Are Your Customers Dumping You?

This is a surprisingly good parable put out by Microsoft illustrating the way most companies advertise to their customers and what the customers think about it. This is why customer engagement is so important.

Can You Be Too Anti-Social For Social Media?

I put a cartoon in my social media book with the caption, “Burt is too anti-social for social media.” It turns out there are a few Burts in this world.

One of my co-workers showed me a marketing writer’s screen on Facebook. I recognized her name. She writes a lot and her work appears in a number of blogs. She’s always seemed to have a good grasp of the marketing function. That’s what made the status update curious.

This marketing guru essentially told everyone to sod off. She was far too important to be just anyone’s Facebook friend. Only a select few would be so honored. Everyone else should quit sending her friend requests because she’s going to reject them out of hand. She’s simply too busy for this tripe.

Read More at Contracting Business

Why Executives HATE Social Media (from DemingHill)

Note:  This excellent white paper on executive resistance to social media and why executives should reconsider is getting a lot of play online.  While it was written for large company executives, it is equally applicable to small business owners.  If you're unsure about social media and consider it a waste of time, it might be worth a small investment of time to read this white paper.

Source:  http://www.deminghill.com/blog

Reprinted With Permission

I’m an executive and I HATE social media.  There, I said it.  It’s finally “out there.”  But before you Twitter a flaming flash mob link to assemble pitchfork-wielding Second Life villagers outside my door, I urge you to take a deep breath, put down your double frappuccino, remove your earpiece, step away from your iPad, and set your iPhasers to stun, for I come in peace.  If you’ve ever wondered why your CEO ALSO hates social media, social networking and, well, socializing in general, I urge you to continue reading.  Just as Fox TV’s Masked Magician series demystified the tricks of the world’s most famous illusionists, I offer the following as both a behind-the-scenes peak and a confessional of sorts, into the mind of the executive.  For to truly understand the conflicting yet predictable stonewalling in this domain, one must search deep below the surface, plumbing the depths of the executive psyche, motivations, and worldviews, for only then will you be able to “crack the code,” engage us in our native tongue and communicate in a vocabulary and language to which we will respond.  Consider this your own personal backstage pass to the inner sanctum of the Executive Suite.

Executive: More Perception Than Position

For starters, the term “executive” isn’t a title as much as it is a mindset or a set of attributes – often leading to career success and the achievement of such rank – but what might surprise most is that this ambition and executive mentality often begins to manifest itself early in life.  For example, while most were partying and hanging out in high school, we were already taking college-level classes while holding down several part time jobs.  And when most were “finding themselves” in college and still deciding on a major after three years, we were serving in student leadership, doing internships, or doubling up on classes to finish college a semester early.  And when most were finally in the workforce, instead of clubbing and playing in multiple softball leagues, we were completing an advanced degree in night school, pursuing professional certifications, and framing out retirement plans.

Executives are high achievers – that’s just how we’re wired.  Give me a mountain and I’ll climb it.  And if you don’t have a mountain, I’ll find my own mountain and I’ll climb it.  And if I can’t find a mountain, I’ll build one – just so I can climb it. But here’s what most people don’t get about executives. Once a CEO climbs a mountain, he doesn’t feel the need to Tweet to the world that he did it.  He doesn’t have the natural desire to blog, “Look what a great climber I am” and include multiple pictures with links to his Facebook and LinkedIn account.  He did it because it’s in his DNA.  He doesn’t require the attention, approval, or applause of others, and therein lies the fundamental source of the problem – executives are non-narcissistic in a YouTube world.  We’re outliers.  In a society that brags, blogs, and Tweets about the tiniest personal minutia, we could care less because, frankly, we expect success, it’s normal to us.  It’s like Vince Lombardi’s admonition to his running back after an overly exuberant display, “Next time you make a touchdown, act like you’ve been there before.”

Eagles Don’t Flock

Executives are “eagles,” and unlike seagulls, eagles don’t flock. We’re not joiners and we’re not groupies, which is why we overwhelmingly prefer challenging single-person sports like running, cycling, weightlifting, and our one concession to “group sports” – golf (which is still technically a single-person sport, but more fun in groups).  Lance Armstrong didn’t win his titles without leaving the peloton, and ditto for greats like Sampras, Tiger, and Arnold.  They had to go above and beyond the group to achieve greatness, and for this reason it truly IS lonely at the top (not that we mind).

Social Networking: The Problem is “Networking”

The reason we hate social networking is the same reason we hate REGULAR networking.  Exchanging small talk for 2 hours in a room full of strangers, with a drink in one hand and a business card in the other, and a “Hi, I’m Doug” nametag peeling off my lapel, and standing – my goodness the standing – and looking unsuccessfully for ANY food with some protein in it, and wondering if this guy with the too-firm handshake is going to see if we can “LinkIn” after sharing an elevator ride, before glancing at my watch and counting the minutes until I can leave and get back to work.  It’s a nightmare.  Why?  Because – surprise, surprise – most executives are actually introverts, who value their time and their privacy and are constantly evaluating the ROI tradeoffs of every hour of every day.  (Quiz:  How many times have you heard a CEO describe himself as a “People Person”?)

To say that we are ANTI-social would be a huge misrepresentation, but when you combine the word “social” with “networking” – let’s just say it sends shivers up my spine.  Do I like the company of others?  Sure I do – but I want the time to be well spent.  Instead of random, shallow, unfocused SMALL talk, CEO’s would much rather sit around with a small group of peers for 2 hours and discuss BIG specific challenges – and their solutions.  In fact, the reason so much business gets done on the golf course is because it’s one of the few places leaders actually congregate and feel relaxed enough to discuss what’s really on their minds.

