Twitter is alight with #bloggerblackmail tweets today as @angesdesucre, a bakery in the UK, goes toe to toe with a food blogger following a poor review.
After reading both sides of the story, it’s clear that there were different expectations on both sides about what to expect from the review experience.
It’s an issue which has now exploded, causing the hashtag to become one of the top trending topics in the UK.
Dealing with criticism online can be a minefield, and it can quickly escalate into a PR nightmare if mishandled as many big brands have discovered, such as this example of a poorly handled Twitter experience by RTE.
But I recently came across an example of one business owner who took a seemingly very high risk approach to a negative review on TripAdvisor. Of course, TripAdvisor reviews can do serious damage to businesses in the hospitality industry, and many struggle to deal with negativity – whether that’s on TripAdvisor, Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else online.
Belmore Court & Motel have an excellent rating on TripAdvisor, so when they received a negative review they could have dealt with it in a number of ways – let it go and hope it’ll be buried quickly, respond at source, try to take it offline and offer a resolution…
Instead, they took action in a way you wouldn’t expect.
Twitter brings with it a wealth of opportunities for businesses to connect with their customers and potential customers, generate sales leads, network, build relationships, create awareness and ultimately drive sales. If used correctly, Twitter can be one of the most valuable additions to your business marketing armoury. Use it wrong though, and you could have the reverse effect. You can alienate the very people you want to woo, lose credibility, gain enemies rather than brand advocates, and those potential customers could be lost as prospects forever, all in 140 characters.
There’s a host of Twitter tips and advice we could cover, some of which you can find in this previous list of Twitter dos and don’ts, but this time I want to focus on just one thing. My greatest pet hate about Twitter. It’s automated, spammy tweets.
For the record, I’m not necessarily opposed to using tools to automate some of your social media updates. It can be a useful time saving method of updating your accounts when used well. My problem is quite simple. I don’t want to receive DMs and tweets which are clearly only coming my way based on the fact that I’ve followed you, or I’ve tweeted using a particular keyword. Tweets and messages that are not tailored to me, that show me you haven’t even looked at my profile or know anything about me or my business. Tweets that are just spam. And I’d bet my house that your potential customers don’t either. Continue reading
“To be or not to be..” – classic one liners are nothing new – they’ve been around for as long as stories could be told, and the most memorable have become part of our every day language. What makes them memorable is that they’re draped in emotion – sorrow, pain, joy, laughter, inspiration, shock, horror, fear, or just plain nostalgia. The classics may last forever.
Who doesn’t love a good one liner? Hollywood in all its story telling grandeur has become the place to conjure up those classic moments of cinema that will be remembered and repeated for years to come. We’ve had some epic deliveries from true Hollywood legends over the years. Script writers’ hearts must dance with glee when they realise they’ve come up with a magic bullet which will live on far beyond the box office takings.
I don’t claim to be a movie buff by any stretch, but a modest love of films mixed with a passion for using social media in the right way for business has led me to come up with a few ‘lessons to be learned’ from some of Hollywood’s great one liners. And if the lessons can help along the way, even better! Enjoy…
1. “Go the distance” – Field of Dreams
One of my favourite movies!
The fact is, social media is not a fad. It’s not something that will work overnight either. If you expect to get a return on social media for your business, you’ve got to commit the time and energy. As Kevin Costner sat in that Iowa ballpark with the wonderful James Earl Jones, he realised there was more to this than first appeared. As is the same with social media – you mustn’t quit after a week when you don’t see the results. Perseverance is essential – keep plugging away and you’ll eventually crack the code. Don’t sell the farm prematurely – you may never know what you’ll be missing..this is for the long haul!
Employers use social media to have a look at the public profiles of employees and potential employees. Fact. It’s not a new discovery. And yet, it appears it is actually a stunning revelation to so many. Why? With so many businesses, brands and professionals on social media, why would it come as such a surprise that it is used as a research tool to vet potential employees?
It’s used as a research tool to find prospective employees, so why not to find out more about them? In fact, 69% of recruiters have already rejected candidates based on the content found on their social networking profiles.
I recently watched a Twitter exchange on this very subject with amazement. The discussion involved switched on individuals, established tweeters, social media savvy people…or so I thought.
One tweeter simply asked the question “How do you feel about your employer looking at your social media activities?” It’s a fair enough question – bound to be mixed feelings about it I suspected. The responses quite simply stunned me.
