Go Amish and Tune Out Awhile

By TC Brown

Recently, I saw one of the dumbest things ever.  A guy jogging was yapping away on his cell phone. No emergency in sight and no dogs hot on his tail.

I also spied a couple in a restaurant who instead of having lively and interesting conversation – you know, sharing meaningful personal moments – they were separately tapping away on mobile devices.  Apparently this is the contemporary version of the song “Strangers in the Night.”

Recently, a study out of the UK noted that one in eight adults said their partner spends more time on their cell phone than talking to them.  More than 34 percent said they email or text during face-to-face conversations. 

And that’s just the phone!  Toss in laptops, desktops, notebook computers and all manner of mobile devices, and the amount of time we all spend staying connected is staggering.  Last year, Nielsen found that sites like Facebook and Twitter swallow up 22.7 percent of our time on the Web.  A study by comScore found that most of us spend at least 32 hours a month connected to the Internet.  I’m guessing it’s even higher now.

This all brings me to a radical thought – we need to unplug and be Amish for a day, or at least for a couple of hours once in awhile. 

All of these interconnected networks are like electronic crack. We do a hit and then find ourselves hypnotically going back again and again to get our next interactive “fix.”  Totally addictive.

Think not? Look at these revealing statistics:

·       One-half billion people log onto Facebook each day, collectively spending 700 billion minutes per month on the site.

·       Each month, 490 million unique users visit YouTube, generating 92 billion page views.

·       Every minute, people upload 3,000 images to photo site Flickr.

·       Twitter, which adds hundreds of thousands of users per day, averages 190 million tweets daily.

·       Google+ reached 10 million users in 16 days, setting new speed records for social network growth.

It might seem odd that this rant is coming from a guy who co-owns a social media communication company.  After all, it is clearer than ever that this “new media” is good for businesses.

No argument, the positive social medium influence on business is a good thing, and I’m happy for it. But so is taking an occasional break. Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, recommends limiting email consumption and production, and even taking a one-week media fast.

Myself? I’m going to unplug just as soon as I finish and send out this blog, respond to all of the emails on my two accounts, check out the latest viral video, rearrange my photos on Flickr, do an Internet search for this odd skin rash, and . . . .

TC Brown is a partner in Webface, a communications and marketing company that can help you and your organization stay relevant in an ever-more interconnected world.

Sooners and Social Media

By John McGory

The Oklahoma Land Rush drew 50,000 people to the territory on April 22, 1889.  The boomers and sooners staked claims on two million acres of land the federal government made available to the public.

Today’s headlong dash into social media often resembles that land rush.  The mad scramble to stake a claim as cutting edge in a saturated world of media is as chaotic as that April 1889 day. 

The similarities between the land rush and social media are real.  The cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie grew from no residents on April 21 to each having more than 10,000 residents two days later.  Sounds like Facebook to me.

Planning in a chaotic environment can lead to positive results or disaster.  The sooners entered the territory early and hid until the rush began.  Startled boomers on horseback were outraged when they spotted sooners setting up new homes on prime pieces of ground they had already staked out.  While underhanded, the courts upheld many of the sooners’ claims.

Disaster can strike in chaos when poor choices are made due to a lack of knowledge.  The boomers and  sooners who knew the location of planned railroad lines and roads reaped rewards, while the uninformed staked claims in remote areas.

Thankfully, a business plan for an active social media program doesn’t have to be unethical or uninformed.  A few simple steps can lead you in the right direction.

Start with a thorough audit of your marketing and communications program –  can they be done more efficiently?  Are expensively printed brochures and magazines ineffective?  Is communication between key members of your team breaking down? Who is your target audience? The audit will provide the answers you need to improve.  A consultant can help in uncovering real savings and opportunities.

The completed audit will give you a roadmap for your social media plan.  Then you can put in place the correct social media sites and tools to answer your problems and seize missed opportunities.

Business-to-business marketing is going to be different than business-to-teenage girls.  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+ and all the other social media sites have their strengths and weaknesses, depending on whom you are trying to reach.   A solid audit will get you on the right sites with audience-appropriate content.