Social Networking: The Problem is “Social”

The next hurdle for executives with social networking are the implications of the root word “Social”, and, by its very spelling, its association to Socialism. Socialism is defined as, “Any system of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively,” and further, “An economic and political theory based on public ownership or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources.”  (At least that’s what someone wrote on Wikipedia). The premise and value of the “social media” movement is the power of the collective in the production, distribution, and ownership of goods, and the reason executives resist this model is that it flies in the face of their existing worldview which, quite frankly, has been pretty successful to date.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Most of us have a pretty big chip on our shoulders, attributing our career success to the years of diligence, education, ambition, delayed gratification and sacrifices we’ve made to reach the leadership levels we’ve achieved.  Therefore, the anti-capitalistic notion that my work and contributions would be homogenized with the uninspired masses, and that ultimately my value would be determined by the randomness of the collective is a jarring and unpalatable departure.  I want to control my company!  I want to control my brand! I want to determine my destiny!  It’s too important to leave it to chance (or simply be outvoted by the uninformed bourgeois)!  Unfortunately and tragically for us executives, the beauty and power of social media is only fully unleashed when we LET IT GO, and that, my friends, is the hardest thing for us to do (…and also explains why we hate checking luggage at the airport).

Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts

Okay, I promised that this would be a confessional, so here’s a shocker.  Over time, there is a tendency for CEO’s to get inflated EGO’s.  Now granted, a healthy ego can serve as a necessary defense mechanism to provide protection from the relentless attacks from subordinates, peers, and the media, but too much amounts to just plain pride.  We like to think of ourselves as a pretty smart bunch, and our position is such that even if we don’t completely understand something, we often project to our colleagues that we do.  A classic example of this phenomenon transpired during the Enron debacle, where ranks of senior executives refused to admit that they couldn’t comprehend the mechanics of this powerful conglomerate, until it was too late.  It’s the same with new advances in technology, which has accelerated during our careers from “hit or miss” to “mission critical,” going from bricks to clicks and from mortar to mindshare, while serving as a platform for everything from infrastructure, billing, and product development, to security, scheduling, and sales.  The rapid rate of change in digital innovation has caused CEO’s to feel EXTREMELY vulnerable around technology because it is something on which we have become VERY reliant, but which we understand and “control” so little, and this vulnerability leads to fear, and this fear to irrational decisions and suboptimal outcomes.  When CEO’s don’t have the confidence in their staff to delegate, or lack the humility to admit their ignorance regarding technology advances, they get defensive and act out in fear – or fail to act altogether.

Social Media: Justified Fear?

Executives justify their fear of social media by pointing back to a historic drumbeat of disappointment and unfulfilled promises.  They recall with vivid detail the never-ending parade of new online engagement vehicles and “paradigms” introduced over the past 15 years by turtleneck-wearing gurus with names like Kip or Seth, which were then propagated by self-proclaimed “New Economy” experts sporting titles like “Chief Innovation Officer” and “Director of Chaos,” and then championed by sideburn-wearing hipster foot soldiers who never metafilter they didn’t like.  In the 90’s, we were promised that customers would beat a path to our door if we created something called a “web page” and then “posted” it on this thing called the Internet or World Wide Web or something.  Then they convinced us to buy electronic lists and send out “Email Blasts” to our target markets, and next it was a website redesign, push technology, pull technology, exchanged links, partner intranets, eBusiness, eCommerce, blogging, webinars, podcasts, search engine optimization, YouTube videos, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, yada, yada, yada.  Each time they promised that THIS TIME it would be different, and that this new product/protocol/portal/potion would somehow (magically??) drive revenue, increase efficiency, and optimize utilization (or some other buzz word or invented metric).  You told me to blog, so I blogged.  You told me to Twitter, so I Tweeted.  What’s it going to be tomorrow – scan my body into a mashup simulator to create a hologram so I can telepresence myself into sales calls in Madrid via FourSquare using Flickr?  All I know is that I’ve spent a LOT of time and money on a series of disjointed initiatives and campaigns and so far NONE have performed as advertised.

Don’t Feed Me Another Fad

Look, executives aren’t that complicated.  While I can handle the many nuanced “grey areas” of business leadership, I prefer to see things in black and white; victories and defeats; profits and losses.   I don’t mind making significant, strategic multi-year investments and committing to enterprise-wide initiatives which will improve the future performance of my company – in fact, I ENJOY it – what do you think got me to the Executive Suite in the first place?  Just don’t insult me.  I don’t want to waste any more time or money on the hype of  “the next big thing” or the newest tool or toy, only to be disappointed when the latest flash-in-the-pan fad fades and goes the way of Harvard Graphics.  It’s not that I have a fear of commitment – frankly, it’s just the OPPOSITE!  I have a healthy fear and distaste for doing things randomly just to be doing something; or because someone saw an article in USA Today, or CNBC did a story on it, or out of fear that I’ll be the last one in my circle to “get on board.”  (Believe me, the things that keep me up at night can’t be solved in 140 characters or less).  The truth is, I would LOVE to commit to social media in a significant way, but so far nobody in my organization has stepped forward with a cerebral, strategic, multi-generational, integrated, systematic, and sustainable methodology and roadmap for synergistically capitalizing on this medium over the long haul.

Your Network is Your Net Worth

Executives are uniquely conflicted because we know better than anyone the power of relationships, and the truth of the old axiom, “Your network is your net worth,” yet we are inherently introverts, and gravitate towards solitude versus socializing.  We understand on an intellectual level that none of us individually are “too big to fail,” and that even the Lone Ranger had Tonto and Batman had Robin, yet we find initiating conversations and exchanges with others to be draining, distracting, and exhausting rather than invigorating and inspiring.  Hence we yearn; as a group we pine; for deep within our heart of hearts burns a great bright hope that somehow and in some way this social media movement or platform or culture or whatever could be harnessed and leveraged to cross that chasm and create valuable, authentic exchanges and relevant, real-time dialogue with stakeholders of all persuasions. If we could just develop an all-encompassing framework for how this would integrate into our enterprise-wide strategy, and manage it like a mission-critical project (complete with milestones, deliverables and accountability instead of fuzzy metrics like “buzz”), I am supremely confident that we could achieve escape velocity and – for the first time – truly establish and be able to articulate a synergistic, sustainable, and quantifiable strategy for leveraging “Best-In-Class” social media options to achieve desired corporate outcomes and maximize financial returns.

A Gift From Media To You

You know, it’s interesting.  Somewhere in the convoluted catharsis of composing this confessional, I came to a surprising realization.  Maybe I don’t HATE social media after all.  Maybe I just hate the Quixotic context in which most social media conversations exist, featuring a perpetually moving target, combined with an obsessive, cult-like worship of the default worldview, “If Something is New = It Must Be Good”, and where subjective criteria like “mindshare” and “impressions” are considered quantifiable deliverables and irrefutable barometers of success.

