The Social Media Marketing Blog

The Rich Are No Different Than You & Me

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:27:00 +0000

Well, except for that money thing. They want the pretty much want what we all want from social networks: to connect with people they know and trust, spend some time unwinding, and share content.

The key difference is this: affluents don't want to friend a brand on Facebook - they prefer to check out fan pages. [Then again, I feel the same way. Hmm. Maybe I qualify to be rich? I can haz affluence, plze?]

What they do prefer is a user experience on the company's website that addresses their needs. Easy navigation, helpful information, perhaps even the availability of a live chat to answer any questions that might not be apparent solely through the navigation. Ultimately, I think they value their time and don't want to waste it with updates that aren't central to what they need. They want content that is relevant to them at the right point in time.

For marketers, this means a solid user experience coupled with a true customer relationship management tool. We should be at the point where we can customize content based on the visitor. Or is that a little too invasive? What do you think?

From Unity Marketing's "How Affluent Luxury Consumers Use the Internet and Social Media"

Image courtesy of eMarketer.

Posted via web from The Full Monty

How Ford Uses Social Media [VIDEO]

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:24:00 +0000

At the risk of giving away too much of what we do (not really - everything we do in social media is in the public, so you just need to pay attention or search around to find out), I'd like to share with you a little bit about Ford Motor Company's approach to social media.

Here's a great video that WebPro News did when we were at Blog World Expo last October. It captures a lot of what Ford is doing in the space.

I keep a clipsheet of coverage of our social media efforts (using Profilactic), which is helpful when speaking to reporters or digital media and they're looking for examples of how our work has resonated. I simply refer them to our links and they can sort through the filters to find what they're looking for.

On his blog, Jeff Bullas gave away The 7 Secrets to Ford's Social Media Marketing Success last month. There are some great takeaways there for any company that's interested in social media and some that are specific to Ford and our efforts. And Slate.com's The Big Money covered the success we've seen from the first wave of the Fiesta Movement.

We're working on a lot more - notably Chapter 2 of the Fiesta Movement, in which there are 20 teams of two in 16 cities across the country, creating mini marketing campaigns through social media as well as offline events and media. And our social media strategy is global, reflecting the growing interest from many areas around the company and around the world.

And we maintain profiles on a number of social networks, including profiles on Twitter: @Ford, @FordCustService, @FordFiesta, @FordAutoShows, @FordLatino, @FordEU, @FordAPA and more. In addition, we've got some employees on Twitter. You can find the full list at http://twitter.com/ScottMonty/ford.

We also have a number of Facebook pages, the most prominent of which are Ford and Mustang. All of our pages are favorited on the Ford page, so you can pick which ones you'd like to become a fan of.

In addition, we're active on Flickr for photo sharing, YouTube for videos, Plancast and Upcoming for events, Delicious for public bookmarking, and Scribd for document sharing (where we're the #5 most followed profile). And if you're ever in doubt where to find us, you can see our profiles on the front of Ford.com or on The Ford Story.

Lots of stuff going on right now that's keeping us really busy. Just thought you'd like a window into what some of it is and why we're doing it.

Disclosure: http://cmp.ly/4

Social Media Marketing Spending Spirals Up

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:36:00 +0000

When you start hearing about social media taking up more budget rather than having to struggle for dollars and attention, it's clear that the practice is gaining in legitimacy.

Remember the days of having to gently introduce the concept, or of having to prove that in fact it's something that's a coming trend? We had to deal with skeptics - the same type of people, who maybe less than 10 years ago, doubted that the Internet was going to catch on. And we've had to deal with a struggling economy and limited funding.

Things are a little different now. In fact, you might say that things are actually looking up. I think part of it may be that the tough economy forced marketers to be more savvy and frugal about their efforts, and social media became a natural receptacle for the underfunded. As such, it's grown in stature and maturity, and with the rise of the awareness of social networks in the general public, it's only going to get larger.

Here are a couple of charts from "The CMO Survey" undertaken by the Duke University Fuqua School of Business and the American Marketing Association, as reported by eMarketer:

When you compare the spending on social media marketing from August 2009 to February 2010, overall there's an increase of 60% in the budgets (from 3.5% to 5.6%). Similarly, the planning for the next one to five years shows a similar level of consideration as well: in August 2009, social media spending was thought to be 6.1% for the next year and 13.7% for the next five years; and now, it's more like 9.9% in the next year and 17.7% in the next five years.

And since this was a survey of CMOs, it's a good indication that these budget predictions may get some traction, rather than just being a fond wish of pundits. It's a relief to see something that doesn't resemble a death spiral in this economy.

Photo credit: emrank (Flickr)

Posted via web from The Full Monty

Email - the Silent E

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:37:00 +0000

A rather unlikely suspect has been making the rounds lately. And while you may have come to know this blog for covering the cutting edge communications and marketing tools, it may seem odd that this suspect is rather old school.

That's right. Good old email is making a comeback. But it shouldn't be a total surprise - it's not like I didn't warn you.

Every indicator I've seen lately indicate that people still use email as a primary method of sharing interesting news, keeping in touch, and notification - not to mention that it's usually the price of entry for belonging to a social network. In short, for the masses, email still rules.

But aside from these observations, you probably would like some more empirical evidence (in addition to the ShareThis study referenced in the above link). Here are some of the recent developments that make me think that "Silent E" isn't going to be quite so silent any more.

Feel the love
Two weeks ago, eMarketer reported that Social Networkers Still Love Email. In fact as you can see, they love it more than non-social network users. It's partially because, according to the study by Merkle, they use the same email address to receive notifications from their social networks and opt-in email marketing campaigns. As Merkle stated in their press release: "we are seeing consistent social use of the email channel, as well as evidence to support the idea that social networking and email use are actually more related than previously thought."

That's good news: social network users' attention is on their inboxes at almost twice the rate of non-connected emailers.

Email Mash-up
But might there be too much of a good thing? Mashable recently let us know that Facebook is giving users the option get get app notifications in email. Facebook clearly wants to move away from an app-to-user arrangement to a direct-mail-to-user arrangement. On the one hand, users will have greater control over what they receive via email; but there's the potential of inbox overload. The good news is that the heavier users are probably well skilled in how to use a feature like Gmail filters.

Exactly what the doctor Co-ordered
The final bit of evidence in this trio of evidence toward email was the news today: CoTweet Acquired by ExactTarget. CoTweet, which describes itself as "how business does Twitter," (full disclosure: Ford Motor Company, my employer, uses CoTweet), has been making great strides in its service that allows companies to scale social media activities. And ExactTarget is a premier leader in email marketing, and their acquisition of CoTweet underscores how email and the social media space are converging. If ExactTarget is able to take its CRM capabilities and combine them with CoTweet's close relationship with the Twitter management, we could potentially see some wide-ranging implications for Twitter and email marketing alike.

And so we don't end on a completely heavy note, I'll leave you with this topical song by Tom Lehrer.