Some questioned whether this actually happened – in reality? – surely not! – was it real?! Their disbelief was palpable – as was mine at their sheer naivety.
Others were appalled at the thought. They felt it inappropriate, intrusive, a downright infringement on their rights in some cases.
Unbelievable! We live in a digital era. The ubiquitous nature of social media has seen it influence every area of our lives. If you have public social media profiles, this makes everything you publish there, well…public! It’s fair game. This is not an invasion of privacy or an infringement on your rights – you’ve chosen what you’ve published and you’ve selected your privacy settings.
Getting started on any new social media platform can be a challenge. Apart from learning the ropes in terms of how the site actually works, you’ve got to get to grips with the lingo and the general etiquette of each platform. Today, I spoke at a seminar on social media in Fermanagh, but we had so much to cover I didn’t get around to sharing some general tips on Twitter etiquette, so for those who attended (thank you!), and even for those who didn’t, here’s a quick run down of what I believe are the main dos and don’ts when it comes to Twitter.
Facebook have recently told marketers to expect a drop in organic traffic according to CNet. An anonymous source has told Valleywag to expect a drop to 1-2% – that’s huge for some Facebook Pages!
It’s a trend we’ve been seeing for a while now, but 1-2% will be difficult to stomach for any business.
And if you think that’s bad, Ogilvy are predicting ‘Facebook Zero‘ – a time when business Pages will have no organic reach at all – everything will have to be paid for. Gulp!
So there are two scenarios predicted here:
1. Facebook organic reach becomes minimal
2. Facebook organic reach becomes non-existent.
It’s pretty stark when you put it as bluntly as that, but there is little or no evidence to suggest one or other of these scenarios won’t come to fruition. Continue reading
Businesses of all sizes and from every industry can be found on Facebook now, with 25 million active small business Pages on the site. But how many businesses are still using personal profiles instead of, or as well as a business Page?
We all know they’re still out there, but it’s a dangerous game to play.
“It’s a violation of our terms to use a personal account to represent something other than yourself (ex: your business)” – Facebook
This should be warning enough, but if not read on.
Facebook users know the difference, and they expect businesses to have an official business Page. Using a personal profile for your business is simply unprofessional and can be seen as intrusive by your customers and potential customers. This can alienate the very people you want to connect with as they don’t want to give you access to the information they share with their friends, and they don’t want to be contacted directly by your business. Continue reading
The power and influence of social media still seems to have passed some people by, even those who should know better, as the case of an intelligent and influential businesswoman from Cleveland, Ohio and her response to a young job seeker highlights.
Kelly Blazek runs a job centre for Marketing professionals, and has access to over 1,000 LinkedIn connections which any dynamic job seeker would be keen to unlock.
I can only imagine that someone in Blazek’s position frequently receives requests to connect from individuals she doesn’t personally know. I also imagine she understands the etiquette and potential power of LinkedIn and of any form of networking, given her position and her recent achievement of ‘Communicator of the Year’. One wonders how she managed with all this wisdom and experience at her disposal, to get it so wrong when responding to Diana Mekota, the 26 year old recent college grad.
Blazek’s reply was condescending, sarcastic, and downright rude:
We have never met. We have never worked together. You are quite young and green on how business connections work with senior professionals. Apparently you have heard that I produce a Job Bank, and decided it would be stunningly helpful for your career prospects if I shared my 960+ LinkedIn connections with you – a total stranger who has nothing to offer me.
Your invite to connect is inappropriate, beneficial only to you, and tacky. Wow, I cannot wait to let every 25-year-old jobseeker mine my top-tier marketing connections to help them land a job. Love the sense of entitlement in your generation. And therefore I enjoy denying your invite, and giving you the dreaded ‘I Don’t Know’ [scribbled-out name] because it’s the truth.
Oh, and about your request to actually receive my Job Bank along with the 7,300 other subscribers to my service? That’s denied, too. I suggest you join the other Job Bank in town. Oh wait – there isn’t one. Don’t ever write me again.
Mekota posted the response on one of her social networks, and it has since gone viral. The story has gone global, with coverage from the likes of CNN, the BBC and The Guardian, and Blazek’s reputation has been shredded in a matter of days. Continue reading
A little something to brighten up the day. Kick back with a coffee and have a giggle at some of the funnier images about social media I’ve collected.
Beware the perils of checking in with Foursquare
When brands have a personality on Twitter – whether they’re genuine Tweets or not, Domino’s, Oreo and Taco Bell having a bit of a laugh
utter digital 