Archive for April 2012
4 Reasons Why Social Media Use = Great Customer Service
If you’ve bought anything in the last few years, you’ve no doubt noticed that customer service is not what it used to be. Most of us don’t dare pick up the phone because we fear hearing that dreaded phrase:
“To hear a menu of options, please press 1.”
Now, however, some companies are finally getting it right, and their training ground has been none other than the prolific world of social media. On her Perspectives blog, Mila Araujo provides these four reasons why companies that invest in social media achieve better customer service:
Social Media Requires High Engagement
Companies that have committed themselves to social media listen to what their customers are saying and the buzz around the web that’s related to the company, and they respond in real time. Because they are routinely engaging their audience one-on-one already, they are more likely to provide excellent service.
Social Media Requires Adaptation
In order to do well in social media, you have to be dynamic, motivated, and nimble. You have to be able to change quickly in order to use social media channels to deliver products and services more effectively. Companies who live in this mindset require employees who do as well.
Social Media Tools Use Public Conversation Forums
The fact that everyone can see what you are doing and how you are responding to an issue creates a higher standard overall. Companies that use social media are confident in their approaches and are trained to respond so they can offer a high level of consistent performance. On the other hand, the nature of social media allows for quick identification of less desirable behaviors that must be corrected quickly.
Social Media Enables Viral Behavior
Anyone using social media knows that bad press can easily go viral, and it doesn’t have to be by way of a major news story. All it takes is one person to make a negative comment and others may join the discussion. This kind of viral spread ensures that social media-minded companies pay special attention to operations so an online PR disaster doesn’t occur.
Tag :
social media
Draw Something gets more social with chat and Facebook/Twitter sharing
50m downloads and a $180m acquisition by Zynga later, hit mobile game Draw Something is getting even more social with its latest update.
The drawing game now lets players save their scribbles and share them on Facebook and Twitter on iOS – the Android version will get the feature soon – while attaching short messages of up to 100 characters to their pictures when submitted for friends to guess.
"I look at these as features that are about reinforcing the social relationships," says Dan Porter, formerly chief executive of Draw Something developer OMGPOP, and now installed as vice president and general manager of Zynga Mobile New York.
If there's an explanation for why Draw Something got so popular so quickly, it's that focus on communication rather than competitive gameplay.
The fun doesn't come from beating friends or collecting points and trophies: it comes from the bond you already have with the people you play with, and how that manifests itself in the drawings.
Draw Something remains a phenomenon, having added 15m downloads between 22 March when OMGPOP was acquired, and 4 April when the 50m milestone was announced. It currently has 36.4m monthly active users according to Facebook app metrics site AppData.
That said, the new features may be needed to reignite some players' interest in the game: AppData also shows that Draw Something's daily active users have fallen from 14.6m at its peak in late March to 12.1m on 18 April.
Porter says he's not taking the game's growth for granted. "I'm like everybody else: I think I could wake up the next day and nobody could be playing the game!" he says.
It's still too early to tell whether Draw Something has legs for the long term, but Porter thinks what will keep it fresh is the people you play with, rather than specific features.
"The game is very dynamic based on who you're playing, and it can be so personal, which is why I think it will continue to connect people," he says. "Those connections are something that contributes to the longevity."
Making Draw Something more social rather than more gamey has clearly been the first priority for the Draw Something team in the weeks following the acquisition. Has there been pressure to ramp up the gaming elements, though?
"I'm not averse to that," he says, suggesting that the method would be less about increasing the competitive elements, and more about pitting players – together – against more abstract goals.
"You might get to level 10 where you only have 60 seconds to guess, and at level 10 plus X you might have another thing that makes it harder, and your goal is to get with your partner to level 25 or something," he says.
"The funny thing is that I've only heard that request from men: I've never, ever heard from women that they want a competitive mode. It always interests me who asks the question, and what population of players they represent."
Porter also thinks that if Draw Something had been played against the clock from the start, it would have been a very different game: "Very slapdash, it wouldn't have been so relaxing… it's very chilled, very zen, but if you're watching the clock you feel like you're on a game show."
Talking about TV, what about pre-acquisition rumours that Draw Something might be turned into a television format?
I can see how it'd work, and it goes beyond just a pair of contestants on a Draw Something game show drawing words for one another. The power would come from the audience scribbling along on their phones, and for their drawings to somehow be integrated into the show.
