Do You React Correctly to Social Media Negativity?

Nothing is perfect. That’s a fact. Nowhere is this reflected more than in the social media space. People use social media outlets to bitch and moan about in life in general, and increasingly about the brands and businesses that are a part of their lives. People like to vent! When you are on the end of a social media slap-down, how do you re-act? Read on for my thoughts on negativity response (with a focus on Twitter).

The small complaint…

‘Hey @genericburgerstore I was in one of your joints last night and the burger was great, but the fries were a little soggy’

Is your reaction to this ‘oh my freakin’ god, someone just publicly said they hated our fries’? If so, you need to cool your jets and take a step back.  They praised your burger. Awesome. Their tone is pretty friendly, they aren’t being aggressive and they are using language their Mother would be proud of. How to react?

‘Hey @jimmycustomer Very sorry to hear that. We appreciate the feedback. What joint was it & we will pass it on to the manager’

Chances are that this would result in a happy customer. You are recognising their issue and offering to address it for them. You are taking the feedback seriously without having to go to massive lengths and importantly, you are showing the public that you are engaged with your customers. Social media is a great disarmament tool, remember that. Oh and be sure to actually pass the feedback on!

Burgertastic.

Medium complaint… 

‘Yo, @genericburgerjoint your server was really rude to me last night, not happy!’

Ok, so now things are getting a little hairy. In hospitality, your staff need to be nice at all times, one bad personnel experience can put a customer off for life. This is your opportunity to show the customer that your business can be friendly and helpful. Suggested response:

@jimmycustomer truly sorry to hear that, this is not the experience we want for our customers, please DM us & we will investigate’

Unlike the soggy fries issue, this one may require in-depth info from the customer. You want to take this out of the public eye and gather details before investigating with a view to feeding back to the customer. Remember you will need a mutual follow in order to DM. Once you have made direct message contact, ask the customer to email you with further details. This makes it easier for the customer as they are not having to communicate within the confines of 140 characters. Once you have investigated/come to a resolution, publicly acknowledge this with a tweet along the lines of ‘@jimmycustomer we are happy we managed to help with your issue and look forward to your future custom’.

Big complaint…

‘I ate at Generic Burger Joint last night and I’ve been throwing up all day!’

Notice that this was not directly to you, it mentions your brand name and is clearly a nasty thing to be out there. Actually noticing this would depend on you having listening practices in place and if you don’t, you better start! Many Twitter users will mention you without using @yourusername. Tread carefully here, address the customer and aim to take away from the public eye as quickly as possible. Don’t tweet them with anything that could be seen as you admitting that it was your burger that made them ill.

‘Hi @jimmycustomer, can you please DM us so we can get more details from you’

Once private, you should follow the same process as the medium complaint from above. Most businesses have processes for dealing with potentially damaging issues such as this, follow that until a resolution is in place. In this specific case, it may transpire that the illness was completely unrelated to the burger. If this is the case and the customer is happy that you were at no fault, ask them if they would be able to a) delete the original tweet and b) send a tweet stating that they were wrong and the burger was not at fault. If your burger did make them pray to the porcelain God, you better get things sorted and hope the customer keeps the public outcry to a minimum.

Never go on the instant defensive!

Nobody likes people saying nasty things about them, the urge is often to try and deny any wrong-doing or flip the issue back on the customer. Don’t go there, what started as a small issue could easily spiral into a public mud fight, and nobody wants that. Stay calm!

The above is a loose guide, each business is very different and a lot will come down to how you manage issues away from the public eye.

Over to you…

How do you react to negativity? Have you complained to a brand via social media, where you happy with the response?

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Friday Freak Out – Automated Account Updating

I just spent a few minutes over on LinkedIn. I looked at the updates coming from my connections, 92% of them were automated from Twitter (yes, I did actually work it out). Seriously people?!? LinkedIn puts itself out there as ‘the professional network’, so how does it look to your connections when your latest status is ‘Woah, far too many beers last night’. Pretty poor! That may be fine on Twitter, (although if you are using Twitter in a professional sense, it may not) but in an arena that people may be looking at your professional merit it’s not a wise path to follow. Take the time to share valid information and thoughts in your LinkedIn status and the impression you deliver will be vastly improved.

