Learn How Nufloors Uses Social Media to Connect With Customers

Learn from a truly talented and passionate customer advocate. Here's an interview with Nufloors' Cynthia Dean on how she uses social media to connect with customers:

Social Media to Connect With Customers: Nufloors' Cynthia Dean

What have you found works in your organization?

Thanks for reading!

Best,

C.B.

Learn How BuildDirect Uses Social Media With Customers

I love hearing about social media marketing success stories! In this case, BuildDirect's Rob Banks shares wisdom about how to connect with customers using social media.

Here's a link to the article:

BuildDirect Uses Social Media to Connect With Customers

I'd love to hear your reactions.

Thanks for reading!

Best,

C.B.

Making Social Media Personal, Corner Grocery Style

What's so powerful about social media is that it can enable the kind of personal relationships that form the basis for ongoing, long term business relationships - like the ones that corner grocers depended on.

Here are my thoughts on the matter:

Social Media - Corner Grocery Style!

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Best,

C.B.

Ready to Develop Breakthrough Business Marketing Ideas?

My favorite marketing conference BRITE is happening March 4 through 5, 2013 in New York City. I think you'll enjoy these highlights from last year's conference:

How To Develop Breakthrough Business Marketing Ideas: Brite '12

I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Thanks for reading.

Best,

C.B.

Focusing on Customers the Way a Fish Market Does!

Do you associate remarkable customer service with fish markets? Here's one account you may enjoy:

Remarkable Customer Experience, Pike Place Fish Market Style

Makes for a whole new appreciation, no?

Thanks for reading!

Best,

C.B.

Why Online Conversations Matter

Do check out this article which came out of my presentation at Natural Beauty Summit Americas [NBSA]:

NBSA: Social Media and Natural Buzz. Why Online Conversations Matter

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Best,

C.B.

ZMOT for B2B Marketing is Totally Relevant!

Have you heard yet about ZMOT - aka the 'zero' moment of truth? It affects us from all perspectives... Think how often you go online to find information... Here's perspective on why it affects us and how it affects B2B business.

Why ZMOT is Relevant for B2B Marketing: 4 Data-Based Reasons

Let me know what you think...

Best,

C.B.

How To Build WOM From Complaining Customers - MarketingProfs B2B Forum 2011

MarketingProfs B2B Forum 2011 featured as keynote speaker Guy Winch, author of The Squeaky Wheel: Complaining the Right Way to Get Results, Improve Your Relationships, and Enhance Self-Esteem.

[See my interview with Guy, titled Guy Winch: How To Complain & Get Results - The Squeaky Wheel.]

Guy had us mesmerized as he explained How Your Unhappiest Customers Can (Paradoxically!) Help You Foster Fans... if you truly focus on handling their complaints, resolve their problems AND repair the relationship with them.

The implications of his advice are far reaching. Think of all of the situations during which complaints arise: family interactions, with friends, as customers and business professionals. And, yet, when is the last time we've received professional advice or training on how to 'foster fans' and address complaints?

The Complaining Psychology
95% will not complain to a company. They prefer to relay to others excluding those who can fix the problem and will tell an average of 16 friends or acquaintances. Complaints create negative feelings which lead to apprehension, defeatist thinking, feeling helpless and powerless. Better to avoid the source of the complaint and funnel the energy into commiserating with others.

Did you realize that this is a global phenomenon? In fact, I discovered Complaints Choir Worldwide [thanks to Dr. Winch mentioning the Helsinki Complaint Choir].

Unattended Complaints Do Damage To Relationships.
They create a rupture in the "fabric of relationships" affecting trust - which in my mind is the holy grail! If you both handle the complaint and repair the relationship, you build loyalty and greater confidence that you'll listen, and resolve problems in the future.

For all that we dislike complaints, they yield tremendous benefits. The more likely customers are to voice complaints, the lower the risk of attrition and the more likely customers are to share positive word-of-mouth endorsements. Think of them as a free focus group providing early warning of issues and problems. If we know about them, we can fix them, tailor our communications and discover unknown and unmet needs!

How to elicit compaints?

Despite psychological barriers, it's important to look for signs of disengagement. More specifically, changes in business transactions or habits, in voice/tone, in communication style, in social media engagement. The signs are usually in plain site, but you need to have systems in place to alert you. [Interesting detail: bilingual people have both a hot and cold language channel. When I lived in French speaking Africa, my 'hot' language was French. It is now English. The question to ask is which language is more personal?]

How To Handle Complaints

It helps to give permission to voice complaints. Ask customers for feedback, using "I" statements in open ended initial questions. For example, "is there anything I could do better?"

How To Repair the Relationship Wound?

You need to handle the customer while fixing the problem. Three elements come into play: an effective apology, open communications about the process and great followup.

