MEGO: My Eyes Glaze Over

Customer Care Online: Interview with Logitech’s Ben Hong (Part 2)

May 27, 2010 Blogs, Community Management, Customer Service, Microblogging, Social Media, social networks

Earlier this week I published Part 1 of the interview with Ben Hong, Sr. Mgr. Technical Services, Global Customer Care and Digital Home Group for Logitech.The first half of the interview gave you a brief introduction to Ben and his team at Logitech.

This is the final portion of this written interview.

Part Two: People, Process, & Tools- Logitech with Ben Hong

What kind of training is required for team members who are active online? And, does your company have a social media policy in place? Can you tell us a little bit about these efforts and how they help (or hinder ) the team.

We train our team on how to be online ambassadors and effective writers for blogs, micro-blogs and knowledge bases (SEO). So far, training has been extremely important to maintaining consistency and control. Without it there would be chaos. Currently, the online ambassador training provides our employees with knowledge of the social media policy. It’s helpful, not a hindrance.

If you could share your favorite tips, best practices, lessons learned or social media must have – what are they?

• Look before you leap….have a framework and plan before you get started.
• Start with social monitoring. It is incredible what you learn your customers are talking about and provides critical insight about where your early investments should be made.
• If you are managing a social media program for customer service you must be social internally as much as you are externally. Key learning’s and shared insights complement VoC programs.

There are many tools for tweeting, listening, and overall participating in social media – which ones do you use either personally or for your work?

Co-tweet, Radian6, TweetDeck, backtype, delicious, FriendFeed, NetVibes, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, WordPress, Yelp, Flickr, StumbleUpon, Digg, Google Buzz, ShareThis, Technorati

Whether you have your own community on your “dot com” or you participate in existing social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Get Satisfaction etc) – what do you do to build the community and encourage your community members to become ambassadors for the brand?

We have a reputation model in the community that helps us and community member identify and recognize key contributors. Our Logi Legends and Gurus have a close relationship with my team and we work side by side with them in the community. To help them with their work we often send them our products.

Do you reward community members for the work they do? If so, how?

Nothing formal … yet.

When helping customers in social channels do you reply publicly or privately? Does it differ by channel? Discuss how you make this decision.

We reply both publicly and privately. If we are managing a customer escalation in our forums or on Twitter we respond publicly but ask for specific information to be provided privately. We do this to protect customer information. Otherwise we respond publicly to all else.

Is YouTube a part of your support efforts? How do you use this and other video channels for customer service and support? Do you create the videos or is another team responsible for these? Do you engage with the YouTube community? How do you measure success for your video efforts?

Our plans for YouTube are in development. We plan to publish 1-2 videos per month.

Many companies have gone through some highly visible social media gaffs (Dominos, Southwest); while others have seen offline issues go viral due to social media (Graco recalls, Toyota recalls). In your opinion how should a company deal with crisis online? Do you have a process in place that helps you determine next steps in the case of your own “crisis”?

Responses should be quick, open and honest. To that end, Logitech was put to the test recently when the US National Labor Committee reported on Chinese labor issues back in April of this year. Joseph Sullivan, our Sr. VP of Worldwide Operations, responded with a letter to the committee and we posted in online. In his letter which he shared, he stated the plain truth. Thankfully we had severed the relationship with the offending factory, however, he was clear to state when and why. It was met with positive comments and response.

What is next for you and your team? What are you excited about today?

Twitter enhancements, YouTube and Facebook integration are on our roadmap. Right now I am working on Radian6 setup and configuration.

What is your favorite social media tool, network or other for personal use?

LinkedIn. I was an early adopter and have seen how it evolved. It helps me keep up-to-date with colleagues, recruit, participate in communities of interest/practice and share what I am working on.

Thanks to Ben for taking the time to share!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tags: ben hong, community, customer care, customer service, Logitech, support forums, technical support, twitter

Checkin’ In: The “rules” of Foursquare

May 9, 2010 Digital Marketing & Metrics, Social Media, social networks

I get a kick out of Foursquare.  I am not a gaming sort, unless you count MarioKart and Rockband, but badges and points and mayorships give me the giggles.  But, please don’t invite me to Farmville.

What do I like about it?

• Cyber stalking my friends
• Sharing notes about what I am up to at that location and sending it to my Facebook update
• The thrill of getting mayorships when you least expect them and the excitement of a new badge
• A little competition with friends (badges and weekly leader board)

Foursquare has grown in popularity since I started using it, and with popularity comes the folks that look for “the rules” or the  “etiquette”.  And, then slowly we see an unwritten gaming protocol form or best practices emerge as we did for Twitter. But still, for the individual who prides themselves on neat little buckets, and proper rules and regulations – Foursquare may not be for you.  In fact it may seem downright chaotic. The truth is anyone can add a location, which means some places can have more than one “Check-in”. Egad! Which is the “real” one!! And, while you may envision a “check-in” as the building or retail shop – someone else decides they can check-in at the front door, backdoor and toilet.

I am not saying there shouldn’t be “rules” or “etiquette” – but it is all in fun. So, relax. If your friend feels he wants to check in on the Highway – hey, it is his life. No one is handing out free tires because you are the Mayor of the 401 and Winston Churchill. But, Peter Kim makes some fair points in his post “Should You Be Checking in on Foursquare” – maybe it isn’t cool if you are the mayor of the coffee shop you work at…unfair advantage and it loses out on the shop getting any play for loyalty. But, at the same time – if there is no free coffee or discounts for the mayor  – does it really matter?  Peter also mentions one that I think has some weight – a sales person checking in to a prospect. This could have implications for their work, and could cause issues with regards to  up to competition – unless that user is carefully guarding their check-ins.