Automation of Facebook updates to Twitter…

Never, ever do this. Why? Well firstly, your Facebook update is likely to be more that 140 characters. How does that look to your Twitter followers? Like a big stinky turd. People on Twitter do not want to take the time to click through to a Facebook update. Always make the experience as easy as possible for your audience. Then there’s the ‘do they actually give a crap?’ factor, you should be giving each platform you are using the attention it deserves and providing specific value to the users of each.

(credit - http://thechive.com)

Robots are cool, but not always…

This social media lark is a time consuming practice, we all know that, but automating everything like some social media robot is not a valuable practice. It may save time, but the time saved will never match the value of delivering a tailored approach to social communications.

Freak Out <ENDS>

Am I looking too deep in to this? Are you guilty? Time to ‘fess up people! Or, if you have a truly valid reason for doing any of the above, please do let me know…

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5 Reasons Why Blogs Still Rock

The humble blog is often left in the shadow of glamorous, sexy social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, however, the power of the blog should never be forgotten. Why? Well read on to find out.

1 – A blog offers you full control

Control, remember that? You don’t have full control on Facebook, or Twitter, or YouTube. Those networks hold your user data, some of them allow users to comment without you seeing it first and they can disrupt things whenever they feel like it. That can be nasty. With a blog, you control the content, comments and you can easily open up opportunities to engage with your readers outside of the blog via email subscriptions. You decide when your interface changes, what new features will be added and how the whole thing looks. No brainer.

 2 – A blog will add some serious fuel to your search engine footprint

No social network can match the SEO power of a blog. By writing relevant content with strong SEO basics in place (custom URLs, titles, meta descriptions and keywords) you can begin to make a dent on the search engine rankings. This doesn’t only apply to copy, images and videos you include within posts can also be indexed. That all sounds very simple and easy right? Its not rocket surgery, but there are many techniques and rules to consider. For the best advice and SEO news, get reading the SEO Moz blog.

3 – The comments section of a blog can be engagement gold

Interacting with people on  a Facebook Page or Twitter can be a little bumpy at times. The comment section of your blog allows you to spark a coversation/debate, add your point of view and allow your readers to have a chat among themselves. The comments are always there for everyone to see, creating a great legacy for your blog. Take the time to answer comments and you will get a great response.

4 – You make the rules

Ever tried to run a competition on Facebook? Don’t even think about it without using an app. On many of the networks you have a strict set of rules to follow. Not on a blog. It’s your space to do with what you please (within reason). Take that flexibility and thrive on it.

5 – A blog is your social hub

No other social platform allows you to share flexible and long form content like a blog. It gives you a place to direct your customers and prospects to at all times and from many places, from social networks to email. And of course, by using social sharing buttons you can enable your blog audience to share your content back out to numerous outposts.

So there you have it, five reasons that blogs still deserve some serious love. What are your favourite things about blogs? Are you using one or considering one for your business?

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Why Social Media is Like a Handshake

The humble handshake has been the greeting of choice for many for centuries. As a way of introducing yourself it is pretty flawless. However, a poor handshake can be a very negative start to a relationship, this got me thinking, is a person’s first interaction with a company’s social media presence the online equivalent of a first handshake?

Nobody likes a weak handshake…

You know the type I mean? You thrust your hand forward, make eye contact and are ready for a nice strong introduction to the individual in question and before you know it, your hand is encased in a soft, weak grip that gives you little confidence in the owner of said hand. Its a poor start to a relationship and one that can be directly compared with a consumer being faced with a sub-standard social media presence. What would be the components of this weak handshake equivalent?

