While reading a post on Kodak’s social media marketing efforts, by Mark Drapeau, I pondered some of the methodologies I’ve seen employed in rectifying bad comments and reviews and began wondering what, if any, general practices or procedures were guiding brands in defending their reputation in an open forum?
Defending your business and overall credibility with a response seems a valid first response, but this rash mentality can create far more commotion than any one comment. As the first comment in the Kodak article shows, rebuking a commentator for their opinion or review of your business comes across in a coldly polite and passive aggressive way, which is certainly not an appropriate way to treat a customer. Even if it just reads wrong, it tends to come across as snappish because of the ’saving of face’ involved in the defensive position.
I too am guilty of this sort of defense and had an experience with it just last week due to an article on BlogTO voting a nightclub I manage, Blondie’s, as one of the top-twelve new bars of 2009. As most posts on BlogTO degenerate into a swelling of obscenities and trolling, this article was no different. I readily leaped to the aid of my establishment and coworkers by commenting, all the while knowing I was engaged in a rather petty roundabout of squabbling. I felt ashamed I had to defend myself and my work to the anonymity of haters, but it seemed a necessary evil.
Looking back in a more thoughtful way, I realized my best course of action may have been to just riposte in a positive way, without paying attention to the negative exchange.
Another method I’ve seen employed to overcome negative reviews is to offer a promotion or discount in an attempt to mitigate any negative sentiment or to have the negative-reviewer retry their experience. This method, we’ll call it consume and overcome, may work in practice but may be construed as shady if used in a clandestine way. To proclaim, in an open forum, that you have met the criticisms with thoughtful decision making and believe you have overcome the ailing is truly noble, but many will have already made their minds up and not be willing to offer you a second chance.
An example I can offer of the consume and overcome approach would be a Christmas quibble I had with an Amazon vendor over their inability to provide me with a specified item on time and their lack of customer service. I responded in curt fashion by providing a poor review of the transaction and had an email in my inbox within 24 hours (now they listen!) offering me $20 or the item for almost a 30% markdown if I removed my negative comment.
Jumping at the offer was an easy first response, but I then considered that I was going back on my word to never shop from that vendor again and also, they don’t deserve to maintain their good image when they are clearly masking a greater problem.
There is a tremendous amount of insight being offered in these reviews and it is important to use it as a feedback channel in order to remedy any shortcomings your channels may be experiencing, but is there an established best practice when responding, or is it entirely individual, industry or business specific?
Considering the personality of a business and those involved is showcased in conversation across social media, is it important to be open to negativity? Or do we just do our best to broach the review with a delicate response without confrontation? Perhaps stirring the pot makes for some good exposure, but is it worth the backlash and subsequent refresher in conflict management?
Is it important to be there and aware, but not so much involved in the discussion?
Because we can all self-flagellate over being involved in social media and using it as a part of a mixed-bag approach, but managing your brand reputation while being human may make you express your responses improperly. Perhaps the quintessential tie-in is if it is adequately linking with your organizational goals?
Got any poor comment mismanagement stories? I’ve shared, so now it’s your turn.
Hello to all the Fisheye readers out there. Yesterday was my first day on the job as the new Redpath Acts of Sweetness Ambassador. And by that of course I mean that I am the lucky person who gets to give out free hot chocolate, cookies, cakes and anything else Redpath’s sugar can be used to make at events around the GTA, all while documenting it to share with the internet community.
Upon arrival yesterday I was immediately handed a MacBook and an iPhone – which is something I’ve always been curious about but never had the chance to experience until today as Rogers phone plans were never in my price range (in fact I never had a cell phone plan until Koodo arrived with their obnoxious advertisements and lovely no contract plans) – and a list of things to familiarize myself with. After playing around with the iPhone I can safely say I now understand why everyone is so crazy about them. Convenient doesn’t even begin to cover it. I think I’m in love with this palm sized piece of plastic. Sad? Maybe, but I’m a deprived college grad who was set free into a world of “recessionistas.”
My second day in this beautiful Kensington Market office is about to wrap up and I am curious to see what comes next. The agenda says trial runs in the vehicle, uniform shopping, Redpath Sugar Museum tour, and a trip to the Harbourfest Skating Party on Saturday. And that is just the first week – fisheye is a great place to be.
That said, as the new girl here I hope I can bring to this blog something of value to you readers and not detract from the great writing Geoff already does. If you’re reading this you should probably follow Acts of Sweetness on Twitter and Flickr. Along with my work here at fisheye I also have a personal blog which you can read here and you can follow me on Twitter here. You can also email me directly at lisa@actsofsweetness.com.
