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Customer experiences, social media and your corporate reputation

May 2nd, 2008 by Carolyn Gardner

I had an interview earlier this week for Contact Magazine and the topic was corporate reputation management…especially in an age where consumer voices can really SCREAM thanks to social media and Web 2.0 realities.

Create a bad customer experience for someone today and you can almost bet that person will end of blogging, emailing, online chatting or youtubing about it. Never mind the just talking about it! And just as quickly they post and forward those emails, you can bet there will be a trail of media waiting to pounce.

But if you play your cards right and keep your head above the sand, you can use the good and the bad comments to your benefit. After all - it’s not just what you know, it’s what you do with what you know. It’s kind of like web analytics. It’s not just what the data reports, it’s what you do in terms of actioning the data.

To help tackle the beast and better manage corporate reputation, ClickZ just reported that Neilsen Online is about to launch a new services group to help marketers manage their reputations online. Part of the management process includes how to appropriately engage with social media. They’re not the first to step up, but the fact they’re doing it speaks to the significance of paying attention to what’s being said about your brand online.

Taking a step backwards this means really managing customer expectations - with exceptional service, quality, etc. And this applies to both online and offline. Do a good job here and you’ll minimize the bad comments while maximizing the good comments.

After all is said and done, you need to think about taking that step forward. And by this I mean, it’s impossible to please everyone all the time. So be ready for the bad comments. Anticipate them and have a plan. Be proactive vs reactive. Turn negatives into positives.

One of my favourite stories is told in a post I did on the return-o-meter over at shoeline.com. It’s easy to think that lots of returns are a bad thing…but not in this case. Take a read and you’ll see the power of turning negatives into positives.

Posted in Customer Experience, Carolyn Gardner, Social Media, Viral Marketing | No Comments »

Give a hand to your brand…

October 17th, 2007 by Carolyn Gardner

TomTom

In case your company sponsors events, here’s something a little unexpected.

But first the expected ~ when sponsoring an event, it’s expected that you’re going to have your logo all over the place - inside the event, outside the event and everywhere in between. But what about getting your brand on everyone’s hands! It’s called “handvertising” and it’s quite intriguing.

Instead of boring stamps that allow event participants to go in and out of a venue, you stamp them with your brand! It’s a crazy simple idea, not to mention very viral.

You can find out more about this concept at: http://www.handvertisingusa.com/

Posted in Viral Marketing | No Comments »

The Simpsons show us how viral marketing is done…

July 20th, 2007 by Kelly Rusk

Kelly - Simpsonized This morning a colleague forwarded an email for viral site called “Simpsonize me.” Brought to us by Burger King, this site has everything you need for a great viral campaign.

Basically you upload a photo of yourself, and it creates a Simpsons character based on it. Now the technology is not perfect, I had to tweak mine quite a bit to make it look (a little bit) like me, but it was so much fun, I didn’t really care.

Shortly after finding this, I happened across a post called “T.I.M.E - 4 Things Every Viral Campaign Needs,” which explains timing, incentive, mystery and ease is what you need for a successful viral campaign.

So, using simpsonizeme.com as an example:

Timing: The Simpson’s movie is coming out today- great timing.

Incentive: You get to find out what you look like as a Simpson’s character - plus if you forward it along, your friends will think you are totally awesome.

Mystery: Ok, I can’t explain this one, the email with the link came from someone else spreading the word, but undoubtedly I’m sure they did a great job.

Ease: using a quick and easy-remember URL (www.simpsonizeme.com), plus first screen give clear instructions on how to upload your photo. Anyone could do it.

My favorite part - the viral component - a button to send to your friends that says “Clog up your friend’s inbox!” Love it!

Posted in Kelly Rusk, Viral Marketing | No Comments »