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September 29, 2009 By 4 Comments

Are you a social media zombie?

What’s a social media zombie? It’s a term I affectionately use for someone who has profiles on social networks but uses them at about 10% capacity. Here are some ways to determine whether you are a social media zombie:

  • You have a LinkedIn profile but less than 10 connections
  • Your Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter profile has no photo
  • You have a Twitter account with only one update that says “Trying out Twitter”
  • You reply to LinkedIn messages 6 weeks late with the apologetic message “sorry, I should check this more often”
  • You blog once every 6 months
  • Your LinkedIn profile is at 80% completion and has been for months
  • You never comment on anyone else’s content
  • You have a Facebook profile but your profile photo is a tree, nature scene, or your cat
  • Your LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter status has not been updated in weeks
  • You never share links or articles
  • You don’t answer questions because you don’t know they have been asked

Though I am obviously poking a little bit of fun here, the point I am making is that it’s not enough to just “be” on these networks. You only start to get value from social media when you contribute. Joining a network does not mean that you will magically start making connections and growing your business. You must provide value to your community. This can include:

  • Blog about topics in your area of expertise
  • Complete your LinkedIn profile and make connections with people you meet in real life
  • Share interesting content on Facebook
  • Make introductions for other people
  • Post photos
  • Post videos
  • Publish your blog post via Twitter
  • Ask questions
  • Answer questions

The same rules apply in social media as in real-world networking. Give first before expecting to get. Remember, people want to do business with people. They are more likely to want to do business with interesting people. Lack of participation = uninteresting.

Don’t be a social media zombie. Go contribute something!

Filed Under: Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , , , , ,
September 27, 2009 By 3 Comments

How was everything?

“How was everything?”

How often do we hear that? It’s a question often asked as we check out of a hotel, finish dinner at a restaurant, or shop at a store. What answer do you typically give when asked?

If you’re like most people (including myself), you answer with a simple “fine”.

Recently I checked out of a hotel and was asked this same question: “how was everything?” This time I said “almost everything was great but the Internet access at the hotel was terrible. It was slow and unreliable.” After I expressed this, the woman behind the counter looked a bit startled and muttered something to the effect of “I’m sorry about that” without any further discussion. No offer to submit further feedback, no offer to apply a credit to my bill, nothing.

I often wonder… if customer service representatives don’t want to hear honest feedback, why ask the question?

As consumers, we need to speak up more often and hold service providers accountable. By responding with “fine” we contribute to the (sometimes) status quo of mediocrity. If no one ever complains about the Internet access at the hotel, what incentive is there to fix it?

By the same token, businesses need to be ready to listen to customer feedback and act on it. If your customer service representatives are trained to ask for feedback, they need to also be equipped with a mechanism for capturing that feedback and placing it in the proper channels to create change.

Are you giving honest feedback every time? Are you listening when you receive that feedback?

Filed Under: Lifestyle, Marketing Tagged With:
September 26, 2009 By 1 Comment

Facebook profiles are for people, not companies

I still see this over and over on Facebook: profiles used as company accounts. This is an incorrect use of Facebook and of social media in general. A personal profile on Facebook is meant for a person. No one wants to engage with a Facebook user that has a company name as the profile name and company logo as a profile picture. It is impersonal and uninteresting. Your Facebook profile should be you, with your actual photo (not a picture of a tree or something) and not your company logo. People want to interact with other people.

Facebook fan pages are the best way to create a business presence on Facebook. That is what they are designed for. Use your company fan page to create your company presence on Facebook and then invite people in your company to contribute to it.

Profiles are for people; fan pages are for business.

Filed Under: Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , ,
September 18, 2009 By 2 Comments

Auto-unsubscribe is the only acceptable policy

I finally got annoyed today at the number of “noisy” emails I was getting from Overstock.com so I decided to unsubscribe. Never mind that I was already annoyed with Overstock.com because of the frequency of sending, low content quality, and difficulty in unsubscribing. That’s a story for another time but it will suffice to say that the company’s brand now conjures up negative feelings in my mind.

I finally found the unsubscribe link (hidden among some other links) and I clicked it. The first mistake Overstock.com made was that the process was not a one-click process. After I had already clicked on the (well-hidden) unsubscribe link, I was taken to a confirmation page which required me to click again.

The worst part, however, is that when I finally confirmed my desire to leave this mailing list, I received this confirmation message:

“We have received your email frequency change or unsubscribe request for the email address listed below. Please note that it may take up to 10 days for your change to take effect.”

Seriously? It takes 10 days to remove me from a mailing list? There is absolutely no excuse for this. The technology has existed for over a decade which allows unsubscribe requests to be processed automatically. A delay of this nature implies that human intervention is required to update the database which means that not only will I continue to be annoyed by emails, but Overstock.com has to pay someone to click buttons.