Photo credit: Leo Reynolds

Study: Most Effective B2B Social Media Tactics are IT ‘Lite’

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:20:00 +0000

Guest post by Ben Hanna, VP of Marketing for Business.com, the Web’s leading portal for business owners.

According to a new study involving more than 1,700 small business leaders, companies marketing to small businesses would be well advised to focus on social media tactics requiring little IT investment, such as webinars, podcasts and establishing a presence on top social networking sites, before pursuing more IT resource intensive initiatives such as creating a company-managed online community. The study, conducted by Business.com, finds that that four of the top five most effective social media tactics for engaging small business decision makers do not require significant IT investment or involvement. The exception – company blogs – should be backed by both a strategic content strategy and the resources necessary to create this content on an ongoing basis before it allocating IT resources to blog creation or management.

The small business social media study examined the social networks and other social media resources small business owners and managers turn to for business-relevant information. In contrast to the common perception of social media as inherently “social” or interactive, study participants using social media for business were much more likely to use resources which don’t require interaction, such as webinars and podcasts (67%) or reading product reviews (63%), than they were to participate in online discussions (29%). The top five social media resources used by small business leaders are:

Webinars / Podcasts – small business leaders consider webinars and podcasts to great resources for professional development, industry research and learning about potentially-relevant products and services, saving them the time and expense of attending in-person training.
Ratings & Reviews – provide useful input into the business buying process, particularly those ratings or reviews provided by other small businesses using the product or service.
Company / Brand Pages on Social Networking Sites – social network participation is now mainstream for U.S. adults, with 46% using sites such as Facebook and 25% participating weekly. Small business leaders are increasingly turning to these sites to find the latest information about important vendors, products and services.
Company Blogs – small business leaders praise company blogs – at least, those that are “well written, current and with good thought leadership articles” – as great sources of information about business-relevant products, services and the underlying character of a company.
Social Media Search – while some of the business-relevant information on social media sites can be found through general search engines, a great deal cannot. Realizing this, over half of small business leaders using social media search for business-relevant information directly on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Business.com Answers, SlideShare and many more.

B2B social media marketing initiatives require Marketing and IT to work closely together to prioritize projects, allocate resources, manage execution and maintain new systems and features. One key implication from this study for companies marketing to small businesses is that Marketing can, and should, actively pursue B2B social media initiatives which require little IT investment before taking on more resource-intensive projects.

For example, rather than placing a company-managed online community the core of the emerging social media strategy – a community where, according to this research, it will be very challenging to build participation by small business leaders – establish a company presence on one or more social networking sites and focus initial community development efforts on those sites. By focusing first on external, IT ‘lite’ social media opportunities, companies marketing to small businesses are more likely to reach a far larger portion of their target audience in the short run, begin developing a following and learn key lessons that inform what social media features and functionality are actually necessary on the company web site.

For more details, the complete research report, “Engaging Small Business Decision Makers Through Social Media,” can be downloaded from the Business.com web site at http://www.business.com/info/engaging-small-business-through-social-media.

Photo credit: p_kirn

Ben Hanna most recently led the Business.com 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study, and is a specialist in B2B online social media and marketing solutions.

When Crisis Attacks

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:49:00 +0000

It seems that crisis management has been a hot topic in the news lately. Sports celebrities and major automotive companies are suffering from major hits to their reputation every day in the news. And earlier today, a popular theme park made headlines: SeaWorld experienced a terrible accident when one of its killer whales from the Shamu show attacked and killed one of their most experienced trainers.

Full disclosure: I just visited the park last week and saw the show while I was on vacation, so I felt a personal twinge on hearing the news. In addition, in a when I was with a previous employer, I had an opportunity to go behind the scenes at SeaWorld and to hear about the inner operations of the park. I can understand the devastation that must be rippling across the park staff, as both the trainers and the animals are an integral part of a very unique family there. My thoughts and prayers go out to all involved.

The team at SeaWorld and its associated parks have a solid presence online; a huge portion of their ticket sales are from the web. But outside of a blogger outing through IZEAFest, I hadn't really heard much of their social media efforts. So today, when I saw "SeaWorld" and "Shamu" trending on Twitter, I knew there was probably some unfortunate news behind it.

I'd like to take a look at some of the good things that SeaWorld did in response and some areas that need attention.

The Need for Speed

When a brand is affected by a breaking crisis, the first thing I do is check Twitter. Not just for mentions of the issue, but to see how the company is responding or if it even has an account. And in this case, SeaWorld was covered, as they have an account: @SeaWorld_Parks. As of 11:30 p.m. on February 24, there are 814 followers.

You'll note that one of the most recent updates on their account is a clear statement and link to what they had to say about the crisis:

Within a few hours, the park had updated the blog with an entry "A Message from Jim Atchison, President and Chief Executive Officer, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment" that acknowledged the tragedy and put a human feel to the statement:

February 24, 2010
It is with great sadness that I report that one of our most experienced animal trainers drowned in an incident with one of our killer whales this afternoon, February 24, 2010 at our SeaWorld Orlando park.
We have initiated an investigation to determine, to the extent possible, what occurred. There are no other details to share at this point, but we will make our findings known in due course.
I must emphasize that this is an extraordinarily difficult time for the SeaWorld parks, and our team members.
Nothing is more important than the safety of our employees, guests and the animals entrusted to our care. All of our standard operating procedures will come under review as part of the investigation.
We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the trainer and will do everything possible to assist them in this difficult time.
We appreciate everyone’s understanding and will share more information as it becomes known and available.

Any time a crisis hits, it's a good idea for a company to have a hub where information can be posted quickly to address misinformation, provide clarity, and exhibit some semblance of control over the situation. In today's world, there's no time for weeks or even days of war gaming and message creation. Companies need to be prepared to act within a matter of hours, if not more quickly.

Fortunately, SeaWorld maintains a blog at SeaWorldParksBlog.com and has been actively blogging since September of 2009. So they've already established themselves in this space, rather than waiting for a crisis to hit to create a blog. By updating that blog with timely & relevant information, they were able to reassure the public, which is especially important at a time rumors and conflicting reports are floating around. And with an associated Twitter account, they can continue to share information.

In addition, SeaWorld has used its Facebook page to post the message from Mr. Atchison as well as to announce the incident:

But there's a little more going on here that deserves some consideration.

Not So Fast

While it's great that SeaWorld has a Twitter account and Facebook page (as well as a YouTube & Flickr account), there are a few things that are worth addressing. The first is that it's probably a good idea to get more interactive with the Twitter account (although I'll admit it may be too early yet, as information and relevant facts are still coming in). But clearly, with SeaWorld being a trending topic, there's a reason to at least acknowledge some of the concerns.

