Apologies for taking so long to update this blog.  We have been incredibly busy working on the new site which should be ready in 3 more weeks.  With the release of the new site we will also be launching are first application that is open to the public.  When that time comes we will want to get all of yours opinions on it.  It is going to be free for everyone to use and you will be able to add it as a plugin to wordpress / many other types of sites.  So look out for that and keep the discussions going on old blog posts / in the forum.

Speak soon!

Tom

I’ll use this opportunity to talk about what customer experience means and why I’m extremely pleased with Oberon Socks, which I will refer to from here on as “OS”. As with all things, the sum total of customer (user) experience is all the little experiences. The brand name, design, logo, on-hold phone music, usability, trust, copywriting, easy of contact, expectations, follow-ups, and any user experience with a company or product will either build or destroy goodwill; the difference between landing front page on The Consumerist or making customers brand loyal.

After ordering 2x of blue and black argyle socks, I was disappointed that after only two washes (following OS instructions) the black argyles had developed holes. At the OS website, I easily found the return policy in the FAQ. To my surprise OS return policy is simple, if dissatisfied with the socks for any reason at any time, send them an email about why you’re unhappy with the purchase and they will issue a refund, and that’s it.

I sent OS an email stating why I wanted a refund, also that I prefer to have replacements sent instead of reimbursement, as I really do like OS products. One day later, I received an email that began with

“I’m so sorry to hear our socks haven’t held up well! I can definitely send you two more pairs. Just to be sure – you would like two more pairs instead of a refund, is that correct? We can either send replacements or refund your order. I will also send you an extra pair of blue socks by way of apology.”

After answering a question I asked, the email ends with

“Please let us know if you have any problems with the blue socks or the replacement gray socks.”

The email ends by reconfirming the address I would like the replacements sent to and a thank you. After responding, I promptly received a follow-up informing me my order will go out tomorrow morning.

Attention to detail and promptness of response from Chris Clark, shows OS cares when expectations are broken and trust is at risk. Caring about customer experience begins with simply being prompt and civil; be more conscious to consider the damage a snotty reply or no response has on customers, and the goodwill built by just being polite. Thanks for listening.

So now you may have a good understanding of the state of the internet and the terms used to talk about related services, but what are the most common sites and tools to target? The following list should give you a great start, although it is certainly far from the definitive compilation!

Social Networks

Social Networks may be what comes to mind first when someone hears the phrase 'Social Media.' Two prominent examples are Facebook and MySpace. In very general terms social networks are online 'places' where people describe themselves (profiles), befriend other users, and maintain an online presence. There are various levels of Social Network users. The uses include: a cure for boredom, a determined effort to keep up to date with what all your friends are up to (think 'status updates'), or even a more professional presence aimed more toward creating new business opportunities.

Blogs

The web log. A way to offer your opinions to anyone interested in reading them. Blogs are a great social medium for two reasons. First they provide the opportunity to express opinions that are not company news or press releases. These blog posts show the human side behind a company and lay the foundation for establishing organic conversations (rather than 'customer support discussions').

Second, logically continuing from the first point, blogs can provide a comment section where visitors can reply with their own (often shortened) thoughts about what was discussed in the blog post. This, as we have previously discussed, is a fantastic customer engagement tool.

Twitter

The king of micro-blogging. Twitter does away with the need to write long blog posts and instead restricts users to 140 character 'tweets'. Think of it as an individuals stream of conscience. Instead of a long blog, a user posts their thoughts and ideas as they come. Every user has a list of other users that they are following and who are following them. Twitter can provide a great complimentary platform for customer engagement (again, NOT marketing) or to send out feelers on a given topic. Ask your followers to reply with their thoughts or vote on a given debate.

Digg

Digg is a social news site where users determine what stories reach the front page by voting for the articles they enjoy. Stories are presented on digg as a Headline and brief introduction. These serve as links to the website which hosts the full story. Getting on the front page of Digg is a Holy Grail for many sites with the achievement bringing thousands of unique visitors to a site within the space of a few hours. The phenomena, known as the “Digg Effect”, has caused sites to crash under the weight of overwhelming traffic generated by a popular article.

