Social Media Archives - Page 10 of 12 - McLellan Marketing Group

6 steps to take if your company is criticized in a blog post

April 23, 2010

My last blog post recounted a less than desirable experience a colleague and I had at a New York Dunkin' Donuts store. The manager was an amazing example of what not to do.

When I write about specific brands or experiences I've had, I try very hard to be respectful of the brand and to only call someone out when there's a lesson to be learned. I never do it out of spite or to cause anyone any trouble.

If the specific name of the company isn't relevant — I might not even mention it. But when a donut shop that tops the 2010 Customer Loyalty Index delivers abismal service, I'm going to talk about it.

Within 24 hours of my blog post going live, I had a voice mail message from the Director of Customer Relations, Kathy Murphy. Naturally, I called her back. We had a very pleasant conversation and I was suitably impressed.

Let's look at all the things Kathy did right…on behalf of her brand.

She was monitoring: There's no way she could have found out about my blog post without some sort of monitoring tool, like Google Alerts.

She talked to me like a human being, not a corporate drone: There was no jargon or convoluted language. She wasn't reading from a script. She was just very human.

She apologized. Several times: She wasn't at the store, so it wasn't her fault. And I wasn't mad. To me it was a marketing lesson. But to her it was a customer who had been exposed to lousy service. And she genuinely felt badly about that. If I had been mad, it would have been completely disarming.

She told me what she was going to do with the information: She made it clear that she was going to share the story with the franchise owner, so he could explore additional training for his manager.

She never chastised me for writing about Dunkin' Donuts or asked me to alter or remove the blog post: Let's be honest here — no one wants their company to appear in a blog post that calls them out for bad service. And my blog post really called them out. So I'm sure it was tempting to ask me to take down the post…or amend it in some way. But she never even hinted at it.

She dealt with the issue completely, before offering the goodwill gesture: Kathy made sure we'd covered it all and that I was content that she'd followed up before she offered to send me some free coffee to apologize. (There are no Dunkin' Donuts in Iowa, so she couldn't send a gift card). I didn't need the coffee to feel better about the experience. Kathy had already accomplished that. But I am sure that the MMG crew will enjoy the gesture!

The only additional step I would have added is — I would have suggested to Kathy that she jump into the comments on the original post. She could have started the conversation with me there so the other commenters would have seen it as well. After all, if I hadn't written this post — you wouldn't have known she had reached out.

But overall, there you have it…an almost picture perfect example of how to respond if your company gets sideways with a blogger, reporter, customer or critic. Kathy handled the situation with sincerity, a desire to learn from the experience and incredible grace. Bookmark this post — so you can follow her model if you find yourself in the same boat!

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How to get more Facebook fans

April 13, 2010

I saw this promotion late last night as I logged onto Facebook and I thought it was worthy of sharing it with you.

Everyone seems to want more Facebook fans…but really you actually want Facebook fans who know a little bit about you or are willing to try what you've got to offer.

That's what makes this Kraft Macaroni and Cheese promotion so smart.

On my NewsFeed page, I noticed this ad to the right. It offered me a free box of Mac and Cheese (hello…cheesy explosion to boot!) if I'd become their fan.

Now I will confess two things. 1) I really love Kraft's Mac and Cheese. 2) I would have never even thought to fan their page without this free offer. If the ad had simply said..please be our fan, I would have ignored it.

Lesson: If there's not a very apparent "something in it for me" we don't go around fanning pages.

So, I clicked on the become a fan button and was taken to their fan page.

I almost left because I could not see how to get my free coupon.

Lesson: Be blatantly obvious and then some. We are only going to look for about 5 seconds.

Fortunately, others had either been smarter or more persistent, so as I scanned the messages, someone had said – go to the third tab (wall, info and voila..free cheesy)

So I stuck with it long enough to click on the Get The Coupon button.

From there, I was taken to this capture screen where Kraft got the goods on me… my name, address (so they could mail me the coupon) and the holy grail — my e-mail address.

They also snagged a bit of demographics in the check boxes below.

Lesson: If you're offering something of value, don't be afraid to ask for something of value in return.

I'm betting they scored a huge number of new fans. And now for about the cost of a click, they are actually putting product in the new fan's hands. Think of what most businesses pay to get a consumer to give their product a try.