Be sure your email newsletter offers an automatic one-click unsubscribe process. Anything else is wasteful and irresponsible.

Filed Under: Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , ,
September 15, 2009 By 1 Comment

My Tour of Gleaners Food Bank: An Awe-inspiring Example of Giving in Indiana

I had the pleasure of touring Gleaners Food Bank today with Victoria Petersen. Victoria’s title is “Major Gifts Officer” and she is responsible for working with donors to keep Gleaners stocked with enough supplies to feed the hungry in Indiana. Touring the facility was a humbling and awe-inspiring experience and I would like to share it with you.

First, some facts:

  • 83% of IPS students qualify for a free lunch or reduced lunch program
  • Every dollar donated to Gleaner provides 6 meals to a hungry person
  • There are 83,590 children living in poverty in the food bank’s service area
  • There are 225,075 people overall living in poverty in the food bank’s service area
  • Many of the people assisted by Gleaners are living on approximately $500 a month

Some of these figures were very shocking to me and very eye-opening. As I started the tour, I was immediately impressed by the scale and the efficiency of the Gleaners warehouse. Boxes upon boxes and crates of food were stacked floor to ceiling waiting to be categorized, stored, inspected, and processed. Though Gleaners has staff members, much of the day-to-day work is done by volunteers.

As Victoria led me through the vast structure that fills an entire city block, she told me about the programs specifically designed for children and seniors and how everything is carefully organized and accounted for to ensure maximum efficiency. She showed me a doorway in which a board member had supplied a makeshift metal fixture to drain off excess water that was seeping in through a crack in the ceiling so that they would not have to spend money to replace the structure. She also introduced me to many of the staff members and volunteers who make it possible for Gleaners to feed the hungry.

Gleaners Food Bank has been under the stewardship of Pamela Altmeyer, President and CEO, for over 30 years. Victoria had nothing but glowing words of praise and admiration for Pamela and in short, communicated to me in no uncertain terms that Gleaners has been Pamela’s entire life’s work. The respect and awe in her voice was unmistakable.

What also impressed me about Gleaners was the close partnerships that the food bank has with major corporate donors. In particular, Victoria spoke with deep respect when impressing upon me how instrumental Kroger has been in helping Gleaners. Kroger is the largest donor of both food and money to the food bank and has been for nearly three decades, during which the grocer has contributed almost $1 Million in donations to Gleaners. Since learning this, I will be making more of an effort to shop at Kroger whenever possible. I am impressed by the level of generosity displayed by this major grocery chain.

My tour of Gleaners gave me a powerful experience and lifted my spirits. It was a pleasure to see so many people working together to fight hunger in Indiana. I very much appreciate Victoria’s time in telling me the story of Gleaners and giving me a behind the scenes look into how the food bank functions.

Victoria would love to take others on a tour, as well. Anyone who would like to take a tour or is interested in donating time, money, or food to Gleaners should contact:

Victoria Petersen
Major Gifts Officer
(317) 925-0191
vpetersen@gleaners.org

I have also posted photos from my tour on Facebook. Please feel free to browse through them for a behind the scenes look into the daily operations at Gleaners Food Bank. I highly recommend taking a tour.

Now, I’m off to make a donation to Gleaners.

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With:
September 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The Advantages of a Hosted Solution

At SpinWeb, we are big advocates of hosted solutions. This philosophy of outsourcing hosting and software is also sometimes called “Cloud Computing” or “Software as a Service” (SaaS). Despite the current trends and data that support the wisdom of a hosted solution, I still frequently encounter resistance from some business owners and, more frequently, IT people.

So why the resistance? I can’t figure it out. The advantages of an outsourced hosting and software infrastructure are so compelling that it can sometimes be difficult to understand why it’s not considered more often.

So what are the advantages of outsourcing your hosting and software? Here are a few:

1. Reliability and Security. Is your office designed to store and protect mission-critical web servers? Do you have fire protection, biometric security, 24/7 monitoring, and redundant Internet connections? What happens in the event of theft, fire, water damage, and Internet connection problems? Wouldn’t your website be safer in a location designed to protect your data?

2. Maintenance. Who is maintaining your server and software? Do you have a full-time systems administrator that keeps up on the latest software patches and upgrades your systems on a continuous basis?

3. Cost. Purchasing, maintaining, and upgrading your own hardware and software can be very expensive. Compare that to the cost of a low monthly subscription and it quickly becomes apparent that a hosted solution is much less expensive.

If you’re an IT professional, these are points that you should be prepared to talk about with your vendors and your employer. More and more organizations are realizing the benefits of a hosted solution and embracing this trend rather than fighting it can actually make your job easier. Be a hero and go home early. Outsource your hosting and software and save your company time and money.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: , , ,