Web Business by Ken Burbary

What the F**K is a Tweetup?

Since I joined Twitter, I have particpated in and organized numerous Tweetups. As the size of the Twitter population has grown, I’ve been asked by countless numbers of people, what is a Tweetup?

So, I decided to put this little set of slides together to answer that question. Enjoy!

Dominos Learning Painful lessons about the Social Era

Dominos, the pizza maker, became the latest victim of a viral video drive-by brand massacre. Yesterday, 2 employees from an individually owned franchise posted several disgusting videos on YouTube. To say the videos are inappropriate would be an understatement. One of the videos shows a staff member putting cheese up his nose before using it on the pizza he appears to be preparing for a customer. It gets worse from there. You can watch for yourself:

What did Dominos do?

Some good. Some missed opportunities.

Once they became aware (more on how long this took later), the company worked to get the videos removed from the original hosting provider (doesn’t matter, as they have since been uploaded to other sites). Dominos then responded with email communications from Tim McIntyre, Vice President of Communications. He indicated how repulsed he was, and described that their security team was going to look into the matter to identify which store and responsible individuals.

Email from Tim:
We just got off the phone with the franchise owner, who was absolutely dumbfounded by this. He has told us that he will be terminating their employment effective immediately. We suggested that he call them and get a written statement from them, asking them to “explain” (to the extent anyone can, really) their actions. We are also seeking legal counsel to see what kind of action we can take against them for damage to the brand.

You are welcome to use anything I’ve sent to you in the past 24 hours. I do want to thank you for bringing this to our attention…I just wish it hadn’t been posted so prominently on your web site…while it was certainly fair game, it does hurt the company and the thousands of people we employ in this country whether it’s intended or not.

Regards,

Tim McIntyre
Vice President, Communications
Domino’s Pizza, LLC

The company is in damage control mode, operating reactionary during a crisis. While they are taking some of the steps you would expect a brand to do under the circumstances (like terminating the employees and filing criminal complaints with local authorities), they are still missing the opportunity to repair some of the damage done with their customers.

Consumers expect a human response, not messaging

I’ve described before how the social era has changed consumers expectations about how brands interact with them. Consumers want to see and hear the company’s responses from trustworthy employees. Crises like this are no different. In fact, it matters even more. Of course the corporate communications group will be involved in responding (and they should be), but what about the affected store manager? the individual franchise owner? the other employees that work there? Dominos is missing the opportunity to make consumers BELIEVE their side of the story because it isn’t human enough. The work that Scott Monty did last last year during the Ford Ranger Station controversy is a prime example. If consumers were to hear the message from some of the others Dominos employees I mentioned above, it could can help make a real connection, reasonate, and build trust. So make it personal. Make it believable. Make it REAL.

Consumers expect brands to be paying attention

Digital Marketers and Social Media professionals often talk about the importance of listening aka online brand monitoring. Think of it as your brand radar or reputation protection. Had Dominos been engaged in doing so, they mostly likely would have learned about this event sooner, and been in a better position to deal with it. How do we know they weren’t monitoring? We cannot be certain, but ancedotal evidence suggests they have no online brand radar in place (they failed to respond to several attempts by consumers who notified them via email and their website). So it appears the company learned about the event from individuals online reporting it, not because they were listening.

Hopefully they learn how important it is to have an ongoing social monitoring program in place. Consumers expect them to do so. And the benefits of doing so, could have prevented some of the damage, and allowed them to respond individually to consumers who were talking. Pay attention to online conversation. It matters more than you think. Don’t believe me? Go read what people are saying about Dominos now.

http://search.twitter.com/search?q=dominos

This isn’t insignificant. Don’t allow your hard work building a brand get decimated overnight. Put the right steps in place to proactively listen and respond in a human voice that matters. If not, the negative perception and experience from consumers can translate to lost revenue. Dollars and cents.

The Lost Art of Common Sense in Digital Marketing

When did we, marketers & brands, lose touch with humanity and thus reality?

When did we stop stop putting the needs and concerns of our customers first?

When did we throw common sense out the window?

Perhaps some never have put customers needs first, or maybe they did at one point but lost their way. A lot of the marketing that I see now is still centered around what the company wants consumers to think about, feel, or do/take action on. That worked for a long time (before social technologies leveled the playing field) but just doesn’t cut it anymore. This isn’t news to many marketers (in theory), and yet there are still so many brands and companies that haven’t yet begun to embrace helping customers and prospects instead of trying to get them to listen to the brand message. Your brand message should be:

I’m here to help make it easier for you to work with my brand

I recently presented on this topic at the Midwest Digital Conference because I believe there has never been a better time for brands to change their approach, and realign their efforts with customers expectations. The interuptive messaging of advertising continues to be less effective. Yet so many brands continue to sit on the sidelines, bury their head in the sand, and ignore the alternatives available to them. News Flash:

The problem isn’t going away because you are ignoring it

We’re in a new era. The social marketing era. An era of new expectations for brands, new rules for interacting, and new methods/techniques for reaching customers. One of the best things about this new era is that you don’t have to guess anymore about what your business should focus on. Why not? Listen to your customers and they will tell you what is wrong, what they need yet aren’t getting from you, and what direction to focus on moving forward. A well planned, ongoing listening program will unearth this info for you. No more guessing. No more well-planned focus group projects. The internet is your on-demand focus group, providing real time feedback every day. All you need to do is harness the tools available and be open to hearing what people are saying. Make no mistake about it, customers are talking!

Taking the next step

Once the needs are identified, deciding what to do next is easy. Solve customer problems! Build a product they are asking for. If you’re a service provider, then use common sense and be helpful! Social marketing offers a tremendous way to do this. With it, big companies can get smaller, by offering individualized, helpful interactions. Small companies can get bigger, enabling them to increase their reach beyond their physical and/or geographic limits.

If you’re planning a strategy to reach consumers online, consider these tips:

1. Offer value - Use common sense, provide customers and prospects with value, not messages.
2. Feelings matter – People remember how you made them feel, not what you said. Plan accordingly.
3. Think holistically - Focus on every touch point a consumer has with your brand. Consumers interact and form opinions of your brand on web sites, social networks like Facebook & Twitter, communities, support forums and video sharing sites. Every individual counts. Everyone is an influencer.
4. Be sincere – You need to genuinely care about helping your customers and prospects. Fake it, do it half heartedly, and they will notice. Don’t dilute your interaction by taking their loyalty for granted. Wake up each day assuming today is the day you will earn that customer’s loyalty. Difficult to gain, easy to lose. As @Garyvee would say, HUSTLE!
5. Ask questions – Once you have identified the problems, objectives and established relationships, ask questions. Lots of questions. Relentlessly inquire about what your customers think. And constantly remind them you want their input and involvement. You will be rewarded with ideas and suggestions the internal product development team can’t produce on their own.

Is any of this groundbreaking? No. In fact, it’s common sense (or should be). Common sense is often one of the trickiest things. My colleague Len Kendall reminded me today how difficult this all can be, with this quote  “We know our common sense is right, most of the time we just find it hard to prove it”

Hopefully the path to proving it got a little bit easier with this reminder.