Launching into the realm of social customer service may seem like a daunting prospect, however, failing to take the leap may actually lead to even more frightening consequences.

A shocking statistic from a recent consumer survey commissioned by Conversocial, revealed that: “If confronted with unanswered customer complaints on a company’s social media site, 88.3% of respondents said they’d be either somewhat less likely or far less likely to buy from that brand”.

That same study found that: “78% of respondents believe that social media platforms would either soon entirely replace other means of customer service altogether or become the dominant way for consumers to communicate with corporations”.

Still not convinced that you need to consider your social service offering? Bain & Company may persuade you. They discovered that companies, who engage with their customers through social media, score an average 33 points higher NPS score than those who don’t.

So, now is the time to act. Particularly as the social customer service revolution is more or less still in its infancy. Sooner rather than later, all customers, not just the early adopters and digitally savvy, will begin to reject the original customer service channels and, in turn, the volume of social customer service queries will grow exponentially.

Customers will expect to be able to communicate with brands, both big and small, through social mediums and so the assimilation of social customer service into your existing multichannel offering becomes paramount. Take control of your customers’ social experience to improve brand sentiment tenfold.

A word of warning: ensure that your social customer service adoption is paced. Do not just dive in at the deep end without considering the technology, process and resourcing implications.

If you don’t want to pay the price for poor social customer service, we can offer you expert guidance and training, so give us a call. 

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Few events in the sporting calendar command as much media coverage or social chatter as the US Super Bowl. Last year, French data intelligence company, Semiocast, reported that the American football championship was the focus of 4.5 million tweets, driving a 25% increase in global tweets during Super Bowl Sunday, while The Huffington Post reports that some 162.9 million people tuned into to watch the big event on TV.

While powerful advertising secured Doritos the most branded Twitter mentions surrounding the game in 2011, a number of brands have chosen to tackle social media head-on by putting real-time at the heart of this year’s campaigns. We’re kicking off with the best three.

1. Coca-Cola

With Pepsi reaching the top three most mentioned brands during last year’s Super Bowl, it’s no surprise that Coca-Cola has hit back. The drinks giant has developed a Facebook app, which enables viewers to watch videos of the brand’s iconic polar bears reacting in real-time to the game.

2. Pepsi

Keen not to be sidelined after last year’s success, the brand is using its social TV platform, Pepsi Sound Off, to show a real-time, celebrity-laden viewing party during the game. The web application enables viewers to engage with and shape the viewing party conversations by sharing comments using core hashtags via Twitter and Facebook.

3. National Football League

The NFL has kicked up controversy by announcing that players will be allowed to tweet from the sidelines during this year’s Pro Bowl, the first match of Super Bowl Sunday. While supporters have applauded the move for delivering entertainment to the fans, skeptics have criticised the NFL for taking players’ eyes off the game.

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Pinterest was the surprise social network of last year in the US achieving over 31 million visits and rising to number 7 in the Hitwise top 10 social networks of 2011. Whilst the network only represents 0.68% share of visits (Facebook represents a staggering 63.31%) – Pinterest is set to grow again in 2012 and make an impact in the UK social media scene.

The visual based network allows users to create boards about any topic or subject matter and pin graphics, images and videos to the board. Users can either follow the individual board or another user in order to curate the content they want into their news feed.

The grouping together of images in to represent a topic or idea set is a thoroughly interesting prospect and one that many brands have recognised the value in already.  Fashion and style certainly prevails on the platform, much the same way that it does on Instagram due to its visual nature.  This is a great way to group products together by style or season – take a look at Nordstrom (http://pinterest.com/nordstrom/) and the way their profile and boards have been brought together.

The platform is currently on an invite only but sure will not be long before the flood gates are opened up especially given the buzz around it, and the huge potential for brands. Below is some clarity on the main terminology used within the platform;

• Boards – think of this like a notice board with a heading, you can create boards on anything and ‘Pin’ images to them. It is also possible to collaborate on boards, great way to curate content between peers or for brands to engage with their followers.
• Pins – these are the images you attach or ‘Pin’ to boards. Each pin can be Liked and commented on the same way an image other platforms can be.
• Repin – think of a Retweet, but with a repin you take someone else’s image and repin it to your own board.
• Followers – not a new concept, but this is does split into two. You can follow the user, or follow the boards. This allows you to follow only the content that you are interested in – so for example if ‘Leah’ cooks and shares fantastic recipes, but you do not care for her fashion sense, only follow the recipes board!