Compare and contrast this effort — where Kraft not only gets you to sample their product but also gets your contact information and some demographics to the lady standing in the grocery store, handing you a little cup of the mac and cheese.

How would you rate the relative value?

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David Meerman Scott’s sequel is better than the original!

April 2, 2010

David Meerman Scott wrote an excellent book a few years ago called The New Rules of Marketing and PR. I have been recommending it to people for a long time.

Of course, the very use of the word new meant that David was in "trouble." After all, things can't be new forever. And when we're talking about the blur of change that viral marketing brings — new is a very fleeting concept.

Fortunately for all of us, David just released a 2nd edition. (check it out or buy it here) Even better news, this edition is not just a refresh of the old book. There's a huge amount of new content for the generalists and marketing pros alike.

Many of the "new media" books written today cover the same material and the same case studies. If you've read about Zappos once, you've read about them a million times.

The case studies in this book are varied and cover just about every type and size of business you can imagine. David's clearly searched high and low…and come up with plenty of variety to not only help illuminate his points but to trigger "hey, we could do something like that" sort of thinking.

This book is part high level examination of the dramatic shifts we're all experiencing in communicating for business today, but it is also equally a practical workbook — walking readers through very applicable steps so they can quickly leap from theory to action.

Are you a newbie — wondering how/where to dip your toe into the social media waters? This book will ease your concerns and help you evaluate the best tactics to help you achieve your goals.

Are you a seasoned marketing pro — wondering how to take your efforts to a higher plane? This book will show you how some incremental shifts in your strategies can be a game changer.

Smart, practical and very hands on. This is a rare case of when the sequel is in fact, better than the original.

[Note: David sent me a copy of his book so I could read it and review it if I chose to. Hopefully you know me well enough to be confident…the review above is because I mean it, not because I got a $15 book in the mail.]

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Dale Carnegie’s advice about influence is very Life 2.0

March 29, 2010

There are some books that I believe everyone should read. No matter what your calling in life, no matter your age, maturity or how smart you are.

Dale Carnegie's classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People was written in 1936 and is still one of those books everyone should have on their shelf for quick and regular reference. Now that's longevity!

Thanks to web 2.0, you can also now carry Dale in your pocket.

The brand new iPhone/Touch app called Dale Carnegie's Secrets of Success was just released. I dropped the 99 cents and downloaded it. (Blackberry and I suspect Droid are coming soon as well.)

There's lots of quick tips and reminders layered throughout the app.

Everything from golden oldies like…the sweetest word in the English language is the sound of a person's own name to the suggestion that true leaders give their people a fine reputation to live up to.

The content is very bite-sized so it's perfect for quick consumption. There are also 30 or so videos built into the app. I wish they would have spent a bit more time and money on the aesthetics of these. But, don't let that deter you from downloading the app. It's still well worth it.

To celebrate the launch of the app, I've been given 10 copies of the book to give away.

Here's how we're going to determine the 10 lucky winners!

In the comments section — leave a comment telling us about someone you know that has incredible and impressive influence. Then, tell us how/why you think they possess that influence.

For example, I might tell you about my friend Steve who has earned his influence by simply being rock solid. People know they can depend on him and he always honors his word. He isn't flashy or showy. He just is 110% consistent and through that — he has earned the trust of many people.

We'll randomly select 10 of the respondents to win the book. So tell us about someone who's ability to win friends and influence people has caught your eye. And give the new app a try!

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Meet the Authors of Age of Conversation 3!

March 21, 2010

The manuscript is finally in the hands of the publisher (more on that exciting news later this week!) and we’re proud to introduce you to the smart, funny and insightful authors that contributed to the Age of Conversation 3: It’s Time to Get Busy.

The book will be out sometime in April (more details on that as well) and we’ll have both printed copies and some e-reader options as well!

Check out the new website as well — courtesy of our friends at Sticky.

A round of applause, if you will, for these awesome and dedicated professionals!

