social media

The Keys to Attracting More Customers on Twitter ~ via @OPENForum

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“Seeking a real return on your social media relationships? Prove your business is customer obsessed by employing the Twitter strategies of companies that “get it.”

It’s one thing to say you’re customer obsessed on social media and quite another to show you mean it. Modern consumers are social media savvy, and they can spot the difference, so if you want a real “return on your relationships” (#RonR), you’ve got to be truly customer obsessed on all your social media platformsTo highlight that point, let’s take a closer look at two large companies, JetBlue and Duane Reade, that do an excellent job of putting the customer-obsessed concept into action on social channels. While you may not have their resources, you can certainly pick up a few tips so your small business truly connects with customers.

JetBlue Airways

Being customer obsessed requires paying attention to the little details, and it’s clear that JetBlue “gets it” from the moment you visit the airlines’ Twitter page. You can see the company is focused on customers even before you read a single tweet, thanks to its effective use of Twitter’s profile page functions.Let’s take a look at the details:

– JetBlue’s Twitter page has close to 2 million followers, which is strong but not out of line when compared to other major airlines. The “following” count is what really stands out, though, clocking in at more than 100,000. Check out the follower/following ratios of other popular accounts, and you’ll quickly see that JetBlue is way out in front on the number of other Twitter accounts it follows.

– Take a look at the company’s profile blurb. “Hi, nice to tweet you!” is pleasant and warm, a stark contrast to the all too common “The Official Twitter Page of …” opening. After that, you get a quick, relevant description of the company, followed by multiple contact options. It’s all framed under a welcoming cover photo that’s light on logos but heavy on diversity and smiles.

– JetBlue does a nice job tweeting a mix of customer-focused contests, clever hashtags and charity drives, but its replies to customers are what really stand out. There are no form messages or any other signs of automation. When a customer tweets @JetBlue, they know they can expect a personalized response, coming from a real human being. JetBlue also does a great job of sharing fun travel photos from its followers.

Duane Reade

There’s more than one right way to be customer obsessed on Twitter, and drugstore chain Duane Reade gets there in a slightly different fashion than JetBlue. Both of these companies’ profile pages are well done, and both companies follow more accounts than average.The difference comes in the content of the tweets, and the information each company chooses to share. See what I mean:

– Duane Reade is based in New York City, and the city is a constant theme in their tweets. It’s a great way of saying “We live here, and we care about this place, too!” Duane Reade’s Twitter feed is also full of tweets about area events but not in a self-serving way. Most of the events the company tweets about have little or no apparent connection to the company.

– You’ll also find plenty of photo and video content shared on Duane Reade’s Twitter stream. Cityscapes bump up against silly pet pictures and odes to things like National Hammock Day in a way that makes the account feel more personal than corporate, which is tough to pull off.

– Like JetBlue, Duane Reade does a great job of replying to customers in a personal, timely way and sharing customer tweets. The company also embraces the language and intent of social media, dropping in the occasional bit of Internet slang or emoticon, and linking its various social feeds together.

In the end, customers want to be treated like human beings, not data points, and both JetBlue and Duane Reade embrace that with every detail. It all starts, though, with simple things. Reply to people promptly, with personalized messages, and share relevant, interesting content.The effort you put into being customer obsessed will be more than reciprocated by the return on relationship you build as a result.

Photo: iStockphoto

Originally posted AUGUST 18, 2014 American Express Open Forum blog

How do you Define a Social Business?

Let’s define a social business and how it is evolving. It’s not just “being social” with your customers (having social profiles where you know they hang out); it’s about being more connected in your business processes as well. Stop thinking in terms of silos of information and people, and start thinking about ways to connect everyone.

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#SMTShorts Ted Rubin on Upping Engagement on Twitter

Published on Jul 15, 2014

Ted Rubin, Social Marketing Strategist, Brand Evangelist and Acting CMO Brand Innovators, talks about how to get existing customers to follow you on Twitter.

#SMTShorts is a series of short videos featuring top names in social and digital, providing marketing insights in 3 minutes or less.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbFhVIamNXI

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Return on Relationship: Powerful Tips on Building Your Brand… @visalawyerblog interviews Ted Rubin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InKeOkhO8Ck#action=share

by JACOB SAPOCHNICK on AUGUST 6, 2014

“Serendipitously go into your following, reach out to people – just like what you might have done in the old days when you had a telephone book.” – Ted Rubin, on taking advantage of social networking sites. 