Next is the inevitability of animal rights activists who will come of of the woodwork to criticize SeaWorld for keeping animals in captivity. Based on my experience behind the scenes at the park, I know SeaWorld is very sensitive to such criticism and I can say that they're absolutely committed to caring for these animals and treating them humanely. Nothing could be more important to the staff there. However, when online activists really want to make a firestorm out of something, they certainly can. And the park staff should be prepared for that. As we can see, they already had to take action on Facebook:

Also, it's important to note that there's a second Twitter account associated with SeaWorld - in fact, it's actively promoted by the park on their home page: the @Shamu account. This was formerly the @RealShamu account, but they must have acquired the @Shamu name since the account was created. Here's a shot of their Twitter page:

It's not your typical account, as Shamu seems to have a bit of an attitude. One of his tweets from nearly a year ago reads:

Now, I get that they're trying to take on the persona of the whale, but seeing that you're dealing with an animal that is in close proximity to humans on a regular basis, I would think the team might want to take a little bit of the "killer" out of the killer whale.

Similarly, notice this back and forth between @Shamu and a follower, as recently as 5 days ago:

With over 9,800 followers on the @Shamu account - more than 10 times the amount on @SeaWorld_Parks, one would think that this would be the place for updates to be taking place. However, SeaWorld has kind of painted themselves into a corner here. Because they've used a persona and because the physical manifestation of that persona (the actual whale) was involved in the incident, one of the most popular social media channels of the park is unable to be activated.

At the very least, if I were managing the account, I would consider going back and remove any references to violence in the stream, out of respect for the victim. While that may violate the tenet of keeping conversations whole on the social web, it does show a sensitivity to this very regrettable circumstance.

In short, it's important to have a crisis preparedness plan and a rapid response strategy in place, using the tools that effectively allow a company to get messages in place and respond where the conversations are happening. And as channels are being created, it's important to understand the implications of potential negative stories and how those channels might be affected. In a crisis, a popular channel that needs to be silenced is of no use to anyone.

UPDATE: Please be sure to check the comments below. They include a great back-and-forth discussion between readers, as well as a post from someone at SeaWorld's digital marketing staff that includes information on how they're handling things.

What's in a Name?

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:34:00 +0000

The iPad. Unless you were in a coma, you probably heard about the launch of Apple's new tablet. A larger version of the iPhone, at 0.5 inches thick, 1.5 pounds, $499 (base model) + a $29.99 unlimited data plan, it's pretty impressive. You can read all about the reveal and product specs over on Engadget, who covered it live.

There's an interesting subplot going on here, though. The hype around the event was palpable - even the Wall Street Journal noted "Last time there was this much excitement about a tablet, it had some commandments written on it." Indeed, everyone was speculating about the name of the new netbook from Apple - from the iTablet to iSlate. When it was revealed, it looked like nothing more than an oversize iPhone, but as the presentation went on, the functionality became more apparent.

Without a doubt, the tech community - which always gets in a tizzy whenever Apple releases a new product (or if Steve Jobs sneezes) - was so prolific in its buzz that it locked up Twitter for a bit. There's really something to be said about the power of the geeky masses, as words related to the presentation (including Amazon's Kindle, which was mentioned in Job's announcement) accounted for 8 of the 10 trending topics on Twitter at one point.

You've got to wonder about the naming decision on this product. It's certainly in line with the "iP" naming convention of the other two wildly successful product lines, the iPod and iPhone. So from a brand extension, it makes sense. But my first inclination was that "iPad" was too close to "iPod." Surely iTablet or iSlate would have worked from a descriptive standpoint. It led me to wonder if there was something more going on here...

Look carefully at the trending topics for a clue - in addition to phrases like Apple, iBooks, Steve Jobs, Kindle, iPhone, iWork and iSlate, there was as single outlier: iTampon. Check that again - iPad doesn't even show up on the trending topics!

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet."

Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Did Apple anticipate such a viral phenomenon that they intentionally named the product as they did? Or were they completely naive about the implications? Either way, it's lighting up the web as we speak. And it didn't take long for someone to photoshop it, either:

What do you think? Marketing savvy, stunt or stupidity?

UPDATE: @brennanMKE sent me this video - an old iPad commercial:

Photo credits: Engadget, @Katmanalac

2010 Digital Marketing Outlook

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:22:00 +0000

The Society of Digital Agencies - a group that serves as a worldwide voice of digital marketing professionals with a mission to advance the industry through best practices, education, and advocacy - recently sent me the results of a large survey they conducted. SoDA solicited feedback from over 1,000 digital marketing executives from agency and client-side worldwide and captured some solid insights worth sharing here.

There is no question that digital marketing continues its upward trend. Certainly, when a company like Ford - from the historically lethargic automotive industry - spends 25% of our marketing budget on digital and social media, you know there's a significant movement afoot. And across all industries in 2009, budgets were impacted by the economy, forcing marketers to be more ruthless about seeking efficient results. It should be no surprise to anyone that the rise of digital is a sure thing.

The 2010 Digital Marketing Outlook contains some 70 pages of particularly poignant facts for the U.S. and abroad (Russia, South America and Mexico), emerging trends, changing platforms, social media and more. Here are some key takeaways worth calling out:

Online Marketing Spending

In 2010, two-thirds expect to spend the same or more than in 2009.
Approximately 70% plan to increase (1-30%) or significantly increase (30%+) their unpaid/earned/proprietary media.
The top priorities in 2010 will be social networks/applications and digital infrastructure.

Emerging Trends

Customer experience will be more important than ever.
Storytelling will evolve - location will become a key component; the speed at which stories are developed is crucial; and above all, emotional connections matter.
The beginning of the end of the banner ad.
Branded content syndication will replace some paid media.
40% of opportunity is mobile

Social Media

Social is becoming increasingly mobile.
Measurement will be more important than ever.
Real-time search is inextricably linked to the "statusphere."
Forms of content consumption will continue to be fractured; the nimble marketer will need to be in as many places as possible.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, I think you'll recognize a number of the themes mentioned in the report. But there's also much more - not to mention really smart - stuff in the entire report. Take a look for yourself.

Two Thousand and Ten Digital Marketing Outlook

Photo credit: Will Lion

Have You Got an App for That?

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:21:00 +0000

It seems that app development is where it's at in social. According to a recent eMarketer article, mobile apps for social networks - in addition to phones - are under consideration by more marketers than ever before. As you can see in the graphic below, the leading platform for an app (unsurprisingly) was Facebook, followed by the iPhone.

Fewer than half invested in mobile or social apps last year, but most plan to create one this year. Lest you think that this is simply marketers chasing the latest shiny object, or the boss claiming G.M.O.O.T. ("get me one of those!"), there's some solid reasoning behind the choice to move more resources to mobile.

The strategy: create more opportunity for engagement with customers. On social networks, we'll see a greater opportunity for reach, targeting and sharing, but with mobile there's more creative control and the ability to have a message stick with the recipient longer.

And let's face it: we are increasingly moving to a mobile society. As smartphones - the iPhone, Android, Nexus One and others - become more affordable and widely available, we'll see an explosion in mobile access of the web. And with that, customers will require more custom interaction with the sites and brands they're passionate about - in many cases having news and product information come to them directly.