Pepsi has decided to do what most marketers will be doing in the coming year: shifting their ad dollars from traditional to digital campaigns. This change is already apparent during this holiday season, as marketers looked to social networks and mobile markets to help stave of the flat holiday season that has been predicted.
The fact that Pepsi is moving away from a 23-year run in Super Bowl advertising to focus on their new marketing efforts shows a strong dedication and belief in the potency of these online marketing channels. Surprising, considering Pepsi was a major player in traditional advertising and celebrity endorsements, like Britney Spears, Pink and Beyonce. Emily Fredrix, of the Associated Press, noted that Pepsi “wouldn’t say how much it spent last year on Super Bowl ads, but it was one of the biggest advertisers, buying several minutes of commercial time. Ad time last year cost about $3 million for 30 seconds, on average.”
Pepsi recognizes that these Super Bowl ads can be very effective for marketing, but Pepsi is moving in a different direction and remains committed to transitioning their marketing efforts to a more community-centered online effort. This new effort has been dubbed the “Pepsi Refresh Project” and starting next year it will become synonymous with Pepsi.
The project is looking to inject $20 million into projects that people create in order to “refresh” their communities and the winners will be decided through a voting system (similar to the Aviva Community Fund). The site is expected to go live on January 13th so people can begin listing their projects and voting will commence on February 1st to determine which projects will receive money.
There is hope from Pepsi that not only will the effort fund thousands of projects but that other other businesses will offer money, too.
The “Pepsi Refresh Project” seems enviable enough and if Pepsi can gain additional bankroll through businesses offering sponsorships for these community events it would be a boon, but will the companies they hope to attract have an interest in sponsoring a property that they might not be able to effectively activate?
As for the campaign as a whole, if the only benefit gained is in consumer sentiment or perception of Pepsi, is it all that bad? Because even if the effort does not translate to an increase in sales, they are still showing a tremendous amount of commitment to social responsibility, as well as community sustainability, and it could still be considered a great campaign.
Time will tell if this is the new marketing model of excellence, or if everyone really does prefer Coke.
Word of mouth has long been praised by marketers for being the most personal in nature of communication between individuals and because product information communicated in this way has an added layer of credibility.
Since social media marketing is all about conversations, it is interesting to find an article on eMarketer that noted that ‘verbal’ word of mouth was more successful at creating online video viewing than online dialogue.
Search engines even played a larger part in online viewing than social media, and though this may be disheartening to digital marketers, so did television ads, stories and reviews on both the internet and television.
So while adoption and awareness of social media marketing continues to trend upwards, this is not the solution to all that ails you. It is of paramount importance to understand your audience and how and where they consume your product or service.
It will be interesting to see the future trends in Canada due to initiatives like Rogers on Demand Online, which will have an affect on the consumption and behavior of viewers, since many will now be watching television from their laptops and desktops, far from traditional television viewing habits.
As a reckless avenger of all things fun, I have pursued a job in the bar industry for many moons. This may seem to be a handshake with minimal repercussions, though I can assure you, it’s much closer to the fire than you would believe.
Through all the peculiarities of alcohol abuse and too-loud music, I have begun to wonder what it really is that makes a successful social media blueprint. Is there is a connection between the nightclub and the online entity businesses all crave; both of which hinge on the inescapable allure of social ease.
I can damn well assure you that there is nothing easy about either.
The mavens and mavericks of the social media world would have you believe in the infallibility of authenticity, communities and advocates.
The bartenders of the club world would have you believe your pockets are deep, you wordplay brilliant and your charm endless.
The irony is not as forward as you may believe; though showy defiance, tall-talk and lack of planning will get you hurt, in both regards.
I would love to extol all things social media, as they makes us more human, but all actions should be bound by virtue. The more people escape their real selves, be it through alcohol or a keyboard, the more annoying they become.
Good intentions don’t make the road wider, as life is not a simple foray. Assuming you can muster up an idyllic (online) presence through a few clicks, or beers, masks a real problem: you may be in the wrong place, hanging out with the wrong crowd, or just be straight-up awkward.
I have come to applaud the effort, but rue the course. Just because you hang out on Twitter, does not mean I want to follow you. Where is the value for me when you view me as a number of followers?
Keep pressing that bull-horn while I disdain your presence; you’re the one at the bar snapping your fingers and pointing at me while I’m obviously busy.
As valuable as these brand touch-points are, they do not excuse you from being a real person. Nor does a few drinks and a bad suit.
The take-home on this delightful post is that the weakness of (online) interactions comes from the inability to be yourself. I don’t want to be friends with your logo, or in the bar sense, your low-cut top. You should shine through, otherwise, you mine as well leave your dancing shoes at home.
