Socialmedialand

Archive for January, 2009

If you can't say anything nice...

I wasn’t going to post about this. I heard the story when it first came out, turned to my coworker Dustin, chatted about it for a second and then went on. But since then there’s been a flury of discussion about it (to my actual amazement) I think that phenomenon is what really bears discussion. So at the prompting of my friend Christy, who pointed out that this is right in line with my blog’s theme, I’ve decided to speak up.

That’s right, I’m talking about the @KeyInfluencer / #Fedex fiasco. You can read some samples of what people where saying about it at Shankman.com  but the main story is that Mr. Andrews (aka KeyInfluencer) wrote the following Tweet upon arriving in Memphis for a client meeting with FedEx:

Someone over at FedEx saw it and took offense, they wrote him a pretty nasty letter (you can read the full text at the Shankman site I linked above.)

Commence character slaughter. Everyone is tweeting about and commenting on this story. What a huge mistake he made. How could he be on his way to a social media presentation and say something like this on Twitter? Etc, etc. His wife wrote this eloquent defense of his actions, and he explained his own position on his blog. Fine. I think the original incident has been talked about to death.

But what about the bigger picture? This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. It’s just been highly publicized. I see a lot of things that went wrong in this situation but not a lot that went right – for anybody involved. The original tweet, the subsequent letter, the blogs and comments and tweets that followed, all of it was a little off. Because again and again people seemed to forget one major thing. Social media is about people, bottom line. These aren’t case studies or empty voids we’re talking to or about. They are people. So let’s treat each other like people.

If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.

That’s right, we have to go back to our basic kindergarten, Disney lessons here. When you’re going to tweet something – even in the 140 character limit, you have to think about how it might affect the people who are going to read it. And when you see an example of tweeting gone wrong, and you want to blog about it or add your rude comment to said blog, you also need to think about how it will affect the person you’re referring to as well as the people who will read it. You can try to draw lines around what you said in a personal context versus a professional one, but those lines are blurring faster and faster. So make it easy on yourself.

Don’t say something online that you wouldn’t say to a person’s face.

Plain and simple.

Let’s move on people, but let’s move on with our mothers’ lessons in mind. Let’s be polite and treat each other with respect. Thank you.

Courtesy of gapingvoid

As I promised in an earlier post about Myspace’s advertising practices – here is my evaluation of the two giants of social networking from both my professional and personal view.

Advertising: Ok so if you read the post about advertising on Myspace you already know my position on this. But just to recap – Facebook has a social element to their advertising, users can vote ads up or down based on what they like (or don’t like) and they can even share ads with their friends if they want. Myspace follows the more traditional display advertising formula of throwing the most ads at the most people to get impressions based only on demographic/geographic targeting.

Friend Updates: People hated it when it first came out (and maybe they still do) but I’m a fan of the news feed and mini feed. I have a lot of friends on Facebook – ok not a whole lot but a decent amount. It would be impossible for me to keep up with what they’re all doing by going to their page and trying to remember what it looked like last in order to find out what has changed for them recently. Myspace has tried to imitate this to an extent with a friend updates section. Both allow you to customize what you see by type (more or less pictures versus events) and person. But Myspace limits the number of people you can “subscribe to” and doesn’t include an alert for commenting – I’ll talk about how difficult it is to follow conversations later. The other main thing that is lacking on Myspace is the mini-feed. The news feed gives me an overview of what’s going on in my network, the mini feed gives me an overview of that one person. When I go to my friend’s page I want something to tell me right away if there are new pictures or a new favorite song I should check out. I don’t want to have to hunt through the news feed to find her updates.

Applications: This one is seriously just my own opinion but when I set up apps on Facebook, it works. When I do that on Myspace it doesn’t. I have to admit I haven’t spent a lot of time messing with apps on Myspace because the first few experiences I had with it went so poorly so I can’t say much more than that.

“Threading” of Conversations: This is a big pet peeve of mine on Myspace. It is so hard to follow a conversation! Facebook added the “wall to wall” function a long time ago allowing you to see both sides of a conversation in one view (as long as you are friends with both parties – this maintains privacy). In addition, on Facebook you can “comment” on just about anything anybody does at this point and that string of comments is easily tracked from each participant’s feed. If you see something a friend wrote on another friend’s wall on Myspace you have to hunt through their wall to see what the response is. This slows down the rate of communication. Let’s say they’re talking about what they want to do on Friday and I know of something going on – I have to go searching around to see what the other person said to see if my idea even makes sense. It just makes things inconvenient when it doesn’t have to be.

Design/Customization: Myspace allows a lot more customization. Over and over I hear this as the main reason people like it and I totally understand it. It really is your space. You design it. You customize it. You can do almost anything with it. Facebook is more like a glorified form that you fill out. I get that. But I have a type-a personality and I’m in love with organization, so the clean cut format actually appeals to me. But Myspace has come out with a version of that too. They have a new profile tool that lets you easily customize your page without all the fancy HTML stuff which made it a lot nicer for people like me. Kudos.

