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Mar 5 2010

The Trust Veneer Problem in Social Media

March 5, 2010 – 1:32 pm

Yet another trip. Yet another lost bag.

Finding Trust Amid the Crowd

I am increasingly aware of the challenges businesses face in earning real trust, and this week I was left (without a change of clothes) to ponder yet again just what is going wrong in this regard. My airline can’t get me and my luggage to the same place at the same time. My car has a mind of its own about braking and acceleration. My bank sees the issuance of credit cards as an opportunity to get in my pocket for more fees. Can the fall of capitalism be far behind?

I used to feed empowered by Tweeting about such things or writing a letter to the president of the offending company, but I’m just getting weary and resigned to a more old-Soviet-style capitalism (or is that socialism?). You know: learn your bag isn’t where you are; go find ”the line;” trudge up to a counter to be confronted by a disinterested clerk…things we used to poke fun at Eastern Bloc countries about.

So, in a triumph of form over substance via technology, I can now be told that my bag is resting comfortably in a plane’s belly in Chicago (when I am in Phoenix) and that the fix for my accelerator can be made in two months, but I’ll have to make a separate appointment for the fuel line problem that could cause a fire to occur at any time. And wait… the good news is that I can make the appointments online!

Trust is getting lost the deeper we move into the ersatz “connectedness” of the social media world. The importance of the things that can’t be seen from the ticket line when we are conducting our transactions — the intangibles – are even more key to differentiating these days, but peace of mind and confidence and trust and seem to slip farther away for many companies, even as they increase attempts to connect to their audiences.

Edelman’s research for the Trust Barometer seems to disagree with this on the surface, but amidst what the research touted as an increase in trust recently (who could forget 2009?), there was this killer point: 70 percent say that businesses will revert to old, bad habits once the crisis is over.  As my grandfather used to say of a neighbor who betrayed trust between outpourings of neighborliness, “I trust that man about as far as I can throw him.”

Here’s the plea (and I’m looking in the mirror on this one). Let’s all of us who are involved in marketing soon get over the shiny object of social media. We have created a way to hear customer feedback, and we have used it to solve problems. We have created communities around products and services. These are only good things if they contribute to genuine, solid change instead of the veneer of change.

The trust veneer has developed some significant dings. People are thinking that we can’t solve the issues we face. They are marching in the streets to protest programs that deliver healthcare to uninsured fellow citizens. They are saying that government should take control of executive salaries. They are worried that their financial advisors are getting rich at their expense. Whether we work for Obama or for Ms. Smith on Main Street, the importance of building and maintaining trust has never been greater.

Matthew May, author of In Pursuit of Elegance – Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing,  wrote a good post on the subject recently, offering a roadmap for moving from the rational to the emotional in people with whom we are trying to engage beyond the veneer. He suggests zeroing in on several questions: “Will this waste my money?” (economic); “Will this work reliably well?” (functional); “What will others think of me?” (social); “Will this somehow be painful?” (physical), and ”Will I think poorly of myself?” (emotional).

Putting yourself into the minds of others with these questions (and keeping them in mind for yourself) will go a long way toward improving real trust by true engagement. These are the heartfelt questions not often articulated, but always in mind as people relate to one another.  Make it your business to answer them for your customers and others with whom you want trusting relationships.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Michael Whitlow | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , | Comments (0)
Mar 4 2010

Singing the Praises of the Twitter Hashtag

March 4, 2010 – 8:35 am

Photo courtesy of Gidzy

By Jenn Riggle

In order to effectively use Twitter, you need the right tools. And for me, it’s TweetDeck and hashtags. 

You’ve probably heard your friends or colleagues complain that Twitter can be such a time drain. But as we all know, there’s No Pain, No Gain, and you need to invest time and energy in order to be good at anything (let alone social media). The good news is that using hashtags can make Twitter more manageable so you can spend your time more efficiently and ultimately, reach the people you want to reach.

Here’s what you need to know: A hashtag is any word in Twitter that is immediately preceded by the ‘#’ symbol (a.k.a the hash). While seemingly a simple thing, hashtags can transform your Twitter experience by allowing you to separate the wheat from the chaff so you can focus on the information that’s important to you.

