Insights

How to Counter Fake Social Media Reviews

According to leading business analysts Gartner, as many as 10-15% of social media reviews will be fake by 2014.

Instead of honest customer reviews, praise and feedback on sites like Yelp and Google Places, we’ll have professionally-paid for reviews, either from a company trying to damage a competitor, or raise their own profile by posting multiple glowing reviews.

The report does mention that this will probably be more in the Enterprise market, but what’s to stop smaller businesses hiring interns and specialist agencies to post a review for them?

Mind you, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at this analysis – as social business continues to take a stronger grip in the mainstream consumer business world, it’s perhaps stranger to ask why these percentages aren’t already in place now (maybe they are).

The good news is, there are steps that can be taken to protect your reputation as a business, as well as stay on the right side of the law when it comes to this newer form of peer and customer recommendation.

Make Social Media Reviews Socially Accountable

On this blog, you’ll see I use the Livefyre comment system. Now, currently I have it set to accept guest comments – however, by a flick of the switch in my admin area, I can change that up and only allow readers to comment after logging in via the likes of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

So, when it comes to posting reviews on the likes of Yelp, Google Places and elsewhere, make it the same process.

If you want to leave a review, you have to log in with your Facebook profile, or LinkedIn account. This immediately adds accountability to the process – your name and business is inextricably tied to your review. This makes it far easier to see which is a valid review, and which belongs to a fake.

For instance, let’s say Joe Smith left a crappy review on Yelp for Acme Restaurant, Toronto. The owners of the restaurant can see the review, and then check Joe’s profile on Facebook.

If it’s a valid one, they can then ask Joe to come in with his receipt and they’ll refund the cost of the meal. What, Joe doesn’t have a receipt because he was never there?

Gotcha – that takes us on to the second part of the process.

Build a Digital Ethics Agreement

In the last couple of years, social media has attracted the interest of organizations like the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) in the U.S., the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) in the U.K., and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in Canada.

These organizations are forcing the hands of advertisers and marketers in social media to be above board when it comes to how they’re targeting consumers in the space and, in the case of the Privacy Commissioner, making Facebook change their privacy terms when it comes to sharing information about its users.

So, there are already governing procedures under way and ongoing when it comes to making sure the medium isn’t being used in questionable ways.

The problem is, they’re splintered. The FTC has no real jurisdiction outside of the U.S, and vice versa with the U.K. and Canadian equivalents (although they can work with each other in cross-border cases).

So, technically, a Canadian business could operate around U.S. consumers and (unless picked up) be outwith the legalities of that country. This is where the fake social media reviewers (solo or agency) would win.

However, the Internet is one big global community when it comes to e-commerce. I don’t care if I need to buy a British import CD from Japan to complete my Canadian music collection using Bitcoin – it’s a global market and I’ll use whatever means I need to.

Now, while this may be too simple in actuality over theory, if there was a global Digital Ethics Committee that handled stuff like online reviews, social marketing, etc, and created a governing law that applied to online transactions and subsequent reviews – well wouldn’t that help counter the fake reviews?

The businesses that are caught paying for fake reviews are banned from review sites for X amount of years, with a disclaimer on their Yelp or Places page that advises visitors why there’s no official presence.

By naming and shaming (as well as the obligatory fine and damages paid), consumers can see which companies live by their product and which live by their producing of lies.

As Consumers, We Need Protecting

It may be that these two suggestions are too simple for such a legal minefield. And, despite the Internet’s global reach, the arms of it at a country and cultural level are still too disparate for the simple approach to work.

For now, anyways.

But as we move into a more socially-led and active world, and the stakes continue to rise as to those businesses that will succeed versus those that will flounder, the playground needs to take a stand now.

While social sign-ins may not be the answer (although it’s a lot easier to spot a fake Facebook or LinkedIn account than it is to filter a bogus email), and cross-border integration into a single unit might be a ways off, it’s important we start to think of solutions today.

Otherwise, that tomorrow of 2014 will come a lot quicker than we think, and it’s more than just our reputations at stake – it’s our very future business success.

Blog Comments and Experimentation – Or Why @Livefyre Is Here to Stay

So, if you’re a regular reader of this blog (and thank you!), I think I owe you an apology for any dizziness I may have caused you in the last couple of months.

