Violet Mae Lim

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are real people being Facebook pages. It’s easy to read posts, click like, share them, or even ignore them all together but every once in a while, something happens that makes us remember that there is someone (or a team of someones) sitting behind the page, carefully selecting what will appears in a Facebook stream. Sometimes that “something” is a quirky little mistake…

Yesterday, I noticed a post from the NPR Facebook page that looked a little different. Instead of the usual link to a story that they normally post, there was a block of text:

It turns out, people didn’t mind. And a quick scan of the Facebook page shows that this post is pretty active and engaging compared to some of their other posts.

This post stood out to me because it is personal, friendly and conversational… much like a note that a friend would send. Additionally, it’s pretty transparent. Somebody made a light, honest error and they fixed it. Fortunately for the producer, the picture wasn’t anything racy, pornographic or inappropriate! (If that were the case, it would be a different story!)

The moral of this story is that it’s ok to be “off-brand” and show a little personality every now and then. I wouldn’t recommend posting off-brand messages often but every once in a while, it helps people remember that there are people behind the pages.

photo credit: jonny2love

As more brands are jumping on to Twitter, I’m starting to notice one thing: how poorly their Twitter bios are written. This is a detail that is often overlooked, which means brands are missing a big opportunity.

Let me give you an example: Say I casually mention that I happen to like Brand X over Brand Y. Brand X is active on Twitter, monitoring their brand (as all brands should be). Brand X sees I mentioned them, and they reach out to me by tweeting something back. I see Brand X in my @ replies tab, click on their name and check out their 160 character Twitter bio. Their very short bio says something like:

We are Brand X, the best something something. Founded in 1820, we’re the oldest Blah Blah Blah, serving original Blah Blahs to over 500,000 people.

Basically, Brand X just gave me some copy they took from the “about us” section on their website. I’m completely uninterested and that’s the end of that. Brand X just missed a huge opportunity — the opportunity to gain a vocal follower who shows an affinity for their brand. What would have been a better Twitter bio for their brand? Something along the lines of:

We tweet about blah blah, our exclusive discount codes,  and give away blah blahs every Monday and answer all customer service questions. We’re funny too!

What’s the difference? The second example entices me. I read the bio and I know right away what Brand X is offering, what value they will be adding to my Twitter stream and what kind of tweets I should expect to see.  Sure, I want exclusive discount codes. Yes, I want to learn more about office supplies and tips on how to clean my house organically; so yes, I will follow your brand’s Twitter account. If a brand simply writes a short bio on their history, their location or nothing at all, the chances of someone following that brand may dramatically decrease. I imagine that the average person glances over a Twitter bio for a couple seconds and either clicks “follow” or clicks the little X in the upper right hand corner of the browser or tab.

Soooo, in conclusion…Be clear with what your brand or business is offering through Twitter. Entice your followers. Take some time to think about it. Answer one question: Why would anyone want to follow my brand? And please, oh please, don’t just use pre-approved copy off your company website.

Twitter continues to be a hot topic and the social media darling. More mainstream users are joining Twitter and people are proving to be very passionate about the micro-blogging, real-time, communication platform. You know how the old saying goes: with great power comes great responsibility. 2 days ago, Twitter caused frustration, anger and even disappointment in many users.

Twitter decided to make a “small settings update”. This update meant a Twitter user would no longer see the conversations their friends are having with people whom they are not following. People went nuts. The following morning, Twitter was overwhelmed by all the feedback they got. Later that day, Twitter explained their reasoning behind the changes and assured users they were coming up with something bigger and better. They continued to get push back from Twitter users (tweeple? tweeps? twitterati? twits?) and published yet another blog post further explaining the changes and technical difficulties behind the original setting.

Whew! What a story! Now what can your business or brand learn from this?

Ask for Feedback BEFORE implementing change:
You know you’re brand is adding value, doing good and changing the world (I would hope so, anyway)… that’s why you have such a strong community around you (once again… I hope so). Asking for feedback not only will help you figure out who your most passionate users are and what they are saying but also give you a chance to actually listen to what they think about your service and see what they value about you. A reality check, if you will. These passionate users are your brand evangelists. They are the ones spreading the word about you, wearing your t-shirts and bringing you up in their everyday conversations. Listen to them.

Communicate:
After the round(s) of feedback, either thank your loyal users and let them know you appreciate them OR let them know you’ll be making some changes. Explain why you’re making the changes. Explain clearly and frequently. In Twitter’s case, they could have easily sent out public tweets, put a notice out like they do when they are planning a scheduled maintenance in addition to blogging about it. This would have eased the minds of many users.

Stick to Your Decision:
People in general, do not like change. They want what they are most used to and will probably kick and scream all the way home. There is also a mob mentality that can take place (especially with Twitter and the ease of visually seeing the top trending topics). Let’s face it. Some people just like complaining for the sake of complaining. Assuming you’ve done your research and you have a competent team behind you, you know ultimately know what works and what doesn’t work behind the scenes or on the back-end of your service.

Twitter promises something bigger and better. Those guys are smart; I trust they will implement a social discovery system that will not only reduce noise but be smoother and more efficient. Nonetheless, opening up the lines of communication would have eased the minds of many and simply put, a better experience for users. Really. The last thing you want to do is piss off your community.

Social networks come and go. Think: Friendster, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and all the ones that have come in between or are struggling to keep up (Plurk, Pownce, Jaiku etc). As someone who uses social networks both professional and personally, it’s important to identify and understand these trends. As a brand, understanding these trends will keep you above your competition and relevant in your industry.

Social Networking Life Span:
1. Launch
2. Growth
3. Peak
4. Plateau
5. End
*Some social networks won’t ever get pass #1.

Once a social network peaks, you’ll hear about it everywhere from the mainstream media and all throughout the blogosphere. Everyone and their grandmothers will be on the site. The site will eventually become over saturated with users, companies, brands and ultimately, spam. Additionally, there will be other social networking sites that are able to fill the
needs/wants/desires of users and grow with the user base (I hope to revisit this topic at another time).

As a marketer, It’s during #2 (growth) and #3 (peak) where it is most beneficial to join the site. Build your reputation, “social capital” and community while the social networking site is growing. Thrive during stage #3 as more users join the social network. All the while, keeping your ears and eyes open for the next, up-and-coming social network. As the first social network starts to plateau, utilize the second social network. As previously mentioned, when a social network plateaus, it is infiltrated with spam, glittery icons and too much music (think: MySpace). You (of course) are not spamming your community, but they are getting spam from elsewhere in the social network–perhaps your competitor who hasn’t a clue how to effectively or strategically use it.

What’s important to remember: if your messages and interactions are in the company of spam and junk, you are no longer relevant. Your community gets bored and your messages are drowned out. Marketing is an arms race. You have to understand how your communities want to receive, see, “hear” and consume your message and use the appropriate technologies to implement your strategies. At the same time, marketers also need to be aware of the life spans or social networks while keeping an eye and ear open for the next up and coming sites. Doing so keeps you relevant as a brand and ensures your engagement and interaction with your customers, consumers and communities are maximized.

Today, allfacebook.com announced Facebook’s new “digital signature” for Facebook pages. In order to create a public profile page, the user must be “an official representative”. A user proves this by checking a box stating so and submitting an “electronic signature.” Facebook may be doing this to help protect brands from brand “hijacking” (a situation where someone poses as a representative from the brand leading to either misrepresentation of the brand or even giving false information). A perfect example: Exxon Mobile.

On one hand, this makes perfect sense. As a brand you may not want to have someone who is unauthorized using your name. Who knows what these dopplegangers could do! Slander! Libel! False information! Words that tarnish your brand reputation! Surely, these are a brand’s worst nightmare. On the other hand, Facebook’s move may also limit brands. This move limits a brand’s fans and/or community evangelists. Though as brand you may be able to start your own Facebook Page, you may not know where and how to find your audience and be left with a fan page populated by the internal members of your marketing team.

Sometimes, a consumer may love, admire, adore, enjoy or like your brand so much, they take it upon themselves to create a web presence (in this case a fan page) for you. Most of the time people do this because they want to meet other fans or spread all the good things they have to say about your brand. These people are a brand’s dream come true– they say good things about your brand, tell other people about your brand and find others who are apt to the same. Your very own brand evangelists! The smart thing to do is embrace these people and the communities they’ve started around your brand. Join the community, listen to what they are saying about you, learn about your brand through the eyes of the consumer, have a presence and be active. Because really, that’s all you can do.

There’s so much buzz around the term “social media” lately. People seem to be obsessed with social media, Facebook fans, Twitter followers and the “killing” of traditional media. People and brands have become obsessed with adopting social media as their sole marketing strategy. Unfortunately, people presume social media = solely the newest social network (ie: Twitter). What they sometimes don’t always know is that there is so much more to social media.

Social media is an essential part of marketing, but social media has many parts. Social networks are a small part of social media. As a brand, you ought to be learning and adopting social media into your marketing/communications/community outreach plan. Keep up with all the evolving web strategies but weave them into your traditional marketing/PR strategies when appropriate. Know how you can tie your social web presence together to effectively communicate with your online community. Make you sure you understand how social media also ties into customer service, SEM, SEO, content creation and even basic web development (amongst many other things). Simply starting a blog on WordPress.com will not be effective if the bigger picture isn’t considered. Starting a Twitter account and following everyone you think might be interested in your new product and calling that your “new media campaign” won’t cut it either.

Having an understanding of social media really is will enable you to set your goals and achieve results. Social media is a multi-faceted approach to B2C communications. If you know this and understand how your customers prefer to communicate with you, you’ll do great on the social web. Lastly, if you don’t have someone who is knowledgeable in social media or digital strategy, please hire someone. And by someone, I don’t mean a summer intern to tweet on your behalf or upload videos to your YouTube account.

As more brands begin to humanize themselves on the social web, I find myself not only expecting brands to engage with their customers, consumers and communities but also appreciating the brands that do. One brand that has crossed my mind multiple times is Rebecca Minkoff. Rebecca Minkoff purses range anywhere from $300-$700 and can be seen on celebrities from Lindsay Lohan to Lauren Conrad and everyone in between. Rebecca Minkoff is a New York based purse designer who is using the social web to her advantage.

Rebecca is ahead of other purse designers as she has an online presence on the social web. She has accounts on mainstream social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook and niche forums that cater to women obsessed with handbags and fashion. I am an active member of these niche communities and I’ve “seen” Rebecca leverage the power of these communities. In one instance, members of a forum begged and pleaded for her to hold a sample sale in Los Angeles. She said if X amount of people were interested, she would have one and she kept her word. I attended the sample sale and it was crazy as crazy gets: women lined up 4-5 hours before the event, eagerly awaiting their turn to purchase a new purse (let it be known, that there were some women who bought 3-4 purses at the sample sale).

Rebecca is personally on these forums and I have communicated with her regarding new products and sample sales. She also has a handful of customer service reps on these forums answering customer service questions and engaging with the entire purse-fanatic community. These forums are a way for her to monitor conversations about her brand, understand her target audience, understand the customer demographics, collect market research, humanize herself and a method of CRM. She has created a groundswell around her brand just by joining the conversation that was already happening online.

I first read about Rebecca Minkoff online and instantly fell in love with her purses. The first time I bought one of her purses was online, through a fashion community. I own two Rebecca Minkoff purses, one of which she helped me pick out. Yes, SHE helped me pick it out. I’ve also met her in person at a sample sale she held in Los Angeles and she is a doll. She is digitally-savvy and understands the power of the social web… I can’t say the same about many other mid-end/high-end purse designers. Although I have many other ideas on how she could further increase her presence and leverage her community, I think she is off to a great start. There is something very different about actually being able to engage and meet with the designer of the purse you are carrying versus buying a purse from a department store and never speaking with the designer.