soulati.com

Digital Marketing Strategy, PR and Messaging

Soulati-'TUDE!

Economic Recovery And Its Effect On Social Media

By

Credit: Jayme Soulati

Hi! I feel like I need to say hi to reconnect with y’all. Between travels, time zone changes and spring ahead plus an exorbitant amount of client work (that’s good, right?), I’m swamped and finding no ability to write, tweet, post on Facebook, pin to my boards, or breathe.

How’s by you?

I asked this question about a week ago on  Facebook whether anyone thought Twitter was a ghost town (besides me). Because, I do think the tweet stream (there’s always something there, of course) has consistently withered to a dull roar.

My favorites column doesn’t move at the pace it used to, and original content by many is relegated to “tweet old post” or “from the archives.”  Other tweets are RTs of others’ blog posts, and original commentary…? Fuhgeddaboudit.

Jason Konopinski had a great thought when I was lamenting (or was I whining)…he said we were on the edge of economic recovery and people were becoming employed (oohlala Lindsay Bell and Jugnoo Me!). Time was indeed becoming limited.

Could it also be the weather? The mild winter and the summer temps in March?

I haven’t felt this kind of pace in awhile; the clients are fewer, but the load is higher (not the money, sadly). There’s perhaps something there, too; clients/companies are feeling positive and investing more in marketing. In turn, that means more work for teams.

I’m not including attendance at South By Southwest this week, either, although that has definite effect on customary social media engagement.

What are you feeling? What do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Social Media Collides With Plumbers’ Customer Service

By

From Media Vine Marketing

There are still so many companies that allowed the social media revolution to pass them by. I am having regular conversations with a variety of business owners from solo lawyers and insurance brokers to start-ups, mid-sized companies and larger corporations.

For all intents and purposes, we are in the post social media era. Social media marketing is now part of the larger marketing mix, and it’s here to stay.  What that means is that companies must engage all customer-facing services and orient employees to what social media is all about. I’m talking about impression here; what first impression is your company sending to prospects who engage your company verbally?

  • How is your company projecting its brand via good old website marketing, search engine marketing and social media marketing?
  • Does your company website have good navigation and information about the products you’re offering for sale?
  • Is your site optimized so search engines can crawl your information and inform potential customers about your products?
  • Do you have the necessary social media icons on your site so people can connect with you on social media channels (or the interwebz, as they’re now known)?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes? Awesome.

Here’s the kicker…think about your frontline customer service team and those who answer phones. Are you extremely satisfied with your representatives tasked with selling to social media savvy consumers? If you’re still confused about what I’m getting at, let me tell you a story about what happens when customer service collides with, in this case, plumbers’ customer service.

My hot water heater is 10-years-old, and rather than wait for an emergency, I decided to be smart and buy one before a crisis. Knowing nothing, I began web research for local plumbers from which I could buy and install.

I learned a little and selected a plumbing company that had a decent website with Facebook icons, testimonials and simple navigation. Armed with my information gleaned from a Google search on “how to buy a hot water heater,” I dialed.

To my chagrin, the man who answered the phone was chewing cud, he had a sleepy drawl that was anything but professional. He said, “huh? huh?” every time I spoke. After repeating myself a number of times, I asked my final question, “Do you carry XX brand of water heater because your website says you do?” And, the coup de grace…”nope, but we can order it.”

I went to Lowe’s.

This is the absolute missing link. Companies are doing a great job impressing upon consumers that they are social media savvy. What’s wrong? The disconnect arises when consumers engage with companies and the customer service teams fail to live up to basic marketing standards. When the website and social media channels indicate a company is savvy, there is an expectation that customer service should meet or exceed that standard.