There are four basic reasons why people should use Twitter hashtags. These include:

  • Finding a virtual community – Whether you’re a hospital trying to find a way to connect to your community or young mom trying to find other parents on Twitter, hashtags can help. Most cities or regions have their own hashtag (for examples #RVA is the hashtag for Richmond, Va.). By using this hashtag, hospitals can mark their tweets as being relevant to Richmond residents. By the same token, a young mom can conduct a search for #parenting to find out what other parents are saying on Twitter. If you’re using TweetDeck, you simply create a column and type in the hashtag of your choice. This will allow you to track, in real time, what people are tweeting with this hashtag, making it easier for you to join the conversation.
  • Reaching your audience – Hashtags are like zip codes – they help make sure your tweets go to the right people. With the constant flow of tweets being sent out every day, it’s easy for your tweet to get lost. By attaching a hashtag to your tweet, you increase the chance that the right people will find your post, which will help you attract new followers and foster dialogue.
  • Locating information – Hashtags are an easy way to search Twitter by topic. By saving a hashtag search in a column on TweetDeck, it makes it easier to track what’s being said about a certain subject. To be included in this group, simply include the same hashtag in your tweets. Geekpreneur has some great tips on how to use Twitter hashtags to tweet more effectively.
  • Promoting an event – It’s common practice for event organizers to create a hashtag so people can live-tweet what they learn during the conference. Not only does this help event organizers promote their event, it allows people who aren’t able to attend to keep track of news from the conference. In a lot of ways, it’s more effective than Second Life as a way to virtually attend a conference.

So how do you pick a hashtag? Probably the easiest thing to do is go to Hashtags.org or Twubs to discover which hashtags are being used, which ones are most popular and whether people have posted recent tweets with these hashtags. This information will help you determine whether you want your post associated with a particular hashtag. I think you’ll eventually find a couple of key hashtags that you’ll use on a regular basis and these will become the ones you follow.

Another question you should ask yourself is whether you should create your own hashtag or use an existing one. If you’re planning to create your own, remember to keep it short since you only have 140 characters per tweet. However, I’m a big believer in using existing hashtag if it already has a following. 

Words of Wisdom

It’s important to note that you can have too much of a good thing. If you use hashtags in all of your tweets or use multiple hashtags in one post, you can look like a spammer. It’s better to use them sparingly and only when you want to mark you tweet as having information that will interest a specific audience. According to Persistence Marketing, you should never include a hashtag that isn’t related to the content of your tweet.

There’s also a relatively new phenomenon called hashtag hijacking, where people “crash the party” by posting disgruntled tweets using an event’s hashtag. While this doesn’t have direct impact for most people, it’s definitely should be on the radar screen of event organizers.

Remember: Twitter is like a marathon, you have to be in it for the long haul. So take it one tweet at a time.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , | Comments (9)
Mar 1 2010

You Can’t Run From Problems

March 1, 2010 – 12:50 am

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In the new world of communications, everything’s public and conversations happen with or without your organization (image by Martino). We know this. Yet some companies (and people) seem to hide from their very public problems, perhaps a condition of 20th century PR techniques.

You can’t run from the mirror. If anything online media shows us, somewhere down the virtual path you will find a community pond that will shine that crystal clear reflection of you. Just like private life.

That’s why smart companies acknowledge and engage stakeholders about their problems. They note where they think they are wrong, acknowledge larger implications, factually address the matters, and correct matters. In some cases, companies/brands cease operations until they can address perceived wrongs.

There was no better case of this than SeaWorld’s comprehensive crisis PR last week. The company engaged first and foremost (see Scott Monty’s analysis). But more than that, SeaWorld did not run from the accidental death. It quickly brought in outside experts to ensure trainer safety, and won’t continue full shows until a complete evaluation was performed.

This is straight forward engagement. What a refreshing difference when compared to Toyota, who tried to ignore its problems.

Others try to wash away their problems by “cause-washing” them, or simply brushing them off as business (the personal equivalent is “I’m just human”). When problems aren’t acknowledged and followed by a sincere attempt to address the wrongs, trust erodes. And in the 21st century trust increasingly drives brand value.

The networked economy caused by peer-to-peer media means problems won’t go away. The only question remains will executives corporate communicators change general practices, and start addressing their problems head on.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Comments (1)