Tag: social media

Social media is the new customer service

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Social media is transforming the way brands think about customer service. Prior to social media, the risk of providing poor customer service was minor. One customer complaint would have been heard by few others. Today, every single service incident has the potential to become a public relations debacle. Every customer now has a megaphone to express disdain.

There are multiple incidents that illustrate how important social media has become to keeping customers happy: The Comcast technician asleep on a couch YouTube video, and the JetBlue public relations nightmare after planes were stuck on the tarmac for hours, to name just a couple. Brands have taken notice and are beginning to be more proactive in the social media and customer service arena. Continue reading “Social media is the new customer service”

Poll: Is Facebook hurting us?

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An Oxford neuroscientist recently suggested that repeated exposure to Facebook might have detrimental effects on our brain. Quoted in online UK publication Daily Mail, Susan Greenfield says, “My fear is that these technologies are infantilising the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment.”

Do you agree? Is Facebook permanently rewiring our brains, and hurting our ability to communicate and focus? Take our poll!

Can privacy exist in social media?

Posted on by Lab Team

Privacy (rpongsaj via Flickr)The Facebook privacy flap of the last week, shows that today’s social media user wants to be able to share and stay connected, but on their terms.

We’ve embraced social media platforms such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter that were designed to help us share our thoughts, our lives and experiences.  We’ve willingly handed out our personal information and content streamed our lives. But we want to own the personalities that we’ve voluntarily shared in the digital realm.

Information posted on the social Web is meant to be shared, so perhaps Facebook believed that ownership was not a concern to its users. Well, they were very wrong!  Continue reading “Can privacy exist in social media?”

OMMA Social Highlights

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ipopeRecently, I attended OMMA Social in San Francisco. A number of good speakers reflected on the power and influence of social media. New chatter about new trends, however, was conspicuously at a minimum. The consensus was that social media has transformed the way we do business: Brands no longer call the shots and consumers’ voices are being heard.

There was agreement amongst all that listening to social media is key, and ignoring the conversation is not an option. But what I took away is that social media remains a challenging space for marketers. Here are the top six tips, direct from OMMA, for marketers: Continue reading “OMMA Social Highlights”

What is the future of social media in ‘09?

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social2009As we start the new year, I wanted to provide some thoughts on social media trends for 2009 (also check out this review of the Lab’s 2009 Digital Trends). Although some of these concepts are not new, in 2009, we’ll see increased usage and adoption by brands and consumers. Here is a look at where things are now and where we may be heading: 

Trend #1: Internal business functions get social
Social media strategies continue to get injected into business functions.  Uses include support forums, wikis and Twitter (ComcastCares) for customer service and support; gated communities and monitoring tools for market research; customer collaboration sites and community suggestion boxes for product improvement and development; internal communities for employee communications; and social strategies for employee recruitment. This is beginning to reduce transactional costs, contribute to democratized efficiency and ultimately change infrastructure. Continue reading “What is the future of social media in ‘09?”

Social media for a social cause

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socialcauseSocial networking tools are facilitating social change in ways that weren’t possible before. These tools are uniting like-minded individuals and gathering support from around the world. A connected culture is demonstrating the ability to improve lives.

Facebook, YouTube and Twitter offer many opportunities to put the power of good – charity, support, awareness, etc. – in the hands of so many. Teach For America, an organization that recruits, trains and places teachers in inner-city schools, is now recruiting both teacher candidates and donors with popular YouTube videos. Facebook Causes lets members start and join causes such as cancer researcher Eric Ding’s  Facebook Cause for cancer prevention and research. The cause has over three million members and has raised over $75,000. Beyond the promotion of charitable causes and direct appeals, social media expands some truly creative opportunities to become philanthropically involved. Ebay, with its partner MissionFish, now offers the opportunity to donate a portion of auction (or “Buy It Now”) proceeds to the charity of the seller’s choice. It’s become such an effective tool that Ebay now promotes the service as a recommended selling tool. Continue reading “Social media for a social cause”

LinkedIn becomes a community, finally

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linkedinLinkedIn, boasting 28 million registered users in close to 150 industries, is at last doing things to incorporate community and the exchange of information within its network.

Since its launch in 2003, the professional networking site has served more as an online destination to store business contacts than a community offering value to our working lives. With the highly anticipated introduction of new social features, such as branded groups and custom applications, LinkedIn is trying to change this. At the same time, the company is offering brands a chance to engage with desirable business professionals in unique ways. Continue reading “LinkedIn becomes a community, finally”

Crowdsourcing for product improvement

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crowdsTraditionally, large companies depended on their internal and trusted resources for new product and service development. Today, the idea of companies outsourcing their R&D efforts to consumers has caught on. With the excess of online collaborative tools in the age of consumers as creators, companies are engaging with and listening to customers in entirely new ways. With easy access to loyal fans and eager customers, why not tap into the collective intelligence for product development?

Companies, large and small, are seeing the value of casting a broader net and are opening up the design process to the “crowd” (customers, vendors, employees, consumers, and experts). Several have launched dedicated sites with built-in community elements that allow customers to share, vote, and discuss ideas on the products and services. Anyone is invited to participate at such sites as: Continue reading “Crowdsourcing for product improvement”