A while ago I wrote about the idea of being “transparent” or “authentic” in the social web. My theory is that full transparency is actually over-disclosure (and therefore undesirable), and authenticity just means don’t be fake (rather than meaning “show yourself without any sort of filter,” as the word might imply).

This theory applies to social business (use of social media for an organization) as well.

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Transparency in Business

No single person is obligated to tell anyone anything (outside the legal sphere), but good communication demands a certain level of honesty.

For business, depending on the type of organization, you may be obligated to share certain information with employees, shareholders, customers, and the government. The relevant question, however, is where and when to do so.

Much of the information you might communicate to shareholders or employees probably isn’t appropriate for social media. But when communicating with customers, potential customers, and the public at large, reasonably honesty goes a long way.

Some advice:

• Own up to your mistakes, and do it quickly
• Be as quick to acknowledge failure as you are to boast success
• Respond to negative feedback in a constructive way, without giving people the runaround
• Let people know who they are talking to – a person is much more attractive than a brand
• If you post or reblog someone else’s idea or content, give them credit

Authenticity in Business

Authenticity is just as important for business as it is for personal, social activity. If you want real relationships with real people in any arena, a certain level of genuine openness is essential. The difference for business is that authenticity is about the brand, not the people.

We all know what it’s like to see or hear ads that just seem fake, or hear people talk in ways that seem inauthentic (by the way, we’ll help you drive granular methodologies leveraging next-generation applications to integrate leading-edge infomediaries). Our reactions may vary, but I would guess most people recognize this kind of artificiality for what it is, and reject it. No one who talks this way is being authentic.

Some advice:

• Your mode of authenticity will depend on the brand you represent. If your brand is about “quality customer service,” well you better not be treating your customers like an inconvenience
• Likewise if you tell a customer you’ll fix a problem, then fix it – don’t give them the runaround
• Neither should you be telling people you do things you don’t really do. If you sell a product of moderate quality in order to keep to a certain price point, don’t tell people you sell a product of the highest quality
• Don’t lie unless you’re a liar and want to be known as such
• Authenticity doesn’t necessarily mean you have to show the negative side of your organization, but when you’re showing ANY side, make it real
• If you’re ashamed to be authentic in this way, you need to change your business

Growth of social media gives us a new opportunity to expose the real “us” – business or personal – to other people. This is a good thing – it builds trust and long-term relationships.

So if you’re going to embark upon any social communication effort, just get rid of the old business persona of detached, callous, robotic nonsense. Be real.

Social Media and Business: Don’t Be Fake is a post from: RSA Blog

We are excited to announce the winners of our first Good Ad, Bad Ad Facebook contest! Congrats to Jackie and Gina, who posted ads deemed the best and worst of the bunch by our esteemed panel of judges (our Search Engine Marketing department, clearly).

Good Ad: Jackie won the prize with the latest commercial in the “Search Overload” campaign from Bing:

Click here to view the embedded video.

We can relate – and now our office is jamming out to Freak Nasty’s “Da Dip.”

Bad Ad: Gina caught our attention with something very, very bad to win the Bad Ad prize:

Okay, it’s not exactly an ad, but close enough. Read more about this British Airways faux pas,  which appeared in an internal staff magazine with an article about mobile boarding. Whether it was a mistake or a prank gone awry, that’s one heck of a PR mess.

Congrats again to our winners, and thanks to everyone for playing. Be on the lookout for more contests in the future!

And the winners are… is a post from: RSA Blog

Toyota, apparently one of the most popular brands in America, and indeed one of the largest car makers in the world, seems to have a little PR problem. KOTA TV recently interviewed our CEO, Robert Sharp, asking him what his opinion on the whole debacle was. Robert has been quite open with all of us here about his view of the saga which has devastated the car maker’s finances, after having to recall millions of its cars and SUVs as well as its luxury brand Lexus which shares the parts bin with its bigger brother.

So what was Robert’s take? Well let’s start with honesty – it’s clear Toyota knew there was a problem early on, and with such a stronghold in the car market they should have reacted far sooner, leaving owners and potential customers in no doubt that their interests would be protected by this giant of manufacturing. Instead, it hesitated, confusing the media with mixed messages, many being perceived as dishonest, misleading and unprofessional. It seems that even those at the top of Toyota were not sure of how to react, and after several deaths, insurance industry investigations and lawsuit filings, they finally (kind of) admitted liability.