  • Poor branding – always make sure your platforms are customised with quality imagery, each key channel has various levels of customisation available
  • Being unresponsive – are your customers/prospects asking questions that are are going unanswered? Major turn off.
  • Lack of quality updates – a barren page with infrequent updates gives a poor impression, it makes your business look like it is there for the sake of it and it not taking things seriously. Try to be regular but of course maintain good quality and relevance

These are just a few pointers that could give your social media the equivalent of a feathery handshake (continued post image)

Too Hard! (credit - http://www.alexross.com/CJ084.html)

Don’t be too firm…
The polar opposite of the soft, fluffy handshake is the Incredible Hulk style finger crusher. This is probably more common among men, but squeezing too hard is just as bad as being soft. Don’t overstep the mark and leave a red imprint on the other person’s hand. Some things to look out for in order to avoid a marrow – mushing social media handshake:

  • Huge amounts of sales/promotional messages – yes, you can use social media to sell, but if that is your main aim you are barking up the wrong tree. If a person’s first view of you in a social sense is a screed of discounts and promotions, they are likely to run a mile. Too strong a handshake!
  • Too many updates – yes I said in the weak handshake section that a lack of updates is something to avoid, but a massive frequency is likely to overwhelm a social media user. This is especially true on Facebook, you are trying to enter people’s personal lives here, don’t be a pest!
  • Too many things going on – Taking Facebook as an example again, the flexibility that FB offers via apps is now pretty staggering. Be careful no to overdo it though, there are so many Facebook Pages out there with numerous apps running, creating a confusing experience for the user and potentially shifting their focus from your key Facebook aim

The perfect handshake…

Is a firm one, coupled with eye contact and a nice smile. Your social media blend should represent that with solid service (firm), an engaged approach (eye contact) and a nice tone of voice (smile).

Is my comparison with a handshake wide of the mark? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, I love a good chat.
Mike

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Yet More Twitter DM Spam – Warning Do Not Click!

Just a heads up, we know this may seem obvious but many people still do it! If you receive the following DM spam message on Twitter - ‘Someone is posting nasty updates on their twitter about you, heres the posts they’ve been making‘, DO NOT click it!!!

Those pesky spammers are getting smarter and smarter…

We like to keep you up to date with nasty spam, you can read about the ‘bad blog’ Twitter spam DM here.

If you do get hacked, change your password asap and get your ‘applications’ menu on twitter.com and revoke access to anything that looks strange.

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Insight Interview – Katy Lynch from socialkaty.com

It’s always great to hear the views of people on the front-line of social media and digital marketing. We ran a few questions past Katy Lynch, the founder of socialkaty.com, a group of ‘Social Media Assassins’ based in Chicago. Sounds impressive!

Please describe what you/your business does in less than 140 characters

SocialKaty is a full-service social media marketing agency based in downtown Chicago. Our trained account managers design and execute long term social media strategies!

Your routes lie in our home country of Scotland, tell us how you ended up running an agency in the USA?

Well, I originally moved to America when I was 12 years old. (My Dad’s job brought my family stateside). When I was 18, I moved back to the UK to continue my education. In my final year of University, I developed a passion for social media. I decided to move back to the United States and work for a famous Facebook application called Where I’ve Been (which was just recently acquired by TripAdvisor!)

For three years, I worked as the Community Manager for WIB. My days consisted of making sure the WIB community (9.6 million members!) was happy. I’d respond to emails, tweet, manage the Facebook fan page, create giveaways and promotions, blog/guest blog, attend events, and speak on panels. I was essentially the face behind the company. I lived and breathed the travel industry. But more importantly, I lived and breathed social media.

In August 2010, my successes from WIB led me to start SocialKaty.  When I started, it was just me and a Mac.  One year later, we have 12 employees, 20 clients, and an office in River North.

How do you think social media innovation and success compares between the UK & Europe and the States?

There is no doubt that the British are less interested in Social Media than the Americans.  There have been several studies which conclude everything thing from “They think broadcasting their location is creepy” to “British people don”t want to interact with brands on Facebook”.  I think it’s a cultural difference that will lessen with each generation.

