The State of Social Media

Employers & Social Media

Most employers are checking out potential hires’ social media profiles on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Some companies even monitor their current employees’ online presence. The legality of this is for debate in several states, with legislation being proposed that would restrict or prohibit employers from requesting access to current or potential employees’ social media accounts.

But according to the Wall Street Journal’s blog, employers have a whole new set of possible concerns to address when it comes to social media and networking sites. A new mobile app called Vine, which was developed and released at the beginning of the year by Twitter, enables users to create and post 6-second video clips that can then be shared or embedded on a variety of social media sites.

Sounds pretty tame, right? It’s only six seconds, barely more than a blink. Not so, says Jacob Gerhman of the Law Blog on the Wall Street Journal: “A new video sharing app is emerging as the latest source of anxiety for employers worried about social-media risks at the office.”

A quick search performed on the site for terms like hate work, bored or work produces results documenting employees doing some very non-work-approved things. Some of the tamer ones? Users leafing through confidential business documents on camera, an unauthorized worker driving heavy machinery at an airport, and many videos of employees “venting about how much they hate their jobs.”

Ultimately, employers who are curious about their current and future employees’ behavior on social media sites need to cast a much wider net, looking at a variety of social media sites beyond the networks they typically visit. And while it should go without saying, employees should understand that their actions leave a digital footprint catalogued permanently for anyone and everyone to see.

Continued in The Helpful Side of Social Media…

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Social Media Updates

Many of us spend our days thinking about, writing about, discussing and using social media in its various permutations. The technology has undeniably become a critical element of both our personal and professional lives. But how do you keep up with the rapid and ever-changing landscape? What are Facebook’s most current privacy offering? What social network is growing most rapidly in the U.S.? Below are some of the most interesting current events and tidbits from the world of social media.

Fluctuating Demographics

Yesterday, Pew Research Center released the results of a study documenting how teenagers (ages 12-17) interact with and perceive various social media sites. Some of the key findings from the study point to the waning popularity of Facebook among teenagers. Per a Huffington Post article, “Facebook has become a ‘social burden’ for teens. While Facebook is still deeply integrated in teen’s everyday lives, it is sometimes seen as a utility and an obligation rather than an exciting new platform that teens can claim as their own.”

This is potentially bad news for Facebook. Social networks like Twitter and Instagram are seeing an influx of teenage users migrating to these sites because they “offer a parent-free place where they can better express themselves.”

Some of the issues cited by teens in Pew focus groups include the site “being overrun by parents, fueling unnecessary social drama, and giving a mouthpiece to annoying oversharers who drone on about inane events in their lives.”

Researchers say that social media usage among teenagers has reached a plateau, with those who sign up and use sites staying steady (at around 40%) since 2011. Investors and financial experts alike will be monitoring how this situation plays out, as teenagers are a key demographic advertisers are trying to reach. If usage remains stagnant or engagement drops off among users at a young age, renewed or increased future engagement does not seem likely.

Continued in The State of Social Media…

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Flying High

Soliciting consumer feedback is a critical practice for any business or organization, regardless of the industry in which they operate. Key elements of branding include understanding how you are perceived by the people you are trying to reach, what parts of your strategy succeed, and which could use improvement.

Even the world’s airports are not exempt from this type of visitor input. The annual World Airport Awards survey travelers from 160 countries about their levels of passenger satisfaction as it relates to airports. There are 12 categories including the best domestic airport, the airport of the year and the top 100 airports, to name a few.

A word about the survey’s methodology. Per the World Airport Award’s website, the distinctions are based on “12.1 million survey questionnaires completed by 108 different nationalities of airline customers during the nine month survey period in 2012 and 2013, covering more than 395 airports worldwide. This established, industry survey is totally independent and evaluates traveler experiences across 39 different airport service and product key performance indicators – from check-in, arrivals, transfers, shopping, security and immigration through to departure at the gate.”

There are thirty-nine product and service-related criterion included in the survey. The data is physically collected from a variety of input sources, which include online and email passenger questionnaires, research groups, corporate travel questionnaires as well as interviews, telephone interviews and selective passenger interviews.

The results are telling, as not a single U.S. airport was ranked in the top 25 in the World’s Top 100 category. The top airports were geographically concentrated, according to Washington Post and included “lots of Northeast Asian airports, a few in Northern Europe, and transit hubs like Abu Dhabi, Cape Town and Kuala Lumpur.” The first American airport to appear is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, which ranks 30.

Other results? Singapore’s Changi Airport was voted the world’s best airport, Tokyo International Airport was named the world’s best domestic airport, Frankfurt Airport was selected as the world’s most improved, Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport was awarded with the best airport in Europe title and Vancouver International received the honors for best airport in North America.

The results of this survey will be used in a numerous ways, from influencing funding to political pleas for infrastructure. The complete results can be found on the World Airport Awards website, which can be accessed here.

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The Opposite of Customer Service

The story of Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique, a restaurant located in Scottsdale, AZ, has taken the internet by storm and offers an excellent opportunity to reflect on behaviors that shouldn’t ever be a part of a company’s social media strategy. A short summary for anyone who hasn’t yet read about the incident:

The restaurant was recently featured on the season finale of Kitchen Nightmares, a show helmed by Gordon Ramsey. Controversy erupted after Ramsey declared the restaurant’s situation unfixable. According to the Daily Beast: “the couple was so difficult that even the typically hardened Ramsay decided he couldn’t help them and shut the show down before beginning the rehab phase.”

The collective internet responded in kind, bombarding the restaurant’s social media pages like Facebook and social commenting forums like Reddit with scathing comments about the establishment and its owners.

This is where the story devolves into every customer satisfaction pro’s nightmare. Instead of laying low and letting the excitement subside, the owners instead decided to take to their Facebook page and respond to the barrage of comments they were receiving, doing so in a less than polite way.

A quick excerpt (and yes they were writing exclusively in all caps): “TO REDDIT. I FORBID YOU FROM SPREADING YOUR HATE ON THAT SITE. THIS IS MY FACEBOOK, AND I AM NOT ALLOWING YOU TO USE MY COMPANY ON YOUR HATE FILLED PAGE.” This impassioned response only further fueled internet commenters’ fire, and the whole incident continued to devolve from there.

At the core of this story is a lesson on what not to do on social media as a company and a brand. Kelly Clay of Forbes writes an excellent piece summarizing the seven lessons you can take from this cringe-inducing story. Her seven tips? Per Clay, “don’t reply to everyone, don’t respond to trolls, don’t react right away, Reddit is not for the weak, don’t insult people, learn to walk away and don’t lie.”

Clay’s piece offers good lessons for even the most experienced marketers and highlights the importance of reading and responding to customer feedback in a levelheaded, calm and productive manner instead of following your social media whims wherever they happen to take you.

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Is the Customer Always Right?

Potentially one of the most popular business mottos of all time, the idea that the ‘customer is always right’ was popularized by department store retailers like Harry Selfridge and Marshall Field around the turn of the 20^th century. Since then, it has become a philosophy ingrained in our notion of customer service and satisfaction, but does this slogan hold true in any and all circumstances?

On his blog Value Creator Brian Vellmure considers this very question. Often we categorize our interactions with clients as “customer relationships.” Per Vellmure: “As in any relationship, sometimes there is a misalignment of expectations and a lack of compelling value proposition for both sides.”

Vellmure effectively points out that any relationship, even a business one, is not one-sided and it is very rare that any person or company is ALWAYS right. As with any relationship, customer interactions are give-and-take, and companies would do well to realize this. For Vellmure, the old adage is inaccurate, and automatically adhering to it can have detrimental results.

Yes, a company’s first and foremost duty is to listen to and show empathy for their customer’s needs and requests, but this communication should be constructive and productive for both parties involved.

Vellmure puts this idea into context, stressing that companies have a goal to foster positive customer engagement and to emphasize “an endless and tireless pursuit to create value, to delight customers, and to create a community of engaged, happy and enthusiastic customers.”

The simple truth is that not every business will be a fit for every customer. In Vellmure’s opinion, companies shouldn’t bend over backwards to please every customer 100% of the time, but rather cultivate mutually beneficial, profitable relationships that are a great fit for both client and service provider.

Ben Zifkin of Hubba stresses that employees understand their product and its potential in and out, in a different way than customers perceive it. The end goal of any partnership is to effectively communicate the potential benefits partnership may offer in a way that customers understand, agree with and find appealing.

Zifkin offers a multi-level process for achieving this. It starts with companies themselves drilling down to make sure they understand the fundamental problem at hand. After they’ve accurately pinpointed the issue at the root of a customer’s complaint, they move on to identify and design a suitable solution that mitigates or fixes the problem. Once both parties have agreed on the solution, execution commences.

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Color Marketing

What endears a consumer towards a product? What repels them? An article featured in Fast Company explores the science behind how colors are used for the purposes of marketing.

Leo Widrich’s article sets out to investigate if and how the inclusion of certain colors in branding materials (logos, websites, company literature, et cetera) actually affects product or service buying decisions. Widrich utilized research conducted by The Logo Company for his research, saying: “Scientists have been studying the way we react to colors for many years. Certain colors make us feel a certain way about something.”

Based on this basic idea it is possible to break down colors, the corresponding emotional reactions they illicit and resulting consumer behavior. The full infographic is available at KissMetrics, and it highlights just how powerful an influencer color can be.

Thinking of going red? Do so with caution as it creates a sense of urgency and is often associated with extreme discounts. Do you want a color that is easy on the eyes and relaxing? Green should be your choice, as it is the easiest color for eyes to process. Rolling out a high-end luxury product that will look distinguished to even the uninformed eye? Use tons of black, as it is “powerful, sleek and used to market luxury products.”

Kiss goes on to offer a color spectrum of sorts and highlights what type of shopper a color is likely to attract and what type of venue the color performs best in.

Pink, sky blue and rose colors attract traditional buyers, most successfully in clothing stores. Navy blue and teal catch the attention of shoppers on a budget and are often featured lucratively in banks and larger department stores. Finally red, orange, royal blue and black are the traditional colors of the impulse shopper, performing well at fast food restaurants, outlet malls and clearance sales.

Marketers should be advised that although color selection figures prominently into customer choice, it is only one piece of the aesthetic puzzle. Other elements like store layout and overall design factor into purchasing decisions.

One last interesting tidbit offered by Widrich…Hyperlinks are blue because the color “offers the highest contrast between the colors used on early websites.” When the web was invented, there weren’t a lot of colorful options and blue was both the darkest color available and the color that offered the highest contrast against the black text

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Customer Communities

Virtually every company, regardless of the industry in which they operate, aims to be customer-centric. Per Get Satisfaction: “Customer-centric companies have already discovered the wisdom of bringing the voice of their customers to the middle of product discussions, marketing messages and sales strategies.”

While it seems like stating the obvious, the influence of customers on the research and development process should not be underestimated. In addition to manufacturing or producing high-quality, reasonably priced services and solutions, it is critical for companies to offer products that customers actually want to buy.

Creating appealing products and services should go hand-in-hand with distributing messaging that resonates with clients and giving them transparent access to content and support. In this day and age, companies need to be prepared for and expect a ‘social customer’ that is engaged in the process and anticipates immediate and comprehensive access to information.

Get Satisfaction suggests cultivating socially engaged customer relationships by creating branded communities that “bring your customers together for online conversations about your products and services.” Business communities make it easier for customers to connect with you and one another for maximum business value.

The company has produced a great infographic that breaks down the business value of customer communities by function. The chart catalogues how this can be beneficial in terms of support, marketing and soliciting customer and product feedback. The piece highlights a number of company goals and offers potential customer community solutions.

Having a thriving, active, engaged customer community increases company efficiency and reduces customer wait time. Customers can connect with each other to potentially get solutions and advice via this type of peer-to-peer network, in effect shortening the support cycle.

Get Satisfaction expertly highlights real-world company success stories achieved as a result of implementing high-functioning customer communities.

Get tips, tricks and ideas from the piece here, and happy community building!

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The Internet of Things

While it sounds like the name of a really cool band or a mystical land occupied by ‘things,’ the Internet of Things (IoT) is actually a high-level technology concept that refers to real-world objects that have an accompanying virtual presence. Per an article published in ReadWriteWeb, the Internet of Things pertains to any “everyday object that is connected to the web.”

The term was first introduced back in 1999 and was created as a way to identify, inventory and track items that interface with computers. It was envisioned that the technology could transform everyday objects into useful data-collection tools. Theoretically, the Internet of Things could change the way humans interact with machines, in addition to modifying how machines interact with other devices.

The IoT is a macro concept that describes an entity with many shifting components. Per the Internet of Things Council “Any object that carries a tag relates not only to you, but also through being read by a reader nearby, to other objects, relations or values in a database. In this world, you are no longer alone, anywhere.”

This theory has the potential to transform technology, marketing and branding, and the idea carries with it both positives and negatives.

Sarah Perez of ReadWriteWeb explores potential drawbacks in her article How the Internet of Things May be Used Against You. In the piece, she investigates the many ways socially connected objects can document, record and report data that you do not choose (or want) to share.

