Four Ways Your Twitter Presence Helps Your Business

Twitter is so much more than “follower count”, although it is an important measure of success. What’s more important, however, is the engagement (activity) of your followers on Twitter and how much your Tweets cause them to like you more and in the END buy from you. Yes - we are in businesses and making a sales - when all is said and done - is all that matters.

Twitter commissioned a survey whose results indicates four key benefits your Twitter presence provides to your business:

  • Followers drive sales and recommendations
  • Followers feel an emotional connection to SMBs.
  • Followers want to be in the know and offer feedback.
  • Marketing with Twitter helps you reach more customers.

Check out Twitter’s full blog post on this here.

See their neat infographic below



Four Ways Your Twitter Presence Helps Your Business

Twitter is so much more than “follower count”, although it is an important measure of success. What’s more important, however, is the engagement (activity) of your followers on Twitter and how much your Tweets cause them to like you more and in the END buy from you. Yes - we are in businesses and making a sales - when all is said and done - is all that matters.

Twitter commissioned a survey whose results indicates four key benefits your Twitter presence provides to your business:

  • Followers drive sales and recommendations
  • Followers feel an emotional connection to SMBs.
  • Followers want to be in the know and offer feedback.
  • Marketing with Twitter helps you reach more customers.

Check out Twitter’s full blog post on this here.

See their neat infographic below



How to Handle a Public Relations Crisis

public relations crisis

Admit it: None of us are as graceful as we think we are. We’ve all “stepped in it” so-to-speak and sometimes, the results aren’t pretty. Whether we’re out for a run or walking within the confines of our home, we’ve all had a clumsy moment with unintended consequences. Likewise, no matter how appropriately you run your business, if you’ve been in business long enough, then you’re bound to receive publicity you don’t like.

Meet Nivia, the focus of today’s case study.

After releasing its “Re-Civilize Yourself” ad campaign, Nivia was criticized for undertones that many claimed were racist. The ad prominently featured a clean-shaven black man tossing away a head with an afro and facial hair, implying that he was throwing away his old-self to “Re-Civilize” himself.

Fortunately, Nivia has become a role model of how small businesses should handle a public relations crisis and negative PR situations, immediately apologizing through social media and other platforms. Nivia then removed the ad and suspended the campaign due to the widespread backlash.

If your business becomes the center of unwanted controversy and a public relations crisis, it’s important to know how to react.

Avoid Knee-Jerk Reactions

Whether warranted or unwarranted, it’s important to remain calm while handling any sort of controversy online. If your brand did nothing wrong, such as Cheerios in their recent “Just Checking” ad (seen below), then there’s no reason to withdraw any of your campaigns or apologize for a wrongdoing.

However, if there’s legitimate dicey-ness such as in the Nivia campaign, you’ll certainly want to react as quickly as possible without a knee-jerk reaction.

Remember, an inappropriate response can cause more damage.

It’s Sometimes Better to Say Nothing

Sometimes it’s better to stay quiet and avoid making the situation worse than to try and give a lengthy explanation and apology.

Just like avoiding a knee-jerk reaction, sometimes less is more. Especially when your brand is under heightened scrutiny.

Be Aware Moving Forward

When it comes to new marketing strategies and campaigns, sometimes we get so excited in the potential value that we forget to consider any potential pitfalls. Just as you might trip while walking because you weren’t paying attention, many controversies happen because marketers didn’t fully consider or understand the dynamics of a campaign.

Ultimately, the best way to handle controversy is to prevent it. But just as Cheerios learned, sometimes controversy is unwarranted and can come swiftly from various sects of the online community.

By handling a public relations crisis and controversy appropriately and gracefully, your brand will be able to establish itself as one of the most professional in its industry.