Pinterest has both an iPhone application and a website which in itself sets it apart from Instagram, not only this, but it’s integration with other platforms including Facebook should see it’s popularity spread at a rate of knots.

For those of you who like your social networks mobile, it is very much worth checking out this guide on how to ‘Pin’ from your iPhone & iPad from within Safari – http://www.scrapbit.com/2011/06/22/pinning-idevices-pinterest/

Follow me on Pinterest and drop me a comment if you would like to collaborate on my infographics board or have an idea for collaboration…. Happy Pinning!

http://pinterest.com/tomball1985/
http://pinterest.com/tomball1985/infographics/

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As all eyes focus on the social commerce landscape for 2012, Dimensions Mall, has dropped a veritable bomb less than a month into the year.

While 67% of retailers are already planning to use Facebook to drive traffic through to e-commerce in 2012, not to mention Coca-Cola, Disney and Starbucks, the three largest brands on the social networking site, already selling products directly, Georgia-based Dimensions Mall has gone one step further.

As reported by Social Media Influence, the company is developing a virtual shopping mall, where consumers create their own custom avatars to take them around realistic-looking stores, try on outfits in virtual dressing rooms and share the experience in real-time with family and friends.

The mall is packed with social functionality, such as profile pages, where shoppers can share and review purchases, as well as regularly updated products, offering shoppers access to items that are ‘trending’ at that moment in time.

It’s certainly a radical step forward into social commerce – and one intended to revolutionise the communal shopping experience. Will it work?

- Yes, because it appeals to our cautiousness. Shoppers can watch each other’s actions and see what others have purchased, before making their own moves

- Yes because it appeals to our curiosity. Shoppers can explore one another’s social pages for reviews and recommendations, seeking out authoritative views before committing to purchases

- Yes, because, quite simply, we are influenced by the people we like. By making the social shopping experience truly communal and facilitating real-time shared shopping experiences, we are more likely to follow our peer’s actions into purchase decisions

All in all, it looks like a groundbreaking project and it will certainly be interesting to see which brands dip their toes into the water first.

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Still relatively unheard of amongst the masses, RFID or radio frequency identification technology has recently made the headlines as it is potentially going to be adopted for use at summer festivals in the UK. Glastonbury organiser, Michael Eavis has confirmed that he is looking into using the technology – read more here.

RFID technology offers many exciting prospects for brands who are keen to integrate on and offline experiences. RFID possesses that WOW factor that really gets people talking. And combined with social media, RFID gets people sharing.

How RFID works in conjunction with social? And what can it do for brands?

RFID bracelets or tags can be synchronised to a user’s Facebook profile. With a single swipe, the user can then tag, like and check-in, all in real-time.

A number of pioneering brands have already experimented with RFID technology, cashing in on real-world events in order to grow their social profiles and extend their reach through social media.

Coca Cola was an early adopter of RFID, providing teenagers with wristbands holidaying at the Coca Cola Summer village. This video provides you with a snapshot overview. The teenagers loved this exciting new offering, which auto-tagged them in photos uploaded to Coca Cola Facebook page.

The use of RFID for experiential events boosts branded page activity as fans share content, whilst also creating amplification and awareness through their individual social profiles. This user-generated content acts as a magnet for new visitors and potentially new fans, drawing in interest from across the social space. For the existing fans, RFID activity serves to further reinforce their positive attitude towards the brand, nurturing advocacy and retaining interest. Those who aren’t at the event can still feel and be involved, engaging through comments on RFID social content.

Videos and photos are the most popular forms of online content, which is handy as real world activity can be easily translated into the social space in these formats.

To sum up…

We are still oohing and aahing at the boundless opportunities that RFID can bring in social terms, which certainly cannot be summed up in one small blog post. It certainly seems likely that this ingenious technology will develop into a mainstream experiential technology as the divide betweens what’s social and what’s real continues to narrow. It’s one to watch.

