Chris Moody
Posts tagged Social Media
What I learned at Social Fresh Charlotte – an exhibitor, speaker and attendee perspective
Aug 18th
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Social Fresh Charlotte was the third @SoFresh branded event that I’ve had the honor of attending. The third time was the second as a speaker and the first as an exhibitor (stay with me), and gave me a new perspective of the event.
Exhibiting with Phonebooth
We had two goals going into Social Fresh as an exhibitor / sponsor – 1. build awareness – 2. help people. It is nice when you can use your product in a manner that isn’t directly trying to drive leads (although we all know that increasing sales is what keeps us all employed). Our idea was to pull together an incredible group of experts and allow anyone at the conference to step into the Phonebooth and ask anything they want. This was definitely a proof of concept and something that we can improve as we continue to build on the idea.
There were some really great questions asked and some even better answers given. We didn’t pay for this. We didn’t force this. We were just the means to facilitate the talking. Social media is cool like that because it allowed us to reach out to some amazing people and they were able to showcase how awesome and helpful they are.
It is a little more difficult to network while exhibiting, but there were definitely other times for me to do that and I still met some really great folks. My time was cut a little short on Monday night due to some of the packing and prepping we had to do, but again… it was worth it. We only had a few hiccups in our execution and know of ways to make it better for experts and attendees and will work on that too. :)
Please help me in thanking the following people for their help (follow these people with this convenient list):
Brad McCormick [@darbtx], Chris Barger [@cbarger], Chris Treadaway [@ctreada], David Neff [@daveiam], DJ Waldow [@djwaldow], Jason Falls [@jasonfalls], Jennifer Beese [@freeandflawed], Mark Hopkins [@rizzn], Marshall Kirkpatrick [@marshallk], Michelle Greer [@michellegreer], Paul May [@paulmay], Richard White [@rrwhite], Robert Scoble [@scobleizer], Scott Stratten [@unmarketing], Thom Singer [@thomsinger], Tim Hayden [@thetimhayden], Todd Defren [@tdefren].
Check out a quick video of me talking about our goal at SoFresh.
Speaking on an awesome panel
For those of you who didn’t know, now you see why David B. Thomas [@davidbthomas], Lisa Hoffmann [@lisahoffmann], Brian Dresher [@bdresher] and Jen Ecclestone [@jeneccleston] are successful in what they do. It was an extremely fun panel to be a part of and I think that it offered some nice insight as to how each of us are handling dealing with limited resources and ways to overcome that.
Every panel that I’ve been on has taught me something new. It’s great having a moderator that is organized, prepared and able to think quickly on his/her feet (with humor). It was a great time and allowed us all to have several discussions about what is working, what isn’t and ultimately, it helps me to learn more about what I can be doing.
Managing Social Media with Limited Resources is a great topic and props to Jason Keath [@jakrose] for adding the panel to an awesome lineup of speakers.
Attending my third Social Fresh
Charlotte isn’t quite my back yard, but it is at least my home turf. I saw plenty of friendly NC faces and tons of folks I’ve met on the road (many were the great speakers that we all listened to). This was the first time attending SoFresh where I missed one or more sessions of content… and honestly, I was a little bummed. We had things to do at the booth and I was able to talk to other exhibitors, but I always learn something new in each session… so I missed that.
Some takeaways:
Amber Naslund [@ambercadabra] delivered another killer keynote and Jay Baer (@jaybaer) put family first, which makes me like him even more.
Justin Kistner [@justinkistner] is really funny, smart and blogs about beer – which means I now have two uber-successful beer blogger friends (see @schneidermike and @belchingmonkey as well).
All of the Blue Sky Factory [@blueskyfactory] folks are super smart.
Argyle Social [@argylesocial] will be successful despite me not logging in as frequently as I should.
Many of the attendees are every bit as smart as the speakers and have great stories and case studies to share… talk to them!
Wayne Sutton [@waynesutton] has a really good memory (thanks for the limited edition @SoFresh stress ball buddy).
Wei Yang [@wei_yang] has my favorite Twitter list – “Not an alien” – People I have met in real life and verified are not aliens.
North Carolina (not just Raleigh-Durham) has an incredible social media scene.
These are just a few of the key takeaways for me, from multiple perspectives. As you’ll see, they aren’t all content focused because honestly… for me… the best part of the event is always connecting with the people. Yes, there is great content, but meet cool folks too.
Now I just have to see if I can make it to SoFresh Atlanta… about that…
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10 signs that your company shouldn’t use social media
Aug 6th
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Is social media right for you?
Everyone is doing it and you should too! Right? Honestly, social media isn’t a fit for everyone and there are visible signs that should alert you that you may be barking up the wrong tree. Let’s discuss 10 signs that your company shouldn’t use social media.
1. You haven’t explored social media yet.
While it is easy to immediately jump into Twitter or start a blog, you should spend some time exploring the communities. Lurk around and see what people are talking about. How can you make an impact? What can you add to the conversation? Are there people talking about what you want to talk about? Being eager is great, but be prepared before you jump.