So what “rules” do I follow on Twitter?

• Generally speaking I check-in to “real” places. Mostly because I am not inclined to set up a venue for “my coach”.  And, I don’t think my friends need to know when I go into the public washroom. That said, cool if you want to.  But, don’t be surprised if eventually you don’t get points for checking in to your “Superman underpants”. If you read the Foursquare Blog they talk about tweaking the program by adding some neat little cheater code  so mayorships and badges can’t be taken from your sofa.
• When I check-in I choose carefully how I share…some I don’t tweet out, some I don’t update on Facebook. Some just go to my Foursquare friends (who are just that…friends).
• If the location already exists I use that one. If I don’t like how it is set up (maybe it doesn’t have a cute icon, or the address) I go in and change it later on – not create a new one!

While it is a fun game, the best thing about Foursquare is keeping a tight reign (hehe) on your friends and (over) sharing with them. While the badges and points are cool…and I love seeing my name at the top of the leader board -

the coolest thing is realizing that a friend is at the same place…at the same time as you.  So, while it might make your obsessive compulsive side cringe with the chaotic. Step back, relax. Have fun. But, play fair -they are your friends afterall.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tags: foursquare, friends, rules, social networks

Twittering Television

Mar 9, 2009 Digital Marketing & Metrics, Microblogging, Social Media, social networks, word of mouth

Last night on Twitter Mack Collier tweeted (rather retweeted @kathyoreilly)

It reminded me something that I had thought about a few times – TV is more fun with friends,  and therefore TV is more fun with Twitter! During the U.S election I watched the news, and twittered; after the bruhaha in Parliament Stephane Dion and Stephen Harper made speeches on Canadian television and I listened to the speeches while joining the conversation on Twitter. Beyond politics, I have twittered about Lost, Grey’s Anatomy and the Oscars. Last night I tweeted about my dislike of the Simpson’s (simply tired of it….):

I received a number of replies – only one admonishing my remark, the remainder agreeing and one suggesting that the Family Guy is far superior. But, I digress…

We already know that many people are using their computers while watching television – multi-tasking at its best. We are more engaged checking our email, chatting, surfing social networks, playing games and tweeting than we are with the television program.  Of course what we are doing on the Internet doesn’t usually have to do with what we are watching on TV. Except in the case of the social networks as we often IM, tweet and change our status reflecting what is going on with the television program at hand.

Some of my recent tweets for example were regarding a program Inside the McDonald’s Empire.

So, what better way then for the networks to engage with its audience again then through social networks like Twitter that are “real time”.

According to Mack Collier who immediately tweeted back to me in reply to my comment there are some Interactive uses in the US through Dish.

Here in Canada we can get “more info” on some Sat channels such as CBC and The Weather Network. The Weather Network for example allows you to choose your region. Occassionnally I have seen news casters refer to a Facebook group, and increasingly I have seen and heard Twitter mentioned (The View, Canada AM, The Hour, The Daily Show).

But while TV isn’t always a “social”, we do often end up in social situations talking about TV. So, why not bring those two things together? As, you saw from the first “tweet” – on Sunday night the 5 of the top 10 trending topics were TV programs, so what is the opportunity for networks? How can they get some excitement back into TV? Is there a possibility for new revenue streams?

What if our favourite shows advertised a Twitter hashtag in the corner for people to follow along? What kind of conversations would take place? Could there be trivia? Maybe polls? Analysis by crowd? A real-time forum to discuss the intricacies of our favourite dramas! Fact checking could be shared with others watching the same debate/interview/speech; programs could request real-time questions and requests from their audience; or perhaps during the Oscars they could share tidbits from live tweets on the best/worst dressed. There could be special access to clues or theories (for Lost!), or  a “backstage pass” as producers tweet behind the scenes (imagine the green room at Letterman….or MTV awards).  A live event such as concert, sporting event would become social even if you can’t make it to the event! Of course there could be shared links to pictures, video, or interviews with the stars or experts.

What else can you think of? Would you participate?

As always  – connect on Twitter and Google Friend Connet (right hand side). And, if you enjoyed this content – subscribe!

Popularity: 45% [?]

Tags: canada, Family Guy, mack collier, Politics, social network, stephen harper, television, twitter

Social Media “Marketing”

Feb 22, 2009 Branding, Customer Service, Digital Marketing & Metrics, Marketing & Communication, PR, Social Media, social networks

Some time ago (before my sleepless night) Beth Harte had an interesting post “Is Social Media the Same as Marketing?” She questioned the term “Social Media Marketing” and said “the term social media marketing is not working for me: social media is about sharing and discussing information. It’s communications, not marketing.” What ensued in the comments section was not only a discussion of whether we could call social media – marketing or social media marketing; but a conversation examining the hierarchy and definition of Marketing itself. Now I am a little late jumping into the discussion – believe it or not this has been in the “drafts” for a long time!

Define Marketing…

Some comments on the post placed Communications squarely as part of marketing, others separated marketing and communications as though it were Church and State. The four Ps are mentioned, and then suggested they are an over simplification of marketing.  Marketing runs the show. Communications runs the show. One comment says PR, Sales, Marketing, and advertising are all different disciplines. Another says MarCom and PR are separate but collaborate more often. Still another commenter says that the P for Promotion stands for various communication techniques that would include PR, personal selling, advertising and publicity.

Dale Evans, the author of Social Media an Hour a Day said

“marketing is being defined more and more by what consumers experience and translate into shared content than it is by what a marketer has to say directly”

Walter Pike quotes Peter Drucker:

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself”

As does Gabriel Rossi:

“Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two–and only two–basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.”