As for innovation, there is a growing startup scene in Britain and they are slowly catching up.  I was recently looking at London based Conversocial, they provide a similar function to SocialKaty but they are only a technology platform (not full service).  Google announced 6 weeks ago they they will lease a seven- floor building to provide space for developers and startups in London.  All in all, I think good things are coming!

What brand uses of social media have caught your eye recently?  

John Deere’s “CAN DO” project is brilliant. Fans create a virtual can and in return John Deere will donate one can of food to project “CAN DO”. It is designed to raise awareness of the farmer’s role in producing good quality food as well as providing food to a local food bank during the holiday season! 

What do you see as the key challenges for agencies when it comes to working with brands on social media strategies?

At the moment it seems to be a lack of skills, the industry is very new and the larger agencies can’t react fast enough.  They will figure it out though, and that is what keeps me up at night!

If you could give one tip to someone looking to get in to a career in digital marketing what would it be?

Ask yourself “how do I add value?”  Unfortunately, too many times I see people who label themselves “social media experts”.  These are people who obsessively use social media outlets, but cannot provide real value.

Anyone can Tweet, post a status to Facebook, or start a blog.  But it takes a marketing mindset to be proactive, spot trends, communicate with clients, and create and execute measurable campaigns. It’s about seeing the bigger picture. Not just throwing out a few “tweets” and Facebook posts.

Are you guys working on a plan for brand use of Google + when they open it up to businesses?

We watch the industry closely, and plan to experiment further with Google+.  I love the “Hangout” feature and I’m looking forward to exploring that with several of our clients.

What are the future plans for SocialKaty?

To grow, grow, grow! There’s such a huge demand for social media services right now and it’s only going to get bigger going into 2012. We are hiring aggressively into the new year, so if you know anyone who is passionate about social media and wants to work with awesome brands, send ‘em my way. Katy[at]socialkaty[dot]com or tweet at me @SocialKaty.

Big thanks to Katy for her time!

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Has Online Couponing Lost Its Shine? (Groupon etc)

The thrill of a finding a true bargain is one of life’s little pleasures and many spend a scary amount of time trying to uncover that wallet favouring purchase – the pack of slobbering dogs that amass when food is marked-down in supermarkets is testiment to this. Recent years have seen the quest for a bargain become a heck of a lot easier, thanks to the emergence of ‘social buying’ services such as Groupon. All you have to do is sign-up and wait for the emails to come in. Need your nails done and are too cheap to pay full whack? Groupon is here! Got a date coming up and still unsusre if they deserve a full-price meal? Groupon is there for you! Are you getting the impression that I am a little fed up of online coupons/social buying or whatever else you want to call it? In the week that Groupon was values at a gazillion dollars, I take a look at why I think the appeal of the online bargain is starting to wear thin.

I instantly devalue the product/service that uses a Groupon type promotion…

When I see a Groupon deal, I immediately wonder why the restaurant, hair salon or the crappy MP3 player speakers need to use such a deal in order to attract custom/sell. Perhaps I am old fashioned, but I believe that if what you are selling is good enough, then people will back it with a purchase at full asking price. Remember that? FULL asking price. Groupon and the rest just seems a little bit too easy for vendors to resort to. Try harder!

People won’t do anything unless it’s discounted…

Remember a day when you would ask people if they wanted to go out for a meal, you would suggest a local eatery and agree a time to meet there? It was oh so simple. Now when you ask people to eat with you, I can guarantee a huge proportion of those will say ‘anywhere got a great deal on? Have you checked online?’ Has the world moved on so much that we can’t all just go someplace, have a square meal, be well served, pay the money, leave and then go home without saying ‘I’m so glad we found the 55% off voucher! Now, where can we find a dicounted cab home?!?’

Could This Be the Next Superhero?!?

There are too many options…

Groupon is perhaps the best known, but we now have KGB Deals, Living Social and Gumtree Deals (to name but a few) all vying for our attention. How do you know which service offers the best deals? Beats me. Take Twitter as an example, in the past 3-4 weeks I have had over 15 services on Twitter follow me with the key function of ‘aggregating the best deals for your town’. Nice idea (maybe) but again there are far too many doing it! How about a list of places that offer good quality stuff that people can spend their money on and feel like they are truly getting value?