2. You don’t have any time.
Everyone is busy, we get it. Social media isn’t a magic cure to all of your ROI needs. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes planning. It takes engagement. If you can’t sacrifice some amount of time daily towards social media, it will be very difficult to have a successfully social media strategy and an engaged community.
3. You are not in tune with your industry.
Once you get to the point where people are talking to you (this is a good thing!), you’ll eventually receive questions. It is fine to run interference and get the best answers from your resident expert, but you have to start absorbing that knowledge. If you can’t have an impromptu conversation with someone in an elevator about your industry, how can you develop a positive image in a community?
4. Your Twitter strategy is to repost blog entries.
Repurposing your content is extremely important and your blogs should be on Twitter. However, this is not a strategy. If all of your tweets are “New blog post: I’m doing this all wrong” or “New post: I don’t engage with my community” – you won’t pass the sniff test and people won’t engage with you.
5. You want immediate results.
What is the ROI of taking a client out to lunch? How many sales did you get from that round of golf with your client? Did revenue increase with the hire of your last employee? Are you even answering these questions? Analytics and measurement are extremely important. You need to have the correct KPIs (key performance indicators) to give you an idea of what is going on. At the same time, expecting to immediately see a return on social media is a bit foolish. In time, you can get there… but expecting to jump right in and sell stuff is not going to happen. Prove yourself, develop your community and add value – this will have an ROI.
6. You are not inquisitive.
Every person that I have ever met that is crushing it in social media has a natural curiosity and likes to learn new things. The idea of connecting with folks with similar interests throughout the world should be exciting. You can build new connections, form new relationships, and even connect with people that will become true friends. If this stresses you out or sounds boring… this probably isn’t for you.
7. You are not a people person.
I’m not saying you have to be an extrovert, but as mentioned above, you should want to connect with others. In order to build a community, you need to connect with people on a personal level. This is extremely evident at social media conferences and events. There is usually a correlation between the folks with large, supportive networks and the people who can carry on a conversation with someone they don’t know.
8. You don’t have management support.
In my opinion, skepticism is okay. This can give you an opportunity to get in there, figure it out, crush it, and make something positive happen. It is a story that is easy to tell and visualize. However, if management is not supportive… this makes it difficult to overcome. A pat on the back isn’t required to make social media work, but there should be an acceptance of trying something new… even if there is an initial lack of full understanding.
9. You don’t have clear goals.
What are you using social media to accomplish? How is social media helping you reach your milestones? How is social media related to your main corporate goals? Do you even have a strategy including social media? I’ll go back to the five Ps: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Plan how you can use social media to reach your goals (and hopefully better and faster).
10. You don’t ask questions.
The fastest way to learn about social media is to ask. Everyone is trying to make their impact on the world and show their expertise. Many of these people are honest, nice and helpful folks. Ask questions. Share your plan with a few influencers you trust. Get a friend to introduce you to someone who “knows social media” and brainstorm. Don’t assume that you have to figure it all out yourself. Reach out and get some feedback.
Don’t be afraid to get started!
Spend some time using social media outlets personally and find what you like and dislike. Not every network will work for you or your business, but there is no reason not to get out there and explore!
Note: @schneidermike pointed out that “you” is referred to as your brand and culture… not necessarily you as an individual. I missed spelling that out. :) Thanks Mike!
Photo credit to melodi2
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How to use social media to save customers: a few examples
Jul 21st
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Does The Hoff save customers by using social media?
If you spend any time around social media, you’ll quickly realize that it is one of the easiest platforms to voice a complaint. Some companies ignore the negative sentiment that may pop up online, but others are finding masterful ways to spin a negative into a positive.
There are a few simple steps we can all take to try to handle issues and save customers online:
1. Accountability – step up and own the issue
As a customer and consumer, I don’t expect perfection. At the same time, there are certain situations where a problem can cripple a business. The absolute, worst thing that you can do is nothing. People have some level of forgiveness by nature, but ignoring, covering up, or lying about an issue only makes things worse. Check out this Google Search for “apple antenna lie” to see how not addressing the issue quickly can have a disastrous effect. Admit the fault, apologize for the inconvenience you caused (not “may have caused” because clearly there is an inconvenience) and follow through towards a resolution to try to make things right.
2. Escalate – get the right person talking
Not every issue requires the CEO having a press conference. However, sometimes the Assistant to the Assistant Manager may not be the person you want on the front-lines. Pull in a superior, explain the issue, and setup a conference call with folks that aren’t satisfied with the explanation offered. In the examples that I’ll discuss later, in most cases… I was happy by the escalation alone and the end result was a bit irrelevant.
3. The Five Ps – Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance
If you’re hiking the Appalachian Trail with a friend, to what extent do you plan your trek? Do you just say “we’ll figure it out” or do you know where you’re sleeping every night? It never ceases to amaze me at the cases I hear of folks not prepared to handle a crisis. Pull in the appropriate parties, discuss previous examples – pros and cons, establish how to handle a worst case scenario, and have your infrastructure established.
I’ve had first-hand experiences with several companies that have knocked this out of the park and saved my business (I’ll also grade them for those of you that don’t read all the text).
