Engage121 – 2011 Mashable ‘Digital Company of the Year’ Finalist

Wow.  We are thrilled.  Engage121 made it to the short list as a finalist for Digital Company of the Year for the 2011 Mashable Awards .  This is our second year of being part of the Mashable Awards.  Last year we were nominated as a finalist for 5 Superior Social Media Management Tools.

Mashable describes Digital Company of the Year as:

This category honors the reader’s choice for the top traditional (non-digital) company that has excelled in the digital space in 2011.

Thanks to all who voted for us. Voting for the finalists will continue until December 15^th so please continue to show your support by voting daily here  

We appreciate it.

 

Facebook Comments Versus Likes

Which is more powerful a Facebook Comment or Like?

Likes may be the most popular but comments hold much more weight reports a post, Facebook Comments Are Four Times the Value of Likes    All Facebook credits EdgeRank Checker for the following data:

An average Facebook post generates 1.103 clicks per like, 14.678 clicks per comment and .005 clicks per impression.

I suppose a comment requires more thought, time and is an interaction that reveals the commenter’s views which are then broadcast to friends – so this should not be surprising.

The key for businesses is to offer relevant content that engages and asks the opinions of its fans.

 

Customer Complaints On Social Media

Social media is viral by definition – as we all know that can be good and well, that can be bad. 

There are many, many stories of a complaint going viral and the lack of attention or poor judgment in handling the comments.   Recently, Pfizer’s made news because they started deleting negative Facebook comments when some found a Chapstick ad offensive. 

So you would think that companies would be on top of responding to customer complaints across social media. 

Well apparently not.  E-marketer reports in How Well do Companies Respond to Customer Complaints that even when customers complain, some companies don’t think they do so online and almost 25% did not know whether their customers did so or not.  Hmm. 

The article goes on to state that 29% of companies never respond to feedback on Twitter while 17% said the same for Facebook.  E-marketer has reported research that clearly shows that consumers want attention on social media and sometimes even just the attention that a company pays can diffuse an issue before it gets out of control.

Are companies hiding their heads in the sand? 

What do you think?

 

Consumers Check Review Sites Before Facebook

Our friends at eMarketer posted a news article* that highlights the increasing importance of Review Sites in driving local store traffic.

We weren’t surprised that 70% of consumers search online sources before visiting a local business or restaurant.  Even my Mom does Google searches before heading out.

So after the common Google glance and other search results, can you guess what is the next most popular online resource for tips on where to spend your cash?  My first guess was Facebook.   Wrong!

Online Yellow pages are the next resource, followed by Review Sites….then Facebook.  (See chart of research results). 

At Engage121, we have integrated the top 41 (and counting) Rating and Reviewsites into our social media management application, along with 20 social platforms and publishing tools.

So if you need to “listen” to what’s being said about your local business or global brand, we’ve got you covered.  As important, Engage121 enables our clients to “engage” most of the conversations discovered through our application.    

 Article Excerpt: “Some 70% of consumers checked an online source before visiting a local business or restaurant, according to a survey from local content and advertising network CityGrid Media conducted by Harris Interactive in March 2011. Google was the top source, 13 percentage points ahead of online yellow pages. Consumers also checked review sites (13%) and Facebook (12%). “

For more information on rating and review sites and Engage121, please contact Jack Serpa, executive vice president of Engage121, at 203-849-7246, jserpa@engage121.com, or @jackserpa.

 * Source: eMarketer: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008679

Audit Risk: Review Sites and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Financial institutions have a new reason to pay serious attention to online rating and review sites, according to a small article with big impact in the Monday, November 7^th edition of Wall Street Journal.*

According to WSJ:  “The [audit] manual also encourages its auditors to consider complains lodged not only with the [Consumer Financial Protection] Bureau, but with such political actors as state attorney Generals and “on-line consumer complaint boards such as http://www.ripoffreport.com and http://www.complaints.com.” [Emphasis added.]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was created with regulatory authority that far exceeds current financial industry regulations.  Banks have long endured regulatory audits for possible “unfair” or “deceptive” practices when conducting business with consumers. However, the CFPB has the newly expanded authority, granted by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Law, to look for “abusive” acts.