Enter the app. Or, more appropriately, the hundreds of thousands of additional apps we're about to see.

Social Media Predictions for 2010

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 22:35:00 +0000

I'm sure you've seen your fair share of social media predictions for 2010 by now. And while my posting is a little late, I hope I'm note treading too fine a line by waiting until 2010 hits before I make my predictions.

Before I get into what I think will be worth watching this year, let's see how well I fared with the results from the predictions I made for 2009. Those included:

Twitter will continue to achieve legitimacy. Check. There's no question that Twitter became mainstream in 2009. I won't rehash all of the examples, but suffice it to say that when your local news outlets are suggesting you follow them on Twitter, it's mainstream.
Online video will come into its own. Check. YouTube has started to show some signs of revenue generation, and Hulu was advertised during the Super Bowl. Video became more and more important in 2009.
Customers insist on custoMEr service. Check. More interaction on Facebook pages, Twitter, Get Satisfaction and similar sites has customers looking for solutions wherever they can find it, not just via 800 numbers.

Okay, so where does that leave us for 2010? What new trends or changes from last year can we expect?

There's Power in (Smaller) Numbers

Although this new technology has allowed us to connect more quickly and more transparently across the globe, the collective cacophony is simply too much. It's impossible to actively see what all of your followers are saying on Twitter after you've topped 300 or so.

In 2010, I believe we'll begin to see a contraction of networked relationships. We saw a forced version of this last year with Burger King's Whopper Sacrifice, but the proliferation of "friends" on various platforms will have people rethinking the true reason they're involved in these places to begin with. So as users reassess who and why they're connecting, what will hold the most interest for them?

People still trust people like themselves; but the ones they know best are the ones they're most likely to trust. Therefore, it will be the people in their close networks - particularly from a geographic perspective - that will remain the closest. Brands will also realize that they can't be all things to all people, and will focus on those influencers who are the best fit for them.

Note I didn't say "those influencers with the most followers or the highest readership." Long ago, I noted the difference between the theories of Malcolm Gladwell and Duncan Watts, the latter of whom notes that it's the network, not the individual influencer, that makes a difference in how ideas are spread. Expect to see a focus on fewer and stronger relationships in our own networks and in influencer/media relations.

All Social Media is Local
This next trend is one that is relative to the above. The former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill once famously said "All politics is local," meaning that ultimately, people care most about what's going on in communities around them. Social media is no different.

When you follow the recent rise of location-based services like Foursquare or Tripit, it's clear that people want to connect with others by location, as well as share experiences and seek recommendations by those who are well informed. And whether that means connecting in the communities in which they live or those to which they travel, people will begin to use more of these kinds of services. As an adjunct to location-based social networks, expect location-based search to blossom as well.

Related: see Matt Singley's post on Why Foursquare is the next Social Network.

Silent E
If you're of a certain generation in America, you may recall The Adventures of Letterman, a varsity-sweater wearing superhero who rescued victims of alphabet assault-and-battery by the Spellbinder. As Letterman appeared, the voice-over noted that he was "Stronger that a silent E..."

In this case, the E is for email. Yes, email, that seemingly forgotten poor stepchild of social media, that gateway to the online space, that workhorse of digital media. Email is alive and well and living in everyone's inbox. According to ShareThis, 46% of people share content by email - larger than any other social platform. And StrongMail's Social Influence Benchmark Report shows nearly 37% share by email, with 21% sharing by embedded badges.

When you add to this the fact that many in the mainstream still don't know what an RSS feed is or how to use an RSS reader (or that they simply don't use one), it's clear that email subscriptions still rule the roost. Not to mention that email is ubiquitous. It's just generally accepted that everyone has an email address. Despite the hype of social media and social networks as the latest way to connect, every single platform has a common denominator: you need an email address to register.

Expect to see a renewed effort on email marketing, with a nod toward integrating with social media applications and campaigns. With a good content strategy, email is simply the vehicle best suited to share the content.

Related: Users Still Sharing by E-Mail (eMarketer)

Other Trends
While I won't go into as much detail in these, keep your eyes on the mobile space, on fuller integration of PR and marketing, and more focus on quality content in 2010. Overall, the space will begin to show some signs of maturation, and will begin a future trend of being integrated as a part of day-to-day business in many organizations.

Oh, last year I also predicted that social media gurus would continue to self-promote. I see no need to change that this year. ;-)

How about you - any predictions or trends that you'd care to share? Drop a comment in below.

You might want to check out these related posts as well:
Brian Solis says that Mobile is the Next Frontier for Brand Engagement.
Pete Cashmore predicts 10 Web trends to watch in 2010.

eMarketer Weighs in on 2010 Trends and compiles a 2010 Roundup of Predictions
Chris Brogan looks notes that 2010 Will See Consolidations and Fold-ups
Forrester predicts 2010: The Year Marketing Dies
Read Write Web tell us about 10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2010
MediaPost says that 2010 Is the Year Social Media Gets Serious

Photo credit: Stefan

Global Social Network Figures

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:43:00 +0000

When any global company undertakes a social media strategy, there is an expectation that even company-wide initiatives will need to be customized for each region. Whether it's local customs, language or even the device on which the networks are accessed, it's vastly different all over the world. Facebook does not rule the world.

Not yet at least. ;-)

The growth of social networks globally is a sure thing. The question is, where are they growing and which networks are dominant in which markets? Last year, I shared some statistics. Naturally, things have changed.

Here are some interesting graphics, courtesy of Vinco's Blog, that tell the story on social networks around the world.

Here's a breakdown of top three social networks in the top 10 markets:

Is there anything you'd add? Are there social networks in your region that seem to be springing up? What's the next big thing that will spread beyond borders? Drop a comment below and let us know what you're thinking.

Ford's Got a Reason to Fiesta

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:05:00 +0000

Last week, I wrote about how Ford was so thankful to the Fiesta Agents who were in 100 of our vehicles as part of the Fiesta Movement, and how some of them began to show their thanks as they wrapped up their experience.

This week, it got even better.

On Tuesday evening, Ford hosted a tweetup in Hollywood at the famed Palladium, where we brought together more than 90% of the Fiesta Agents in person, their friends, and fans of the Fiesta Movement to celebrate the conclusion of 6 months of activity by these social influencers. It was a remarkable event - check it out on Current - featuring the band Parachute, a short awards ceremony hosted by Jake & Amir, mobile tweeting food vehicles (including the famed KogiBBQ and Coolhaus), and the first reveal of the 2011 Fiesta.

We even managed to score the World's Largest Tweetup according to Guinness World Records, which is now getting into the social media record-keeping business.

And when we were done with that, we brought all of the nearly 100 agents out on the floor of the Los Angeles Auto Show to help us unveil the new cars. You can check the video out on The Ford Story.