Porter says that TV remains a possibility for Draw Something. "We feel like it's a game, but it's also a media property. We want to find ways for people to engage with it and enjoy it on multiple different platforms," he says.
And the play-along aspect? "Everybody in Hollywood and in sports is already thinking about second-screen, and it's one of those things that hasn't been totally tapped open. And I don't think there's ever been a [hit] game show that's started as a digital or board game. That's something that interests a lot of people."
In the meantime, there is plenty of work to do with the game itself. Asked about next steps beyond the new social features, Porter says localisation is a big focus, aided by Zynga's resources in that area.
"Right now, the game is entirely in English, including all the directions. There's no doubt that if you were German or Korean, the game would be more fun to play in your native language," he says.
"Zynga has a large team that are experts in that, and we've been working really closely with them to give native speakers a version of the app, especially in Asia."
Another benefit of being within Zynga is rolling out Draw Something for more Android devices, taking advantage of its porting and testing resources, according to Porter.
What about other platforms like Windows Phone and BlackBerry? Porter says he's open to the idea of taking the game to any device with a touchscreen, but iOS and Android remain the focus for now.
"We're on two pretty big, exciting platforms that have a lot of runway, and we have a very supportive relationship with Apple and Google, so…"
In other words, it's a question of scale, and for now that continued growth is likely to come fastest on iOS and Android, and under Zynga's auspices. Porter's description of how he feels about Draw Something's mainstream appeal is telling, though.
"Anyone who makes any product wants to reach as many people as possible. Even a small indie artist wants to sell as many albums as Lady Gaga, even if they don't want to make music that sounds like her. You want to reach people."
15 Facebook Timeline Tips to Bring You Up To Speed
Facebook Timeline has been made official for all brand pages for over two weeks now. If you didn’t attend my recent webinar introducing the new timeline for Facebook, you may still be struggling with how to navigate and use the new layout. At first glance, it can appear quite disorganized, especially to those of you who have grown accustomed to the traditional wall layout. This post provides tips on everything from cover photos to the new and improved dashboard, and will quickly bring you back up to speed.
- Create a cover photo with the dimensions 851 x 315 for a perfectly fitting photo.
- Make sure the cover photo is under 100KB to avoid it being rejected due to file size limitations.
- Contact information is not allowed in the cover photo. This even includes website URLs.
- Your cover photo must not include any calls-to-action. This includes asking fans to like your page.
- Get creative! The cover photo is the first thing fans will see when they visit your page.
- Allow fans to submit their own artwork for cover photos. By doing this you’ll create brand ambassadors, engage more users, and generate new content.
- Pin posts to keep a piece of content at the top of your timeline. You may pin one post at a time for up to 7 days.
- Highlight posts to give specific content pieces more real estate on your timeline.
- Customize and arrange apps under your cover photo. Calls-to-action are allowed here, so get creative and use the space wisely.
- Choose and share photos that fans post on your page to increase their exposure. With the new timeline, this is one of the only ways to make sure fans content doesn’t go unnoticed.
- Create interest lists in your niche, and include your brand in them to increase exposure.
- Fill in Milestones to update fans on your accomplishments. Milestones are key moments you’ve decided to highlight on your page, and can be as large as a grand opening or as small as .
- Don’t neglect insights. Use insights to analyze data for optimal times to post, and which type types of content received the highest engagement.
- Take advantage of the improved dashboard to keep yourself organized, especially the detailed activity log which shows details of all notifications.
- Be sure to check your inbox, as you can now receive message from fans. This will allow fans to contact brands privately, which is great in cases where contact information needs to be exchanged.
5 Ways Businesses Are Using Facebook Timelines
Are you wondering how businesses are creatively using Facebook’s Timeline features?
Business timelines are blooming all over Facebook.
You may have read our recent post about all of the changes.
Take a look at these examples of how businesses are creatively using Timeline.
#1: Adding Interesting Milestones
Interesting Milestones may work better if your company has some history. Coca-Cola, founded in 1886, has the benefit of a long and interesting history, so they can show their products from 1916 and how they have since evolved.
But you still may be able to get creative with product releases and things that you have accomplished.
The New York Times, founded in 1851, gives you a walkthrough history with their Milestone posts.