GoDaddy – A
A crisis with your hosting company is never a fun experience. It is a great mixture of anger, frustration and disappointment – for you and maybe even for your readers. I ran into an issue with GoDaddy and they handled it smoothly. I even bought more domains by how they resolved the situation (thanks to The Office of the President). I’ve written about this before and you can check out the detailed blog post on how GoDaddy saved my business with social media.
Zagg – B+
My favorite pair of ear buds come from Zagg – they make incredible products. We had just launched Phonebooth Free at SXSW and rocked it. I boarded the flight to head home and my favorite buds shorted out. I was one month out of warranty and reached out to their team on Twitter. After several emails and DMs, I ended up with a new pair of my favorite listening devices. Unfortunately, their customer support staff wasn’t really on the same page with the outstanding Twitter outreach. Altogether, great work and absolutely awesome products that I stand behind. The Twitter team followed up with me post-transaction to make sure I was still happy. :)
DirecTV – A+
I was a few hours away from completely cancelling my DirecTV service. I had a technician show up six hours late for a scheduled appointment, an incomplete upgrade installation that left me with no TV (oh noes!), mud tracked in the house, and the next available appointment was a month away. I was pretty furious and my switching cost was immediately down to zero. I had an unsatisfactory call with customer support and voiced my displeasure on Twitter. DirecTV’s team on Twitter reached out to me, escalated the issue, worked with the cancellation department I had called, and had The Office of the President call me.
I had told the cancellation department that if the issue wasn’t resolved the next day, that I would cancel (not being a jerk, but there were better alternatives than spending more time on the issue). On my way home from work, I received a call from The Office of the President telling me that someone should be at my house before I made it there. When I arrived, an extremely helpful technician was already there working outside with his supervisor. They changed a ton of things that had been botched by the previous tech and convinced me that I had a single, isolated, bad experience.
I’m back in the extremely happy category with DirecTV and even a reference for other customers… if it wasn’t for their monitoring on Twitter and their outreach… I would be on U-Verse or just watching TV online. The fact that they followed through with other departments and had a qualified person reach out to me over the phone was awesome.
Beggars can’t be choosers
Too often, we only try to elevate the positive sentiment in social media… especially internally. While this is definitely a good thing and helps with job security, neglecting negative sentiment and failing to try to understand it will doom you. It can lead to product improvements, happier customers, and even save business… like in my case.
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How the incredible Old Spice videos are being made and a few of my favorites
Jul 15th
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If you’ve lived under a rock the last two days… you may have missed that Isaiah Mustafa (the man on a horse) is responding to individual tweets, Facebook and Youtube comments. The videos are hilarious and personal.
ReadWriteWeb just posted some insight into how the videos are being made. Check it out.
The fact that these videos are being made very close to real time is something astonishingly new. Old Spice is rapidly building a loyal community of followers by using an innovative campaign.
It will be interesting to see how long this continues and what they’ll do to follow it up.
Which video is your favorite?
A few of my favorites are below, including replies to two friends named Jason (Peck and Keath).
Response to @jasonpeck
Response to @jakrose
Response to Alyssa Milano
Response to 12755JDH
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You had me at hello – @GoDaddy reaches out
Mar 1st
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A couple of weeks ago, I had a domain that was set to auto-renew. Due to a bank issue, a lack of process understanding on my end, and a bit of confusion on the @GoDaddy interface (which I do think needs a little improvement)… my domain expired.
I logged in a few times to make sure the domain would renew and noticed that I had it set to auto-renew and had updated payment information tied to my account. I did not, however, tie my payment information with that specific domain. That was on me and was the lack of process understanding I mentioned.
I called @GoDaddy support and after 10 minutes or so had a good discussion with a helpful support rep. I was satisfied with his service, but a bit displeased with the end result. The approximately $11 domain name that I wanted to renew ended up costing me $90 with a redemption fee. I knew it was my fault and admitted as much, but still felt a little wronged.
As everyone is accustomed to doing, I tweeted my experience. Granted, I couldn’t describe the whole situation in 140 characters AND I am used to fielding positive and negative feedback from social media at work, but I was still a bit surprised by the response.
Several minutes later I had a voicemail from The Office of the President at GoDaddy. Not a tweet, not a DM, not an email, but a phone call. I was immediately happy.
Yes I am a dork with that. Todd Barr (@tbarr) and I love reaching out via the phone to respond to Twitter complaints or questions we receive at @Bandwidth… and it has a personal touch that is frequently lost.
I had a great conversation with Brian at GoDaddy. I asked him some questions about how they reach out and deal with social media and his department isn’t responsible for the social media interaction… it was escalated to them. I love that. We do that and in my opinion… it matters to customers.
Brian explained in great detail (although not boring and overly extensive), what happened and that they would like to refund me $40.
I was happy. I messed up, and admitted it. @GoDaddy went above and beyond just to show that they were listening. To me, that is what it is all about.
Honestly, it was the best $50 I’ve spent on web hosting and I even bought two additional domains at @GoDaddy last night after the call.
Kudos for listening. It does matter…