Purchasing hardware and software is where disaster can strike.  Trying to do social media on a fax machine just doesn’t cut it.  But investing significant dollars in technology can be fraught with danger, too.  New technology comes along so quickly that it is a challenge to know which way to go.   All you can do is research, talk to the experts and keep in mind your return on investment.  

The rush to social media success doesn’t need to be done at break-neck speed.  Informed decisions through planning will help you stake out that prime piece of social media property.

John McGory is a partner for Webface, a marketing and communications company that can help your company plan for its social media future.

The 99 Percent: A Social Media Revolution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48K5Y0421Ig

By TC Brown

In 1964, Sam Cooke wrote and recorded “A Change Is Gonna Come,” a song quickly adopted by the Civil Rights Movement.  It was a minor hit that was optimistic about ending segregation and prejudice, and a different sort of tune from an artist who typically penned feel-good pop hits. Only after his death did the song attain real success.  (song linked above)

The tune – at least its title – seems an apt reference today in relation to events unfolding in the Occupy Wall Street movement’s development and growth through the use of social media tools.  If it hasn’t already, it’s close to becoming a cliché to say that social media is changing the game, in protests and in many areas of our daily lives.

But in just under two months, the Occupy movement has spread across the U.S. and the world, with gatherings in more than 900 cities across the globe, thanks to protestors using numerous social media tools to dish out updates and invigorate support.

The Economist magazine has already dubbed the anti-Wall Street protest as the “first true social media uprising” in America.

Consider the activity:

·       Facebook pages have become online focal points for gatherings and calls for aid and advice. An Occupy Facebook fan page has more than 300,000 fans.

·       More than 330,000 Occupy-related hashtags are tweeted every day.

·       On Tumblr’s microblog site, “We are the 99 percent,” people are posting their sad tales of financial difficulties.

·       From across the country and around the world, protestors are uploading videos and live video streams on Livestream and YouTube.

·       Through the payment startup, WePay, donations of more than $400,000 have poured in, with the average payment traveling 800 miles.

The success of this social media uprising has not gone unnoticed. Organized labor has begun to use these channels and platforms more aggressively to mobilize support for their issues. In recent weeks, the Teamsters have been actively using blog posts and putting up photos on Facebook and Twitter to document their differences with various corporate entities.

Despite the target on its back, and maybe because of it, even Wall Street is taking a serious look at social media’s relevancy and role in this movement. The New York Stock Exchange just held its first-ever “Social Media Day,” bringing in digital media gurus and political experts to kick around ideas about how Wall Street can use these platforms more effectively.

No one can accurately predict whether the Occupy Wall Street movement gains traction or fades this winter, but the way in which future mass protests develop and progress has forever changed, thanks to social media.

Today, the change has already come.

TC Brown is a partner in Webface, a communications and marketing company actively participating and helping others join the changes of today.

The Social Media Sausage Race

By John McGory

Baseball’s favorite promotion started in Milwaukee’s County Stadium in the 1990s when people dressed up as a bratwurst, an Italian sausage and a Polish sausage, staged a foot race during the middle of the sixth inning.

The contests became wildly popular and have spread.  Now, all sorts of entertaining competitions between salted meats or condiments take place at American ballparks. 

Another three-contestant race Americans love to watch is in social media.  The daily jockeying for attention between Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is riveting.  The three social media giants are in a daily challenge to capture the confidence of the social media consumer.

Like the battle between the sausages and brats, a new wiener, uh, winner, emerges every day. Where do social media touts see the race for consumer confidence heading?  Here are the trends, strengths and weaknesses of our three contestants.

Facebook users are the least secure in the confidence race. A survey by Barracuda Labs shows 40 percent of Facebook users admit to malicious virus and malware concerns.  Twitter users are second, with 28 percent feeling unsecure.  LinkedIn is third at 14 percent.

LinkedIn is the most trusted, but this race could tighten as cyber criminals target its accounts.  Business disruption, employee misinformation and business assets are areas where hackers could cause serious problems.

LinkedIn is also the least-blocked social network.  Only 20 percent of companies block LinkedIn on work websites.  Twitter comes in second with 25 percent, while 31 percent block Facebook.