Come to think of it, maybe it’s high time that a C-level individual engaged this topic, and – once and for all –created a high-level overview and synopsis, crystallizing all of the strategic benefits and critical value streams, and distilling them into a language that speaks to executives everywhere in our native tongue – bottom line stakeholder value.  So here you go.  I’ve done the work for you.  What follows is an “Executive Summary” of my findings.

Social Media Value #1:  Unfiltered Feedback

As you already know, some of the scarcest (rarest) yet most valuable information a CEO can obtain is honest, unfiltered feedback.  Think about it.  You interact all day with managers, employees, and handlers working to keep the boss happy and therefore keep their job.  Sure, being surrounded by “Yes men” can be more comfortable, but it can also insulate you from the stark realities of your business.  If done correctly, social media enables CEO’s to hear raw, candid feedback from real people – people who aren’t afraid of being fired because they CAN’T be fired.  The truth is, leaders with their ego in check are already fully aware that they work for the customer – the customer is his boss – so if the customer doesn’t like dropped calls on their iPhone or the sauce on their Domino’s pizza, it’s their job to make it better.  Now, every customer is not always right (or wrong), but if 850 out of 1000 user comments say that the new Sketcher’s Sport shoe caused them to sprain their ankle, then something needs to be fixed – and FAST!  CoolCleveland’s Founder Thomas Mulready is a perfect example of a CEO with this customer orientation.  After emailing out his weekly eMagazine for 7 years, he decided that it needed to be updated, and set about introducing a new format with much fanfare.  In doing so, he also did something revolutionary – he asked all 90,000 of his readers for feedback on what they thought of the new style – and boy did they reply with scores of comments submitted over the span of a few days. But then he did something else revolutionary – he actually listened, modifying and improving the new site to reflect reader tastes and preferences.  Yes, it takes humility (“Who are these people to give ME feedback?  I invented this product! Don’t they know they can just click the links?) but the end result is an engaged audience who now feel genuinely empowered to provide even MORE feedback, emboldened by the knowledge that their  comments actually impact (and can improve) the end product.

Social Media Value #2:  Authenticity

Hand-in-hand with the unfiltered feedback above is the ability to leverage social media to authentically communicate with your employees, partners, customers (and non-customers), investors, and media, directly engaging ALL of your brand ambassadors efficiently and economically.  Rather than layers of staff, spokespeople, and sterile press releases, social media now offers an elegant and effective medium for disseminating information either “straight from the heart” or “straight from the horses’ mouth” depending on your preferred idiom. Dan Gilbert’s recent LeBron James “rant” would qualify as both, capturing the owners’ anger, frustration, and competitive resolve just moments after James’ announced his departure.  As you’ve probably noticed, NOBODY can tell the company story and embody the company brand like the CEO (think Steve Jobs) and by offering the ability to immediately and directly engage stakeholders – whether on a typical day, during a product launch, and/or especially during a time of crisis – social media provides an invaluable medium for maximizing brand value and minimizing potential brand degradation.  Social media helps firms “Keep it real” but couches it in a positive brand-reinforcing context.

Social Media Value #3: Six Sigma (Low Cost)

In case you were wondering, executives LOVE things like Six Sigma because, 1. It reminds us of our Greek fraternity days in college, 2.  The other soccer Dad’s don’t understand Value Stream Mapping, and 3. Six Sigma and lean processes are all about SPEED and COST SAVINGS, two of our favorite topics.  By its very architecture, social media is positioned to leverage firms’ Six Sigma orientation by expediting interactions, exchanges, customer service, feedback loops, product launches, marketing, and advertising, AND enabling it at a fraction of the cost of traditional media, to a much more targeted audience, and in a far more nuanced and contextual value exchange.  Social media options allow your message distribution format to evolve from shotgun to sniper, from billboard to message board, and from broadcast to narrowcast.  PLUS, it takes your marketing posture from a one-way, blanketing, bullhorn approach to a more intimate, just-in-time interaction; offering the opportunity for a more detailed, valuable and more PROFITABLE conversation and connection with your audience (and you don’t need a Black Belt to do it).

Social Media Value #4:  Balancing Transparency AND Privacy

The only thing worse than NOT using social media tools is using them in the WRONG way.  Your firm could very easily invest time and money on social media, and then end up spending even MORE time and money doing damage control because you did it wrong the first time – talk about a lose-lose situation.  With social media, there’s a “right way” and a “wrong way” to do things – so if you’re GOING to do it, do it RIGHT.  Remember, anywhere-anytime-anyone social media channels must be handled as the “nuclear options” that they are, with the capability to destroy your brand value in a single Twitter, email, or YouTube video that goes viral.

With great power comes great responsibility, and a healthy respect for the global reach and impact of social media must emanate directly from the CEO, who knows better than anyone that the same programs allowing firms to connect and influence the marketplace can also be turned against you to alienate them.  And just as social media can provide the market with a transparent window into the soul of your company, it can also showcase you at your worst, doing more harm than good.  Let’s face it, your firm is ALREADY dabbling in social media as it is – so you might as well manage your risk and liability by codifying corporate expectations, establishing specific ground rules, and educating your stakeholders regarding proper use of these seemingly innocent yet powerful tools.

Social Media Value #5: Supporting Statistics

Executives rely on market research to support and substantiate any designated course of action, and devour facts, stats, and data-points like shrimp at a wedding reception.  Summarized below are a few statistics buttressing the explosion of this social media trend, and detailing how Corporate America is leveraging it to realize significant revenue and market share growth going forward.