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With the launch of 60 new applications using the Timeline and Open Graph, Facebook is about to expand beyond the Like.  The new functionality will allow users to share perpetual actions (‘love’, ‘want’, ‘need’) via applications through the Open Graph. There are obvious benefits for brands, especially given the buying signals of user actions such as wanting and needing.

But beyond brands and their products, publishers also have a unique opportunity to create content that can be ‘watched’, ‘listened’ and ‘read’. Many Facebook users will be familiar with the Guardian’s integration, which creates a ticker stream of stories that have been ‘read’ or ‘watched’ via the application, as well as providing the opportunity to share and recommend stories to friends.

It won’t be long before other publishers take their lead and leverage the social searching benefits of reading content this way. This will undoubtedly be welcomed by Facebook and draw yet more content into the platform, further enhancing the user experience.

As always with Facebook developments there are drawbacks and this time, it boils down to privacy and the potential vulnerability for users of sharing this level of data with the platform.   Once you have granted access to the application it does not require any further permission to post to your Timeline  and a number of applications seek extensive access to your settings, preferences and the pages you Like. For example, the Ticketmaster application combines events you and your friends are attending, your location, the artists and teams you Like, and the music you have listened to on apps such as Spotify, to pre-empt events you will love.

While the Ticketmaster app is innovative, it is still only in beta format and seems to have its flaws. Since beginning this post, the app has been trying to access my data, but appears to be stuck on the same loading screen. This could well be because it is fishing for so much of my data!

Here are a few other examples to watch out for amongst the new launch applications…

Where I’ve Been – tell the world places you have been

Rotten Tomatoes – share reviews and create a ‘want to see’ list

Turntable.fm – listen with your friends and host virtual ‘DJ’ events

Foodspotting – users can share recipes, dishes they have eaten and dishes they want to try

Pinterest – this social network is expected to arrive in the UK this year after jumping into the top 10 US sites of 2011 with over 31 million visits

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For years, content strategists have been hiding in the wings, quietly coordinating the show, while the social media rock stars take centre stage.

Not anymore. A media frenzy surrounding the information overload debate, combined with the growing impact of social search, mean that the need for sophisticated content planning is no longer a nice-to-have.

With that in mind, we have pulled together a list of five useful content tools to help you plan, optimise and curate your way through 2012.

1. InBound Writer

A tool designed to help you discover the keywords and phrases your audience is searching for in real-time. By inputting a few terms that tie in to your content’s theme, the tool analyses conversations across the web as well as social media platforms to deliver the best phrases to optimise your content with.

Verdict: It won’t replace a solid SEO strategy, but it should certainly give your content a useful optimisation boost.

2. InfiniGraph

This tool promises to optimise social profiles by giving brands “Hypercuration™”, the power to identify content that is currently trending on your own as well as competitor brands’ social estates, based on the social behaviours and actions of influencers.

Verdict: It’s based on real-time social analytics, so could be a great aid for swiftly A/B testing content.

3. Scoop.it

Curation is the current buzzword and Scoop.it provides curators with a platform for creating topics and ‘scooping’ relevant content to add to the topic at the click of a button.

Verdict: Really straightforward to use and easy to adjust your keyword searches until you find the content you are looking for.

4. DivyHQ

Markets itself as a spreadsheet-free editorial calendar application. The tool can be assigned to multiple team members for multiple campaigns and the calendars can be created from scratch within DivyHQ itself, or simply imported directly from Excel.

Verdict: It’s currently only in beta format and largely looks to offer the same functionality as tools such as Outlook – though it may yet prove a valuable tool.

5. 37Signals’ BasecampHQ

A project collaboration tool, which enables all project files to be stored in one place, centralise discussions, keep track of events and view all upcoming activities and milestones.

Verdict: It has a smart user-interface and the upcoming activities and milestones functionality is handy for keeping deadlines.

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You may notice that the internet is slightly quieter than you are used to tomorrow.  This is due to numerous internet giants protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA). Opponents to the bills state that if passed into law, they will stifle innovation and undermine free speech through unreasonable internet censorship.

