Landing Pages, The Herpes of Social Media

You click on a link that interests you; an article or a whitepaper that seems interesting. As your eyes cross the title, the page blurs and your line of sight is obstructed. All you need to do to read this article is SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER! or give us all your contact info and we'll email you the whitepaper.What is this madness? Give up your name, email, address and phone number just to read an article? Click it away and seconds later it's back like a virus. SUBSCRIBE NOW!

You have encountered the herpes of Social Media - the Landing Page.

It is absolutely true that Landing Pages increase conversion. It is also true that they help qualify leads. They also annoy most of the people who will ever come across your site and drive them away instantly. "I like you, but you should know...I have a landing page."

Landing pages are pernicious. They break visitor concentration, they refocus their interest from content (or product or service) to the ugly business of buying and selling. How serious are you about getting subscribers? So serious that you will interrupt your own message to bring your reader this important message about you.

It's perfectly fine to ask for someone's phone number, but usually we do it after we've talked a bit. Landing Pages may be great for your business, but they are even better for letting people know you have no time or interest in anyone who isn't doing something for you.

How to Handle The Mundane in Online Community's Customer Support

You've got your Online Community up and running and it's going well...until the complaints start pouring in. You've got FAQs up for how to get login assistance and what to do if a password won't work..but what on earth are you supposed to do when two people just don'e seem to get along? Or how do you handle complaints that a poster's question aren't getting answers...or that someone else is being mean to them?

As anyone who has worked in customer support can tell you - the bulk of customer support is telling people answers to questions that have clear answers already written and functioning as playground supervisors.

So how do you handle the mundane in online community customer support?

First, craft rules that state plainly and simply what types of conflicts the site administration is willing to become involved in. These will have to take into account the ages of the user base, the purpose for which the site was created and miscellany abuses of the system that can occur.

Secondly, give your admins tools to make and enforce rulings, and support for those decisions. When someone on the frontline identifies an abusive personality, telling them they "have to work around them, because they are a sponsor" is the worst possible thing for the community.

Thirdly, provide a clear and concise method for complaints. "If someone is abusing/offending you on our site, do this:"  Then follow up. Quickly. Don't dither. Investigate the claims, make a decision, communicate it. Make sure that admins are audited themselves, so their bad decisions don't ruin the site. (This has happened at many of the communities I've been part of.)

Give users block/ignore/mute tools to users so they can control what and who they see. (I don't know why sites so often forget this. When a person is a troll, but a user can still see their comments, it's like a continuing slap to the face.)

Actually investigate issues. Don't write them off as "mundane complaints." It's annoying, yes, and you feel like a kindergarten teacher, yes. That's site adminning and moderation. If you have something else that needs your time, hire an admin to do the dirty work. Make the process transparent. There may well be a very irksome person serially taunting and just being a jerk. Get rid of them....quickly.  Because:

Make unpopular decisions. Be the grown-up. "You - you - to opposite corners!" It's annoying, but what on earth do you think humans are? ^_^ We're annoying. If a teacher doesn't make the bad kid leave the room, it will ruin playtime for all the other kids,

With every new wave of subscribers, you'll need to circle to the top of the list. You can never be perfect, or be everything to everyone, but with clear guidelines, and support tools, you'll be able to handle things more consistently than if you just toss your moderation out to the wolves with "block" and no rules. 

The 4 Pillars of A Healthy Online Community

Whether we're reaching out to a specialized subject community or to a broad social network, we're looking to our contacts online for information, suggestion and recommendation all the time.

More of our lives is spent online in the communities we join and build, and more of our time is spent handling the issues that arise in these spaces. Communities exist on investing sites, shopping sites, health sites and entertainment sites. There is hardly anywhere online one can go where a community is not at least part of the equation.

The question then is - how do we build healthy online communities?


Defining Community vs Network

For the purposes of this article, I want to define how I am using the word "community" vs. "network." 

A "network" in this context is the web of contacts, acquaintances, friends and colleagues we acquire over time. These may be circumstantial - professional colleagues, coworkers, etc.;  or social - friends, relatives, acquaintances. Networks may be organic and/or intentional.

Communities are, for the purposes of this article, always intentional. A professional community may be an association, a personal community may be a group focused on a hobby or interest. Networks can grow without our specific intent to do so (a friend introducing us to another friend for example) but we seek out community with intention.

Groups on Facebook, subReddits, hashtags on Twitter and other smaller pockets of interest on larger platforms can function as communities, as well as focused lists, forums, sites and even whole social networks.

Online Communities are, therefore, groups of people we intentionally seek out in order to...what? 

People seek out community to gain/share/impart information.

The guy who tells you about this lunch on Twitter - he's imparting information. Not very relevant or targeted information, admittedly, but hey, there may be someone out there who cares that Taco Tuesday at the Taco Stand is outstanding. It might be noise to you, but it's signal to the guy who shared it.

So when we seek out community, we have the intention of finding folks who will share info that is more signal than noise - i.e., stuff we care about. This may be information of relevance to us professionally or personally, but the point is, we look for a "community" where this kind of information will be shared.  

When we join a community, we are all initially consumers of information. We might read FAQs, ask a few folks for their thoughts, read what is being said. We join to gain information.  We join as "consumers" of information. Over time, some people find themselves with the right experience or temperament to share or impart information. These people contribute information. (Contribution is sometimes rewarded with badges of achievement or rank.) Generally speaking, even new people can see that there is an upper class of users. These may be called senior members, power users (or the star-chamber cabal, depending on the level of resentment harbored by non-power users) and they will have both cognitive authority and be the object of resentment on even a healthy community.

Building a Healthy Community

Every community want to be a healthy community. Like our own bodies, there's a certain amount of health one can establish as a solid base on which to build. For a community, these include good moderation, inclusive policies, scalable architecture and a soupcon of humor when dealing with other humans. I.e., the hardware, the software and the humanware should be as flexible and scalable as possible.

On this base are Four Pillars that support the Community.

       Contributor                                             Contributor

Top-Down Communication	Peer Communication
Peer Communication	Bottom-Up Communication

        Consumer                                              Consumer

Consumers come into a community with a desire to know, learn or share.

Let's create a fictitious community called Labville, where high school students can discuss scientific experiments with other students and get prompts from older students and teachers.

Adam joins Labville first as a Consumer. He reads posts by Barb and Charlie, both students who have done the same experiment he's working on now. Adam asks a few questions, but mostly reads. He is a consumer involved in Bottom-up Communication. Once he's learned that Daniella is doing the same experiments and has similar ideas as he does, he starts to talk to her as a peer. Adam and Daniella are joined in their "Experiment Y" discussion by Eugene and Frieda. A peer group is forming between them and they generally don't reach outside of it unless they need help from Barb and Charlie. The groups now engages regularly in Peer-to-Peer Communication.