As a regular visitor, you’ll know that I’ve been experimenting with what comment system to go with – native WordPress (in use for the last couple of weeks), Disqus (in use for about 6 weeks prior to that), or Livefyre (in use again now, and a system I’ve raved about many a time).

The reason for this was simple – user experience here is key. You take the time out of your day to come and spend some time here, when you could be choose from a million other blogs at that given time.

For that, I thank you. And to extend that thanks, if you like, I want to try and make your stay here as enjoyable and user-friendly as I can.

That’s the reason behind choosing the Genesis framework and the Optimal child theme (affiliate links). Since activating them a few months back, folks have been kind enough to comment on the easy navigation, and the responsive design makes it very easy to read on mobile browsers.

That user experience extends into the comments – I want to encourage you to share your thoughts, and extend the conversation beyond the post and with each other.

This is kind of where native WordPress comments falls down, and leaves both Livefyre and Disqus ahead. All you need do is compare a post where there are a lot of comment threads, and you can soon get lost with native WordPress, wondering who’s replying to who.

Not so much Livefyre and Disqus, where you can clearly see the thread and who the conversation is aimed at.

And, for a while, I was thinking of sticking with Disqus as I experimented with the new 2012 version – it’s very slick. Community comments, popular conversations elsewhere and a beautiful interface make it a very tempting platform. And yet…

Here we are, back with Livefyre, and this time it’s for keeps, for a few simple reasons.

Livefyre Support is Awesome

If there’s one area that Livefyre excels at, it’s their customer support and community support team. It must be a culture they have over there – from Jenna Langer to Jeremy Hicks, and current Community Manager supreme Dhara Mistry, Livefyre clearly encourages interaction at a very high level.

While I was experimenting, I had some issues on switching Livefyre back on, due to a minor conflict with Disqus and some WordPress avatars. I also couldn’t fully sync comments over that have been left during my activation of Disqus.

Step up Livefyre, and Dhara and her team of engineers.

They worked way beyond what any support would normally offer and ensured all the glitches were fixed. Not only that, Dhara kept me up-to-date at every touchpoint, and even recommended I hold off until they locked down a fix for my specific needs.

All this while rolling out a brand new version of their commenting system, as well as fielding questions and support tickets from users with Livefyre currently installed on their sites.

This kind of service and constant communication is a huge factor for me when it comes to any business, and the fact Livefyre don’t even charge the majority of its users, yet still offer that kind of support? I’m sold.

Livefyre Is The Natural Evolution of Blog Commenting

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been a rabid fan of Livefyre since it launched, and was one of the early users of the platform.

I love its real-time chat system as well as the social media integration of conversations from Twitter and Facebook, as well as the ability to share across multiple networks.

But that was Livefyre back then – the recently-released beta version of Livefyre 3 shows you exactly where this platform is heading, and I love it. You want your blog comments to be truly social and interactive? Check out what Livefyre has for you.

Social Comments Integrated

Livefyre social comments — Click image to enlarge

With the previous version of Livefyre, they already had a pretty cool way to bring conversations from Twitter and Facebook into your comments section. If someone tweeted about your post, and added extra commentary, or it was shared on specific Facebook Pages, these would be pulled into the post at the end of the comments.

Now, however, they fall neatly into the comment stream itself, based on timestamp. And, if you reply back via the comment, it goes back to Twitter automatically, to answer the person that shared. Further conversations continue to fall back into your comments – very cool.

Rich Text Editor

One of the biggest “gripes” of the previous version of Livefyre was the inability to make your comment more dynamic. While the likes of WordPress and Disqus allowed you to drop HTML in to add bold, italic or other font edits, Livefyre was stuck with its standard font.

Not any more. Now you have a rich text editor that allows you to choose bold font, italic, underscore, insert a hyeprlink, bulleted lists and numbered lists.

Additionally, and one that a lot of commenters and bloggers were asking for, is the ability to edit your comment if you make a mistake. However, this only works if the blogger with admin duties enables this feature on Livefyre.

It may be small changes, but these features make comments more dynamic and highlight the parts that need to be highlighted.

Livefyre Supports Rich Media

Probably one of my favourite new features is the way Livefyre 3 truly turns your comments into a fully-fledged multimedia experience.

