We cater to you…but today we didn’t…and we’re truly sorry

Earlier today, many of our valued corporate customers requested catering orders, some of which were for external meetings with various vendors, all scheduled to be delivered before Noon. Regretfully the orders were not processed in our computer system due to a technical issue which was not discovered until after the lunch hour. This resulted in many corporate customers not receiving their catering orders and thus, not able to provide lunch to their meeting attendees. We are deeply sorry for this error in our system and the resulting loss of customer orders.

Corporate Suits Catering has been serving the downtown Toronto corporate businesses for 10 years. Although we are a relatively new company in terms of the many caterers on the block, we have established our reputation on delivering the finest in gourmet food choices, compatible prices and on-time delivery. Today we failed many of our valued customers and for this we are truly sorry.

We have received all your feedback and are addressing each of your questions and concerns with the utmost attention. We resolve to ensure this technical error will not happen again. Our technical specialists have identified the computer system failure and have fixed the cause of the issue. We have been assured that this issue will not reoccur.

We know the value our daily blogs have been to our customers and even though we don't usually post blogs about minor catering misses, we wanted to be very transparent in this particular situation, as many of our customers were impacted.

Again, we apologize for the gross inconvenience we have caused and do hope that you will allow us to serve you again in the future. As our company tagline states, “We Cater to You”!  It is our mission to provide you with valuable service for many years to come.  Each affected customer will receive a catering voucher for double the value of their original catering order.

Cate Wilson, CEO, Corporate Suits Catering

Corporate Suits Catering

 

 

The Police Academy presents to you: Dumb and Dumber

The Location:  Barcelona, Spain

The Peeps:  Two policemen fooling around while driving, enjoying a funny, private moment

The One who outed them:  The wife of one of them! 
(you guessed it, they were going through an acrimonious divorce process)

The Tool: The wife found the video on her husband’s computer and decided to upload it to You Tube in October 2012.

The Results:  The traditional media outlets online and on television amplified it even more. The video went viral, with parodies, and the police bureau had to deal with the situation.

Although the video online was removed from the user, we can just use the wonderful world of our own imaginations to guess what was said or acted out in the video that went viral to over 30,000 people within hours of posting.

What did the Police Department do in response to the leaked video?
In a press conference held on October 3, 2012, the local government announced that the two officers had their salaries suspended and that a disciplinary investigation would be carried out. It was also added that they regretted “the bad effect it has on the Police image”.

How would I have managed this crisis had I been in charge of the police department's social web team?

1. Video response on the Police Bureau's website

The fact that the local government had a press conference shows how far reaching this crisis went. As the crisis began with a video, I would have engaged the head of the public relations department of the police bureau to post a video of apology with a message of the police bureau's commitment to public safety and professionalism. The message would provide a strong message to the public to repair the image of the police force and affirm the positive reputation of not only a 'few good men' but thousands of men and woman police officers who take their call of duty with the utmost of dedication and commitment.

   2. Monitor the Police Bureau's blog

As most people feel the need to express their thoughts, concerns and opinion, I would ensure the police bureau's public relations team (specifically the social media team) to monitor and measure online chatter regarding the crisis and to respond immediately. This will show the public that the police bureau is actively engaged in re-building the image of the police force, as well as letting the public know they value their input.

3. Avoid humour and negativity at all costs!

Whether the response to the public is through video, blogging, Twitter or media interviews, it is vital that the key messages are professional, do not contain a trace of humour (in this instance, due to the fact that humour was the cause of the crisis) and avoid retaliating to negative public response. The public needs to be assured that the police bureau is treating this situation with all seriousness and it not resorting to humour to cover an unfortunate situation.

Measurement and Analytics for a Social Web Program

So you've got your social media strategy underway, chosen your social media platforms, but how do you measure the success of your social web program? Well, thank goodness for Google!  :)

The following are three free measurement tools that effectivley measure social web programs:

1.  TwentyFeet - One forever free account for twitter and facebook

TwentyFeet aggregates your activity from various social media platforms so you can get the full picture of your online presence. Then, you can determine which of your activities are most valuable.

    TOP 3 REASONS TO USE TwentyFeet:

    1. Analysis of the development of all tracked variables

Tracks 8 different variables for twitter, 4 variables for facebook (profiles, pages, groups, and apps), 5 variables for bit.ly, 11 variables for YouTube, 17 variables for Google Analytics and 12 variables for MySpace. (FYI: Many more will be added

    2. Historical charts of your performance

Analyzes your performance over time and offers comprehensive charts with all relevant variables of your performance.

