alyssagardina.com - social media

The Cost of Doing (Good) Business

agardina — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:30:19 +0000

I took one accounting class in college. And, honestly, I really enjoyed it. Something about the evenness of liabilities, assets and equities appealed to me. So, with that expertise in mind, let’s talk about the cost of doing business.

The cost of doing business, by definition, is overhead. It’s the cost of anything you have or do that doesn’t have to do with actually producing a good or service. These include: insurance, utilities, accounting services, attending networking events.

Every business incurs some sort of overhead, and tries to limit it as much as possible. After all, these costs impact the company’s revenue, and overall financial well-being. However, I think there’s a fundamental difference between the cost of doing business and the cost of doing good business. And great companies see the distinction between the two.

For example, here are two articles posted today on The Consumerist. The first was about a customer’s interaction with OXO. A customer had received an OXO Salad Spinner as a wedding gift, and was disappointed when it broke after a few months of use. Like many customers, he reached out to OXO via their online contact form, but wasn’t hopeful about getting a response. Surprisingly, OXO responded a few days later, saying they would send out a replacement part. No hassle, no cost to the customer.

For an accountant, this is the cost of doing business. For a marketer, I’d file this under the cost of doing good business. The company incurs costs here – the cost to manufacture the part, the cost to ship and the cost of having an effective customer service department. But they also gain value – goodwill from one customer, who by sharing his story with the Consumerist, spread the awareness to a massive audience. And take a look at the comments:

On the flip side, there’s also a cost of doing bad business. Again on the Consumerist, a user tells a story of their interaction with customer service. This time, though, it’s not so positive. From the user’s email: “DirecTV will never have my family's business again and via Facebook, Twitter and obviously email, I plan to tell everyone I know about this horrid experience with a company that evidently wants my business so bad.”

Instead of generating goodwill on a heavily trafficked website, DirecTV brings out feelings from the other side of the spectrum:

In this new, more social, world, is it more important to calculate the cost of doing traditional business, or the cost of whether it’s good or bad?

Keep it Simple, Social!

agardina — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 15:59:02 +0000

One of my high school teacher’s favorite phrases was “Keep It Simple, Silly!” (she was too polite to use the other form of the phrase) – and it’s always been one of my favorite lines. It works for almost everything – work, love, family, cooking, writing, designing – 99% of the time, you’re better off keeping it simple.

So it drives me absolutely up the wall when I see people in my own industry ignoring this golden rule. Social media is the ultimate place for KISS-ing, in fact, I think we should all have it permanently displayed somewhere near our computers and phones.

As social media marketers, we’re recommending that companies participate in the space because that’s where their customers are. The oft-used cocktail party analogy makes its way into many a pitch, and ends with us saying “Your customers are talking about you here. You should be here too.”

We’re going into these networks where our customers already have relationships. They already have standards of etiquette (spoken or unspoken) and whether or not they interact with us is truly on their terms. Why are we jumping into the cocktail party as the guy who likes to make everyone solve riddles, instead of being the person who’s easy to talk to and connect with?

An example. KAYAK recently ran a promotion where they gave away 4 round-trip tickets on a different airline each week. To sign up, a user had to go through the following process:

1) Connect via Facebook on KAYAK’s website
2) Fill in a ton of personal information, including address, phone number & email address
3) Enter to win! Just kidding – at this point, KAYAK decided to “social media it up” and require a user to invite their friends to enter the contest as well. The twist: 3 of those friends would be the 3 that the user would take with them on their vacation, and in order for the entry to count, all 3 had to enter as well.

What? You’ve now added an extra step for your user, and added a whole process for 3 of their friends. KAYAK’s page immediately filled with negative user feedback and pleas from fans for other users to friend them and enter as a group. Whoever wins that contest may find that they’re headed on vacation with someone they’ve never met.

