Author Archives: Guest

Facebook Comments Versus Likes

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Guest| Leave a comment
written by:

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.

 

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Facebook

Customer Complaints On Social Media

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Guest| Leave a comment
written by:

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?

 

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Social Customer Service, Twitter

Facebook Comments and Google

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Guest| Leave a comment
written by:

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.  

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Facebook

2011 Mashable Awards

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Guest| Leave a comment
written by:

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.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Engage121, Social Media Events

Connect121 – Connect Socially to Team and Colleagues

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Guest| Leave a comment
written by:
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.



→ Leave a comment

Posted in Engage121 Product Features

Tell Me A Facebook Story

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Guest| 4 Comments
written by:

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 .



→ 4 Comments

Posted in Facebook, Social Media Marketing

Hospitality and Social Media – More than Reviews

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Guest| 1 Comment
written by:

Wake up travel and hospitality friends!  There is a big social world out there for you to conquer.

Let me explain.  At the moment, our travel and hospitality clients and prospects are obsessed with review sites.  We understand.  Reviews (good or bad) drive some big metrics: REVPAR, occupancy, restaurant covers etc. 

And we understand why they like to monitor and respond to 35+ review sites (including the biggies like Trip Advisor and Expedia) 24/7 through Engage121.  We built that feature just for them.  But we worry this focus, may be causing our clients to miss some other very big changes in social that could have an even bigger impact on their business.

We like what guest blogger, Travis Pittman, has to say about it in a recent post on TKnooz.  Read the entire article http://bit.ly/n4oKZY .  Here are a few highlights that struck us.

Facebook’s Open Graph will now let people share what they are doing and planning.  Travis outlines a trip to South Africa.  I imagined my own trip and what my friends would see on Facebook as something like:

“Mary booked her trip to Paris on Air France”

“Mary reserved the week at the George V”

“Mary read a review about the Prince de Galles.”

“Mary added five photos to her album, Dinner at the Guy Savoie”

(I am dreaming now…)

As Travis explains it, “As more businesses integrate the new frictionless sharing feature of the Open Graph to their websites and Fan Pages, there is an increased chance of friends being inspired by their friend’s activities during the planning phase and potentially joining them (or at the very least, telling them which sites their friends use in their travel planning).”

So in the above examples, my friends will know where I am staying, eating, flying – and I am guessing at the very least will want to come or possibly be inspired to do some planning of their own.

So, big changes are on the way for travel by way of social.

With 750 million active users, what is going on with Facebook may just get some attention from our review-obsessed friends.  We are here to help.



→ 1 Comment

Posted in Engage121 Product Features, Facebook

Why should a bank use social media?

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Guest| 1 Comment
written by:

Engage121, Inc. will be a sponsor at the New England Financial Marketing Association (NEFMA) fall conference in Newport 10/6 – 10/7.  Engage121′s Steve Paster will be there, and he offers his thoughts below on how banks can use social media to drive business goals.

As I am preparing for my trip, I keep thinking about the question I expect to get the most: Why should a bank use social media?

My answer is straightforward but hard to accept: You should figure out your marketing goals and objectives, and determine how to leverage social media to achieve them. 

Here are some examples of how this can be done:

  • Differentiation:  One bank’s money is as green as the other, yes?  Well, how about differentiating the consumer’s experience with social media?  We have financial services clients who are creating vibrant Facebook communities – and seeing dramatic increases in fans translating to new accounts, retention and overall awareness.
  • Product Awareness:  Our financial services customers want greater product awareness.  Personally, I use about 10 different companies for my checking, savings, retirement, insurance, credit card, mortgage, and car loan.  I am sure there is an overlap of services among those companies, and each would love to have more of my business (I just took diversification too literally I guess).  These customers can get the word out through social.
  • Customer Growth and Retention:  Our clients monitor what their clients and prospects are saying in social media.  They can identify trends and join the conversation, in real time, where appropriate.  Other community banks realize that they have something in common with their clients, their community, and use social media to show support, promote upcoming events, and show their active community stance.  This helps drive new customers and keep the ones they have.