    3. Activity stream of all relevant changes via email and RSS

With scientificly valid analysis, find out what's relevant for you. You can see it in the application, get a daily email, or subscribe to your personal RSS feed.

2. Brand Monitor

Track your brand across numerous social media sites. Find where conversations relevant to your business are taking place so that you can start becoming an active social media participant. Learn trending keywords and measure conversation engagement to help bring more valuable brand content to social media platforms.

    TOP 3 REASONS TO USE Brand Monitor:

    1. Listen to Social Conversations in Real-time

Listen to social media conversations in real-time from various social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, News, Forums, Reviews and Video websites.
 
    2. Discover Actionable Insights

Ignore the noise, discover actionable conversations and insights about your brand.

    3. Engage With Fans, Customers and Prospects

Engage with social media conversations without leaving the tool using integrated Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and CRM tools.

 3.   Topsy

This is a real-time social search engine. Sort through the latest social activity related to your industry, brand, or community and apply that knowledge to future business decisions.

    TOP 3 REASONS TO USE Topsy:

   1. Measure and Analyze

With the only index of the public social web at your fingertips, instantly analyze any topic, term, hashtag or @-name in realtime or across years of conversations.

   2. Discover and Learn

Identify key thoughts, opinions, content and people, historically or in realtime. Dynamically reveal related ideas and unexpected insights.

   3. Compare and Decide

Use precise metrics to model current trends against competitors or past events. Design and optimize actions, or predict future outcomes.

The following is a paid analytical tool that effectivley measures social web programs:

Campalyst

    TOP 3 REASONS TO USE Campalyst:

    1. Publish and schedule messages to multiple accounts

You can publish and schedule messages to all your social media accounts from a single dashboard. This will save you lots of time!

  2. Handle brand mentions with ease from a single inbox

Facebook wall posts, comments and direct messages, as well Twitter mentions and DMs will all be delivered to your inbox, so you never miss an opportunity to engage with a prospective customer.

   3. Increase sales using powerful ROI analytics

Get a comprehensive insight into what sells in social media. Attribute sales on your website down to each tweet or status update, on mobile or desktop, last-click conversion or indirect.

In summary, there is a lot of overlap in the services that various social media monitoring tools provide, so it is most important to find the tool that aligns with your business needs and personal preferences.



Key information on social media metrics (Wikipedia)

ROI

ROI, or return on investment, is a measurement of efficiency. Social media ROI is defined as a measure of the efficiency of a social media marketing campaign. It is calculated using the following formula:



The difficulty emerges however in attempting to determine the value of "SM return", as indeed it is for any intangible asset.

 

ER

ER, or engagement rate, measures how well your fans/followers interact with your social media content. The Facebook Post ER formula takes into account Likes, Comments and Shares of the post to the total number of fans at the time it has been posted. The formula looks like this:



In addition, there is a variation that applies to Twitter called the Tweet Engagement Rate takes into account the Replies and Retweets of the Tweet to the total number of Followers to date. Here is the formula:

Content Strategy

Beneath the Surface

The image below is a quick snapshot of what content strategy is comprised of. It’s a simple and easy-to-grasp visual which helps content strategists stay on target with their message to their selected audience.

 IBM's "Customer Facing Solutions" info graphic

IBM’s graphic below is an effective summary of the elements of a content strategy.

The easiest way to describe content strategy is:

Content strategy plans for the creation, delivery, and governance of useful, usable content.

It's inherently impossible to design a great user experience for bad content. If you're passionate about creating better user experiences, you can't help but care about delivering useful, usable, engaging content.  (Content Strategy and UX: A Modern Love Story, by Kristina Halvorson)

Honey Comb

“No matter how brilliant your designs, if the content is bad, the honeycomb crumbles.” (The User

 Experience Honeycomb - Peter Morville, 2004)

 

Image 1:  Square Card Reader

The image below is an effective use of content strategy because it includes text, photo, video, personal interaction and links to additional information.  I saw a Square card reader for the first time in November 2011 and thought it was a pretty cool invention. Because I saw it one year ago, when I recently viewed the image below, I knew immediately what it was and how it worked. For someone who has never seen nor heard of a Square card reader, upon seeing this image, I think it would pique their interest because of the finger signature, something that is somewhat new and intriguing. The video feature is a good UE (user experience) because the reader doesn’t have to click on an “About” link, rather they can see an option on the main screen to click to view a video demonstration immediately. It’s important to grab the reader’s attention and make their query very quick and convenient.

“The Square website (left) explains its service with visuals. What could be a confusing written description is handled deftly by text, images, and video…. we often use the term visual content strategy to emphasize that those visual content assets need strategy, too.”

