Social media experiment: three strategies emerging

My social media experiment is certainly getting interesting and three different Facebook strategies are emerging. The quick re-cap is I'm interacting with 12 companies via Facebook and Twitter to see how they try to engage me through these social media outlets. (It was originally 11 companies, but I called an audible and added a 12th.) Read more about the experiment here.

Tthe three strategies are sell, tell, and engage plus a bonus strategy I call 'having no strategy'. I'm also revealing a few participants as examples.

Strategy #1: Sell
The most common social media strategy in this experiment is heavy on the media and light on the social. Companies often use Facebook and Twitter to 'meet customers where they are' and deliver promotional messages. This strategy doesn't take much effort, but it might provide the least return. Some companies in my experiment are just blasting promotion after promotion while refusing to interact with customers who comment on their Facebook pages or reply to their tweets. Others are doing a relatively good job of interacting with people who interact with them. I haven't made a purchase as result of a promotion from one of the participants in my experiment... yet.

Strategy #2: Tell
Some companies are using social media to provide useful information about their products or services. Cuvaison, a Napa Valley winery that makes amazing wine, posts You Tube videos to their Facebook page featuring their wine maker discussing various wines. I'm a member of their wine club and I thought it was cool to get a preview of my latest shipment before it arrived. I posted a comment asking when I could expect the shipment and someone from the winery quickly responded with an estimated arrival date. This strategy takes a little more effort than simply blasting sales pitches, but it can deepen your connection with your customers.

Strategy #3: Engage
Only a few companies are using social media primarily as a customer engagement tool. Best Buy is a tremendous example. My camera died after too many drops so I wanted to buy a new one. I posted a request for recommendations on Best Buy's Facebook page and received a quick response from Coral at Best Buy with a helpful link to product reviews along with two models she said were highly rated. Best Buy gets a lot of customer compliments and complaints on their Facebook page, and both get quick responses from a team of customer service reps. This strategy can lead to increased customer satisfaction, decreased customer complaints, and ultimately more loyalty, but it also takes the most time and money to execute.

Bonus Strategy: Having no strategy
Some companies have just put up a Facebook page and let the inmates run the asylum. Starbucks is a good example here. The really odd part is they have over 6 million fans, though I'm not sure why. (Perhaps I'm just not part of that demographic, whatever it is.) This strategy is by far the cheapest and easiest, but it strikes me as just doing something to follow the crowd. At the very least, companies following the 'no strategy' strategy should make it clear that their Facebook page is for fans to interact with each other and is not monitored by company representatives. 

This week's Undercover Boss seems to get it right

The television show Undercover Boss continues to yield great management lessons, but each episode is less and less cringe-worthy. I don't know if I should be happy or disappointed.

Last Sunday's episode featured Bill Carstanjen, COO of Churchill Downs, Inc., going undercover to get a glimpse of what's really happening on the front lines.  Bill seemed to get it right while sidestepping the sort of scandal shown in other episodes.  He found out his employees' jobs were really hard, but the employees he worked with were very passionate and dedicated. He was touched by their personal stories, but resisted the urge to meddle in his operations or burn one of the employees' managers on national television like other bosses have done on the show. Bill even provided a gem of a quote as the show was wrapping up:

  The most important things in life start with human interaction.

Unfortunately, the episode didn't have the kind of shocking (a.k.a. entertaining) moments I saw on other episodes. There weren't any openly disgruntled managers trying to lead the mutiny against corporate (see White Castle). I didn't see any corporate edicts being ignored (see 7-Eleven). No employee on the latest show used a coffee can for a restroom (see Waste Management). I know, 'yawn', right? Well, it was still an interesting show.

Watch Undercover Boss at Churchill Downs, Inc.

Yelpiquette suggestions for customer reviews

Yelp is a great resource for customer reviews on everything from restaurants to dry cleaners. I often turn to Yelp for suggestions and sometimes post a review myself. It's a great tool but some of the reviews are just plain outrageous.

Some of these outrageous reviews include inflammatory insults, vulgar language, and reviewers that readily mix facts with fiction. Inc. recently ran a great article called You've Been Yelped that gave an inside look at how small business owners handle Yelp reviews. It profiled one business owner who found herself on the wrong side of assault charges after confronting a reviewer at his home.

My current social media experiment shows that rude and crude reviews aren't confined to Yelp. The exchanges on many companies' Facebook pages could peel paint and make babies cry. It's truly amazing what people will say in a public forum.

It's OK to be a critic, but I have a few Yelpiquette suggestions for making your reviews both useful and fair. There's also an old, but good, discussion on the Yelp website.

