Tag Archives: Social media

How to create lifelong customers – the Mortons way

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In looking at some of social media best practices, I used Twitter to share a link to an amazing customer service story by Peter Shankman where he described how he was blown away by the superior customer service of Mortons Steakhouse.  This was the tweet I posted on 14th February.

Peter’s account is detailed and a bit lengthy for the modern-day netizen who has little patience scrolling more than once to read an article, especially one not directly related to your work.  It is however a truly compelling story of a company that knows how to attract, maintain and keep delighting its customers.  Many companies use these words liberally in their marketing collateral and presentations but few, very few come close to making customers feel how Mortons made Peter Shankman feel.

So my intention was not to re-write his account. In the comments made to the post, some people felt that Mortons had only gone out of their way (literally) to appease Peter due to his large Twitter following (130,200 plus). If this post doesn’t achieve anything else, I wrote it just to underline these facts: Mortons Steakhouse are great at keeping their customers engaged; they are on top of their Social media engagement and they know that its the small things that matter. 24 hours after my tweet, I received the response below from Mortons:

I live over 8000 miles from the nearest Mortons outlet and as such may not be visting any of them soon but I feel like a valued customer. When I tweeted about Peter’s experience, I had no expectations; not from Peter and neither from Mortons. That they reverted to say thank you speaks volumes!

How is your business using Social media? Before you even venture there, consider how your business keeps track of customers. Do you know them? Do you know their buying cycles? Do you understand their product preferences? Do you use their feedback to improve your product and service quality? An investment in a good CRM system is a start but doesn’t help much if its not utilized effectively. When the business fundamentals are right, its much easier to use social media to build community, gather feedback and insights and do many of they small but hugely important things that make customers come back again and again, and also bring their friends. Mortons understands that.  Maybe I’ll even drop by one of their outlets the next time I am in the US; I most likely will.

Get out of the box……. literally!

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How many emails do you receive daily? How many active email addresses do you have? Compare this with the number of letters or parcels you receive every month. Businesses, both large and small, receive physical or snail mail (smail) on a continuous basis consisting mostly of bills, invoices and financial statements. Job applications used to feature prominently but these have largely shifted to email. And so has a lot of other business communication. Even the usual mounds of paper delivered by the mail man to the finance office are getting smaller with most of them delivered electronically.

This is pretty obvious stuff right? Why then is it that so many businesses feature their Postal addresses very prominently in their stationery and marketing collateral? I went through a pile of business cards that I’ve collected recently (over 30 of them), and was amazed to find that in 90% of these the postal address was placed before email addresses, web sites or even phone numbers. In 2012, there’s a higher chance that a prospective customer will reach out to you via your website or social media site rather than postal mail. It is a minor but significant change that every business needs to make; place your electronic contact addresses first on your business card, marketing fliers and even the contacts page on your web site.

Postal services across the world continue to suffer uncertainty due to the decline in mail volumes. These entities are significant players in the economies of each country with 2 of the largest ones, the USPS and Deutsche Post employing a million people between them. The decline in their business isn’t meant to be celebrated and indeed many are re-evaluating their business models to remain relevant in light of the radical changes in how humans interact. With increasing tools and channels that provide quick and instant communication, the number of sealed envelopes addressed to you and delivered to your home or office will continue to diminish. I typically make about two trips a month to my post box and it doesn’t come as a surprise anymore when I open it and find no new mail. I can hardly say the same about my Outlook Inbox!

Sadly, there are organizations that don’t realize the importance of having contact information easily accessible. I have recently come across web sites where the “contact us” page offers no more than a postal address and possibly a physical location. With a web site, your shop is open 24 x 7; whoever is visiting you there may be miles away or cannot make it to your location immediately. If customers struggle to find your phone number, a contact email address, social media site through which they can let you know how you can change their lives, they will most likely move on to the next provider of the same product or service. While we are discussing the email contact, do not include an info@ address that nobody attends to. Whatever your  main business email contact is, it must have ownership. There has to be one overall owner even when the address is redirected to three or four people, and he/she has to look out and respond to mail daily.

Take a fresh look at everything that contains your organization’s contact details and ensure that they are redone to reflect the contact preference of your target market. Get out of the post box mentality, simply because that is what always came after the company name.

Social Media Fatigue is here

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More people are increasingly feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information as well as lots of noise that comes their way through social networks.  This is in addition to the information they continue receiving through TV, billboards, magazines and other forms of traditional media.

Is it any wonder then that there’s a growing sense of fatigue?

Has social media reached the tipping point?

Sitting with a client recently, he put me on the spot quoting from a research report published in a local newspaper about how people do not want to be bombarded with brand messages in their social networks.  The report indicated that the reason individuals get on to social networks is to connect with their friends and “meet” new people; not to receive corporate messaging about some new offer or product discount.