Unfortunately for Toyota, this episode in its long and successful history has left a sour taste in the mouths of many – and it’s still not over as we’ve yet to see the results of many claims against the company. Though in the longer term they are likely to recover, senior management of the company must be reeling at their own mishandling of the situation. It’s a lesson that many can learn from, indeed, I am sure many have. Domestic car makers in the US and Europe have no doubt capitalized on these recent events, as well they should.

The lesson here: don’t repeat Toyota’s mistakes – be honest with your customers, adapt quickly, and react in a constructive way. It may be embarrassing, but far less so than being found out and having to admit not only the mistake, but also the deception.

What is this, 3rd grade? Tell the truth, kids. Not only will your customers thank you, but you will also avoid giving your competitors an opening.

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Photo from automoblog

Toyota’s Customer Service and PR Failure is a post from: RSA Blog

Ericka Heiser speaks to 1000+

Yesterday a few of us had the opportunity to attend the first Day of Excellence in Rapid City. Hosted by Leadership Rapid City, the one-day conference focused on fostering personal and professional growth.

We showed up to the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center yesterday, coffee in hand, interested to see if the speakers would have anything to teach us (and praying they would be funny). More than 1,200 people had the same idea, and luckily, we weren’t disappointed.

Aubrey says:

Developing a sense of purpose for everything you do: Mike “oooooh-stir” Oster, Lieutenant Colonel for the South Dakota Army National Guard, began the day with an outstanding discussion on self improvement. Helping others realize their maximum potential is Mike’s strength and the crowd enjoyed it.

Through demonstration and audience participation, Mike showed us the effects of negativity on your mental and physical strength. He said some things are obvious (like not frying bacon naked), but others, like determining your goals and knowing your purpose, are more difficult. My favorite take away from the speech is Mike’s advice to start the day out right by “smiling yourself out of bed.”

The Five Powers of Leadership: As an experienced trainer in the practice of building partnerships, Malcom Chapman provided conference attendees with many useful tools – or powers – that can help anyone become a stronger leader.  Malcom expressed that if you are willing to change, then you can make it happen – a point that touched me and many other members of the audience.

Tarah says:

What goes around, comes around: I had read V.J. Smith’s book, “The Richest Man in Town,” a few years ago, but listening to him tell the story of Marty, a Walmart cashier who touched thousands of lives, still put a lump in my throat. V.J. impressed upon the crowd a few VIPs (very important points), including 1) you get what you give; 2) you don’t need money to be truly rich; and 3) never ever forget to say thank you.

Side note: If you haven’t read V.J.’s book, I highly recommend it! Aubrey even bought a copy, so if you ask nicely, maybe you can borrow hers.

I’m a Sally: Bryan Flanagan, a corporate trainer for Zig Ziglar in Dallas, took us through a series of exercises to determine our personality types (David, Irene, Sally, Charles).  While identifying a working personality is nothing new, Bryan did give practical tips for relating to other personality types – including what words and tones to use to communicate most effectively. Bryan also encouraged us to bring out other parts of our personalities in the workplace, meaning I need to work on bringing out my inner Irene.

We left Day of Excellence feeling happy and uplifted – and impressed that so many people in the Black Hills community turned out for the event. Leadership Rapid City was able to donate $44,000 to local charities, making it a truly excellent experience.

Did you attend? What was the best part of the Day for you?

Never Fry Bacon Naked….and Other Important Lessons is a post from: RSA Blog

Last week, as Rapid City was pounded with rain, snow, and blistering winds (in early May, no less), our fearless leader ventured south to attend the Alliance of Marketing Communications Agencies conference in West Palm Beach.

Lady Gaga recycles...and uses genius product placement.

While Robert didn’t bring back sunshine or “I swam with dolphins” t-shirts for the worker bees, he did gift us with some conference nuggets that we’d love to share.

Takeaway #1: kids are smart.

Today’s tweens have grown up in the world of 24/7 advertising, where everything from their underpants to their morning cereal is a blatant advertisement for a movie superhero, cartoon character, or up-and-coming pop star. Tweens are exposed to so many messages in any given day that they’ve learned to tune out the noise, skipping commercials and ignoring movie previews altogether. So what’s a marketer to do?

Get smarter. Learn to craft messages that don’t look like the tried-and-true commercials everyone expects to see during the four-minute gaps in our favorite television programming. Creative product placement boosts credibility and top-of-mind awareness for your product, when mixed in a believable way.