#1. Be constructive

A good review should help others make a decision about whether or not to visit the business. If you feel the urge to write something negative, make sure you explain why you are down on the establishment so others will know what to avoid. Some good Yelpers make it a personal policy to visit a place twice before giving a negative review just so they are level-headed when giving their take.  It's offensive to see someone describe a multinational organization as being "a group of Nazis" because one employee was having a bad day.

#2. Be civil

Dowsing a business in the flames of your profane prose may feel like sweet revenge for a bad experience, but other people will be reading your review. A vulgar reviewer generally looks worse than the business reviewed. Try to write as if you were sharing the feedback face to face with the business owner. This will soften your tone a bit and your reviews will become much more useful to others.

#3 Make friends with facts

Someone recently reviewed my local barbershop. They wrote about the convenient location, the good haircut, and the nice touch of having a brief shoulder massage at the end. Then they went on to complain about the $20 price and gave it one star. One small problem -- haircuts only cost $12 here. Get your facts straight if you are going to write a review, especially a negative one.

I hope you do Yelp or find other ways to share your feedback so others can benefit. In the meantime, here are a few of my recent reviews: http://jtoister.yelp.com

Recent reviews by Jeff T.

What's this?

Social media experiment: who has a clear purpose?

The social media experiment is getting interesting. I've gotten a few more responses, discovered something surprising about most of the 'participants', and added another company to the mix. Here are the updates. (Read a description of the experiment here.)

More Responses

I'm feeling a bit more encouraged today than I did on Friday. Last week, I posted a question to the Facebook pages of five of the companies in the study and only received one response. I posted a question to a sixth company over the weekend and have now received a response from three out of six companies. Even better, the answers I received were very helpful. There are still some companies that I haven't interacted with on Facebook, but I'll try to get them involved this week.

Surprising Twist

John Curran asked if any of the companies in this study had Service Level Agreements for their Facebook or Twitter pages (find John on Twitter @TrainingTsar). In other words, did they have a clear policy that described what type of service customers could expect through these outlets, such as how quickly they'd respond to inquiries. I couldn't find published service standards for any of the companies in the study, but John's question helped me realize I had overlooked something obvious:

Do these companies clearly identify their reason for being on Facebook and Twitter?  It is a best practice to set clear expectations when you interact with your customers. Companies should state on their Facebook page "Here's why we have a Facebook page". Their Twitter page should contain some statement that says "Here's why you should follow us on Twitter." I checked each of the companies in the study and found a big gap:

 One company's Twitter page described why you should be a fan on Facebook, but not why you should care about their Tweets (odd). Only one company had a statement of purpose on both Facebook and Twitter. 

New Company 

I added a 12th company to the study over the weekend. One of the unresponsive companies in the original group has a direct competitor that I also frequent. Their competitor didn't show up in my initial search on Facebook and Twitter, but I discovered over the weekend that they are in both places. Now things will get even more interesting with some head to head competition for my discretionary income!

What's ahead...

This week should prove interesting as I attempt to interact with the remaining companies in the mix. I've also decided to start revealing the companies as I reach some conclusions about their social media approach. Finally, your comments and suggestions are much appreciated!

Social media experiment starts with a fizzle

My social media experiment is off and walking. Not for any lack of trying on my part. Just a lack of social on the part of the companies I'm trying to interact with. (Read more about the experiment here.)

What happened in round 1?

I kicked things off by posting a question on the Facebook fan page of 5 of the 11 participants. I'll get to the other 6 later, but I want to keep it natural and I only had a legitimate reason to contact 5 of these companies so far.

One day later, I've received a response from only one company. A fellow 'fan' answered the question I posted to another company's page, so I suppose that's fair too. The other three companies are radio silent so far.

Demographics

My colleague, Grace Judson, offered a theory on how this will play out:

I suspect the level of engagement will depend heavily on the size of the company - which isn't something you've listed in the demographics. My guess is that the smaller the company, the more interactive they'll be.

I think Grace's theory is a good one, but the one company that's responded to me so far had over a million Facebook fans. Here's a snapshot of the fans and followers for my test subjects:

More predictions...

Angela Hill is one of my social media gurus. She offered an interesting perspective on what will determine whether a company succeeds or not in this arena:

The gaping chasm between followers and true engagement will grow deeper as we move towards a fully integrated online branding experience. Companies who do not quickly evolve and adapt will struggle with measuring and controlling the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. Whereas companies who do embrace this new Marketing 3.0 methodology will develop stronger, more transparent, interactive relationships with their client base, which will in turn generate revenue, allow for predictable metrics and build brand loyalty.

Yeah - Angela can get a little deep, but I think her theory is essentially that companies interested in engagement (the 'social' aspect) will do well while companies following a more 'media' strategy may get left behind. You can hear more of what Angela has to say about branding and social media by following her on Twitter: @incitrio.