Adam Joseph	Priyanka Sachar	Mark Earls
Cory Coley-Christakos	Stefan Erschwendner	Paul Hebert
Jeff De Cagna	Thomas Clifford	Phil Gerbyshak
Jon Burg	Toby Bloomberg	Shambhu Neil Vineberg
Joseph Jaffe	Uwe Hook	Steve Roesler
Michael E. Rubin	anibal casso	Steve Woodruff
Steve Sponder	Becky Carroll	Tim Tyler
Chris Wilson	Beth Harte	Tinu Abayomi-Paul
Dan Schawbel	Carol Bodensteiner	Trey Pennington
David Weinfeld	Dan Sitter	Vanessa DiMauro
Ed Brenegar	David Zinger	Brett T. T. Macfarlane
Efrain Mendicuti	Deb Brown	Brian Reich
Gaurav Mishra	Dennis Deery	C.B. Whittemore
Gordon Whitehead	Heather Rast	Cam Beck
Hajj E. Flemings	Joan Endicott	Cathryn Hrudicka
Jeroen Verkroost	Karen D. Swim	Christopher Morris
Joe Pulizzi	Leah Otto	Corentin Monot
Karalee Evans	Leigh Durst	David Berkowitz
Kevin Jessop	Lesley Lambert	Duane Brown
Peter Korchnak	Mark Price	Dustin Jacobsen
Piet Wulleman	Mike Maddaloni	Ernie Mosteller
Scott Townsend	Nick Burcher	Frank Stiefler
Steve Olenski	Rich Nadworny	John Rosen
Tim Jackson	Suzanne Hull	Len Kendall
Amber Naslund	Wayne Buckhanan	Mark McGuinness
Caroline Melberg	Andy Drish	Oleksandr Skorokhod
Claire Grinton	Angela Maiers	Paul Williams
Gary Cohen	Armando Alves	Sam Ismail
Gautam Ramdurai	B.J. Smith	Tamera Kremer
Eaon Pritchard	Brendan Tripp	Adelino de Almeida
Jacob Morgan	Casey Hibbard	Andy Hunter
Julian Cole	Debra Helwig	Anjali Ramachandran
Jye Smith	Drew McLellan	Craig Wilson
Karin Hermans	Emily Reed	David Petherick
Katie Harris	Gavin Heaton	Dennis Price
Mark Levy	George Jenkins	Doug Mitchell
Mark W. Schaefer	Helge Tenno	Douglas Hanna
Marshall Sponder	James Stevens	Ian Lurie
Ryan Hanser	Jenny Meade	Jeff Larche
Sacha Tueni and Katherine Maher	David Svet	Jessica Hagy
Simon Payn	Joanne Austin-Olsen	Mark Avnet
Stanley Johnson	Marilyn Pratt	Mark Hancock
Steve Kellogg	Michelle Beckham-Corbin	Michelle Chmielewski
Amy Mengel	Veronique Rabuteau	Peter Komendowski
Andrea Vascellari	Timothy L Johnson	Phil Osborne
Beth Wampler	Amy Jussel	Rick Liebling
Eric Brody	Arun Rajagopal	Dr Letitia Wright
Hugh de Winton	David Koopmans	Aki Spicer
Jeff Wallace	Don Frederiksen	Charles Sipe
Katie McIntyre	James G Lindberg & Sandra Renshaw	David Reich
Lynae Johnson	Jasmin Tragas	Deborah Chaddock Brown
Mike O’Toole	Jeanne Dininni	Iqbal Mohammed
Morriss M. Partee	Katie Chatfield	Jeff Cutler
Pete Jones	Riku Vassinen	Jeff Garrison
Kevin Dugan	Tiphereth Gloria	Mike Sansone
Lori Magno	Valerie Simon	Nettie Hartsock
Mark Goren		Peter Salvitti

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The Age of Conversation 3 cover

March 21, 2010

Gavin and I are feeling like proud parents about now….exhausted, a bit worn thin but very, very excited. We shipped the final, edited manuscript for Age of Conversation 3: It's Time to Get Busy off to the publishers (more details soon!) this week and we're almost home.

We wanted to share the cover design with everyone. Many, many thanks to Chris Wilson (Fresh Peel blog), who got this done right in the midst of his move and transition to his new job with Fleishman-Hillard in Dallas.

He picked up some of the earlier cover design elements (done by David Armano) and added some of his own twists as well.

Chris has always been an incredible supporter of the Age of Conversation series. He even launched the first Amazon bum rush for Age 1 — and he wasn't even an author of the first book. That's all about class and community.

Fortunately, Chris' thinking is well represented in 2 and 3…and now, so are his design skills.

Again — many thanks to Chris.

Want more Age of Conversation scoop? Watch for the official author list later today as well!