And Laurie Broderick quotes the AMA

“Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.”

the original market

Ultimately, I don’t think it was necessarily the definition of marketing that was really in question, as all definitions brought up seem to recognize that the role of marketing is to have such solid understanding of their customer base that they strategically create, deliver, and appropriately price the products or services that this customer wants or needs. The original meaning came from literally going to the market to buy or sell goods. However,  I think confusion surrounding the definition comes when we assume that Marketing is just sales promotion.

From the variety of comments it may be that the trouble is not defining marketing, but defining the roles that fall in the umbrella of marketing. In particular, the role of Communication and Marketing Communication.  My understanding has always been that MarCom would fall into “Promotion” – one of the simplified 4P’s of Marketing. In, my working experience it has always been that MarCom and PR have reported into Marketing.  I realize that is not always the case.

Start with the Basics

I took a look at Marketing using the perhaps over simplified 4ps (from my school days, many years ago!):

The Marketing Mix:

Product: Create a product that fits the needs or wants of your customer. Specifications of the goods or services should meet those requirements.

Placement: Otherwise known as distribution and refers to the channel in which a product or service is sold.

Pricing: This is the process marketers use to set the price of a product for market.

Promotion: Textbook definition houses the following in this “P” – Advertising, Sales Promotion, Publicity, Personal Selling (Sales), Branding and other methods to promote product or service.

It is this final P that seems to be the conundrum. Many businesses house these promotional roles in a variety of silos, others have them report directly to Marketing, still others work in tandem with the Marketing group, and of course still others outsource some of these roles to (a variety of ) agencies. Some include only those aspects that would be considered Marketing Communications:

According to Wikipedia: “Marketing communication is concerned with the general behavior of an organization and the perceptions of the organization that are promoted to stakeholders through these touch points. The six areas usually associated in this representation are: Advertising, Public Relations, Promotions, Direct Marketing, Event Marketing, and New Media.”

Others see MarCom as those “selling” aspects of Communication and leave PR out of the mix – seeing it as a Communication role.

Needless to say it is all a bit of a mixed bag.

We also need to examine Marketing as potentially having three additional Ps  (often associated with Service but could just as well work when talking about products):

People: Any person coming into contact with customers can have an impact on overall satisfaction. In the customer’s eyes, the people are generally inseparable from the company and they can therefore highly affect the customer’s experience.

Process: This is the procedures involved in providing a service (or product) which can be crucial to customer satisfaction. Example I buy a new Humidifier at Sears for my baby’s room, take it home and discover it sounds like an airplane jetting off so I take it back – but have to wander the store (with stroller and baby in tow) find an elevator and return it to hardware (where there is no immediate staff member to help) – despite numerous “Service” desks on the main floor.

Physical evidence: To reduce the feeling of risk, thus improving success, it is often vital to offer potential customers the chance to see what a service (or product – especially key for online shopping) would be like. This is done by providing physical evidence, such as case studies, or testimonials. This could also refer, I suppose to the physical appearance of the product – the quality (or lack of) it promises.

Is it Marketing vs Communication?

After reading Beth’s post and the numerous comments I decided I would search about to figure out if there was a rule of thumb for the relationship between Marketing and Communication. It seems once again that there are two schools of thought. In fact- this leads to two possible hierarchies.

1) Marketing is the 1-way, the push, the sell. Communication is two-way. They are two different disciplines. Two different departments.

2) Communication is a piece of the marketing puzzle. It is the tactics used to market and to converse with the target market. Same discipline. Same department.

Hmmm. Doesn’t help does it? While I believe that Communication must work in an integrated manner with the Marketing department, it seems that there are just as many that see the two as very separate pieces of the corporate puzzle.  If separate how do we ensure that all communications are sending the same messages? And, where does Social Media fit in – Marketing or Communications? Both?

The Dreaded Social Media

Like Beth, I dislike the term Social Media Marketing.

Social Media is defined as “primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio.” (Wikipedia). The words “sharing” and “discussing” being an important factor to differentiate the “media” from other one-way channels such as television.

The problems I see with the term “Social Media Marketing”:

It is a name that in a few years will be dated. The web is, and has been for years – social. What happens when every site has some sort of forum, profile sharing, comment field etc. Will we still call it “social”? Or will that be rather redundant?I wonder if the even the term “media” too closely relates it to Television and Print Media which are traditionally used in an interruption method which as of now is a method which has not worked for the web.

and Social Media cannot be seen as only a tool to send simple outgoing marketing messages, as it also allows for two-way communication which can help an organization do much more. Amber Naslund said it best in the comments to Beth Harte’s post:

“Social media doesn’t just need to fit into marketing or public relations or other disciplines that are used to communicate. It’s also about customer service, technology and user experience, client relationship management, product and service innovation. It’s an undercurrent of so many more business touchpoints than we’ve ever seen, and I think that’s causing some consternation. In a good way, but it’s still hard.”

Social Media is two-way, it is authentic conversation between customer and company – and in such should fall under Communication. However, look at it in another way it works to benefit marketing in a number of ways:

Let’s just look at a few examples:

Product Idea Generation and Product Innovation

Sites such as My Starbucks Idea and Dell Ideastorm allow customers to work along with the company to develop products and innovations. To work this must be a collaboration between Marketing and the customer. However, as always it must remain “on brand” and conversational – so Communication must also be at play.

Customer Support Forums

Software companies have for quite some time had self-service support forums, allowing customers help other customers. These types of forums allow customers help others trouble-shoot, personalize and understand the product or service. Examples could include Apple iPod Discussion Forum; or the more community oriented Ubuntu site. This type of support can have an effect on how the brand is perceived, and despite the fact these are not employees of the company, on overall satisfaction with the product or service.

