Prepare your own backyard

First of all, check your own web site. How easy is it to search for information about your products? How many clicks away is your customer service or product manuals? When a blogger discovers news or face a problem with your product they often start at your web site to find out more. If you don’t even have a decent search engine how can you help your customer? If your customers can’t find information on your own web site the smallest issue they encounter will quickly escalate.

 Be the customer

If you have decided to approach a blogger who has written a bad post on your product, be honest and credible in your response. Try to see the problem from the customer’s point of view. If there really is a problem with the product, be honest and credible, don’t try to ignore it or insult your customer. This leads back to my previous point, prepare your own backyard. If you discover a problem with a product, is your web site prepared so that you can release information (which can easily be found) to help customers to solve the issue. Take a look at Apple – everywhere you turn on the web site you will find lots of tutorial videos on how to accomplish different things with their products. This is an excellent solution and shows how important it is to provide good educational information.

Solve the problem, don’t advertise

When you approach a bad comment, solve the problem. Don’t ever try to advertise for a new product or service. Focus on the issue and solve it, that’s what your customer really wants. They don’t want to buy a new product from you at this stage, they want your honesty, respect and solution.

Don’t stick your head in the sand

If you get a lot of bad comments on a product, take a closer look at your product. Is it really ready for the market, or is it flawed? Have you created a misunderstanding about any functions which you can correct with updated manuals? Solve the issues, don’t stick your head in the sand.

Related posts:

1. You think you know, but you (should) have no idea
2. The Best Product in the World
3. What’s Wrong With This Picture? (SEO And Google Images)

Yesterday I received a note from Max Hägglöf, manager of the organization that distributes Kvällsposten through youths, telling me that he was glad that she took good care of her customers and asked for more information in order to give her that bonus. Naturally I ran a check on him online to establish that he truly was the manager, and then gave her first name and  the city (always tread careful when minors are involved, especially online). Today I got a new message from Max who had been in contact with the local management sales team. They told us that she will get that bonus (I know what it is but I won’t spoil the surprise for her) and a huge amount of appraisal.

There are several good things to learn from this story:

1. Never be afraid of trying your ideas.

2. Interacting with your customers and engaging in a dialog is very good.

3. Personalizing your communication is also very good.

4. Kvällsposten did an excellent work of tracking down the mention of their brand name fast and distributing the task to the correct person. Check your brand online – it may be very good for you.

5. Kvällsposten acted splendidly and decided – correctly – to reward her for a splendid initiative.

6. Never ever underestimate anyone based on age or gender. This 13-year old girl ripped many senior managers to pieces when it comes to understanding person-to-person relationship and customer-centric thinking.

Well done Kvällsposten-salesgirl and well done Kvällsposten!

 
The previous post: I salute you Kvällsposten-salesgirl!

Related posts:

1. I salute you Kvällsposten-salesgirl!
2. Dealing with bad comments
3. Keys to a successful web site project

For updates and more information on the service, follow Collected on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/collectedat

Related posts:

1. Sweet Sunday, Sweet Web
2. Dealing with bad comments
3. Behind The Scenes With Designfavoriter.se

This morning, though, we got a small piece of paper in the mailbox instead. It was a note from our ”Kvällsposten”-salesgirl. She informed everyone of her customers that she was going to take a short break to go on football training camp and school holiday. It was signed with her name and marked with the dates when she will be back.

So incredibly clever! This little girl managed to do what $100-million dollar ad-campaigns can’t do. She accomplished what most major brands hasn’t understood yet – and she would make Seth Godin blush with pride In an instance she created a communication platform with everyone of her customers. She got it all right – she made it personal, she shared information about her self and connected to the product she sold. Every brand that aspires to use social media should learn from this girl!

From now on I will buy ”Kvällsposten” ever week from this girl – not that I care especially much for Kvällsposten (and I already have a morning paper), but because she did a very clever move and deserves the payoff. If the initiative was her own, her parents or even centrally inspired from Kvällsposten itself doesn’t matter, she delivered it so well.

