social media

Social Media Easter Eggs

How are you offering value to your customers? How is your business doing it differently from your competitors and peers?

Are you taking their service and adding a slight twist to it, or are you thinking of ways to separate you from the many other similar approaches that others are using?

“Customers” doesn’t necessarily need to refer to people paying for your services, either. Customers could be readers of your blog; or connections on Twitter; or watchers of your YouTube videos.

While they may not pay you hard cash for your “service” (blog, tweets, videos, etc), they are investing their time in you; time that could be spent elsewhere.

So how are you rewarding that? Are you? How about Easter Eggs as rewards (as in the virtual hidden message version)?

Some of the ideas I’ve been thinking of I’ll be putting into play very soon. For example, if you’re connected to me via my Facebook Page, you’ll receive something in the next 5-7 days that’s tied into Facebook and won’t be available elsewhere. Sure, someone may share it after it’s public, but until (or if) that happens, you’ll only get that something on Facebook.

Or Twitter. One of the ways that I want to use Twitter more is by time-stamping a tweet, where there’ll be a surprise for the first X amount of people to click through to a link and download area for a limited edition Twitter ebook, or similar.

Or this blog. I’m in the process of a “relaunch”, if you like, with a new design and a newsletter, just to kick things off. If you subscribe to the newsletter, occasionally I’ll pick a subscriber and send something really cool their way that’s tied into the topics we talk about in the newsletter.

The same goes with the SRM Group – we’ll be looking at ways to reward social responsibility, whether that’s on Facebook or any other social outpost.

These are just some simple, basic ways to use Easter Eggs in social media, to say thank you for your support. Hopefully each one will be beneficial, because it’ll be tied into the platform in question.

Now, imagine if you turned that over to your business to your most loyal customers? It could be offline or online – it depends where you have a bigger presence.

Instead of giving 10% off your latest product or a two-for-one offer, why not give something your customer really wants? After all, anyone can give a discount but only those that care give a benefit.

Accessories that you’d normally use as an add-on sale – can you take a hit and give them as part of the overall sale?
Guidebooks for cars – can your garage/service centre give them away to a customer for their first service?
A milestone order from a customer or supplier – can you give them a relevant partner product as well as the ordered one?

Every action you take to thank loyalty has a core reaction of extra loyalty. Get extra loyalty – well, the sky’s the limit then.

Yes?

photo credit: enough

The Art of Doing

I’ve been looking at a lot of businesses lately and watching with interest as they adapt (or don’t) to today’s business world.

Some are managing the transfer (Coca Cola, Ford, Four Seasons), while others seem to be struggling (BP, Nissan, Nestle). And these are the big boys that should be able to provide the budgets to create a successful strategy – yet as BP, Nissan and Nestle show, that’s not always the case.

So why are companies still struggling to adapt?

Having both worked at and for large corporations, the answer doesn’t always boil down to poor decision-making by the strategy team; it can have more to do with immovability and a “not quite ready yet” mindset from the decision-makers at the top.

Which is why more companies need to start learning the Art of Doing.

The Art of Doing

One thing that’s clear with any company (or at least any one that wants to be successful and stay ahead of the game) is the want for change. This could be a change in the way you do business; a change in the people that run things; a change in corporate culture; or a myriad of other compartments.

But there’s a big difference between want and making happen.

Both Ford and Nissan wanted to run a successful social media campaign for their latest products; but only Ford really made it happen. Nissan had great early success, for sure, but early success doesn’t guarantee long-term returns – something the negative reaction to the second half of Nissan’s Cube campaign shows only too well.

So how do you switch from want to do?

Make sure your ship is watertight. When you plan something, there are always going to be uncertainties. How you plan for these uncertainties defines your success. Being fluid enough to react to ad-hoc needs is key.
Question interventions. The businesses that are making the successful switch from existing to future are doing so because they have teams that believe in what they’re trying to do. Often those in more expensive suits will question your wisdom; make sure you have answers and questions of your own.
Finite or infinite. A great plan knows that to achieve and measure success, you have to have timelines and guide points. You need to know where you need to be by a certain time, and if you’re not, do you cut the cord or take one last stab at the target?

Get Motion Sickness

In late 2008, the Big Three motor companies – Ford, General Motors and Chrysler – saw their fortunes dip massively as the U.S. economy took a nosedive. As the recession bit, it looked like all three were seriously in danger of going out of business.

It was only a huge financial bail-out that saw GM and Chrysler survive. But Ford didn’t ask for a bail-out; instead, it got motion sickness.

Believing in the company’s new products and the ability to distance itself from the other two strugglers, Ford’s approach to changing things up inside and outside (the strong use of social media and consumer marketers) saw them enjoy a massive turnaround in fortune.

Make motion sickness happen for you:

Ignore the safety harness and take the direction you need to take, no matter how sharp the turn.
Use the accelerator more. Slow and steady might win the race but competition won’t always wait for you to come in.
Ride the dirt track. Just because the same road has always worked before doesn’t mean it always will. Get off the tarmac and onto the mud if you need to.