Customer Support via Twitter

Many companies are using Twitter to promote products or services, or drive traffic to their website. More effective however, have been the companies such as JetBlue, Starbucks,  and others who have also offered Customer Support through their Twitter accounts.

Corporate Blogs

There are certainly corporate blogs that are using the blogging platform as a tool to promote only, either to solely offer information on products or to drive traffic to their corporate site by optimizing for search using the blog. However, these are generally not successful in engaging their customers.  Other blogs that offer more insight, helpful content, and increased depth of information such as Graco’s Corporate Blog or Fiskars Fisk-A-Teers Blog have helped to build loyalty amongst their target demographic while of course increasing brand awareness. But, once again is this genuwine communication – Marketing? or Communication?

There are an amazing number of examples of Consumer Generated Content (wikis, videos, blogs, even advertising), File Sharing (photos, videos), Fan Pages, Social Networks, desktop widgets, online widgets,  – Peter Kim has an amazing list of social media examples.

Clearly, it seems to me if we treat these social media examples as “marketing”  or a simple tactical tool to sell products or services we are missing out a vast amount of information, we are missing out on a authentic conversation with our stakeholders and customers.  On the other hand, if it lies in Communication – then Marketing can miss out on an incredible space for innovation and collaboration.

This brings us to my 3rd point on why I dislike the term Social Media Marketing

It cannot be a silo. social media needs to fit in the grand scheme of the brand strategy. It needs to be consistent with other communication channels and it needs to work with the 7 Ps of Marketing. Because of this -  hierarchies may need to change.  Perhaps an executive level that joins the discipline of Marketing and Communication, and Customer Service allowing an integrated approach to communicating and marketing to all stakeholders, to all customer touch points.

The problem that Beth Harte recognized is that if we place social media in this type of integrated approach is that “the mashup will allow for people [aka agencies] to offer services like Social Media Marketing or PR Communications or Marketing Relations or… (really, you don’t want me to go on right?) without having a firm grasp on any of the disciplines that they are trying to deliver or implement.”

This kind of approach means that any advertising agency, PR agency, boutique can claim the title of “social media” expert since they work in the realm of communication or marketing, or advertising. The onus is then on us (the “us” that work on client-side) to flesh out the agencies that “know” and those that “think they know” or “don’t know” social media. As Beth says ” the walls need to come down and the need for two-way communications is forcing a sledge hammer through the walls. But at what cost?”.

This comes down to my reason for blogging in the first place. As someone working on the client-side I believe I need to understand what the agencies I work with are trying to sell me. I understand my business best, but if I just take what the agency is telling me without actually comprehending it, and being involved myself then I am not doing my brand justice. So I am involved in social media – social networks, blogging, listening and contributing. We need to be accountable to our brands and unfortunately this will mean sorting out the agencies selling “snake-oil” and those that are true communication “experts”.

As always  – connect on Twitter and Google Friend Connet (right hand side). And, if you enjoyed this content – subscribe!

Images: stock.xchng

Popularity: 42% [?]

Tags: 4 p's, 7 p's, Advertising, amber nasland, Apple, beth harte, business, community, dell, fiskar, graco, Internet, jetblue, marketing & communication, Marketing communications, Marketing Mix, peter kim, Public relations, social media, social network, starbucks, ubuntu

10 Things You Should Be Doing Now to Prepare for Future Job Search (Web 2.0 Style!)

Jan 16, 2009 Digital Marketing & Metrics, Social Media, social networks

I wonder how Social Media and Web 2.0 will change the way we present ourselves to potential employers. Will the resume be enough to make you stand out in the future?

A few months ago I had the task of going through applications for a Marketing Coordinator who would be working with me until I went on mat leave. I was shocked at the quality of résumé and the lack of personal websites, or participation in social networks. This may be understandable if I were looking to hire a accountant or a trades person – but I expect a marketing professional (junior or senior) to be able to sell themselves – and what better way then using the Internet. Just a LinkedIn account would be a start. In the future, I believe this will be the bare minimum for many positions in the workforce – not just those that work in Creative or Marketing.

Given that the news is sadly filled with layoffs, downsizing, and economic ugliness – what are you doing to ensure that you are “recession proof”? If you were to lose your job tomorrow – what would you do? Would you immediately start furiously writing a new résumé, applying for any and all jobs that you might be qualified for – posted on Workopolis and Monster and then wait, wait, wait for the darn phone to ring.

I was laid off once, and I implore you be prepared. Be ready 2009 style.

So here are the things you need to do, just in case:

Social Network

1 . Network online and offline. Extend your network by connecting with like-minded individuals. Don’t underestimate the power of social networks including Facebook, and Twitter.

2. LinkedIn of course is the obvious choice for business networking. Keep your profile up-to-date, and of course add colleagues, friends and connections to your LinkedIn network.

3. With all social networks share, collaborate and help followers and friends.  Post interesting articles (including, but not exclusive to your own), answer questions, and comment on tweets, status’ and posts. Get involved and check-in regularly.

4. Don’t forget social networking started off-line – and despite our dependence on computers you can still get out there and meet new people! Attend community events, professional meetups, conferences, classes and Tweetups!

Create an online résumé and portfolio

5. The problem with a résumé is that it is just a piece of paper. There are no hyperlinks (oh sure you can add them but once it is printed out, or placed in a text only application form…poof it’s gone), there are no pictures, no graphs, no presentations, no videos and no personality. An online portfolio however can be all of that.

Take a look at mine – (a work in progress) at MichelleKostya.com

Be an expert in your field

6.  Start a blog. Why not – everyone is doing it!  Write about what you love, what you know, and what you wish you knew! Be passionate and personal (eventually people WILL read your blog!)