Bank of America struck marketing gold when it announced a partnership to present History’s “America: The Story of Us” last month. The channel’s 12-hour miniseries is sprinkled with two-minute mini-documentaries detailing Bank of America’s role in American history. The mini-documentaries are shot and narrated in the same style as the series, blurring the line between programming and advertisement.

Other recently successful placements include the partnership between NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” and Subway; contestants visit a Subway restaurant in nearly every episode.  Lady Gaga made headlines for working in a bevy of products for her big-budget “Telephone” video, including Diet Coke cans (used as curlers) Virgin Mobile, Miracle Whip, and her own branded Heartbeats headphones, among others.

To make sponsorships and product placement work, especially for tweens, it’s important to make sure the product and the project fit together naturally. Find an angle that seems organic, not forced, and you just might get through to the smarty pants generation.

Stay tuned for more takeaways from Robert and the AMCA conference. And who knows, maybe he’s just waiting until later in the week to give us our t-shirts?

Palm Trees and Product Placement is a post from: RSA Blog

Google, KS

For the month of March, Topeka doesn’t exist. The town of 120,000 is now officially named Google, KS. The big question, of course, is why?

Earlier this month Google announced a contest to bring Google Fiber (ultra-high-speed broadband Internet) to one or more trial communities around the country. A Topeka Facebook group urging locals to support the project spread like wildfire, and culminated with the mayor’s proclamation to change the city’s name.

Topeka’s stunt kicked off a marketing feeding frenzy, with hundreds of communities vying for Google’s attention – several in utterly bizarre ways. The mayor of Duluth actually promised that all future first-born children will be named GoogleFiber or Googlette, then jumped in freezing Lake Superior and yelled, “I’ve laid down the gauntlet! You want Google Fiber, you jump in Lake Superior!”

While not all campaigning cities are going to such (ridiculous) extremes, many have wisely turned to social media to bolster support:

• The mayor of Memphis is using Twitter to ask residents to post videos with reasons their town is the best choice for Google’s experiment.
• The ‘Google Fiber for Grand Rapids’ Facebook group has more than 34,000 fans, with user-generated photos and videos.
• Greenville, SC created a YouTube Channel to spread the word about ‘Google on Main,’ a quest to build the world’s first people-powered Google chain (though I’m not exactly sure what a ‘Google chain’ is, somehow it involves glow sticks and a helicopter).

This is how social media can be used to your advantage. These communities are finding creative ways to use social media platforms, both to spread information and engage their residents in conversations. This give-and-take exchange taps into a value the user actually cares about (100x faster internet) and offers it as a potential reward for participating. Everybody wins!

So what about you? How can you use social media to engage your customers?

Social Media Tips From Google, KS is a post from: RSA Blog

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In an economic drought, good customer service is digging for water. You have to work at it and be smart about it, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. Here are a few things you can do right now to improve your customer service.

1. Listen to your customers
Listen to their complaints. Listen to their problems and their solutions. Listen to their successes and failures, their goals and plans, hopes and dreams; their boring and crazy stories. But don’t just be passive. Ask your customers to talk!

These are the people you need, and who need you. They are the lifeblood of your business, and they are your community. Get to know them, build relationships. Build trust. It starts with listening. Share their excitement, but be quick to root out and squash the causes of their frustrations.

2. Listen to your colleagues
The employee is every bit as important as the customer. An employee can make or break a sale; can gain the trust and loyalty of a customer, or lose it forever.

Listening does not just mean hearing sounds; it’s not passive. It means comprehending, it means dialogue. It means suppressing the ego, looking for the causes of problems, and solving them.

If you are a business owner, your staff represents YOU to your customers, but they also represent your customers to you. Better pay attention. If you work for someone, listen to your co-workers in the same way. This builds trust and shapes a cohesive unit, leading to better customer service.

3. Be open to change
Listening is good, because it allows excitement to be shared and also the burden of frustrations. But understanding the things you hear is one thing – acting on them is another. What created the excitement? Can we try to create more of this? What caused the frustration? How can we avoid more of this?

Change is hard. But it happens with or without you. Your customers and employees, both, will expect poor situations to be fixed. If it doesn’t happen they will no longer be yours.

4. Follow through
Do what you say you’re going to do. I absolutely hate it when people don’t follow through, all the more so because I’ve failed in this area so many times. But it’s as critical as it is fundamental; if you say you will provide a service, then do so. If you say “we provide quality customer service,” or “service you can depend on,” well dammit you’d better deliver.

The corollary to this, of course, is don’t tell me you’re going to do something if you don’t know for sure if you can. A little open communication goes a long way.