The first concern for banks is that the definition of “abusive” remains unclear.  The second and larger concern for banks is the CFPB can source online rating and review sites for evidence of possible abusive acts.  The article mentions two review sites as examples: RipOffReport.com and Complaints.com.  Engage121 monitors these two among the top forty consumer rating and review sites.  

Evidence of this expanded authority was first published (buried) in mid-October in an 802 page tome called “Supervision and Examination Manual – Version 1.0”.

Last Wednesday, the brawn of CFPB’s expanded authority came to light when the new head of the Bureau, Mr. Raj Date, addressed Congress.  Mr. Date described how the CFPB is empowered to “focus on the consumer” when regulating the nation’s financial institutions.

Engage121 is a social media management application that monitors all the consumer review sites that impact financial institutions, plus twenty social platforms and blog publishing tools, all in one integrated interface.  The Engage121 application allows our financial clients—ranging from large insurance and financial planning companies to regional and community banks—to engage consumers while maintaining compliance with regulatory institutions including FINRA and the SEC.

For more information or guidance on monitoring social media platforms and review sites for financial institutions, please contact Jack Serpa, executive vice president of Engage121, at 203-849-7246, jserpa@engage121.com, or @jackserpa.

* The WSJ article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203716204577013804002477724.html?

Facebook Comments and Google

Google spiders that crawl web pages are reading Facebook comments like any other text – and you can search the text of these comments using regular Google search. Amit Agarwal reports on this latest development on Digital Inspiration in Google Begins Indexing Facebook Comments 

Why is this important?  Because, now comments that would have previously been left out of Google Search because the spiders could not read them, can be picked up for SEO.

So, if you use Facebook Comments, the comments will show when you search by a relevant term.  Amit points out, you need to make sure you moderate carefully – Google could hold you in violation if inappropriate comments are picked up.

We think this could also increase the value of a Facebook fan too.  

Client Retention and Client Acquisition

A woman stormed out of the new coffee shop, took out her smart phone, and vented: “That bathroom in the new (Name Withheld) was filthy. I’m never going there again.”  Her girlfriends soon chimed in.  They were looking forward to giving the new place a try. Not now. The negativity was spreading across social media. 

The Grand Opening should have been flawless. The Franchise had conducted seventeen other Grand Openings; all without a hitch earlier this year. One slight oversight ruined the first day experience for one customer.  And social media amplified the flaw.   What might have been an oversight by a newly hired employee, or a messy customer who used the restroom before her, doesn’t matter. The isolated experience of one was now shared among countless many.

If social media seems like an unfair culprit here, you’re missing the point.  That was the gist of a spirited panel presentation at the recent Social Media Summit sponsored by PluggedInVentures in NYC (#smsummit).  Two of the panel discussions covered Client Retention and Client Acquisition.  Thanks to law firm SNR Denton for hosting theSummit.  

In the case of the messy bathroom, social media actually provides an immediate opportunity to advance the brand’s reputation and retain a customer. There’s also an opportunity for quick moving competitors to court a new customer.

 Client Retention:

Did she share her angst on Facebook, Foursquare, Yelp, Twitter or maybe PissedConsumer.com?  If the franchise company was monitoring all relevant social networks and review sites, they would find the initial complaint in near real time, wherever it was posted.  If they acted quickly and honestly, they had an opportunity to actually shine.  The key was not to just monitor.  They must “engage”.  Assuming they heard the initial angst, the company could post a reply, publicly acknowledge the problem, and offer amends.  “We’re sorry you had a bad experience. That’s not our way. Can we contact you to make amends?”   By acknowledging the problem publicly (socially) consumers will respect the franchisors’ candor and accountability.  A halo effect can be engendered around the brand because the company did the right thing.  Perhaps a coupon is in order.   

 Client Acquisition:

On that same morning, a competing coffee brand was monitoring social media platforms and review sites for any mention of their brand, as well as key competitors.  A software alert found a lone woman’s complaint about a messy bathroom.  An immediate opportunity was at hand to court a potential new customer. The next step was critical.  Yes they were monitoring.  And yes they should engage the woman.  But the nuance of their engagement must be subtle. A crass sales pitch could seem too commercial, if not creepy. An appropriate outreach might be “Sorry you had a bad experience.  We like to think we do thing differently here.  Here’s a coupon. Give us a try?”

