks to Twitter (and to a smaller degree Facebook) the information has been pouring out. Of the trending topics on Twitter, three involve Iran’s situation and the updates are quick to come. Indeed, #iranelection ranks as one of the longest trending topics since they started listing them. Updates from specific people are quickly retweeted and sent along the Twittersphere. Traditional media monitors and at times reports these snippets of information. Indeed, CNN outright states, “CNN is also extensively monitoring social networks as an integral part of its reporting on the situation in Iran.”

There’s an important point or two to make here.

Iran is a fairly shuttered nation. Similarly, so is China. Regardless of their powerful ability to stymie using fear and technology, information leaks out. Media outlets now use Twitter-based information. So, if governments like those of China and Iran can’t stop the Twitter revolution, what makes you think that your company can?

There are quite a few businesses out there that think they can or should just ignore Twitter. If these new stories are any indication, you should now realize that you should pay Twitter as much as any other media.

Tags: facebook, Iran, twitter
Posted in Public Relations, Social Media | 1 Comment »

Twitter silence in a minor crisis.

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Originally, I planned on blogging about Apple’s keynote address and how Twitter probably carried as much, if not more detail along with quicker commentary than any of the larger blog outlets would have managed.

Then something interesting happened this morning. I noticed the top trending topic on Twitter was AT&T. I hadn’t paid it much mind until I saw a friend of mine tweet, “RT @steveagee Dear AT&T, how does it feel to be the number 1 trending topic simply for being a piece of shit?” For the record, I don’t know or follow Steve Agee, but he brings up a good point.

I’d never want to be where AT&T is on twitter, nor would I want one of my clients there. The fact remains though, if you’re doing crisis communication, you damned well better to be prepared for that possibility.

Just for a little background, AT&T doesn’t support two very desired features on the iPhone. One is something called tethering, which basically lets you use your phone as a modem. The second and (apparently) more important one is MMS, which includes picture messages. While the iPhone on AT&T won’t support it, it can be supported on other carriers (in Europe) and other AT&T phones. Add to this the multitude of issues customers have with AT&T’s pricing structure. The latter probably wouldn’t be that bad if not for the other issues. It all adds up. Keep in mind this is a quick summary.

AT&T does have a twitter account, and it does tweet. How useful is it? They have around 5,500 followers but say nothing about the criticisms that iPhone customers have hurled their way. In fact, the twitter feed for AT&T contains a mind-numbing list of promotions. It’s not very useful and definitely not conversational.

AT&T’s situation is precarious. The Cult of Apple seems to be ready to cut the company off at the knees. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple is starting to look at new carriers. Right now AT&T is taking the bad road of silence and finger pointing. Officially AT&T has said very little. They could take a lesson from Dominos and at least try and calm people down over twitter, but I don’t see that happening.

I can’t stress it enough – in today’s climate of conversation, you cannot ignore negative talk about your brand. It will not go away. Likely it will only get worse.

Tags: apple, at&t, crisis communication, dominos, iphone, pr, twitter
Posted in Public Relations, Social Media | No Comments »

Live or Die by Social Media.

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

These days, if you haven’t planned for any social media interaction with a large or national campaign, you’ve doomed yourself to failure. Indeed, if you’re a national company and your crisis plan doesn’t have social media embedded into it, you’re in for trouble.

Sure, you might get lucky, but monitoring the social internet is as critical as listening to your customers who walk in and out of your store. More importantly, negative statements won’t just echo for a few minutes, but can sit around for a long time. Anyone with a fancy for Google can see and use these comments – from the media to influential bloggers and your potential customers.

A few good examples: KFC, Dominos Pizza, Swine Flu (sorry, H1N1).

In the most recent case, KFC decided to use Opera to give away free meals. In theory, this was a great plan. Oprah’s draw is extreme. The problem for KFC, however, is that Oprah’s draw is extreme. In short, KFC didn’t plan for this. They thought that they’d double Oprah’s estimated pull for the free meals and that would be enough.

Hindsight being what it is, even Oprah’s organization could have planned a little better and warned KFC that the impact would be huge. Regardless, what I think both organizations didn’t plan for was the power of social media, especially blogging and micro blogging (Twitter). When word got out via social media and the Oprah machine, the demand was too much for the KFCs.