Angry Mob Photo via Shutterstock




Turn Prospects into Customers Fast by Using ‘Click-to-Call’ Tech Tool

Enticing a prospect to become a customer is a challenge that has plagued business leaders since we first recognized selling as the art it truly is.  With technology getting more sophisticated every day, you would think that converting that interested prospect over to your side would be easier than ever before.  Unfortunately, you are competing not just against other businesses in your industry, but also against the general influx of information that is given to that prospectâ€"even by your own company.  What you need to do to capture that prospect is cut through all the noise!

eVoice, the virtual phone system for small businesses, recently announced that it will launch its version of a Click-to-Call button that small business owners can put onto their websites, blog or emails.  eVoice is already known by many for its service of allowing business owners to set up a business phone line and forward it to any phone.  Adding the Click-to-Call service makes eVoice a kind of one-stop shop for phoning services, especially for small businesses.

“Most people may not want to pick up the phone or search for a phone number to dial,” says Keith Lorren, CEO of New York-based Keith Lorren Spices. “So the eVoice click to call feature makes it very comfortable and easy for a customer to reach us. They can click on that button on the website, it will route them right to our land lines, and they can talk to us and place an order directly.”

Many businesses using the Click-to-Call feature have reported an increase in prospect to customer conversions.  Comcast stated that when used with its mobile advertising, Click-to-Call has increased its click-through rates to more than 270%, and Esurance says that Click-to-Call features have improved the bottom-line of their marketing campaigns by about 25%.  Though the term Click-to-Call can be misleading (clicking on it typically is a request for the merchant to call the customer), businesses are experiencing an increase in sales when using the service on their websites or mobile ads.

The beauty of the system rests not only in the ability to speak to a prospect, but in also being able to track and analyze your calls.  Zingaya offers real time analytics that can be used to determine where your callers are coming from on the web, monitor and measure ROI, effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and sales conversions.  Zingaya plans go from free trial periods to $9.95 per month.  There are many other companies offering Click-to-Call including RingRevenue ($99 per month, after free trail), and BoldCall Express, with 100 minutes for $14.99 per month.  LivePerson provides both Click-to-Chat and Click-to-Call services and the cost of the software begins at $36 a month for subscriptions.

Click-to-Call gives businesses the opportunity to speak with prospects, answering questions and pointing to key features of products and services, while their interests are peaked.  Setting up and applying this tech tool is simple, profitable, and a strategic addition to your marketing arsenal in converting visitors to customers.



Not Everyone Has Twitter. But Everyone Has Text. ChattBack’s Service Helps With Mobile Customer Service

Imagsource AndyHanselman.com (found on Instant.ly)

Although we’d like to think that “everyone” has Twitter and uses Twitter on their phone - “everyone” does not.

Furthermore, wouldn’t it be great if you could easily enable your customers to txt you without worying that that the text was going public on the Internet or that you missed answering it?

ChattBack is service that lets your customers text to you and you can manage the incoming text by having it routed to other staff so it’s not tied to JUST YOUR PHONE.

Simple service, but big results for small business owners and their customers.

Often times customers just want to be heard - ChattBack helps you do that. Other times customers want to praise an employee, why not let them do that?

There are lots of customer service tools and options on the market - carefully decide what your GOAL is and which one works for you.



Clarity of Purpose: What’s Your Promise?

zappos

Does it live consistently across your company?

Clarity of purpose extends well beyond the boardrooms of beloved companies. It unleashes the organization’s imagination to make decisions guided by its promise. It’s no wonder that companies with clarity of purpose have the most loyal and engaged employees. The opportunity to deliver to a clear purpose elevates day-to-day tasks, giving work direction and joy.

Internet clothing and shoe retailer Zappos earns 75 percent of their daily orders from repeat customers. Clarity of purpose fuels its customer devotion. Zappos wants to be known as a service company that happens to sell shoes, handbags and an expanding array of products in the future. The lens through which the company makes decisions is service.

This clarity frees everyone there to live the “Golden Rule” in the way they work.

One decision Zappos acts on every day is helping customers find a pair of shoes, even a pair they don’t stock. Customer Loyalty Reps who take customer calls are encouraged to know competitors’ Web sites for one simple purpose: Service. If a customer calls Zappos for a shoe it doesn’t have, their Reps will search the Internet to help the customer find it. Customers are continuously amazed, delighted and dazzled by this act of genuine customer care.

