Author Archives: Jack Serpa

Consumers Check Review Sites Before Facebook

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Jack Serpa| Leave a comment
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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

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Posted in Community Manager Tips, Consumer Reviews, Engage121, Facebook, Franchising, Marketing Tools, Social Customer Service, Social Media Events, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Monitoring, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Revolution, Uncategorized, What's new - Marketing

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Audit Risk: Review Sites and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Jack Serpa| 2 Comments
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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 7th 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?

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Posted in Social Customer Service, Social Media and FINRA, Social Media Compliance, Social Media Investing

Client Retention and Client Acquisition

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Jack Serpa| 9 Comments
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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.

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Posted in Social Media Events

Franchising Equals Jobs

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Jack Serpa| Leave a comment
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If you believe that economic recovery is dependent on job creation, you’ll be both impressed and frustrated with the impact the franchise industry holds in the balance.   

I just returned from Washington DC where the International Franchise Association held their annual IFA Public Affairs Conference.   

Consider that one out of every eight jobs in the private sector is with a franchise company. When a local Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins opens in your area, 30 new jobs are created.  There are 828,000 franchise businesses in theUS, employing 9.1 million people who are paid $304.4 billion in direct payroll. That creates $468.5 billion to GDP.

It gets bigger.  Each franchise establishment needs supplies, services and professional support.  Roll that up nationwide and franchising fuels 17.4 million jobs,  $707.6 billion in payroll, which is 9.7% of all private/non-farm payroll, and $1.2 TRILLION to GDP

Now comes the frustration.   So jobs grow when Franchising grows, right?  To start a franchise business, a local business person (the employer) needs capital funding.  The funding is not coming through. No new lending means no new jobs.

Ken Walker, the Chairman and CEO of Driven Brands (owners of MAACO, Meineke and EconoLube) said his company has 100 people signed up to open new franchises. They can’t get funding.  Karen Powell, CEO and Founder of Décor For You, told me she has two new franchisees inPennsylvania, but the banks aren’t coming forth with the capital.

What’s being done? 

The IFA’s Public Affairs Conference is a well-orchestrated lobbying blitz where owners of both local franchisees and corporate franchisors meet with their US Senators and Representatives.  After great networking and instructional events at the JW Marriott on Pennsylvania Avenue, the IFA literally buses this franchise army to the Capitol.  With pre-scheduled meetings in the office of senators and congressmen, the franchise army presses the case for easing capital lending to franchisees to fuel economic growth.

The power of the purse strings in our nation’s banks can stymie or stimulate our economy.  If you agree, send a tweet or post or a good ol’ fashion letter to your local congressional representative.  For contact information on your local congressman or senator, go to http://www.congress.org. They work for you and you pay them.  Be heard!

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Posted in Franchising

Tweets, Trains and Timing

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Jack Serpa| Leave a comment
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How would you handle this assignment?

Your boss just asked you to figure out how to communicate customer service alerts through social media to your 28.7 million clients in 300 locations.  Some of these clients depend on your organization to conduct their very livelihoods.  Others base the success of their vacations on your ability to deliver.   While you’re a household name, no one realizes how much you move the US economy each day.  Most people forget your historic role in our country’s industrial development.   And frankly, some folks ding your reputation just to pass the time. You must reach these demanding and valued clients through social media without compromising speed and accuracy or breaching authority and strict protocols.  By the way, your valued clients are actually moving between those 300 locations, at times as fast as 150 mile per hour, across 46 states.

You work for Amtrak.

Amtrak was already distributing train service alerts to news media when they asked us about Twitter.  Consider that most Media Alerts are a tad longer than 140 characters.   Plus, Amtrak needed to distribute some of these alerts simultaneously to media and on Twitter so the media wasn’t scooped and the tweets weren’t old news.  Other tweets could go out without a media alert.  As important, all tweeted messages had to be pre-written and pre-approved so accurate details could be quickly dispatched without a prolonged copy-approval process.  And 22 people in three different Amtrak locations must be trained and authorized to use the communications application.   The Amtrak team identified 44 different types of service alerts that could be potentially tweeted.  All of these tweets had to be stored for speedy access and distribution by any of the trained Amtrak communicators.

Engage121 modified our Social CRM application to enable distribution of tweets either with or without simultaneous distribution of Media Alerts to select media professionals identified in various media lists.   The Engage121 application stores the 44 pre-approved Twitter alerts for immediate dispatch in 11 different digital libraries to make it easier for Amtrak communicators to find and send the right message.   Only two senior Amtrak communicators can author new tweets or modify existing messages.  Activity reports have to chart all communications by each of the 22 authorized personnel.  Direct Reach and True Reach graphs must marry with media monitoring and reporting to gauge the value of the program.

A pilot program was introduced to communicate only major service disruptions on Amtrak’s busy Northeast Corridor.  On March 29th a news release to the media announced the new twitter handle, and the inaugural tweet from @AmtrakNEC hit the social web.  Late that same evening, at 9:09 pm Eastern Time, AmtrakNEC published its first tweet warning passengers of delays between New York City and New Rochelle. At 11:53 pm a second tweet stated that all service had been restored.  The following morning the AmtrakNEC Twitter handle has 624 followers.  The several hundred tweets about the new AmtrakNEC Twitter handle included individuals showing enthusiasm and thanking/congratulating Amtrak for using social media.  Posts on Facebook from the public included requests for expanding the alerts to other regions of the country and across other social platforms.

Three weeks after the pilot program, Amtrak is examining use of the Engage121 application across the nation.  The Amtrak Marketing Department continues to monitor the program for potential, future distribution of promotional offers, incentives and online loyalty programs. Other major rail systems have asked about the application.

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Posted in Engage121, Engage121 Clients