The FB Volley & Folly

So Facebook decided yesterday to take away a feature for it's Pages. Before you could set your default landing for those who had not "Liked" your page yet to be a Welcome custom tab to entice them to Like your page. This was effective mainly for companies who used this technology to show their graphics skills, and even those who used video on this Tab to lay the ground work for possible clients. Facebook changed this last night in an abrupt, and discreet statement, that spread like wild fire through the community of Social Media Fan Page businesses. No more would this be a feature unless you were an "Authenticated" page. Namely, you had to have a great deal of Likes (over 10,000), or spend beaucoup bucks on advertising.

Some accused Facebook of monetizing or attempting to bleed smaller businesses out of the game of Social Media by passing inane rules. They were quite adamant that this would forever shift their business strategy and how dare Facebook do such a thing.

My response, Facebook owns well Facebook does it not? We are allowed through their good graces & investment to use their platform to make a business for ourselves. They want to make this change, fine, ADAPT PEOPLE. Also shouldn't your content matter more than your Splashy graphics? This is Social Media after all. It's about the real life conversations and "getting to know you" factor that makes it so unique. If I want to see pretty graphics I'll visit your website. And truth be told, I may land on your exquisitely designed Welcome Tab, but the first thing I look at is your Wall. To see what kind of content you post, will it be welcome in my life, is it something I want to interact with on a daily basis?

Once someone lands on the Welcome Tab, and they Like You, how often do they come back? Probably not very often. Facebook didn't say, "You can't have Customized Tabs at all", they just briefly took away the ability to select a tab for landing. Use these tabs frequently in your posts and they will still get play. Use them in promotions, or to share information. Change them out frequently to showcase things your company is PASSIONATE about. The call to action shouldn't be a cool embedded video, but what you have said each and every day, and how you handle your wall.

Okay, rant over. And apparently in a very weird turn of events Facebook listened to the outcry this time and shifted this policy out the door. The welcome tab landing option is now platform wide again. There we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief that our baby isn't thrown out with the bath water.

But seriously folks, base your Social Media on good consistent content and people will love that ten times more than pretty graphics.

Be Careful With Your Brand...

unmarketing: To whomever was driving the Espresso.com car on Bloor today in Toronto, you drive like an asshole. Less caffeine.

Having a wrapped or logo on your vehicle is a great idea. Unless you cannot trust your drivers. When I was still in the Oil & Gas Industry I used to drive 200-300 miles a day. No mean feat but still, quite impressive when I would look at my odometer at the end of the week. Driving that much you see every kind of driver.

After getting pegged with two back to back speeding tickets I decided 5 miles (possibly ten if I wanted to push it), was plenty speed for me and my bank account. Then along came the Red Cross Van Driver. This guy was weaving in and out of traffic like a lunatic. Getting up on my bumper then when I would politely tap, he would slow down then come back for more. So I decided best course of action was to get over let him go around and get this guys van number.

He passes me gesturing wildly, flipping the finger of choice, and passing like a demon on a mission. I follow. Matching speeds of 95 mph in a 60. Two lane highway, as well. Not the best driving conditions for a road rage. So i get the number of "How's My Driving" off the rear bumper and I call. I also slow by the way in case any one was concerned for my safety. A very polite volunteer at our local Red Cross Chapter answers. To which I tell her about their speed demon van driver. I am placed on hold, and then the head of the local chapter gets on the phone. I tell my story, stating that now I cannot even see his driver, and was he on a blood run or something?

Turns out, nope. He was just simply supposed to go to a different hospital on a routine run, nothing emergency about it. I hang up, hoping that was the last of it. WRONG!

Two weeks later I am heading in a totally different direction, different county, and there is another Red Cross Van. Cuts me off, flings the finger, everything. I look, it's the same guy. Now once I can understand letting this guy behind the wheel. Twice, that's your fault. Unfortunately for me, we're going the EXACT same way. Saw in the course of driving "near misses" three times. So I get out the old cell phone, call the number I still had stored in there from last time. Call, and no response.

I am willing to give a pass every once and awhile, particularly if the organization is in an emergency field. But, if you are going to go to the trouble of wrapping your brand image on your vehicle, better be darn sure that who is driving it is someone you want associated therein as well. Check their license history, if there are complaints have them drive their own vehicle, or better yet take them out of that capacity pronto. As for the above Tweet, that's replaced those pesky cell phone calls now, and it reaches far more people, faster. Think about it.