George arrives and he's...a problem. For whatever reason, he's taken a disliking to Adam and snipes constantly at his work. Whether Adam asks a question, replies to someone else  - and even though he generally avoids conversations where George is active - George goes out of his way to be rude to and about Adam.

Barb and Charlie, as Contributors, will try to hold the conversations on topic and maybe Harriet, a Labville Moderator, will step in.

These Contributors will shape the conversation through Top-Down Communication.  Because Labville is not a hobbyist community, but is focused around asymmetric relationships (people who know and people who want to know) Contributors contribute by answering questions, positing thought-provoking questions of their own and guiding and focusing conversation. Top-Down Communication serves to keep conversation moving forward, or restarts it after it stalls. One of the goals of Top-Down is to inspire Peer-to-Peer Conversation among Consumers by helping them over humps in their learning

George has been behaving, but after a few months, he's started up again. Barb and Charlie have both moved on as Contributors (as a natural part of the Community Lifecycle,) but Ike and Justine are now very active Contributors. As Moderator, Harriet needs a private place to warn them about George and ask them to let her know if there are issues. The Contributors need a space for Peer-to-Peer Communication of their own, to foster best community practices, share critical operating information, training materials and provide a space for them to discuss the Consumers who might serve the community well as Contributors or even Moderators.

Peer-to-Peer Communication at both Consumer and Contributor levels fosters teamwork (and cliques.) Top-Down Communication provides a steady hand at the rudder and Bottom-Up Communication means there's opportunities for Consumers to learn and grow in the community.

These four pillars, standing on a foundation of good community practices, will be stable enough and strong enough to support a healthy, sustainable community for a long lifecycle.

Get Bigger (Better) Impact from Your Facebook Status Updates

Facebook is easy. Too easy. It takes very little effort to craft a status that gets Likes from friends, family or folks who want you to think kindly of them. But for your Business Page, just any old status update isn't likely to get the response you're really looking for. Here are a few simple tactics you can use to increase the impact of your Facebook status updates.

Know What Action You Want People To Do - Then Tell Them To Do It

I was speaking to someone recently who expressed a concern that people were not "Like"ing or commenting on their status updates. There was nothing at all wrong with their posts, but nowhere did they indicate the desired action. It wasn't surprising then that people didn't know what they were supposed to do.

"Like" now to express interest in this new design

"Leave a comment" to let us know if you want this flavor

"Share" this article with your network

Each of these seems a bit demanding, but remember, on Facebook, people are being bombarded constantly by multiple media, and a steady stream of requests, news, opinions and miscellany. Make your desired action simple and state it plainly to help your readers know what you expect.


Draw Attention to the Media

Not everyone likes words as much as I do. Many people prefer visual or audio cues, Facebook makes it extremely simple to share many kinds of media. So how do you get yours noticed?

When you post an update with an attached picture, sound clip or video, you want people to look (or listen) to it. Small things, like gobbledygook URLS or generic commentary about the host site will make readers' eyes glaze over with confusion.

But don't worry, Facebook now lets you edit metadata for all media. Let's say I want to upload a simple picture to my personal FB page. I could grab it from my Flickr account.

Notice the URL and the title. They aren't terribly meaningful to anyone. And Facebook isn't picking up the image as a thumbnail.

To edit information like the image title, or the metadata, scroll your mouse over the words you want to edit:

The editable data will turn yellow to indicate that you can edit it. Click those words and a text box will appear:

Then edit the title. You can do the same with the description. Instead of generic metadata from Flickr, you can customize the content for that update.

However, we're still left with the issue of  the missing thumbnail and the gobbledygook URL.

Uploading links to photosharing sites on the fly is fine, but to ensure your post has a thumbnail, upload the picture directly to a Facebook Photo Album.

Write a meaningful status update, indicating what you'd like people to do, and what they are looking at.

With customized information and a clear status update, the end result is worth it. (Keep in mind that this is a personal page, with appreciably less viewers than a business page.)

Don't Confuse the Issue

Now that you have a chance to make greater impact, don't get too enthusiastic. If you ask your followers to do too much at once, your message will get muddled.

Above, I asked people to "look" at the picture and "Like" it. If I then added, "and can I get your opinion on the shade of purple? Do you think it's too dark? Or should I go with a lighter color?" some people will comment, some will "like" and others will get tired before they get to the end of the status.


Don't Forget the Basics

Of course, with this, you still need to engage and respond to comments when you receive them. Don't forget to reward them with  - at the very least - thanks and acknowledgement for their contributions to your page, their questions and comments. These power of Facebook is that you get to see names of your customers so there's less chance of them becoming faceless numbers. They are not "The Consumer," they are the people you interact with every day.

Be descriptive and clear, remember to engage and thank and you will be on the road to much higher impact on your FB status updates.

Three Reasons Why You *Really* Shouldn't Automate Social Media

One of the unwritten rules of excellent Social Media is  - don't automate your Social Media. When a so-called Social Media Expert tries to convince you that a piece of software can make your Social Media a snap, it's a good bet that they have no idea what they are doing.

It's very apparent, however, that it is possible to automate Social Media - Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and even Empire Avenue, provide ways of doing just that. So....where's the disconnect? If you can make Social Media simpler through automation, why not just do it? Here's three critical reasons why you should make each and every connection personal:

Lack of Customization Looks Insincere

When you format a Tweet, you have 140 characters total. There needs to be no preamble, no sign-off. Everyone knows this, and no one considers it inappropriate. On your mailing list, however, this would be seen as terse - at best - and really just plain rude by most people. You're missing a chance to be approachable and human with a simple greeting and sign-off or, if you have the kind of list that uses customized images and formats, a slick-looking message. What works best for Facebook might be a short intro to the link, the link and a personal comment about the link. On LinkedIn, you'll probably want to add a line or two of insight or application.

When you boilerplate your communications, it signals insincerity. Take the time to make each communication count for maximum impact on that platform.

It Puts A Barrier Between You and Your Message

Let's say you have a blog, a Mailing List and Facebook. When you automate your Social Media, on the one hand it shows consistency, but on the other, it begins to take on a corporate slickness that makes it less human. There's one message there, and no real person behind that message. How long does it really take to email your List and let them know something terrific is happening? That personal touch gives your message a voice - and a face.

Taking a moment to write authentic communications gives your audience a voice to hear, and a person to respond to.


Closes You Off To Response

Once you've begun to automate Social Media, you'll save a lot of time. That's the rationalization, but is it true? Aside from the obvious point that taking 5-10 minutes a day to connect with people isn't really asking all that much; when you save those seconds, what are you planning on doing with them? Because you've automated your communications with your audience, the barrier you've placed between them and you goes both ways -  are you going to take the time needed to respond to people?