Often the retailers suffer…

I have a bakery down the road from me called Big Bad Brian’s Brilliant Bakery (ok I made the name up, infact this whole scenario is fiction, however I have heard of businesses having these issues) and the owner recently signed up for a Groupon type deal, basically you bought a coffee and Pain au Chocalat for 30% less than usual. A simple deal right? Well, Brian would normally produce 50 Pains per day and sell the vast majority of them, that was until he signed up for the online deal and his shop was flooded with people wanting their free pastry. Now Brian has to rapidly increase production in order to fulfil the needs of those who bought the deal. Brian was advised by the online discount provider on the amount he should sell and now realises he cannot fulfill it and maintain a profit. Poor Brian is now basically working for Groupon until everyone uses their voucher or the reclaim period ends. Ouch.

There’s nothing social about it anymore…

When Grouon first emerged, the idea was that a certain amount of people had to buy a deal on order to activate it. This is still the case, however, the public have grown so discount crazy that I would bet that the vast majority of deals are activated. Back in the early days it did used to be quite exciting trying to get your friends and families to all buy the deal, hence the social buying angle. Now you can just sit back and watch as the deals get bought up.

Can a business that is heavily entrenched in discounting ever come out of it?

In the UK we have a popular (and pretty good) chain of pizzerias called Pizza Express, which despite the pretty rubbish name, produce good food in a fairly classy environment. When the recession hit, PE started to roll out incredible deals such as 2 for 1 dining or 2 courses for £7.00. The public wents nuts for thin base pizza,and Pizza Express has never looked back. But what happens if they stop the madness and start looking to charge reasonable prices again? Can they ever do this and retain custom levels? I reckon for many people loyalty is routed in price. The fact that PE offers nice pizza and the staff tend to be great may hold little water when it comes to the coupon zombies out there.

Over to you…

Are you still starry eyed at the thought of a great Groupon deal hitting your inbox in the morning? Are you sick of people continually seeking a cheap deal? Do you have a better idea for the future? Please do discuss below!

Mike

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Don’t Overdo the Social Media Mutual Appreciation

Social networks are in danger of becoming digital sick bags if people don’t stop the cycle of backslapping and mutual appreciation that is currently happening between many small business users.

Of course we want to hear the the good that businesses are doing for their customers, and we want to hear customers’ recommendations, but I’m seeing more and more (and more) self-congratulating and unrestrained swapping of compliments (and @linking) between businesses that we know just wouldn’t be the case in real life.

In fact, real life is exactly the benchmark we should use to curb this type of behaviour – if you wouldn’t say something about a business in real life, don’t say it on your social networks.

Be real, be genuine, give your compliment and move on. Use social media for engagement by all means, but continue your conversation by remembering that all your followers are watching what you say. Leave extended compliments on review sites, and blog about your ‘experience’ if it really is an experience.

Too much ass-slapping, hand shaking, high fiving going on!

Only yesterday, I was asked to endorse someone on LinkedIn who I have never met nor worked with, in return for an equally complimentary endorsement. I refused, but does that mean that this practice goes on and that I can’t really trust recommendations on LinkedIn because they’re just being traded like business commodities?

What’s also happening on Twitter is businesses forming ‘threesomes’ – triangular groups that fill up our streams with overzealus passion for each other’s services or products. That’s fine, once, but over and over, it’s not.

Twitter doesn’t have the privacy of a messaging system (DM doesn’t really cut it) to hide the cheese from the chat, and so these ‘love-ins’ are displayed to the world for all to see. Yugh!

The wonderful idea that started out as ‘Follow Friday’ has just become a breeding ground for this type of thing. One good recommendation and a reason why has turned, in some cases, to just a case of If-I-say-nice-things-I-might-get-their-business.

Fortunately, it’s contained to a few isolated examples, but newcomers learn from what they see, and if this goes unchecked, it will spoil the soup for all.

