Hoteliers worry about scathing reviews appearing from guests; The last thing a Restaurateur wants to see posted, is a food poisoning complaint, but what about a feminine hygiene product? What could their customers ever want to publically complain about in a social forum? Well in Bodyform’s case it wasn’t a customer per say, who took it upon herself to complain, but a customer’s boyfriend. This post quickly went viral, and made its way around the globe and back, as seen here:

This post was instigated by the company’s advertising. To see what all the fuss is about, check out one of Bodyform’s ads, here…

Now, the real gem in this story lies in how the company handled the situation. Bodyform’s response? A cheeky YouTube response from the company’s president, herself! Or as Mashable would call it – “This May Be the Best Response Ever to a Facebook Rant — Period”.

Click here to watch Bodyform’s response:

Lessons for Others:

After reading both the original Facebook post, and watching the response… I’m still not sure if I buy the fact that this all organic, and not just a cleverly thought up publicity stunt by the geniuses of Bodyform’s marketing department, but it is entertaining nonetheless. It also shows some key techniques in responding to negative social media interactions.

Here are some quick tips on dealing with Social Media Disasters:

• Have a plan
• Be consistent – Have the same tone for each response
• Respond to Negative comments within 24 hrs or less
• Start with a “Thank You” for Posting
• Always Offer a Sincere Apology
• Craft responses that subtly separate real problems from unrealistic rants
• Provide a personal point of contact for further discussion
• Offer future plans to remedy problems
• Focus on dddressing the facts and not the emotions of the person’s complaint

Web References:

Bodyform
Mashable
YouTube
Facebook

Submitted by: Becky Minor– SMBP Student University of Waterloo. To contact the author of this entry please email becky.minor3@gmail.com

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

Fast forward to present day and my work day starts the minute I wake up.  A quick glance at the calendar and email on the smartphone by my nightstand (because I haven’t had a land line in well over five years) tells me just how the day is going to go. By the time I’ve fed and dressed my kids and sent them on their way, I’ve texted, Tweeted, emailed and very possibly even spoken to a handful of clients and colleagues. The wheels are in motion for another productive day. This is “The Good”. The versatility of mobile devices has given us the ability to take work or virtually anything on the go. Making more time for family, community and other commitments. Kinda.

“The Bad” – Work is with me 24/7. Put the phone away you say? Not quite that easy and quite frankly clients have come to expect a much more timely response given our resources. Work is there when I’m at lunch, when I’m volunteering at my kids school, when I’m grocery shopping.

This brings me to “The Ugly” and this whole concept of more time. Do I really have more time? Or am I just the jerk walking down the street with my eyes glued to my phone not watching where I’m going or at the school field trip, excusing myself from parental duties because “I have to take this call.”  I have admittedly been both of these people.

What Does the Future Hold?
Looking forward and it seems not much will change. In fact, there will be a lot more of us making the “most” of our time on the go. According to Edelman Digital, we’ve just scratched the surface of social media on mobile technology.

Compilation of eMarketer data from the previous six months helps to tell the story – visually. While the number of US social network users will increase by 8% in 2013, US smartphone users will increase by 36%, and mobile social users will grow by an astounding 43%. Get your apps ready. Growth is in mobile social.

A September 2012 Insit survey of 6,000 consumers in 19 markets found that 51% of internet users have a smartphone. These smartphone users are heavy users of social media. According to Google, 61% of smartphone users already access social on their mobile. These people aren’t just using mobile social a little. According to Nielsen,  nearly one-third (30%) of all time spent on mobile devices is spent on social networks, compared with 20% of all time spent on PCs. (Nielsen, July 2012).

Social media platforms are quickly adjusting. Facebook bought Instagram for its mobile community as much as its feature set. On the phone, the visual experience is even more pronounced than on a PC, where people, thumb, scroll, like through their experience. This is why Zuckerberg has directed that all new Facebook features should be designed for mobile first.

Social media is very obviously here to stay and if you haven’t yet embraced the mobile movement, the time is now. A few tips to ease the way…

Lessons for Others:
1. Find the right mobile device for you. After all, you’ll be spending a lot of quality time together. My husband loves his Android. I on the other hand find it complicated and difficult to navigate. Take a test drive at your local dealer before making a commitment to your next mobile device. Most of the sales folks have a preference and are eager to share their tech savvy (and opinion) with a potential customer.