7.  Perhaps you are more of a talker then a writer. Start a podcast and broadcast your expertise. Equipment can be relatively inexpensive and there are a plethora of places you can post your podcast out into the world.

8.  Create Videos, E-books, Host Webinars or Guest Post – all are ways to get your name out in your field.

9.  Even if you aren’t a blogger consider commenting on blogs (with all the bloggers commenting it is a bit of a echo chamber!). This will help you expand your network, encourage you to read and learn more, and maybe even enhance your confidence and writing skills! Consider using FriendFeed so you can “lifestream” your comments and share your expertise!

10.  Get active on industry forums and discussion groups. Help out others…and they may reciprocate when you need it. Ah…Karma.

Added bonus…you could also do this:

job offer t-shirt

Image from Flickr Creative Commons- SocialisBetter

In Summary…

Don’t rely on a piece of paper when and if the time comes that you need to get out there and find a new job. As Dan Udey (@danudey) said in a Tweet to me when I asked Twitterland about the relvence of résumé:  “resumes are becoming less interesting than who you are and what you’ve done”.

And, never assume you are safe. When it comes down to it – only you will look after YOU. During a recession – a company will just look at numbers – so sympathy, years, experience, or passion may not help you keep your job. Don’t wait until it is too late to update your résumé, skills and portfolio.

What do you think – are résumés still enough? What else are you doing?

Popularity: 34% [?]

Tags: blogging, career, facebook, Internet, job hunting, jobs, linkedin, online portfolio, podcasting, resume, social media, social network, top 10, twitter, web 2.0

Twitter: The Friendly Social Network

Jan 14, 2009 Digital Marketing & Metrics, Social Media, Vacations, social networks

I just got back from the East Coast. My two boys and I spent a week and a half in the friendly Halifax Regional Municipality. By two boys I mean my baby and three year old. Husband was working.

This is the second time I have traveled alone with the two of them, and each time I think – I need to have my head examined. This is how it goes:

Husband drops me off at the airport with two 60 lb suitcases, 1 giant Graco SUV stroller, 1 baby car seat and base, 1 diaper bag, 1 laptop bag (can’t leave it behind), and 1 small suitcase that my three year old is supposed to look after.

Note – he drops me off because in Toronto he isn’t allowed to leave the car unless he goes to short-term parking (which costs a small fortune).  So, we balance everything precariously on a $2 cart.

I carry baby in sling (can’t push cart and stroller) and drag three year old with one hand while attempting to move cart with the other. All the way to the ticket desk. Where I can finally drop off the excess bags.

In Halifax, things are a bit easier as my parents meet me at arrivals and get my bags with me. Also, the airline felt I had too much stuff so they lost a piece for me (the base to the car seat).

On the return home my family drops me off at the front and then goes to park the car. They helped carry the bags inside- but couldn’t leave the car for long – so after getting my boarding pass I struggle to find a way to get the bags to the desk (all of the free carts are gone). Some wonderful East Coasters offer to help. In fact I had about five people offer in a matter of minutes.

I manage to get my brood up to the gate and onto the plane. We were given seats where there wasn’t an additional mask for the baby so the flight attendant had to ask a lady to switch seats. This woman was not inclined to give up her seat for an identical seat. Eventually the attendant convinced her that it had to be done, but I couldn’t help thinking to myself – this woman cannot be an East Coaster.

When we arrive in Toronto we grab a cart at the luggage carousel. I am trying to watch three -year old who is running around and around, look after baby AND grab suitcases. I struggle with supper heavy (Christmas gift laden) suitcases, then put baby in sling and attempt to put stroller on top of luggage. People walk by, look at me and move on. One person said watch the the babies head – as the monkey was staring up at the lights (note he has use of his neck…it was not flopping around!) But, not one person offered to help me.

Twitter is the East Coast

I know,  get to the point: What does this have to do with Twitter?

I got to thinking Twitter is such a nice place. Ask a question and followers will answer, share a link and they will thank you, tweet a story and they will laugh with you.  Say a simple “good morning” and get five back. It is a social network where we can  talk with the famous, the literati, the news makers, companies we love (and hate) and social media gurus – on an even playing field.  It is a place where anyone can connect, without the limits of geography and time, to find people with similar passions.

In a small city people offer to help, they stop and share a hello or a story with a perfect stranger, they smile as they walk by actually looking you in the eye. I recall a friends first visit to Halifax, we were walking along the waterfront and a man walked by and said ” Morning, how are you today? Lovely isn’t it”. After the short chat, my friend from Toronto says “who was that?”.  I answered ” Just a guy out for a walk, like us!”

Sure, there are people who are jerks out east. Those who butt in front of you in line, or complain about everything, who drive to fast in a school zone, and double park on a narrow street. On Twitter, there are the spammers, the folks who just blast self-promotion, and the occasional individual who just wants to push-buttons to start an arguments. But, they are few and far between. Plus, on Twitter you can “block” them if you want, something you can’t do in life.

I wonder though, what will happen as Twitter grows? Already, Mashable reports incredible growth on Twitter in 2008 – 752%, with 4.43 Million Unique visitors in December. There are no studies that I know of that link population with cranky humans – but my experience having lived in various sized cities is that there is something to say for small cities being “friendlier”.  In the big cities people rarely look you in the eye, they walk head down avoiding having to be a helping hand, and rarely start a conversation with a stranger. Perhaps, it is due to the fact that we rarely run into the same people? No need to be nice, if we never see them again? In a small city, chances are you will run into the same people at the grocery store, at the public school, in the mall or at your workplace. I have nothing against big cities, heck I live in the GTA – but they are certainly less personable than cities I have lived in previously Ottawa, and Halifax. Perhaps I wrongly correlate this with the populations (Toronto 6 million, Ottawa 1.5 million, Halifax 400,000) but from my experience it seems to work.