+1ing a comment on Google+ takes mere seconds. Responding to a tweet or a comment, perhaps a minute. If the issue is complex, you might need to take it off-platform, through mail or phone. Once the audience you're addressing with your standardized messages become faceless number counts in your stats, are you going to make that time? These people are your audience, your market - your customers. Automating communications with them may give you a few more minutes in the day, but it's unlikely to give you a few more sales at the end of that day.

Keep your Social Media real - talk with, not at people. Time invested in communicating always brings about a better ROI.

Three Common Mistakes on LinkedIn and How to Fix Them

LinkedIn, because of its placement as the most populous professional networking site, can significantly boost your presence online, even if you don't have any other social presence. Maximing your LinkedIn presence is merely a matter of simple steps, and building a Business page is straightforward. From that point on, all that is required is participation and maintenance of your profile.

Because use of LinkedIn is so relatively simple, and because there are no moderating features, LinkedIn frequently has examples of behaviors that more sophisticated users of social platforms eschew. Here are three behaviors that can completely capsize you on LinkedIn and you may never know why.

This morning, I checked LinkedIn and ran into three very common mistakes right away in my inbox:


Request for Recommendation (From Someone You Don't Know)

I'm pretty generous with recommendations. If we've worked together directly and you've shown yourself to be professional (at the very least) I'll probably find something nice to write about you. Today I received an obvious generic email sent to all of the person's connections - asking for "glowing praise."

Well, you know, I don't know this person. We have never worked together. LinkedIn is a professional networking site, but despite their limited (and pointless) security against connecting with people you don't know, many folks there do connect with people they do not know. That is, in fact, the point of professional networking. However, if he feels that a mass mailing is the most appropriate way to gather recommendations, he's missing the point of "social media." The conclusion? I unconnected with him.

Do it Right: If you're looking for recommendations to bulk up your profile, be as authentic as possible. Don't spam your connections - take a moment to find people you've done business with, who you respect and who are likely to feel the same way about you. Those recommendations are much more likely to be meaningful.


Contentious Replies to Answers

You asked a question on LinkedIn Answers, but aren't getting the response you wanted. Instead of thanking people who are trying to help - or, at the minimum, saying nothing - you are replying by telling everyone how wrong or unhelpful they are.

Do It Right: LinkedIn makes editing impossible. so before you post a question, sit on it for a while and think how you can make it better. What clarifications will make the criteria more useful? Consider too, whether you're looking for validation of your already-decided opinion, or are looking for feedback that gives you a different perspective.  Lastly, consider if the "advice" you're looking for is really something you should be paying for. Many people use LinkedIn Answers to ask a question for which they should really be hiring a professional to do the work. Once you've decided your question can elicit useful answers - thank everyone. It took them time to answer. Even if you hate the answer, or don't find it useful, thank them for their time. Don't forget to assign Good and Best answers when you close the question. Those markers are the only form of reward on LinkedIn, it is critical that you assign them, so that people will want to answer your next question.

These first two mistakes fall under the category of self-delusion, mistakes made when people are using a tool and not really considering how it makes them look. This third mistake is often because of naivete or inexperience.


Joining a Group with Incomplete Profile or Credentials

I run a group on LinkedIn. Because it is a group focused on the Industry of a field of Entertainment, I receive a lot of requests to join that are wildly inappropriate. They usually boil down to one of three kinds of applications.

 - No Connections

 - No Experience in the Industry (Job hunting)

 - No Note to express *why* they would be a good candidate

Do It Right: Yes, you might want a job as a Marketer, but if the group rules state that the group is only for people who are members of a specific Marketing Association, and you are not, don't apply. It makes you look sloppy, at best. Spend time working on your profile, so you've got connections that make sense to the industry. If you genuinely think you'd be great for a group, but you're new on LinkedIn, don't yet have a job in that industry, but you know you can bring value to the group, write a note to the Group leader and explain that cogently. Avoid "I should be in this group, because I run a website devoted to that topic," unless the topic is technical. There are a million fan pages for everything in the universe, running a fan page doesn't make you a professional. Have a full, relevant profile, strong connections and the note will be the icing on the cake.


These mistakes are common - but they are also easy to fix. Don't let them hold you back on LinkedIn or anywhere else on line. Do it right - be professional, courteous and relevant and your reputation will be as solid on LinkedIn as it is everywhere else in your industry.

Connect with Erica on LinkedIn.

You Got Your Twitter in My Facebook! When Merging Social Media Platforms Makes Sense (or Not)

It's hard to know when it's a good decision to merge Social Media platforms. Will it make you look more accessible to have a Twitter feed streaming on your website, or will it backfire and open you to situations like McDonald's encountered in their recent #McDStories campaign?

On the positive side, merging one platform with another (Adding your Facebook feed to the bottom of your internal pages, as Klout does, for instance) will let folks know that wherever they are, you are there, too. They won't have to hunt you down and leave emails through generic contact forms.

On the negative side, the more out there you are, the more you have to be willing to remember that "Social" media is based on the idea that people are talking to you - and they expect a response.

Before you mix and match your social media, you need to create a strategy to be able to Let Go, Listen (and Respond), develop Consistency and, just in case, a Plan for a Crisis.



- Let Go

Social Media is a confusing mixture of Customer Service, Marketing, Communications, Public Relations and Sales. Companies often forget that in order to have the most effective communications, they need to focus not on themselves, but on their consumers. "Tell us why we are so great and get a prize" can work once or twice, but "Our customers are great!" will work forever.

"What if someone says something bad about us?" asks Matt Hames of Colgate University.
This question tends to constrict company's Social Media use - the fear of a negative comment. But, as Matt goes on to point out, "What is possible is engagement. If you get 10 comments and one of them is bad, it is hard to focus on the 9 good ones. The bad one takes all the energy."

Let Go of the idea that Social Media is about you. Embrace the idea that wherever you are, you cannot control the message. Not one second after you tweet, someone might have an ax to grind, or worse, someone might have a genuine problem. You need to Let Go of the concept of controlling the message. Develop a model for communications with positive and negative commenters. Learn everything you can about where a person is coming from, find a way to make the experience of communicating as satisfying and positive as possible.


 - Listen (and Respond)


Emma Haller, Marketing Manager at iFactory "If and when you receive a negative comment, don't delete it - deal with it. Your reply can add credibility to your company."

Merging Social Media might be opening a window on the parts of the Internet you pretend don't really exists, as Skittles found out when they put their Twitter feed on their new Facebook page. You can't set Social media up and walk away. It has to be managed and monitored in a meaningful way. Listen to what is being said to you. If it's acting out, you can have your creatives come up with a boilerplate that handles that, but you also need to listen to the noise for serious issues. How you handle each negative situation is twice as important as how you handle the positive ones.