Twitter problems indicate that 43 percent of Twitter accounts are "true users" with real followers and regular tweets, and 57 percent are "not true users," but are either spam bots or inactive accounts. 

This causes problems for users opening shortened links TinyURL or Bit.ly posted by “not true users.”  This can lead to drive-by downloads or an exploited browser.

Facebook security issues focus on trust rather than the random drive-by.  Many of the malicious viruses are unwittingly passed on by friends.

Being the largest social media competitor has its disadvantages and advantages. There will be more efforts to compromise larger platforms, a disadvantage.  Plus malware and viruses can spread quickly among large groups of friends.

So many people are on Facebook, however, that when a problem occurs, the word gets out just as quickly as it spreads.  The recent example is the “Starbucks” anniversary scam. 

The ruse got unsuspecting Facebookers to visit a website to get a free $50 gift card.  Share the link with your friends, give them some personal information and you win. Unfortunately, all you got was malware on your computer, and an avalanche of unending spam in your email. The scam ended when Starbucks used Twitter to tell its followers of the problem.  That information spread to Facebook and the problem disappeared.

So the daily race for social media consumer confidence will continue.  Who do we like?  Too early to tell, but the Polish sausage is sounding like a winner.

John McGory is a partner at Webface, a communications and marketing company helping others win the social media race.

Dorian Gray in a Missoni Cardigan

By John McGory

“The Picture of Dorian Gray” is a classic Victorian novel by Oscar Wilde.  The book tells a tale of a young beautiful man, Dorian Gray, who has a portrait of himself painted. 

Realizing his beauty will fade, Dorian (whimsically) expresses a desire to sell his soul to ensure the portrait would age rather than him. Dorian's wish is fulfilled, plunging him into debauched acts that visually age and disfigure his portrait, while he remains beautiful.

The novel’s prevalent themes are the vanity of aestheticism and the temptation of a double life.  Those same alluring qualities are manifesting themselves in today’s world of social media.  Businesses are selling their souls on Facebook and Twitter to remain beautiful while secretly leading a double life that can be corrupting, if not disfiguring. 

The young developed and made Facebook and Twitter.  The teens and twenty something’s got social media rolling and businesses quickly realized that Facebook was not only wildly popular, but commercially enticing.

Companies are now using Facebook and Twitter to paint a portrait of a young and hip persona. Hot music, cool products and trendy catch phrases are the rage.

But this is where the double life becomes an issue.  Companies generally aren’t run by hip, trendy people.  Bosses are often bean counting, curmudgeons, with budget and computer limitations.

Trouble for a company and its social media comes when policy collides with trendy posts.  The young are quickly disillusioned with companies that talk a good game but fail to live up to today’s new social media-driven business standards.

A recent example is Target.  The Minneapolis-based retailer built a strong following on Facebook but had a disaster when an on-line sale of Missoni products produced a run that overwhelmed its web site and caused a PR disaster involving customer service. 

Now, nasty comments seem to be the rage, literally, on Target’s Facebook page.  The company posted a comment two days ago , weeks after the Missoni debacle, asking customers how fast they could get to Target.  Here is one response:

“That depends. How fast can you fix your suck-tastic baby registry so the thousands of women who are relying on it can get the customer service that they apparently wrongly expected from your company? How about you focus on that instead of pithy Facebook and Twitter posts?”

The young beautiful company on Facebook becomes the disfigured picture of Dorian Gray.    

Facebook is not going away.  Customers are going to look for companies on social media sites and they need to be there.  Just don’t get lost in the youthful vanity of your Facebook posts.  To quote the past generation, keep it real baby.

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 John McGory is a partner at Web Face, a social media and communications firm.  Web Face (http://www.web-face-solutions.com/)  consults with companies and organizations on Facebook postings, video and other social media and Internet needs.

Social media tips to avoid being crushed like Hank Jr.

By John McGory

“We have met the enemy and he is us.” 

Walt Kelly’s famous quote from Pogo sums up today’s world of social media.  Almost every day someone is made into an enemy with their complete lack of understanding of the power of today’s media.  The only thing more amazing is how quickly the world crushes the new-found enemy.