While we are use to seeing the PC belittled in ads, Verizon is now taking aim at the iPhone, in a new campaign for their branded version of Android-based smart phones. The aptly named Droid is quick to highlight the many shortcomings of the iPhone and then churns out some nice typography through a science-fiction, space grinder; yet it leaves so much to be desired.
This ambivalent piece is erratic and memorable, though it fails to induce that “must-have, call in sick, overnight line-up” type behavior by not showing us the product line. Thankfully there has been a leaked preview of the unreleased and unofficially announced Verizon Android phone with Google’s Android 2.0.
The phone has some serious nerd lust creating potential and will have the internet, and Apple fans, going nuts when the site finally goes live on Friday. While we wait, there is time to ponder the Great White North’s chance of seeing an Android phone here in the near future.
With the impending cessation of the Rogers exclusivity deal with the iPhone at the end of the month, it would probably be wiser for the Canadian telecom’s to just put focus on the iPhone instead of trying to dedicate their brands to a new and unproven product. Telus has already announced a price match for the iPhone and will begin selling by November 5th, though there is no word on rate plans. Bell has also announced that it will also start selling the iPhone in November, but hasn’t announced a date or pricing.
Much of my interest in smart phones is based around the launch of Android based phones due to the sliding keyboard, improved camera, lack of yellow-tape covered app store, capacity expandability and screen size; though I am probably in the minority. While I do like the Droid ads, I think Canadians may have some time to wait before we see a viable alternative to the iPhone. At least it will keep the Canadian cult of Mac from going into a frenzy, for now.
The chorus of boo’s is making it all too easy to join the backlash against Pepsi for their new iPhone app, which encourages users to ‘amp up before they score’. I think I’m obligated by law now to tell you that I have tried Amp before and I do agree that the application is in poor taste, but while on the subject of poor taste, has anyone actually tried Amp’d? Its the caustic, Mountain Dew equivalent to Red Bull, or something.
Now lets just get this out of the way, there are plenty of products out there that are in poor taste. Being vocal is your tongue/vocal chord given right, but honestly, isn’t Play Boy or UFC more deserving of hostility? Sure it’s crass and low-brow, but you don’t have to download it, or be typified into one of the 24 categories used to define ‘you’.
Perhaps we should take a time machine back and stage protests over the objectification of men in a classic diet coke ad. Or demand that the angel in the Philadelphia cream cheese commercials stops having ‘man-servants’. Or that the show Keys to the VIP be banished from television. But we won’t go there.
Where we will go, is to a tired cycle of complaining that really just reiterates your power as a consumer, so if you don’t like it: don’t use it. The amount of publicity that this has drummed up for Amp will probably be quite beneficial to the product and the application, because it interests the exact user that this backlash is trying to be bitter towards: guys who like to laugh at dumb jokes. Oh no, that ogling, drooling neanderthal with no social skills just read some words on a screen and is now going to hit on me? Boo hoo. I’m pretty sure, as one of the official sponsors of the Major League Gaming, the app and the beverage will be a hit where it matters.
I think this matter of objectification, or disrespect, is already available, just in a different package. Remember the Axe Game Killers campaign? Or perhaps almost every Axe campaign that follows a similar theme or spraying yourself with some potion that makes women weak in the knees and chase you with murderous lust.
We are inundated by expectations and roles in advertising, but do people honestly buy into it? To me its all a good ribbing and if you can’t take it, don’t give it. Every time I log on Facebook, I’m being told to go from scrawny to brawny and apparently all women on the site just want to shop for cheap Ugg boots. So if you really buy into this supposed role, then by all means, keep waving your magic wand of righteousness and complain. But its getting trite and kind of sad to watch.
If you are actually bland enough to be “studied up quickly with a cheat sheet on the stuff she’s into, with lists, links and some surefire opening lines,” then my keyboard gently weeps for you. The functionality of the application could just as easily be employed by a woman to keep a “Brag List.” The popular female-focused blog Jezebel called it “unacceptable and ridiculously offensive.” Perhaps there should be a boys only section in the app store.
I think the #pepsifail hashtag is hilarious and truly believe that they have done an admirable job of managing the crisis, but pulling the application should not even be a consideration. With a precedent like that I might have to give back my copy of Grand Theft Auto 4, in which I kill and sleep with people, and that is just not going to happen.
When an unremarkable app gets such an enormous promotional boost by massive amounts of naivete, it becomes a spectacle which I can only observe with my palm pressed to my forehead while rocking my head slowly from left to right. I don’t mean to offend anyone but people have gotten way too politically correct, boring and humorless. To those offended, I do not see it your way, but you certainly have a right to be. Let me know what bothers you the most about the application.