• In the last 7 years, Internet usage has increased 70% PER YEAR. Spending for digital advertising this year will be more than $25 billion and surpass print advertising spending (forever)

• Lenovo has experienced a 20% reduction in activity to their call center since they launched their community website for customers

• Blendtec quintupled sales with its “Will it Blend” series on YouTube

• Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI

• Naked Pizza set a one-day sales record using social media: 68% of their sales came via twitter and 85% of their new customers

• Software company Genius.com reports 24% of social media leads convert to sales opportunities

• Dell has already made over $7 million in sales via Twitter

• 37% of Generation Y heard about the Ford Fiesta via social media BEFORE its launch in the US and currently 25% of Ford’s marketing budget is spent on digital/social media

• 71% of companies plan to increase investments in social media by an average of 40%

• A recent Wetpaint/Altimeter Group study found companies that widely engage in social media surpass their peers in both revenue and profit

(Sources for Statistics: meyersreport.com lenovosocial.com George Wright Blendtec Mashable.com econsultancy.com businessweek.com )




Getting Your Board On Board


Lest we forget, even the Boss has a Boss – they’re called the Board of Directors – and these are the people that recruit and hire CEO’s for the purpose of serving as a charismatic and visionary leader of their organization.  And so I urge you, don’t disappoint them when it comes to leveraging social media within your organization.  The “Bang for the Buck” value proposition is too compelling to ignore, and the fact is – your competitors are already entering this arena and establishing new service baseline norms and minimum threshold expectations – so standing still amounts to losing ground and therefore is not an option.  What you need is a plan.




An Offer You Can’t Refuse


My associates and I are going to go out on a limb and try something a little crazy, something we’ve never done before.  We are going to offer senior leaders an exclusive, live, invitation-only Executive Briefing entitled“Maximizing Your Social Media Strategy” and presented by the top brass at DemingHill.  This executive-to-executive webinar will feature a deep-dive into the ROI and business case for leveraging social media, and will allow participants to ask questions and interact real-time with the authors of this article. (Because there is no charge, we must limit this event to executives and/or members of their management teams. Held August 10 & 11th).


Do I STILL hate social media?  No, BUT I’m only going to embrace it on the “executive terms” that have served me so well to this point in my career and they are, “If you’re going to do something, go ALL IN and do it right.”  From now on, all social media, social marketing, and social networking will be discussed in the context – not of a CAMPAIGN (which starts and ends) – but as part of an ongoing, strategic, and systematic DIALOG with our stakeholders and marketplace.


Executives have the focus and vision to roadmap strategies playing out 3, 5, and 10 years into the future.  But, we’re also “plodders” and are comfortable with short, measured, consistent steps – day in and day out – as long as we know that they are aligned with reaching a desired goal.  When we discuss your social media strategy, the focus will be on consistency and sustainability over the long haul.  Remember, executives don’t have the ego needs, risk profiles, or the TIME to be on the bleeding edge, or even the cutting edge.  We just want it to work.


I can confidently predict that every month for the next 100 years there will be a new “Must Have” application, portal or community that one of your employees will discover, and then try to convince you that your company will implode if you don’t immediately join, link, or Retweet.  In five years, all but three of these ideas will probably be forgotten.  During our meeting, we will discuss how to frame out an enterprise-wide social media strategy, predicated on the foundation of proven tools and that have stood the test of time and offer “Best-In-Class” results, so that you will be empowered to handle these conversations proactively in the context of a larger roadmap, rather than reacting to these weekly ambushes in a dismissive defensive way.  Remember, our goal for social media is not a lark, but a LIFESTYLE, and work-shopping a strategy which builds on stable, scalable tools, yet also affords the flexibility to address unprecedented “Black Swan” technology developments, provides you with a welcome buffer from being whipsawed by a weekly website.  Between the two of us, we’ll finally take that reliable “80/20 Rule” and apply it to social media, and then spend time focusing on the 80% of stakeholder value that can be extracted with 20% of the effort (while knowingly and purposefully ignoring the remaining 20% of value which takes up 80% of the effort).




The Bottom Line


In the Forward of Geoffrey Moore’s bestseller “Crossing the Chasm” Regis McKenna writes:


“Fundamentally, marketing must refocus away from selling product and toward creating relationships. Customers don’t like to be ‘owned’ if that implies lack of choice or freedom. But they do like to be ‘owned’ if what that means is a vendor taking ongoing responsibility for the success of their joint ventures.  Ownership in this sense means an abiding commitment and a strong sense of mutuality in the development of the marketplace. When customers encounter this kind of ownership, they tend to become fanatically loyal to their supplier, which in turns builds a stable economic base for profitability and growth.”


While there will always be a “me” in media – social media, social marketing, and social networking tools were designed to work best as a conduit for enabling information exchange, establishing a dialog, and creating a two-way conversation with your audience.  At the end of the day, social media is simply about creating and maintaining relationships – and even and executive can do that.


Authors:

Douglas J. O’Bryon- MBA

Chief Marketing Officer VendorCert

Nathan Kievman- MBA

Chief Executive Officer DemingHill

Randy Schrum

Executive Vice President DemingHill

This Says It All About The Yellow Pages

If you're marketing to consumers over age 60, the yellow pages are still necessary.  If you're marketing to consumers under age 40, you probably don't need a presence at all.  If your target customers fall in between 40 and 60, a yellow page presence may be necessary, but not on the scale (and expense) of the past.

The death of the yellow pages makes marketing more complicated for service companies.  You can no longer take out a big yellow pages ad and simply wait for the phone to ring.  Today, you must use search engine local search, SEO, SEM, and increasingly, social media.  Are you?

For HVAC contractors attending HVAC Comfortech in Baltimore in September, I'm teaching a class on social media.  Be sure to attend.  I'm also starting on a book titled, "Social Media for the Service Contractor," that will be given away to anyone attending my class at Comfortech.  If there are any copies left, I'll make them available for sale.

Expanding your circle of influence

If you lived in Lewisville, Texas, a Dallas suburb of 100,000 people, and I could show you how an hour a week could help you get to know the mayor, police chief, county commissioner, the presidents of four local banks, a candidate for U.S. Senate, the owner of the town's leading property management company, one of the area's top developers, general managers from two auto dealerships and a host of other business and community leaders would you invest an hour?

Read More at Contractor Magazine

Making Sales Off Facebook

Can a small business make money using social media?  Absolutely!  Gabe Wade took one of the coupons created by the Service Roundtable for contractors to use with Facebook and posted it. 

"Looks great," wrote Gabe about the coupon.  "Thanks.  For the little effort it takes we have made our first sale off of face book!"

Now, think of the effect if all employees posted the same coupon so their friends could benefit?  What if they asked their family and friends to share the coupon?  The numbers could get very large, very fast.

Are you marketing through social media?