5. Strive for consistency
Say you go to a restaurant where you absolutely love the food, but are disappointed by poor quality. How likely are you to return? How likely are you to say to others, “yeah, this place is going downhill”?

Maintaining consistent quality of product or service is difficult. There are many variables, but remember you’re not in this alone. Your customers will tell you if you’re slipping, and so will your employees. Take care of points 1 and 2, and you’ll stand a much better chance of staying on top of this one. But also remember consistency has to apply to all the above points.

Good customer service takes unceasing effort. Maybe that’s why so many businesses don’t have it, or don’t have it consistently. But does any of this stuff work? Is it worth the effort? Am I full of crap?

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Photo courtesy of Tonamel

5 Ways To Improve Your Customer Service is a post from: RSA Blog

Tools without strategy: poorly built house; dilapidated, isolated. More of a shack, really. A bad marketing shack.

I’ve had the opportunity to speak at a few events about social media. I’ve also spoken to clients, prospects, colleagues, friends, family, and a few pets about social media. One of the most common questions asked of me, and that I see asked of others, is “how do you use social media for business?”

For these presentations, I usually begin by explaining what social media is conceptually, then move into how it can be integrated into the marketing effort – beginning with objectives and strategy. Almost unfailingly, however, I receive feedback to the effect of “I still don’t know how to *USE* this stuff.” I think I know what the problem is (clearly I need to fix my presentation, but that’s beside the point).

Tools without a plan

Imagine I walked up to you and asked, “How do I use a hammer?” How would you respond? You might grab a hammer, nail, and a piece of wood and show me the proper way to hold the tool and the nail, place the wood, and proper form for pounding the nail in. I’d say “thanks,” you’d say “jolly good, ol’ boy,” and we’d part company.

Now what? I can hammer nails with the best of them, but what does that mean? I can nail two pieces of wood together. Or three, or fifty. Can’t cut the wood – need to learn another tool. Oh, the wood needs to be measured? Another tool. Whoops, forgot to lay the foundation – that’s a whole other set of tools.

You get the idea. I know how to use a hammer, but I still can’t build a house – not one that deserves the name, anyway.

Technology without strategy

It’s the same with social media – Twitter, Facebook, Google, blogs, forums, etc. – these are just tools. I can show you how to use any of them, but they’re not going to do anything for your business unless you understand how they fit into the marketing mix, the PR effort, sales, customer service, production, and all other facets of your organization.

Because unlike a specialized tool like the hammer, “social media” as a concept can be utilized to further the efforts of almost any department in your business. But you won’t understand this simply by learning specific tools.

That’s why I always try to begin with the fundamentals – or the high-level perspective, depending on how you look at it: business objectives; the strategic plan. But this seems to make people zone out – they don’t want to hear it. They just want to dive into the tools. That enthusiasm is great, but it’s no use without a plan.

Stop.

It is definitely NOT hammer time. Put it down, back away, and no one gets hurt! Start at the beginning. Form your plan based on objectives. Then when you do get to the tools, you’ll be able to use them effectively, with purpose. Even better, when new tools and technologies come along, you’ll be much better prepared to jump in and use them effectively as well.

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Photo courtesy of foto3116

Social Media Tools Are Useless is a post from: RSA Blog

Is full transparency really a good idea?

Almost every “how-to” or list of tips on using social media includes some kind of advice on being authentic or transparent. I’m not convinced we all agree on what things like transparency and authenticity mean in this context.

Transparency
No one is really serious about full transparency. Full transparency would entail communication of every detail of your life. I don’t know about you, but I’m not too keen on the idea I should tell you when I use the bathroom or what my email password is. If I update a social app with the fact that I’ve left work, I don’t think I’m obligated to tell you where I’m going. Or who I’m meeting. Or what kind of drugs I’m buying. What?

Yes, the truth is there’s stuff I don’t want you to know about. Stuff you *shouldn’t* know. Not drugs, exactly – I’ve been clean for at least a few weeks. The point is “transparency” is sort of a misnomer – no one really means it. Translucent? The reality is probably more opaque.

Authenticity
When people tell you to be authentic in social media, I don’ think they’re saying what they really mean. For example, if I was “authentic” all the time, I’d probably be a brutally critical, abrasive, elitist, condescending douche. What’s that you say? How would that be different? Oh, you wound me. I am wounded!