During this summer’s E3, the world’s most important annual gathering for everything that is interactive entertainment, it was mentioned that Microsoft’s Xbox Live would soon integrate with Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm. This would be an important expansion for Microsoft, as they can broaden the entertainment depth of the Xbox as well as create an even more involving product.
Being an avid gamer myself, I think it would be a truly great feature to have my achievements and online status broadcast to my friends lists in order to find friends to play with, and even peruse my social networking profiles from the comfort of my couch (even if my Macbook is next to me).
The beta is set to drop later this month, but Joystiq and Engadget managed to get a chance to preview these new integrations before the general public. Their first impressions seemed generally positive and for the most part the user interface received favorable reviews.
The Facebook integration seemed to be an easy segue from the already uncomplicated and useful photo album feature offered on the Xbox. The browsing interface of Facebook, was said to be responsive, had great load times and with the ability to display full screen images, there is a definite appeal to check your friends photo albums on your Xbox.
A new feature was also mentioned for Facebook where you can find friends on your social networks that have Xbox Live accounts. This will make finding and playing with friends a breeze and break up some of the monotony when playing with random strangers. The ability to auto update your status about games you are currently playing will not be ready on launch of the social network integrations, but in the future it will offer some great perks and variety for gamers.
The Twitter and Last.fm integration was described as bare bones, but a nevertheless worthwhile way to provide status updates, see updates from those you’re following, and also see trending topics and perform searches. It is kind of pointless in a way though, because the Xbox has no browser and cannot follow Twitpics or any other outbound links.
The Last.fm integration will allow you to listen to your stations, create new ones, skip tracks, add favorites, and get more information on artists and tracks. You cannot play music in the background while playing games though, so it’s more of feature you will use while the Xbox is idle, although welcomed by many users who can take advantage of the sound systems associated with their home theater.
I’m eagerly awaiting this arrival and will let you know how I fare with all the new features, gadgets and gizmos. Oh, and if you have a desire to beat up, score on, or kill an intern: my gamer tag is gr1m3y on Xbox Live and grimey– on PSN. Click the banners below to add me.
Bing’s usage during the month of September dropped off 5% even with the ‘decision engine’s’ advertising success and some gradual growth during the summer. Bing’s market share, the obvious statistic of choice, declined from 9.48% to 8.96%. The leader, Google, increased their share from 70.24% to 71.08% in America. Yahoo Search experienced a 3% decline, ending at 16.38% and is still the second most popular search engine in America.
If Yahoo and Microsoft ink their potential search deal, it could mean that Microsoft will end up with 25% of the market share in internet search. Though 25% sounds measly compared to Google’s 70%, it would be a much better base to start with than their current 9% market share.
These search engines are only one way of connecting people with websites though. Social media offers a plethora of options, but which of all these sources provides the most loyal users? Loyal users are a necessity to the life and longevity of a page and a new study by ad network Chitika, who analyzed the browsing habits of 33 million unique users over the course of September, found that Facebook provides the most loyal visitors.
20% of the link followers from Facebook end up returning to the site four or more times in a week. Digg was also tapped as a very loyal source for loyal page viewers, with a 16% rate of continuous return. Twitter did not fare as well though, only 11% of users become loyal after following links.
Surprsingly, in the real of search engines, Yahoo provided the most loyal visitors at 15%, followed by Google and Bing with about 12% each. These more loyal users, coming from social sites, offer a platform for marketers to reach in order to get the maximum return on their efforts and constant visitors. Perhaps SEO isn’t as important as most would think, and so long as you have someone on the inside of social networks providing links to worthwhile content you will create loyal users.
This information is useful to help marketers find out what is and isn’t working and provides even more incentive to get social. Just make sure your content is remarkable or those numbers will certainly suffer. Also interesting will be to see if either Microsoft or Google gets the deal done with Twitter to have real time tweets appear in search results and how this will affect the loyalty figures for users clicking Twitter links.
Young people are bearing the brunt of the recession, with youth employment at its lowest rate in over 30 years. With these soaring unemployment rates, youths (aged 15-24) face grim prospects when attempting to join the work force. A report entitled Canada’s Vital Signs 2009 from the Community Foundations of Canada found that the normally lucrative summer months were a bust, with the number of hours worked by young people hitting 30 year lows.
The youth unemployment rate currently sits at 16.3%, after an abysmal summer. The report shows that the impact of the recession is most immediate and severe for vulnerable groups. Youth, being one of those vulnerable groups, saw employment fall faster than any other age group during August this year. 19.2% of students looking for jobs were unemployed this summer. Those who were able to find employment only worked an average of 23.4 hours per week, which was the lowest rate in more than 30.