Facebook Passes Yahoo in Hits, Leads Everyone In Share of User Time

Do you have a Facebook fan page for your company?  If not, why not?  After all, it's F-R-E-E. And Facebook ads can be more precisely targeted and are more cost effective than Google Adwords.

According to the web analytics company, Compete, Facebook has passed Yahoo as the second most popular website on the Internet...

Only Google gets more unique visitors than Facebook and Facebook is closing in on Google fast. Google is attempting to respond to the Facebook threat with Buzz. While I would never underestimate Google, Facebook's ease of use means Buzz is unlikely to pose much threat. Meanwhile, Facebook's share of Internet user time is stunning and must concern Google.

Facebook accounted for 11.6% of time online, more than Google (4.1%) and Yahoo (4.3%) combined...

Only the foolish business owner overlooks the potential opportunity represented by Facebook. Remember, business is built on relationships and Facebook is merely a digital way to build and reinforce relationships with your customers. It's more efficient and less expensive than attending a network group, chamber meeting, or service club.

Click here to become a fan of the Service Roundtable.

Click here to become a friend of mine on Facebook.

Click here to follow me on Twitter.

Click here to connect with me on Linked In.

Click here to connect with me on Plaxo.

10 Technology Resolutions For 2010

Note: This is my column from Southern PHC Magazine. Normally, I would link to the article, but the magazine doesn't post articles online so I'm reprinting here.

The only constant in the world is change. Regardless of our desires, the world changes. Our industry changes. Technology changes. When your world is changing around you, it’s necessary for you to change with it. Here are my top tech resolutions for the coming year that will allow you to keep up.


1. Line Extension

The PHC industry’s products are evolving. New products are emerging that present contractors with more revenue opportunities. The opportunities are all the greater since many contractors avoid new technology until it becomes tried and true, which limits the competitive field for the innovators. Resolve to investigate and add a new product to your offering and actively market it. The products do not even need to be new, just new to your company. Examples include waterless urinals, dual flush toilets, anti-scald faucets, electronic faucets, tankless water heaters, solar water heaters, solar panels, geothermal heat pumps, ductless mini-splits, zoning systems, energy recovery ventilators, dehumidifiers, fireplace inserts, wood stoves, stand-by generators, whole house surge suppressors, etc.


2. Service Extension

Your line extension opportunities are not limited to products. Resolve to investigate new service opportunities by attending one seminar or one conference focused on a service you do not currently offer. It can be as simple as a plumbing company adding HVAC or vice versa. Or, it could adding light commercial or a commercial contractor moving into the residential market. Other possibilities include jetting, sewer line cameras, infrared thermographic analysis, duct cleaning, remote system monitoring, radiant barriers, duct sealing, duct balancing, and building science.


3. Tools

Contractors love tools, but mostly tools like Sawzalls, wrenchs, gauges, and vacuum pumps. Spice up your tool collection to enhance your service personnel’s diagnostic capabilities while wowing the customer. Resolve to add one new state-of-the-art tool from your trade. Examples include digital anemometers, thermographic cameras, the previously mentioned jetters and sewer line cameras, non-contact infrared thermometers, infiltrometers, duct blasters, tapeless measures, non-destructive moisture meters, gas detectors, combustion analyzers, carbon monoxide detectors, dye based furnace crack detection systems like Visible Defects, flow hoods, digital manometers, video borescopes, ultrasonic leak inspections, electronic metal and rebar locators, and sound level meters.


4. Information Technology

If your computers and/or software are more than three years old, they’re antiquated. Resolve to upgrade your information technology. While Vista was problematic, Windows 7 appears to be a winner. Consider adopting the new operating system. Look into inexpensive netbooks for salespeople and even service personnel. Evaluate your business (software) system. If you haven’t kept up with the latest upgrades and revisions, resolve to start.


5. Handheld Technology

While few contractors are still using a Motorola Startac flip phone, many have failed to keep up with the latest technology. Today’s upper end phones include text, email, cameras, GPS, 3G web surfing, and a host of custom applications that can improve your efficiency and your team’s efficiency. Resolve to investigate an iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Tre, Google Android, or other smart phone and purchase the one that appeals to you most.


6. Website

Surprisingly, many contractors still lack a website. And many with a site offer little more than brochureware or follow a generic manufacturer template, which commoditizes the site. Resolve to create a website if you lack one. Resolve to make it distinctive. Resolve to secure your own URL. Resolve to tie your business email to the URL and avoid the use of AOL, hotmail, gmail, Yahoo, or other free mail sites that scream you lack professionalism.


7. Search

People are increasingly turning away from the yellow pages and to their computers when looking for service companies with “local” search taking on added importance. The search engines are stressing local search, which is free, but you must adhere to the search engine requirements. Resolve to list your company with “local business centers” on each of the major search engines. Further resolve to study search engine requirements and tune your site accordingly. Finally, resolve to start a search engine marketing campaign, such as Google AdWords.


8. Publish

The Internet has revolutionized publishing. Today, anyone with something to say can publish it to the world. If what is published is interesting enough, the writer will build an audience. The simplest way to publish is to start a blog through Blogger or Wordpress. Tie it into your website and you will also improve your website’s search engine. Resolve to start a blog in 2010 and write about PHC related topics that interest you, offer tips for homeowners, talk about your community, explain life in a small business, and so on.


9. Social Media

As changes in technology affect society as a whole, they similarly affect marketing. While traditional media is losing its effectiveness, new media is on the rise and social media is emerging. The advantage of new media and social media is the reduced cost. Unfortunately, the savings are balanced by the need to invest considerable time. Since this is largely time spent interacting with customers and prospects, the investment is worthwhile. Resolve to establish a Facebook account and company fan page, create a Linked In Account, and start tweeting with Twitter. What do you talk about? Start with alerts about new blog posts.


10. Training

Technology is also revolutionizing training with much of it free or practically free. While you shouldn’t forget the run-of-the-mill trade association meetings, conferences, and trade magazines (especially the one you’re reading now), a wealth of information is available on blogs, podcasts, and online discussion forums. The advantage of the online resources is the searchability and real-time interactivity. For example, every day contractors help other contractors solve problems online through the Service Roundtable’s discussion groups. Resolve in 2010 to seek out industry oriented blogs like ComancheMarketing.com, listen to industry podcasts like the 3 Questions For Small Business podcast (3QuestionsForSmallBusiness.blogspot.com), and join a discussion forum like those hosted at ServiceRoundtable.com.