KAYAK needed someone to tap them on the shoulder and say, “Keep It Simple, Social!” Users didn’t want to spam their networks on someone else’s behalf, and in a medium full of sweepstakes and promotions, it was just as easy to move on from one that required a bit too much work and information.

Every time you interact with a brand’s social media campaign, ask yourself – is there a way this could have been simpler? Would this be more popular, more powerful, if it was pared down just a bit? You’ll find more often than not, the answer is yes.

The Achilles Heel of Your Super Awesome Social Media Idea

siteadmin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:37:18 +0000

I have one word for you. Operations. The coolest, shiniest, most innovative "look at me!" social media idea ever can easily be tripped up by this one word. Foursquare specials, Groupons, Twitter deals, Facebook coupons are all methods used by major brands to get customers off their computers and into the store. They spend months planning, measuring, strategizing and partnering, yet so many forget this one key word: Operations.

Before rolling out a campaign, there are countless operations things to check:

Are all of your local managers on board?
Do they have the right materials to train their staff? (Or as we called them at Aeropostale, "associates")
If something goes wrong, what's your chain of command?
How can you prepare now to avoid headaches later?

It doesn't matter if you're the first brand ever to do a Foursquare special. If your customers are getting a blank stare when they present their phone for a discount, your campaign's success is limited and its days are numbered.

Starbucks

The story: In May, Starbucks took the leap into a new kind of loyalty program, offering $1 off Frappucinos for mayors. Unfortunately for Starbucks, many of the mayors (users who have checked in most frequently in the past 60 days), were actually Starbucks employees. In addition, many baristas weren't aware of what Foursquare was, much less that there was a special offer. Plus, Foursquare is, well, a game, and people can game the system.

How it could have gone better:

Identifying the mayor issue months before the campaign launched, and creating separate locations for employees to use (e.g. Starbucks Northwest Highway - Staff)
Rolling out a policy for Foursquare check-ins a minimum of 90 days before launch
Specific training for baristas, and leave behind instructions at the cash register

The Gap

The story: Groupon, an online group-buying service, has experienced explosive growth. Small businesses and large corporations have noticed its value, and taken advantage with offers of 50-70% off services. In late August, they offered their first nationwide deal, a coupon to the Gap for $50 worth of merch for $25. All told, they sold over $11 million in coupons in one day, crashing Groupon's servers and creating quite a buzz online.

And now? Operations. That one little word that throws a wrench in the otherwise awesome plan. There are stories of Groupon redemptions gone wrong and, having spent many a year working in retail, I can see how:

Is the Groupon good on sale merchandise?
What if the customer wants to redeem it for a total less than $50?
Is this valid at my store?
How do I ring it up?

It looks like most of these questions were answered with training, but with 3000 stores in the US, communications breakdowns were sure to occur.

Launching a social media initiative always carries risks - increased transparency, dedication of time, questions about measurement - and these special offers are no different. Brands are already improving communications at an operations level, but it's always something to consider - we know this will work online, but how will it work offline?

Dear MTV, here's how not to choose a social media manager

agardina — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:35:08 +0000

There's a disconcerting trend among companies now to hire a social media or community manager via a contest. People can seek nominations from friends or put their own name forward in an attempt to prove that they're the most popular choice for the position. Unfortunately, what's popular is not always right, and these contests are doing more harm than good. Why?

They're trivializing the role a social media manager can have within an organization.

Would you hire your next HR rep because of a LinkedIn poll? Your next video producer from a YouTube vote? A copywriter because of her following on Twitter? No, at least not solely on those qualifications. Yet these "be our next social media guru" campaigns continually stress getting votes, making popularity the applicant's number one qualification.