As for me, I don’t “like” my bank on Facebook.  Why?  They don’t even have a page!  In general, my personal sentiment towards them would be neutral.  That is, until I recently learned that they plan to charge a $5 monthly fee if I use my debit card.  There is outrage against them on Facebook and Twitter, yet they do little to protect themselves or insulate their brand. 

If a bank has an engagement application in place, now would be the time to interact with the upset customers of my bank, and entice them to try a better alternative.  

Banks also worry about compliance (maybe that is why my bank does not have a page). Engage121 can help with that as our product has built in approvals, permissions and archiving that let banks comply. 

I am looking forward to talking to NEFMA attendees about meeting their goals compliantly through social media.

 



→ 1 Comment

Posted in Social Media and FINRA, Social Media Compliance

Rolling with the Changes

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Guest| 1 Comment
written by:
What do you think of the latest Facebook changes?  Engage121′s Jack Campisi weighs in -

We’ve seen this before. We log into Facebook one morning and our world is turned upside down. Things look different, things act different and I haven’t even had my coffee yet.

Every so often Facebook likes to pull the rug out from under us and change their interface. They usually do this right after everyone has finally gotten used to their last batch of changes.

As you probably saw, the reaction to this most recent series of changes was strong. From some of the negative backlash I saw on my Facebook feed, you’d think the world was about to end.

I saw a great post the day after the changes hit that summed it up well. It read: “I’m appalled that the free service that I am in no way obligated to use keeps making changes that mildly inconvenience me.”

For the next few weeks we’ll be seeing posts from various friends complaining about the new Facebook and a few people will even threaten to leave. But I doubt very many actually will. More likely, people will simply get used to it. And they just might even discover that they like some of the new features. Maybe even love them.

Have you heard about the new Timeline feature that’s due to be unveiled on Sept. 29th? I saw a sneak peak of it over a friend’s shoulder and it looked pretty cool. There’s already a buzz about it.

Facebook’s facelift seems to be in part a reaction to Google+, who’s “Circles” have  caused quite a stir in the social media world as a smart and easy way to organize your contacts and protect your privacy. But I don’t know a lot of people who want to migrate over there and start their social network over from scratch. If Facebook can mirror that kind of functionality, it will be a welcome change for those who like to pick and choose who sees what from their Facebook posts.

And I am sure there are a lot more things in store that we have not even seen yet. So my advice to everyone is to calm down, take a deep breath and don’t rush to judgment on the changes to Facebook. Give it a chance and wait to see everything that they have in store for us. I’m sure there will be some bumps in the road… that’s par for the course when you change anything.

Who knows? Eventually Facebook may need to add a “Love” button for all of these changes. And if not, remember, it’s a free service and you are not obligated to use it. In other words, don’t hold your breathe for a “Hate” button.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Facebook, Social Media Platforms

Twitter and Brands

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Guest| Leave a comment
written by:

Are you using Twitter to engage with your customers and prospects?  If not, you may want to take note of some recent stats that indicate that Twitter is a great opportunity to interact one-to-one with a huge number of users.  Some recent research from eMarketer indicates that consumers are increasingly open to following brands and receiving promotional tweets.  When you combine this research with the sheer size of Twitter (Twitter reports it has over 200 million registered users) it is hard to ignore the potential.

Here are some highlights from eMarketer’s survey (click here  for the full results):

  • 30.6% of Twitter users are only engaging with one to five brands.  So, if you are interacting with a consumer on Twitter there is a good chance that person is not a frivolous contact but rather consistently follows favorite or most-used brands.
  • 77.8% of Twitter users follow brands – a huge percentage.  If you are not already doing so, you have a large opportunity to interact one-to-one with consumers on Twitter. 

At Engage121 we have clients who interact in real-time to improve customer service, send out promotions for local stores and outlets and to expand their brand’s identity and personality – one-to-one.  They are also leveraging Twitter to monitor what consumers are saying about their brands – and the competition. 

Some clients also use pre-approved Tweets in some instances to ensure compliance and a consistent brand message.

If you are not maximizing Twitter, we would love to show you how to leverage its huge potential. 

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Platforms, Twitter