Here are a few pointers to consider if your company is falling into a collision trap:

  • Encourage (read require) all employees to read, learn, and recall the company’s website when a customer is on the phone.
  •  Messaging is critical for anyone on the frontlines, and this platform needs to be shared with those in social media as well as in customer service.
  •  Train company employees, especially those responsible for customer service, to be knowledgeable about social media and what happens. Teach them how new leads come in!
  •  Get back to the basics with phone etiquette and customer service. That plumbing company lost my business forever (the man on the phone told me $1000 to buy and install a hot water heater; that price wasn’t even close to what I paid.)
  •  Consumers now have an expectation; they want high-end customer service to MATCH the impression a company gives on its website, SEO and social media channels. When that fails, prepare your customer service teams to know more than a customer about your company’s products.

I know there are many companies doing this well; got any stories to share?

 

 

Pinterest First Impression

By

I hem and haw all the way to a new channel; everyone knows that about me. I let the leaders be first movers, ahem, Gini, and I watch and read as they navigate uncharted waters and inform us all. Why not? They’re the leaders! Heh.

And, so, I asked for and received my Pinterest invitation, thank you, Gini, and hopped on. As with anything new, it takes a bit of concentration (no multi-tasking, Kaarina) to figure out. In fact, I read the help questions which I think are helpful (fancy that).

So, here’s the first impression, guys:

Run, do not pass go, do not collect $400 (inflation), and ask for your invite right now (ask me now) to jump onto Pinterest immediately. Can you say addiction? Can you say stairway to heaven? Oy;  we who are engaged are done; turn me over and bake the other side.

 

Why you ask?

>>Visual-ness — the most appealing sensory

>>Personalization with high-level creativity

>>Engagement less serious and more fun

>>Provokes thought and (did I already say this) creativity

From a business perspective:

>>A board (what you create to pin images on) can be about your clients. You can promote clients’ products and services with the images from their websites, etc.  (Companies have a harder time promoting themselves, as you’ve read, but an agency (hands down) will have no problem. I have not researched disclosure yet; Gini, do you know?

>>Blog fodder is amazing. If you want ideas for your features on your blog, have at it. Ubiquitous . Limitless.

>>Business development in a highly creative way. Let’s pick on the Gin Blossom once more here…if you read her profile on Pinterest, you’ll find she’s an avid biker and foodie. When you look at her boards, you see the foods she wants to make in the future. If I were a restaurant and she was a celebrity chef (she is , actually, just find her Tumblr blog), I’d invite her, via an agent of course, to make an appearance in my establishment and prepare a meal under the bright lights of cameras and video, etc. etc.

For me, I took some time understanding how people were using this. But, I won’t do that again, as there doesn’t seem to be a method. As soon as I pushed my first pin, someone I didn’t know re-pinned and another wrote a note. I had to determine access points to respond, and then I continued to complete my first board, “Gems, Gems and More Colored Gems.”  I bet no one knows I want to be a gemologist in the next iteration of moi. I feed my yearning with world travels to gem locales and wheel and deal for another to add to my collection (at least I used to prior to becoming a mom).  Pinterest allows people to see that very personal side of others based on the boards with pinned images. If someone is highly private, then stop on go. Pinterest is NOT for you.

So, ask me for an invite; you will not be disappointed.

2011 Social Media PR Woman Of The Year

By

So, I’m a few days late with this post, but it’s gonna be a goody, and you’ll be happy you read along to the bottom; promise.

I sat across the table from Gini Dietrich in Chicago just before Christmas at the Southport Grocery (you can eat there, too, with blue-eyed waiters to flirt with), and the poor dear had all she could do to get out of her chair to jog down and keep our meeting.  (She’d been on the go for about three weeks in December speaking on a killer circuit while tweeting, blogging and FB’ing in sync with the jet engine reverberations.)

Then we hit the streets to find a bench to do Gini’s first guest video post (with moi, ahem) which we had to repeat and giggle through. It was after that that I knew Gini was a special someone I loved to be with (and so, too, does everyone else), and I wanted to gift her with a little something in return.

Gini Dietrich is the 2011 Social Media, PR Woman of the Year. (Normally, I’d stop there with a #RockHot and #ThatIsAll, but this time I’ll share why. Oooh, it feels good to blog again after two weeks off.)