For an example, here's how MTV is hiring their new "Twitter Jockey". They selected 18 candidates on their own, and are now crowdsourcing the final 2. The 20 finalists will "compete in a series of online challenges this summer designed to reveal their personalities and demonstrate how they connect with Twitter followers." (source) Want to be one of the two crowdsourced candidates? Here's how they're being chosen:

Users go to the MTV TJ (Twitter Jockey, get it?) site and are immediately confronted with some bizarre co-branding. The site is a 50/50 mix of MTV (expected) and ZYNC (a new card from AMEX).
In order to nominate anyone, the user first has to allow an application to access their public Facebook profiles, post status updates, find the user's birthday and access contact information.
Then the user has to "like" ZYNC on Facebook. That's right, you're forced to connect with a page that essentially has nothing to do with the campaign as it's promoted. The website won't let you move forward unless you "like" the new credit card.
Finally, you're allowed to nominate a user. And, judging from the recent submissions, once you're in you can nominate someone as many times as you'd like.

The person selected by MTV will be a voice for the brand to thousands, if not millions, of people. MTV is definitely generating buzz around this contest, but once that dies down, what will the TJ do? How will he or she fit into the current social media mix? What kind of content will he or she be responsible for creating? There are so many questions to ask (many of which are answered during a traditional interview), and MTV might not know the answer until the winner has been declared.

So where did MTV go wrong? As people pointed out to me on Twitter, it is a campaign from MTV, so it almost fits their brand. But a bizarre co-promotion and game-show style process for selecting a person to be a voice for your company on social media? That decision's on par with deciding to renew Jersey Shore.

What do you think? Can you the most qualified candidates by holding a contest?

Listen Up: Making the Most of Twitter Search

agardina — Tue, 04 May 2010 22:17:33 +0000

In my 2 years on Twitter, I've found it to be an incredible networking tool, resource and place to vent. And in the past months, it's become even better - brands are proactively reaching out to answer questions I have. How? A variety of ways, but many are using a tool called Twitter Search.

Now, some may call this an invasion of privacy. But, as I see it, I put the question out there in a public forum. Even if I wasn't asking the general public, it's still up to me as a user to know that whatever I say on Twitter (unless my tweets are protected [sometimes]) is there for the public to see, respond to and remember.

In the past few days, I've interacted with a couple of brands who are just getting it right. And it's refreshing:

Teleflora
I had a coworker ask me if I knew any florists in NYC. And, honestly, I had no idea. So I put it out to Twitter. Less than an hour later, I received an @ reply from Teleflora (and no, I wasn't following them prior to this - but I am now!)

Takeaway: Someone is listening, and listening well. I didn't ask about their brand, nor did I need to know about buying flowers online. But somewhere in Teleflora's social strategy, they built out a search and gave someone the task of watching it. And guess where I bought my mother's day flowers this year...

QuestCare Urgent Care
I'm very very clumsy. And so, some part of me is usually injured - right now, it's my foot. And like most people, I never know when to go to the doctor, so today, I asked. And quickly, I got a tweet from @QuestUrgentCare (and I wasn't following them either!), an urgent care office here in Dallas.

Takeaway: The text of my tweet didn't mention that I was in Dallas, but by using Twitter search's advance search functions, Quest Care was able to see my "injured" tweet that was sent from their area.

Travel Portland
Sometimes trip planning for unfamiliar cities can be a struggle. I'm headed to Portland at the end of this month, and I wanted to know where the best places were to go hiking. Luckily, Travel Portland, a visitor information site, was able to help. Their Twitter bio helpfully lets me know that I can include the hashtag #inPDX in a tweet to get an answer from them. I did just that, and they retweeted me moments later. Now I've got an entire to-do list of parks to visit.

Takeaway: Make it easy on yourself to find questions to answer. If you're a service that has a lot of information to offer, make that data readily available.

What companies have you seen listening and acting on social media?

How Addison Circle is Failing at Usability

agardina — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:13:14 +0000

I work just north of Addison Circle, and it's nice sometimes to go out and walk around and not look at a computer for a few minutes. However, I've found that Addison Circle is a complete failure of usability, especially for first time users. Here's how:

They have no fro-yo. Okay, fine, that's a personal need. But really - a planned neighborhood like this and you don't have a Yogilicious? But I digress.
It is nearly impossible to find your way around if you're new to the area or looking for something specific. The apartment complexes are a maze of side roads and alleyways, all probably designed to give the neighborhood a European feel (and if Europe was constructed in 2002, that would work.)