Kvällsposten – if you read this post – which you should if you do your homework and track your brand (since ”Kvällsposten” will show up in both blog and microblog searches), give this girl a huge bonus! She has managed to create an added value to your brand what would be very hard for yourself to create.

Related posts:

1. Kvällsposten-salesgirl, part II
2. The End of (Marketing) History
3. Will your kids pay for online content?

In 1999 Seth Godin released the book ”Permission Marketing” and in the same time coined the same phrase. Godin argued that this was the end of marketing as we knew it (i.e. in-your-face-advertising without you asking for it). Godin visioned a future marketing with customers taking the initiative and the relationship between buyer and seller was based on a permission from the customer to allow the seller to invoke (and uphold) a dialouge. Compare this to how TV ads work with throwing messages in your face and you realize that this was a shift in the view of how marketing should be done.

This is 2009, ten years later. Fukyama was proven wrong rather immidiately, 1989 wasn’t the end of history. Seth Godin, on the other hand, got it more right. There has been a shift in how marketing should be done, although it took some time and we had to get past Web 2.0 before we could arrive there. Not only is it a shift, it is a MAJOR shift. However, let’s step back a couple of decades to 1962. Thomas Kuhn released the book ”The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”. With this book he coined the phrase ”paradigm shift”. He described a paradigm as ”[..] what members of a scientific community, and they alone, share”. He presented a theory on how the shift in paradigms occurred through complex social processes. This puts us back in 2009. What we see in the online marketing sphere now is a paradigm shift – a fundamental replacement of how the ideas of how marketing should be done online.

A new phrase has been introduced by some: ”The End of the Destination Web”. What this means is that it doesn’t work anymore to simply release a website/microsite and get a massive customer base. A web sites cannot be an island any more – you must think larger and in terms of communication. To paraphrase and old movie: ”If you build it, they will not come”.

This is backed up by stats: in March 2009 the average american visited only 111 domains and 2.500 web pages according to Nielsen Online. The attention rate on this pages is also fragmented: the average time spent per page is only 56 seconds. Portals and search engines dominates with getting 12 of the 75 hours spent online in March. ”Social media”-sites like Wikipedia, Facebook and YouTube aren’t far behind, getting nearly 4.5 hours of the monthly attention. Combine this with studies showing that we are more likely to take action when reading online articles including brand information (51%) compared to search engine advertising (39%) and banner ads (25%).

What does all this mean? It means that when you design, implement and communicate your web site, think bigger. Your web site is not your brand, your brand is what people are saying about you. And this discussion will not take place on your web site, it will take place on arenas not in your control. To increase sales, to build your brand and to be successful in online marketing you need to be aware of this. The age of getting big sales using banners is gone, it is time to ride the next wave. This time, however, the wave is structurally and fundamentally different compared to everything that has happened since the release of ”Permission Marketing”.

What should you do to prepare your brand and company for the new marketing shift? You need to do two things:
1. Be educated. Read blogs, collect information, visit seminars. Don’t let your competitors run you owner.
2. Take a look at your agency. Do they still provide you with ”dumb” Flash-sites, gif banners and one-way communication strategies. You deserve and need better.

And if you are a CEO/Board Member, you may want to check this out.

I’ll leave you off with one last quote, this time from R.E.M.:

It’s the end of the world as we know it – and I feel fine.

Related posts:

1. Will your kids pay for online content?
2. I salute you Kvällsposten-salesgirl!
3. Social media – hur gör jag?

I ett första steg har jag skapat en publik Netvibes-sida som listar sökningar på ordet ”lovify” i bloggar och mikrobloggar. Du hittar sidan här: http://www.netvibes.com/lovify#lovify_-_social_searches. Projektet är bara ett par dagar gammalt så förvänta dig inget överflöd av träffar än Jag hade gärna delat ut statistik från Google Analytics också, men av säkerhetsskäl vill jag inte dela ut den publikt. Om du är intresserad av att få se statistiken, maila mig gärna så kan jag ge dig besöksaccess i Google Analytics.