1800 uhoh

I was recently intrigued to discover that 1800 Flowers has a Facebook. I liked it yesterday, mainly just because I like to follow companies who are starting to invest time and effort into developing a Social Media campaign. Boy was I in for a surprise. Apparently 1800 Flowers is having a bit of a customer service meltdown on both their Facebook Wall and Twitter Feeds. There were issues with Mom's receiving orders in a timely fashion, orders being cancelled due to high volume and not being communicated to the purchaser, volume problems with local dealers not supplying each different type of arrangement offered on their site. It's a mess. The phone Customer Service from various reports seems to be either unhelpful, or just downright inept. But, I will say this, whomever they have answering their Twitter Followers and Wall posts is doing an excellent job of turning a sows ear into a silk purse.

This goes to you Susan Pinson. Yes you. You rock. Offering to help, calling people's Moms in an effort to apologize on behalf of an entire company, taking hurtful comments and just rolling through until you can find an opening to aid. That's what we like to see! And you my friend deserve a drink for your last 48 hours of real time customer service.

While I do not know what happened as far as breakdown with 1800 Flowers, I know they are represented by a great Social Media firm whom I think does a awesome job of organically growing and promoting their business online. I also know that companies can indeed underestimate the power of Social Media. And that is what I think happened here.

This promotion would have been successful if the company had ironed out the issues with local florists before launching a social media campaign that apparently worked. Don't blame the technology, no this comes down to the basic strategy of having your ducks lined up and Good Ol' Murphy's Law. Something went very very wrong this MOther's Day weekend, and chances are it's costing 1800 Flowers more to fix the problems their customer service created than it would have to simply hire more competent people and also engage more local florists.

I don't pretend to know a great deal about the national florists industry but from what I gather reading the Tweets and Wall posts, there was a communication breakdown between 1800 Flowers and their local suppliers who were swamped with orders. You can never be busier as when you are going out of business. The service to support your social media efforts has to be there, if it isn't you will experience the EPIC FAIL that was encountered this Mother's Day.

I make no issue with hiring outside firms to handle your social media, in fact for medium to large companies I am in support of it, to an extent. But within the company there has to be equal if not greater support and understanding, training on these platforms so they can be tracked, utilized, & understood. Something tells me if the supervisors at the customer service call centers had been trained on what the SocMed firm was doing there would have been a lot less budget loss and a greater customer service impact. These things have to work together.

Rant over, but please give Susan some cred people. She's doing an awesome job taking the heat. Go easy on her.

Social Media... This Time It's Personal

When thinking about what Social Media means, it's difficult to put a definition on it that truly fits every facet. For the average person it's a step above forums or chat rooms. Real time ability to connect with the people around them: friends, family, coworkers. But, also it's a voice for those same people to shape the way a company works, the way a product is marketed, and also who is elected to public office.

For businesses and enterprise think just briefly on how this new media has changed the game for them. Anyone in their ladder of command slips and it can be Tweeted, Posted, or Blogged about from anywhere in real time. I don't know about you, but I post directly from my phone every day, and I also am in charge of most things within my home. So, what happens when someone has lousy customer service, can I go anywhere and say Hey Thanks for being rude (insert name of major corporation here). Yep. But, also isn't this feedback they should not only expect, but need?

I once had a business owner tell me the following quote: "I love when I get complaints. A complaining customer is still a customer, and they are giving you a fantastic opportunity. They are alerting you to problem areas in your company. But, most people don't complain, they just leave." Think about the last time you filled out a comment card, or took a survey, or called to let someone know "How's My Driving?" Now in 140 Characters or less more than 400 MILLION can let you know how you are doing. It's a frighteningly real proposition that takes out the middle man and engages the business directly with the customer, the consumer with the heads of major corporations.

Most companies are pretty scared of this idea. Because like any large corporation who can be in charge of every cog in every wheel 24 hours a day, I mean we are all HUMAN, are we not? There are bound to be mistakes. And as Lincoln said, "You can please some of the people most of the time, most of the people some of the time. But you can't please all the people all of the time." It's an impossible situation for us humans for which our errors and mistakes define us, do they not.

This is where we realize it's not about being the perfect company, it's about being a human company. A company with warmth and the ability to talk and more importantly listen. A conversation is NEVER one sided, it's a two way or more street. With ideas and comments interchanged between people. So too is Social Media. This is a chance for us as a species to truly learn once and for all how to communicate together. Person to Person. And once we realize that a business isn't some stoic concrete and brick building, but is built of people. We the consumers realize what our expectations should be and also why we should invest our time and funds there.

Social Media is about people, and the connections we make every day. So this is where I invite you whether you are a dabbling consumer or a company weighing the pros and cons of jumping in to simply join the conversation. Create a page, start blogging about what's important to you, create a Twitter Feed. But, the token rule is, be human, be approachable, be true to yourself.