And Now, For Something Completely Different

We've completed the first phase of the Fiesta Movement. The numbers were great. But lost in a lot of that was the fact that the pool of 100+ drivers acted as something of a focus group for six months. The agents gave feedback to our design & engineering team so the North American version could be made with drivers like them in mind.

Not only that, but here's the cool part: they've been creating content nonstop for 6 months. And really good content too. So here we have the making for consumer generated media as the cornerstone for some of our early advertising for the 2011 Fiesta:

Now What?

Since the Fiesta won't be delivered until the spring of 2010, there are still a few months to go to continue the online buzz. But how will that happen now that the program is over? The good news is there's a Chapter 2 to this evolving story.

If you liked what you saw over the last six months, now you'll have the opportunity to get involved yourself and apply to be one of the 20 teams of two that will be part of the Fiesta Movement Chapter 2. Just head over to FiestaMovement.com and check out the rules.

And in the meantime, Ford will be continuing to nurture the relationships with the 100 or so agents who had to give their cars back. They'll be part of @FordFiestaAsk, which is being set up to answer questions from people who want to know about the car or the reservation process. You can see the "Real Answers" interface here or follow the hashtag #FiestaAsk.

And on the shopping site, we're giving people a chance to totally customize their car and get some pretty sweet features and a customer experience that are unmatched in this segment. Once your reservation is complete, you'll be able to share it on Twitter and Facebook to tell your friends about it - and show them the design you've chosen.

So that's where we are at this point. Lots of information, I know. But it's exciting stuff. And there's more to come.

Ford is Fiesta Movement's Big Winner

Crushing Doubts About Social Media Marketing

Ford Update: Automaker Launches Chapter 2 of 'Fiesta Movement'

On Giving Thanks

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:30:00 +0000

For those of us in the U.S., we have just celebrated Thanksgiving. It's a time of year when we gather with friends and loved ones to celebrate and give thanks for all that we have and all that we are.

I thought it was entirely appropriate then, to mention that the first segments of Ford's famed Fiesta Movement is coming to a close. And Ford has a lot to be thankful for. A bit of background, just in case you're not familiar with the program.

The Beginning of a Movement

First of all, why the term "movement"? The Brand & Content Alliance team that put this program together likened it to a social movement - which as defined by dictionary.com is a diffusely organized or heterogeneous group of people or organizations tending toward or favoring a generalized common goal. The collective awareness of and excitement around this new vehicle would be the goal.

In late 2008, Ford re-launched the Fiesta as an all-new vehicle in Europe. The name had been around for some 30 years, but the new Fiesta was to be something special indeed. This would Ford's first truly global platform car, which means that it will be nearly identical in any country you find it. Since the car was already available in Europe and would not launch in the U.S. until the spring of 2010, there was a unique opportunity at hand.

So, earlier this year, Ford announced that we would be making 100 Euro-spec Fiestas available to individuals or teams who proved they were socially vibrant and could take part in a 6-month long experiment, during which we would loan them a vehicle. The only requirement was that they would have to produce one video a month based on a theme (Travel, Technology, Style/Design, Social Activism, Adventure, Entertainment). Other than that, the Fiesta Agents (they received assignments, or "missions," from Mission Control) could say whatever they wanted about the vehicle. And we aggregated all of their content on fiestamovement.com - unedited, uncensored, in real time.

In addition to building buzz, we solicited feedback from the agents as to what they liked and didn't like about the vehicle. We shared that input directly with our engineering team and they were able to make a few tweaks to the North American version of the Fiesta before production was locked down.

Results
The program is just winding to a close, but the output has been impressive.

Of the 700 or so videos that the agents have produced, we've seen 6.5 million views on YouTube.
Their Flickr photos have been viewed more than 670,000 times
There have been over 3.4 million impressions of Fiesta Movement on Twitter.
Over 50,000 hand-raisers have indicated that they want more information about the vehicle as it goes on sale
97% of those 50,000 do not own Ford vehicles.
There is a 58% level of awareness of the Fiesta - for a vehicle that's not even available in this country yet, which is the equivalent of the awareness of some of our vehicles that have been in market for 2-3 years.
All with $0 in traditional advertising.

More information on the vehicle and the program can be found on Ford's Media site.

It's a Celebration

To help celebrate the success of our agents, Ford is throwing a little party - a fiesta of sorts, you might say - in Hollywood on Tuesday, December 1. We're hoping to make it the world's largest tweetup - and you're invited. Not only that, but as a community, we can work together to make the record a possibility. More on that in a moment.

The event will salute the agents - some 90% of whom will be in attendance - with awards. The band Parachute will perform and music will be spun by DJ Pesce, all while Current TV roams around, giving you a chance to be seen on television. Not to mention that the North American Ford Fiesta will be revealed for the first time. Add to that some celebrities, weblebrities and lots of interaction, and you've got a rockin' party.

Here's Where You Come In

We'd love to see you at the party. Here are the details:

Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Time: 8:00 p.m.

Location: Hollywood Palladium, 6215 W. Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, CA (map)

You can RSVP on Eventbrite if you think you'll be in California next week. If not, please share the link with anyone in your network who might be in the area and encourage them to attend. There are a number of social networks built into Eventbrite, or you can tweet out something like this:

Ford Invites You To a Hollywood Fiesta! http://bit.ly/FiestaParty

We'd like to make sure we've got lots of people there who are connected to the program, the agents, or to our extended networks in some way. This is a great way to show the power of social media.

Giving Thanks

As I intoned in the opening paragraph, this time of year is about giving thanks and also about reflecting on what's happened in the past year. I'm reminded of Thornton Wilder's play "Our Town," in which the characters were reminded that it's important to stop and consider the little things in life. One of them lamented:

"It goes so fast. We don't have time to look at one another."

You can imagine that the Fiesta Agents, with their frenetic schedules over the last six months, have had little time to reflect. But already, even before the program is over, I've already seen a few of them stop to acknowledge how lucky they've been to be part of the program. Notably Hilary McHone (aka @BrooklynHilary) and Natasha Wescoat (@natasha). There may be others; these are the ones I recall seeing in a blur last week.

We have a lot to be thankful for at Ford this year. But that will be another post. Until then, I hope I'll be able to see you in Hollywood. If you can't be there, follow the #fiestamovement hashtag on Twitter on Tuesday night. It'll be a real fiesta.

Related article: Ford's Got a Reason to Fiesta

Enough Is Enough

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:07:00 +0000

The spam and other unsolicited DMs I've been getting on Twitter have finally gotten to me. And I'm going to be taking action.

A Bit of Background

You know the kind of direct messages I'm talking about, all with spammy links in them:

"Is this you on here?"

"I just gave you a High Five! Check it out"

"Hey, I got some free ringtones from here"

"Hey, can you take this quiz thingy?"

"I found out my IQ. You should too."

"I lost a bunch of weight doing this."

And many, many more.