What Makes a Blog Interesting?

The other day I saw a plumbing service truck decorated with garland wrapped around the antenna and a lighted Christmas wreath attached to the front of the grille. It flashed by in an instant and I wasn't able to snap a picture of it, but I thought it was a great idea to decorate a service truck for Christmas.

It would be distinctive. It would draw the eye. It would make people smile. Making people smile when they see your brand is always a good thing. Alas, there was no picture. So I searched online for an example.

What do you look for? A Christmas truck? A holiday truck? I started by looking for "jingle truck." Boy was I in for a surprise. Apparently "jingle truck" is the term used to describe the decorated trucks used by Afghanis. The jingle part comes from the chains attached to the bumpers. Of course, I didn't know this a few days ago. I just saw a lot of jingle truck pictures and click on the following one to learn more...

Copyright (c) 2007 John Severns

When I clicked the picture, I stumbled onto In the Shadow of the Mountain - One Year in Afghanistan, the blog of a Public Affairs Officer with the U.S. Air Force, serving in Afghanistan. The blog covers a full year in-country over 2007. The writer has good communications skills and likes photography. While every post isn't open to the public, most are. It's a well-told, first-hand account of service in Afghanistan, written for family and friends, but read by a wider audience.

I started reading it and was fascinated. I read post after post from my starting point. When I got to the end, I started at the beginning and read the posts I missed by starting in the middle.

Why was this blog so interesting? Part of it, of course, is that we're at war in Afghanistan and I really don't know a whole lot about the country.

There's more to it than that. The blog is interesting because it's authentic. A human wrote it, not a corporate or agency automaton. It's conversational. It tells a story. It informs. After reading the blog, I feel like I know Air Force Captain John Severns.

You can create a similar blog for your business. While you might think plumbing, air conditioning, electrical, pool service, pest control, carpet cleaning, etc. is uninteresting, I'll bet you can find lots of interesting experiences to write about. Start with some of the things your service people encounter on a day to day basis.

For example, the plumber pulls a really bad anode rod. He takes a picture of it next to a new one and explains the importance of the anode. The air conditioning technician pulls a really bad filter from a unit, takes a picture of it and explains about replacing filters. The electrician grabs lunch at a new restaurant, takes a picture, and offers a quick review (though it should be positive or omitted - you don't want enemies). A pool contractor drives by a group of protesters and snaps a shot, writing about what he saw. Service company employees encounter blog worthy items every day.

Speak with your human voice. Have a conversation with your customers. Spread the word. Tweet about your blogs. Post links on Facebook. Engage people. Build your business.

The Social Media Leap of Faith

My new "Rant" is out...

Social media is sweeping the business community. Ford Motors, for example, is spending 25% of its marketing budget on digital/social media. Yet most contractors are slow to adopt it. Stunningly, there's apparently no shortage of industry skeptics willing to speak out and shout down digital technologies, proclaiming everything this side of email to be a fad.

Read More At ContractingBusiness.com

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know

If you use Facebook, Nick O'Neill has a must read post on the All Facebook blog. He outlines 10 privacy settings you should know. These are:

1. Use Your Friend Lists
2. Remove Yourself From Facebook Search Results
3. Remove Yourself From Google
4. Avoid the Infamous Photo/Video Tag Mistake
5. Protect Your Albums
6. Prevent Stories From Showing Up in Your Friends’ News Feeds
7. Protect Against Published Application Stories
8. Make Your Contact Information Private
9. Avoid Embarrassing Wall Posts
10. Keep Your Friendships Private

You won't need all of these, but everyone will find one or two that could be used.

Click To Read The Story

Think Social Media Is A Fad?

Doug Vickery sent me a link to the following video, claiming it's "rocking my world today." Watch it. It will rock your world too.

Brand U.0

This is a 20 minute clip from a presentation given by David Armano on 9/15/2008 at the Chicago New Media Summit 2008. Twenty minutes is a long time for a web video, so I saved this for Saturday when it's easier to carve out 20 minutes. Do you want to go outside and cut the grass or spend another 20 minutes in air conditioned comfort investing in yourself and your company?

Armano is a senior partner with the Austin based Dachis Group, "a stealth-mode startup focusing on enterprise social software and services." I don't entirely know what that means, but it got the organization $50 million in venture capital. I think the conference write-up on Armano's presentation makes more sense...

"The hallmark of any great brand is authenticity -- just ask Harley-Davidson, Coke or Apple, especially when all of these brands lost their way and learned from it. Same thing applies to Brand You. In every tweak of a template, upload and keystroke, you have an opportunity to be authentic or disingenuous. Know what makes you special and unique, and tap into those qualities as you build your personal brand online. Most people can spot a fake when they see one, so remember that being genuine is more important that presenting yourself in an artificially glossy manner. It used to be important for bloggers to "find their voice" -- now it's relevant to all of us."

I found a number of the concepts spot on (i.e., the guy thinks believes some of the same things I do, so he must be smart). As you watch the video, think about how the concepts can be applied to your company and you, yourself. Instead of building web based brands, think of building local, community based brands.

Are You Afraid To Let Your People Speak?

Corporations are scared. They're scared of their employees. They're scared of email. They're scared of social media. They're scared of YouTube. They're scared of SMS. They're scared of employees using email, social media, YouTube, and SMS to communicate. They're scared of employees communicating. They're scared of the loss of control.

Corporations want to control the message. They want to control every byte and bit of the message, so they smother the message and silence the speaker.

In Proofpoint's latest annual study of, Outbound Email Security and Data Loss Prevention in Today's Enterprise (Download The Report - pdf), Osterman Research surveyed the guys (or gals) in charge of email at 220 corporations with over 1000 employees. Here's some of what they found...

• According to the study, 19.7% of outbound email poses a "legal, financial or regulatory risk."
  
  
• A little more than half of the respondents (51.2%) are concerned or very concerned about that confidential and/or proprietary information will be divulged by email "sent from your organization’s SMTP email system."
  