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Social Media Cheat Sheet

March 5, 2010

As I speak to conference audiences across the country about social media, one of the questions I always get asked is… how do I know which social media sites to use?

Of course… there is no single, magic or easy answer to that question. It all depends on your goals, your overall marketing strategy, your resources and your industry. It's not a cookie cutter sort of thing.

However…there's nothing wrong with a little cheat sheet to help you determine which sites are best for:

Customer communication
Brand exposure
Driving traffic to your site
SEO

Which is why the cheat sheet created by CMO.com is so handy. It ranks the most popular/used social media sites (from the biggies like Facebook and Digg to the less talked about Reddit and del.icio.us) as good, okay or bad for the four goals above.

You can download a much bigger, easier to read PDF version of it by clicking here.

Hat tip to my buddy Gavin Heaton, who wrote about this a couple weeks ago.

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How to create an iPhone or Droid app for your business

February 28, 2010

Last week I announced that the Drew McLellan iPhone and Droid apps were available. I also promised that I’d walk you through the process I went through to create the apps.

To give you the kind of detail I want to share, this is going to end up being a few blog posts, rather than one novella of a post! Today, let’s focus on who I was going to partner with to get the app done.

Exploring the options

Once I decided that I had better jump on the mobile bandwagon, I sought out Mike Sansone — who many of you may know, was my blog coach when I got started and is still my Go-To guy when I need to learn something new in the space.

I asked Mike to take me on a tour of the potential vendors and help me gauge the pros and cons of each. (A side note… there are many brilliant app designers out there but I knew I didn’t need or want something that custom. So I wanted an off the shelf solution that I could customize a bit to make it my own.)

Mike showed me the following sites:

iSites (http://isites.us): This is a new player to the space.

Pros:

Price was right… One time $25 fee if they got to choose the ads that appeared in your app’s footer banner (all family friendly) or $99 a year if you selected the ads you’d allow.
They’d do all the work of submission to Apple etc.
Also would build a Droid version
Allowed the app user to share your content via Facebook & Twitter
With the $99 version, you could monetize your app if you wanted

Cons:

You had to have ads on your footer banner
They are new in the space…not a lot of feedback (good or bad) about them yet
No push (send messages to app subscribers) yet

Mother Apps (http://www.motherapp.com/)

Pros:

Clearly vetted — Guy Kawasaki and Chris Brogan among others use them
Free if you allow ads (which you can share in the revenue), $99 a year for the no ad version
They’d do all the work of submission to Apple etc.
fast — you could have your app in the Apple Store within 7-10 days of submission

Cons:

Not a lot of customizing can be done — pretty much your blog feed, your Twitter feed and one other option (most use YouTube it seems)
No push (send messages to app subscribers) yet
No Droid or Blackberry versions yet (but their site says they are coming soon)

AppMakr (http://www.appmakr.com/)

Pros:

Lots of big names are using them (Inc., Seth Godin, AllTop)
Very fast turnaround (Could be available in a day or two)
$200 one time fee
They’d do all the work of submission to Apple etc.
Phone tech support available ($120/hour)
Can customize the app’s tabs

Cons:

No push (send messages to app subscribers)
No Droid or Blackberry versions yet

Mobile Roadie (http://www.mobileroadie.com/)

Pros:

Vetted and used by people like Dan Pink and Ashton Kutcher
Incredibly easy interface and content management tool
Publishes with built in multi-language support
Has push capabilities
Already building Droid apps too
They do all the work of submission to Apple, Droid, etc.
Lots of viral features — users can share your content via Facebook, Twitter, e-mail
No ads

Cons:

Most expensive of the bunch — $500 set up fee ($200 more if you want push)
$29/month fee

I’m sure there are other vendors out there — these are just the ones we looked at. As I learned more about what was available, I was also able to sort out my own priorities. Here’s how they shook out:

Ease of use — I wanted a content management system that I could handle on my own
I wanted to be able to share more than just my blog feed and tweets
I didn’t want to be limited to iPhone users so I wanted to publish for other platforms like the Droid
I wanted the push functionality
I wanted to be able to customize the navigation (both labels and order)
I wanted users to be able to share (Facebook, Twitter etc.) my content from the app
I wanted to be able to link to my books (with easy access to buy)

In the end, despite the higher cost — I decided on Mobile Roadie. They offered more customization and the ability for me to really include a wider variety of content in my app. But it was their content management system that really won me over.

