Archive for March, 2009

TWITTER: WHERE IT’S HEADED

twitterlution TWITTER: WHERE ITS HEADED

As you may have seen, Nielsen recently released a survey surrounding Twitter’s latest user stats. Not surprisingly (to us at least), they cited a 1,382% visitor growth in the past year and touted the average user’s age to be between 35-49 years old. So what does this mean for you and your brand? It’s simple…

Twitterchart TWITTER: WHERE ITS HEADED

Just like our boy @garyvee said in this video, it’s become necessary for companies to constantly search what is being said about their brand on Twitter. He gave the example of a soup company searching the term “soup” to see the real-time conversations occurring, and we 100% agree that companies need to be regularly searching Twitter to keep abreast of current conversations.

By having full access to these conversations, companies can now watch and respond to comments that are being said about their brand. This is quite a shift in the normal brand-to-consumer paradigm, and Twitter is single-handedly leading the charge with this new way of looking at customer interaction.

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Published by mghwom
March 25th, 2009 in Brand Management
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OLD FACEBOOK NOSTALGIA

Now that the new Facebook has been out for about a week, I think it’s time to weigh in and see how things are looking. Of course, with any change there will be dissent. There was major uproar when Facebook switched around last fall, and in my opinion, that change was more cosmetic than anything.

This time around is no different. There are already countless groups sprouting up, begging Facebook to give people the option of using the old interface. Let’s discuss.

I hate to jump on the band-wagon with everyone, but I have to say I am not pleased with the changes that have been made. It seems that in the wake of their failed attempt to purchase Twitter, Facebook has done everything they can to imitate it.

Twitter and Facebook lived in two separate spaces before. Twitter was the one you always had running in the background of your desktop, while Facebook you would check once or twice a day. Different conversations occurred on Twitter than on Facebook. Twitter is much more about conversation and making connections, and because of that, I’d say is much more high involvement than Facebook used to be.

In order for the new Facebook to catch on, people will need to begin using it differently. The days of staying in the loop by occasionally checking in on Facebook are out. Because of real-time news feed, Facebook has turned into a much more demanding site. If you want to get the same amount of relevant information as you did before, you better be checking in frequently.

What made Facebook great was its ability to re-connect old friends and let you take your current circle of friends with you online. It obviously did that better than any other site. Now, it seems to be turning its focus on to connecting with EVERYONE, allowing you to open your profile to the entire Facebook network. The news feed has also seemed to lose its unique ability to only highlight information relevant to those you interact with on a regular basis. I hope Facebook has not completely lost sight of what made it the most popular social network on the web.

Don’t get me wrong, the new Facebook is a great site and will serve as a great tool in connecting people, but I can see why “old” Facebook nostalgia is already setting in.

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Published by mghwom
March 18th, 2009 in MGH Conversation
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SHOW ME THE $$: THE VALUE OF WORD OF MOUTH

Chances are at some point in your life you’ve witnessed a disgruntled customer say something along the lines of “I’m telling my friends never to come here again.” But have you ever wondered just how much impact said disgruntled customers can have?

Samitrex recently conducted a study within the wireless industry that compares the worth of promoters, those who refer a company to their friends, and detractors, those who spread negative WOM or are unlikely to refer a company. The results show that promoters are responsible for about .5 of every new customer obtained through WOM, while detractors account for the loss of 1.3 new costumers, as a result of their negative word of mouth. How does that affect the bottom line?

womimage SHOW ME THE $$: THE VALUE OF WORD OF MOUTH The chart above shows the total worth of each promoter and detractor. This value is found by combining how much each type of customer typically spends with the company and the indirect value they provide through word of mouth. Each promoter is worth about $1,700 while each detractor is worth -$300. That means detractors are actually costing a company more money then they spend themselves.

“A company’s ability to take action to increase Promoters and reduce Detractors has a significant impact on financial performance” according to Dr. Laura Brooks, VP of Sametrix business development. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. So, here’s some free advice, courtesy of us here at MGH WOM, on how to start taking that action:

  1. It is vital that you do everything in your power to exceed consumers’ expectations when it comes to customer service.
  2. It starts with listening. It is possible to transform a detractor into a promoter just by listening to your consumers and addressing the issues at hand. Heck, it’s worked for us before.
  3. Use your current promoters to make up for the loss the detractors are causing. An ambassador campaign is a great way to leverage your loyal customers and amplify their positive word of mouth.
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Published by mghwom
March 13th, 2009 in Marketing Research
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DOCTORS EXTRACT NEGATIVE REVIEWS

Yesterday we wrote about a San Francisco pizzeria proudly displaying their negative comments on their uniforms. Today, we’re looking at a case where negative reviews are being handled not publicly, but with cease and desist orders.

In a recent story, it was brought to light that it is becoming more and more common for doctors to require patients to sign gag orders that will bar them from posting reviews (mainly negative ones) online.  Doctors cite that negative reviews can “unfairly ruin their reputation”.

Of course, you will always have bitter people posting unfair reviews online, it comes with the territory, but I don’t believe that people are choosing a doctor purely based on reviews from sites like RateMDs.com.

Reviews must always be taken with a grain of salt. They are an amazing place to gather information, but certainly not the only information source one should look at. To me, a doctor’s offline word of mouth reputation is more important than online reviews, and is how I have chosen all of my physicians.

What would be the first thing that came into your mind if your doctor asked you to sign a gag order banning you from posting reviews? I would think that he has something to hide and terrified of people saying bad things. He would not be my doctor.

