Social CRM, customer engagement, and next gen call centers

January 28, 2012

Social Media vs. Email — Are We Asking The Right Questions?

by Maria Ogneva with 38 views

Image courtesy of author's blog

While announcing the death of e-mail is a bit premature, it’s absolutely a reality that the paradigm of communication has changed. There has been a flurry of articles lately about giving up email completely, as well as criticisms of such an approach... [read more]

January 27, 2012

The '@' Droppers. Are You Tuned into How Your Customers Use Twitter?

by Joshua March with 32 views

Image: Courtesy of @PaulContentMan

Customers tweeting complaints @yourcompany are easily overheard, but what about those tweeting about you, rather than @you? Take this customer's experience with John Lewis: when phone channels failed to solve their problem they tweeted about their... [read more]

January 27, 2012

Average Is Over: Time to Stand Out

by Dave Brock
with 47 views

Photo by Mike Gifford via Flickr

I read a fascinating Op Ed piece by Tom Friedman in the New York Times, Average Is Over. As I reflected on the piece it struck me how important this concept is to professional selling. Friedman makes the point, “”…everyone needs to find their extra–their unique value contribution that makes them... [read more]

Which Brands Became Social Objects and Why

January 27, 2012 by Adam Metz
with 25 views

Image: David Armano/Flickr(creative commons)

Whether consumer brands ever aspired to become “social objects” for much of the last 100 years is questionable. Brands have always wanted to be talked about, but whether they wanted to be talked with is up for debate. [read more]

The Heartbeat of Social Media

January 27, 2012 by Pam Moore
with 38 views

Image: Courtesy of author blog

Are you part of the beating heart? Or are you just a part of the noise contributing to the stress, confusion and disbelief in the value of social media. I challenge you to ponder this question in your online work in 2012. Do something of value. Do something that makes people smile. Do something that creates communities doing good things together. [read more]

5 Free Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Website

January 26, 2012 by Benji Hyam
with 66 views

Whether you’re trying to augment your existing brick and mortar customer base by having a website or you’re trying to build a business completely online, without traffic your business won’t survive. You need visitors to come to your site but how do you get them to your website without paying for them? [read more]

#SocialTV Goes to Washington – Analysis of the 2012 State of the Union

January 26, 2012 by Networked Insights
with 64 views

This week on “#SocialTV goes to Washington” we’re finally seeing some reprieve from the nearly non-stop Republican debates and caucuses with some TV action from the Dems and Obama with this year’s State of the Union. They went big this year on... [read more]

The Year of the Social Predator Has Arrived & The Social Mind

January 25, 2012 by Peter Auditore
with 144 views

The Year of the Social Predator Has Arrived [read more]

The Silent Exit of Poor Customer Service

January 25, 2012 by Douglas Hanna
with 211 views

Photo: Debs (ò‿ó)♪/Flickr

Typically an unhappy customer who perceives that attitude of indifference will tell eight to ten of their friends, coworkers or family members about their bad experiences, and one in five people will tell 20 others. [read more]

Finnair Delights Their Delhi-Bound Customers On India’s Republic Day!

January 26, 2012 by Andy Hanselman
with 55 views

Here’s how Finnair ‘delighted’ their Delhi-bound customers this morning. In a word, "Wow!" [read more]

Trust is Hard to Come by These Days

January 26, 2012 by Networked Insights
with 19 views

Image courtesy of author's blog

For years, I have kept tabs on the Edelman Trust barometer report, which comes out every January in Davos. And this year was no exception. After last year I figured this year's report could make an excellent gauge of the economy worldwide! Simply put, the report states: Trust is down in every industry and every country across the... [read more]

Measuring the Impact of Social Media

January 25, 2012 by Becky Carroll
with 171 views

Photo credit: DNY59 via author's blog

Most companies view social media ROI in the same way they view the legendary pot of gold. They believe that it is there, and they keep looking for it even though it eludes them. Finding ROI in your social media initiatives doesn’t have to be imaginary. [read more]

Creating Better Customer Experiences? BA Has An ‘App For That!

January 25, 2012 by Andy Hanselman
with 54 views

Image: Courtesy of author blog

Rather than use scrolls of papers with all the personal information about their customers, British Airways cabin crew members now have an ‘app which uploads up to the minute.information about their customers that allows them to create ‘personalised’ customer experiences. [read more]

The Social Analyst Manifesto

January 25, 2012 by Keith Paul
with 69 views

Image: Courtesy of Brian Solis

2012 seems to be the year of many things. Business are going to take social media engagement seriously, they’ll become more comfortable in the space, they’ll hire data analysts to measure all sort of stuff in new ways. They’ll slay the dragon known as social data. [read more]

Warning: Customers Require Social Service In 2012

January 24, 2012 by Adam Honig
with 62 views

Image: Johan Larrson/Flickr

Cue the emerging concept of social service — customer service, with a social networking overlay — which continues to evolve just as quickly as the concept of social media itself. [read more]

When They Google Will You Be There?