2. Be a responsible mobile user. It should go without saying but, when you get behind the wheel and put your phone out of reach. Seriously, don’t be a dummy.

3. Don’t let social media make you socially awkward. Just because you can post a picture of your breakfast to share with 250 of your closest friends, doesn’t mean you should forget to physically see at least one or two of those friends and have a real live conversation. Make time for the important things, your phone will still be there when you’re done.

Web Resources:
SlideShare – Edelman Digital

JWT Intelligence

YouTube

Submitted by: Vicky Ngeth, SMBP Student University of Waterloo.
To contact the author of this entry please email vngeth@gmail.com

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

]]> http://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2013/03/going-mobile-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly/feed/ 0 http://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2013/03/the-future-of-health-care-social-media/ http://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2013/03/the-future-of-health-care-social-media/#comments Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:17:25 +0000 jreed http://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/?p=2671 Continue reading →]]> Most of us have adopted Facebook or Twitter into our lives, but what other facets of social media will blossom in the future? Many experts and bloggers are pointing to major advances in social health care applications and platforms.

So, what kinds of things are we talking about? Barbara Pantuso, Director of Healthcare Innovation, frog design shares several ideas. For those too sick to leave home, a mobile doctor, who does house calls could be scheduled for an immediate visit. Immunization reminders could be sent to the inboxes of parents and an appointment scheduled for their children. Daily biometric scans could log personal data and alert your medical facility when data suggesting important body changes are detected, such as indications of heart attacks or stroke. Access to your personal health records could be shared among your family doctor and specialist, giving quick access to blood work and lab results. Much of this information could be used to wirelessly transmit e-prescriptions to your favourite pharmacy.

Pantuso suggests collecting health data from mobile applications, embedded sensors, or other devices offers convenient and personalized information to help people manage their health over time. With clinically based algo­rithms, data visualization, and community sharing, we will receive not just more information, but more meaningful and timely information that is chan­neled better to improve our health.

All this sounds exciting. But what are the risks and barriers? The biggest risks come from the ability to maintain personal privacy and security. Not surprisingly, many players are already coming on the scene with solutions. One such physician network in the US, Doximity, has a three-stage verification process for access and is encrypted to the standard of patient record privacy required by American law. Other companies like Sermo and Canadian Asklepios seek to do the same.

As we move into the future of social media, health care improvements look to be promising. Canadians should anticipate new opportunities for conversation and connection from their health care providers in the very near future.

Lessons for Others:

Those working in health care will need to be concerned with patient confidentiality and maintaining professionalism the way other organizations have learned as they have adopted social media into their everyday.

Those that are to be successful will need to be leaders, willing to be the first on the frontier. They will need to monitor forums and feedback from patients. Success will also come from learning how other industries manage their customers and monitoring.

Web References:

The Future of Health Care is Social

Healthcare Social Media: Time To Get On Board

Take two status updates and call me in the morning…

Social media and Canadian physicians - issues and rules of engagement

Submitted by: Jennifer Reed – SMBP Student University of Waterloo
To contact the author of this entry please email jenandgeoff@hotmail.com

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

Irrespective of your experiences to date, Social Media is here to stay and is expected to continue to transform the way in which commerce and human relations are transacted.

During the Social Media evolution many key discussion areas have materialized as hot topics drawing significant interest regarding the future trajectory of Social Media from iconic institutions such as the United Nations, The World Economic Forum, leading consultants Deloitte and a number of academic institutions.

Key topics recently presented at the 2013 McGill Model United Nations Assembly (McMUN) included; Government Regulation of Social Media; Privacy Issues and Concerns; Cyber-Bullying.

Governing Social Media 

As noted by McMUN, the ongoing debate regarding the limits that should be placed on government involvement in the average citizen’s everyday life has materialized in the digital age with websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit achieving a unprecedented popularity, and forever changing the way people interact with the world.

At the heart of this topic remains an ongoing debate regarding governing these social media organization who have been used to coordinate protests, mount fundraising initiatives, and connect revolutionary ideas worldwide.  Key questions in the debate include; How are these social media giants to be controlled? Should they be controlled at all?

Privacy Issues and Concerns

Cyber-Bullying; Social Media Gone Awry?

For many Social Media provides a platform for entertainment and communication but for some McMUN indicated that there exists an unacceptable portion of the cyber-population receiving more than they bargained for.