 - Consistency

People have a lot to say about consistency between platforms.

Matthew Dominy Social Media Consultant points out that "by integrating your social media into your website you allow for sharing to increase your exposure and create a viral loop for your audience to easily see the social proof of your product/service."

On the other hand, Bridie Jenner of Bridie's Typing Services warns, "the mediums are very different, so something I would share on LinkedIn wouldn't necessary be right for my twitter followers, and vice versa."

Steven Lowell Community Manager at Voice123.com reminds us that "For example, a platform may auto-post your blog with a look you did not expect, or give credit to the wrong author of the article. In addition, the usage of hashtags may appear strange on the platform you are using."

Creating consistency between your social platforms is way more than just having the same brand logo. Each interaction establishes a "voice" for your company. Coming off as clueless, or disinterested sets a tone that can lead quickly to customer frustration. The more in control your "voice" is, the less likely a situation spirals into crazy.

Daniel Godin, Founder of Triton PR reminds us that, "With or without you, people are using social media to talk about your brand." So, we need to be vigilant and be aware of what is being said - and by whom. One really influential person trashing your brand can be as bad as many average people who are unhappy with your SM efforts.


 - Crisis Planning

Sometimes, despite the best plans, a social situation explodes. Be prepared. In the best of worlds, your crisis plan sits, unused, in a file.

Before anything else, add in "Apologize Sincerely" to the top of that plan. People using Social Media are not children, they know - and share - when they are getting insincere responses. Admit to doing something wrong, THEN proceed to fix the problem. Either one without the other sends a message of uncaring, or at worst, manipulation.

Whether or not you actively embrace Social Media, Social Media is discussing you and your business. So, while you decide if you want your company blog on your LinkedIn page, or your Twitter feed embedded in your blog, it's worth the time to consider the worst possible outcomes to your choice and develop appropriate responses. Failures of over-enthusiasm are seen as more benign than failures of denial.

You may be mixing your Social Media to create a delicious new idea, or you may end up with a franken-flavor - either way, you'll want to be prepared for the best and the worst.

Best Practices for Strong, Stable Linkbuilding with Social Media

The old adage "It's not what you know, it's who you know," is more important than ever in today's business world. And, one of the major measurements Social Ranking sites use now is an objective measurement of the value of your network. This is a questionable measurement since, our networks are always valuable to us, but on the principle that links in from major industry players weigh more heavily than links from friends and family, there some value to the concept.

So, what can a small- or medium size business do to build a strong network? Let's start with Social Media Linkbuilding. Many, if not most, of the "Best Practices" guides online on linkbuilding advocate tactics that are questionable, if not outright ignored now by measuring tools. Just as poor website construction can damage your overall SEO, poor linkbuilding tactics can severely damage your Social Media credibility. Here are five simple tactics that will increase your credibility and your network value.


Converse, Don't Monologue
Like people, companies are self-absorbed. They enter Social Media spaces focused on what it can do for them. They pop up on Facebook, Twitter or whatever platform with the corporate equivalent of "Hey guys, I'm here!" and expect people to care. But, just as no one really likes the guy who comes into the room at the party and says that, no one really cares that your business is on GetGlue...until you become interesting.

Forget the press release that you now have a Twitter account. Take time every day to find people talking about your business and just talk with them. Have a chat about the sandwich, those tickets they bought - were the seats good?, news in that field...and after you're become someone to listen to, THEN tell them about the sale coming up.

Talking with people sends a clear signal that you are not just in this for you - you really get the Social part of Social Media.


Be Generous
Sharing ideas, praise, credit will make you the kind of person whose network people want to be part of. Who is retweeting you, sharing your Facebook posts? Thank them, make them feel special, make it a special thing to be recognized by you. You'll find that the more generous you are, the more generous your network will be to you. It takes so little time or effort to recognize and thank someone, there's really no good reason to not do it at least semi-regularly. Slow news week? That's a perfect time to highlight some great network contributors! Saw a great article? Tell the person - publicly. Yes a nice long email explaining what you liked about it is great, but a short "This was an excellent article" on your Social Media platform helps spread the word. This gives the author a chance to respond back and possibly a new connection for both of you.


Don't Hijack, Give Credit Where Credit is Due
When you quote someone, you're expected to source the quote. On Social Media, source your links and wisdom, too. No one likes the guy who never has his wallet...no one wants to be part of the network of the guy who never says where he saw the link first. Use via to let people know that they've been sourced. This link will come back to them...and there's a good chance that you'll get a link back from them.

People who hijack links without sourcing the original, or who run them through their own jump pages make for lousy network additions. Avoid people who hijack links and hope they avoid you.


Variety is the Spice of Linking
You're good at linking to people in your industry. You know your peers and vendors and maybe even some of your customers. But no company is an island. There are industries peripheral to yours...and many service industries that you can benefit from like research, design, finance...don't be afraid to link out of your vertical. In fact, be afraid to not link out of your vertical! The further out you link and connect, the further out your message will be heard and seen.


Be Bold
Once you've started conversations with people in other industries, there comes a moment when you can just talk with anyone. Don't worry that the person is a President of a powerful company - if they are speaking with you as an equal, just talk back to them as an equal. Social Media is a great equalizer. Be bold in who you address and confident in how you converse with them.  The bolder you are, the more confident you'll grow, and the stronger your network will become.

Use solid linkbuilding tactics to build a solid network to raise your credibility and value.

Matching the Pace of Social Media Change - 3 Simple To-Dos

Twitter's just launched business pages and a new mobile look. Facebook relaunched a few months ago, with some much needed privacy features. Every day a new "social" platform pops up with promises of connecting you to your audience, your network and the great wealth out there just waiting to be had.

And here you are, juggling every single aspect of your business from acquisitions and logistics to customer service and marketing. How on earth can you keep up with the pace?

Here are three daily to-dos to keep you walking side by side with the fast pace of Social Media:

Research

Take 5 minutes every day to read the headlines in your industry...and another 5 to read about recent changes in Social Media.

Twitter's video takes 1 minute 49 seconds to watch. Watch it. That still leaves you with over 3 minutes to scan the headlines from your top business sources.




Trial

Obviously, not every new system or platform that comes across your desk is going to be right for you. Twice a week - or three times, if you're having a slow week, sign up for a trial. Use the platform, check the scores, see if that system has any value to you. Shelly Kramer points out, in her article about the new Twitter business pages that many Twitter users never go to Twitter's page at all. Perhaps building a business page there is not that high priority for you.