Doctors are no different than any other business when it comes to reviews. They offer a service and depend on loyal customers to be successful. They are not immune from the rules of customer service. Instead of worrying about blocking the negative things being said, address them and make people want to write positive reviews instead.

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Published by mghwom
March 6th, 2009 in Brand Management
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PIZZA JOINT PROUDLY WEARS ONE STAR RATINGS

We recently wrote about the controversy surrounding online ratings site, Yelp. Well, San Francisco pizza shop, Pizzeria Delfina is taking their own approach to dealing with negative reviews from the site. The pizzeria has recently changed its employee’s uniforms to t-shirts featuring some of the most memorable one-star ratings from Yelp about the restaurant (”This place sucks!”, for example).

Self-deprecation always seems to make the bad things people are saying about you seem not as harsh. By choosing to face these negative reviews head first, Pizzeria Delfina is making a commitment to their customers and generating some positive buzz on the back-end.

delfinatee PIZZA JOINT PROUDLY WEARS ONE STAR RATINGS

Think about it, they wouldn’t wear a shirt that talks about how greasy and gross the pizza is if it really was greasy and gross, right? They are really making a stand to address their negative feedback on the most direct level possible - how’s that for honesty?

We at MGH WOM love this tactic, and the buzz that it has created has not only helped me decide what I am having for lunch today, but has also guaranteed one new customer next time I’m in SF.

By the way, Pizzeria Delfina does not receive many negative reviews, in fact they have a four-star rating consisting of over 600 customer reviews on Yelp.

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Published by mghwom
March 5th, 2009 in Brand Management
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NEW FACEBOOK HOMEPAGE TAKES TWITTER COMPETITION UP A NOTCH

A few months ago, the talk of the town was Facebook’s interest in acquiring Twitter. It didn’t happen.  So as the cliché saying goes, “if you can’t join ‘em, beat ‘em.” Ok, so maybe that’s not how it goes, but it seems that’s exactly what Facebook is attempting to do with their recently announced changes.

One of the more notable changes is to the homepage, which will now feature a real-time stream of content, as opposed to the old news feed which was only updated about every 10-mintues or so. Users will be able to easily post status updates, notes, images, or videos right from their homepage, via the “What’s on your mind?” box, instead of having to go into each individual application. When you do utilize this box, your information will be posted to your profile and the homepage of all of your friends.

However, unlike Twitter, this live stream can easily be sorted by groups, or application type, so users will be able to view content just from any subset of friends like family or coworkers from the homepage. Additionally, there’s a “highlights” section to the side which displays the most popular content among your friends.

NEWFACEBOOK NEW FACEBOOK HOMEPAGE TAKES TWITTER COMPETITION UP A NOTCH

Also announced today was the transition of pages to profiles, which will enable users to communicate with celebrities, politicians, and organizations as they would any other friend. The 5,000 maximum friend limit was also dropped, making Facebook another attractive option for celebrities and brands who have been turning to Twitter to connect with fans and consumers.

We, here at MGH WOM, give major props to Facebook for constantly re-inventing themselves in order to keep up with the competition and more importantly, to keep up with the ever-evolving way we communicate. Just over four years ago, Facebook was little more then an online directory. Now, it’s quickly becoming the “go-to” spot to connect and share all types of information with friends. Bravo, Facebook, Bravo.

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Published by mghwom
March 4th, 2009 in Online Tools
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SKITTLES OPENS UP

**UPDATE** As expected, Skittles updated their site with Facebook as its main page, as opposed to Twitter.  Of course, you can still access the Twitter page by clicking on the “chatter” tab.

It may just be that Skittles intended on rotating the main page, but this change could also be in response to some of the not-so-appropriate chatter invading the Twitter stream.  Regardless, and rather intelligent of them, Skittles has made some sort of rseponsible change but still kept it’s original vision of allowing the consumer to define their brand.  We still like it.

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Just a few days ago, we were talking about how consumers feedback can impact a brand,  and now one brand has completely opened itself up and allowed its customers to define its existence - very open and very honestly.

As you may have seen, Skittles has overhauled its website, and it does not include any hokey corporate messaging. Alternatively,  it features links to Skittles across the most popular social networks. The main page is the live search.twitter.com feed that defaults to the search term “Skittles,” and the media link connects users to the brand’s Flickr and YouTube channels. Even the product descriptions are placed in the hands of consumers as each product links directly to its Wikipedia entry.

Despite our deep infatuation with Twitter, however, we still think it may have not been the wisest decision to lead in with this as it has the greatest risk of being abused by users. While there is a little bit more room for brand control on Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, etc., Twitter is in real-time.  And those real-time remarks are seen by everyone who visits the site.

So far, though, it appears that this openness is working out very well for them. Sure, people may take advantage of the situation and post a few inappropriate messages, but the ultimate goal of allowing consumers to define the brand is accomplished.  A tweet we recently read on Skittles homepage said, “wow, when was the last time you tweeted about Skittles” - the candy is now leading the way on the trending topics list.

This certainly is an extreme example of a brand implementing social media into their marketing plan, but it is also a great lesson in transparency. We don’t expect every brand to turn their website in an un-moderated stream of the online chatter about them, but we think it should at least help to minimize some fear that companies have about letting their customers speak.
Well done Skittles, we award you the first-ever MGH WOM “You Get It” Award!
Picture2 1 SKITTLES OPENS UP

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Published by mghwom
March 2nd, 2009 in Marketing Strategies and Tactics
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