On 18/01/12: Wikipedia, user-submitted news site Reddit, the blog Boing Boing and the Cheezburger network of comedy sites all plan to participate in the blackout.  They will follow in the web steps of the Italian Wikipedia site following similar anti piracy legislation proposed in Italy last year.

According to Wikipedia, SOPA “would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement.  Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators, such as PayPal, from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites.  The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months.”

I urge you to read this today as Wikipedia will be ‘dark’ tomorrow.  You can find more about the Wikipedia: SOPA initiative here.

Both bills appear ill thought through and have been condemned by the internet at large.  You can see a pretty reasoned argument against both bills in this video by Cynical Brit, a UK gaming journalist and learn more about the bills themselves in this handy infographic from AmericanCensorship.org.

As a social media consultancy that generates revenue and jobs directly through a healthy and free web, both of these bills need to go back to the drawing board.  It is obvious that companies that produce games, music, film and other IP need to be protected from piracy, but knee jerk legislation is not the answer. There needs to be future consultation with the internet big guns, Facebook et al.

SOPA was ‘shelved’ yesterday awaiting consensus on the bill. PIPA advocate and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled a vote on the bill on 24/01/12.  Swot up on this subject, because if you operate online this does effect you.

Tweet #stopsopa

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You may have seen the other day that GPS navigation system Waze hit 10m users. It’s a social tool that aggregates user reports on traffic, accidents and the like. I’m a recent convert and signed up a few months ago, since then it’s become a part of my daily commute. If any of you have experienced the vagaries of rush hour traffic on the A3 you’ll understand that drivers need all the help they can get.

Waze: Useful and free, what's not to like?

As a consumer my prerequisites for downloading a geolocation app have to fulfil at least 3 of the following. Here’s how Waze hits those targets:

• Collaborative – Waze uses thousands of users’ traffic reports to create a map of road congestion and allows them to send messages in real time to update each other. Its success rests on the community spirit of its users
• Timely – this all happens in real time, a boon for an audience where seconds count
• Useful – I’ve avoided innumerable traffic jams with this tool and anything that can make the daily commute less painful and for free gets my thumbs up
• Fully integrates with my existing social profiles without superseding them – this is not a Foursquare, inundating friends with useless and annoying updates. It fulfils a purpose and doesn’t pretend to be a Facebook replacement. Should the jam be particularly bad you can send your update to Twitter or Facebook to alert your wider following, but that’s it. Waze knows its limits

Download it for your iPhone, Android or Blackberry here. My username is rupinjapan, so if you see a Transit wrapped round a traffic light on the Cobham bypass let me know ahead of time.

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There is no doubt that the growth of Slideshare has got B2B marketers excited about using social media again. It has become the world’s largest content sharing community. Combine this with the reach of Twitter and LinkedIn and the platform has become a vital part of the best B2B social media strategies. The site has seen dramatic growth amassing more than 60 million visitors and 3 billion slide views a month.

For those in the B2B arena it is clear that certain social media platforms just do not facilitate engagement with the right target market. Are you really going to engage a key business decision maker or Managing Director in and around the topic of advanced web analytics on Facebook? More often than not B2B marketing involves the creation of thought leading content, traditionally this would have been in the form of case studies, reports, factsheets and brochures. In the digital age, users are looking for digestible content that they can use within their own presentations as well as research into new products and services.

Presentations by their definition look to condense key information into a series of impactful slides, a perfect social object for distribution as part of a content strategy. 71% of B2B companies are doing more content marketing than last year and in some cases are estimated to be spending a quarter of their marketing budgets on content marketing.

Here are some nice little tips if you are developing a Slideshare presentation as part of your B2B social media campaign or ongoing content strategy;

The Slideshare sweet spot is between 10 & 30 slides! Keep it succinct, it is not a numbers game!

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19 images is the average per Slideshare presentation, equivalent to one per page.

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Average number of words per Slideshare presentation is 24! Don’t dribble on and stick to the point

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Slideshare Infographic

Sources: Infographic by Column Five.  Column Five infograhic sources: Content Marketing Institute, Slideshare.net, Quantcast, Comscore

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