Last week, I had to get an oil change in the G35 before going to UCLA for the Linked-in group discussion on social media, social networking for business, and of course measuring ROI and I decided to try something on my own. After all the talk I had been hearing about using social media to measure the customer experience, as a CEO, i wanted to conduct a customer service rating of my service at Mossy Nissan Oceanside and tweet about it. So here is what i did.
1. I tweeted the entire experience i had (good and bad) and used a hashtag for tracking in 140 characters or less
2. I realized the power us as consumers will have and the “social influence” we will have over products/ services/ brands we decide to buy/ use in the near future
3. Me being a social media consultant for business, i was hoping to possibly demonstrate the feedback to the dealership and possibly get them on board with a campaign 🙂
So here is the text from my tweets and a screenshot of the results:
justinrfrench Getting an oil change on the G35 for tomorrows trip to LA lets see how the customer experience is at mossy nissan oceanside #twittercase 7 days ago from Twit2go
justinrfrench #twittercase so far so good, customer service rep is enjoyable 7 days ago from Twit2go
justinrfrench #twittercase rep just tried to up sell me on additional services (sales 101 ok gotta appreciate that) 7 days ago from Twit2go
justinrfrench #twittercase times must be tough for them- now charging .50$ for coffee and no more water bottles 7 days ago from Twit2go
justinrfrench #twittercase car is ready, signing paperwork and paying now. So far pretty painless, pretty good customer experience thus far 7 days ago from Twit2go
justinrfrench #twittercase ok overall customer experience at mossy Nissan Oceanside (0-10) i give it a 7 bonus car wash im happy http://twitpic.com/bytbc 7 days ago from web
Can you give me any case studies on customer experiences you have tried yourself using twitter? Let me know, id like to feature them on our blog (be a featured guest poster)
Everywhere I go lately i hear the talk about transparency. Maybe its that government should be more transparent, or business leaders and executives should be more transparent. One thing i know for certain that the MORE transparent you are in social media and social networking, the more this enables you to connect to many more great people with “similar interests” to share ideas. This is exactly what happen to me with twitter. I am 90% transparent on twitter (i doubt people want to know everything i do but i do tweet quite a bit) because i know that someone is listening and can perhaps connect with me on a similar level. Right away we can establish a connection, a friendship, and this creates a relationship.
Social networking for business and social media is all about connecting with like minded people facing similar challenges or opporunities to brainstorm, strategize, and share knowledge their interested in for the common good of the community. Being transparent in business is especially important in todays times after the financial meltdown, Enron, Madoff, etc. The list goes on with how many companies affected the lives of many people with their poor decision making. That is why i suggest that companies need to be more transparent, and by embracing social media and social networking this allows companies to get back to business basics and get our economy back on track by engaging in conversation first before selling/ marketing/ advertising to consumers. Us consumers are sick of being bombarded by spam, direct mail, telemarkeintg, etc.
A model example of transparency is the recent Zappos acquisition by Amazon. The CEO Tony has embraced social media and social networking and created the “culture” that companies can only dream about. Typically companies hold onto information and don’t want to share about what makes their company so great. We take the opposite approach. We want businesses to embrace social networking and social media for business development purposes and we have been teaching them how for the last 8 months and have been very transparent about our business model. Our investors may frown upon this a little, but it has worked and gotten us this far. We have seen the huge value in building a community around our services. The community on twitter and linked-in have been great feedback mechanisms for us in our start-up. We will see what happens in the near future as companies start getting on board with social media for business and Social Networking San Diego will be here when they are ready for a plan, strategy, execution, training, and consulting along the way in their social media journey.
Any feedback on this?
Thanks
Justin
CEO Social Networking San Diego
Want to speak to me directly? 760-576-GOLF (Google Voice)
After completing another one of our weekly social networking and social media 101 Webinars today, I realized just how ahead of the curve we and a few other social media marketing firms are. Prospective companies are SCARED of social media and its mostly the upper management who have been so used to conducting “business as usual” but i assure you that the game has changed. Companies need innovative techniques, better strategies, and word of mouth referrals for their products and services instead of just the same old email newsletter. Now don’t get me wrong, social media marketing isn’t the end all be all, but its the start of something big that larger corporations (some big brands are already doing it) are getting into, but what about the small and medium sized businesses? This SMB market is where we have been helping out lately and i can safely say that its a lot of work and can be draining at times. The thing that keeps me going though are knowing just how many small and medium sized businesses are hurting right now so i try to tailor a proposal that fits around their budget. Its the least i can do instead of turning away their business completely because they don’t have a budget. Or i suggest them to take some twitter 101 for business training or linked-in training which we teach business development teams how to use these tools for lead generation purposes.
To cater to the growing needs of individual business owners, (we are getting a HUGE amount of inquiry from this part of the market and want to help them) I am working on an internet coaching 8 week fast-track to social networking program taught by myself and my VP Keith. Is their anything in particular you would like to see in there? How much do you think would be a reasonable cost for an 8 hour course? Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and YES we will have an affiliate sign up for you to help promote this and make some extra CASH!
Enjoy the rest of your week everyone,
Justin
Need a social media strategy for your business? Call Keith our VP at 760-500-6043 and schedule your assessment today
Twitter 101 for business has been the hot topic lately, after twitter announced its twitter 101 for business guide. I was kind of shocked they didn’t mention many other business people who have been contributing to the twitter for business movement so I wrote an email or “tweeted” a blog post over to founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams (Click here to view email to twitter founders) to express my views. I don’t mean any harm by it, i just want to be sure credit is given where credit is due.
So if you are still a business wondering how to use twitter to grow your business, or use social networking for business, this video will help put it in much simpler terms. Think of it as “what can brown do for you” like the UPS commercial only with a twitter spin I did “what can twitter do for your business”
Instead of my normal posts on social networking for business and social media consulting, I wanted to briefly mention some thoughts on the recent news announced today on Amazon acquiring Zappos for a whopping $850 million dollars.
First off, I want to post the Core Values that makes Zappos such a great company:
“Zappos Core Values
As we grow as a company, it has become more and more important to explicitly define the Zappos core values from which we develop our culture, our brand, and our business strategies. These are the ten core values that we live by:
1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble”
(pulled from http://about.zappos.com/our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values )
Next watch this important and educational leadership video of Jeff Bezos:
Now here is my opinion:
After watching Amazon grow and remain through the .COM bust, one thing is certain: They pride themselves on great customer service and obsess over this fact. They have innovative technology, and have done very well and I think it was a smart strategic move on their part.
Zappos too prides itself on customer service, transparency, and most importantly passion. You always see this demonstrated on a regular basis the passion that flows from top down and bottom up throughout the organization. I have been hearing especially lately from twitter on the amazing culture among employees at the firm and the #1 factor (and most important to me) I believe in why they were acquired because they are one of the top companies embracing social networking and social media (especially twitter and many other social tools) and leveraging these tools better than 95% of other firms to better service customers. Why? Because look at the CEO Tony. He is a model Social CEO who embraces social media so easily because it fits EXACTLY with their core values & will be a model for many other companies to follow.
My predication is that this is only the beginning of whats to come from other firms embracing social media as part of their business, marketing, and corporate strategy cohesively. I have a feeling (and has already started happening in San Diego) our TEAM of consultants will be helping some of these large local firms make this transition into becoming more “social” firms for the benefit of “engaging” customers more instead of just “marketing” to them all the time.
Your thoughts?
Thanks
JustinRFrench
CEO Social Networking San Diego
Many business and marketing people keep talking about social media and social marketing and how businesses can get into this new online marketplace, but I have some actual non-theory lessons from ACTUAL consulting on about 12 client projects we have worked on over the last seven months.
Social Networking for business is hard stuff. You have to be both technical, psychological, sociological, business savvy, marketing savvy, sales savvy, a good communicator, good writer,…… The list goes on. 1 full time employee or college intern handling social media marketing will not cut it I guarantee it.
My TEAM (together everyone achieves more) of Business consultants and I have been doing workshops, tweet ups in Carlsbad, tele-seminars, conference calls, coaching, training, blogging, strategy building, assessments, webinars, and consulting on social media and social networking for business for the last 7 months. (I have been doing various business and technical consulting for about 10 years)
I remember my first blog post on how i predicted that social media and social networking will save small business and STILL stand by that prediction and remember it like it was yesterday. I also remember each and every client experience, where WE went wrong, and what changes we made in our “process” to improve. I must say right off the bat that I could NOT be in this “Social CEO” position with out my twitter network. I learned more on twitter in 2 months from just listening, paying it forward, and helping others achieve what information, resources, or knowledge they cared about which in return they taught me what I needed to know to help formulate Social Networking San Diego. Consider it a PHD in internet marketing from twitter for FREE just 20 days a month on-line till 4am investing my time (video proof here).
I laugh at the colleges now trying to charge thousands of dollars for certificate programs for social media marketing and internet marketing (even Masters Degrees) when all people would have to do is just apply themselves a little bit, spend some time doing internet research, and start LISTENING! Also, we are in a HUGE recession, and colleges are in fact a BUSINESS too trying to stay on the trends and make MORE money off students. But I digress…..
Here are some tips about what to be careful of in the trenches of social media and social networking consulting for businesses:
1.ROI– If they ask you “what will be my ROI”, ask them, “what is your CURRENT ROI on marketing/ advertising?” Tell them to give you a fraction of that (at least 10%) show them some results in the first quarter or six months, and then ask them for a larger budget (if you can perform)
2.Don’t under charge– Your time is valuable, and just because they might not see the REAL value in social media and social networking for business development purposes and lead generation, you still want to attract the clients who have a “perceived value” in social media. This can be hard, but where are you looking??? Our first couple accounts we did FULL SERVICE for less than 1000$/ month AND worked on these accounts probably 80 hours per month. Talk about hustling! And you know what, they left because they didn’t want to “spend the time” in social media because they were too impatient and wanted overnight success. And they felt the training was something an intern could do. Do you really want an intern handling your corporate message and controlling your brand perception online???? Let me stress to you that being in the trenches now for 7 months, this will require your client to commit to 9 months to 1 year to make it worth your time. That is if you provide a comprehensive and holistic approach to social media and social networking for business. This is VERY time consuming and a lot of work I assure you but the BEST practices approach for building a lasting community around your client’s products and services.
3.DON’T DO PAY BY PERFORMANCE– Do you like working for free? I sure as hell don’t, and we tried that and learned NOT to do it again! On a few clients, we agreed to pay by performance model and you know what happen, we worked our A$$ off, did the research, the set-up, got them leads, and they still weren’t happy. (we don’t work for the company, we get you leads, its up to you to close your deals, we are not your sales team) I would advise AGAINST bartering as well, tried that too 🙂
4.Social Media and Social Networking is not for EVERY client– Every business is different so be sure you analyze the prospect in depth BEFORE taking them on as a client. If they have a 4 year old website, why would we want to drive traffic to it? So we recommended a new website FIRST, then we will drive the traffic. (they thought they could get a good site done for 500$ so I said be my guest, then they came back for a full word press site from us)
5.Make your deliverables clear– Make sure you specify where the hours will be allocated for the project so the client is clear about what THEY will bring to the table, and what YOU will bring. We ask our clients to commit to X amount of training per month, X amount of content submissions, articles, etc.
I hope this helps clarify what life has been like for the non-theory preaching social media enthusiasts (I used to be one too, and still am a little, but businesses need help so we are rolling up our sleeves and helping what businesses we can, and who have the budget of course)
Any thoughts on your experiences? I know we have many readers who are in this industry, so feel free to leave some insight or feedback on your experiences in the trenches of social media consulting,
Thanks JustinRFrench
CEO Social Networking San Diego
Have any questions- hit me up on the G-Voice 760 – 576 – GOLF oh yeah!!
P.S. Get a copy of “Social Media Survival Guide for Business” The FAST TRACK
$9.95Click Here to order: (if you have time to read it) But this will be a helpful guide for you and your business as you journey into Social Media and Social Networking for Business. Enjoy
Social Media Agencies are the newest of terms I have heard going around. They usually have a combined offline and online approach to marketing and advertising but because of this new social media revolution occurring, social media agencies are coming to market. The question is, how good are they? Are they producing results for their clients? Is their campaign on budget? Are they measuring results? Our typical engagement is 9 months and this is the minimum time line i would suggest for a successful social media marketing campaign.
The internet has brought a tremendous change in our lives. Things all over the world are changing very fast, and people have to be on their toes to catch up with the changes in technology and media. The social media arena is just one vast area that has still not yet been tapped to its full potential. Opportunities are plenty, but unless you are aware of what social media agencies and social media consultants are about; you are not going to be able to use it!
Traditionally, social media was not considered a good market by agencies, but now times have changed. Marketers have now realized the positive aspects of using social media for marketing; and slowly but surely social media agencies are popping up. Social media campaigns are predicted to cause a great revolution online eventually, as 90% of the world’s population is online at one point of time or another.
At present, there are six different media that are used to support social media marketing and they are-
Social networking sites where individuals are free to build their own WebPages (personal profiles) and change the settings as they see fit. This allows them to be completely free about their individual personalities and thousands of people may popular pages and be influenced by their comments and ideas. A few of the more popular social networking sites are Myspace, Facebook, Linked-in and now my favorite twitter.
Blogs are another aspect where people can keep online journals with their personal ideas and thoughts about anything from products and services or opinions, but remember here that the value of the content to the audience is key.
Wikis are official pages hosted by Wikipedia but are open for editing and updating by the lay public. It serves as a communal store of information with over three million English articles.
Podcasts are available and a great source of advertising and spread of information through the internet.
Forums, communities and micro-blogging are the last three variants that allow large discussions to be held on several topics where thousands of people log in from all over the world. Twitter is the foremost leader in micro-blogging
Social media marketing companies can use these mediums to promote ideas or products and increase exposure of their product all over the world through a few simple click- throughs and a lot cheaper than traditional advertising such as radio and TV. The returns on investment can be measured in a social media campaign, because basically social media is made up of people who frequently talk about what brands they like or dislike and what they buy and from where. An effective social media agency can maintain a brand presence in a social media campaign and can extract maximum benefit from a good social media commitment.
Social media or social marketing is about people and people buy things, its that simple.
What types of things do you look for in a social media agency? Your feedback is much appreciated-
Social Media Marketing is a new form of online marketing using social media websites like you tube, podcasting, syndicating content, and many other web 2.0 websites to ENGAGE partners, customers, and potential clients. Social media marketing is exploding right now and your business should be getting involved sooner than later. The big thing to remember about social media is that its “social”. Traditional media companies are realizing that consumers are getting frustrated with traditional marketing tactics and we even have Tivo to fast forward through commercials now. If you think this is easy, think again. It will require a technology savvy company who understands strategy, marketing, branding, community building, and good content writing for starters. So a local college student tweeting for you, posting on facebook, writing your blog, and doing your discussions in linked-in might not be the best fit. Maybe you should get your business development and sales team some training on one of these social networking websites from our CEO JustinRFrench by going here: Twitter 101 or Linked-In 101 for Business Coaching/ Training and see how our clients are seeing an increase in their business by learning how to leverage these social media marketing tools.
“ I give it a “10” FOR SURE! ”
— Joanne Stephens on Jun 18, 2009.
The important thing to understand as business professionals is that this new form of social media marketing can produce better results than some forms of traditional marketing methods if done right. Not to mention is is even cheaper. The key to the success of your social media marketing campaign is the strategy.
At Social Networking San Diego, we help our customer’s develop a proper strategy around their products and services, implement the technology marketing system we have developed, measure the success, AND train the employees how to use these tools to be more “social” when reaching customers in these social webs. Businesses that are not getting involved in this social media marketing will be left behind by competitors and now is a great time to gain competitive advantage by developing a social media marketing strategy around your products or services. Here was a popular blog post i did on The 4 quickest Tips Ever To Social Media Marketing Success to help get you started
Need Help? We have Social Media Consultants standing by ready to help your business
Call 760-500-6043 and speak to our Vice President Keith about your next social media marketing project.
Or, sign up for our click here -> FREE Webinar- Social Networking 101 For Business here
What is your definition of social media marketing and how is your business leveraging these new marketing tools? Leave a comment below
Secrets Revealed on social media marketing- to be successful in todays business environment requires innovation, creativity, change, technology, and of course competitive edge. These secrets will help you out- I guarantee it!
This post may be short- but small is the new big right? This is SOOOO Powerful! I have helped hundred of business people and taught them some of these tips and tricks and it has grown there business exponentially compared to other marketing tactics.
1. Act as if you are going to a virtual party (Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In are the parties- you shake hands in these virtual online networking groups to get them back to your home/business/blog/website)
2. You build relationships (Help others, givers gain, and pay it forward. By helping others gain information on things they are looking for or by becoming a resource to others you will build your community. Think of this as building brand equity (as Gary Vee Says) or investing sweat equity in your business. You are providing customer service)
3. Invite others to help you out (or to visit your home- which again is your website or blog) Consider my technique i use on twitter and linked-in: 1: how can i help you? 2: You can help me by…… This is Networking!
4. Then after the relationship is established, people potentially do business together/ refer you
What do you think? I am interested in your feedback. Do you have any tips that have worked for you? Please share your thoughts on this (leave a comment)
Thanks, Happy Networking
JustinRFrench
CEO Social Networking San Diego
“Justin has done business and Internet consulting for us, and we have been pleased with his abilities and results. He reviewed our processes by interviewing each employee, then came up with recommendations for improvement. He was right on target. His technical background, research and studies have given him an insight into what it takes to succeed with an all-encompassing Internet Marketing campaign. He doesn’t waste time; he gets right to the point.
Harold Nevin Language Translation, Inc. San Diego” March 17, 2009
Top qualities: Personable, Expert, High Integrity
hired JustinRFrench as a Social Media Business Consultant in 2009
P.S. I have personal coaching sessions i am doing so if you’d like more 1 on 1 coaching or training on how to leverage social media marketing to help grow your business: Click Here To Email Me Personallyand put in the subject coaching inquiry. I will contact you personally with more details about scheduling
Social- meaning being “social” in a group among people. Socializing among others about professional life and maybe even personal life of course because business is not always about business. People are people and doing business is all about people.
Networking- connecting with other people in a social setting (on line or off-line) and collaborating about what people they know and vice versa. This is no longer just a local chamber event. There are thousands of niche social networking sites- just find which one is for you and participate. Also when networking with others, find out what challenges they are facing and how you might know of a person or a solution for them to look into. Networking in these tough economic times is critical. Help others. Givers gain, and the pay it forward approach to business works magic- especially on twitter. Networking takes work! Social Networking takes allot of work and time too, but consider this sweat equity. Just like social media marketing and leveraging social networking for business purposes will require a considerable amount of time and a large learning curve for some. But this is good because consumers are tired of being interrupted during their busy personal and professional lives with marketing messages that don’t interest us.
Remember, its all about who you know, and especially now the growing trend in social networking and twitter, distance and borders no longer separate that. We are all connected globally thanks to the internet and the web 2.0 technologies that exist. Its not the tools that matter, its how you use these powerful tools. And this is only the beginning you watch- this movement is growing and is changing the way we do business. So get involved and net-WORK
Call 760-576-4653 to schedule a FREE Discovery Session!