“Visual Content Strategy, What It Is + Why You Need It”  posted by Lisa Clark

 

 Image 2:  The Bowery Mission facebook page

The facebook page for The Bowery Mission using the new facebook Timeline, provides an eye catching display of what the organization is about. The organization’s logo is prominently displayed which tells the viewer what the vision is. The four boxes below the main picture display clear direction of what users can learn within seconds of a click. This page covers three key aspects of content strategy: the information is findable, usable and valuable.

 

The Pinning feature within facebook allows you to give any Page story more attention by moving any page story to the top of your facebook Page. When you pin something on your page, it remains at the top of your timeline for seven days, or until you unpin it, so it’s a good idea to think about what you want to feature at the top of your page each week (shown below).

 

Image 3:  Just a ‘busy’ image (to me)

A Failure to Collate

In my research, I found this image connected to a brief story regarding the aftermath of the failed plot to blow up a Northwest airlines jet bound for Detroit. The finger-pointing over what U.S. President Obama called a “systemic failure” centered on an inability to connect the dots.

I think the image was used to show how complex the investigation was, however, when I first saw the image, it didn’t entice me to read the story. I find the image too ‘busy' because it doesn’t tell a story. To me, the image represents a weaker example of content strategy as it’s not usable, useful or desirable.  I have no idea what it relates to, and frankly if I don’t have the time, I’m probably not going to stop and find out what this image is about because I feel it’s going to take a few seconds longer than I’d like it to (you can tell my short attention span has kicked in).

(A Failure to Collate, Michael Barnwell, January 7, 2010)

I found the following top 10 reasons that content strategy fails, which is a good check list for a content strategist in planning and maintaining their, well, content strategy.

"The Content Marketing Blog, 10 Reasons Your Content Strategy is Failing" by Matt Evans

1)      Nobody knows about it

2)     The wrong people know about it

3)      Textbroker is your best friend

4)      Spelling and Grammar!!

5)      Your infographics are made in paint

6)      There are no images

7)      You’re completely off topic

8)      You’re making too much content

9)      You’re not making enough content

10)   You’re reading too much

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet

The fact that Twitter is a real-time information network that connects users to the latest stories, ideas, opinions, and news and which can be accessed through a variety of methods, including Twitter’s website, text messaging, instant messaging, and third-party desktop, mobile, and web applications, stands to reason that it is a benefit to any company, especially to public relations professionals aiming to engage with its publics through this tool.

Why Advertise on Twitter?

Twitter ads are best for a few common marketing objectives, including:

• Promotions: Recommended for time sensitive events
• Brand awareness: Allow advertisers exposure to potentially new audience
• Followers: Pay-per-follow to grow the follower base and leverage this audience for future     promotions and dialogue.

Twitter has grown to over 500 million users and is expected to see ad revenues grow as well. Making most of its money from advertising, Twitter is expected to post ad revenues of $259.9 million this year, according to researcher eMarketer.

The introduction of Twitter’s monetization model which are “promoted tweets”, “promoted accounts” and “promoted trends” has increased the way in which companies can engage their followers. Since the introduction of these tools from 2010 onward, users have been engaged with Promoted Products on Twitter at rates that far exceed typical forms of online advertising.  Promoted Tweets has helped even more people discover interesting accounts, people and information they may otherwise have missed.

Twitter now provides advertisers with higher engagement levels than Facebook.

Promoted Tweets

Promoted Tweets allow brands to spread their message in ways that engage users and drive conversations about their products. Promoted Tweets are offered on a Cost-per-Engagement (CPE) basis, so you only pay when someone clicks, retweets, replies to, or favorites your Promoted Tweet. In addition, impressions on retweets are free and can amplify the reach and cost-effectiveness of your campaign many times over.

More info on Promoted Tweets

• Promoted Tweets are ordinary Tweets purchased by advertisers who want to reach a wider group of users or to spark engagement from their existing followers.
• Promoted Tweets are clearly labeled as Promoted when an advertiser is paying for their placement on Twitter. In every other respect, Promoted Tweets act just like regular Tweets and can be retweeted, replied to, favorited and more.
• Promoted Tweets in search – Reach users who are searching for your brand or related topics. Your Tweet appears fixed at the top of the search results based on winning the auction for the search terms.

Promoted Tweets in timelines – Reach users who are likely to be interested in your message, at scale - including followers who might have missed your organic Tweets and/or users who share similar interests with your followers. Your Tweet appears at or near the top of the user’s timeline and scrolls down in the timeline like any other Tweet.