Be sure to spread out the posting of your Milestones as those posts will go out to all of your fans. Don’t post ten in a row or you may irritate your community with “over-posting.”
#2: Incorporating the Profile Picture Into Your Cover Photo
The profile picture is a good place for your company logo, but since the profile picture overlaps the cover photo, you will need to leave some blank space in the lower-left corner of your cover photo. So why not blend the two pictures?
Tim Ware posted about creative personal profile cover photos, including a Photoshop template to incorporate the profile picture into the cover photo. We are now seeing how brands are getting creative with profile pictures and cover photos in these examples.
#3: Telling a Story With Photos
Photos have gotten larger in Timelines and you can use the Highlight feature to show even more of the album. The Kia Soul page has highlighted their concept car album to display more pictures.
Also when you add photos to an album, you will have a post on your Timeline. Then you can share the album to again showcase the story in a different way. People love seeing photos (think Pinterest) and using them extensively on your Timeline can be a good way to tell your story.
The Aquascape Foundation got good mileage out of photos of their recent trip to Uganda by having them post in different ways to their Timeline.
#4: Branding With Apps
Apps are much more visible on the new Timeline. The Facebook Photos app will always be in the first row, in the first position, and will always display the most recent photo. The next three apps in the row will be most visible, so put your best apps in the first row.
If your apps are interesting, you may have people click the down arrow on the right side to see what else you have available. Notice how these pages have really branded their apps and added a call to action within both the app’s name and custom graphic.
As a reminder, the app custom graphics are 111 pixels by 74 pixels and can be changed by clicking the down arrow on the right side to show all apps, then mousing over the app and clicking the pencil icon to activate the dropdown menu as shown. Click Edit Settings to change the title of the custom tab or add custom graphics.
Adding apps to your Timeline works just the same as adding apps to the older-style Facebook pages.
#5: Using the About Section to Give a Call to Action
While you can’t have a call to action (such as “Click Like” or “Buy Now”) or your website address in the cover photo of your Timeline, you can have that information in your About section. The About section is hot property, so use it well.
There are many pages that don’t have anything in their About section at all, which could be due to confusion about where to edit this information. To edit your About section, click the About link, then mouse over the upper-right corner near your About section until you see the Edit button with the pencil. Click the Edit button and you see the older-style dashboard page as shown.
You can have your website address and a call to action in your About section, but you only have approximately 160 characters to work with before it is cut off, depending on how the words flow. In fact, your previous About section may have been longer but is now cut off mid-sentence. Make sure you correct that in the new Timeline view.
If your page is also a Place or Local Business, your address and phone number will be the default About section. There is no way to change this unless you want to change the category of your page. If check-ins are part of your strategy, then keep the local business classification.
Don’t just focus on your About section that appears on your main Timeline page—make sure you are looking at what your About section looks like when you click the About link. Use that space creatively to link to special places on your website and tell people more about what you do and whom you serve.
Hopefully these 5 tips will give you some good ideas on how to use your Timeline more creatively.
What do you think? Have you seen any pages using Timelines in new and creative ways? Tell us in the comments box below!
source
Tag :
facebook,
social media
Will Facebook Always Be Free? Probably Not For Everyone!
Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at the Terms of Use pages created by various social media platforms. After the recent controversy surrounding the Pinterest Terms of Use, I thought it might be a good idea to dig deeper into some of these mind-numbingly boring legal documents to see what other nuggets might be hiding amongst the legalese.
One of the more interesting ones that I uncovered was in the Facebook Terms of Use.
Periodically, someone in my Facebook feed will post a link to a Facebook Page about the “Keep Facebook Free Revolution” or “Stop Facebook from charging $4/month“. Until this point, these have all be hoaxes that tend to generate a lot of Likes and Shares, because people want Facebook to be free and get irritated when they hear rumors of Facebook proposing charges.
In fact, Facebook has done a pretty good job of reassuring users that they will continue to be free by posting it on their blog and by posting it clearly on their login page.
Will Facebook always be free for everyone? Their Terms of Use indicates otherwise.
Obviously, the tradeoff to Facebook being free is that they have to monetize the site through Ads. This means ads in your timeline and ads in the right-rail of the site. For the most part, I think users are okay with the ads, as long as they are targeted to their needs and aren’t obtrusive to interacting with Facebook. Up until now, however, Facebook has had the luxury of being a privately-held company, which means they aren’t beholden to the whims and fancies of public investors. With that about to change, I have grown more curious as to how they will handle the pressure from their public investors to generate revenue.
Which leads me to the nugget!
Buried deep in the “Special Provisions Applicable to Developers/Operators of Applications and Websites ” section of their Terms of Use, is a provision that says:
14. We do not guarantee that Platform will always be free.
Wait…what?
I just logged in and the front page of Facebook clearly indicated “It’s free and always will be.” Right?!? Free…always?!?
The disparity between the two likely lies in the target audience. By stating “It’s free and always will be.” on the front page of Facebook, the company is communicating to end-users that they intend to keep Facebook a free resource for general users.
The statement of “We do not guarantee that the Platform will always be free.” is more targeted at the development community, indicating that the ability to build apps that integrate directly into Facebook might come at a charge in the future. While game developers like Zynga (the makers of Farmville) and nearly every brand page out there currently enjoy the Facebook developer platform free of charge, this one line, buried amongst the legalese of the Terms of Use document, clearly indicates that these services could come with a surcharge in the future.
The question is how much, and whether brands and developers would be willing to pay to participate on Facebook. We know that social gaming accounts for a massive amount of time on Facebook, so if developers like Zynga found it more lucrative to publish their games elsewhere due to high charges by Facebook, would it also lead to a bleeding of Facebook users to other platforms? Who knows.
So, with that single provision buried in their Terms of Use, Facebook leaves a lot of questions unanswered:
Will Facebook start charging for access to their development platform?
If so, when will they start and how much will the charge developers, brands and publishers?
If Facebook does start to charge, will the costs drive developers, brands and publishers to other platforms?
If the developers, brands and publishers leave will Facebook users leave, as well?
While there hasn’t been any indication by Facebook that they’re going to start to charge developers any time soon, it could be something that we see arise soon after their Initial Public Offering (IPO), when the company becomes more beholden to their shareholders, rather than their users. I guess we’ll find out soon enough…
What we do know is that while Facebook is free for users, developers, companies, and organizations…it has become a huge part of our life, impacting how much time we spend eating, sleeping, and even caring for others. Would charging developers impact that passion? Only time will tell.
Tag :
facebook,
social media
Google claims 170 million users as it revamps Google+ to ape Facebook
Google has said that 170 million people have registered to use its Facebook rival, Google+, as it unveiled a redesign that apes features of its larger rival.
The search giant is heavily promoting Google+ both online and in television advertising, but independent data has so far suggested users do not use the service much after they register.
In an apparent retort, the man in charge of the project, Vic Gundotra, said that “more than 170 million people have upgraded to Google+”.
The figure represents an increase of 80 million since January, but critics point out that anyone who signs up for any Google service now creates a Google+ account too. Even with the new policy, Google remains a long way behind its competition; Facebook has more than 850 million users.
“We still patiently wait for actual engagement statistics, though we’re not holding our breath,” said the Search Engine Watch blog.
Data from third party companies that track web traffic suggest there is good reason for Google’s reticence to release “engagement” statistics. In February, comScore said Google+ visitors spent just three minutes on the service in January on average, compared to between six and seven hours on Facebook.
“It's still early days, and there’s plenty left to do, but we're more excited than ever to build a seamless social experience, all across Google,” said Mr Gundotra as he announced the latest tweaks to Google+.
They include the introduction of Twitter-style trending topics and large profile pictures at the top of pages that appear similar to Facebook’s recent redesign.
“It accelerates our efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google,” said Mr Gundotra.
More original features have been developed to assist navigation of Google+, including a customisable “ribbon” down the left-hand side.
“Taken together, these powers make it easier to access your favorites, and to adjust your preferences over time,” said Mr Gundotra.
“We've also built the ribbon with the future in mind, giving us an obvious (and clutter-free) space for The Next Big Feature, and The Feature After That.”
In general the redesign offers more space for pictures and video, allowing users to post what Google calls “full bleed” – or actual size - content from elsewhere.
While the new features were generally well-received, observers still argued that Google has yet to make a significant impact on Facebook’s dominant position in social networking.
Source
The search giant is heavily promoting Google+ both online and in television advertising, but independent data has so far suggested users do not use the service much after they register.