Don't worry that some blogger said it was the best new platform of the year - they may have a vested interest, or they may simply have different needs than you do. Know whether you're looking for a tool to give you the 10,000 mile perspective or leads to opinion leaders in your town before you make time to sign up for a trial. Consider the time it'll take to develop a profile. Can you do it quickly, or will it mean weeks of meetings with your "web guy"? Each new platform that pops up, take a moment to decide what time you're willing to invest.

Try out the service for a week. At the end of that week, if you can't think of a single reason to use it again, delete your account, then move on. Don't worry if the Social Media news is full of that system, it's not for you.

If you love that system, let people know. Share your insight with you peers. Become an advocate for a system that works for you.

Integrate

When you've found that system that really resonates, tell the company. Offer to beta-test new features. Let the company know you're out there advocating.

Integrate that platform into your day, so it's just another five minutes while you have your morning coffee. Check the dashboard, integrate the information into your day. Decide what works for you, and discard the rest.

You don't start running 20 miles a day - don't try to keep up with every single change in Social Media. When you take a few moments every day to Research - Trial - Integrate, the fast pace of Social Media won't be intimidating. You won't be "keeping up," you'll be walking side-by-side with the tools you need.

Sticking Your Landing on Facebook

Your Landing Page on Facebook is a person's first impression of your business. Is it well-dressed, personable, does it, in fact make a good impression?

I ran into some discussion on LinkedIn about the nature of the Landing Page on Facebook. A person wanted to have people enter their group on a tab that was not the Wall tab. The replies were universally against it. Why? Because a Facebook Wall provides instant insight into the true nature of the company. When a potential Fan comes to your Facebook Page they will instantly see several important things:


Are You Posting Fresh Content?

This is immediately apparent, even to someone who knows nothing at all about "Social Media."

Is the content on your Wall linking to news, perspectives and commentary of interest to your audience, or are you recycling company announcements and using rhetorical questions to stimulate conversation?

When the Wall is full of press releases, it's an indication to a visitor that communication is all about you. Asking better questions than "what can I do to help you?" will stimulate real conversation and gain genuine engagement from your Fans.


Are You Getting Responses?

Because of the visual nature of Facebook, a visitor does not have to actually look at the content of your Wall to see if a conversation is happening.

It's instantly apparent that this link has 13 likes and 6 responses. And that a conversation has occurred. Even without knowing a single thing about the topic, anyone visiting this page can see that there has been a response by the community and, even more importantly...


Are Your Responsive to your Fans?

Equally as instantly obvious to anyone visiting your Wall, is whether you are responding to the people who are writing to you.

When you look at most company Facebook pages, you see a neverending stream of company propaganda, Likes, and perhaps, even, a comment by a fan...but rarely a response by the company to those responses. On very large company sights, those responses are disappeared, leaving nothing but the propaganda.

When your Fans comment, are they seeing a response from you?

Famously, when a company I'm interested in joined Facebook some years ago, they asked their followers what they wanted to see. I replied that I wanted to see them respond to us when we commented on their posts.

"Like this?" the company replied to my comment.

"Yes," I posted, "but with content."

They have since been very responsive to the posts on the Wall.


Social Media is never about you, it's always about the members of your community and network.


Your Wall is the best Landing Page you'll ever have. It indicates communication skills, responsiveness, and how much you value your community. Stick your Landing, and you'll get top scores from your community.

When Your Fans Love Your Work - and Treat It Like Their Own

In an increasingly digital world, there are two kind of content creators: The Open and The Closed.

Closed content creators are focused on the rules of content use that they grew up with in the 20th century. Content is the sole possession of its creator and/or the company that licensed that content. While Fair Use is often acknowledged by both content creators and users, some companies are less likely to actually allow free and fair use of images and words - even when that use actually affects their bottom line positively.

In a world where tools to create video, audio, illustrative and text-based mashups and parodies are common, and information available on the Internet is seen as open-source, even when it is copyrighted, it becomes critical for any company to know when to establish Fair Use policies for consumers of that company's content.

Most companies react to their consumer's use of their content with the legal equivalent of swatting at a swarm of mosquitoes. These shotgun tactics might, in fact, slow down use of your content, but just as swatting at mosquitoes is unlikely to eradicate biting, this kind of legal action does little in the long run to stop consumer reworking of your content.

More importantly, in many cases, there are perfectly good reasons why you should encourage your consumers to take your content and run with it.


Today we're going to look at situations when you should allow your consumers to use and reuse your content.

When to Become an Open Content Creator:


When you have nothing to lose

You and your company are just getting started, you have a modest audience and a modest market. At this point, the absolute most important thing for you is to get the word out. In this case, it's probably the best of all worlds if you provide your consumers with materials to mashup, remake and parody. Create contests where you set the usage rules. Provide images and ideas, even tools to help your fans create and expand your audience.


When you have a huge audience

Let's be honest here. Is a fan-written story about Harry Potter really a threat to the franchise? No, and despite what Warner Brothers says, it never can be. The reality is that every story, every piece of art, every parody video keesp that fandom alive one more day. And it may even draw a new fan in, long after the series itself has ended.

When your name has saturated the potential audience, let go of your creation. There is nothing anyone can do to hurt you.


When you are growing rapidly beyond your ability to manage

Your new idea has gone viral. Peoples' interest in it is off the charts. You cannot and should not attempt to control the property. Let it fly, let it live! Allow your advocates to work for you through contests and rewards. Give them a chance to be part of your team while your real team upgrades the site infrastructure.


When your potential audience is small

There's niches, and there's micro-niches. A niche is marketing to Lithuanians, priests, or left-handed people. A micro-niche is marketing to left-handed Lithuanian priests. There are only going to be so many people who fit your niche, no matter how much promotion you do.

Because you cannot knock on doors to find every single person who might potentially be out there who would be the perfect market for your product or service, it makes a lot of sense to let your audience help you. When they can remix and rework your content so that it attracts new consumers, it's a win-win for everyone.

Giving your fans a chance to own your work makes them more likely to want to own your work.

The Difference Between Buzz and Sustainable Growth Strategies

You may have see a headline that looked like this recently:

10,000 Free Round-Trip Tickets to Japan

Articles go on to say that the Japan Tourist Bureau is planning to (possibly) give away tickets to (possibly) influencers and mega-bloggers to come to Japan, and (possibly) write about their experiences there.

This is a fine short-term strategy, but it's not what JTB should do.

Here's what's wrong with this plan:

1) JTB is (planning on) giving free tickets to people who are already highly likely to travel.

2) It's a short-term boost that might create a minor bump in tourism, but has no sustainability.