>>No one keeps a schedule like she does, and no one has the pulse of PR and social media CONSISTENTLY.

>>She is a mentor to the young PR peeps up and coming, and she works hard to network and land everyone a job.

>>She’ll take time to listen to a business problem and offer solutions and tips to get you out of the trench.

>>She is the author of a new book with Geoff Livingston, called Marketing In The Round, set to publish in spring, and you can pre-order just as I did on Amazon by clicking the link here.

>>She is always accessible with banter, friendly commentary, snark, and giggles.

>>She caters to public relations and social media peeps with content oriented to tools, techniques, and training.

>>Her smile, personality, humor, and love for dogs and bikes know no boundaries, and her energy is ebullient and effervescent (oh, that’s so smarmy, but true!).

>>She gives gifts every Friday; read these posts here and here, for her popular Follow Friday series.

>>She is committed to the cause – changing the perception of public relations and encouraging practitioners to become more marketing-esque with knowledge of financials, business, analytics, and more.

>>She is the consummate social media leader for all things new including channels, gadgets, and tools. She throws the punches where they need to land, and stands tall to take the heat when it comes.

>>She is an A-lister, dammit, and she’ll deny this forcefully…but when her blog, Spin Sucks, sits in the top 35 spot on Ad Age Power 100 for months, and the peeps ahead of her are blogging communities, then why the heck can’t I call her an A-lister? I wonder if that’s a negative…? She’s a leader, and Spin Sucks Pro (her paid platform) is soon to launch for real; she’s taken content marketing to revenue-generation mode (something few have done successfully).

What other reasons besides these can anyone share? I’m sold; hope you are, too!

Love ya, Gin Blossom! I’m a proud twinster!

 

Facebook School, Guy Kawasaki and Selfishness

By

This is a story about the icon who was Steve Jobs, but it really isn’t. Rather, it’s an observation about two very different reactions by people I don’t know which prompted two very different reactions in me.

I am enrolled in Facebook school via Social Media Examiner Facebook Success Summit 2011 which launched October 5 via live webinar broadcast world-wide to some 1800 attendees. Ten minutes before the kickoff presentation to be given by Guy Kawasaki, Apple announced Steve Jobs had died. Guy is the former chief evangelist at Apple, the founder of Alltop, and an esteemed author and respected business and social media pro.

Michael Stelzner, president of Social Media Examiner, announced via email that Guy would alter his presentation and instead share a personal tribute about a very personal friend who had graced the world with such amazing talent and influence.

I listened to Guy at the top of his presentation not knowing what to expect. The email confused me as I’m not privy about peoples’ professional backgrounds, relationships, or true measure of influence unless I tune in consistently to them.

Guy was breathless and absolutely distraught. His mobile device was ringing off the hook (on vibrate); people wanted to reach out and express sympathy. Finally, he had to turn it off to concentrate on his live delivery and his in-the-moment-significant-real-time story about his close friend, Steve Jobs.

The significance of this moment wasn’t lost on me, but it didn’t carry that much weight until two days later when I read a question posed by a woman in the Facebook Summit LinkedIn group who asked, “Was anyone else upset that the first session was changed without notice?”

REALLY?!

The passing of Steve Jobs is akin to the passing of Princess Diana, Michael Jackson, or JFK Junior. This woman had the audacity to ignore the impact of this historical moment by sharing it with someone experiencing true and real-time feelings ad lib. Because of this woman’s shortsightedness and posting of a selfish question, the significance of what I witnessed in Guy’s on-the-spot tribute became more critical to me.

I have not gone to follow the thread on LinkedIn; nor do I want to. Perhaps this woman is not an Apple consumer; perhaps she lives in a country other than the U.S. No matter; if Michael Stelzner thought the passing of Steve Jobs that important to segue his kick-off presentation then the students attending should’ve relished that experience, too.

This is kind of a strange post to share, but I just had to get this off my chest; it still dumbfounds me.