While I am sure majority of the people reading this were not around in the 1920s when TV signals were first transmitted, I am certain there was hue and cry when advertising began appearing to interrupt important news about the great recession.  Social media is still relatively new and as such the discomfort of having commercial messages is an expected response.  The key difference and benefit of Web 2.0 is that individuals now have a say on which brands they want to hear from.  Social media is permission-based, which is a big win for the consumer and can be a big headache for the brand.  Customers will give you permission to engage with them if you offer them value through the content you have on social networks.

The excitement of all the available social networks has resulted in the overload that is causing some users fatigue.  Over time, one realizes the need to scale down once they have identified the most relevant channels for their requirements.  When you walk into the gym, hopping onto the cycle machine and then onto the treadmill followed by lifting all the weights and trying out every other piece of equipment is likely to land you in hospital with multiple injuries not to mention extreme fatigue.  Trying to be on all social networks with equal levels of engagement and participation can feel a little like the gym situation I have described above.

For any brand, investing in research to establish where the majority of your customers and prospects hang out on social media will help you narrow down to the channels where you need to feature most prominently.  Failing to do this exposes you to the risk of having social media assets that go unattended for long periods of time.  I cannot overemphasize how detrimental this is to any brand.  Research has shown that 49.5% of customers are far less likely to buy anything from you if they find a bunch of unanswered questions or complaints from other customers on your social media site.  A social media policy will greatly help to address some of these issues before the crop up, and failure to have one is among the key risks companies faces when engaging in social media marketing.  Read this article for details on other risks to avoid.

To avoid the fatigue, establish the right and relevant number of social networks and dedicate sufficient resources to keep them lively.  The many complaints and alarmist reports are just growing pains. Social media is only in its infancy.

Social media blunders – How to survive them

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Making a mistake isn’t the worst thing that you can do; failing to learn from the mistake is. We tend to notice and sometimes make a big deal of other people’s mistakes quite a lot.  The fact is we all goof at one point or the other and some mistakes are definitely more costly than others.  In the social media world, we have all come across goofs of massive proportions where people give away their real intentions and location while having called-in sick.  Others get busted having less than honourable relationships by their spouses. The list is endless and I am sure most people have a story of a nasty error that we either made or by someone close to us.

The situation isn’t very different in the business environment; people make grave errors that do cost businesses money, customers and their reputation. Over the last four weeks I have observed as these type of situations played out on cyberspace.  Here are two situations with crucial lessons for anyone using social media for business.

Situation 1: The unhappy Zuku customer

Zuku is Wananchi Online’s flagship brand providing triple-play services to the East African market.  On their web site, they pride themselves as an “East African brand that aspires to bring our customer superior entertainment experience at an affordable price”.  From testimonials of a number of Zuku customers, at least their internet connectivity meets this description.  The TV offering is an arguable point and I don’t know much about their voice service.  On 2nd November 2011 one of their customers was not having a good day with Zuku and put up the tweet below.

The customer, @carolmusyoka used Twitter to get not only Zuku’s attention but that of other customers and potential customers to highlight the experience she was having dealing with the brand. In a short span of time, a number of other Zuku customers pitched in with their thoughts on Zuku’s customers service (or lack of it).  From a safe distance it appears Zuku eventually made contact with their customer on phone but remained mum on Twitter where they actually have a presence @Zukufan.  This was a major error on their part given the attention their brand was raising on Twitter, the sentiment of which was mostly negative.  By 4th November, @carolmusyoka was still waiting for a solution and more Twitter users were weighing in with their thoughts and experiences. From the barrage of tweets, one user shared this link from another Zuku customer who was quite blunt about both their TV service and their “customer disservice” as he called it.  The issue dragged on for a few days with the Twitter timeline with #Zuku references reading like a script from a horror-comedy screenplay.  A week after this saga began the tweet below was put up.

Zuku decided to take leave instead of taking action and responsibility on the platform where their brand was suffering the most! Right there, they provided the latest case study in “how not to run your social media marketing”.  They eventually reactivated their twitter account and have recently been on a following spree but questions still abound on whether they are using the channel better to keep their customers informed and happy.  The @ZukuFan handle is protected, meaning that they screen those wishing to follow them and those who read their tweets. That feature wasn’t meant for any serious enterprise.  Reminds me of a Bible story where some people were asked if they would light a lamp and keep it covered. If your business is on social media you are there to be seen and heard by as many people as will be available to listen.

Situation 2: The failed airline promotion

Australia’s largest airline and flag-carrier Qantas, is no stranger to social media.  The airline has built a reputation over its 91 years of existence.  On 22nd November 2011 the Qantas marketing team launched a Twitter campaign where the winning tweet would be rewarded with a Qantas first-class gift pack.  The @QantasAirways account has over 68,000 followers and as such, running a campaign using this channel was bound to get some good conversation going. 

The background to this however is that the airline had been grappling with negative publicity following disputes with three unions that led to the eventual grounding of the airline’s fleet on 29th October 2011.  Before fully resolving the customer dissatisfaction issue as a result of this, the company launched a campaign to try and engage it’s customers more on social media.  With the hashtag #QantasLuxury, customers were to respond to this question: “Tell us ‘What is your dream luxury inflight experience?’ #QantasLuxury”

The good:  Within an hour, the #QantasLuxury was trending across Australia.  A social media expert, James Griffin of SR7 said there were on average 51 tweets per minute on the topic.