Search: I like that Facebook uses real names. That makes things easy. If I meet you and you say your name is John Smith, I go to Facebook, type that in and like magic there you are (except if your name is actually John Smith – then you’re there in a huge list of other people that I’d have to filter by location, school, age, etc.) But if I do the same thing on Myspace…hmmm maybe, maybe not. Depending on your privacy settings, depending on if you used your real name at all. The idea of the “display name” confuses me a lot. A name that you can change whenever you want just makes things hard. Even a user name that isn’t your real name but stays the same (like AIM) makes more sense. I look at my Myspace friend list and can’t figure out who half the people are, then when I go to their profile I realize that it’s one of my good friends who just randomly changed her name to some obscure line from a song. How was I to know?

Commercial Pages: This is a toss-up for me and the reason why professionally I never make the mistake of writing off either of these sites (although, personally, I’ve clearly made my choice for a favorite:). I would say (and feel free to disagree) that Myspace is better for anything that is artistic or creative while Facebook is better for anything corporate. If you’re a band and you need a page to show off your music, style, and post upcoming events I’d say go on Myspace without hesitation. Same for comedy, movies, etc. If you’re a brand like Target or Crest or GM, I would say create a Fan page on Facebook. In reality you might want to consider doing both but this is just how I would prioritize.

In the end it’s pretty simple to choose a network. For your personal profile pick the one that fits your needs best. For your brand/corporate profile, pick the one that your customers use. And you can always maintain a basic profile on both networks (and a few others, like LinkedIn for example, if it makes sense) and then use your favorite one as your main portal. There are lots of apps available that help you integrate your networks together so you can mainly operate out of your favorite one. Maybe I’ll write a quick how-to on that for a future post…

Ok, I think that about covers it. Give me a comment if you disagree with me (which is fine, like I said this is all just my opinion) or if you think there’s a section I missed.

One step up from a hall monitor badge...pretty nifty

Ok don’t. Seriously. I was just kidding. Really. Please don’t sue me.

The settlement of a libel lawsuit regarding user comments on the review site Yelp bring concerns about validity in social media to the top of everyone’s minds. Ok maybe not everyone’s, but mine and most other peoples’ in my industry. My coworker Josh wrote a post asking for opinions on the social media ethics debate that this will enevitably spark on both sides so I decided to throw in my two cents. Here goes.

For Businesses:

To sue or not to sue, that is the question? Can you really say that suing a former customer who clearly had a gripe they were willing to post for the world to see could ever be construed as a positive, constructive, PR minded move? I think not. If you find that there’s been a negative review about you, yes you need to act, but you must think about the repercussions first.

If it’s true: you need to evaluate your business. Apologize for the gaff and try to make it right for them and then use that feedback to adjust your business moving forward.

If it’s wrong: reach out to them. Ask them why they think that, why they said that, ask what the situation was and how it could be made right. Maybe the customer isn’t always right, but they think they are and you need to deal with them on that level. Draft a public response to the review, the libel was written in the social media forum; try responding there first before taking it to court. Tell your side of the story in an adult, mature way. (No “they’re a big fat liar” type stuff.)

If that doesn’t help, think about this before you sue: If a potential customer sees the negative review how much will that affect them in the total of all reviews that have been posted versus if they read a news story about the review and how the reviewer is being sued? I don’t know about you but I’d rather not go to a chiropractor that has shoddy billing practices (according to one person – but this is the comment that’s been publicized above all others at this point) AND sues their customers.

For Social Media Users:

This is kind of scary. I mean I don’t really think about what I say on review sites before I say it. I just tell my side of the story, like I was complaining or raving to a friend. I don’t ever think about whether my exaggeration might be taken as libel.

Personally I’m not sure any of these cases will go actually go through without proof that the person had lied outright and maliciously. This one was settled and I think most of them will be (assuming more keep coming…see above.) So as long as you’re honest and stick to things that really happened and your opinion about them you should be safe.

If you’re still worried you can read this definition of Libel to make sure your comments don’t violate anyone’s rights.

For Everyone:

Maybe we all need an ethics refresher course. Be honest. Do the right thing. Treat others the way you’d like to be treated. If the business treats a customer correctly in the first place – no problems. If the customer is honest in their reviews and opinions of that treatment – no problems. It’s so easy people. Why can’t we all just get along….

Ok, fair warning up front: I’m a much bigger fan of Facebook than Myspace. I believe that at work I’m fairly unbiased about social networks and chose the platforms that fit the needs of the client, and more importantly, the client’s customers. As far as social marketing goes, I agree with Jason Falls that strategy does come first before minor details like which network to focus on.

But right now I’m talking about my personal life. And in my personal life I prefer Facebook. I won’t get into why right now (although, now that I think about it that might be a fun post for the future) but I still maintain a Myspace profile mainly because Myspace Music is a great way to follow local bands and I have a few friends who are exclusively or mainly on Myspace.

But recently Myspace has REALLY upset me. The big difference in Facebook v. Myspace to me right now, in this moment, is the way they do their ads.

When you go to www.Facebook.com you see a clean login page with no ads. When you go to www.Myspace.com you see this:

If you ask me - this ad is what is uninvited. I didn't ask for this...

