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Your product is customer service
Creative Commons photo courtesy of amycgx
Last week my wife and I went to a hole-in-the-wall diner near her work. I didn’t walk in there for lunch expecting to learn a business lesson, but I ended up doing just that.
You’re in business, right? You have products or services that you sell to your consumers, whether those are other businesses or individuals.
Let’s say that, whatever business field you’re in, you are at the top of it. You have the best products around. No competition can beat your prices or your products.
So you serve the best beer around. So what? If you have lousy service, as the sign attests, then you’re not going to have too many repeat customers.
No matter the level of your products, your most important product is your customer service.
Back to our lunch.
This diner had a typical diner fare and typical ambiance. The food was nothing ordinary, but it was seasoned impeccably and cooked fantastically.
The hand-cut fries we had — and we agreed on this count — were the best we’ve ever had. But we might not go back, because the customer service really lacked.
Having the best product in your field does not make up for lousy customer service. If you don’t realize this, you’re on your way out of business.
Vlogging Monday: New Twitter applications
#FollowFriday: Feb. 18
This was such a stressful week for me, so I’m really happy it’s finally Friday. I did have a bit of a bright spot mid-week when I got my first @meet-meme cards.
@IronCupcakeMKE: I had an amazing time at my latest Iron Cupcake adventure. Although I didn’t see Duff, I did indulge on a couple of great cupcakes and several very good ones. If you haven’t been to an Iron Cupcake event, check out the next one.
@AJBombers: Tuesday night was a great time. I was one of many late-night tweeters, and we were treated to some fun from @AJBombers. Here’s the scoop.
@translatorxd: A year of lab? Hard to believe. Again, congrats, and I’ll make it down for one as soon as I can.
An Ode to Chrome Extensions
A screenshot of my Speed Dial homepage using Awesome Screenshot
I switched to Google Chrome as my browser a while ago after I kept having my Firefox browsers crash. Since then, I haven’t looked back.
(OK, there has been a time or two when Chrome has treated me poorly, but I always come back.)
Anyway, I have about 10 or so extensions installed in my browser. These are the six that work best and that I could not live without.
Speed Dial: The default Chrome homepage shows your eight most-frequently visited sites as well as other options. This allows you to change how many blocks you have, allowing you to store up to 81 quick links to your favorite sites. It’s very helpful and I’m so happy I stumbled upon it. (See screenshot above.)
Awesome Screenshot: This is self-explanatory. It offers an easy way to get a screenshot, allowing you to capture the selected area, the visible area or the entire page. From there, you can crop how you want it and then save it as a .png file.
WiseStamp: This handy extension, which I found out about only recently, works in conjunction with Gmail, allowing you to have a signature that is optimized for social media with icons and embedded links. In addition, you can have separate signatures for personal and business, switching between the two with a click.
bit.ly: A URL shortener as well as QR code generator. This extension bypasses the need to copy the URL and paste it into the website. Handy.
GetGlue: I have come to love GetGlue and this extension allows you to interact with the site while not on it. If you’re browsing a partner site, say Amazon, a bar on the bottom of the screen will allow you to like or check in to the book or other media that you’re viewing.
Tweetbeat Firsthand: This one works only some of the time, only because it doesn’t recognize a lot of account names. What it does is insert Twitter icons next to a name on a web page that mentions a Twitter account. For instance, if you have it enabled, you’ll see a Twitter icon next to “Chrome,” the fifth word in this post, and you can mouse over the icon and it loads a pop-up box of recent tweets from the Google Chrome account.
What are your favorite Google Chrome extensions? I’d love to enhance my browsing experiences.
#FollowFriday: Feb. 11
I’ve really been looking forward to the weekend this week. I’m sure it’s still Super Bowl hangover, but it will be nice to sit back and relax. (Oh, and see Duff Goldman of “Ace of Cakes” fame at Iron Cupcake Milwaukee.)
@houseofbrew: Much thanks, Jonathan, for putting together a free talk on QR codes (it’s being held later today). I try to keep up with all of the latest tools that could be used in my social media repertoire, but QR codes are one that have escaped my use.
@lizgross144: Sometimes, it’s the simple things. Sharing a link, a video of The Science of Social Media, was much appreciated.
The two social media metrics
Photo courtesy of David Berkowitz
If you’re a community manager, you’re probably hearing a lot about social media metrics and how to measure your social media campaigns and efforts.
And I like to read others’ thoughts on different metrics and how they can be used to give you a better grasp on your social media picture.
In the end, though, I often find that stuff to be fun, but not necessary. For me, it really boils down to two things: replies and retweets.
So: Why these two metrics?
Let’s start backwards, with retweets. (Keep in mind that these are the two metrics that matter to me in my community manager role.)
Retweets: These interactions show that a brand has a message that is important enough for users to share with other users. It shows that people are listening, that they are paying attention to my brand. Retweets are usually in response to being helpful, to being thoughtful, to being engaged. Really, they’re a high form of compliment, since they often can be broadcast messages.
Replies: These interactions are the bread and butter of social media. Am I engaging? Replies can tell you. They can also tell you how engaging you’re being. Do you broadcast a lot of messages, but receive only a few replies? Then your tactics aren’t working. Do you post a little, but receive a lot of replies? You’ve got a community, Mr. (or Mrs.) Community Manager. By receiving replies, it lets me know that other users find my brand important enough to listen, to engage with.
Yes, I’ll continue to read about mathematical computations that show how social media efforts are paying off. But I’ll still rely mainly on retweets and replies.
The Little Picture
Photo courtesy of Nimages DR
It’s often said that sometimes you need to take a step back and take a look at the big picture.
It’s never said that you should take a step forward and take a look at the little picture. Yet that’s precisely what I’ve been doing lately.
One of my goals for 2011 is to bike 2,011 miles on my bike. That mile-marker is such a high number that to achieve this goal, I’ve broken the mileage down by month. For January, I sought to bike 111 miles (I started on Jan. 13, so it was really half of the month).
I’ve found that I need to focus on the smaller chunks, or the worry of not meeting the goal will consume me.
If I concentrate on getting through 50 each week, I’ll hit my goal. If I concentrate on trying to get to 175 each month, my confidence erodes.
Sometimes it’s all about the little picture.