En av poängerna med den här bloggen är att peka ut riktningar till intressanta och bra saker på webben. Johan Ronnestam är ett perfekt exempel på det. Besök hans blogg eller följ honom på Twitter: http://twitter.com/ronnestam.

Related posts:

1. Vad sägs om din produkt i social media? 8 verktyg som hjälper dig.
2. lovify.com lanserat – ett experiment med social media
3. Hur bra koll har du på vad som konverterar bäst?

Jag kommer att posta mina lärdomar från det projektet här så om ni vill få inside scoop på vad som kan hända i ett experimentellt projekt så håll utkik

Sluta läsa här nu och gå till siten istället: http://www.lovify.com!

Related posts:

1. Vad sägs om din produkt i social media? 8 verktyg som hjälper dig.
2. Social media – hur gör jag?
3. Bygg ditt team för social media

”Twitter används bara av gamlingar”

Poängen är viktig. Social media likställs ofta med att det räcker med att sätta upp en Facebooksida och starta en Twitterkanal, sen är man hemma. Nej, så är det inte. Är inte din kund där du är så är all din tid och energi du lägger ner mer eller mindre meningslös. Är din målgrupp exempelvis personer under 16 år kanske du bör fundera på om Twitter är rätt kanal eller om du istället ska titta på andra kanaler. Det gäller förstås alla åldersgrupper och kundsegment – ska du få någon effekt måste du vara där dina kunder är.

Related posts:

1. Why Twitter sucks (as a sales channel)
2. Håll koll på vad som sägs om dig – del 2
3. Social media – hur gör jag?

Här är åtta olika gratisverktyg du kan använda för att följa vad som sägs om din produkt, brand – eller varför inte – om just dig. I stort sett alla tjänster har någon form av alerttjänst som skickar ett mail till dig med jämna intervall så att du själv slipper hålla koll. Använd dem – de sparar dig mycket tid och ger dig en mycket bättre överblick och svarstid.

Kolla vad som sägs om din produkt eller brand redan idag.

Related posts:

1. Håll koll på vad som sägs om dig – del 2
2. Social media – hur gör jag?
3. lovify.com lanserat – ett experiment med social media

1. Håll tyst!
Det allra första du ska göra är faktiskt det rakt motsatta mot vad du tror – du ska sluta prata och börja lyssna. De flesta vill börja med att berätta för sina kunder vad de ska tycka och tänka, men det är faktiskt mycket bättre att börja tvärtom. Lyssna på din kundgrupp, lär dig hur dialogen fungerar och vilka spelreglerna är (för det är faktiskt inte du som sätter dem utan dina kunder)

2. Skaffa kompisar
Social media handlar inte om att stå i ett gathörn och skrika ”kom och köp!” Det handlar om att starta ett samtal och prata med dina kunder. Inte bara föra en monolog – utan en dialog.

3. Följ John
Dina kunder är på många olika platser – var där du också. Om du bygger upp ett Twitter-konto, följ några personer och lägg märke till hur de pratar med varandra (lyssna på dem ett tag innan du börjar prata). När du lyssnar och deltar i dialogen kommer du få tips om inlägg, siter, platser inom ditt område där du kan fortsätta.

4. Vet din plats
Om du deltar i community-diskussioner, försök inte rätta fakta, slå tillbaka på elaka kommentarer etc. Risken är stor att det slår tillbaka på dig, kom ihåg att du är på konsumentens mark.

5. Låt det ta tid
Kom ihåg att social media är ett 24/7-jobb. Det krävs mycket tid om det ska bli lyckat.

Social media är i all sin enkelhet ett samtal mellan människor – och i allra bästa Seth Godin-anda handlar social media om att sluta föra en monolog och istället starta en dialog med dina kunder.

Related posts:

1. lovify.com lanserat – ett experiment med social media
2. Vad sägs om din produkt i social media? 8 verktyg som hjälper dig.
3. Twitter används bara av gamlingar – är du verkligen där dina kunder är?