<– This ad is completely unacceptable to me. I scare very easily, I do not watch scary movies – ever! In fact the last time I ever saw a scary movie all the way through was over 5 years ago. That’s right, no Saw 1-4 for me.  The worst part is, if you mouse over the ad the image flashes to this:

 

This made me scream outloud the first time it flashed on my screen. But only a little scream...and only the first time...I swear...

The previews that come up on TV are bad enough for me. In fact I do everything I can to avoid those commercials as well, mute and close my eyes, fast forward, change the channel for 1 minute – whatever it takes. Because that kind of imaging scares me. And I don’t care what that makes people think of me (ok a little bit – but not enough to suck it up and watch it.)

The point is that this is my social network, I should be in charge of what advertising is shown to me. When I go to Facebook, as I already mentioned, no advertising is shown to me until I login. At that point I’m targeted geographically, demographically and psychographically (based on keywords in my profile.) But that’s only the half that decides what options are shown to me. After that I’m able to vote up and down the ads I’m shown and basically choose my advertising options. So if I’m shown something like this I can vote it down and eventually not see it anymore.

If you think about it that makes sense for the advertiser as well. I dont know how much DreamWorks is paying for this but I’m sure it’s a lot because it’s the whole top half of the Myspace homepage and it’s there (trust me) every single time you visit it. But every time I see it, and drive up their impressions, it’s not doing anything for me. There is no way I will see this movie. Not. In. A. Million. Years. So why doesn’t Myspace let me opt out of seeing this horrific image? (I searched but couldn’t find the parental guidance rating – I doubt it’s PG13 though which is a whole other issue.) Then after I opt out of this ad, they can use the space to show me ads that might actually have some effect on me. Of course this assumes that they wise up and move advertising into the site and off the login page. Or at least keep the login advertising more general. Please.

It all goes back to permission based marketing. I’ve accepted that I have to deal with imaging and messaging in ads on TV, radio, print, and outdoor that I don’t necessarily like. But when it comes to the internet, especially my social networks, I’m getting used to being in control. We’re all getting used to being in control. Ask my permission before you show me an ad like this, at least give me an opt out. The result will be that you get a better targeted audience for your ads which could actually lead to a sale or conversion, and I’m much happier about visiting Myspace.

What do you think? Am I way off base?

Picture courtesy of Media Bistro

It may have been a prediction a month ago but I’d say that fad is well under way only 2 full weeks into the new year. I hear my coworkers complaining about over tweeters (people who twitter more than X times per day and fill up their feed) and discuss the etiquette of unfollowing them. People have started cutting their facebook friends down to only those people whose names are easily recognizable.

For brands with Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, or any other social network presence, this can get tricky. This is like trial under fire – either you stay relevant and make the cut or you find yourself the victim of a massic social layoff.

Burger King is taking a creative approach, made popular by 13 year old girls. They are encouraging people to layoff their other friends in exchange for a coupon good for one free burger. The old “if we’re both busy excluding that person, I won’t end up being the one excluded” tactic. Anyone with a Facebook account can download the Burger King widget where your list of friends will appear. You choose the 10 you’d like to sacrifice and the story will show up in your newsfeed saying “Caroline sacrificed Josh Lowensohn for a free Whopper.”

It’s definitely cute, and it shows a remarkable grasp of current trends. Burger King realizes people are predisposed to clean out those few “friends” who aren’t really friends and is making sure that they have a reason to keep Burger King while doing that. It’s kind of a cheap trick though, whose to say that once the coupon is done the person won’t simply turn around and delete Burger King? It’s definitely what a 13 year old girl would do.

I think a better strategy for brands during this time is to focus on staying relevant to their customer base. This is the most important time to make your customer/”friend” your primary concern.

1. Provide information, advice and content that matters to them, your message isn’t what matters now.
   1. This means listening to them in the first place
2. Don’t overwhelm them. This isn’t the time to start blasting messages that could be annoying or spammy feeling. Keep it light.
3. Don’t dissapear entirely, if they haven’t heard from you in a while (or haven’t heard anything worthwhile in a while) it’ll be easier to just delete you while they’re running down the list rather than seriously consider it.
4. Stay real. This is the worst time to seem like just an impresonal brand. That means no autopilot!
5. Set up tools like Qwitter (for Twitter) to manage your friend lists and keep tabs on when/who you’re losing. In some instances it may be worth reaching out to a friend who “quit” you to see if you can repair the relationship. This will at least show you care about them and value them as a customer.

What else am I missing? Leave me a comment!

A lot of my time at work is spent creating social monitoring reports for my clients. By listening to what, when, where and how people are talking about a brand and their competitors we can put together some insights that lead to the strategy we develop for our clients.

Blah blah blah right?

The point is that I read A LOT of blogs and twitters and watch A LOT of videos. Sometimes I twitter or send messages to my friends if what I found was really funny and that inspired the start of this new segment of my blog. This is where I’ll put regular updates of funny things I’ve seen. Search for the ”Overheard” tag or look at the “Overheard” category.

For Dec I have these two priceless Twitters:

….yea. That just happened.