That being said, getting on the front page is far from a simple process. It requires a combination of timing, a large network to spread the article, and an inherent quality in the submitted link... though given some of the content appearing on the front page, one may think twice. Sadly, it seems these days that a 'large network' is much more important than exceptional content (although the latter obviously helps).

Wiki

Not too long ago, the Wiki framework led the way in online collaborative environments. To some extent this is still the case. The ease with which several individuals can asynchronously construct a knowledge base is the driving force behind the appeal of the Wiki concept (think Wikipedia). The reason that we mention this framework is because very often it turns out that the users of a particular product or service can do a considerably better job of putting together a collection of instructions, advice, tips, and support than the original creators or providers! It is also worth noting that Wiki-pages tend to rank highly in search engine results.

Forums

Forums are an interesting medium to mention. Some years back, forums pretty much acted as rudimentary social networks (that is, social networks as we know them today). Users would gather for specific topics, share their opinions, hold lively discussions, and build solid relationships - and very often friendships - right in the forums. The popularity of forums is steadily decreasing (although some would readily debate this statement). Forums are now more suited for very specific topics that people can gather (online) around, and less for more general discussion and collaboration tools.

This, however, does not mean that forums cannot be useful as Social Media when building an online customer engagement campaign. Very often forums provide a much better opinion sharing platforms than blog articles and their comment areas. Just keep in mind that a forum should only be provided when you are getting a substantial number of visitors to your site. Providing a forum right from the start can put you at a disadvantage because the forum is likely to remain empty for a long time with a limited number of visitors.

Email

We'll finish off with a medium that may seem too 'old school.' We mention email here not for its outstanding potential as a social media tool (although there certainly are merits), but more as a cautionary note. Although mailing lists can do the job well when it comes to updates and introductions, platforms for a more personalized customer engagement experience are clearly preferred. If you are going to email - avoid sending frequent 'marketese' emails to your mailing lists and focus more on refining the personalization of email conversations with individual customers.

Thanks for reading, to some readers the previous two articles may have been too simple, but we felt it necessary to at least provide a starting point for readers who may not be as familiar with the field. Make sure to check back here next week when we will get back into more specific topics.

Then and Now

Many sites have covered histories of the web in various degrees of detail and scale, so we won't tread water. As a substitute for delineated chronicles of the internets, the obligatory history blurb will provide a reference for the context.

Currently taken as commonplace aspects and features—content sharing, social networking, instant messaging, collaboration, and a host of user-generated content, wasn’t originally on the radar of the majority of internet users. Computers served a different purpose, one that lacked a social nature. Then the internet wasn’t dominated by facebook and twitter; at the most basic form the internet’s function was to publish information for others to find, or find information published by others. The boundaries were clear and well defined.

Now with millions of bloggers, dynamically customizable websites, tools to create personal social networks and mashups, the internets spectrum of uses (and users) has shifted in a rather short time span.

Three-Letter Services

Perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, in the same manner that 'Three-Letter Agencies' (NSA, CIA, FBI) are household names, what we will hence forth refer to as 'Three-Letter Online Services' also appear to have become just as trite. Being aware of the lexicon translates at some level to being familiar with some most often used abbreviations. This allows for a foundation in understanding when talking about offering professional and personal online service.

SMM - Social Media Monitoring / Social Media Marketing

"Our bread and butter.” Social Media, in the literal sense, refers to any medium, physical or virtual that promotes social interaction. Colloquially, Social Media refers to rather specific sets of tools and sites as social networks, blogs, and Twitter just to name a few (we’ll cover these in more detail with upcoming articles).

More often than not Social Media Monitoring and Social Media Marketing occur simultaneously although interdependently.

Social Media Monitoring is best described as the strategies that track and analyze social media in order to better understand what is being said about you and your company (where and how often it’s being said, who is saying it, and the overall impression).

This information is used to develop the Social Media Marketing strategies that either promote and or respond to a situation (good or bad) discovered through the Monitoring process. In general, these actions aim to expand your brand awareness and online reputation.

For best results, Social Media Monitoring must remain a continuous action that consistently feeds into the Social Media Marketing Campaign. The ideal marketing campaign is one that is agile, quickly adapting to the changing environment. With this methodology, the overall effect is a holistic approach to developing your online presence through organic management and steady growth of followers and customers.