An apology is critical and saying sorry convincingly is the hardest part of the work. [Advice: don't interrupt and offer a solution until after the person explains what went wrong. You need to hear it all so you can be authentic.]

To be effective, an apology must include regret and the person's specific feelings. It must also provide emotional validation to match the customer's emotional concern.

Only then can you and should you give your side.

To rebuild trust: 1st promise, then deliver repeatedly. More specifically,

• Breakdown the process transparently so there are no surprises in what to expect
• Set time frame for each step and notify each time you deliver
• Go the extra mile and exceed expectations
• Promise only what you can deliver [be cautious]
• Explain and apologize for limitations
• Get feedback about proposed solution
• End with apology recap
• Then, deliver on promises! [cash in on trust]

It's critical to manage your feelings!

Manage your feelings then manage theirs. Realize that the visceral reflexive response is an auto response and manage it. A valuable technique to use is reappraisal or reframing. In so doing, you change the underlying feeling about the situation and reframe it in a more positive light for your customer.

In closing, Guy Winch reminded us how valuable it is to take care of complaining customers. They can become your most loyal word-of-mouth endorsers. Definitely, treasure them since they offer an opportunity to:

1. Repair a relationship.
2. Discover systemic problems
3. Gather information about customers.
4. Increase positive word of mouth/mouse
5. And practice complaint handling skills.

Thanks, Guy. What valuable advice! [And, I really enjoyed meeting you in person.] Be sure, too, to read Veronica Jarski's post on #mpb2b Forum: How to Repair Customer Relationships While Fixing Problems in 3 Basic Steps.]

What is the worst customer complaint situation you've encountered? And what happened as a result? Which of Guy's best practices did you find most helpful?

Right Brain/Left Brain in Business: a CBSAC/NY Event

I recently attended a Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York (CBSAC/NY) event titled "Right Brain/Left Brain MBA". The title intrigued me. Furthermore, two of the participants were classmates from Columbia Business School [and another a classmate from Smith College!]! I had to go.

I wasn't disappointed.

As Claire Steichen, organizer of the event, explained, the idea for this event came from contrasting the traditional MBA career paths in Financial Services or Consulting to those in more creative environments. The event's participants included:

Claire Steichen, a coaching and leadership development consultant, worked in cosmetics and luxury goods.

Mike Rataczak pursued human resources at Cole Haan, Limited Brands, including Victoria's Secret and Henri Bendel, and as a consultant. 

Celeste Gudas, an entrepreneur and recruiting industry innovator, launched her company 24 Seven as a strategic, creative workforce solutions partner for Fashion, Retail, Advertising, Marketing, Design, Interactive/Digital, Media, Beauty, CPG and Entertainment industry companies. 

Terri Meyer, co-founded her company The Terri & Sandy Solution, after 25 years on Madison Avenue to bring brand-igniting communication platforms to clients in faster, smarter, more cost-efficient ways for companies such as Nestle, Kodak, Kraft, Gerber, Campbell’s, Clairol, and American Standard...

Andrew Goldman has pursued an intense passion for the movie industry ever since seeing Jaws as a kid. He now lives it at HBO/Cinemax.

Each panelist answered questions such as:

• How did you get into the industry?
• How did you know it was right?
• How does creativity manifest itself in less creative environments?

Although the focus was on creativity in the business workplace and finding the ideal working environment and position, several insights seemed particularly relevant for businesses eager to embrace marketing with social media and content marketing...

Creativity generates positive energy that touches everyone involved.

There's a melding of creativity in every role and job.

Many of us are ambassadors between creativity and business.

Do everything with integrity

Motivation requires intense interest [i.e., passion].

You need to have passion.

Know yourself and your business.

Listening skills are critical. It's okay to say you don't know the answer.

Mike stated the following - which I found profound!

"Building a brand is like making a movie. You need to know how you will contribute to building the brand. It takes both right and left brain to tell a movie. Figure out your role in the movie and draw a picture for others of how you contribute."

I love the image. It's completely relevant to creating engaging content for end users and figuring out how to answer the questions our customers have. We're trying to understand their movie and find a role for ourselves that makes credible sense.

The panelists suggested the following books to read:

• The Power of Who: You Already Know Everyone You Need to Know - go where you are celebrated not tolerated [love this notion!]
• The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy
• A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
• On YouTube, animated shorts about what drives people - RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us
• The Corporate Lattice: Achieving High Performance In the Changing World of Work 
• Soar with Your Strengths: A Simple Yet Revolutionary Philosophy of Business and Management - don't be what you're not. Fill in the gaps in your strengths with others [e.g., Calvin Klein & Barry Schwartz]
• Expect to Win: 10 Proven Strategies for Thriving in the Workplace

Have you read any of these books? Which did you like best?

Comments, reactions, questions? How do you meld right and left brains in your business? How do you bring creativity into problem-solving and business? How do you stay motivated?

Thank you, Claire, Mike, Andrew, Celeste and Terri. I really enjoyed the conversation!

The Network Is Your Customer By David Rogers

David Rogers, executive director of the Center on Global Brand Leadership at Columbia Business School in NYC, fits my description of a Renaissance Man. He's an accomplished marketer and teacher of branding, marketing and digital strategy at Columbia Business School. He's a renowned composer and musician, whose brilliant saxophone playing brings new levels of meaning to BRITE conferences.  He is also author of the newly released book The Network Is Your Customer: Five Strategies to Thrive in a Digital Age.

I caught up with David as he begins his book launch tour and asked him a few questions:

C.B.: David, congratulations on your new book!  How did the concept for The Network is Your Customer develop?

DR: The idea for the book came from looking at businesses which innovate digitally. And not all of these are Google, Facebook, or startup companies. They represent a wide range of industries and categories - consumer package goods, businesses involved in politics and philanthropy, and others.  All are making prudent, effective use of digital tools to connect with customers.

I reviewed hundreds of case studies and focused on those that demonstrated an understanding of the behavior of customers. You see, at the heart of successful business strategies is a profound desire to shape how the business adopts new technology primarily to connect with customers.  These are companies that fully embrace that they are in the business of serving customers.

C.B.: You highlight many companies in your book - businesses large and small, and in every industry—from consumer, to B2B, and nonprofits [see pages 17-18 of chapter 1]. What makes these businesses stand out?

They stand out for three reasons.

1. These are companies focused on pursuing a business objective and they are disciplined about their focus.

2. These companies are committed to adding value to customers; they spend a great deal of time worrying about how to benefit customers.

3. These companies all successfully pursued strategies that were rooted in one or more core behaviors [accessing, engaging, customizing, connecting, and collaborating] inherent to networked customers.

C.B.:  What are customer networks and why do they matter more than individual customers?

DR: I define customer networks on page 32 of The Network Is Your Customer:

A customer network is: the set of all current and potential cus­tomers of an organization, linked to the organization, and to each other, through a web of digital tools and interactions.

Why do customer networks matter? We now all of us have access to digital tools for communicating, interacting, and creating on a mass scale. This changes the relationships between individuals and with organizations.

Organizations used to be successful embracing a mass market model. They could communicate to, but not interact with, individual customers.  That has changed with digital tools; the key to success now is a customer network model where businesses listen to, interact with and create based on their network of connected individual customers who participate dynamically and enthusiastically.

C.B.:  David, you mentioned 5 strategies during BRITE '10 to truly thrive in this digital age that we live in. Would you describe those here?

DR:  Absolutely. These are strategies that not only create value, but also make for successful customer network business models. They are:

• The Access Strategy: the ability to actually connect to networks easily, flexibly, and effectively

• The Engage Strategy: the ability to find relevant and valuable content and experiences in networks

• The Customize Strategy: the ability to match or adapt those network experiences to unique customer needs

• The Connect Strategy: the ability to express oneself and communicate with other customers in networks

• The Collaborate Strategy: the ability to engage in purposeful action, with shared goals, in networks

I describe these five strategies in a recent blogpost titled Five Strategies for Business Growth in a World of Customer Networks and also include examples.

C.B.: How are those strategies relevant to business today?

DR: The key as I describe in Chapter 8 of The Network Is Your Customer is to really understand your own customer, your company and your objectives. Once you do, you can then map out strategies and figure out which is most appropriate for your business.

These strategies can be used to meet business objectives ranging from driving sales, to enhancing innovation, decreasing cost, gaining customer insights, or even building breakthrough products and services - once you truly understand customers, company and business objectives.

C.B.: This book seems an natural evolution of the work you've with the Columbia Business School Center on Global Brand Leadership and the BRITE conference which focuses on branding, innovation and technology. How will BRITE '11 further develop the customer network and these 5 business strategies?

DR: The launch event for "The Network Is Your Customer: 5 Strategies to Thrive in a Digital Age." took place on January 26th and consisted of a panel discussion with talented innovators who strategically engage with customer networks.  More specifically, Lisa Hsia from Bravo Digital Media, Frank Eliason from Citi, Carsten Wierwille from frog design and Russell Dubner from Edelman in New York joined me. Those conversations also previewed BRITE '11 where a great lineup of speakers will present their own stories about how they engage with customer networks.

C.B.: David, how do we find you?

DR:  Visit The Network Is Your Customer which includes reviews, a case study database as well as my blog. I encourage you to download a free chapter of my book, too.

Look for me on Twitter: David Rogers, and please do visit [and like] my Facebook page for updates on cases and videos. Or, send me an email and definitely look for me at the BRITE '11 conference which takes place March 2 and 3, 2011 in New York City [Note: more on that in a separate post].

CB: Thank you, David!

You'll also find an excerpt from The Network Is Your Customer on 800CEORead  and can listen to David discussing topics from his book in these video clips as he touches on:

• Social Media and the Ford Fiesta Movement
• The iPhone & Network Collaboration
• Two Key Questions for Customer Network Strategy
• How IBM Sells B2B Software with a Videogame
• Bees, Hives, and Customer Networks

I'm interested to hear from you. How are you noticing the shift to customer networks in your business and with the brands you interact with regularly?

Meetups and Tweetups: Building Community

Have you taken part in a Meetup or a Tweetup - aka a Meetup organized via Twitter using a specific hashtag? I recommend that you do. Both are powerful means for building community.

Particularly if you've started engaging with others via social media, Tweetups and Meetups allow you to meet in person people with whom you may only have been interacting with virtually to that point. That's where the magic happens!

I've noticed it time and time again - at my first NYC Blogger Meetup: Night of the Iguana in 2007; at the ultimate blogger Meetup in April 2008: Blogger Social which I describe in Back From Blogger Social 2008 - NYC - interacting with people online by reading their blogs or tweets and exchanging ideas makes for intense in-person meetings where you 'know' the person despite never having met them. You already have the basis for conversation established and your next exchanges can go far beyond superficial cocktail party chatter.

Since those early days, Meetups have become more formalized and tend to refer to regularly occurring meetings and conversations. In fact, you can search for ones of interest in your geographic area by searching through Meetup.com.

[In this post, I describe NJ Open Coffee, MontClair, Thursdays 11am-12:30pm which has just been extended to Morristown on Wednesdays.]

Tweetups, on the other hand, retain an impromptu, one-off quality which can take a variety of forms.  You learn about them by following a specific hashtag [#] associated with an event taking place. Note from the following examples not only the range of formats, but also interaction.

• At Coverings 2010, I participated in a low key Tweetup that I discovered while following #Coverings on Twitter in anticipation of attending and presenting at Coverings 2010.  My fellow Twitter friends are pictured above: Paul Anater, Zoe Voigt, Veronika Miller, Bill Buyok, Marilyn Russell, Arpi Nalbandian [not pictured here; I originally met Arpi in person at Surfaces after many Twitter exchanges].

• David Parmet describes a 150 person Tweetup in this post titled What Every PR Person Can Learn From The #NASATweetup.

• Neville Hobson describes an 80 person music-based #ealingtu Tweetup in The Success of the Ealing Tweetup.

• In this last example - which is more about Twitter than Tweetups, but does include one - Twitter marvelously brings to live Moliere's 400 years old play "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme", as each character embraces his/her own Twitter stream, tweeting in verse even and engaging with new audiences. The project culminates in a 50 person Tweetup at the Theatre du Nouveau Monde before the performance which I bet was electrifying!  From Gaurav Mishra, see Case Study: How a Theatre Used Twitter to Introduce a Young Audience to a Moliere Play with link to the video: Molière Goes Twitter.

I hope you'll be on the lookout for upcoming Tweetups at the next trade show or conference you attend. You'll be amazed at how they help build community.

Will you let know your experience?

Connecting With Customers: Nufloors Advice

How do you go about connecting with customers, establishing relationships with them and then figuring out how to best stay in touch - particularly in categories where the replacement cycle takes years rather than days? These were some of the questions explored this past September 2010 during my visit with Canada Nufloors Group members in Kelowna, British Columbia.

[If you remember from Press Release: Nufloors Turning Flooring Customers Into Advocates, Canada Nufloors Group Inc., represents leading Canadian floor covering retailers with locations in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario.]

In addition to sharing my presentation titled "Retail Hospitality or Customer Service Before, During and After the Sale" about connecting with customers, I got to hear wise advice from Cynthia Dean, General Manager of Nufloors Coquitlam, as she shared her experiences ‘Turning Flooring Customers Into Advocates’

Here are points she addressed that particularly resonated with me.

Survey your customers.  You'll find out that you don't know what you think you know. You'll also discover that customers are passionate about you and will give feedback.

Share what you learn from customers with your entire organization. Make everyone a part of the solution. From analyzing the responses, create an action plan that you implement. Then repeat the process. Be sure to measure results. What you measure, you can manage & improve. Furthermore, the process creates a halo effect from focusing on customers on an ongoing basis.

Simple ideas are effective in delighting customers. For example, have umbrellas with Nufloors imprinted available when it rains. Then, walk your customer to her car with the umbrella deployed!

From a practical perspective, Cynthia recommended the following process for dealing with customer survey results:

• Once you get feedback, don't get overwhelmed.
• Take the easy ones first
• Stay focused on 2 or 3 to work on
• Be sure to research so you have hard data vs. gut feel
• Develop an action plan.  Tackle problems at their root cause. Make one person responsible for the action plan. Monitor progress once a month, and stay committed.

[A theme that has been coming up repeatedly lately is the importance of focusing and prioritizing.] 

Here are my presentation slides:

Retail Hospitality or Customer Service Before, During & After the Sale

View more presentations from Simple Marketing Now LLC.

Finally, several resources in case you'd like to dive deeper into the subject of Connecting With Customers.

Customer Service [aka Retail Hospitality] Articles

From Tom Peters' marvelous free resources, a document titled "The Independent Retailer Edge: 49 Points of Potential Dramatic Difference."

A Good Hug is Worth based on a presentation by Jack Mitchell, author of Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results.

Businesses find benefits in giving customers the white-glove treatment.

Wharton: WOM Customers 16% More Valuable

Excerpt from The Gender Intelligent Retailer: Discover the Connection Between Women Consumers and Business Growth, by Joanne Thomas Yaccato

Statistics-Customer Service & Quality

Why Customer Service Buzz is the New Marketing

Will You Recommend This Article to a Friend?

Why Your Customers Don't Want to Talk to You

Classics on Connecting With Customers

• Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping--Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond by Paco Underhill 
• Marketing to Women: How to Increase Your Share of the World's Largest Market by Marti Barletta
• You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation by Deborah Tannen

As you read through all of this, what comes to mind for connecting with customers? What have you found most successful? How do you establish relationships and develop them consistently over time?

By the way, Kelowna is as magical a place as Rob Banks led me to believe, with vineyards, orchards, mythical beings - if you look carefully in the photo, you'll catch a glimpse of the Ogopogo, cousin to LockNess and active on Facebook and Twitter, who has promised to eat me next time I visit - and unexpected encounters. It's definitely worth a visit to savor marvelous wines - we visited Ex Nihilo Vineyards, Gray Monk and Arrowleaf Cellars - and feast your eyes on brilliant scenery.

AMA Podcast Series: Social Media Marketing GPS

Now available from the AMA Resource Library: Social Media Marketing GPS Podcast Series with Toby Bloomberg! 

Toby Bloomberg, Diva Marketing extraordinaire and author of Social Media Marketing GPS, the first ever business book written on Twitter [see Social Media Marketing GPS: A Must-Read Guide], contacted me recently with exciting news! 

Toby explained that Dennis Dunlap, CEO of AMA, loved Social Media Marketing GPS. As a result, AMA would partner with her to produce a series of podcasts to support the book.  All 40 prominent marketers from Canada, England, India and the United States who participated in Twitter interviews for the book were invited to take part to further develop the conversations started on Twitter.

I can't imagine a more exciting development. As I told Toby, it feels as if the whole process is coming full circle with these podcasts.

Here is the link to the page listing all of the interviews in the AMA Social Media Marketing GPS Podcast series.

If you haven't already, definitely download a copy of Social Media Marketing GPS, by Toby Bloomberg.

Last Wednesday, September 8th, 2010, Joel Rubinson and I recorded our podcast with Toby on the subject of listening. Nancy Pekala, AMA Director of Online Content, introduced the session.Ours was the eighth in the series.

In true Toby innovative fashion, the podcasts reinforce the short Twitter concept of Social Media Marketing GPS, lasting only about 14 minutes. We each started out reading a few of our original interview tweets - Toby read from her introduction to the chapter. [The idea of reading tweets came from what Neville Hobson did in his original post describing the series.] From there, Toby introduced discussion questions about listening...

For example, 

• Who owns listening?
• How does listening fit into traditional research?

14 minutes goes by fast. Especially with a topic such as listening.  To be continued, I hope.  The three of us had so much passion for the topic and the importance of listening in social media marketing and business, we are considering a longer format forum to continue. Stay tuned for more info.

Here is the link to our podcast on Social Media Marketing GPS: Research Insights. Social Media Research: Crafting an Actionable Listening Strategy.

If you're a member of AMA, I expect you'll be hearing about the podcast series in weekly and monthly e-newsletters, through tweets [follow AMA on Twitter], in social media focused events, and with AMA's 76 chapters.

If you aren't, you might consider joining.

Regardless, do listen to the podcast series. Social Media Marketing GPS - both book and podcast series - are fabulous resources for those looking for a road map to social media success.

Would you let me know what stands out for you?

Thanks.

Flooring Your Consumer: Luxury Marketing Council Presentation

Many thanks to Chris Ramey, president of Affluent Insights and chairman of The Luxury Marketing Council Florida, and Victoria Cerrone from Bobosart, who invited me to present "Flooring the Consumer: Developing Community and Delivering Wow!" at the April 28, 2010 Luxury Marketing Council in Orlando.

[Details listed in Press Release: Whittemore Addresses The Luxury Marketing Council Orlando.]

Here's how Chris described the presentation in his meeting invitation:

It's a wow or woe world for marketers. 

Women, who make or influence over 80% of purchase decisions, are rethinking their relationships with brands, products and services.  They're searching for meaningful relationships.  Are you prepared to serve them?  As their purses slowly open again it's imperative to provide a community to which they have an affinity.  Christine will share the best of the best, and then discuss how you can develop your community and deliver Wow! to ensure your success.

In this presentation, I address many of the points that I write about in Flooring The Consumer, my marketing blog about the consumer retail experience and marketing to women. These are also themes that I've developed in my Flooring The Consumer column with Floor Covering Weekly.  We have so many opportunities for building relationships with our customers when we carefully craft a memorable brand or retail experience that truly focuses on our consumers' needs.

Here is the Slideshare of my presentation:

Flooring The Consumer: Developing Community & Delivering Wow!

View more presentations from Simple Marketing Now LLC.

For your reference, here are a few books specifically about Marketing to Women that I recommend for further reading:  

• Marketing to Women: How to Increase Your Share of the World's Largest Market
• You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation
• The First Sex: The Natural Talents of Women and How They Are Changing the World
• Don't Think Pink: What Really Makes Women Buy -- and How to Increase Your Share of This Crucial Market 
• Re-Imagine!: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age

I'm particularly honored that, as a result of my experience with The Luxury Marketing Council, I have become a member of the distinguished Luxury Marketing Council Florida Fellows. Here's more:

The Luxury Marketing Council Florida Fellowship was created to recognize those who have demonstrated distinction in the luxury segment and to The Luxury Marketing Council Florida.  Elevation to Luxury Marketing Council Florida Fellowship requires and acknowledges:

• Professional achievement
• The highest level of ethics
• Respect bestowed by colleagues
• Leadership and mentorship across categories
• Open sharing of knowledge, research and insight for the advancement of effective marketing and seat-holders’ business acumen 

Thank you, Chris and Victoria, for this honor!

Thanks, too, for the opportunity for insightful conversation and questions about the importance of listening carefully to customers to develop a loyal community and deliver consistent Wow!

How Do I? Prepare For Social Feedback

For a while now, I've been thinking about social feedback -- i.e., customer feedback in a social world [for more background, see Social Media Club North Jersey: Customer Feedback In a Social World]. Yes, it can be scary and possibly even unpleasant. But feedback is gold. It indicates that someone is paying attention and cares enough about you to take precious time and communicate with you. That effort, though, comes with expectations about your response. How best to prepare yourself, then?

How Do I Prepare For Social Feedback?

The best starting point, in my mind, is to strip away all of the distracting technology angles.  Focus simply on your customers or readers and determine what it is that you want to accomplish with them? Do you intend to sell them something? Educate them? Build a relationship? Exchange ideas?

Next, think about all of the channels you have available for communicating with your audience: telephone, email, website, social channels, in-person: what kinds of conversations are already taking place [sales, problem resolution, education, relationship-building, ...]? Are you consistent in your customer messages across those channels and those conversations?  Consistency is critical because the channels themselves are irrelevant to your audience.  Regardless of how, customers expect to reach you, they expect you to acknowledge and that you will interact consistently.

This is where guidelines are invaluable [see How Do I Start With Social Media Guidelines?], internally to reach consensus across functions, roles, locations, etc. on how to respond, the frequency of response, and the consistency of response, as well as externally so your audience knows what to expect from you.

But, what about worst case scenarios? Have you thought through them? What if one were to happen? How would your respond?

PR News in Take a Public Relations Crisis by the Horns from the 1/11/10 newsletter says that "avoidance is no longer an option" and recommends the following steps which are as relevant offline as they are online:

1. "Own it": be proactive with your news.
2. "Act quickly, but tread carefully"
3. Be simple, consistent and honest in the message you communicate.
4. If you have news to communicate, better to get it out [reinforces step #1: own it].
5. Don't avoid those who are critical of you. "Not allowing access only allows for additional animosity and potential false reporting."

The Zen Way to Deal with Negative Commentary Online from Liz Strauss' Successful and Outstanding Blog offers valuable advice for responding to online negative comments: do so "publicly, honestly and as quickly as possible. Don't ever think about creating an alias... you will get caught and it will cause more damage to your reputation."

The author, Shama Kabani, suggests checking the facts and offering to resolve issues at a high level.  "Becoming an active part of the conversation that is already taking place among your customers, employees, prospects, and competitors is the best way to prevent negative comments from taking over your online reputation."

Note her comments about establishing a policy; they echo Penalty Cards in Social Media Communities' recommendation to have "a policy that is viewable by the public."  The policy requires that you have considered various outcomes and making it public means that you are transparent about how you do business - and increasingly critical business expectation.

Speaking of expectations, Denise Zimmerman makes several valuable points in When to Respond to Negative Buzz. First, about reviews.  They are valuable for your business and provide you with invaluable feedback.  Second, about expectations.  She says "...but then you've got Twitter and Facebook.  They have grown exponentially in scope and in speed.  The additional element is that there is an expectation from the customer that you're going to respond..."

I touch on expectations in Social Media Club North Jersey: Customer Feedback in a Social World; here are a few more I received in response to that post on June 2nd:

KseniaCoffman
   @CBWhittemore RE: response via SM -> Within 1 biz day if it's an SM company (biz related to SM); 2 days to never if others :-)

agardina
  @CBWhittemore Great post! Really surprised at some of the responses - a few hours? The person on SM might not have your answer that fast.  

ggert
@CBWhittemore interesting to me that I recently started complaining LOUDLY about @USAirways and have rcvd 0 response in 144 hours  

[and none as of 6/8/10. Not impressive.]
 
Customers expect a response. If they don't get it, they have reason to resort to more public forums to force a response.  The lesson: be listening, be paying attention and be ready to respond consistently. The social feedback you receive is rich and conducive to insightful conversation, but you must be prepared and willing to welcome it.

Given that many of us are entering into unchartered territory when we engage socially, it's important to remember that, despite being part of sometimes large corporate entities, when we engage socially we do so as individuals wanting to interact with other individuals.  Mistakes happen. Yet, if we remember that we're 'all in this together', we have the opportunity to learn from mistakes and strengthen relationships. Here's a great example: Boeing as described in The Right Way to Make Your Social-Media Mea Culpa which reminds us that:

1. One is many: A conversation with one unhappy [or happy] customer can easily become a conversation with many.
2. Engage immediately.
3. Be honest and take responsibility.
4. Lose the corporate-speak.
5. Put a face on it.
6. Let the fans talk.
7. Learn from it.

Finally, read Seven Things Your Organization Must Do Because of Social Media. The examples - Greenpeace vs. Nestle and Dave Carroll vs. Airlines - are classics.  The lessons even moreso:

1. You must be proactive.
2. You must improve customer support.
3. You must listen.
4. You must participate.
5. You must respond.
6. You must move faster.
7. You must realize every employee is a marketer.

Social feedback enables interaction with people.  Are you prepared? What would you add?

Check out other posts in the How Do I? series.

Social Media Club North Jersey: Customer Feedback In a Social World

My Social Media Club North Jersey presentation, titled "I love you. I hate you. Customer Feedback in a Social World." attracted an intimate yet passionate crowd on May 25th, 2010 in Secaucus, NJ. Many thanks to those there for participating and contributing such valuable perspectives and insights!

Janet Sullivan from JKS Webdesign shared her experiences with Viking. Chris Kieff from 1 Good Reason took us through the Nestle Social Media Meltdown Case Study and Devon Valenti shared learnings and best practices from CoPilot Live North America. A very special thank you to Carly Pearson from Axiom Communications Inc. for her help in making the event a success! Thanks, too, to Mike Menche, whom we missed, for his gracious support.

We touched on learnings from past Social Media Club North Jersey events. Namely, Urban Outfitters and Why Companies Should Consider Adopting a Social Media Policy, as Suzanne Herrmann Brock explained in April.

We also had a fascinating discussion around expectations of customer service responsiveness via social media - as consumers and as business people. Chris Kieff [Twitter: @ckieff] asked his Twitter followers who offered the following feedback:

From @AGARDINA:
@ckieff Depending on the industry, 2-3 business days. Some longer, especially if you know there's a lot of red tape around your answer.

From @kimberlydenz:
@ckieff If they have twitter and fb, they need a social media policy. I expect a response within a few hours. Making me wait a day is rude.

From @SweetSoaps:
@ckieff answer in 24 hours no excuse

From @sherrilynne:
@ckieff 24 hours tops.

From @ggertz:
Less than 4 hours - or they are dead to me RT @ckieff: Any more comments on how quickly you expect a company to respond via social media?

@ckieff Familiar with the sunset rule? Respond to all incoming communications before the end of they day

From @mattyouens:
@ckieff my experience has been a response in either a few hours or not at all.

Our offline group expressed a bit more time tolerance, although we all emphatically stated that we expect acknowledgment and followup.

What's your take on the question?

While you're thinking, here is the presentation itself. I hope to add a video link with highlights from the presentation in the near future.