  
• The same number (50.5%) are worried about email sent from phones (i.e., mail that may not pass through the corporate server).
  
  
• Similar numbers (49.8%) worry about third party webmail services, such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail.
  
  
• Blog and message board postings have 46.2% "highly concerned."
  
  
• Social networking worries 45.1%.
  
  
• Instant messaging poses a "high" level of concern for 44.6% of respondents.
  
  
• SMS or text messaging worries 44.1%.
  
  
• Media sharing sites like YouTube worry 42.1%.
  
  
• Twitter, a web based SMS system, has 41.5% concerned.

Okay, this level of paranoia seems a bit over the top. Do corporate executives really think that one out of five emails poses a risk? If every fifth email poses a risk, employees are spending so much time on non-productive activities that it's hard to see how anyone could get anything done. Risk aside, the productivity cost of email would exceed its benefits and CEOs would simply shut off the pipe for most employees.

And do nearly half of corporate decision makers really worry about 140 character messages texted or tweeted? Apparently.


Big Risk Or Much Ado About Nothing?

Significant numbers reported real problems with data loss...

• One third of companies (33%) have had customer information "exposed" (whatever that means).
  
  
• Over one quarter (28%) have had intellectual property "exposed."

That seems serious, but these are companies with 1,000 or more employees. Of the 220 companies, 145 had more than 5,000 employees and 60 had more than 20,000 employees.

Take a company with 10,000 odd employees. Chances are good someone's going to say something he shouldn't from time to time, though it's probably not going to be anything that will damage the company.

The report didn't define how serious the "exposures" were. All we know is a significant number of huge companies felt something about customers or intellectual property was exposed that shouldn't have been.

When I worked as an automation engineer at a Fortune 500 level durable goods manufacturer, I presented a paper at an international robotics conference. A guy from a semiconductor magazine liked what I had to say and wanted to interview me. Before granting an outside interview, I was supposed to involve corporate PR, and did.

The level of micromanagement was incredible. It frustrated me and I'm sure irritated the time pressed editor of the semi-conductor magazine. I wasn't sharing secrets or even non-secrets. I was simply offering technical opinions about factory automation with a trade magazine in a wholly different industry.

Eventually, the piece ran. The semi-conductor guy never called again and intimated that our PR department was too difficult to work with. I understood.

Years later, with a different manufacturer, I was given the opportunity to write a guest column for a trade magazine. My superiors analyzed every word, looking for ways each could be twisted like a pretzel into some obtuse indicator of corporate weakness that would cause customers to switch business to a competitor. It was so frustrating that I didn't attempt to write again until I changed jobs.

I suspect that much of what gets classified as the exposure of customer or proprietary information is about as secret and confidential as the yellow pages. Corporations have a need for control and the bigger the corporation, the greater the control reflex becomes.


Big Corporations Go Big Brother

In response to their concerns about data loss, nearly all of the corporations adopted acceptable use policies regarding email, social media, etc. That's not a bad idea.

Make sure the troops know what concerns you. People are generally smart enough to avoid crossing the line if someone takes the time to draw it and explain it.

Is a greater response needed? Apparently corporate decision makers think so...

In this year’s survey, more than a third of all US respondents—38.4%—reported that they employ staff to monitor (read or otherwise analyze) outbound email content. An additional 23% of companies surveyed said that they intend to deploy such staff in the future. This technique is even more common in the largest organizations—48.3% of US companies surveyed with more than 20,000 employees employ staff to monitor the content of outbound email (and 21.6% say they intend to deploy such staff in the future).

Does this seem a little creepy to you? It's not simply email that's checked. These guys are monitoring YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, MySpace, and so on.

If your "job" is to find a problem, you will. Thus, the monitors look long and hard until they find a "violation." The miscreant is then disciplined or fired, justifying the need for continued corporate oversight.

I realize that corporations operate in a litigious environment today, but come on! This big brother behavior strikes me as a waste of resources. Worse, it sends the message that the company doesn't trust its people. The company doesn't trust their discernment. It doesn't trust their integrity.

What happens in this environment? People do what I did. They shut up. The don't try. They refuse to engage. Eventually, they leave. And the company is the big loser every step of the way.


Large Corporations Aren't On The Cluetrain

Shortly after launching the Service Roundtable, I read The Cluetrain Manifesto. I found it powerful. It explained what I was observing in the online world and experiencing with the Service Roundtable. Below is the preamble before the 95 theses of The Cluetrain Manifesto.

A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.

These markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking. Whether explaining or complaining, joking or serious, the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can't be faked.

Most corporations, on the other hand, only know how to talk in the soothing, humorless monotone of the mission statement, marketing brochure, and your-call-is-important-to-us busy signal. Same old tone, same old lies. No wonder networked markets have no respect for companies unable or unwilling to speak as they do.

But learning to speak in a human voice is not some trick, nor will corporations convince us they are human with lip service about "listening to customers." They will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak on their behalf.

While many such people already work for companies today, most companies ignore their ability to deliver genuine knowledge, opting instead to crank out sterile happytalk that insults the intelligence of markets literally too smart to buy it.

However, employees are getting hyperlinked even as markets are. Companies need to listen carefully to both. Mostly, they need to get out of the way so intranetworked employees can converse directly with internetworked markets.

Corporate firewalls have kept smart employees in and smart markets out. It's going to cause real pain to tear those walls down. But the result will be a new kind of conversation. And it will be the most exciting conversation business has ever engaged in.

Does it sound like most of the corporations surveyed in the Proofpoint study are on or off the cluetrain? Personally, I don't think most have a clue.

As a small business owner, you don't face PR executives more concerned with avoiding the utterance of the wrong thing than saying the right thing. You can speak to your customers with a real voice... yours.

And you can let your employees speak. Sure, someone might say the wrong thing. That comes with humanity. Humanity separates your company from the stainless steel, monolithic, unfathomable, cold corporation. Yours is a company of humans; humans your prospects and customers can relate with.

Your voice, your true, real, authentic voice can be a competitive advantage for you, as can the voices of your employees. Speak. And encourage your employees to speak. Speak through email lists. Speak on blogs. Send tweets. Join Facebook. Connect with LinkedIn. Sign up for Plaxo. Make a video and host it on YouTube.