The trouble is that you can’t hide this stuff. It shows and it sucks. And if you think I’m talking about you, look at it from your customers’ point of view, then ask yourself, is this what you want them to see?

The Perils of Spreading Yourself Too Thin in Social Media

How many social profiles/presences do you have for your business? I bet you have a Facebook page? Twitter? Yeah you must be on Twitter! Running a blog? You’ve surely got some videos up on a YouTube channel? Running some playlists on Spotify? You better get yourself on a Google Plus page pronto! That’s potentially six things to manage and six things to offer a valuable experience on. Ouch…

I’ve got 6 social problems and quality is one…

When you and your business made your first steps in to the social space did you take the time to work out what presences/networks would be the most beneficial to your business and most importantly your customers or prospects? If you did then well done. If you threw caution to the wind and did a big swan dive in to the deep pool of social you may well be feeling the strain of social over-kill.

Spreading value is hard…

I love blogs and believe they offer a massive opportunity for businesses to display their worth within an environment that is under the full control of said business. It can be a safe place to play and I would recommend it as a starting point for all. The issues arise when businesses start to see success from blogging and begin to try and garner that across other social networks. Each outlet has it’s own system of success and value and many struggle to understand that.

A real life example

Examples help right? Well here is an example – The Social Penguin Blog. Yup the blog that I curate and edit. We have a great readership that is often highly engaged with our content. We also have a Facebook Page. When you compare that to the blog it’s like a social graveyard. Why? Well the vast majority of the updates are merely links to the latest blog posts. This doesn’t work as I can bet that the majority of the people who are connected to the Page are engaged enough with the blog to either be hooked up via RSS or email. What I should be doing is posing questions to the lovely people on Facebook, trying to get some chatter going among the users. Why is this so hard? Well it takes time and my focus is on writing or editing over on the blog (which is on the side of my actual job). I simply don’t have the capacity to run a nice blog and foster a community on Facebook. When I look at our Twitter presence, I know it could be better, it is a great driver of traffic to to the blog, however here is little two way conversation or curation going on. As you know by now, you can now have a brand page on Google Plus. The day this happened I rushed in and opened up a page for The Social Penguin Blog. Knee jerk! Must do better…

Dave's Favourite Snack!

The solution?

Plan, plan some more and then plan again. You can effectively manage more than one channel. You just need to know what you are trying to achieve with each before you dabble. Take a look at the communications objectives for your business and work them in to a content plan, ideally for a minimum of 6 months, be sure to leave room for being re-active as well as pro-active. Remember you don’t always have to be creating and sharing your own content, curate things that are relevant to your audience – become a noise filter. All being said, don’t over stretch things, there is nothing worse for a user than being faced with a rarely updated, engagement free social presence, it makes them think you don’t value their time. If you really don’t have the time, don’t even go there (sister). Take what time you have and do one thing well, you may well become so efficient that you can look to another outlet.

Key uses for some popular outlets

Blog – great for long-form content, you own it and work without rules. Not just for copy based content, use imagery and video too. Comment sections can be great community holders and you can pre-moderate if required.

Facebook – Low entry level for users, they’re already on the platform so go get ‘em! Keep it simple with polls and questions. Updates with images and media work well. Just beware the comments, you won’t get a heads up when someone posts so be ready to respond.

Twitter – Short burst comms, traffic driving, content curation and influencer targeting. Learn the lingo!

So Mike, do you actually practice what you preach?

Yup! Everyday in my awesome job at The BIG Partnership. So there!

Mike

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Interview with Trevor Johnson from Facebook [VIDEO]

At the recent Social Media Strategies Summit in London, I managed to grab an interview with Trevor Johnson, a key member of the European Facebook team. Some great insight in the short video below. Thanks to  Jo Barnes from Social Networking Academy for putting the questions to Trevor.

Stay tuned for more great video content from Social Media Strategies Summit including interviews with YouTube and Dunkin’ Donuts. Mmmmmmm donuts.


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