This week’s poor sucker is Hank Williams, Jr.  Good old boy Hank conjured up in his head the idea to create a metaphor sticking Adolph Hitler and President Barack Obama in the same sentence.  He should have stuck to singing. 

This was an act of career suicide.  Hank compared the most hated person of the 20^th century with a sitting president.  The comment defies logic no matter your political views.

There was a time in the not so distant past where a slip of the tongue could slide by without a person committing professional hara-kiri.  Those days are now simply quaint memories.  It took ESPN less than 24 hours to pull Hank’s theme song from Monday Night Football.

So another person is turned into an enemy of the state by ill-conceived comments, videos or tweets.  How can people learn from this never-ending cycle of personal destruction?  A couple of columns ago we discussed the importance of combining ideas and how that leads to genius. 

Here are some ideas that will prevent you from social media suicide.  We will combine some educational disciplines to teach basic social media lessons.

1.      Not-so-free speech: Speech is no longer free.  If you combine lessons in math, English and government, it becomes clear that you can calculate what it costs in income to carelessly exercise your right to freedom of speech.

2.      No pictures please: Do what you can to stay off camera.  Studying visual arts, career counseling and math can teach anyone how a mobile device has the ability to make your $100,000 college education worthless.

3.      Personal decorum:  Combine concepts from law, history, sign language and sociology and you will soon learn that any derogatory language, reference or gesture on film or in the written word can and will be used against you.

4.      Caught in the act:  Blend concepts from visual arts, health, sex education, computer technology and law and you will soon see how videos of drinking alcohol, taking drugs, sexual activity or criminal acts shown on the Internet are never easily explained and often lead to criminal prosecution.

5.      New ideas:  Understand basic education to see how topics like outrageous metaphors, revisionist history, new math and creationism should be vetted by at least three people who aren’t close friends before you verbalize it on camera or in public.

New media is a challenge. It may be too late for Hank Williams, Jr. and many others, but you still have a chance.  Just remember we are our own worst enemies and we have to learn to protect ourselves from ourselves.

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In Your Webface is brought to you by Web Face, a Columbus marketing, social media and communications company.  Learn more at www.web-face-solutions.com.

Social Media Response Times

By Martha Wilson

You wouldn’t dream of allowing your phone to ring off the hook, or let a customer go straight to voicemail. In today’s business climate, responsiveness is the key to your company’s success.

If your organization has embraced social media (and if it hasn’t, it’s missing out on major customer connections) what’s the next step? You must consistently respond – to  Facebook comments, e-mail questions, tweets, and Blog posts.

First, post your hours of operation on your profile page to let customers know what to expect. If you aren’t monitoring your pages at 3 a.m., say so. That way, you won’t turn off the insomniacs.

Customers who email expect you will acknowledgement their request within one to two hours. This is especially true when you’re dealing with a complaint. Other email messages should be answered in 24 hours.

Twitter is a more immediate challenge. You should try to respond within a half hour. If your customers are tweeting, they expect more immediate feedback.

Facebook communication is a 24-7 thing. But if someone files  a complaint, you’ll want to respond in under an hour.  Questions and other customer service issues can be handled in under two hours. You should weigh in on general conversation or comments within a day.

Blogs and Forums require the same attention as Facebook – that is, daily.  Remember that best practices mean you respond at least within a day.

Social media is a more effective, more direct, more instantaneous way to say, “This company cares and this company responds.”  Businesses need to learn to adapt, and adapt quickly.

Fast food restaurants get it.

McDonalds, Wendy’s, and Chick-Fil-A have all captured more than a million fans on their Facebook pages. They are versed in “fast” as a key driver for customers. Wendy’s had an astonishing 20-minute response time to more than 6,000 posts in January 2001, according to Jason Falls, founder/editor of Social Media Explorer.

What’s the secret? These companies, understanding the strong correlation between responsiveness and engagement – hire people to do it.

If you communicate with your customers through social media, or are considering it, make the time to respond. It’s the smartest way to attract and keep your client base.

Martha Wilson is an associate at Web Face, (http:web-face-solutions.com), a marketing and communications company that will help you listen to and respond to your clients on social media channels.