Geo-targeting – Reach users in the locations that are most relevant to your message. Promoted Tweets can be targeted to specific countries or to specific metro areas within the U.S.

On average, marketers have seen a 3-5% engagement rate for Promoted Tweets in search (an order of magnitude above most forms of digital advertising) and engagement has remained strong.

Cost: Promoted tweets use cost-per-click pricing and Twitter recommends $.50 to at least max of $1.50.

Promoted Accounts

Promoted Accounts are part of Who to Follow, which suggests accounts that people don’t currently follow and may find interesting. Promoted Accounts help introduce an even wider variety of accounts people may enjoy.

How do Promoted Accounts work?

Promoted Accounts are suggested based on a user’s public list of whom they follow. When an advertiser promotes an account, Twitter’s algorithm looks at that account’s followers and determines other accounts that those users tend to follow. If a user follows some of those accounts, but not the advertiser’s account, then Twitter may recommend the advertiser’s Promoted Account to that user. For example, a lot of people who follow several education-related accounts also follow @teachforamerica. If someone follows education-related accounts, but not @teachforamerica, Twitter may recommend @teachforamerica to that user.

Cost: Promoted Account ads are priced on a cost-per-follower basis with advertisers only paying for new followers gained. The recommended bid to start is $.50 to at least max of $2.50.

Promoted Trends

Promoted Trends began as an extension of the Promoted Tweets platform, and are now a full-fledged product in their own right. With Promoted Trends, users see time-, context-, and event-sensitive trends promoted by Twitter’s advertising partners. These paid Promoted Trends appear at the top of the Trending Topics list on Twitter and are clearly marked as "Promoted."

How is a Promoted Trend different from a Trending Topic?

Users interact with Promoted Trends the same way they interact with any other Trending Topic. They are able to click on a Promoted Trend to view all Tweets containing the trending #hashtag or trend terms. They are also able to Tweet about the Promoted Trend by including the terms in their Tweets. The only real difference is that a Promoted Trend is purchased by an advertiser and clearly marked as being promoted.

Cost: The current cost of a Promoted Trend for a day is $125,000!

It stands to reason that any public relations program would benefit from one or potentially all three of the promoted products, based on the strategy of the organization and their goal(s) in how they want to reach their publics, whether it be through promotions, increasing brand awareness or gaining new followers. The key to assessing the potential value in using either of the three promoted products, is to ensure to target your message and target your audience. If a company hasn’t done either, it may burn through cash in minutes and fail to make the impact it was aiming for. When using promoted tweets, the tweets should change daily to remain effective. This requires a lot of hands on management and tweaking so you will need a dedicated resource to handle this.

Research found through:

1. Twitter Help Centre:

http://support.twitter.com/homes/search?query=promoted+tweets

2.Twitter Advertising Guide

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2190651/Twitter-Advertising-Guide

by Lisa Raehsler, July 11, 2012

3.The lowdown on promoted tweets and trends at #SMWChicago: posted 26 September 2012 19:51pm by Heather Taylor

 

 

"My thoughts on Foursquare and a QR Code Reader"

Well, I just signed up on Foursquare and am already seeing its value.

Many times I've driven along hungry wondering what to eat and trying to recall places that I've once wanted to eat at but can no longer remember. Of the first few 'picks' when I logged in, there were numerous places to eat, some that I've not thought of and some that I've forgotten about. The important thing I noticed is that each 'pick' offered an incentive for me to go there, whether it be a discount, a free appetizer or a just a comment on the 'hot' item on the menu. I thought a post from a 'foodie' at a Cineplex nearby was funny, "Walk in with your own snacks! OMG the prices are outgrageous!!".

I can definitely see the advantages of Foursquare for someone new to an area and unfamiliar with what's available in their neighbourhood, however I can also see the advantage of someone who's been around a neighbourhood for awhile but would like to know what deals are being offered.

I also signed up to 'follow' or 'like' a number of 'pages', which are really a string of companies such as Time, Metro News, Cineplex and Scotiabank Nuit Blanche to be in the loop with the news, movie offers and updates to the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche event on Sep 29.

Single Biggest Learning

So far my single biggest learning from registering on Foursquare is, well actually two-fold. Both the user (me) and the companies that post their status information are benefiting from this location-based service. I as a user am benefting because at the click of a button I can find out what deals or tips are available when I am ready to shop or just visit a certain location. The companies are benefting because they are reaching out to the public in a user-friendly and non intrusive way to provide incentives to the public in hopes that it will draw them to purchase from them and increase profit and customer loyalty.