Lots of the direct messages I get are of the automated sort when people first start following me. Having been someone who used to do that - mainly to let people know how I preferred to communicate - I can understand the need to do that. But what I've been seeing lately is out of control. It's gotten to the point where these disruptive DMs have crippled my ability to monitor and respond to legitimate direct messages. I'm spending more time deleting or ignoring messages, at the risk of missing messages from people I want to hear from.

Reciprocity

For a long time, I've believed that when someone follows me on Twitter, it's common courtesy to follow them back. What I have to say shouldn't be any more important than what anyone else has to say - that's one of the great features of social networks: true democracy at work. I realize that this isn't everyone's style, but it's been something I consciously chose to do.

A tool I've used pretty successfully to manage this (rather than eat up my time manually following people back) has been SocialOomph, which was previously known as TweetLater. It allows you to automatically follow (and unfollow) people back, among other nifty features.

But lately, my Twitter stream as well as my direct message inbox has been polluted with spammy posts. The recent addition of Twitter lists, which have allowed me to begin to categorize some of the people I follow, has been helpful - you can check mine out here - but I'm finding it's not enough.

No More

I've decided that from now on, I can no longer afford to follow people back automatically, so I'm suspending that feature from my SocialOomph account. If you wish to be followed by me, you'll have to request it and I'll have to ensure that what you're saying provides value to me.

In addition, I'm going to be unfollowing anyone who spams me with these Facebook-like apps that send automated direct messages or anyone who DMs or @s me their latest money-making schemes.

I haven't gotten to the point where I'm purging and rebuilding my Twitter followers, nor do I feel like I need to go that extreme thanks to the addition of lists, but if this level of spammy behavior keeps up, I may have to revisit that decision.

I suppose this is a natural extension of a service or platform going mainstream. But for those who use Twitter for more meaningful connections and communications, it's frustrating. I hope that Twitter management has a plan to try to minimize this.

Update: reader Andy Michaels notes that SocialOomph has an opt-out service that takes care of automated DMs.

Image credit: Chris Pirillo (Flickr)

When Worlds Collide

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:04:00 +0000

Well, it's finally here. Twitter and LinkedIn have decided to combine forces. This is pretty significant, and I know that it'll make it easier to share job opportunities and other more networking opportunities that are more professional in nature.

I won't bore you with all of the details, but you can now update your LinkedIn status via Twitter, and your Twitter status from LinkedIn. If you'd like to see how to go about it, check out the post on the LinkedIn blog.

One of the features I like best is how you can select which updates you want posted to LinkedIn - everything or just those posts tagged with #in.

In December of 2008, I predicted that Twitter would attain legitimacy in 2009. Aside from it being used by pretty much every major media outlet, not to mention a good number of celebrities, I think we're there. The fact that a site as grounded in the business world as LinkedIn would choose to align with Twitter is a huge nod to the 140 character service.

Of course, two things need to be considered as these seemingly different worlds come together:

1. If LinkedIn is the business meeting and Twitter is the cocktail party, we need to be very careful with the alcohol intake at work, so to speak. ;-)

2. Twitter has its own language - some of which can be very confusing to outsiders. As our updates cross into new territory, we need to be mindful of how our networks understand us. This tweet from Mandi Engram says it all:

So there you have it. Twitter. LinkedIn. Two great tastes that taste great together. Or something like that.

What do you think? Will you use this service?

Image credit: K e v i n (Flickr)

What's a Brand to Do?

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:03:00 +0000

Say you work for a brand. Customers have more access to you than ever - and you've got a wealth of choices as far as channels go: traditional marketing, online & interactive, gaming, mobile, social media, etc.

But for your customers that are interested in interacting online, what do you think they want from you? And what should you do when you connect with them? Look no further! eMarketer Daily has very helpfully published a piece on Lightspeed Research's "Global Web Index."

What do customer want from the brands they love? Information, mostly (well, after a good discount, anyway). Ultimately, they want value. They're not there to be "friends," or to get your time-wasting app - they want something that's relevant to them that helps push the relationship forward.

Something to think about when thinking about your online strategy.

Chart courtesy of eMarketer.

Posted via web from The Full Monty

Recent Twitter Statistics

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:50:00 +0000

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released some statistics about Twitter and other similar services that Americans use to post updates about themselves. The bottom line? About one in five Americans uses such a service.

Click here for a larger image.

Another interesting phenomenon is that we're seeing more young people using Twitter now. There have been anecdotal reports that young people were shying away from Twitter, but we can see the hard numbers here:

The median age for Twitter is now 31, while MySpace is down 26 from its previous 27 in May of 2008; and Facebook has risen significantly from 27 in May 2008 to 33 now.

There's a lot to digest in the study, but these are a few highlights that stood out. Anything interesting catch your eye? Please consider leaving a comment below.

Chart courtesy of MarketingCharts.

No Kidding

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:21:00 +0000

I originally wrote this over a year ago, but I think it deserves another go around, as there seem to be even more social media "experts" out there. Please add your suggestion to the comments section or on Twitter with the hashtag #smbulb and let's see how many responses we can get.

Stop me if you've heard this.

Yesterday, I asked a question on Twitter - one that Joseph Jaffe rhetorically asked on his blog - I posed it as a joke and asked for responses.

The question was: How many social media experts does it take to change a lightbulb? My original answer on Joe's blog was: "309. One to come up with the idea, three to turn it into a strategy, five to execute it, and 300 to influence someone else to do it."

Naturally, responses to my question were far better than my lame punchline. Here are some examples of what I received:

@mncahill: 14,465 to twitter about the need for "LightBulbCamp" and one to hire a developer to change it.

@scottaparks: None, it never gets changed. They are too busy looking for a better bulb!

@cohnjoyne: before I tell you how many soc media experts it takes to screw in a light bulb, full disclosure, GE is a client of mine

@adam_rosenberg: at least 10. that way you have 1 to change it and at least 9 to tweet about it.

@scottstead: A: 500, Chris Brogan to ask the question, 495 to respond, 3 to organize #changealightbulbweek08, 1 to change the lightbulb

@ScottWitsToo: 3. One to change bulb. Two to discuss how we could change light bulbs better if only we could talk ad nauseum about the process

@LewisG: At least two, so an argument over the ethics of monetization can occur.

@jtobin: A team of 6 will happily consult, but nobody actually wants to execute the light bulb change for you. :-)

And this one from @jeffglasson: 4, Mitch Joel to give 6 steps to open the package, Brogan to write a 100 blog post series on the process, L. Feldman to score the puppet adaptation, and CC Chapman to actually screw the lightbulb in and get the job done!

My favorite was from @dmscott: What's your budget?

Got a retort humorous? Let me know by leaving a comment, or share the joke with some friends.

Photo credit: zetson (Flickr)

Posted via web from The Full Monty

Why Apple & Google Win - and Your Company Doesn't

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:03:00 +0000

It's all about usability.

Common sense dictates that the easier something is to accomplish, the more readily it will be passed along. What information do you ask your customers to submit? And of that, which is really necessary? Less is more.