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Real Trumps Perfect… Stop Worrying so Much and Engage!

There are several reasons why I think businesses hamstring their social efforts. First, there’s an overriding, if misguided, pressure to get things “perfect” on social, which is sometimes used as an excuse to avoid getting involved at all. The permanent nature of anything that’s posted on the web tends to freak out the “control the message” crowd who has their fingers poised over the delete button to instantly erase ill-advised comments or content. We’re never far removed from the latest social snafu by a public figure, or the next one to come, and that fear can be paralyzing.

Second, there’s a certain amount of mistrust of employees by corporations on social channels. What if they say something stupid? What if they take a photocopy of their posterior at the company Christmas party and post it on Facebook? What if our perfect reputation is trashed by one Tweet? What if, what if, what if?

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How Duane Reade Leads it’s Industry in Content Marketing

Co-Authors: John Andrews and Ted Rubin

AMA recently published an article that I reposted yesterday, The Retweet that Never Sleeps, about Duane Reade’s highly successful content marketing approach that has helped the tiny (in terms of store count) retailer outperform much larger competitors in terms of social media engagement (National Drug chain CVS has just 10% of the Twitter audience of Duane Reade for Example). The Tri-State area only retailer (256 Stores) which is a subsidiary of Walgreens uses a content marketing platform that is powered by a group of influencers known at the Duane Reade VIP Bloggers.  This unique model leverages the local knowledge of brand advocates along with their individual audiences to deliver highly relevant organic content across a wide spectrum of social media channels. Twitter studied the approach and created a great case study about it.

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The Retweet That Never Sleeps

Originally posted by Molly Sloat at American Marketing Association

John Andrews and I, along with Duane Reade’s Calvin Peters, devised this strategy when we were running Collective Bias. This is all about Return on Relationship, #RonR… 

Duane Reade; Twitter strategy; Molly Soat; Marketing News; American Marketing Association

New York-based drugstore chain Duane Reade launched a localized, influencer-led Twitter strategy to boost followers and store traffic

 

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Developing content to build an engaged Twitter audience for your brand can be tough, and the potential payoffs can be hard to define. People might sign on to read your witty one-liners or to see your compelling visuals, but can a robust Twitter following result in direct sales impact, particularly for a brand with no e-commerce presence? Duane Reade Inc. thinks so.

Via a localized and photo-heavy Twitter campaign, the 54-year-old New York-based pharmacy brand grew its Twitter following by more than 6,700% between 2012 and 2013, and also drove results at the register, says Calvin Peters, PR and digital communications manager at Duane Reade. “The challenge was to increase our community across the board, from New Yorkers to tourists. We are lucky to be able to leverage New York in our social media. With the landmarks, the buildings and the city itself, many consider New York to be the capital of the world. We’re a brand that started in New York, and because of our vast footprint in the metropolitan area, we get to leverage that.”

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Do Brands Apologize Too Much? ~via @InsideCXM

 

Social media is a great tool to help build brand visibility and interact with customers on a public platform. However, keep in mind that it’s a conversation medium—not a place to whitewash your image. People expect brands to be human, which means the occasional mistake is bound to happen, yet there is still an inherent fear of permanent reputation damage on social channels. Companies are afraid that something bad will be forever captured via a screenshot or a social update, bringing down a firestorm of bad press that ruins the brand’s reputation for all time. As a result, knee-jerk apologies too often are the first response.

Take airlines, for example. Data gathered by Unmetric shows US Airways and American Airlines lead in the number of tweets that contained apologies. But when trying to engage with customers and humanize their brand, businesses may be doing more harm than good in constantly apologizing. When companies issue an apology for a split-second decision made on social media, they admit culpability. If they apologize too soon, they may be drawing negative attention to themselves from people who otherwise would have not paid attention had a friend not retweeted the apology or shared blog posts criticizing the response.

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Tips for Small Business on Building an Engaged Social Presence [video]

The Magic @ Ball of Social Media with Special Guest Ted Rubin

 

In this episode of “Magic @ Ball of Social Media,” our video series in which experts answer small business social media questions, we sit down with Ted Rubin, a leading social marketing strategist, brand evangelist and keynote speaker. Rubin provides actionable tips about building an engaged social audience.

About the Author: Derek Overbey is the Senior Social Media Manager at VerticalResponse.

Derek Overbey
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