To illuminate what went wrong, it might help to look at a company that did it right, or at least better. When Denny’s decided to promote its Grand Slam breakfast by giving it away, it carefully thought out that there might be more demand for a free breakfast than their kitchens could have expected. Restaurants greeted those who came too late with rain checks. While they took a few shots for it, it helped defray some of the negative sentiment.

According to the Twitter traffic and reports on the situation, KFC simply turned patrons away. Many were rude. They didn’t offer a rain check. If some of the articles are any indication, they didn’t even get buy-in from every franchise. The result should have been expected: people complained. There were complaints on Twitter and over the blogosphere. The primary problem may have been poor planning, but in that poor planning was a forgotten element: social media.

Dying by social media.

KFC didn’t plan for it, and as a result the social internet ate them like a greasy drumstick.

On the other hand, companies like Dominos handled their recent crisis slightly better by essentially fighting fire with fire, posting a video on the same site that hosted the original video. Dominoes also started using twitter to address concerns. Thought I think they acted a little too late – at least they acted. In the future, those companies should continue to foster their social media tribe. When it comes to communicating over social media in a crisis, an established tribe is going to be a lot more useful than a brand new one. If you take a quick look at Starbucks, they have almost 176,000 followers who will hear them if they need to be heard. Dominos has less than a 10th of that. Who do you think is going to weather a social media storm better?

Finally, one group that seems to “get it” would be the CDC. To combat misinformation about the H1N1 virus (so-called swine flu) they quickly utilized Twitter to help correct the misinformation and panic that could have spread virally (sorry, couldn’t help it). Was it a perfect execution? Probably not, but so far there have been very few “perfect executions.”

So what’s the point here? If you’re in PR and/or crisis management, if you’re planning a large-scale promotion that could overload your infrastructure or if you have any connection to the image of a company, you should be scouring the social web to be sure your brand is protected. Anything else would be downright irresponsible.

http://www.twitter.com/starbucks
http://www.twitter.com/dpzinfo
http://adage.com/article?article_id=136551
http://adage.com/article?article_id=136484
http://adweek.blogs.com/tweetfreak/2009/05/brands-on-twitter-kfc-and-oprah.html

Tags: CDC, crisis communication, dominos pizza, giveaway, h1n1, KFC, Oprah, promotions, social internet, Social Media, swine flu, twitter
Posted in Public Relations, Social Media, Strategy | 5 Comments »

No Channel is an Island

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

I hate buzzwords. Most people hate buzzwords. You probably hate buzzwords. That being said, today’s buzzword is “synergy.” I’m sorry.

I’ve known the word since grad school, but recently I’ve seen it being used more frequently and often incorrectly. Just to be clear, it basically means “the interaction of the parts produces an effect greater than the actual sum of the parts.” To paraphrase: interaction of “synergetic” things will multiply results instead of adding. From this concept we get integrated marketing campaigns, not just ad campaigns.

I mention this because so many “social media experts” and advertising agencies use social media in a way that doesn’t connect to the rest of their campaigns. It’s not being used synergistically. In an article for Ad News, I wrote about how you need to use a different style of messaging, a conversational style, when using social media. I caution you, that’s only part of it.

What many professionals forget to do is integrate the social media into the campaign at large. What I see is a forced use of the medium. Don’t do this. Social media campaigns must be strategic and part of a larger campaign.

I’m cautioning the mixed readership here: integrate, integrate, integrate. If you’re thinking of using social media, don’t just force yourself to use it, it needs evaluation just like radio, TV or print does. If you don’t know the demographic and population, you’re in trouble.

Social media integration is not easy. The style of the medium is very nontraditional. Even if you’re not paying to use it, you still have man-hours invested. Beyond that, you have to be sure that use of the medium doesn’t have a negative impact on your campaign or the brand at large.

If you don’t know how to do this effectively, ask someone who does. More importantly: if you do hire someone who claims to be a social media expert, be sure they can work with the larger campaign. If you hire an agency, don’t assume they know social media. Be sure they know or do research on the trends and demographics. I can assure you, they can change direction on a dime.

…and don’t forget the synergy.

Tags: Advertising, brand, Branding, Social Media, social networking, synergy
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »