Magic Phone Lessons Learned

Last month, our team came up with what we thought would be a fun contest to help promote our client, Spirit Telecom, a telecommunications company based in Columbia, S.C. While you might not think of that as the most social media savvy of subjects, we’ve prided ourselves in our ability to come up with some really interesting ideas that have increased their visibility online.

For our latest promotion, we decided to take the idea of silly/fun hashtags (a way to categorize tweets on Twitter) that often pop up and turn that concept into a contest, as well. Since they’re a telecommunications company, we thought what if we asked people who they would call – past or present, living or dead – if they had a magic phone. We turned #magicphone into the hashtag.

A blog post on the company’s site noted that at two random times during a 24-hour period we would choose the person who had tweeted #magicphone closest to that time and award them a Kindle, thus, the contest.

Well, as you may or may not have seen, #magicphone really took off. However, after a staff post-mortem of the promotion and conversations with several Twitter buddies, we realize we may have created an unintended annoying side effect especially for locals in Charleston (where #magicphone got started): filling up your Twitter account with a lot of #magicphone posts.

So we wanted to issue a #magicphone apology on behalf of Step Ahead, Inc. We realize now that the way we chose to select the winner (by selecting a random time) encouraged people to spam #magicphone over and over in the hopes they would land on the right time. Creating a bunch of spammy repeating posts was certainly not our goal.

We wanted people, if they were interested, to tweet it once or twice, tag two others, and be done with it. But instead, lots of people just posted the same tweet over and over and over again. If you were following multiple people doing that, your Twitter account quickly filled up with #magicphone.

Sooo…. we’ve decided that for future promotions like this we’ll allow folks to enter once per day only via Twitter and hopefully reduce the spammy tweets so it’s a bit more manageable – and fun, like we intended. We’re all learning as we navigate the ever-changing world of social media and we feel like every time we do a promotion and tweak and refine, we’re helping our clients have the best social media presence they can have.

Overall, though, Magic Phone was a success, sending more than 4500 people to our client’s Web site and exposing them to their products. Heck, I even got Trista Sutter (oh come on, you know she was The Bachelorette!) to tweet it!

I hope that helps make up for our mistake, Charleston Twitterers. Please know we did not intend to be annoying and never want to aggravate our best Twitter buddies.

So if you see #magicphone again, don’t worry. Hopefully, you’ll only see it a couple of times and you can choose to participate or not without a disruption to your Twitter day.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Get FourSquare and Get Busy

Could FourSquare be the next social media darling for business? Could Twitter possibly be de-throned? We think so.

FourSquare is a location-based application that you run on your smart phone that allows users to “check-in” when they are out and about. Headed to Publix? Check-in. Out with the guys at the neighborhood pub? Check-in. It definitely appeals to the exploratory and competitive nature of people. It’s like a combination game + communication tool.

FourSquare not only sends out a message on Twitter every time someone checks into a new location, it rewards users by declaring the most frequent traveler to a particular location the “mayor” and awards fun “badges” for checking in often. Additionally, FourSquare allows users to see which of your friends have checked in recently near your current location.

Some smart business owners are beginning to see the benefits already, especially restaurants, retailers, attractions, etc., of driving traffic to their business. With a few simple techniques, you too can use FourSquare to your advantage. Here are a few ideas to get you going:

1. Reward the Mayor – Offer the current “mayor” of your business a perk of holding that position. Maybe it’s a free dessert with every entrée they purchase or half price on all haircuts. To retain their position they will have to come in often, spend money and hopefully bring friends. And maybe others will “check in” more often to try to become the new mayor.
2. Encourage New Clients – The first time a customer “checks in” to your location, offer them a deal or special as a thank you for stopping by.  Something like a free coffee refill the first time they try a new café would encourage new business.
3. Build Traffic – Need your booth to look busy at the next big trade show? Enter everyone who stops by and “checks in” into a drawing for a great prize.
4. Work Together – Gather a few local organizations and create a Scavenger Hunt for the FourSquare crowd. People enjoy using technology to have a good time, and bonus if there’s a prize at the end! You may even get a little local attention!
5. Work the Tips – Use the tips section of the FourSquare app to announce specials and promotions. Users feel like they are being let in on a special deal.

The best part is that FourSquare now supports these “check in” offers. They want you to use their service to build your business, so they’ve invited you to submit your special offers to them and they’ll show them to people who “check in” near you. Here’s a great example from a Coffee House in North Carolina who’s offering a special to anyone who checks in at their location.

If you have a business and still have questions visit FourSquare’s Business page or give us a call to help you make the most of FourSquare.

What creative way could you use FourSquare to promote your company?

New Podcast – Social Media Means Business

Today, the first episode of the Social Media Means Business podcast was aired. Lyn’s guest on the inaugural show was Simon Ashton, our own social media and real time search guru. In this month’s episode Lyn and Simon talked about tips and advice for using social media tools to help your business be more successful.

The podcast will air the 3rd Wednesday of every month at 11 a.m.

Check it out here and let us know what you think.

Is it Time for a New Approach?

When you want to promote your business, organization, event or cause, the old standbys just aren’t enough in this all-media, all-access, all-the-time world. Twenty years ago newspaper advertising was critical. And, if you could afford it, a spot on the radio or television certainly were next in line.

But, the times they are a changin’, and a business that settles on just one or two traditional modes of communication won’t be hitting the whole market of potential customers, clients, donors or volunteers.

I’m not advocating against these traditional advertising avenues. As someone who spent more than a decade as a full-time newspaper reporter, I’ve received many a paycheck thanks to newspaper advertising. And, yes, it still works. People still turn to their local paper as a source of reliable local information and that includes the ads. Magazine advertising goes another step in reaching a more targeted audience, such as women, food enthusiasts or jet-setting travelers.

You don’t have to fully eliminate print, radio or television from the marketing pie, but you may need to make the slices a little smaller to accommodate nontraditional outlets and social media. I recently heard about a large ad agency that offered up its plans to a business for a new ad campaign. The plan included newspaper, radio, TV and billboard advertising. All great, but not particularly forward thinking.

• Go where your audience is. For example, if you want to reach a national audience of moms, take a look at the vast community of Mommy Bloggers who wield a great deal of influence. Their blogs could be just the place for your message.
• Don’t be afraid to try a new way of promoting your business. If you typically devote 50 percent of your marketing budget to newspaper advertising, try taking 25 percent to hire a firm to manage a social media campaign for six months. You haven’t eliminated newspaper advertising completely, but you’re trying a new way to reach your audience and promote your message.
• Be consistent in what you say. You can’t have a newspaper ad that has one message, a radio spot with something different and a blog that focuses a third component. You can promote different aspects of your business, but with a consistent thread. You want consumers to recognize your message and the best way to do that is by being consistent in everything you say.
• Track and measure. Don’t just throw money at every option out there. Be targeted in your approach and see what works. If you try something for several months with little or no return, then move on. There are so many options today for promoting your business you may have to tap around before striking gold.

Google Now Taking on Facebook

“It is our intention to make this a model for how open a social site should be”

Google is previewing their new Buzz feature as I write this:

And they couldn’t be any more clear that this is a direct challenge to Facebook. With the ability to share photos, geo-tag posts, see who’s near you and more.

It’s no secret that Google would love some of the attention that Facebook is getting on the web. Christmas Day 09 actually saw Facebook pass Google as the most visited site in the world.  And while Google’s own Orkut social site has been a terrible flop (outside of Brazil at least), they have been stealthily building all the blocks of a Facebook competitor piece by piece.

In fact, it’s only the tying together of these various strands which is holding them back. Consider these Google products working in conjunction:
Google Profile
Google Chat
Picasa for photos
Youtube for videos
Reader for articles

and you have the basics of a Facebook-like service already.

And it goes without saying that there are other features which can be tied into these, sharing custom maps, reviewing product pages, the FourSquare-like features of the new Google Buzz, NearMeNow on the iPhone/Droid, etc, etc.

So will it work?

I think it will. Buzz will start rolling out to Gmail users within the hour, and judging by the buzz (sorry) on Twitter, there’s a huge amount of interest already:
http://twitter.com/#search?q=%22Google%20Buzz%22%20OR%20%23Buzz

APIs will be available, and public info will be provided as XML feeds. Anything public will indexed immediately by Google’s real time search. There is a lot of stuff here, even speculation about using Google Voice conversations as part of the Buzz. They have put a lot of thought into spam fighting (and I must say, Gmail spam fighting is great for me). Buzz seems to offer a huge amount of potential, especially if you consider the built in user-base Gmail has.

However, with @replies to tag people, the ability to ‘like’ or comment on posts, photos and updates, many may see this as too close to Facebook to be worthwhile.

So, what do you think? Can Google finally make a success of their social strategy, or is it too similar, too late?



Protecting Your Facebook Page: How to Handle Negative Comments

With a third of adults now posting on Facebook and Twitter, many businesses are seeing the importance of social media and creating business Facebook pages. These pages help to create awareness with customers and allow businesses to communicate daily with their fans, but once you have your page up and running, there are a few bumps you may hit in the Facebook road.

Some of these bumps include comments from unsatisfied customers and fans who spam your page with rude or irrelevant posts. You must address these issues quickly, and here are some tricks that I have found work well.

Some view unsatisfied customer comments as a hazard, but I view them as a blessing! I am so lucky to have that customer tell me directly about their experiences and allow me the opportunity to correct them, as opposed to just vent about it to their friends and family, and sometimes the entire Internet! If a company can fix the situation or sometimes just apologize, that customer is more likely to have a positive view of the company.

When you get that customer complaint post, here is what you should do:

1. Make sure to apologize and thank them for sharing the information in a timely manner. Ideally, you should be checking your Facebook page at least once a day. If the comment sits on your wall for a week with no response, it may irritate the customer even more and make your business look unprofessional to the other fans.

2. Attempt to fix the situation or explain what you are going to do to prevent that same situation from happening in the future. It may be wise to ask the customer to email the details of their experience. This just keeps more unflattering comments off your wall, and allows you to continue the conversation privately with the customer.

3. Continue to monitor the comment and keep in touch with the customer until they are satisfied with the situation.

When your Facebook page hits a certain number of fans, you will eventually start to attract some spammers. Some may just post links to their sites, and some may post rude or obscene comments. Either way, you must deal with these quickly.

1. If the post could be offensive to your other fans, immediately delete the post. You can do this by clicking the “delete” link under the comment.

2. If the post is not too offensive, you can try to reach out to the poster and remind them that other fans read the wall and to keep their comments PG rated, or whatever is acceptable for your page. It also helps to have a “policy” outlined on your page discussing what is considered unacceptable content and noting that if it is posted, it will be removed.

3. Some spammers will not stop. In this case, you should report them to Facebook. To report a spammer, just click on the “report” link under the comment. This is sometimes the only way to protect your page and your fans.

Do you have any tips for dealing with rude or obscene posts? Have you ever had to report anyone?

Finding Your Blogging Voice

The mechanics of setting up a blog are pretty simple: create an account with a free blogging site like Blogger or Wordpress; select one of the pre-made templates; decide on a name for the blog; and add a few widgets and a blogroll. That can be done in less than an hour.

The next step is a little more challenging. How do you create a blog that’s engaging, informative, smart, witty and well read? Well, if I could bottle that up, I’d be a millionaire for sure.

But there is one piece of the blogging puzzle that shouldn’t be discarded: finding your voice. The beauty of the blog is it’s an extension of you, reflecting your opinions, thoughts and ideas. To grab your readers, they need to get to know you through your blog.

Even the most prolific writers struggle with finding their voice – that style of writing that is uniquely theirs. So don’t give up if you’re stuck, just try of few of these techniques to get started:

1. Find your focus. First and foremost, what is the purpose of your blog? It could be political commentary, information on green living, tips for parents or simply a day-to-day diary of your life.
2. Reach your readers. Think about who might read your blog and write to engage them. Are you trying to reach people interested in international news, green living, organic gardening or how to discipline a toddler? Don’t write to moms if you want dads to read too. Don’t right for left-wing politicos if you want to grab the attention of all political junkies.
3. Write like you talk – for the most part. In many ways, blogs are a compilation of your thoughts and your conversations. That’s not to say your blog should be filled with sloppy grammatical errors, but keep the writing conversational, approaching your blog post as you would meeting a friend for coffee.
4. Don’t be afraid. If you have a dry wit, use it. If you have an uncanny ability for description and can really turn a phrase, do it. Play to your strengths and you’ll quickly see a pattern in your posts.
5. Write what you know. If you have no interest in cats, don’t start a cat blog. If you don’t know the first thing about computers, don’t start  a tech blog. But if you love college basketball, start a college basketball blog. Or if you have tons of great cooking tips, start writing about cooking.

These tips can apply to company blogs as well as personal ones. You company has a focus, an audience and an expertise – all those can be honed to create a well-written blog that gives a voice to your business.

I’d love to hear how you found your blogging voice or if you have examples of great bloggers who have their own distinct voice.

Finding the Best Blogs

Keeping up with all the blogs in the world can be one tough challenge.

Check out this post on our client Spirit Telecom’s No Static Blog about how to weed through the maze of bloggers to find the ones that are best suited for you and your business.

And be sure to share some of your ideas for managing the blogosphere too!

Google Takes on Yelp

Google has never shied away from taking on other companies. Since inception, when Google supplied the search results for Yahoo, and then turned around and beat Yahoo at its own game, through the ‘email wars‘ with Yahoo and Microsoft, to taking on Apple with its own phone(s).

And I think we can now add Yelp to the list.

It was widely reported that last month Yelp wallked away from a Google buy out, an almost done deal worth $550+million. Google seems to have responsed to this snub by stepping up the quality of its own local Place Pages.

I’ve mentioned Google Local pages on here before, but as with all things Google, they never stay still for very long. Besides the existing features, such as photos, maps, coupons and hours, Google has introduced their own ranking system, with rankings based on aggregating comments on sites such as TripAdvisor, Kudzu and Igougo.

For instance, here’s the page for one of our clients in Charleston, Circa 1886 restaurant. Under the heading ‘What people are saying about’ you can read the comments, divided up into categories,  service, meal, staff, atmosphere and wine list, alongside a colored bar similar to the PageRank bar:

(click to enlarge)

and selecting one of the topics will show you more details and comments about that aspect.

More worryingly for Yelp, NextStop and others, Google has also released an iPhone/Android app (with good reviews), Near Me Now, which allows users to see what is nearby, and pulls inthe Place Pages data too.

Of course, Google has had its own notable failures too – Paypal is still a lot more popular than Google Checkout, Orkut has quiet some way to go to dethrone Facebook as King of the Internet, and Craigslist/Ebay are still casting a snooty eye over the upstart that is Google Base.

So what do you think? Has Google made a useful product? Is this it for Yelp? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

On Down the Road: What’s in Store for Social Media in 2010

As we head into this new decade I can only hope it means social media will come into its hey day – that would be just glorious for a social media nerd like me. I could stop explaining why Twitter isn’t just about the minutia of my day and that no Facebook isn’t just a bunch of teenagers. Ah, but perhaps that is too much to dream of.

Instead, I thought I’d take a realistic look at what this social media nerd thinks is in store for us this year as it relates to business.

1) Real Time Web

Have you noticed tweets and Facebook posts now when you search on Google? That’s because the search giant is rolling out their new real time search features in which they have integrated tweets and public Facebook posts (so be careful what you set as public in your Facebook privacy settings).

What does that mean for business? A LOT! Guess what? Now whatever anyone posts about you just might show up when someone types in your name or a description of your product. That means you not only need to be on the defensive, monitoring what’s being said about you at all times so you can react, you also need to be on the offensive. That means a good quality Twitter account & Facebook page for your company with the right key words, consistently updated, quality content and good interaction. That ups the odds you’ll show up high in Google as well (maybe even above the person dissing you ).

A Twitter account we manage for a group of Myrtle Beach hotels recently showed up on page one of Google for the term “myrtle beach”. Do you have any idea what people pay to be there? A lot!

2) Localization

I recently read where CNN bought Outside.IN, a site that finds and reproduces local news, and sites like FourSquare.com, which is kind of like a city guide for your phone that connects you to your friends, are also becoming more popular. People want to find what’s relevant to them and a lot of time that means what’s local to them. Watch for more sites and tools to spring up that help people understand, sort and find what’s around them.

3) Geo-”stuff”

That leads me to geo “stuff” (sorry don’t know the proper words for all the geo stuff ). That’s certainly another way for people to pull in information that relates to where they are physically. Your iPhone knows where you are and offers results tailored to that location from movie times, to weather, to directions. Twitter may even add that feature, allowing businesses to “tweet” you or even text you with relevant coupons or ads for things nearby. Can you imagine walking by Starbucks and getting a coupon for $1 off your Frappucino on your phone. I’m all over that!

4) Third Party Review Sites Beyond Travel and Retail

The hospitality industry has started to live and die by sites like TripAdvisor and IGoYouGo as people weigh in on hotels and destinations and many people make their decisions based on these reviews. Retailers, like Amazon, who has really set themselves apart with their review system, are also used to this mode of operation. But now, people are reviewing stuff like their doctors, their plumbers, their hair stylists on sites like Yelp.

Watch out businesses. You’d better provide good customer service or trust me, someone will be talking about it online. Suzy not happy with her haircut? Bet she’s going to tell everyone somewhere online and the party responsible to boot. And things spread much more quickly online than they used to when co-workers chatted about it around the water cooler. Watch what’s being said about you and react when appropriate (ie offer Suzy a new “do” ).

5) Businesses “Get” Social Media

Ok, notice I said “get” not “embrace”. I don’t think we’re there yet. But here at my firm, we’re seeing a lot of people we’ve been telling about this stuff for several years finally come around and say “OK, you were right – help!” I think businesses will continue to realize that others are successfully using these tools for branding, PR and, what do you know, to actually make money! And they’ll decide they need to be there too.

Please, please, please though, don’t just farm it out to your IT person. Better your PR person, but they’re already swamped too and probably don’t have the time to do it properly. Either hire someone part time or full time to run your social media (who KNOWS what they’re doing – tough to find) or hire a firm (who KNOWS what they’re doing – also tough to find!) and let them manage it for you.

Those are my picks for the coming year.  What did I miss? What else is coming for social media? Please get in on the discussion. I want to know what I DON’T know about! Oh, and happy New Year!

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