So, what happens to Twitter as it grows? Will it go the way of a big city? Will we eventually only help only our closest connections? Avoiding others? While we can block followers, and not follow others – what can we do about those Twitter users who abuse the system by using #hashtags to get involved in Twitter chats such as #GNO and #journchat? With growth, does Twitter become more susceptible to spam? Will the spammers and pains in the butts find more ways to annoy?

What do you think? Will Twitter sustain the friendliness simply because we choose to be there?

Popularity: 26% [?]

Tags: east coast, friendly, growth, halifax, kids, social network, toronto, travel, twitter

social is what social does

Jan 13, 2009 Digital Marketing & Metrics, Social Media, social networks

I read a lot of blogs. Some are “How -to” posts, some are thought provoking, the occasional post blows my mind and I am forced to print it out and read it again – highlighting the good parts. I rarely blog about these posts – because I don’t believe I can do them justice.

I made a silent goal to comment more frequently on other blogs. I felt I would never get the confidence to take on tougher topics or more abstract essays on my blog if I couldn’t get down and dirty in the comments section of other blogs. I have been commenting pretty frequently, but rarely out of my element and never in argument of a post’s thesis. Perhaps, I am gaining more confidence as the traffic to my own blog grows, and the number of comments are increasing (yes, it was very sad to see the 0 Comments so frequently before), or perhaps I am coming to the conclusion that people are just people. We all make mistakes. But our opinion is just an opinion – with knowledge it may change.

So, today, I made a comment on Being Peter Kim that bordered on my having an opinion. Having now read the post 15 more times, I see that while I questioned one part of his post, there were other questions that remained unanswered to me.

No time for Twitter

His post first discusses the lack of quality content in the blogosphere, he says that ideas are essentially recycled over and over again and nothing is new anymore.  He asks – “do we really need any more posts about Twitter? ” Having just written the “The Top 10 Twitter Tools” which has been one of my more popular posts to date, I was slightly offended. Which may be why I missed really intaking the remainder of the post! I suggested in my comment that perhaps since not everyone was as advanced as the early adopters that there was a place for Twitter posts (and the like) – as it seems the web is a pretty big place. Those of us involved in Twitter, Blogging and in general Social Media tend to believe that everyone is “like us”. The truth is the world is a pretty big place too.  And, there are many levels of involvement – including those just getting started (and those who haven’t moved beyond Facebook).

Granted, after reading the post a 15th time – the post doesn’t appear to be only about the Lazysphere it delves into something Peter Kim calls Social Business.  Despite reading the post 15 times, I am still not quite sure what this refers to. As, Mack Collier says “One thing I’ve learned from my blog is that if my readers are failing to comprehend my post’s intended message, then that’s probably MY fault, not their’s.”

Here are the basic points I have gathered from his post:

social business?

Peter Kim says that we could look at “social technologies” as simply social media (blogs, podcasts, social networks…blah blah blah – he points to 22 potential social media channels on Mashable). But, he states, we must look beyond the campaign. Personally, I think there are uses for Social Media on a campaign basis (some customer generated campaigns have been successful in the past to generate short term engagement with brands) , but certainly there are incredible opportunities to build relationships, two-way conversations, and a feedback ring with our customers if we think more broadly and long term.

Peter Kim says that “nobody will change the world with social media marketing.” Gutsy, use of absolutes is what I think. He goes on to say  “Social marketing using technology, maybe.” So this is my question – what is Social Marketing using technology? Since the link goes to an article on a non-profit campaign – I am guessing we are talking about raising funds for not-for-profits using social media is a game changer?

He goes on to say “I believe that social technologies have the power to transform the way we live and work.  So why should we have anything less than transformation in mind when putting social technologies to use?” Now I must ask, what is a social technology? Are we talking about Wikis? Communities? Blogs? or the stuff that makes these possible? Are we talking about Lithium and Jive? (Why do I feel so stupid reading this post!)

Then ” The end game should be an entirely social business.  Not just point solutions to improve existing processes or programs – new ways of connecting and collaborating.  Business models will change.” – Haven’t people been talking about this for years? Maybe this is the point though – that we are still waiting for business to truly “open” up. Is this “social business” really just Open Enterprise? If so, is this not what Clay Shirky and Lawrence Lessig have talked about? I am no expert (this is much more my brother’s field ) If this is what he is talking about – aren’t we seeing reflections of this going on today with online communities like Dell’s IdeaStorm and MyStarbucks Idea? What about the many peer forums, and open-source software?  Sure, LazyBoy isn’t asking you to design their latest chair, and you can’t contribute to a corporate Wiki for Air Canada – but aren’t we already starting down this road? How fast can we truly travel when there are still many who don’t even understand what “social business” is!

I am all for Open Enterprise, and perhaps even “social business” but there are a lot of people just getting their feet wet in social networks, and even more who likely have never seen the Twitter Bird or Fail Whale. Companies are integrating social networks into their internal and external communications, but it seems we are just at its infancy. It should however, be interesting to see how this all takes off as the Net Generation takes on more management roles and will have the ability to push through “social business” using “social technologies”.

So, do you understand this anymore than I do? As I said, this is only my opinion based on limited background…so enlighten me dear visitors! Or just tell me you are confused to. That will make me feel good too. Either way, love to hear your thoughts as usual.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Tags: being peter kim, clay shirky, lawrence lessig, net generation, open enterprise, social business, social media, social networks, twitter

The Best Twitter Tools

Jan 9, 2009 Digital Marketing & Metrics, Microblogging, Social Media, Web Tools & Applications, social networks

I have written a few times about Twitter, just take a look in my Microblogging Category or search “Twitter” in the search function on my blog.  I am a fan. Want to know what Twitter is? The Do’s and Don’ts of Corporate Tweeting? Just to point you to two of my previous posts on the subject.