***

I love Japan. I love visiting it as often as possible and I write about my experience there for people to enjoy. There's a pretty good chance that I'd get one of those free tickets. But that's relatively pointless, because I go there anyway.  The people who are pro or semi-pro travel writers, or have compelling Japanese business interests, are not avoiding Japan because of a high yen or fears of radiation. And, people who are worried about radiation are unlikely to go to Japan just because a travel writer says it's safe.

I might motivate one or two people a year to really get over there - I did motivate a whole crowd to come in 2005 for an event I ran in Tokyo. And, if those people liked it, then they might go back. If 10,000 people motivate one or two people to go, it's a nice little blip on the tourism radar.

But.

This is not sustainable. This is buzz.

JTB can't afford to give away 10,000 free round-trip tickets every year and not all of the people who get those tickets will go again, bring a friend, or instill desire in readers to visit Japan.

For a short-term campaign, they'd be better off giving free tickets to people who have never been there, have a compelling reason to visit and who are likely to bring spouses and children with them.

There's still no sustainability, but then their campaign would also express some goodwill and get people who might not otherwise visit Japan over there.The problem is...

Buzz is not a Growth Strategy

To create a sustainable way to increase tourism, JTB ought first to look at cost. Airfare to get to Japan from my part of the country is ridiculous and is heading higher in the next few months. This presents a tremendous hurdle for anyone who might want to go there, especially if they have a family. A trip to Japan now costs what you might pay for a used car, or a year's tuition for a community college. This seems like the most obvious pain point in the world to me.

JTB - you want more people to come to Japan? Make it cheaper to get there.

13 hours in the air is a long time, but it takes me that to get to just about anywhere outside North America. The cost is the problem, not the time. Work with airlines to bring airfare to something a normal human with a spouse and kids can handle.

There was a time when airlines sold cheap overseas travel fares. I remember a coworker going to Japan for 3 nights, 4 days with hotel for $400 as an airline special. If I could get that deal, I'd go there every month for a long weekend and to pick up manga and magazines. I'd eat out, too. And not just ramen on the street.

Work with airlines to bring back airfares that don't take being a millionaire to afford. I have no doubt that tourism rates will rise right back up.

The Fallacy of Social Timing and the Wisdom of the Crowdbooster

If you read any smart Social Media guidelines available, one of the absolute most common pieces of advice you'll see is to be mindful of the timing of your statuses and tweets. "Put them out there when they are most likely to be seen!" is the seemingly obvious advice from all quarters. There's a science of social timing that is both absolutely correct....and completely, utterly worthless.

I've been using Crowdbooster.com to get a clean visual image of the impact my Tweets and Facebook posts have in their spaces. Here's an example:

This chart shows me which tweets were most replied to, retweeted and which got the most impressions. Crowdbooster also will suggest new influencers that have followed me, and suggest I interact with them, or which Tweets I should share on Facebook, since they were popular on Twitter (not always the best advice, either, but that's another post.)

Overall, I'm really happy with Crowdbooster, more so than many other measuring tools I've used. If you'd like an invite, ask in the comments and I'd be glad to share what I can.

But the wisdom of the Crowd fails in regards to timing. Not because it's wrong - but because it misses the point. And so do most articles that discuss the importance of timing in Social Media.

This seems like a very reasonable suggestion  - and it is, honestly, I get great feedback when I post on Twitter around 7AM, 10AM and 2PM. So where's the fallacy? The fallacy is in thinking that this time is important for me to post. The reality is - this is when I spend time interacting, posting and replying almost every single day. So, of *course* that is when I will have developed an audience, who will read, retweet, reply, share, etc.

The fallacy is in assuming that the times you should post are being driven by some external wind that you have no control of, and all you can do is hang on and get your posts out there. This is obviously not true. If you run a branding workshop every Monday at 9AM Pacific Time (as @Brandingexpert Rob Frankel does every week,) then after a few weeks, you can imagine that Crowdbooster would tell you that running that workshop at 9AM Pacific Time every week is the best time to do it.

Forget Social Timing, Create your own schedule. Create your audience and your market. Take control of your time and don't let the wisdom of the crowd - or the Crowdbooster - tell you when you "should" be on social media.

Building Internal Traction for Your Corporate Blog

You've opened up a blog site and told everyone on the Exec team to go ahead and blog. Now, weeks later, the blog is still pretty empty. What's missing? A corporate blog, like everything else in the corporate world, needs a value proposition.

Before you even open that blog, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered honestly.

Is it really a good idea to have a corporate blog?

Is sharing information likely to help or hinder your business?

Is there a culture of sharing or non-sharing in place in the company? If so, how did that culture arise and what are logical ways to shift that?

***

Once these questions have been answered, you're going to have to get through the next set:

Why would someone want to share information on that blog - tell them why.

How does someone share information on the blog - tell them how.

What kinds of information are sharable - tell them what.

Who can share information - tell them who.

Until there is a clear, concise incentive/value for people to share information on your corporate blog, they're just going to go about business as usual.

Social Media for Crisis Management: Using Your Powers for Your Own Good

Recently, an acquaintance Twittered me about a potential crisis situation at an event they were attending. I checked the event Twitter Feed and found that the event itself was, quite conspicuously, *not* tweeting about situation.

Nearly an hour passed before the event's feed mentioned the crisis - and only to say that it had been handled and nothing important had occurred. In the meantime, thousands of tweets had gone out about the situation. Many people were looking at the official feed for information and finding nothing. Worse, during that time, the official feed was commenting about a photo shoot elsewhere in the event, making the event look clueless and self-absorbed.

What does that say about the event's understanding and use of their own resources?

Whether you're dealing with a unsatisfied customer, or an emergency situation at your office, there are a few things you must use your Social Media presence for at all times:

Know What Is Being Said About You

If you are on the Internet, there is no good reason to not at least have a Google Alert set up to see who is saying what about you where. More advanced listening and monitoring tools are available, many of them are free. This doesn't have to be complicated. Make it part of your morning with-coffee reading.

Whoever is charge of Social Media for your company - whether it's you or a hired hand -  should have a command center view of what is being said where about your business. This view allows you to know when a situation is brewing, what questions people are asking about your company and what issues are of importance to them. Paying attention to what's being said about your business online is as key a listening skill as pay attention to your customers when they ask for help.

At this event, clearly there was someone Twittering - and, just as clearly, there was no one monitoring Twitter to see what situations, questions, complaints and issues were arising.
In the meantime, people *were* using Twitter to try and identify the problem and communicate whether the situation was serious or not to other attendees.

It would have been far better for the event to have taken control of the situation instantly to provide information, but they let the moment pass, and the control of their Twitter feed slipped right out of their hands.


Be In Control of Your Own News

We all prefer to learn important news from people involved, rather than second- or third-hand. Obviously, if your child comes home from school with a bad grade, you hope they will tell you, so you don't have to learn it from their teacher.