Perez’s argument highlights the privacy concerns critics of the IoT may have: “The implications of these data-collecting, tattle-tailing objects and their potential use by the government cannot be overlooked.” Privacy advocates are concerned about the amount and type of information devices will collect, and how the data will subsequently be used.

On the flip side, the Internet of Things Council highlights the potential benefits of cataloging and maintaining a global informational memory. The crux of the council’s argument is that the IoT will lead to a global knowledge base that will be accessible to everyone.

By collecting, compiling and maintaining a store of data that monitors a global population, the IoT can lend knowledge and insight to everyone, regardless of their geographical location or socioeconomic status.

Per the article: “What if we can create a layer of data, open to all, through which individuals can decide for themselves what they are willing to pay for, to get direct feedback from their voluntary donations, to coordinate community spending that has a direct bearing to their needs to negotiate with other people in other parts of the world how to use their money?”

What if indeed.

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Twitter’s Security Response

It seems that Twitter has finally heard the concerns of its users and has announced that they are in the process of developing and testing a two-factor authentication system. This comes in the wake of an Associated Press account hack that had some shocking real-world consequences (see Much More than 140 Characters.)

Twitter first began offering verified accounts in 2008, and did so to help high-profile users and businesses confirm the accounts that they had personally created and maintain (as opposed to fake accounts bearing the same name and likeness). Not everyone is qualified for a verified account, and Twitter verifies as few accounts as possible.

While there are no “official” protocols dictating the account verification process, it is typically thought that you need to have a highly recognizable online presence as either a business, organization or individual to be considered for the qualification.

This security measure hasn’t been enough to prevent the type of malicious hacking and tweeting seen in recent weeks, and the questionable tweets were sent out from verified accounts. This is why Twitter is moving to get a two-step authentication protocol in place as soon as possible.

Critics would say that this defensive move to prevent system hacks on some of the site’s most publicized accounts comes too late. Accounts that have previously been compromised include NPR, the BBC, Fox News and CBS news affiliates. It is hard to say whether it’s too late, although Twitter have rolled out other security measures like account verification in an effort to curb the number of high-profile accounts jeopardized.

Maybe it’s because they underestimated the sheer power of their own product. Ten years ago, the tech industry would have been hard-pressed to believe that a startup website that enables user communications in 140 characters or less would be a primary informational source for a critical mass of the population.

Most of the other social networking giants have already put this process in place, including Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft. Per Tech Crunch: “This type of authentication is something that every verified account on Twitter should have had long ago.”

When asked if they had an estimated time of arrival for this feature, Twitter submitted that they “have nothing to announce at this time.” Per Wired, the company plans to release these security measures “incrementally.”

What should users do to prevent hacking in the mean time? TechCrunch says stay vigilant when clicking on unknown links and change your password from time to time.

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Much More than 140 Characters

Yesterday afternoon the internet was jolted by a tweet sent out via one of the Associated Press’s Twitter accounts: “Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured.”

The tweet was only up for a few minutes, but in that time it was retweeted 3,000 times, sending the stock market plunging 143 points. The AP managed to quickly take the account offline and report that the news was untrue, but damage the tweet caused won’t be easily forgotten.

A 140-character sentence that was only displayed for a few minutes managed to cause the world’s financial systems to free fall momentarily.

Social media experts are hard-pressed to offer a suitable solution. Once a tweet has been sent it cannot be edited, modified or corrected. You can immediately send a follow-up tweet correcting the misinformation, but there is no guarantee that it will be seen or shared by the same audience.

As it turned out, the AP’s account was breached and the tweet was the result of a hack. Considering that one Tweet can affect the politics and policies of the entire world, should Twitter have tighter security measures in place?

Per an article in New York Magazine, “there is really only one lesson from this afternoon’s flash-crash: Twitter needs multi-step authentication for verified and/or news-breaking accounts now.”

The AP Twitter debacle is the latest in a very long line of hacks and security breaches that the site has seen since its inception in 2006. Critics have been calling for improved security measures for years, and this incident may be just thing to get Twitter to spring into action.

The internet has offered a large number of suggestions ranging from limiting login attempts allowed for a single IP address to only letting one person access a Twitter account at a given time.

Per an OpEd on CNN Money, other social networking sites employ a strategy called two-factor authentication which “requires both a password and a piece of data, such as numbers sent via text message.”

Whether Twitter will roll out a set of security measures that protect its high-level users from this type of infringement remains to be seen, but the site may have to face very real consequences for security breaches occurring in the mean time.

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