Courtesy of Stuff That Happens.

Posted via web from The Full Monty

Don't Waste My Time

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:19:00 +0000

I'm perfectly capable of wasting it myself.

According to a recent poll by Ruder Finn, 100% of the people on the Internet go online to pass the time. But what other activities do they say they primarily use it for?

For those of you interested in the social space, 92% want to connect with others, 76% wish to discuss, 72% aspire to be part of a community, and 56% desire to influence others, and 52% hope to activate support. Those are pretty strong numbers.

Especially when you compare them to the percentage of people who wish to manage finances, comparison shop or join a cause (all 30% or less). Hmm. I wonder if that means we'll have a generation of people who are too busy yapping with each other to pay attention to how they spend their money?

Unless they connect and discuss personal finances with others in an influential community. :-)

Chart source: eMarketer

Posted via web from The Full Monty

Recent Facebook Demographics

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:56:00 +0000

If you get a chance, check out the latest statistics from InsideFacebook.com. Please keep in mind that these are only number for the United States. But there are some things that stand out:

Looking at percentages, the highest growth rate is coming from the over-45 demographic:

While the absolute number of members is smaller in that group, the growth rate is fascinating to watch. I would imagine this will eventually slow, as we've seen with the younger demographic, until it normalizes. In anecdotal conversations, I'm finding that many people from this demographic are using Facebook to connect with high school and college friends (especially as we move into reunion time), stay in touch with children and grandchildren, and even begin to use it for some business networking purposes.

Another worthwhile graph from the post breaks down current U.S. users by age:

If you bundle up the groups, you'll find that the 35 and older crowd makes up 38% of Facebook's population here in the U.S. Pretty cool when you consider that Facebook started about five years ago as a college-based tool.

And finally, looking at gender, we find that - in every single segment - there are more female users than male users of Facebook:

While we know that overall women use social networks more than men, I wonder how many of us are using that knowledge to effectively feed our marketing and communications programs? Seems like there's a good opportunity there.

Do any of these data strike you differently? Can you draw any conclusions or make inferences that I've missed? Let me know.

Chart credit: InsideFacebook.com

Posted via web from The Full Monty

Fear and Loathing in Social Media

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:14:00 +0000

You would think at this point that we'd be up to curiosity or even playful experimentation.

But it seems that, according to the e-tailing group and PowerReviews' survey earlier this month that brands are still hesitant to entirely give over to the power of social media for fear of (what else?) loss of control of their brand and concerns about their competence. A secondary fear is that consumers might find social sites more engaging than the brands' sites, and therefore stop visiting the brands'

sites.

I may be oversimplifying this a bit, but if I were at a brand that was concerned customers might leave my site for a better site I might, oh, I don't know...maybe BUILD A MORE ENGAGING SITE?!?!?!

That's only a start. Another course is to engage with consumers where they want to be reached. When the surveyed companies state that their goals of using social media are: to increase engagement, build brand loyalty, and spur word of mouth. If that's the case, you don't get there by (a) ignoring where the rest of the world is going; or (b) burying your head in the sand in terms of these sites.

The good news is that half of the suggested activities/sites mentioned in the survey (Facebook page, Twitter, customer reviews, blogs and viral [sic] videos) are already accepted or used by more than half of the respondents. That's a great start, but there's more potential.

Before I make a recommendation, I'd like to review a crude approximation that I've been working on - it's how some brands and agencies approach social media with trepidation. Because it's not unlike how humans deal with grief, I've developed a similar model for marketers:

The 5 Stages of Social Media Grief

(With apologies to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.)

Denial - first stage of social media grief in which the marketer refuses to acknowledge the existence of social media. This was the case early on in the industry's development. Luckily, I don't think there are many companies left that think like this.
Common phrases: "It's just a kid's thing," or "It's just a fad."
Common behaviors: avoiding the Internet, putting hands over ears and singing "I can't heeeeeaaaarr yoooouuuuu. La la laaaaa."

Anger - In the second stage, jealousy and rage are misplaced and rage ensues.
Common phrases: "This is stupid," "I've got better things to do with my time."
Common behaviors: full-fledged slave to work email; increase in print or television media buy to show effectiveness and superiority.

Bargaining -Anger gives way to hope that incremental adoption of social media will be enough to make a difference.
Common phrases: "If we have a Facebook page, we should be covered," "Let's just create a blog," or "Let the agency figure it out."
Common behaviors: the use of social media only in time-limited campaigns; half-hearted efforts on a limited number of social sites.

Depression -The fourth stage manifests itself in an understanding that the inevitable cannot be delayed and the marketer becomes doleful.
Common phrases: "Twitter/Google/Facebook is taking over the world," or "We're overwhelmed with choices."
Common behaviors: moping; pacing; complaining to friends on Facebook.

Acceptance -With the final stage, the marketer finally realizes that social media is here to stay and begins to determine ways to integrate activities and craft strategies that are truly integrated.
Common phrases: "Let's craft a comprehensive social media strategy," or "Let's spend some time listening to what consumers are saying about us."
Common behaviors: integration of marketing and communications functions, determination of measurement goals, online and offline alignment from the beginning of projects.

As we know in dealing with emotional grief, you can't skip steps - you have to go through them. Some folks may be stubborn and may take a while, while others may be ahead of the curve and breeze through them quickly. [Aside: in 2004, when I heard Elisabeth Kubler-Ross died, my grieving went as follows: "No that can't be true. Curse you, Lord, no just God would take her from us. I wish she was back. Geez, life stinks. Oh, well, that's the circle of life."].

Now, in order to address those fears and to get on with the acceptance, why not start by aligning your social media activities with your business plan and your overall marketing and communications objectives? A second step would be to listen, listen and listen - get a sense as to what's being said about your brand and how people engage on these social platforms.

And then if you'd like to make a more engaging site for customers, consider integrating or aggregating content from third party social sites or services right there on your own web page. Give people a chance to find contextually relevant material from other sources on your site. We've done it on the Fiesta Movement site and we continue to do it in a variety of ways on The Ford Story.

The thinking there is that people will go out and search for other peoples' opinions on your products anyway. Why not give them something contextually relevant while they're on your site and provide value? It's an acknowledgment - dare I say acceptance? - that the world around us is changing.

Photo credit: tavopp on Flickr

Chart credit: eMarketer

Are You Really Satisfying Your Customers?

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:27:00 +0000

We all know that social media plays a part in customer service.

As business becomes more fierce, margins shrink and barriers to entry are almost nonexistent in some areas, the competitive advantage that many companies can leverage exists in an often-overlooked but absolutely essential part of the marketing team: customer service.

And for every new company that springs up to supply solutions to problems we didn't know we had, there are many companies that already exist and are competing in a commoditized market. "There is nothing new under the sun," the quote goes. And for those organizations, one of the accepted methods of differentiation is customer service. This itself isn't (or shouldn't be) news. Brian Solis and Valeria Maltoni both wrote that customer service is the new marketing a while back.