Zappos’ clarity of purpose - that doing the right thing for the customer is ultimately the right thing for the business - transcends any short-term gain it might get by pushing the customer toward another shoe they have in stock.

Clarity for being a service business first gives Customer Loyalty Reps energy and a compass for decision making. And it gives them the joy of delivering Zappos’ version of the “Miracle on 34th Street.” You may remember that in the movie Miracle on 34th Street, a Macy’s-employed department store Santa joyfully sends customers to competitors when the store didn’t stock what they wanted, making Macy’s the “winner” of the Christmas season.

In this single, simple decision, Zappos wins over the hearts of customers. It is this type of gesture that makes customers love them. They are loved for being the kind of people who send a customer to the competition because it’s the right thing to do.

Every type of business prospers when clarity of purpose steers decision making.

People across your company live up to the promises you make. Customers become emotionally connected with you and want others to experience what you deliver. Their stories of your service, experience, and people become the folklore that defines you.

And customers become your sales force, telling your story to everyone they know, fueling your growth.

Image: Wikipedia




Clarity of Purpose: What’s Your Promise?

zappos

Does it live consistently across your company?

Clarity of purpose extends well beyond the boardrooms of beloved companies. It unleashes the organization’s imagination to make decisions guided by its promise. It’s no wonder that companies with clarity of purpose have the most loyal and engaged employees. The opportunity to deliver to a clear purpose elevates day-to-day tasks, giving work direction and joy.

Internet clothing and shoe retailer Zappos earns 75 percent of their daily orders from repeat customers. Clarity of purpose fuels its customer devotion. Zappos wants to be known as a service company that happens to sell shoes, handbags and an expanding array of products in the future. The lens through which the company makes decisions is service.

This clarity frees everyone there to live the “Golden Rule” in the way they work.

One decision Zappos acts on every day is helping customers find a pair of shoes, even a pair they don’t stock. Customer Loyalty Reps who take customer calls are encouraged to know competitors’ Web sites for one simple purpose: Service. If a customer calls Zappos for a shoe it doesn’t have, their Reps will search the Internet to help the customer find it. Customers are continuously amazed, delighted and dazzled by this act of genuine customer care.

Zappos’ clarity of purpose - that doing the right thing for the customer is ultimately the right thing for the business - transcends any short-term gain it might get by pushing the customer toward another shoe they have in stock.

Clarity for being a service business first gives Customer Loyalty Reps energy and a compass for decision making. And it gives them the joy of delivering Zappos’ version of the “Miracle on 34th Street.” You may remember that in the movie Miracle on 34th Street, a Macy’s-employed department store Santa joyfully sends customers to competitors when the store didn’t stock what they wanted, making Macy’s the “winner” of the Christmas season.

In this single, simple decision, Zappos wins over the hearts of customers. It is this type of gesture that makes customers love them. They are loved for being the kind of people who send a customer to the competition because it’s the right thing to do.

Every type of business prospers when clarity of purpose steers decision making.

People across your company live up to the promises you make. Customers become emotionally connected with you and want others to experience what you deliver. Their stories of your service, experience, and people become the folklore that defines you.

And customers become your sales force, telling your story to everyone they know, fueling your growth.

Image: Wikipedia




Not Everyone Has Twitter. But Everyone Has Text. ChattBack’s Service Helps With Mobile Customer Service

Imagsource AndyHanselman.com (found on Instant.ly)

Although we’d like to think that “everyone” has Twitter and uses Twitter on their phone - “everyone” does not.

Furthermore, wouldn’t it be great if you could easily enable your customers to txt you without worying that that the text was going public on the Internet or that you missed answering it?

ChattBack is service that lets your customers text to you and you can manage the incoming text by having it routed to other staff so it’s not tied to JUST YOUR PHONE.

Simple service, but big results for small business owners and their customers.

Often times customers just want to be heard - ChattBack helps you do that. Other times customers want to praise an employee, why not let them do that?

There are lots of customer service tools and options on the market - carefully decide what your GOAL is and which one works for you.