The Bad & the Ugly: Fresh from having thousands of disappointed customers following the grounding of the fleet, the tweets were not flattering and had nothing to do with the intended campaign.  This became an ideal outlet for the airline’s customers to vent their frustrations.  Here are a few of the tweets:

“#qantasluxury is chartering a Greyhound bus and arriving at your destination days before your grounded Qantas flight”

“#QantasLuxury- When the passengers arrive before the couriers delivering the lockout notices do”.

“Getting from A to B without the plane being grounded or an engine catching fire. #Qantasluxury”.

While there was nothing wrong with the campaign itself, what the airlines marketing team totally got wrong was the timing.  They were insensitive to the issues many of their customers were still dealing with following the industrial disputes leading to the fleet grounding.

In March 2010, Nestle foods hit the news with one of the classic goofs that played out on Facebook following the actions of GreenPeace, an environmental lobby group.  You can read more about it here.

While these examples may represent some extreme situations, making mistakes on social media doesn’t mean an end to a brands engagement online.  If and when they do happen, the brand needs to ensure that it remains focussed on meeting customer expectations and directly addressing the issue.  Diverting the attention of Fans and followers will only aggravate them.  And obviously, so will deactivating your account or profile. 

These types of mistakes can be avoided by having a clear strategy and policy for your business on how to run your affairs online.  In the policy, there will be clear guidelines on a number of important issues such as:

  • ·         who the authorised spokespeople are
  • ·         the average lead-times to respond to customer queries
  • ·         transition and handover procedures in case the site administrator changes roles or leaves the company
  • ·         how to manage spammers and inappropriate content that external parties put on your social media channels

In the situation where you find yourself in a reactive situation, employ all reasonable principles that you would if the mistake had happened with a customer in your office, while remembering that there are hundreds or thousands of other customers watching closely.  Here is another interesting perspective on how to proactively use social media especially for the airline industry for crisis management.

The bottom-line here is that social media will not fix other broken elements of the business.  Every business will be challenged with some aspect or the other relating to their products or their customers but this shouldn’t also be an excuse not to engage in social media.

Social media marketing isn’t a band-aid for a broken business; it’s about using it to improve a business that has the basics right.

Struggling with time for Social Media Marketing? 4 tips to get you started

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Creating a Social media presence for your brand is literally easy as 1-2-3. Going beyond that is the challenge most businesses are faced with. The ease with which a business can get onto any social media platform gives the erroneous impression that managing the same is as easy. However, one of the key currencies of social media marketing is time.

While in most organizations the jury is still out on whether this social media thing ought to be taken seriously or not, a marketing executive or any other internet-savvy member of staff will spare a few minutes to take a look at the corporate Facebook page in the midst of IM conversations with friends, uploading photos onto their personal profile and working on their email. Often there is no plan or schedule to guide what the individual or individuals who have administrator access to these social media assets will do (check for an upcoming post on the content dilemma).

If yours is a business faced with this challenge, here are 4 quick tips to help you get onto the right track:

• Identify a suitable social media champ within your organization: While the use of social media in business is primarily for marketing the best champ in your business may not be in the marketing department. It is best to nominate a team member who is passionate about social media and a prolific user of the same. In the event that the person fitting this bill is not in the marketing department, establish a clear and well defined manner for him/her to work with the marketing team in order to ensure that the overall marketing objectives of the business are met. The nomination of the social media champ should however be done with care so that it isn’t used as an excuse for an employee to become an internet junkie.

• Schedule time on a consistent basis to monitor and update the social media assets: Time spent on your corporate assets should be planned. The frequency of checking in should be governed by the traffic on your social media assets. As such, it will be natural to have longer gaps between check-ins when your social media sites are newly set-up and shorter ones as the sites get busier and better known. Being on social media on an ad hoc basis is more likely to yield negative results such as missing crucial customer feedback, or hackers and self-seekers that will use your sites to sell or promote unrelated products or services.

• Don’t spread yourself too thin: Due to the low entry barrier, it is easy to succumb to the temptation to be on as many social networks as possible. This inevitably creates more demand for time in order to remain fresh and relevant. As with any other business decision, do some homework and establish which social media channels work best for you. Needless to mention, this should be based on where your most of your customers will interact with you. Until you can build sufficient capacity, do not hesitate to close or suspend social media assets you own that are likely to have little or no impact.

• The 21st century challenge: there is too much information: We all find ourselves clicking on link after link on Twitter and tempted to watch all the great videos others have posted on Facebook and YouTube. No one ever has enough time to read and watch all they need to while online. You must therefore be very focussed on what you want. Decide upfront what is important and resist the urge to open “just one more”. There are bound to be interesting and informative links that may not fit into the time you have scheduled; bookmark these and set time aside to review them later.

While this is not the exhaustive list of tips you can use to save time, they should help form a crucial first step. Please share any others you might have below.

Image used with permission from creator Renjith Krishnan