I have been on Twitter for nearly a year and a half now. Since that time there have been many introductions of new tools to use to follow, search, and Tweet. Here are my current favourites:

For almost everything on Twitter

Tweetdeck: This is a desktop application that allows you to follow, tweet, search, group your friends, keep a list of “favourite” tweets, and even see what the hot topics are on Twitter.

Let me run you left to right to show you what this program can do!

Note: this is how I have my columns currently set up, you can have them in any order you like, by using the arrows at the bottom of the column, or by simply opening them up in the order you prefer.

1st Column: This is the running feed for the people I follow.  In real time it changes as your Tweeps send out their Tweets! If you minimize the Tweetdeck an alert, and a small box will pop up letting you know of Tweets and Replies.

2nd Column: I have a search running currently in this column. If you are Tweeting for work,  searching for information on a particular topic, or interested in following a particular #hashtag you can use the search function on Tweetdeck. It will pull, again in real time, the tweets containing your search term.

3rd Column: These are my @replies. If someone on Twitter wants to contact you directly they can do so in two ways – by Direct Message (private) or by an @reply (can be seen by everyone). These @replies can be sorted to the reply column.

4th Column: This is Twitscoop a tag cloud including the trending terms on Twitter “right now”. Must be a game on since two of the biggest words are Panthers and Giants!

The other things I love about Tweetdeck:

In this upper dashboard you can type your Tweet, add columns (All, Replies, Favorites, Search, Group, DMs and Twitscoop), and shorten URLs which is a necessity in Twitter since you only have 140 charactors. Once shortened it automatically adds the URL to your Tweet.  The Group function is nice if you follow a lot of people and want to occassionally focus on some key people at a given time.

If you run your mouse over the image of the people you follow this box will appear with four icons. These icons let you reply (automatically puts @twittername in your tweet box), direct message (automatically puts D twittername in tweet box), retweet (which means you are tweeting someone elses message to your followers) or “favorite” the tweet. Just a neat little time saver, for the busy tweeter.

For Searching and Alerts

Tweetscan/Twitter Search: If you don’t have acces to TweetDeck, or if you aren’t interested in searching in “real time” you can use one of these two browser based sites. You can of course watch and refresh, or you can subscribe via RSS to the search. This makes it possible to never miss a tweet on your favorite topic!

For Following Conversations

Tweetree: Have you ever found it difficult to follow a conversation between people you follow? Tweetree makes it easy to see the replies and back and forth of a conversation without visiting multiple profiles. It also shows linked URLs right on the page, without you having to link elsewhere. Here is a quick screen shot of Tweetree:

At the top you can see an indented tweet – that is a reply. At the bottom you will see a inserted URL. (Seriously, why can’t I do a Twitter screen shot without Scoble in the picture!)

Tweettree

For Mobile:

Twitterberry: For the Twitterer on the go, there is Twitterberry. Never leave your obsession for long…get your friends timeline, @replies, and of course tweet from ANYWHERE.

Finding Tweeps

Yes, I dislike the word “tweeps” too, but look I have used it twice already. Woot! (other disliked word I hear too often on Twitter!)

TwitterLocal:
Check out Twitter Local to find people in your area. I used this and have connected with some very nice individuals, who also write some great blogs on digital marketing (Direct Approach; Digital Socialite) politics (Jeejeebhoy) and shopping (Bargainista).

Other Good Stuff

Tweetburner:
When I tweet a URL I use Tweetburner (on Tweetdeck “Twurl” is in the drop down menu by the shorten URL field), this allows me to “track” the clicks on the URL. Tweetburner also tracks it over time and will give you your “Top Twurls” and a weekly and bi-weekly archive of your twurls, and the clicks on the Twurls!

PeopleBrowsr:
This is a new site I have played around with. Similar to Tweetdeck you can have multiple columns, create searches and groups etc. It is however browser based and so if you are working from a work computer where you are unable to download applications it might be ideal (although, then again it could be blocked by a firewall!) The other great thing about PeopleBrowsr is that it allows you to watch a news feed for FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube and more. If only Facebook wasn’t such a “closed garden” – then perhaps I could have my Facebook feed there as well….oh well wishful thinking.

Do you have a favourite Twitter Tool?

Follow me on Twitter!

And, connect to MEGOAgain through Google Friend Connect (right hand side of page!)

Popularity: 20% [?]

Tags: peoplebrowsr, tools, tweetdeck, tweetree, tweetscan, twitter, twitter search, twitterlocal

#GNO with @jessicaknows: A Summary of Twitter’s Girl’s Night Out

Jan 7, 2009 Advertising, Blogs, Books, Consumer Brands, Digital Marketing & Metrics, Microblogging, PR, Search Marketing, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Web Analytics, social networks, word of mouth

Jessicaknows

I missed some of the #GNO (Girls Night Out) discussion on Twitter last night so I went into Twitter Search and read the discussion. As always, it was a bit of a dizzying conversation last night – trying to keep up with the multitude of posts. So, it was difficult getting all the tips from @jessicaknows during the discussion.

I tried to pull as much as I could into this compilation. I hope this helps others as well.

Attracting PR Peeps for your Blog

A lot of participants were interested in reviewing more products and wondered how to go about doing this more often.

@jessicaknows said that she doesn’t think that there is a magic number with regards to traffic on your site in attracting PR. She noticed a lot of attention once she had about 20,000 monthly visitors to her blog. However, she suggests if you write about the products you are passionate about the PR folks will follow.