Normally, when you leave a comment on other blogs that don’t have Livefyre, and you want to show a video or image, you have to grab the link to YouTube or Flickr, and then the reader of your comment has to click through to see what the video or image is.

Not with Livefyre.

Instead, they keep your readers engaged on your blog by embedding the rich media directly into the comments area.

Livefyre rich media embed — Click image to enlarge

Currently supported platforms include YouTube and Vimeo (video), Flickr and Instagram (images), Slideshare (presentations), SoundCloud and Spotify (music), animated GIFs from MySpace and Wikipedia (the articles appear in-stream).

To show this media content, simply grab the URL of its parent page and drop alongside your comments, and Livefyre does the rest. It’s pretty damn cool and can make for a very entertaining comments section.

Livefyre and Multi-Site Admin

One of the new features that came out before the current beta version of Livefyre 3 was the revamped admin area for bloggers.

Livefyre Site Moderation — Click image to enlarge

Now, instead of having to hunt through reams of comments to filter one out, you can search directly by username, IP address, if it was a user logged in via Twitter or Facebook, keywords, and much more.

You can choose to do this while having all your sites open, or just one domain at a time. You can also quickly check if any comments have been filtered into pending or spam, ensuring all comments you want approved are done so.

It’s a slicker version of the previous admin area and a very welcome addition to the product.

So Is Livefyre Perfect?

Is anything? Okay, I know, glib answer and I apologize, because we all know Jessica Alba is perfect… Moving on!

As I mentioned, Livefyre 3 is currently in beta, so the version being used on blogs currently is one that will experience some hiccups as the platform moves into a wider public release.

Some of the current glitches, from my own use and conversations I’ve seen online, include:

The SocialSync tagging doesn’t always work the way it should, meaning you can’t tag your friends on Facebook and Twitter (by using the “@” symbol and then typing their name until it appears). For a social commenting system, this is a core part of Livefyre’s appeal.
Sometimes it looks like there’s no comment box, whereas it’s just Livefyre rendering. The load time has been improved from the previous Livefyre, but could sill be optimized further.
Styling Livefyre to suit your blog design requires CSS, and not every blogger is comfortable with this. The advantage of Disqus in this respect is it inherits the font, style and design from your blog, so should match up every time.
It’d be great to see your commenters’ activity across the web without having to click on their profile. A lightbox when hovering over the username would be great, and encourage commenters to visit other blogs in the Livefyre family.

In fairness, the last two are personal choices as opposed to glitches, but I feel they’d make the platform even more complete than it is currently, and its current iteration is pretty damned impressive.

So, Livefyre Is Here to Stay Then?

As I mentioned at the start of the post, if you’ve felt a little dizzy recently with the comment system changes, I apologize. But it’s the last time it should happen.

I’ve been an early supporter of Livefyre and the platform has continued to grow way beyond its potential from its early days. That continues to be the case as new features and slicker processes get added, and it’s definitely my commenting platform of choice.

Mind you, I have to take my hat off to Disqus – they’ve really upped the game with Disqus 2012, and the interface and integration is very slick. Plus, they also sent out a very fun Welcome package of Disqus goodies – thanks, guys!

But, I have to say, Livefyre just feels what a comments system should be – live, interactive, media-rich, socially-enabled and much more. Simply put, it feels like home.

And, as a blogger, that’s all I can ever ask for from a comments system. Here’s to the conversation.

Creating Your Business Playlist

I was going through my iPod tunes over the weekend, adding some new ones and building some new playlists.

Looking at the tracks, I saw there?s no real genre that stands out as a favourite ? there?s everything on there from hard rock to R&B, Motown to 80?s pop, classical arias to hip hop. Quite the mix.

Instead of being fractured, it makes sense for me to have so many different styles on there ? I?m sure it does for you as well.

It all depends on how the mood takes us at any given time.

For instance, if I?m driving in the summer, it?s time for hard rock, windows down, full volume. But if I?m melancholy or introspective, it?s Marvin Gaye and Ella Fitzgerald time. Different sounds for the need at any given time.

And that should apply for us in business as well.

Building a Playlist

We shouldn?t be concentrating on just one area all the time. Sure, let?s be strong where our strengths are, but does that mean we need to limit our knowledge to these strengths?