“Slandered with hate-mail and bombarded with malicious comments, victims of cyber-bullying endure emotional degradation. While previous generations only had to confront the singular angst of physical bullying, cyber-bullying has ushered in a new form of torment that cuts beyond the flesh.

The statistics are staggering. The prevalence of youth cyber-bullying typically range across studies from 10% to 35%. Statistics Canada has revealed that in 2009 the majority (i.e. 41%) of victimized youth reported by their guardians were between ages twelve to thirteen (12-13 years old).”

The Future of Social Media; Getting it Right

In the opinion of the author, getting it right for Social media will remain a long term endeavour with the need to address the key immediate risk points mainly centred around the negative byproducts of today’s Social Media environment as the starting point; identity theft and cyber-bulling as examples.

Resolution of the current and longer termed issues will depend heavily on striking a balance between governance and the commercial interests of the private sector if we are to truly achieve the high-value benefits potentially available through social media tools.

Web Sources & Additional Information 

McGill Model United Nations Website

McGill Model United Nations 2013 Program and PDF

The Future of Social Media – Mashable Media Summit

Submitted by: Mark Baboolal – SMBP Student University of Waterloo

To contact the author of this entry please email i_hub_com@yahoo.ca

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

Leaders of organizations would begin to recognize, redefine, and provide exceptional client service experience by being proactive and differentiating their businesses from other less-progressive companies. As social media works now, people share information and opinions worldwide, whereas in the future, we could look into how people connect to companies and help them succeed.

Social Business means that every department integrates their social capabilities into traditional business processes to impact how work gets done to create value. A Social Business would utilize social software technology to communicate with its rich ecosystem of clients, business partners and employees.

Take a look at IBM’s social website and web services called “Voices”.  “Voices is a real-time data service that showcases live social feeds of IBMers who are experts in big data, mobile, social business, cloud, cognitive computing and much more. Voices then marries the individuals’ thoughts with IBM’s company feeds (@IBM, @SmarterPlanet, @IBMResearch, etc.), as well as a word cloud that shows visitors what’s trending via data visualization technology originating from IBM Research.”

IBM’s process represents a true evolution of the new wave of social media. It enables businesses to collaborate, innovate, and stay connected to the networks around them.  This shows IBM’s true authentic, “people-centric approach to social business”. Thus, it is possible for a social business to perhaps replace or reunite with the traditional ‘Company’ pages.

Lessons for Others:

Businesses need to build and share expertise to be competitive. In this way they influence customers and create an immediate identity.  It’s important to stand out from the crowd and to find new ways to encourage interaction with their followers, increase their brand presence, and to ride a new wave for the future of social media. Technology is moving rapidly and so are the consumers using it, thus, companies need to stay in tune with what’s trending and be able to quickly adapt to the changes that may happen.

Web References:

Real Examples of Social Business ROI

Listening to the Voices of Social Business

The Path from a Social Brand to a Social Business

Submitted by: Anna Nguyen – SMBP Student University of Waterloo
To contact the author of this entry please email anguyen44@gmail.com

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

OpenCourse is a project to provide free education to everyone who have access to the internet . It’s most common form is iTuneU. If you do a search on the ITune store, you will be able to watch lectures on various subjects from a huge number of institutes filmed at different times. This service is completely free, therefore it attracts a great number of users online to watch these lectures to gain more education. You can share the videos on Twitter and Facebook, but more often, people watch them directly from the source. In a generation where education has been made free, I am glad to be open for new information to flow in and through. From these videos, which may be shared through social media websites, I learned a lot about one product- Square.

Square is valued as one of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies in 2012 and is worth $3.25 billion with 400 employees for a company that started 3 years ago in May 2010. We have to look at the power of social media to understand the example of Square, a start up company so fast in terms of growth and marketing. And we don’t need to look further to see a simple way of how I get to know the company, the story behind the founder, and the wonderful Square product all at once.

I think the presentation is a wonderful tool to get  audience who are interested in your product and what you say. According to Cisco Visual Networking Index , two thirds of the world’s mobile data will be video by 2017.  Even though it is only an optimistic estimation for the video viewing on mobile devices, more and more companies are doing videos for their fans or followers in hopes of promoting their business. Right now, video marketing is a trend as more of the content on TV are put on video hosting websites.The well-known example of successful video marketing is Old Spice’s online campaign on youtube, which increased their sales by 107%. .