When your company is facing a crisis, your consumers, followers, fans want to hear from *you.* Not a newspaper, or a third party. And if you aren't breaking your own news, someone else will be glad to break it for you.

No one wants to share bad news, but before a situation spirals out of control is the best time to take control of that news and be seen as reliable and transparent by your stakeholders.



Keep Your Customers Informed

Once a situation occurs, it's already too late to keep the cat in the bag. Your stakeholders will know about it almost as soon as you do.  If they are keyed into Social Media, they may know about *before* you do. They will look to you for guidance and communication. They may want answers, but more than anything else, they want leadership - and they want it from you.

Now is not the time to stay secluded and work on a slick strategy. Now is definitely not the time to ignore the bad news and post happy, shiny news. Now is the time to get in front of the messaging and be visible and present, so stakeholders are reassured that things are not falling apart at the top and the left hand knows what the right hand is doing.


Provide Solutions Before They're Needed

In the case of this event, a few official tweets asking people to stay calm, stay away from the area in question and assurances that inconveniences would be cleared up as quickly as possible, would have gone a long way to keeping the area clear. In the meantime, officials could well be hampered by curious crowds, while rumors spread online.

Even better, if the official feed had provided alternate access routes, meeting points, and communications venues, the message received by attendees would have been that the event had itself completely together. Instead, they received radio silence, as rumors spread.


In Times of Crisis...Have A Plan 

Having a crisis strategy for your Social Media is just as important as having an emergency plan for your office. Of course no one wants to plan for catastrophe, but having a plan in place will, at minimum, save your company's reputation, and could gain your company respect for the way it handles the moment.

Listen to what's being said, stay in control of the situation and on top of the messaging - set a groundwork for social media use in a crisis -  for your own good.

Old Social Media is Alive and Well - Are You Using All Your Tools?

When you think of "Social Media," what's the first thing that comes to mind? Twitter? GetGlue? Facebook? Gowalla?

As the pace of technology increases, and new social platforms and "solutions" are created and paraded practically every day by marketers and media alike, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the new - and it's easy to be tempted to throw away the old.

What do I mean by "Old Social Media?"

Mailing Lists, Groups (Google Groups are what used to be known as UseNET, Yahoo Groups are Mailing Lists) Forums and Discussion Boards can be just as relevant to your business today as they were ten or fifteen years ago. Remember - the medium isn't the message - the message is the message. Find your audience where they already are and reach out to them there. 

Case in Point: My wife subscribes to a number of extremely niche mailing lists. Yahoo Groups was not and never will be elegant, but it allows for a pretty high level of functionality for a mailing list owner and doesn't require any knowledge of ListServ commands for users. Let's face it, Yahoo Groups is pretty Lowest Common Denominator. Which is exactly why it can be so useful.

Low barriers to entry, exit and management, make Y!Groups a popular platform for old-school mailing lists.

And, as I say, my wife subscribes to several. One of them deals with the topic of Ancient Roman Cooking. This is exactly where a Mailing List excels. When you have a small, rather specific niche, having a mailing list is a great way to keep people who are interested in the topic up to date with events, news, and allow them to have focused conversations.

In this particular case, an author of a book on the topic took the chance to reach out to people who are immersed in this niche and let them know that an event of interest - at which she would be lecturing and dinner based on the famous Roman gourmand, Apicius', recipes would be prepared - was coming up.

Don't believe in the power of Mailing Lists? Too glamorous, tool old-fashioned?

Well, upon hearing about this dinner and lecture, my wife and I decided to fly across the country to attend. How's that for the power of Social Media?

Email marketing, mailing lists, groups all may seem horribly old-fashioned these days, but the the #1 rule of Social Media is "talking with people." Talk to them *wherever* they are. You've got too much to do already - don't ignore the tried and true over the new and shiny. Social Media is talking with the folks who walk in your office door, on your Fan Page, following your Livejournal or on your mailing list. They may not be shiny, but whatever gets you in front of people who care is the right tool for the job.

When planning out your Social Media, don't ignore the tools you already have in your tool belt. That's Good Social Media.

Social Media is Customer Service - Do What You Say

For any business owner, business development is personal. Whether you have a BD department, or pay someone to do your marketing, ultimately you reap the rewards and it's you who cleans up the mess.

Communicating with people always leaves openings for misunderstandings. Today we'll touch on a few key points to help keep customer communications smooth.

1) Keep Everyone Informed

From the Head of Business Development right down to the kid who comes in three times a week to help re-stock, it is critical that everyone in your organization is on board with development processes, tools, tactics and campaigns. Imagine the potential cost to you if the kid who stocks is headed out the door, and meets a family of five who asks him, "Is this the week when children's shoes are half price?" and he has no idea that the sale is going on. "Uh, no...?" he replies and that family walks away.

This is the same scenario when your Foursquare account tells customers that they get a free appetizer for checking in, but the wait staff has never heard of any such thing.

When companies get a bit larger, it becomes easy to send out memos about critical tactics and assume that they have been read and understood. To avoid gaffes of miscommunication, make it a priority to communicate that today is special, because...to everyone in the company.

2) Be Prepared to Fulfill

Companies that do a lot of promotional campaigns are used to customers walking in with a variety of coupons that may or may not be mixed and matched. When your company offers a deal through Social Media, be prepared to carry through with exceptional service and the deal as described. Even if it's not what you usually do.

3) Don't "Explain," Communicate

When you get on Facebook, are you ready to hear what customers have to say, or are you closing off the Wall, so you can stay blissfully unaware?

Explaining *why* a situation get ugly, or a customer was denied isn't half as powerful a business development tool as making sure the customer gets what they were promised.

The better your communication lines are - responding to general inquiries, knowing what people are saying and not covering your Social Media ears when problems arise, the better you can learn from one BD tactic to another.

Listen to what you employees and customers are saying, then follow up with both. Don't leave employees dangling, don't leave customers unhappy.

Do What You Say and Say What You Do to effectively maximize your Customer Service and Social Media.

It Takes a Community to Build a Community on Facebook

We have a vision.

Our stores will be full of people, cheerfully exchanging greetings with the salespeople who know them by name.

Our gigs will be full of fans.

Our products will fly off the shelf.

Our events will be full of entertained, educated attendees.

We have a vision of our company, our organization, our band our cause.

The question is - how do we get there? How do we fill our stores, our gigs, our events with people?

One of the most common things you read about Social Media is that it helps build a community. While this can be true, it's not a simple prospect. As many businesses have found, Facebook Pages often lead to - at best - a few "Likes" per post and, often, dead silence even when direct questions are asked.

The truth is - it takes a community to build a community.