People aren?t satisfied with the one-trick pony anymore, no matter how strong or sturdy that pony might be. Agencies and organizations are having to adapt to offer an umbrella service.

PR; Marketing; Creative; Customer Service; Sales; Design ? couldn?t they be available from one source (or at least have an option to offer more than one core strength)?

Think about what you offer at the minute, and what you don?t. Can you build on that? Can you learn what you need to know, so that you can offer multiple practices instead of just one? If not, how easy can you learn? It doesn?t matter if it?s online or offline, you can find the solution:

Webinars
Forums
User groups
Networking events
Workshops
Social learning
In-house or on-site training

Think about what you?d like to see as a customer. Are you happy with having to go to 5-6 different agencies to get core skill sets at each one, or would you prefer a solution where everything could be under one roof? Or at least half the current amount of solutions.

Sell Your Strengths, Buy Your Weakness

Even if you don?t have the time to take onboard the new skills you need, why not outsource but keep it under your banner?

Search for freelancers that you can call on for projects that need a specific expertise. Nurture relationships, build portfolios, treat as equals ? you never know what could come from it, and it opens your own business up to many more possibilities.

Having a favourite band is normal. Having a favourite type of music is normal. But just think of the amazing sounds you could be missing out on if you don?t mix up your iPod every now and again.

Is it time for you to freshen up your business playlist?

Justin Bieber, Green Bananas and Upsetting Canada – All in 30 Minutes

It seems strange to think that?Jugnoo?s Social Mix event?was way back in July.

It still seems so fresh, and we?re continuing to get great feedback and praise today, almost two months later.

There?s no doubt it was an incredible day, with lots of lessons learned and shared.

On a personal level, I feel really fortunate to have been able to speak and share the stage with people I both admire and look up to, as well as long-time friends and peers.

So what did I talk about?

Your Business Is Not The Story

People often credit social media for making businesses realize they?re not the story ? but good business owners have known this all along.

You are not the story. You never have been. Not even in the ?bad old days? before social media were you ever the story.?But the story? That belongs to the customer. Every time.

This would ? to me ? seem obvious, and yet you see examples every day of where businesses take their customers for granted, fail to address issues and plough on the path they want, as opposed to the path their customers need.

And then they wonder why their sales are down?

Think like a customer, be the customer, and you?ll get and keep the customer.

Being Human in a Non-Human World

While the tools like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc ? as well as more advanced?Social CRM platforms?? allow us to connect and engage with our customers like never before, we?re still human beings.

Automated systems and the bits and bytes that make up these social platforms are all well and good ? but it still takes the handshake (real or virtual) of human-to-human connection to solidify the relationship that leads to the sale.

People are not conducive when it comes to creating an ideal world for brands to operate in. We?re too human for start.

Instead of canned responses and sterile corporate voices, we need to bring the human aspect of our offline personas online to our business ones. After all, who ever bought from a diode?

My talk is below ? I hope you enjoy, and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments on the bigger picture the video discusses.

Cheers!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUGH_rGC7h4[/youtube]

Using Social Media to Manage Relationships Through the Sales Funnel (jugnoo.com)
Who Shouldn’t Worry With Social CRM (socialcrminfo.com)

The State of Social Media Marketing 2012

Social marketing software company Awareness has just released the second part of its bi-annual State of Social Media Marketing report for 2012, and it makes for some pretty interesting reading.

Surveying 469 marketers from a variety of industries, expertise and verticals, the report looks at how businesses are using social media (or not), the key pain points, and where businesses are heading in 2013.

Some of the key findings include:

44% of companies with social marketing budgets of $100,000 or more are using social CRM software, compared to 16% in general.
68% are interested in expanding their social footprint.
50% see the need to tighten integration between social and more traditional marketing.
Social marketing ROI, a larger social presence and reach, and increased content creation and publishing are three areas executives are looking to concentrate on in 2013.

What’s interesting from these points alone is that social is definitely seen as a core strategy for many businesses to take on in the next 12 months and beyond. Yet, clearly, there’s still some ambiguity around social – the ROI question continues, as does building a strong presence where results can be actionable and measured.