January 24, 2012 by Todd Schnick
with 57 views

Image: Courtesy of author blog

Content is king. Waste not a minute more time on anything else until you have 50 pieces of great content. Not on key words. Not on page views. Not on bounce rates. Not ANY of that stuff. [read more]

A Different Take On Challenging Conversations

January 24, 2012 by Dave Brock
with 24 views

Image by Ian Bertram via Flickr

I’ve been writing a lot about changing the conversation, about challenging our customers, about getting them to think differently. A lot of readers have been sending me notes, asking for advice on how to do this. While I agree with many of the principles outlined in Challenger Selling and Provocative Selling, I take a little... [read more]

You Don’t Want to Turn Your Business into a Social Business

January 24, 2012 by Francois Gossieaux
with 31 views

For someone who co-authored a book on how companies that succeed in leveraging this current wave of innovation, powered by the social, do so by turning their business processes into social processes, it may seem contradictory to now hear that you should not turn your business into a social business. [read more]

5 Reasons You Should Use a Conversation Calendar (guest post)

January 23, 2012 by Maggie Fox
with 72 views

With so many social media accounts, all hungry for engaging content that offers value, you might be asking yourself, “How will I ever manage all of this?” [read more]

Birth of a Social Salesman

January 23, 2012 by ChristineCrandell
with 70 views

Photo: Getty Image4s via @daylife

Social is touching every corner of organizations as profoundly as it has changed how we conduct much of our personal lives. But there is one place where the benefits of embracing Social aren’t obvious, namely Sales. [read more]

Which Department Should Lead Your Social Media Activities?

January 23, 2012 by Luke Brynley-Jones
with 251 views

Image: Courtesy of author blog

Deciding who takes the lead on social media is one of the biggest questions that big brands (and lesser mortals) are facing today. [read more]

Connecting with the Next Generation of Consumers

January 23, 2012 by Max Gladwell
with 133 views

Photo Credit: Mobile Youth via author's blog

Research shows that SoLoMo (social + local + mobile) is the key to connecting with Generation Y The Next Web published an broad aggregation of research-based stats for Generation Y marketers. Following are the most relevant to highlights for multi-location brands seeking to connect with Generation Y (ages 13 – 24) and establish brand... [read more]

What’s The ONE THING You Want Your Website To Accomplish?

January 23, 2012 by Todd Schnick
with 47 views

Drawing by hugh macleod

It is all about conversions. Assuming your website is the hub of your online business presence, when people come to our website, we want them to take some action. So, what action do you want people to take? Could it be one of the following? 1. Signing-up for your e-newsletter. 2. Buying product direct from your site. 3. Downloading... [read more]

What Happens When The Customer Doesn’t Raise His Hand?

January 22, 2012 by Dave Brock
with 66 views

Photo by sweetenough via Flickr

There has been an important revolution in marketing thinking over the past years. The move from thinking about campaigns to rich content programs and nurturing is important. It recognizes something important, that customers want to learn, they want to be educated. These programs enable us to develop “relationships”... [read more]

Timing Your Social Media Marketing

January 21, 2012 by Pam Dyer
with 206 views

Social media marketers always wonder when the best time is to post on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and the myriad of other social platforms for optimum customer engagement. Is it in the morning, since many people check their Facebook page before they go to work? Is midday better because users look at their Twitter stream while they’re... [read more]

Ways to Brand Your Business on a Budget

January 20, 2012 by Dominique Molina
with 54 views

Creating your business’ brand requires both internal and external elements. Internally, you need to determine the message that your brand conveys. What’s the one thing your brand is known for? What’s your USP, or your core business principle? [read more]

Needles in Haystacks: Trying to Identify Social Customer Service Issues Without the Right Tools

January 20, 2012 by Joshua March
with 84 views

Photo: Walmart Stores/Flickr(creative commons)

As soon as you reach any kind of scale, using social platforms directly just isn’t a sensible option. We’ve thoroughly investigated the challenges faced by major companies in Facebook, but this single example illustrates the unique obstacle of social networks to customer service. [read more]

Brand-Jacking: Social Disaster or the Highest Form of Flattery?

January 20, 2012 by Brian Solis
with 27 views

Silvia Antunes / Shutterstock

The rise of social media has given customers unprecedented access to brands. This can be a double-edged sword: companies are able to communicate with customers in more ways than ever, but brand managers need to be aware that communication is a two-way process... [read more]

Come to Atlanta to Get Down to Social Biz…and for Some Biscuits

January 20, 2012 by Brent Leary
with 26 views

I have the opportunity to go to a lot of CRM/Social events during the course of the year, most of which are held in cool places like San Francisco, Boston and Orlando. And while I love going to those places, I’ve always wanted to have one of those events down here in Atlanta. And while I’ve threatened to do it, I would... [read more]

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