But you see the point, don’t you? We each have personality traits that just aren’t suitable for social settings. This is why drunk people are so annoying. Unless you’re drunk, too. But if you’re drunk on Twitter, you’ve other problems beyond the scope of this blog (and don’t be looking back through my Twitter feed, now – that was just the one time).

What We Really Mean

I think what people really mean when they say “be authentic” is “don’t be a fakey liar.” Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not. I might be an abrasive ass, but I’m also a compassionate, helpful person. Which side should I show, socially? Am I being less honest by presenting the “good” side? Well, I’m probably not going to make many friends by letting my inner ass out. Wait, that came out wrong. Alright, it’s better to be nice, even if you don’t feel like it.

Be Nice
There’s truth in the saying “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Without my “inner filter,” my Twitter stream would be very different. Is this less honest or authentic? Absolutely – and that’s okay. It’s still me. All the best parts, in fact, with less of the crazy.

Be Helpful
Yet there’s more to it. It’s not just about showing the “best” side of you. It’s also about being helpful. We are social by nature, and being social means participating in community. Community is based on, among other things, the fact of mutual aid – that we’re interested and concerned in the doings of our neighbors, and have a stake – however small – in their successes and failures. Being social *is* being helpful, and it’s part of being yourself; being “authentic.”

Some of you will cry BS on that, and you’re not wrong. “Community,” per se, doesn’t have a place in business. But if you take a step back and look at the big picture, you might see that business does have a place in community.

Be You
So how do we wrap this all up in a nice little package? Well the questions is too subjective for all that. “Helpfulness” is different for everyone, as it depends on perception, reality, and a sort of social feedback loop. In my case I try to keep things lighthearted, because I think there’s not enough laughter in this business. We take ourselves too seriously.

For others it might make sense to be a bit of an egotistical elitist, because maybe that’s what inspires others in some way. Still others may remain strictly professional in manner, because that’s how they are helpful to their peers. Perhaps a combination of these and more.

So when we’re talking about social media, and we think of being “transparent” or “authentic,” it really just means “be honest, be nice, be helpful, but do it your way.” Be yourself, but be mindful of your community.

I’ve muddled through this landscape quite a ways, and I’m not sure where we ended up. Help me out in the comments.

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Photo courtesy of Yuliya Libkina

Transparency, Authenticity, and Social Media is a post from: RSA Blog

Everyone has goals.

If you own, manage or work in a business, you’re a marketer. Marketing may not be your specialty – that is, you may not be the one calling the shots when it comes to marketing plans and decisions, but you are still an integral part of that activity. You are a marketer, like it or not.

Don’t think so? Think clear back to a time when (generally) a “market” meant a place in town where booths, shops and carts were set up to sell meats, produce, and other goods. That’s marketing at its most basic: a presence in the marketplace.

Bear with me, now, as I try to connect some dots.

Humans, by their very nature, are goal-seeking. We can’t escape it. Since we have goals, we also have strategies. Without thinking we form strategies and implement tactics to achieve objectives. From our perspective it seems like we’re just washing dishes or running errands, but the processes behind these actions relate to our goals. It’s automatic. It’s human nature.

The fishmonger had a marketing strategy, though he probably didn’t know it. In fact it’s debatable whether anyone really “knew” about marketing strategies until the 20th century. They existed nonetheless, good and bad – unexamined.

Everyone can agree that marketing is an inherent component of business. In fact, it’s so fundamental that you actually “do” marketing simply by having a storefront (offline or on).

Since you can’t escape “doing” marketing, and since you are a goal-seeking human, you already have a marketing strategy whether you can identify it or not. It may have been created by someone else in your organization, or it may simply be composed of various ideas you’ve encountered throughout your career, or from interaction with colleagues. It may or may not be a good strategy. Either way, you’re using it.

But the quality of that strategy really is the question. Given that most of the activities you engage in for business fall under the category “marketing” (many of them indirectly), it’s probably a good idea to take a hard look at those activities as a collective and consider whether or not the totality of your efforts is furthering your business goals.

After all, we’ve come a long way from village-square peddlers. Everything has changed: the basic economy, currency, range of customers, type and range of goods and services, the scope and scale of everything…marketing in a modern economy is much more complex. It takes multiple people, sometimes a large staff of just marketing folks. It takes strategy – well researched and articulated.

You have a marketing strategy. Ask yourself if it’s effective or not. Track data. Measure results. Refine your plan. Just don’t leave it up to chance.

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Photo credit: frli

Everyone Has a Marketing Strategy is a post from: RSA Blog