Finally, after watching the Jack Dorsey’s video on Opencourse, I order a Square from their website right away. I also let my manager at work know about Square and it is very useful to make a sale or payment with square. I am thankful for this amazing product from Twitter and for the video which let me hear about Jack Dorsey’s company in details. i am sure you will find it amazing to listen to, too!

http://open.163.com/

http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2012/square

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-520862.html

http://mashable.com/2010/07/27/old-spice-sales/

http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2635

www.squareup.com

Most of the major players in the marketing realm have quickly adapted to the integration of social media into their marketing strategy, displaying social media icons / #hashtags on all of their ads, including on their commercials.

You can’t even turn on your favourite TV show, without being prompted to engage through social media. Hashtags are popping up all over television, on The Voice, American Idol, The Bachelor, prompting viewers to pick up their device and tweet.

The Bachelor took this one step further, this season by publishing tweets live from fans during their reunion episodes, allowing their fans to engage and share in real time. This has garnered much positive feedback for the show, with their fans.

The producers also incorporated tweets from the Bachelor, himself while he was watching at home!

So, you’re not a multi-million dollar television corporation…

 {Lessons for Others: How to be Successful at Social Media Marketing}

What to DO

1. Have a Daily Routine. Log in to your Social Media Profiles, every day!
   • Choose one day a week to schedule posts, that way you won’t be thinking about what to post on the fly!
   • Check out your analytics, see what posts have been drumming up the most engagement.
   • Keep your routine short. Divide it up throughout the week.
2. Interact. Respond to messages, posts, etc. from your followers.
3. Post. When establishing your Social Media strategy – post up to 3 times per week. When you start to feel comfortable with your followers, you can post / share 1-5 times per day. If you know you have a big promotion coming up, schedule your post to coincide!
   • Post Milestones, Events & Questions
   • Tag Other Pages in your Posts
   • Like & comment on other’s posts as much as you like – as long as the posts are relevant and not spam.
4. Post about current happenings – use the media
5. Check your vendor pages for sharable content. This fosters continued strong vendor relationships!
6. Set Goals. Where do you want to see your page in 3, 6, 12 months from today? Set attainable goals, centred around engagement, not the number of likes you can acquire. Quality over Quantity.
7. Monitor your Results. Use the analytics panel on your Facebook page, Google Analytics, etc. to track your successes and failures on the route to achieving the goals you set out.
8. Have a back up plan. Social media blunders, rants do happen. Have a plan in place, that you can put into action right away!

What NOT to do

1. Promote yourself on Other’s Pages. If you wish to engage with another Page, tag them in a relevant post on your own page / feed.
2. Post too much, too often. You do not want to be considered “SPAM” by posting constantly. Sometimes, less is more.
3. Post about Hot Button Topics. Avoid posting about religion, race, politics, etc. These types of posts can easily instigate social media wars on your page.

 70 / 20 / 10 Rule…
{ The Golden Rule of Social Media Marketing }

• 70% of the time, make your posts about your audience. Share / post relevant non-promotional content, that your audience will be interested in!
• 20% engage your audience in conversation. Ask questions, encourage feedback.
• 10% of the time, make your posts about your. Sell your product! Ask for the Business!

 {Have fun! Take chances! Make Mistakes! Try Creative Posts!}

Web References

You Tube
National Lampoons Griwold Family Gives Old Navy a Social TV Boost
Hubspot
Entrepreneur.com
Mashable

Submitted By: Becky Minor. To contact the author of this entry please email at: becky.minor3@gmail.com

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Programme Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

One company who stands out in their adaptation of social media for marketing is Giantnerd, an outdoor gear online store who actually created their own social media community on their own website.  By joining and remaining active on the site you can earn Nerd Dollars to add towards future purchases.  For example, you receive $15 for every referral you send to the page who makes a completed purchase.  This wonderful online community also allows members to talk and interact with one another about products available so everybody can make highly informative purchases.   Just think, you’re in the market to buy a certain new bike and suddenly you have access to hundreds of people who know about or even own the bike you’re thinking of purchasing.  This is genius…

Founder and CEO of Giantnerd, Randall Weidberg, first launched the site in 2009 out of Boulder, CO, USA.  Since then the community has more than 5000 members and sees 70,000 visits per month.