Every company wants to do. Only the good ones know the art of doing, though. Where does yours fall?

photo credit: otherthings

Permission Spamming for Friends

My friend John Haydon posted an interesting status update on his Facebook profile. Short and simple, it said: “Dear Facebook user. Please don’t tag me in a photo or video unless I’m actually in the photo or video. Thanks.”

And it stopped and made me think – are we now offering permission spamming for friends on social networks?

The minute we sign up for a service like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc, we offer our details so we can find our existing friends or online connections, and hook up with them on our new network too.

The service we sign up for assures us that our details are safe and they won’t use or give them to third-party marketing and advertising services.

Yet it doesn’t really include that same option for friends.

That then leads to a whole slew of tags or similar on Facebook (just as John mentions) that have nothing to do with us, apart from our connection to that person.

Or there’s the Direct Message on Twitter where latest blog posts are pimped, or services shilled (though to be honest, I’m pretty fortunate in the connections I have on Twitter that they only DM me great stuff that I’d want to know about anyway).

The same goes for LinkedIn, where bulk and copy/paste messages are sent out promoting a service or product that, more often than not, holds no real interest for the person it’s been sent to. There’s also video responses on YouTube and even spam coming through on the likes of Skype and BlackBerry Messenger.

Of course, a lot can be put down to the networks not making it clear to the user that just by using a certain service, friends can be spammed (or the equivalent of unwanted messages).

Take the Facebook Like option, for example. If you like my Facebook Page, then (from what I’ve been reading) any updates on my page could appear on your wall, unless you (or I) have amended our settings so that doesn’t happen.

Now, I don’t want to spam you just as much as you don’t want to be spammed, and it’s certainly not deliberate. But Facebook makes this almost mandatory, which then pisses you off and makes my page offer less value, when I want it to be the complete opposite.

And therein lies the problem with all this new “social” approach, whether it’s networking or media. To be social, we have to open up certain doors.

But what happens when these doors turn our friends into spammers? And how do we differentiate the unwanted spam from the unaware spam? Thoughts?

photo credit: Adam UXB Smith

Four Seasons Hotels and the Art of Social Media

A lot’s been written about the Roger Smith Hotel in New York, and how it’s “doing social media right.”

But that’s just one hotel in one city, and as much as they’re doing a great job, it’s the adoption of social media by the “big boys” of any industry that really show how well social media uptake there is.

Enter Toronto-based Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts group.

What’s cool about their entry into social media is not that they’ve done so, but how they’re doing it.

Four Seasons, Four Outposts

While a lot of companies dabble with a Twitter account or a Facebook fan page when it comes to their social media outlets, Four Seasons takes that and adds it to the power of many.

If you check their Social Media At A Glance page, you’ll see that not only does Four Seasons have a presence on Twitter and Facebook, but also YouTube and mobile/web applications. Yet, again, it doesn’t stop there, as you’ll see if you click on each social outlet.

Four Seasons on Twitter. Instead of just having a corporate Twitter account (which they do, and use it as an information hub), Four Seasons has individual Twitter accounts for each resort. Fun and friendly, they’re a mix of updates, offers and conversations with guests and offer a great outlet for customers old and new.
Four Seasons on Facebook. Just like Twitter, there are a host of individual Facebook pages, as opposed to the singular corporate one. And they’re also much more than your usual Facebook page, with polls, booking forms, special offers and much more.
Four Seasons on YouTube. A collection of short snippets about what summer means, the Four Seasons YouTube channel is currently pretty minimal for content, but they’ve got some great ideas about what makes for short and enticing.
Four Seasons Apps and Widgets. This is where the group gets pretty funky. Since Four Seasons caters to travelers, what smarter way to reach them than with an iPhone app? Sure, it leaves out other smartphone users, but the demographic for Four Seasons fits perfectly with the iPhone crowd, so they’ve obviously done their homework. They also have a Facebook app and an embeddable widget for your website or blog.

So, all in all, a pretty comprehensive social media presence. And that’s just for now – imagine where they could take it.

Social and Mobile Media Opportunities

While it’s great to see a large company like Four Seasons adopt social media and adopt it so well, they’ve got a great opportunity to really stand out from the pack in their industry.

They already have the iPhone app, but why not transfer that success to Android or BlackBerry? Both of these platforms have great app stores and a healthy slice of the demographic that Four Seasons attracts.

Taking that up a notch, they could also introduce a loyalty card that could be tied into both their Facebook app and their mobile app(s). Pre-book your stay either via Facebook or your iPhone, and you immediately get points added to your loyalty card to use at the resort. Or check-in via GoWalla or Foursquare and become the Mayor of a certain area to receive extra spa treats or facility use while at the resort in question.

I’d also like to see the YouTube channel being used more. Have guests make their own holiday videos to upload and share, to give a personal view of the Four Seasons approach. And use it as an educational channel as well – what shots you need for what countries, local characters, cultural differences to respect, etc.

These are just some ideas that Four Seasons (or any hotel or resort group) could add to enhance any social media experience from both their point of view and that of their guests. Some might be better suited than others to different companies, but it’d be great to see the buttons being pushed on how social media (and mobile) is being used.

In the meantime, hats off to Four Seasons for their current social media approach. Nice to see larger companies get on board so well.

How about you – any hotel or leisure groups stand out for you? And how would you like to see them using social media?

photo credit: four seasons