Examples abound

Because this is not a new concept, there are countless instances of companies stepping up their customer service efforts, particularly in the social media space. Here are a few to note:

Comcast is the shining example of customer service on Twitter, led primarily through the efforts of the head of their digital team, Frank Eliason (aka @comcastcares on Twitter).
Recently, Best Buy ran national TV spots promoting their Twelpforce - a legion of their "blue shirts" available to help people who submit questions for Best Buy via Twitter.
And Zappos bills themselves as "a customer service company" as they train every single employee on customer service and even have Twitter baked into their corporate site.
Get Satisfaction has become a place where consumers and industry alike monitor and comment on, in an effort for more transparent dialog.

Customers now expect an immediate answer online - something I see every day through the @Ford and @FordCustService accounts on Twitter.

Speed isn't everything

But a recent survey written up by Dave Dougherty and Ajay Murthy in the Harvard Business Review called What Service Customers Really Want demonstrates that speed isn't necessarily the answer. According to the survey,

Evidence shows that customers will no longer tolerate the rushed and inconvenient service that has become all too common. Instead, they are looking for a satisfying experience. Companies that provide it will win their loyalty.

The question is no longer how quickly can you provide customer service, but how effectively?

When people are crunched for time (as nearly all of us are these days), the experience you give them on their first effort to reach you had better be the way you want them to remember you. Because, like the old cliche "you never get a second chance to make a first impression," their primary expectations are (1) that your front line representatives to have answers, and (2) that their needs are addressed on the first call. And as the article indicates, those two categories aren't even on the measurement dashboard for most customer service entities - they're still measuring time on hold and minutes per call.

If anything, your customer service operation needs to be aligned not only with your marketing and communications organizations, but more importantly, with your customers. For customer service areas that simply field complaints and don't impact customer loyalty really aren't doing your organization any favors.

Photo credit: libraryman on Flickr

Social Media Books & Experts

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:48:00 +0000

One thing that has always puzzled me is the sheer number of books about social media. When your industry changes almost daily - not to mention that it's one rooted in the digital space - is it helpful to read (or write) books about it?

At the same time we've seen the rise of the social media "expert," we've seen a proliferation of books on the topic. From a business perspective, it's not surprising: it's a hot topic; everyone is trying to make sense of it; and people will cash in while they have the chance. But someone new to this space needs to be aware of who's the true leader and who is the charlatan.

Calling oneself an expert does not an expert make;

that label is usually granted by peers who recognize talent.

A good place to start as you try to figure this stuff out is to see who's following whom. While the social media space tends to be filled with a lot of people who are reciprocal in their follows, you can easily see who some of the stand-outs are. Check the blogrolls (links to other blogs) that are recommended by your favorite bloggers. See who pops as a thought leader. See who resonates with you.

Another way is to see how many of them have written a book. There's a great list of the Top 100 Best Social Media Books Ever (well at least as of the writing of that particular blog post) that I can recommend. But again, that's quite a list. And some of the newer books don't appear on it.

Here are six of the latest titles by people whom I respect, with links to their blogs:

Chris Brogan, Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust. Chris is a prolific writer, cranking out multiple posts a day, all while running New Media Labs and tweeting until his fingers are raw. There's a lot of common sense in his work. And his book is all about trust. I trust Chris and can recommend his work highly.

Shel Israel, Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods. Shel has been in the communications field for a long time. But his insights are as fresh as ever. He co-authored Naked Conversations with Robert Scoble and his latest book is all about Twitter. Fair warning: it's longer than 140 characters.

Mitch Joel, Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone. Mitch is a super smart guy who has been chronicling the development of the online vs. offline world for quite some time. His blog and podcast are always thoughtful and inspirational. And he's one of the four bald guys who seem to haunt the new marketing world, yet whom we never see all in one place at one time. Weird, I know.

David Meerman Scott, World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories. David is probably one of the best public speakers I know. But his talents don't stop at the spoken word. He clearly demonstrates his ideas with case studies - and ones that aren't expected. After reading his stuff, you'll rave too.

Seth Godin, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. If you don't know Seth Godin, you should. Or perhaps I should say, you will. He has rocketed every one of his books to the top of the charts in creative and innovative ways. His blog is filled with observations about Marketing and marketing - by that I mean the craft as well as daily thoughts about how companies and individuals can differentiate themselves. And yes, he's one of those bald guys.

Gary Vaynerchuk, Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion. Say it with me: VAY-ner-chuk! Gary is a force of nature. Host of the amazing Wine Library TV, Gary has amassed a mini empire on his way to eventually owning the New York Jets. His keynotes and speeches are filled with the fire that comes straight from his belly, and his book will no doubt inspire the same level of commitment that his appearances do.

If anything, the takeaway from these authors is: if you want

a successful book, make sure you've got a colon in the title. ;-)

Feel free to click around and check out their writing in whichever format appeals to you. And pass along those that resonate with you. Share them with you coworkers, your boss, your friends. Have you got other reading recommendations? I'd love to hear from you in the comment section below.

Amazon.com Widgets

Photo credit: Patrick Gage (Flickr)

Panel Picker Pentathlon

wsmonty@gmail.com (Scott Monty) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:31:00 +0000

One of the great features of the South by Southwest Interactive conference (that's SXSWi to you) is the plethora of panels and speakers there are to hear from. In many cases, you have to make hard choices because of an embarrassment of riches, so to speak.

If you've never gone to SXSW, I strongly recommend it, whether you're learning about social media or you're a representative for your company in the field. You'll meet plenty of other talented and like-minded individuals, you'll see new technology debuted (it's where Twitter first made a big splash), and you'll be able to hear some industry thought leaders. Not to mention you'll have a chance to keep Austin weird. If you can only attend one social media conference a year, make it this one.

Each year, the organizers of SXSW open it up to us plebs to select which panels we'd most like to see. Never one to say no, I've been asked by five different individuals to be part of their panels. Here they are. Feel free to vote for (or against) as many as you like.

#youFAIL: Respond or Die in Social Media - featuring Planet Hollywood and Miramax Films, moderated by Kirk Skodis
Social Networking for Dealers: Cultivate Relationships First - moderated by Mary Butler from Razorfish
Virtual Experience vs. Advertising to Change Brand Perception - with ABC and Qik, moderated by Tom Martin
Building Social Strategies at Fortune 100 Companies - a who's-who of brands, from SAP to Microsoft, Nationwide Insurance to IBM and Dell and moderated by Jim Storer
Can You Tame the Twitter Beast? These Brands Think So - Jesse Engle, CEO of CoTweet moderates this panel that inclues Whole Foods, Sports Illustrated and Starbucks.

But be kind. I'd like a chance to see some panels as well. ;-) And while you're at it, take a look around the Interactive Panel Picker and select some others. There are plenty to choose from.

Photo credit: The Laughing Squid (Flickr)

Posted via web from The Full Monty