“Running an e-commerce site is always a war, but the rewards far outweigh the risks,” says Randall.  Him and his company have been featured in many business and social media publications highlighting their great success; The Next Web, Entrepreneur, Forbes, and many others.  See Giantnerd’s full press/media list here.

Social Media is one of the most powerful forms of marketing out there.  Not to mention it’s far less expensive than any other marketing platforms.  I for one am eager to see what the future holds for this exciting form of interactive advertising.  What do you think?  Let me know in the comments bellow.

Web references:
Giantnerd

Entrepreneur

Social Media Examiner

Social Media Examiner Social Media Marketing Report 2011

Submitted by: Anthony Sauder – SMBP Student, University of Waterloo
To contact the author of this entry please email anthony_sauder@hotmail.com

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

In my mind, it comes as no surprise that many nonprofits use social media extensively. Many social media tools are free and are easily within reach of even a modest marketing budget. But as Joanne Fritz (12 Social Media Tips for Nonprofits) states – Likes, Friends, and Followers do not generally necessarily equate to donors and supporters. Her about.com page lists many ideas and resources to help non-profits make the connection between social media and the bottom line they’re looking for.

I decided to do some sleuthing to find a few examples of campaigns that seem to have succeeded for non-profits. Here’s a few that I found:

New Cities Foundation: a nonprofit institution dedicated to improving living conditions in the cities of emerging nations.  The goal of their DeusM Social Media campaign was to drive registrations for its summit last May.  A dedicated editor and social media agent utilized Facebook for questions and polls, uploaded documents to SlideShare and Scribd, and built a Twitter following for the Foundation.  Specific blogs were targeted for discussions and posts.  During the one month campaign, Facebook Likes tripled, Twitter mentions rose almost fivefold, and conference registrations increased 20%.

The International Rescue Committee: New Cities Foundation utilized social media professionals to help their campaign along. The International Rescue Committee chose to instead utilize the storytelling abilities of Ruth Fertig, an award-winning documentarian. Through various campaigns, utilizing Facebook and Pintrest, the IRC has appreciated four times more Facebook donations in 2012 as in 2010, as well as 2.5 times more individual donors.  As Fertig puts it, “What works best for a nonprofit that’s active in social media is expressing passion.  By dong that, and being authentic about it, they can connect with their supporters.”

Web References

• Non Profits Investing More Time and Money in Social Media
• 12 Social Media Tips for Non Profits
• How Non-Profits Relied on Social Media in 2012
• Nonprofit Spotlight: The International Rescue Committee
• BtoBOnline: New Cities Foundation

Submitted By: Teara McGinn. To contact the author of this entry please email at: teara.mcginn@gmail.com.

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Programme Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

According to Jeff Nolan, in its most pure form social media monitoring is both listening and responding to social channels.  Hasbro recently tapped into this fact with its Monopoly Save Your Token campaign.

In a ploy to keep the Monopoly game relevant and top of mind for fans, especially young people, they opened up token voting to the public. Hasbro suggested five options; the cat, a diamond ring, a helicopter, a guitar and a robot. As people voted to save their favourite piece, a passionate online conversation ensued.

Through social media monitoring Hasbro was also able to see who was talking about them and jump on board with other brands to further push the hype as they lobbied to save tokens related to their businesses, including one online shoe retailer, Zappos.

If Hasbro’s goal was to elevate the Monopoly brand, they hit the nail on the head. They achieved the buzz they wanted, for very low cost and adapted communications to match the conversations as they unfolded around the world.

Lessons for Others:

A Brand Journalist for Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Jason Boies gives three lessons marketers can learn from the Monopoly campaign:

• Let the Fans Drive Web Buzz- people want to hear from people, not corporations.
• Join Forces with Other Brands- if it makes sense, share your story or campaign with others.
• Monitoring Your Campaign (Before, During, and After)-this is a must for all social marketers. You can never know too much about your reputation and what your customers are saying.

One final lesson we must remember is to allow our customers to have open dialogue and interaction with us and each other will ultimately lead to positive brand perception and credible influence.

Web References:

Who Really Owns Your Brand?

New Monopoly Token Passes Go: Social Media Marketing Takeaways

A Few Thoughts on Social Media Monitoring

Meow! Hasbro unveils new token for Monopoly game

Submitted by: Jennifer Reed – SMBP Student University of Waterloo
To contact the author of this entry please email jenandgeoff@hotmail.com

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.