I love you. I hate you. Customer Feedback in a Social World

View more presentations from Simple Marketing Now LLC.

Note: you can find links to the videos I played in Simplifying Social Media. For Research, Connection & Differentiation.

Social Media Marketing GPS: A Must-Read Guide

Leave it to Diva Marketing's Toby Bloomberg to deliver on the ultimate social media marketing experiment: an insightful business book written on Twitter, 140 characters at a time. She has just published it: Social Media Marketing GPS, A Guide to Social Media, 1 Tweet at a Time and I urge you to read it, savor it and learn from it.

Social Media Marketing GPS Background

The book is based on interviews that Toby conducted last summer 2009 via Twitter with 40 prominent marketers from Canada, England, India and the United States on specific topics relating to "how to leverage social media, not in terms of the technology, but as a vehicle to build and nurture stronger business relationships."

I'm particularly honored that she invited me to participate [check out Chapter 3 about listening]. I found the experience unlike any other Twitter interaction; it was intense and required deep focus. It was also exhilarating and I felt renewed appreciation for brevity and concise thinking.

Click here to download the 91 page eBook Social Media Marketing GPS. Toby has organized each chapter into a 'tweet intro' followed by the relevant Twitter interview[s], a review of key concepts and suggestions on how to continue the conversation.

The chapters and their contributors are as follow:

Table of Contents

Foreward: Shel Israel
Introduction: Toby Bloomberg

Chapter 1: Why Social Media?
Interviews with Paul Chaney, Ann Handley

Chapter 2: The New Enterprise Direction
Interviews with Geoff Livingston, Marc Meyer

Chapter 3: Social Media Research: The 1st Listening
Interviews with C.B. Whittemore, Joel Rubinson

Chapter 4: Social Media Ethics
Interviews with Wayne Hurlbert, Mack Collier

Chapter 5: Strategy First
Interviews with BL Ochman, Rajesh Lalwani

Chapter 6: Tactics Second: Blogs, Twitter, Social Networks, Podcasts, Vlogs, RSS, Widgets
Interviews with Julie Squires, Yvonne DiVita, Connie Reece, AV Flox, Nancy White, Neville Hobson, Jim Turner, Roxanne Darling, Bill Flitter, Nick Burcher, Marianne Richmond

Chapter 7: Social Media & Branding
Interviews with Dana VanDen Heuvel, Beth Harte

Chapter 8: Blogger Relations
Interviews with Susan Getgood, Elisa Camahort

Chapter 9: Sponsored Conversations
Interviews with Scott Monty, Melanie Notkin

Chapter 10: Metrics That Make Sense
Interviews with Peter Kim, Kate Niederhoffer

Chapter 11: Solving Business Challenges
Interviews with Lionel Menchaca, Frank Eliason, Donna Lynes Miller, John Maley

Chapter 12: Relationships 1st, 2nd & Last
Interviews with Tim Jackson, Liz Strauss, Lucretia M Pruitt, Kimberly Coleman

After Foreward: David Meerman Scott

Don't wait! Download your own copy of the book and please let everyone else you know about this must-read guide titled "Social Media Marketing GPS"!

Thank you, Toby, and Congratulations!

Simple Earth Day 2010 Reminders

Happy Earth Day 2010!

This is a particularly momentous Earth Day - number 40 to be precise. If your community is like mine, you have all kinds of activities and celebrations taking place in honor of Earth Day.

For me, Earth Day is a reminder.

To stop and appreciate the world around me... the burgeoning trees, the riot of colors, the warmth of the sun.

To be grateful for all that I have.

To focus on what's simple.

As it relates to simple, I love what Zappos' Alfred Lin says in Building a Brand That Matters, One Employee at a Time: The Zappos Story:

In this environment, Lin said, retailers need to focus on the “simple” things, like providing good customer service and a consistent shopping experience. “We sometimes do the complicated things very well, but we don’t always do simple things well,” he said. “This is a time to focus on what works.”

Shari Boyer in Getting Back To Our Roots This Earth Month also addresses simplicity in the context of Earth Day [or month].

She writes: "This Earth Month, many companies are giving a nod to the simple lessons inherited from our ancestors who had such an influence on public grounds and keeping them in mind when practicing the marketing principles of today. Lessons of simplicity [i.e., scaled back and pared back], value [i.e., more than just a good price, the new value mindset combines frugality with an emotional connection] and doing good for the community always have a place in environmental programs and even more so now with the post-recession consumer."

Focusing on the environment we live in - air, water, natural resources - doesn't get much more basic to existence. Good, then, to appreciate it all and remember to do the simple things well.

What do you think of as you celebrate Earth Day? What simple reminders come to mind?


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Image courtesy of GovGab's Earth Day and Going Green.