In another post this week, I’ll give you a tour of just how easy it was for me to add content and create the look/feel of my app.

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How social media has changed my world

February 27, 2010

When I get into a conversation about social media — one of the questions people ask is "how do you find the time?" The truth is…I can't afford not to find the time. It's simply a part of my life/routine now.

Why? Because like the other things that are a part of my life — it matters.

It adds value.

Deborah Chaddock Brown recently wrote a post about the 7 things she loves about social media. She then asked a few of us to do the same.

(By the way…I'm pretty sure you could make the exact same 7 statements. If you couldn't — I challenge you to figure out how to change that ASAP.)

Thanks to social media, I'm smarter: Never before have I had more information at my fingertips. And when I have a question or want more — I just comment and voila, I get more.

Thanks to social media, I'm better connected: Social media removes artificial barriers. Bloggers, Tweeters, authors, experts — all willing to pick up their phone, answer an e-mail or fire back a text. Incredible.

Thanks to social media, I'm more informed: Different from smart — this is about immediacy. Remember when we had to wait for the evening news? That seems so archaic now.

Thanks to social media, I'm speaking across the country: Sure, I was doing this before social media…but now it's much easier. Conferences and event organizers find me rather than me having to market myself to them. I'm not longer a stranger — I'm Drew from the Marketing Minute blog.

Thanks to social media, I'm an author/editor of 3 additional books: Age of Conversation I, II and soon to be released III. If I had not met my friend (and co-editor) Gavin Heaton from Australia — it would have never happened. Not to mention meeting the 200+ authors from all three editions.

Thanks to social media,I'm more accessible: I love that people reach out to me on Facebook, LinkedIn, via e-mail and sometimes — just pick up the phone. There's probably not a city in the world where I couldn't travel and find a reader, collaborator and SM friend to grab a drink or get help if I needed it.

Thanks to social media, I've met all of you: I can't imagine not knowing you. Or not seeing you at a conference and getting a huge hug. Or getting a direct tweet with a question or atta boy now and then.

Social media has not only changed my world… it has rocked my world!

Thanks for being part of the ride!

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Drew McLellan iPhone App: In case you want to carry me in your pocket!

February 24, 2010

True confession time….I feel a little silly. And yet a little smart at the same time.

Let me get to the smart part first. Here’s what I know to be true:

Our interaction with the web is shifting very quickly to mobile devices. It’s predicted by 2020 it will be the prevailing tool we use to access the internet.
The new iPad (released in March/April) will bring a new slew of people to the Apple platforms, including the world of apps.
For those who turn up their nose at Apple, the Droid smartphone is taking off like a rocket.
I create a fair amount of content but it’s tough to find it all in one place.
Apps are going to be a vital mainstream marketing tool soon and MMG needs to understand that world.
I am too big to fit into your pocket.

Now the silly part. I’m not a celebrity, famous or even one of social media’s superstars like Chris Brogan, Seth Godin or Dan Pink. So to announce that you should download me onto your iPhone or iTouch (or Droid) feels a bit presumptuous. (BTW — it’s free if that helps!)

But…I predict this will become commonplace shortly and then I’ll just be an early adopter. Besides, it really is the only way I’ll fit into your pocket!

And to entice you to download it… I’ve started creating some Marketing Minute podcasts. The easiest way to get them — the app. Short and sweet — now you can even take my voice along with you.

On my app, you’ll find:

The new podcasts
My blog posts
My posterous journal
My tweets
Links to my books
My guest posts on IowaBiz and Marketing Profs Daily Fix
Links to my Facebook, LinkedIn and FriendFeed accounts
God only knows what else!

I hope you’ll indulge me and give it a try. You can access it here (clicking on this link will launch iTunes).

If you’ve got a Droid, you can see your version of the app here (to download, just search for my name in your apps market.

Other smart marketing folks with iPhone Apps:

Jay Heyman (click here to see his app)

C.C. Chapman (click here to see his app)

Seth Godin (click here to see his app)

Chris Brogan (click here to see his app)

Dan Pink (click here to see his app)

Later this week, I’ll tell you how Mike Sansone helped me figure all of this out and some of the options out there for all of us geeky enough to want our own app.

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