Harnessing Social Media

I'm cautiously optimistic about the approach that businesses are taking with harnessing social media to extend their brands and connect with their customers. Unlike the ham handed ways they have used before (uh...pavilions in Second Life?), They seem to be showing a surprisingly open and organic approach to this new medium. Peter Kim has put together a fairly comprehensive list of what many companies are doing, and the various forms that has already, for me, yielded great results. For instance, here are some of the highlights for me:

- Comcast. Frank from Comcast is a one-man good PR campaign for this much maligned company. Got a problem with an installer? Twitter Frank. Bitching about your reception on Twitter? He's there to direct message you. Want proof? At my company, we recently received scattered reports that Comcast customers were unable to see the sites we host. I pinged Frank, and within minutes, he responded that he was unable to duplicate the problem, but offered to do more research if I sent him more specific info. WOW. Compare that to waiting endlessly on hold. Nice.

- OpenTable. Add their Facebook app, and you can make reservations right where you are usually thinking of them.

- Best Buy. Yep, even this increasingly resented behemoth has figured it out, as the CMO Twitters and blogs. Both were invaluable in the recent "Premier Black" e-mail disaster.

The list goes on, but more and more, I see the blending of the fluidity of social networking putting a face on the traditionally stolid and staid corporate visage. And I have to say, it immediately means more transparency. Hell, even the government is getting the idea: the TSA, one of the most challenging agencies, has been remarkably open in their blog, even to the point of changing policies because of comments made in the blog.

It's a brave new world, and I am thrilled to be livin' in it.

Comments

Loyalty Review: Kohl's Yes2You

As some of you know, I've spent over 15 years in the customer loyalty space. So, when I come across a new retail loyalty program, I can't help but see the pluses and minuses. After this many years, it's kind of ingrained. Periodically, I'll share my thoughts with you. Today, it's Kohl's turn under the scope. Let's have a look, shall we? I've divided the review up into three sections: what's good about the program, what's bad about the program, and what I'd change about it. That last one has some actual value: I charged hundreds of dollars per hour for loyalty program consulting, and had over a dozen clients, before I moved to JustAnswer FT. But, being a pandemic and all, I'm giving it away for free here. Kohl's, you're welcome. Here we go! The Good Sign up is opt in Seems odd to praise Kohl's for this, but in department store loyalty, this is a rarity, and a smart one. It means the customers who are opted in are already prime...

Revisiting Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 1

I recently started rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation from the beginning. I have nothing but fond memories of the original run in the 1980s, given how excited I was for a new Trek series in my lifetime (I had only reruns and the movies to stoke my Trek interest), and it recently occurred to me that, while I diligently consumed every TNG episode, I had not experienced the series since it's original run. Why did I do this? Well, a few reasons: With the triumphant return of Sir Patrick Stewart to the smaller screen as the venerable Jean Luc Picard , I thought it would be interesting to contrast this version with the previous, and see how far he has come. It would add color to the character, as well as Sir Patrick. Frankly, with the COVID19 lockdown, the series I have binged upon have been intense, dark, and disturbing. Combined with the activity of the world, including insane politics, homicidal police who seem to view people of color as "prey," rather than their ch...

2020 CV19 Lockdown: Winners and Losers

It is said that in any time in history, the winners and losers are determined when a unique set of circumstances arises the requires an unprecedented response. How a company responds to those conditions can often propel them to new heights, or sentence them to an ignominious end. This post is meant to be an ongoing and often updated list of those that may come out of the Great 2020 Covid19 Lockdown as champs...or chumps. Winners Zoom How is it that, with all of the video conferencing choices in the market, a relatively obscure one (and a freemium one, to boot!) ran away with the title? Think of it: you had entrenched competitors like Skype and Facebook, as well as work-focused like Microsoft Teams , Google Hangouts , and Amazon Chime , any one of which had far greater reach than Zoom . Yet Zoom won, to the point that they achieved the exalted state of having their product/platform become a verb ("I'll Zoom you later"). More amazingly, they even continued their gro...

Tretakoff Musings

Search This Blog