The good news is, despite the ambiguity, when you look at the top business objectives for social media it’s clear that the customer experience is key (click to expand):

Seeing two of the top three objectives geared towards the customer is encouraging – it would seem that brands are finally realizing the amplification social offers consumers, so they’d better improve and tailor the experience while continuing to foster the initial touch-point.

So what else does the Awareness report tell us?

Social Media is Still a Challenge

It’s sad to say, but social media continues to be a challenge for many businesses in 2012. This, despite many seeing the tipping point of social media as 2010, when the ROI question and the business benefits of social media were really taken into the mainstream.

So what are the challenges that businesses continue to face when it comes to social media?

While the lead challenge is still that of ROI, what’s interesting is the percentage that are struggling to integrate with the rest of the marketing vertical.

This accounts for almost a third, and is a clear indication that businesses are finally starting to realize that social isn’t a standalone strategy, but a core part of the bigger marketing picture. While it’s a struggle at the minute, the recognition it needs to be integrated bodes well for the future of these businesses.

Social Media and Measurement

For any business, knowing how successful a campaign is – whether that’s external or internal – is key to understanding where that business needs to grow and improve, and where it’s already doing a good job.

When it comes to social media, measurement is just as key – and brands are definitely keeping score when it comes to how effective their business is on social media:

What’s interesting about this particular section of the report is that almost every single respondent chose number of fans and followers as the #1 barometer of social media success.

This, despite the fact fans and followers can be bought for as little as $5 for 10,100 Twitter “followers”. While it’s great to have a large following, it’s how engaged and involved with your brand that really matters. Numbers mean squat unless they add to your business overall.

Social influence is truly becoming a mainstay of the business landscape when it comes to social media, with almost 2/3 of businesses looking to increase their influence in the space. As Kred, Klout and others look to grab this slice of the action, expect that number to rise in 2013.

Social Media and Revenue

Perhaps one of the biggest questions around social media is that of revenue and lead generation. With ROI still being the leading business question around social media channels and campaigns, it’s no surprise that revenue is a core part of the equation.

What is surprising are two of the answers to the revenue question:

While the top three responses make perfect sense, the next two are a little worrying. If, as a marketer, you don’t know where your customers are online, you’re immediately at a disadvantage to your competitors who’re actively profiling their customers.

Even more concerning, perhaps, is the percentage that uses social media when it comes to the lifetime value of a customer. To these businesses, there’s a simple question in return: if you’re not using the simplest way to track a customer’s satisfaction, what exactly are you using?

By knowing your customer’s social footprint and combining that with monitoring and profiling, you can get an untainted and unbiased overview of what they think about you, your brand, your product and/or your service.

Social media continues to be the greatest focus group out there, because it’s tuning in on natural conversations – so why are just over a quarter of marketers understanding this? Scary stuff.

The Future of Social Media

As you can see, there are still some major challenges in the adoption of social media when it comes to business, regardless of size and resources.

As well as the points above, other challenges include tracking multiple channels, choosing the right tools, delegating the right people and tying social media results to actual business results.

The social CRM issue continues to be one that’s lacking in uptake, with only 16% of businesses currently using a social CRM system. While 21% are planning to, 17% don’t know what a social CRM system is and why businesses need it.

It’s perhaps this last stat that’s the most concerning since, without a CRM platform in place, how do you expect to truly measure activity and results, and allocate the right resources and team members, to ensure the customer experience is everything it can be?

The good news is, companies are beginning to notice where they’re lacking and what needs to be done to improve:

53% of businesses are now using more than two Facebook accounts, to offer a more targeted experience (13% have more than five profiles).
45% of businesses have two or more Twitter accounts, with 11% having more than five profiles.
80% of marketers are creating teams of up to three people to manage social media.
65% are using community platforms to engage with their customer base, while collaboration platforms like Basecamp and Huddle are expected to be used more in 2013.

There’s no doubt that social media is here to stay. Consumers continue to be the driving force behind its growth and businesses are clearly realizing they need to catch up.

The State of Social Media Marketing report offers hope that they’re doing just that.

To receive the full State of Social Media Marketing 2012 report, click here.

Is Social Media a Waste of Time? (dannybrown.me)
How Much Listening Does Social Media Listening Really Offer? (dannybrown.me)
A Special @JugnooMe Invite to @Seesmic Users #Seesmic (dannybrown.me)