So what are your options besides constantly trolling job forums, sites and classifieds? How can you stay employable with a constant stream of new graduates, theories, practices, skills and technologies emerging while your aging diploma scorns your unemployment? Is it really necessary to buy yourself an internship in the hopes of getting your foot in the door? Or should you just find underemployment and let desire fade to apathy?
Well, my choice as you may have noticed, was to become an intern. The job hunt following my graduation tested my patience, determination, fortitude, and wherewithal. My satisfaction in finding this great internship, was slightly skewed by the lack of opportunity that the current job market posed, but I would rather be producing than prospecting.
The droning, dull chorus of recession talk grated at every fiber of my being and seemingly worked to only exacerbate the situation. Why was I, after enduring so many schooling and work related hardships, left to contend with the most difficult job market in Canada in thirty years?
Probably because completing life on the easiest setting really doesn’t make for a storied experience and sometimes anxiety, uncertainty and a few meltdowns can provide a clarity that no paycheck or job title can.
I hope this didn’t read like a bad motivational poster. The general idea here is don’t get discouraged and step your game up. Fewer jobs, fiercer competition. And making concessions is the hallmark of hard work.
I think the #pepsifail hashtag is hilarious and truly believe that they have done an admirable job of managing the crisis, but pulling the application should not even be a consideration. With a precedent like that I might have to give back my copy of Grand Theft Auto 4, in which I kill and sleep with people, and that is just not going to happen.
The backdraft of comment control
While reading a post on Kodak’s social media marketing efforts, by Mark Drapeau, I pondered some of the methodologies I’ve seen employed in rectifying bad comments and reviews and began wondering what, if any, general practices or procedures were guiding brands in defending their reputation in an open forum?
Defending your business and overall credibility with a response seems a valid first response, but this rash mentality can create far more commotion than any one comment. As the first comment in the Kodak article shows, rebuking a commentator for their opinion or review of your business comes across in a coldly polite and passive aggressive way, which is certainly not an appropriate way to treat a customer. Even if it just reads wrong, it tends to come across as snappish because of the ’saving of face’ involved in the defensive position.
I too am guilty of this sort of defense and had an experience with it just last week due to an article on BlogTO voting a nightclub I manage, Blondie’s, as one of the top-twelve new bars of 2009. As most posts on BlogTO degenerate into a swelling of obscenities and trolling, this article was no different. I readily leaped to the aid of my establishment and coworkers by commenting, all the while knowing I was engaged in a rather petty roundabout of squabbling. I felt ashamed I had to defend myself and my work to the anonymity of haters, but it seemed a necessary evil.
Looking back in a more thoughtful way, I realized my best course of action may have been to just riposte in a positive way, without paying attention to the negative exchange.
Another method I’ve seen employed to overcome negative reviews is to offer a promotion or discount in an attempt to mitigate any negative sentiment or to have the negative-reviewer retry their experience. This method, we’ll call it consume and overcome, may work in practice but may be construed as shady if used in a clandestine way. To proclaim, in an open forum, that you have met the criticisms with thoughtful decision making and believe you have overcome the ailing is truly noble, but many will have already made their minds up and not be willing to offer you a second chance.
An example I can offer of the consume and overcome approach would be a Christmas quibble I had with an Amazon vendor over their inability to provide me with a specified item on time and their lack of customer service. I responded in curt fashion by providing a poor review of the transaction and had an email in my inbox within 24 hours (now they listen!) offering me $20 or the item for almost a 30% markdown if I removed my negative comment.
Jumping at the offer was an easy first response, but I then considered that I was going back on my word to never shop from that vendor again and also, they don’t deserve to maintain their good image when they are clearly masking a greater problem.
There is a tremendous amount of insight being offered in these reviews and it is important to use it as a feedback channel in order to remedy any shortcomings your channels may be experiencing, but is there an established best practice when responding, or is it entirely individual, industry or business specific?
Considering the personality of a business and those involved is showcased in conversation across social media, is it important to be open to negativity? Or do we just do our best to broach the review with a delicate response without confrontation? Perhaps stirring the pot makes for some good exposure, but is it worth the backlash and subsequent refresher in conflict management?
Is it important to be there and aware, but not so much involved in the discussion?
Because we can all self-flagellate over being involved in social media and using it as a part of a mixed-bag approach, but managing your brand reputation while being human may make you express your responses improperly. Perhaps the quintessential tie-in is if it is adequately linking with your organizational goals?
Got any poor comment mismanagement stories? I’ve shared, so now it’s your turn.