ORM - Online Reputation Management

When establishing and working on an online presence you are essentially working on how others will see you. This is your reputation. ORM is implied in just about every other online service that we discuss. Beyond that, however, ORM also carries more specific meaning: reactive and proactive changes in online content and strategies meant to clarify concerns, promote your 'good sides', and correct the 'bad stuff'. We have covered this in some depth in Responding to Negative Comments and Engage, Don't Market.

SEO - Search Engine Optimization

The big one. SEO is what you will most likely hear when talking about online services. SEO refers to shaping your online presence in a way that makes you easier to find when searching for specific terms in a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. Interestingly, for the purposes of Social Media, SEO is an indirect concern. The reason we mention SEO here is that a certain amount of SEO work is implicit to building an online presence, without it, further efforts are undermined substantially.

PPC - Pay Per Click

Used in the context of advertising campaigns, PPC is paying for the right to have your ad featured on another page. The page could be a page of search engine results, a relatively random site that provides advertising space, or a social media site that provides advertising space. PPC advertising campaigns can be an effective method of driving traffic to your site, but the latter case is where PPC becomes particularly interesting and relevant for this article. By giving users the opportunity to discover your site, company, or product when placing an ad on a social media site or tool, you automatically open the possibility of those same users going on to share what they have found. The "double whammy."

SEM - Search Engine Marketing

SEM is one of those terms that seems to carry a definition unique to every professional in the field. While some regard it as another word for search engine advertising campaigns others understand SEM to be an umbrella term encompassing SEO, PPC, and related areas or services. We subscribe to this second approach, but keep in mind that what some companies may imply when offering SEM services will differ from what other companies may have in mind with the same term. When dealing with Social Media and online services, always be sure about what exact strategies are being used and employed.

Now you have a general starting point for getting acquainted with Social Media and the services offered. Do keep in mind that while we have tried to provide manageable and clearly defined explanations, you will often find that most of these are heavily blended into an overall 'online presence strategy'.

Check back next week for the second part of the Social Media Crash Course where we discuss examples of Social Media in much more detail. If you find what you’ve read interesting at even some level, subscribe to the SocialTrending Blog, its all about RSS!

*Obligatory Warning:

Comments in blogs, forums, or news sites that blatantly just pimp a website with out adding value get blocked or removed, make you look like a tool, and guarantee that your message will not get out, your link will not be built and your reputation will diminish.

Proper commenting presents genuine, factually correct views or resources, which add value, and establish you as a non-douche expert on the subject.

Follow-up Social Trending with Google Alerts, and establish a reputation as well as build quality links through Google Alerts.

With understanding of where customers are discussing the industry, products, and you on the web, building links and reputation can begin.  Read articles (blogs, forum posts and other) related to the subjects you wish to discuss and then share your knowledge, simple as that.  Responding, correctly, to questions, ideas, and articles (not to directly promote your company) reflects as a subject matter expert, gentlemen & scholar, and also uses key words in anchor text to link to your site.

Wait, what’s the catch? I wouldn’t really call it a catch, you just need to format how you respond a certain way.

Most articles require some amount of personal info to leave a comment.

The three most common bits of information they ask for are:

1. Name
2. Email (which they swear they won't share!)
   
3. Website address
   

Now for how use this to your advantage:

For the Name, input the words on your site that you would like to optimize. Our friends at the tea shop rotate a couple of different phrases they are optimizing including “Online Tea Shop” and “Buy Tea Online”.

For the email address, you should use your website's generic email address so that customers can contact you if they have any questions about the information that you mention in your comment.

For Website, you can do one of two things. You can include your main web address, which helps optimize those words to your home page, or, you can use the page that would best fit the phrase you input as your name. When our friends at the tea shop use the phrase Online Tea Shop, the link they use is the direct link for their online tea shop.

Go forth and link build but DO NOT spam using this method. If you are going to make a comment, make a real comment that adds value, a new perspective or something that was left out of the article. More and more blogs and news sites are moderating comments so if you have no value to add, your link will not be created.

Stay tuned for next time when we will discuss ranking links value i.e. link popularity.  We hope to get into the swing of posting more regularly but we are working on a lot of projects at the moment and it has eaten into our free time.