On several occasions, I've been stopped in the streets and asked where one could find a leasing or real estate office. "I have no idea," I respond, and the person walks away, shaking his head. Apologies, sir, but I just work here. I wish I could help.

So what does this have to do with social media, you ask? Everything! A neighborhood fails at usability the same way a company loses a customer on its website or social media pages. Ask yourself:

Have you ever gotten a phone call from a prospective customer who is frustrated because he or she can't find something?
You ask people to follow you on Twitter or fan you on Facebook, but is it linked from your website and easy to find?
Are your voice and content so dissimilar across networks that your customers can't figure out if all accounts are your official presences?
Do you have levels and sub-levels and sub-sub-levels on your website that your own employees have a hard time navigating?

And, lastly:

Who are your customers stopping on the "street" to ask questions? Your competitor? A former and disgruntled employee? Someone who doesn't know what they're talking about but will give an answer anyway?

If you're not giving the answers and providing directions, someone will surely step in. And if that someone's not knowledgeable about your company, what kind of answers do you think they'll give?

And sir, I'm sorry. I really don't know where the leasing office is.

Photo: kudumomo

How Social Media is Saving TV

agardina — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:32:00 +0000

Tonight, I'm watching the Oscars. And I'm watching it in a way I haven't in the past several years: live. I DVR everything - I DVR'ed the Olympics, I record baseball and I couldn't even tell you what night my favorite show airs. But tonight, I'm sitting through what seems like hours of commercials for one reason - Twitter. For me, to watch the Oscars on a delay would mean turning of Twitter and Facebook for the night - the humanity!

Instead of unplugging, ABC's got one more person watching their TV ads. The same goes for American Idol (I have my indulgences!), LOST and countless other shows that people love to talk about. Social media has changed the way people watch and interact with TV, and might serve as a saving grace for advertisers who can't get enough of the 30-second spot.

How Networks Can Take Advantage

A helping hand only helps if you take hold of it. Television networks can capitalize on social media's love of live in two ways:

Encourage audience participation by drawing attention to hashtags and Facebook Fan Pages. Note: this should not be invasive within the broadcast - Fox, I'm looking at you! Promote these integrations in the beginning of the broadcast or in promo spots.
Use social media to provide a richer viewing experience - extended or deleted scenes on YouTube, interactions with show stars on Twitter, trivia contests on Facebook. Be where your audience is, when your audience needs you.

What do you think? Has social media changed the way you watch TV?

NBC and token social media integration

agardina — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:02:44 +0000

Broadcast networks have taken Twitter integration to different levels. For Fox, it involved invasive "live tweets" from show stars. For NBC, it's apparently a token integration to appease both their audience and the athletes taking part in this year's Winter Olympics.

Leading up to the games, there was some confusion with the IOC (International Olympic Committee) about whether or not athletes could even tweet during the Games. It was finally decided that they could tweet - about their personal experiences, and with some severe limitations on what kind of photos and videos they could share.

Those regulations, combined with NBC's apparent reluctance to integrate user-generated content or social media sites, has severely limited the potential richness of their broadcasts. In an ideal world:

Athletes could tweet and share whenever they wanted. There's already live coverage, instantaneous news distribution and people constantly. tweeting. about. the. Olympics. It's not like athletes are going to break a story before Bob Costas can get his hands on it. Odds are, their insight and tweets about nerves, conditions and competition will add to the viewers' experience. Imagine a glimpse of a tweet from Bode Miller before his bronze-medal winning run - a TwitPic right on NBC, describing the emotions before a big race.