Conclusion:

Messy bathrooms happen. How a company responds to its exposure creates an opportunity for one company to retain a customer and shine among her friends.  Another company gains a chance to offer their brand as an alternative.   The only error that occurs here is to not act on the lesson learned in social media and review sites.

Engage121 is a social media application that integrates 20 social networks and publishing tools, plus countless blogs and 41 top review sites, all in one manageable interface.

2011 Mashable Awards

Last year, Engage121 was proud to be on the short list for Mashable Awards, 5 Superior Social Media Management Tools .   Its time again for the Mashable Awards, and we are excited to enter for Digital Company of the Year and Up-and-Coming Social Service.  Read below for the category descriptions.  You can nominate one candidate once a day for each category (so if you like, you can nominate us for both categories once a day until November 18th.) We welcome your support so please nominate us through the following link http://mashable.com/follow/contests/mashable-awards-2011/categories/

Here are some details on the categories which are a bit different this year.

Mashable describes the Up-And-Coming Social Service as:

This category honors the reader’s choice for the social media service that is currently experiencing major growth but has not yet received massive mainstream attention. Services nominated for this category are not necessarily full-fledged social networks but must include social media as a core feature.

And Mashable describes Digital Company of the Year as:

This category honors the reader’s choice for the top traditional (non-digital) company that has excelled in the digital space in 2011.

Don’t forget to vote!  Thank you.

Connect121 – Connect Socially to Team and Colleagues

How do you communicate with your team and colleagues?  E-mail?  Phone?  Shout?  Or, has your company started using an internal social networking program? 

Along with many of our clients, we use Connect121, which is built into our social media management software, Engage121.  Connect121 is a private, internal micro-blog that allows users to share messages, create tasks and collaborate with colleagues and groups.  Users can also set up alerts that go directly to their mobile or email.

We use Connect121 in many ways.  Recently, it came in handy during Hurricane Irene as our application did not experience any disruptions (but our email did have issues) so those of us with Internet access could communicate through Connect121. 

Other ways we use Connect121 include:

• Communicating new application updates and features
• Announcing everything from a new client signing on to the latest birthday
• Welcoming our new employees (our interns last week)
• Coordinating teams and assigning tasks
• Communicating miscellaneous news, traffic and whether or not the office is open or closed during blizzards, hurricanes and “Nor’Easters (and all of the rest of the East Coast weather we endure…).

In short, Connect121 is the most transparent way for everyone to know what is going on, and it is changing the way our clients – and how we work.  We would love to show you how it could help you.



Tell Me A Facebook Story

Yesterday I attended the Advertising Week session, “Brands as Storytellers, The Art and Science of Capitalizing on Social Media.”  John Yi was on the panel from Facebook, and he had some interesting insights.  What I heard was further reinforced when I read the Facebook Developer blog. 

In short, Facebook continues to help brands and businesses think about – how do you approach consumers in this very personal space in a way that marries the personal with the commercial (in a way that does not feel too commercial).  How do you do it to your advantage? And, of course, how do you measure it so you can do it better?  

It has been a challenge since day one.  So this is not new.  But I like how Facebook is packaging the message and helping brands out by providing a metric.  It makes sense.

Here are some highlights from the blog and from the Advertising Week session along with my own thoughts:

• When a brand or a person tells a story, they build connections.  Facebook is the perfect place to tell these stories and cultivate these connections.  The media is rich.  There is always an audience. 
• People can tell stories by their posts – and also their actions.  So, when you “check-in” to a restaurant that may be part of a story.  Maybe it is your wedding anniversary and the fact that you chose a certain restaurant and maybe supplemented the “check-in” with some photos provides a pretty deep illustration of a very personal experience – it is also an endorsement of a business (even if you were not intending to endorse).
• How do you measure viral?  You know it is powerful.  Facebook has come out with a measurement, “People Talking About This” which will appear on every Page under “Likes” to show the number of people having a conversation about the Page.  Not so sure about the name, but it sounds like Facebook may work on that…
• In the end, these measures should help Page owners understand and measure the effectiveness of their communication, change accordingly and ultimately communicate better.  In the end, a better story making Facebook a better place for people and business brands.

For more details on the latest Facebook thinking and how to get started, visit the Facebook blog .