My two cents: She is absolutely correct, while the PR people will look for an engaged community the numbers may not matter as much if you are passionate and are considered an “influencer”. In this case, your review would simply be the tip of the iceberg. An influencer will tend to spread “word of mouth” throughout a variety of networks online and offline -giving a lot of added value to the campaign – beyond the blog post.  I hope to write more posts on books in 2009 since that is my passion. I don’t have 20,000 monthly visitors – but I have already received two books for review in the past. (Dan Ariely – Predictibly Irrational and Don Tapscott – Grown Up Digital)

Use Social Media to Build Your Own Community

@jessicaknows suggests that you pick 3 social media tools & be consistent use them everyday. She uses three social networks: Twitter (obviously), Facebook and LinkedIn. She also uses StumbleUpon for bookmarking regularly. She uses LinkedIn to connect with lots of PR folks, and mom owned business she can partner and work with in the future. On Facebook she prefers to “friend” people she knows in real-life and friends she has met on other social networks (Twitter for example). For users concerned with privacy and sharing with virtual friends she had a great idea to have a user profile for personal use and a Fan Page for your business/blog/website. While the Fan Page will show you as an author, “fans” will have to request to be a friend in order to see your Facebook profile.

My two cents: I post all blog posts to Twitter and Facebook. I try to avoid using the robot when I have the time by personally summarizing the newest post in my status/tweet.  Twitter is also a great place to promote DIY or How To Posts to people who are looking for specific help. I use Tweetburner to track click-through, which can give me an idea of how successful the tweet/status was. Note – don’t just do self-promotion, make sure you tweet other content outside of your own that you think your followers will find value in.

I have just started using StumbleUpon but I have definitely seen some traffic to my site through my profile. StumbleUpon allows you to find “friends” that have similar interests to you which is a great way to find new and interesting websites. Stumble others and perhaps they will Stumble you. All about Karma!

Couple other thoughts on Social Media:
- Use Video to promote your site by placing your URL in videos posted to YouTube
- Participate in Forums and Discussion groups in your topic area
- There are niche Social Networks that you can be involved in TwitterMoms, ClassyCloset and more…Create a profile and participate in the community
- Comment, comment, comment on other blogs. This is an easy way to promote your blog on other similar sites, and show some love to other bloggers.
- Try to link to other bloggers in your blog posts when possible. Give credit where credit is due, and share great information with your community.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

There was a great discussion around SEO last night during the #GNO.  There were folks on all ends of the spectrum – from questions such as “What is SEO?” to helpful tips from experts. @jessicaknows suggests that this is an important part of driving traffic to your website. For Wordpress bloggers she recommends the SEO Plug-in, and she has signed up for SEOBook training to get up to speed on SEO.

My two cents: Having attended SES Toronto last year, I am a believer in SEO for building traffic to your site. I use All-in-One SEO Plug-in for my WordPress blog. I use H1, H2, H3 headers where possible in my blog posts, and try to include Keywords without sounding “canned”.  SEO is great, but you also must use Analytics to compliment your SEO work.  If you aren’t following your stats you won’t be able to measure your success, see what is working and what isn’t, and see where you might have holes. Your Analytics program can also tell you before you start SEO efforts what Keywords are driving traffic to your site, and later on you should follow data for trends in keywords and content that you may not have noticed otherwise.

My SEO for Marketers post is a good SEO 101 for new comers, and watch next week for my Google Analytics Series for Bloggers. Also, take a peak at my “learnings” from my analytics a little while ago

Blogger Relations and Onsite Details

A lot of blogger etiquette and on-site promotional ideas were brought up during the discussion, here are some of the points:

• It is all about helping others: @jessicaknows says “I establish relationships by learning about other ppl’s goals & what they’re all about & then introduce to each other”. This includes helping to promote blogs she believe in the most through her sites. I love this quote from her “it’s so easy…the key word is SOCIAL…use the “have a friend, be a friend” mantra in business and you can’t go wrong”
• Write often, and be consistent. She tries to write daily if she can. Obviously that isn’t feasible for everyone – but I know if I blog 2-3 times a week my traffic remains higher than if I blog 1 time a week. Perhaps that is just a no-brainer.
• Encourage conversation and open up channels for two way conversation.
  
• Show personality in your posts
  
• Offer Blog giveaways (check out @jessicaknows 15 days of Marketing Post on Giveaways)
• Attend offline events (Tweetups, Conferences)
  

For those of you who were at Girl’s Night Out – did I miss anything? Any other hints and tips to encourage traffic?

Popularity: 36% [?]

Tags: #gno, blogging, girls night out, jessicaknows, marketing & communication, promotion, seo, traffic, twitter, Web Analytics, web traffic

Best MEGO Posts from 2008: A Retrospective

Jan 1, 2009 Blogs, Digital Marketing & Metrics, Microblogging, Social Media, social networks

I wanted to highlight the best posts of the year. I based the choice on a combination of number comments, traffic, and quantity of in-bound links.

January

How We Make Decisions To Purchase Products

February

I was watching Lost and not blogging…

March

Making Concerts More Social

April

Facebook Advertising

May

The Hyperconnected Minority

June

Event Planning: Birthday Fun

July

YouTube Star

August

Baby! Baby!

September

The Canon Advantage?

October

Obama’s Loss Traced to [insert name here]: Personalized Video at its Best

November

5 Tips to Organization in Google Reader, Or How to Avoid Information Overload

December

Toronto Twitterers Top Twittersphere

Popularity: 12% [?]

Tags: canon, events, facebook, google reader, organization, social media, social networks, twitter, word of mouth, youtube