QR Code Reader

Just last week I had an oil change at Mr. Lube and upon paying my bill, I receive a receipt with instructions to either scan the QR code, email Mr. Lube at www.tellmrlube.com or call their 1-800 number to fill our a survey for a chance to win prizes.

Since add the QR reader APP, I've only used it twice and didn't think much of it, other than a really quick way to get into a company website. It's a good idea but when I scanned the QR code for Mr. Lube, it did direct me to their website where it prompted me to enter my survey code number. After that, it asked me to fill out some cells, which I did and clicked 'done'. Unfortunately the website URL for the survey was not functional, so I reverted to typing the email address in my explore and filling out the survey on my home computer.

Single Biggest Learning

My single biggest learning in providing a QR code to customers is actually more than one:  the link should work and the link should direct customers to a user friendly page, otherwise customers will have to re-route to the original method of looking up the company email address. Customers will only do this if they have the time, if they are interested and if there is an incentive.

Possible Uses of Foursquare for Public Relations

1. A listening strategy to hear 'live' comments and opinions from the public to assist in improving customer experience or products and services.
2. Get your company noticed. Whether the company is a mom or pop shop or a major retailer, people will know you are there. It's a great way of obtaining new customers and encouraging existing customers to continue to visit.
3. Measure customer traffic and plan for the high and low seasons, offering further incentives to customers in the low seasons.

 Possible Uses of QR Codes for Public Relations

1. Within a press release to direct people to more information
2. For a company campaign to gain customer traffic; direct to main page with free offers
3. Directing customers to an online blog site where they can find more information and answer to common questions.

Thoughts on Week 1 Readings

In reading 7 Steps to a Successful Location-Based Social Media Campaign, the first step, "1. Offer Strategic Incentives" describes how businesses can offer incentive that increases volume during down times (eg: between 3 - 6pm).

 

Starbucks' clientelle purchase coffee in the morning and the mid-late afternoon, however just after lunch, the business probably experiences low volume sales. One of their sales campaigns runs in August called the "Treat Receipt program, offering 16-ounce cold beverages for $2 after 2 p.m. when you make a morning purchase at participating stores. So, if you buy a Tall Pike's Place at 9 a.m., save your receipt, pop back in at 2 p.m. and show it to get a Mocha Coconut Frappuccino for $2!" This is a great incentive to bring bag clientelle during down times.

 

In reading The Power of foursquare: Best Practices from Carmine Gallo, author of The Power of foursquare, there are "Five Pitfalls to Avoid". The last one of them spoke volumes to me:

 

5. Doing it just to do it: Do it because you believe in it, not because it’s the hot new marketing tool.

 

I think the above statement is key. Our Social Media instructor mentioned in our first class that people are either 'on' social media or 'in' social media. 'On' being signed on, but 'in' being a contributer, an influencer, a player (in the game, so to speak).

 

I think it's important to be true to yourself and why you are on a social media platform. What is your motive? Are you trying to help people, make a difference, influence change, provide valuable information or are you a spectator, not adding any real or significant value?

In reading, Why QR Codes Won’t Last, I was surprised to learn the following:

"Recently, there have been documented cases of QR code misuse and abuse around the globe. For instance, infected QR codes can download an app that embeds a hidden SMS texting charge in your monthly cellphone bill. QR codes can also be used to gain full access to a smartphone — Internet access, camera, GPS, read/write local storage and contact data. All of the data from a smartphone can be downloaded and stolen, putting the user at risk for identity theft — without the user noticing.
Mobile visual search is a safer and more secure technology that can provide more information and content than a QR code, without as many security risks. By focusing on real-world objects and images rather than code, MVS lessens the risk of a virus or Trojan attack."

I've scanned two QR codes in the past and didn't get hooked. I didn't really see the benefit of having to scroll my list of apps to find the scanner and centre it on the image and click, etc. I'd rather just type something in Google and get the info. I need in seconds. I'm glad to learn the info. above about the security risks of using QR codes.

 

 In reading, "No, QR Codes are not dead. But some of the stupid ways they’re used should be killed",
on the other hand, I thought the following was a very effective way of using a QR code:
A QR Code postage stamp was issued for the 20th anniversary of the issuance of postal stamps by Croatian Post Hrvatske pošte, the national postal service of Croatia.
Each of the 3.10 Kuna (0.56 U.S. dollars) stamps has a unique code printed below the QR Code. When you scan the QR Code you’re taken to a mobile site where the unique code can be entered and you can view confirmation on the receipt of your mail as well as additional data about its route. Users can find out when the mail was sent, how many kilometers it had traveled, when it reached its destination and more.