In an apparent retort, the man in charge of the project, Vic Gundotra, said that “more than 170 million people have upgraded to Google+”.
The figure represents an increase of 80 million since January, but critics point out that anyone who signs up for any Google service now creates a Google+ account too. Even with the new policy, Google remains a long way behind its competition; Facebook has more than 850 million users.
“We still patiently wait for actual engagement statistics, though we’re not holding our breath,” said the Search Engine Watch blog.
Data from third party companies that track web traffic suggest there is good reason for Google’s reticence to release “engagement” statistics. In February, comScore said Google+ visitors spent just three minutes on the service in January on average, compared to between six and seven hours on Facebook.
“It's still early days, and there’s plenty left to do, but we're more excited than ever to build a seamless social experience, all across Google,” said Mr Gundotra as he announced the latest tweaks to Google+.
They include the introduction of Twitter-style trending topics and large profile pictures at the top of pages that appear similar to Facebook’s recent redesign.
“It accelerates our efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google,” said Mr Gundotra.
More original features have been developed to assist navigation of Google+, including a customisable “ribbon” down the left-hand side.
“Taken together, these powers make it easier to access your favorites, and to adjust your preferences over time,” said Mr Gundotra.
“We've also built the ribbon with the future in mind, giving us an obvious (and clutter-free) space for The Next Big Feature, and The Feature After That.”
In general the redesign offers more space for pictures and video, allowing users to post what Google calls “full bleed” – or actual size - content from elsewhere.
While the new features were generally well-received, observers still argued that Google has yet to make a significant impact on Facebook’s dominant position in social networking.
Source
Tag :
google +,
social media
Why Blogging is better than Facebook?
With the social media revolution, more and more people wonder if they should start a website/blog or just go for a Facebook page. In deed, because social networks introduce more and more publishing features, one can really wonder why should he open a website or a blog. Everything looks so easy in Social Media in terms of structure, virality and editing that sometimes we do not wish to spend too much time on traditional channels. Here are some good reasons, 10, in why blogging will still be better than Facebook. Hopefully this will convince you… or not!
Reason n.1 : “Mark Zuckerberg will not control you”.
In your own website or blog, you can do whatever you want, the way you want. On Facebook, I agree that Timeline improved a lot of things but, we need to dance by the rules. No room for fully customization or personal templates.
Reason n.2: “Multi-channel is a golden rule”.
With a website/blog you can reach multiple audiences at the same time. This includes RSS, email and ALL social networks. On Facebook you can only reach the people who have a Facebook account and mostly the ones who like your page.
Reason n.3: “People will click more!”.
Try to persuade someone you do not know to click on a Facebook link…. no way. Or try to ask someone in Facebook to click on a link that will send the person somewhere else…. no way!. So a compelling link on your blog will most likely be clicked!
Reason n.4: “Value for click!”.
Facebook fans will only Like your Brand if you have something valuable to offer. With a website/blog you can offer more value via helpful tips, FAQs, advices and teaching new things.
Reason n.5: “The content source”.
Your website/blog will the the foundation of all the content you will provide to be displayed online. Facebook will only be a promotional/distribution tool to disseminate the content.
Reason n.6: “News for all”.
Facebook decides who reaches your information and sees your updates. In your website/blog, everybody at anytime can reach your information.
Reason n.7: “This is for ever”.
All the information posted in your website/blog will remain online for ever and will be found in search several month/years after the publishing date. Facebook updates last only a few days for the most. Then, it goes to the dust of cyber times…
Reason n.8: “SEO, SEO and SEO”.
If you set it up right, your website/blog will improve your search ranking through in-bound links and keyword optimization. Facebook will never contribute to your rank. We hear sometime that Social networks links are profitable for SEO. In time this is wrong.
Reason n.9: “Always ROI”.
Facebook marketing can bring you either good results but also bad results or even worse: no results. Investing time in your website/blog always pays-off. The website/blog remains, so every single feature implemented will just stay there and contribute to the visitor experience.
Reason n.10: “Stability and consistency”.
In your website/blog you are the person who decides about changes. Facebook can change very fast and without further notice, so sometimes you can make people mad because finally that feature that everyone loved is not working anymore.
Source - http://luxuryactivist.com/high-tech/why-blogging-is-better-than-facebook/
