Tim Bursch

I met with two colleagues managing social media marketing at large companies. They were the only person responsible for the strategy, content, engagement, measurement, and more. Both have a huge task of proving a new marketing (and sometimes customer service) channel, all by themselves.

They are Lone Rangers in the wild marketplace of business trying to make an impact with little resources and understanding from their leadership. How will they survive?

Here are a few ideas that might help my friends:

• Build a network for Lone Ranger practitioners. Think Social Media Council for mid-sized businesses.
• Create bite-sized education for leadership and staff. The format could be one page handouts on some of the major concepts or lunch-and-learn sessions. Help increase the social IQ across the organization.
• Talk in more traditional business language. Instead of a buzzword like engagement, talk about the CRM aspects of Facebook.

How would you help a Social Media Lone Ranger? What tools would you share?

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My big bank sent me a new check card recently. Except, I did not ask for one. It came with lots of confusing notices about security, blah, blah, blah. I left it on my desk because my existing card was working fine.

So, I start getting ominous messages from the bank about being at risk if I don’t activate my new card. What? I did not ask for one and did not need one. I break down and call the big bank.

Here’s their explanation paraphrased:

Big Bank: Mr. Bursch we noticed that your current check card might be one of many of our customers that is at risk for fraud. [Huh?] We proactively sent you a new card. You need to activate the new one by X date because the old one will no longer be valid.

Me: Security? Fraud? My old card was working just fine and I had no problems. So, why do I need this one?

Big Bank: This a process to help protect our customers.

Me: Uh, I thought I was already protected or that your were looking out for me. So, I have to upgrade to the new card?

Big Bank: Yes sir.

Me: So, now I have to take time to update all of my online business and information online?

Big Bank: I’m sorry sir, this update is mandatory.

Me: So let me get this straight, I have to do something I did not need because of your policy AND spend hours of my time to fix something that was not broken. Hmmm.

Big Bank: I apologize for the inconvenience…

You get the picture? The Big Bank customer service agent was fed all the lines and it wasn’t their fault, just their job. Was this new care really about security? It would actually be refreshing if they just told me: Sir, we are making changes in our business and will probably be charging you more in the future. In order to do this, we need to give all our customers new cards and new numbers. Sorry for the inconvenience.

But then that’s another blog post.

So, I asked people on Twitter about their experience with banks and got several responses. Here’s a story from Vasco Vasconcelos in Portugal about policy over service:

Some years ago, way before home banking got to Portugal, I went to the local agency of my bank to request a money transfer to Belgium, in order to pay for one of my father’s horses life insurance.

Naturally, I took with me the destination account’s IBAN (International  Bank Account Number). After giving it to the bank clerk…she said she couldn’t order the transfer without having another code: the SWIFT code. It wasn’t my first time ordering such a transfer, so I said I knew it could be done without that code. Even thought it was always preferable to have it, I had to do the transfer that very same day because the horse was going on a show the next day and I needed the receipt of the transfer as proof of pay in case (God forbid) something happened, and had no possibility of getting the SWIFT code in due time.

She insisted she couldn’t do it and that I was wrong, so I asked her to call her superior; her answer was absolutely outrageous: “I’m not disturbing my superior with such a meaningless thing” and “sure the horse will be OK” (imagine mocking voice) I got furious. I had been a client on that bank for several years (my dad opened my first bank account there on my 14th b’day). After insisting a couple of times, with no reaction whatsoever from the clerk, I headed straight to the manager’s office on my own. Needless to say, she followed me. All the fuzz caught the attention of the manager. After explaining what had happened, he authorised the transfer, confirmed that, although preferable, the SWIFT code was not a “sine qua non” condition on the transfer and apologised. I was a heartbeat away from closing my account, had not the manager been so nice to me. Don’t know what happened to the clerk, but never saw her there since. Word is she got transferred. God bless home banking

Who does your company serve? Your customers or your stakeholders and policies?

Tags: banking.

So you’ve built a fan base on Facebook. Nice job. Now what? Well if you haven’t been hiding under a rock then you know the recent updates announced by Facebook at the f8 Conference have big implications for businesses. The biggest: Engagement is even more important.

Here are the top three ways I think a brand can maintain and build engagement:

1. Content - Create compelling content that resonates with your fans. If you are not seeing Likes, comments, or shares, go back to the drawing board for content. As Facebook increases the importance of a visual stories with Timeline, consider integrating images and video in your content calendar.