When your customers ask questions, engage them. Start a dialogue. Don't worry if others might see you deal with an upset customer. Don't worry if you find yourself forced to acknowledge a mistake.

Everyone knows people get mad. What's better, to have an angry customer spewing venon while you hide and fret, or to have an angry customer engaged by a concerned empathetic owner? Your good response (note: good response) with an upset customer in a public forum can do more for your business than 10,000 direct mail pieces.

Everyone knows companies make mistakes from time to time. What's unusual is the company that stands up, acknowledges error promptly and without coercion, and fixes the problem fast. Look, if you screw up you're going to fix the problem anyway, so why worry about public exposure of the problem if its accompanied by a rapid, proactive response? That won't make you look like a sucker. It will make you a hero.

Speak with authenticity. And allow your team to speak. But before you start, read The Cluetrain Manifesto. Order it from Amazon in print or audio versions or read in online for free. Read it and either review it with your employees or buy them copies.

(c) 2009 Matt Michel

What's Your Twitpitch?

Could you describe your company in 140 characters? This is the equivalent of a text message or a Tweet.

Stowe Boyd, the guy who coined the term, "social media" works with start-up companies as a consultant. He's in the enviable position that his mere name to a company as an advisor makes any drop out lacking a product, but with an idea for one, credible enough to attract serious money. Accordingly, every half-wit with a half-baked idea seeks his blessing.

For the Web 2.0 conference, Boyd announced he would be scheduling meetings with start-ups, which created a problem. "I am getting an ungodly amount of email from PR folks," blogged Boyd, "and it's extremely random: some have attachments, some have big, stupid, old fashioned press releases copied in their entirety. Gah."

So Boyd announced that he would only respond to the 140 character messages allowed by Twitter. People who wanted to meet with him had to communicate by Twitter to keep the request succinct. And Boyd would only allow one accompanying Twitter message about the business, which he called a "twitpitch."

BusinessWeek picked up on the term and we're likely to have a new entry into the popular culture business lexicon. The twitpitch is the compressed elevator speech, just 140 characters, roughly 20 words in length. It has advantages. Here's what BusinessWeek had to say...

Boyd's experiment offers a lesson for small companies that want the attention of potential investors, clients, and press: Get to the point. And it applies in almost any business setting, not just on Twitter. It's no secret that less is more in the age of information overload, no matter how you're trying to reach people. That's why Boyd also calls it the escalator pitch. "It's something you can say in 10 seconds while he's going up the escalator and you're going down the escalator," he says.

BusinessWeek noted that Google founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, approached a venture capital firm as students lacking money, experience, and proven results. What the pair had was passion and a vision, which they boiled down into eight succinct words anyone could immediately grasp. They said Google would "access to the world's information in one click."

To me, the twitpitch is somewhere between a unique selling proposition and an elevator pitch. It answers the question, "Why should I do business with you?"

The answer is because my company... [FILL IN THE REST]

Complete the sentence using 140 characters or less. I'm going to work on a twitpitch for the Service Roundtable. Why don't you work on one for your company? Send them to me by posting on the Comanche Marketing blog, direct messaging me via Twitter @ComancheMktg, sending me a message on Facebook, or emailing me at the Service Roundtable. If I get enough, I'll post them in the future.

(c) 2009 Matt Michel

Stupid Marketing Tricks: Over Hyping Via New Media

For those unfamiliar with Twitter, it's a "microblogging" site that was designed to be compatible with the short messaging service (SMS) text messages of cell phones. As a result, Twitter messages are 140 characters or less.

One characteristic of Twitter is "hash tags." These are key words, preceded by the "#" symbol. People interested in following a particular subject, can sort through the myriad of Twitter posts by looking for the hash tag of interest.

Habitat, an upscale UK furniture store decided to jump into Twitter. Great! An overly aggressive marketer with Habitat or working on the company's behalf, noted the popularity of certain hash tags and inserted them into the store's promotional messages.

Let's just say this was a mistake.

Habitat used hash tags related to Apple Computer, its iPhone, the True Blood series, and other popular topics. Worse, the store used tags related to the Iranian election.

The Twitter "community," if community's the right word, responded immediately. Habitat got blasted. So Habitat backed off, deleting the Tweets, and pretended like nothing happened.

The blogger Tiphereth commented on Social Media Today that "The way the @HabitatUK page looks now, is typical of a traditional, push marketing, corporate PR approach. Admit nothing, apologise for nothing, do not engage in conversation, advertise, advertise, advertise. You have to wonder why they’re even bothering being on Twitter in the first place."

The uproar was picked up by a copy of major UK papers, ultimately prompting Habitat to issue an apology.

"The top ten trending topics were pasted into hashtags without checking with us and apparently without verifying what all of the tags referred to," apologized Claire from the head office in London. "This was absolutely not authorized by Habitat. We were shocked when we discovered what happened and are very sorry for the offence that was caused. This is totally against our communications strategy. We never sought to abuse Twitter, have removed the content and will ensure this does not happen again."

In other words, it's the ad agency's fault. Pardon me, but this seems like a non-apology.

Habitat should have followed Tiphereth's advice...

1. Individually @replied everyone who complained to them publicly, and apologized for the spammy behaviour

2. Apologized in public. They could have sent out generic tweets to say sorry for not knowing what they were doing when they hijacked the trending hashtags for their marketing tweets

3. Given Twitter followers a special offer discount voucher that could be redeemed via the web.

4. Asked Twitter followers what kind of information/offers HabitatUK could offer, that would give value and build interest.

5. Its ok to fail. Do it quickly and apologize publicly. People are a lot more forgiving when you admit to your mistakes rather than deny any wrongdoing.

Frankly, if Habitat had acted quickly, sincerely, and provided a special discount as Tiphereth advised, the company might have turned this into a net positive.

Ignoring the culture of a social media site will backfire. I know people who hype, hype, hype, all of the time. Predictably, their forays into social media have backfired. Their hype is labeled as spam.

Hype is for the yellow pages, newspaper, and broadcast. If you can't help but hype yourself, avoid new media. You're going to do your brand more damage than good.

With social media the key is to inform and engage and to be genuine and human. This isn't easy if you're a huckster or a corporate suits.

(c) 2009 Matt Michel