Things Aren’t Looking Good

things aren't looking good business cartoon

I saw a lot of movies this summer. For the most part, I enjoyed them all.

But unexpectedly, my favorite by far was not any of the various superhero reimaginings, sequels or prequels. It was Pacific Rim, where giant mechs fight giant monsters from below the sea.

POW! ROAR! PEW PEW! HEE-HEE! FUN!

So when I was drawing a new bar graph cartoon and the bars looked like tall buildings - adding in an angry kaiju just couldn’t be helped.




Things Aren’t Looking Good

things aren't looking good business cartoon

I saw a lot of movies this summer. For the most part, I enjoyed them all.

But unexpectedly, my favorite by far was not any of the various superhero reimaginings, sequels or prequels. It was Pacific Rim, where giant mechs fight giant monsters from below the sea.

POW! ROAR! PEW PEW! HEE-HEE! FUN!

So when I was drawing a new bar graph cartoon and the bars looked like tall buildings - adding in an angry kaiju just couldn’t be helped.




Facebook now documents requests for information it receives from governments

Facebook has released its first-ever transparency report this week, which highlights the number of times that governments across the world seek out member information on Facebook's more than a billion accounts. It is an undertaking that Google is well-known for maintaining since 2010, expanding its own along the way.

Known as the 'Global Government Requests Report', it covers the first six months of 2013 through to 30th June.

The United States easily leads the pack in terms of total requests. What is notable is that the US made between 11,000 and 12,000 of them involving between 20,000 and 21,000 Facebook users or accounts. That trumps the Indian government's second-highest number of requests, around 3,200.

It is also roughly 3,000 more requests than the US asked of Google in the first six months of 2012, which represented roughly 16,000 of Google's members.

Altogether, Facebook received more than 25,000 requests on roughly 38,000 of users or accounts from governments in approximately 70 countries. It released information to the US about 79 per cent of the time and, overall, user information was released on about 60 per cent of total requests.

“We have stringent processes in place to handle all government data requests,” Colin Stretch, Facebook general counsel, wrote in the report. “We believe this process protects the data of the people who use our service, and requires governments to meet a very high legal bar with each individual request in order to receive any information about any of our users.”

Subpoenas, court orders and search warrants are some of the things Facebook needs to release member information, Stretch said, explaining in the report that Facebook respects its users by poring over legal requests, fighting them to the best of its ability, and only releasing basic information, such as names, when mandatory.

Twitter also produces transparency reports, but receives far fewer requests. In the first half of 2013, Twitter reported having received 902 requests from the US on 1,319 users, with Twitter providing information on 67 per cent of requests.

Twitter has also attempted to resist requests, including one involving an Occupy Wall Street protester.



Customer lawsuit tied to Symantec source code hack dismissed

A judge in California has dismissed a customer lawsuit stemming from the 2006 theft of its security product source code from Symantec.

US district court Judge Jon Tigar, sitting in San Francisco, dismissed the case because the plaintiff, Texas resident Kathleen Haskins, failed to demonstrate that the product she purchased was among those impacted by the breach, according to court documents. The dismissal was made following a motion filed by Symantec.

It wasn't until January 2012 that California-based Symantec confirmed that hackers had accessed a portion of its source code in 2006, which impacted versions of four products released that year: Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition, Norton Internet Security, Norton SystemWorks and pcAnywhere.

In April, Haskins filed a lawsuit on behalf of herself and other affected Symantec customers who didn't receive a “fully functional” product.

Tigar ruled last Friday however, that the product mentioned in her complaint, Norton AntiVirus, was different than those determined to be compromised. He also found that she didn't adequately explain the relationship between it and the impacted products.

“[The] plaintiff cannot assert standing on her own behalf without clearly alleging that the product she purchased was among those that form the basis of her claim,” the order dismissing the suit said. “[The] plaintiff has not demonstrated her standing to bring this action, and the complaint must be dismissed.”

Tigar said that Haskins can file an amended complaint within 21 days of the order, if it contains additional facts absent in the current one.

Symantec declined to comment on the ruling to SCMagazine.com.