2. Custom Development - Whether you agree or not with “Frictionless Sharing”, Facebook raised the stakes for application development. A straight-forward Like-gated download or promotion app might work initially to attract fans, but now that they are on board how will you maintain engagement? Fans have an updated News Feed and the shiny new Ticker to deal with. Will simple promotional applications get attention? Maybe. Maybe not. The point here: start thinking about custom development in Facebook with more weight. It is not going to be enough to get a fan to Like your page. You will need to give them some experience to come back for and interact with your brand. This can be costly.

3. Off the shelf solutions - Application development can be expensive and an alternative is off-the-shelf Facebook applications. Some vendors include, Snap App, Involver, North Social and more. These companies provide a modular approach to applications and offer a variety of interactive experiences.

What other ways can a brand build engagement on Facebook?

Related topics:

• Should brands provide customer service on Facebook?
• How many pages should you set up in Facebook?

Tags: community management, engagement, Facebook.

Most big brands have developed a presence on the largest social network in the world, Facebook. And most are using Facebook to connect and market to customers and prospects.

One interesting trend I’m noticing on some of the pages that I oversee:

People want customer service in the channel they are active.

It started with a simple question.

A fan asked about a specific problem. Our community manager answered. All in the public. So, now other people tried getting their problem solved. And we helped. But wait a second, I work at a marketing agency. Why are we doing customer service? Good question.

Service=Marketing

Fans and followers don’t care which channel you’re supposed to get service on, they just want help. So, maybe helping your customers, especially out in the open on networks, is marketing. It doesn’t really matter if the brand or fan fired the first shot in customer service. What matters is happy customers. That’s why you’re in business.

Are you providing customer service on Facebook or other social nets? Perhaps the question is could you?

Tags: channel, community management, Facebook, transformation.

Fred Wilson got me thinking about what comes first in developing content for social marketing. Mobile or the web? Where are people starting their experience? [Obviously depends on the audience]

Mobile first?

Facebook -

• There are more than 250 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.
• People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users.

People are spending more time on mobile apps than the web according to a report by Flurry earlier this year.

As more and more smart phones flood the market, I think people will prefer to engage brands in real-time on the small screen.

Which comes first? Mobile or the web? Your opinion?

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In the new world of work, the focus is more on projects instead of production lines. It’s about trial and error. One of the cool things about my day job is the constant learning cycle. I am helping clients experiment with emerging media to market their products and services. Yes, we set strategic objectives and measure our performance. But what about bigger-picture learning? What is a good model for conducting trials? Lately I’ve been applying a learning model borrowed from some friends who are working on a mentoring revolution.

Next time you try a new form of media consider a model like this:

Experience- New platform or campaign. Let’s say you try Facebook ads to reach new customers and get amazing impressions, but only so-so click-throughs.

Reflect- Take one step back and pause. What happened? Review the experience.

Interpret- What worked? What didn’t work? How was the business impacted? What could be done different? Be honest, admit failures, but don’t over-report. Find the truth and make a decision on what to do because of it.

Change- Apply the learning. Try it again and make it better.

Sound simple? I think it can be. This model helps you take intentional steps to learn from each marketing program.

Take a look at your last email campaign. Apply to your Twitter content. Review your promotion.

What model works for you?

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I have a few favorite restaurants right now. And I tell everyone about them. I’m an advocate for brands I love. My guess is you do the same with your faves. Are brands helping their talkers? What could they do to empower their biggest fans?

Let’s take a look at one of the places that I love: Anchor Fish and Chips

Great food, mostly local and sustainable, focused, and affordable. Easy to talk about.

My wife and I have told at least a dozen people each about this place. Face to face. However, I’ve never taken any advocacy actions online. That’s a big opportunity. Imagine if I had told my networks:
Twitter - 2,000+
Facebook - 180
Each of those people have an average of 125 friends. Do the math. Granted, not all of those people are in Minneapolis, but what could Anchor do to help share the digital love?

Here are some best practices for promoting advocacy from other thriving businesses:

1. Identify your talkers.

• Ask for my email. Get me on a list, and share what’s happening. I’d like to know what’s on tap, more about the story, insider scoop.
• Ask if I would be willing to recommend. [Use the simple and effective Net Promoter Score: read more here]

2. Activate

• Give me something to share. I’ll gladly email, tweet, post about your business.
• Do something exclusive for your advocates. Share the back story. History. Make me feel like I’m part of a club.
• Ask me to help and I’ll do it because I like your brand. For free.