Let's take my friend's band as an example. I know, it's a friend, so you're gonna roll your eyes when you read this but - they really are very, very good. Like so many bands, they have a unique sound that appeals to an adult sensibility. If you know anything about music, you know that the sharing of music has made it easier - and harder than ever before - for bands to be heard.

The band has a Facebook Page, but gets almost no response from posts - a clear indication that the band was "liked" by friends and friends of friends, then hidden. Or folks who aren't terribly active on FB are making up a big part of the "Likes." Very typical problems for a small audience on Facebook. With few people paying attention, then only a few people are listening, liking, sharing or commenting.

Before they can build a community around their music - or become part of an existing community for independent musicians - there are some questions they have to be able to answer. All of us have to answer these questions before we can effectively create a community of any kind:

Who are we?

What do we want to say?

Who are we talking to?

and, Who is doing the talking?

Facebook is a terrible place to build an audience or a community. Successful Pages on Facebook are almost always Pages by already-popular brands, companies or people who are using Facebook as another way to touch base with people who already know about - and care about - them.

When we envision our communities on Facebook, we have visions of a busy Wall, full of encouragement and conversation. What many companies often see is a series of announcements, requests for "Likes" and finally, pleas for a response of any kind.

Before you put your eggs in the Facebook basket, build yourself a community elsewhere. Keep it lively, full of conversation and contests, questions and answers. When you've built those conversations up in other places, you can feed those folk who already make up your audience a new way to communicate with you - on Facebook. Instead of using Facebook to build an audience from scratch, you'll want to control the space yourself. Your forums, your mailing list, your website, your terms of engagement. It's much easier to know who you are when you're on home turf. Develop your identity in a space you control - then take it on the road. Building an audience through Facebook is hard, expanding upon an audience already built using Facebook is easy.

The folks who engage with you elsewhere can help you grow your Facebook presence. Then you'll have a community to help you build that Facebook community.

***

Postscript: My friend's band is Eminence Grey (he's given me permission to mention their name and link to them) and if you do visit their Facebook page, you can listen to their song "Mourning Coffee" on the Facebook music player. It's a pretty terrific track, so I hope you'll drop by for a listen!

Social Media Ranking - Popularity Polls or Tools to Take Control of Your Social Media?

I had an epiphany this week. I was speaking with someone on EmpireAvenue, a new platform that reflects your Social Media Influence as a "stock price." EA tracks your Social Media activities on other platforms, as well as EmpireAvenue itself,  scores you on the individual platforms and assigns you a rising or falling overall "stock price" score.

This is gamification of Social Media in a nutshell, and I was having a hard time really seeing the overall value, even as I was participating (and my "stock" is steadily rising, just so you don't assume that it's sour grapes! ^_^)

Klout is another overall scoring system. It tracks your interactions on certain Social Media platforms, just as EmpireAvenue does, but it presents the data in one overall score, breaking it out by amplification, reach, scope and the like. It does not provide you with separate scores for each of your platforms, just the one overall score.

It's very tempting - and very easy - to use the absolute scores  as measurements of overall value. After all, on Klout I am a "Thought Leader." That should account for something, shouldn't it? But it was the separate scores on Empire Avenue that made me realize I was not really taking a holistic look at my use of Social Media. Sure, I had a Flickr and LinkedIn account, but was I using them to my advantage? Was I focusing my energies more exclusively on Twitter and neglecting my Facebook Fan page? What was the meaning of me being on Quora (which is not tracked)? Was I just scattering my energy, without focus or purpose?

Klout and EmpireAvenue each track different platforms and they weigh each platform differently. A blog post here might mean more to one score than the other. The score is not the point. The meaning behind my actions is the point. The lazy might point to a SM score as a fast way of deciding whether a person is worth their time or money, but for those of us using Social Media on a regular basis, our scores are a great way to see where we need to expand our efforts, tie our communities together and create our whole image out of a series of disparate pieces. It's up to us to understand the meaning behind these apparent popularity rankings and make the changes that will grow our sphere of influence in the healthiest way.

Social Media scores can be more than just a popularity rank - it's up to us to use them as effective measurement tools to understand our impact in our networks.

(Thanks to DDALES for helping me to see the light!)

Your Brand and I Are Not Really Friends

Today on Momeo magazine, Carla Young wrote a genius post on how to get people to be incredibly enthusiastic about your brand. Ironically, I had spent last evening and most of the morning wrestling with customer service of a large brand - that I like! - that left me feeling much less than enthusiastic. The worst part of the experience was that I genuinely like the product, and wish I could recommend it to...well, anyone. But I can't. Because the company doesn't understand that it and I aren't friends.

So often in peer groups, there is one person who doesn't *quite* get that you and they are not really friends. You have to work with them, go to school with them, meet them at the club, but you don't really think of them as a "friend." Well, companies of America - you are that person.

Brands want *way* too much of my personal information. I can see giving you my phone number if I wanted to talk with you, but...I really don't. Ideally, if the product you sell works as it is supposed to, I never will. And if I do have to call you..I'll call you. Real friends don't make us register with a ton of irrelevant info, just to ask if we can get together. A real friend doesn't ask me my birthday or "express service code" every single time I call.

Brands make us repeat ourselves. If I had to give you all my info to get to talk to you, then you HAVE my info. Making me give you the same info over and over and over means you obviously have no idea who I am or why you should care. Friends know why they should care.

Brands want access to my Facebook account. You know, I have a lot of real friends on Social Media Profiles and not one of them has ever demanded access to my information. Real friends understand that.

Brands talk at me, but aren't willing to listen to me. If a friend and I sit down to lunch and the next hour I hear all about the person's drama, without getting a word in edgewise, I don't go out to lunch with that person anymore. Your brand sends me emails from DONOTREPLY@. Friends listen.

Brands ask us to buy into their wacky schemes. When someone comes to me with a great idea that's gonna be awesome, friend or no, I'm skeptical. But I have to listen to you go on and on about new colors/flavors/irrelevant features/overcomplicated contests for who knows what...and you never shut up. How nice you have a new whatever. Go tell someone who wants to buy shares in a gold mine.

Brands never friend us back. When I call a company, the fact that I'm a current owner or subscriber never seems to make the damnedest bit of difference. I get stuck on a long phone queue and disconnected "accidentally" multiple times. There's never a call back (although I have repeatedly given you my phone number.) What friend "accidentally" hangs up on someone without an apology? I have to follow/connect/like you to talk to you, but never get anything in return. No friend treats me that shabbily.

Brands lie to us. We want a product for a reasonable price, that works well, and good service. You tell us all the time that you can give it to us, but...you never do.

Companies, it's pretty obvious that to all of us that your brand and I are not really friends. Stop acting like we are.