NBC would share athletes' and coaches' tweets with information or context. Right now, on NBC's Olympic Pulse page, they're posting tweets from athletes - without timestamps, geotagging or even specifying what country the athlete represents.

Share athlete's videos and photos from the opening and closing ceremonies. Grab a couple of athletes before the Games, recruit them as content creators and give them the tools. Let them lose at the Olympic Village and collect their content as they go. Post the stories, photos and videos as the games go on to show the story behind the competition. NBC makes a darn good dramatic mini-documentary, but that content could be so much richer if gathered by the participants themselves.

What do you think? How would you make the Olympics a richer viewing experience?

Social Media Isn't a Miracle Cure

agardina — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:25:53 +0000

I read a recent post by Alan Wolk, and his conclusion really stood out to me:

"I’ll leave you with this quote from a smart young guy named Matt Daniels 'Marketing has a bell curve–most companies create average marketing and achieve average results.' Why did we think social media was going to be any different?"

Why did we think that social media would be a cure all - a marketing or public relations tool that would make every company that touched it somehow more extraordinary? That it would be a Midas Touch that fixes bad brands, policies and products?

Right now, it might be. Companies are adopting social media slowly, so industry leaders might not be the first to use a tool. Snakeoil salesmen and defenders of inadequate brands can build an online reputation before their competitors even have a chance to sign up for a YouTube account. In the past, social media has given notoriety to the content leaders, not the quality leaders.

And I think that's going to change. Consumers are becoming more knowledgable about the power of social media and the transparency it provides. Companies are finally starting to "get it" and get online, albeit slowly but surely. Users are looking for good content, and it takes a strong brand, product and service to provide that.

Let's face it, there have been good marketing campaigns by bad companies. But they don't stick nearly as well as campaigns for companies that provide something that customers want, need and keep coming back for. Just like all the Super Bowl ads in the world couldn't have saved Cash 4 Gold, all the Twitter followers online won't help your company if you can't meet expectations.

Social media won't be the thing that cures you, but transparency could be the thing that kills you.

Is your company strong enough to make the cut?

Why #FollowAMuseum was a social media success

agardina — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:28:31 +0000

Today, museums, organizations, visitors and enthusiasts around the world celebrated the first #followamuseum day. Organized by Jim Richardson of the blog Museum Marketing (UK), the campaign asked Twitter users to share their favorite museums to follow and discover new ones as well.

By all accounts, this campaign was a success. As a person who tweets for a museum, I was fortunate to see our replies stream fill up with people suggesting us as a museum to follow, new followers saying hello and retweets of content we were sharing that had nothing to do with the #followamuseum hashtag. According to Social Mention, #followamuseum was mentioned once every 13 seconds. The event organizer estimates that there were over 6000 tweets with the hashtag today. So, why was it successful?

It mobilized preexisting advocates. Nonprofits have an advantage when taking part in conversations on social media. For better or for worse, many people feel passionate about their cause. Fans of museums had an incentive to promote their favorite museums on Twitter: by providing this information, they demonstrated their involvement with the museum's mission.
It provided focus in a cluttered medium. Hashtags are primarily used to tag tweets on a similar subject. The #followamuseum hashtag could be followed in Twitter Search or via a third party application, allowing museums & users to easily find and follow new organizations.
It engaged on a worldwide scale. In preparing for the day, the organizer did something very smart: he created a directory of museums on Twitter. Rather than relying on disparate Twitter lists and Twitter search, he centralized the cause and organized the museums geographically.
It united organizations that share a common cause. Museums have very little to lose in promoting one another. Odds are, not much business is lost when a visitor chooses to go to one museum over another. Frequently, it's beneficial for organizations within a city to promote each other, in hopes of growing cultural tourism. All day, museums were sharing their favorite counterparts on Twitter and thanking each other for mentions.

What could other industries do with a #followa_______ day? There could be days focusing on educational nonprofits, on colleges, on... wineries. Essentially any industry that's populated with distinct Twitter users that share valuable information could have one.