3. Measure

• Take surveys occasionally. Put a postcard with the check asking customers a few questions.
  How did you hear about us? [main measurement] Would you recommend us to a friend? Sign up for our email newsletter.
• Social actions (shares, comments, likes, retweets, etc.)
• Look at the bottom line before and after.

What are you doing to promote advocacy for your business?

If you are in Minneapolis, make sure to visit The Anchor Fish and Chips! [Twitter//Facebook]

Image credit: Stig Nygaard

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We were getting groceries recently, and to get what we want ended up at a few different stores. At the checkout one store was noticeably rough with the food and didn’t seem to care. The other was careful and helpful. Cracked eggs vs. rubber bands and extra bags. Yes, there are some price differences and yes, different levels of service.

But one store leaves me feeling kind of bruised and hurried, while the other makes me feel taken care of.

I know these are small details in the customer experience, but they matter. How you treat people’s food, car, kids, and money spent all matter.

So, think about your customer’s experience. What little things could you pay more attention to? Remember, everything you do is marketing.

Your thoughts?

Photo credit: John Steven Fernandez

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This post was originally published on Saturday, February 12, 2011 on the Gage Blog.

Yesterday Facebook launched a new version of Pages that “will enable brands, businesses and organizations to build stronger relationships with their fans.” You can upgrade today or wait until March 10th when all pages will be updated. Let’s walk through the big changes and how they will impact your marketing efforts:

Be the Page

Now you can login as a page or profile. This means that you can post, comment, or like other Pages in Facebook. You will also be able to experience the news feed from the Page’s perspective. At this point you cannot comment on a Profile (individuals) unless their privacy settings are absolutely open.

Takeaways

• More engagement with other brands – co-marketing
• Expand your reach and exposure to more potential fans
• But be careful of spamming other communities. Don’t create noise. Add value to other conversations.
• Watch out for Page-jacking from competitors or distributors
• Use the newsfeed view to nurture strategic relationships with other Pages relevant to your fans

Where did everything go?

Watch for changes to the top navigation. You will see a photostrip of the 5 most recent photos posted to the wall. Fans photos posted on your Page will not show up here. This new look will match the updated Profile user interface.

Tabs are no longer front and center. You will now see navigation to tab on the left under your Page picture. Again, similar experience to Profiles. Fans will see 6 navigation options above the fold. You can set your default landing page for fan if you have an app, promotion, or welcome page.

The top right corner will allow you to feature administrators, similar to putting faces in a Twitter background. This area will also highlight mutual friends and interests (suggested by Facebook) to fans.

Takeaways

• Make sure pictures are high quality and compelling to fans
• First impressions matter. If people are landing on your wall or default option, make sure that have a good experience. You get one shot!
• Continue to focus on great content and real engagement
• If it makes sense for your brand, feature an admin and give fans a human connection

Moderation matters

The wall now has an “Everyone” filter or Posts by the Page. The Everyone filter is based on relevance and content with the highest feedback. In other words, the old wall showed fans content in reverse chronological order and now the Everyone filter will show what Facebook thinks is relevant.

In addition, Facebook added keyword moderation and profanity blocklists to Pages.

Takeaways

• Because the timeline is gone, moderation is more important. Posts and comments may get buried by the new smart filter.
• Brands will need to be intentional about moderation and take advantage of keyword and profanity blocklists
• If you are not using a Social Media Management Platform, use the Email notifications for your Page.
• Based on the Everyone filter, you must create great content and interact with your fans

How do you think these changes will affect brand marketing on Facebook? Likes? Dislikes? Tell us in the comments.

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My wife and I have a budget and we try really hard to stick to it. We’ve tried a variety of systems over the years and some have worked, some have not. We were comparing notes with some friends recently about budget woes and they talked about Mint. While it appears to have some cool features, what stuck with me after the conversation was the potential solution for some of our current system challenges.

We signed up and we are trying it out. It might not be the best solution yet, we’ll see.

Here’s the deal. These kind of word-of-mouth interactions happen every day between friends. Online and Offline.

What problem are you solving?

Tweet from Tim Sanders

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