Are you trapped?

I was pondering about something during my recent exercise routine, and was wondering if you feel trapped? (Note: no snakes this time!)

For the link I promised in the video, click here.

My question: Do you feel trapped or would you change/start a new social media site?


[Note: photo from https://www.naturalbalancenow.com/]

“Your Success Is My Business.”™

pondering - "to think about : reflect on"

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The Positives About Negatives

"I hate customer complaints."
"Why are our customers always complaining?"
"Why would we want to have a social media page that allows customers to post negative comments about us?"

I'm heard this (and more) over & over from businesses all over America. I'm sure you have as well. All of these comments are with a negative thought process & with pessimistic vision for the future of that business.

But I on the other hand see huge positives in all these comments! How?

When your customer is calling you and complaining, all they're doing is begging for help. They want to do business with you, they want to give you their hard-earned money, all they want from you is to help them resolve their problem!

If a customer uses your social media page to post a complaint, here's your opportunity to show the world what great customer service you provide.

And if the customer has a legitimate problem with your business, don't you want to know where you're failing so you can correct it, regardless of how the message is delivered?

Negative comments & complaints are a gold mine for you to refine your company and move it to the next higher level of customer service and the customer experience. Don't miss the opportunites!

Until next time, remember “Your Success Is My Business.” ™

[Note: photo from http://www.all-about-forensic-science.com/]

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The "Squeaky Wheel" Philosophy

What if your customers never had to say "I won't stop because I'm the squeaky wheel" because you're delivering such legendary service they're always WOW'd? How is your customer service department stacking up?

Customer service is harder to deliver now more than any time in history. With the advent of the internet, social media, and the new "4-second rule" (hey, it was only recently that it was the 8-second rule) we've self-created a hyper-drive customer service society.

Regardless of the size of your company, customers expect a LEGENDARY CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE (including service) regardless of how THEY elect to connect with you. Whether they communicate with you via face-to-face 'walk in' business, via the phone, via e-message, via website self-service, via social media, via whatever method THEY elect, they are expecting your immediate attention to their requests. And when you don't deliver to their expectations, this is when they become "the squeaky wheel".

The days of your business electing to provide one or two customer interaction paths are a thing of the past. Customers will seek out the businesses that provide them the method in which they want to do business. Are you providing all the paths your customers want?

I'd like to hear any success stories you've had with implementing new customer service options for your customers.

THANKS! And until next time, remember “Your Success Is My Business.” ™

[Note: photo from http://www.businessalone.com/]

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Building Communities

Helping others grow their social media communities has been something I've enjoyed doing. Helping people connect with others of similar interests is a good thing. It's almost daily that I see someone new join one of the social media communities I participate in. Do you see this happening too?

If you follow social media like I do, there are so many conversations going on about what social media is and why you should be involved.

Whether it's someone like Seth Godin in a video talking about what you should be doing within your social media communities, Chris Brogan wondering if you need to touch every conversation, maybe a company trying to teach you how to include it in your business, or one of your friends/colleagues passionately telling you how many new "friends" they have on their Facebook or Twitter account; isn't your social media community your community?

If social media is simply conversations, just like you'd have with someone face-to-face, then why can't you post what you want to say?

In my last blog, "Am I Yelling", I pondered on that very thought and also about what I shared in my social media communities, and whether I was yelling my messages through these "social media megaphones".

But something that seems rarely mentioned, but seems to be highly important to many, is the number of connections we have within our communities. I recently read a blog (can't remember which one now from all the ones I read) about how important your connections (network) was and how it may be turned in to 'higher hire-ability factor' going forward. Interesting thought.

But what do we do that helps others gain & grow their networks?

When you connect with someone new on your Facebook account, do you "suggest friends" for this person to the appropriate connections you have? (Remember, just because you're limited to doing 20 at a time, doesn't mean you can't do it multiple times!) This is a great way to help someone build their initial community!! Do you retweet someone elses tweet post to your community? Do you actively seek out and recommend those connected to you on LinkedIn? Do you share blogs you like with all your community(s) connections?

When you help others build their communities, you'll soon see the same happen to your own community as well. What a great deal for everyone!!

I'd be interested in hearing your experiences in how you build your communities and how you help others do so as well. It would be great information to share with everyone. (Click "comment" below to do so.)

THANKS! Until next time, remember “Your Success Is My Business.” ™

[Note: photos from http://ilearn.amorphous.net/ & http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/]

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Am I Yelling?

While reading a recent on-line article, it pointed to a related video blog which I in turn watched. The video was very informative and I got a lot out of it. The thing that really stood out in it to me was a line that one of the people being interviewed used, "...using my social media megaphone...".

That started me pondering on whether I was "shouting" my message or simply sharing my messages.

I looked at my "me" folder under my favorites and counted thirty (that's right, 30) Social Media sites that I have accounts in, and that I keep updated. Incredible!!! Now I admit that some of these sites I personally deem more relavent than others. My twitter page, my Facebook page, my YouTube page and my LinkedIn page I find to be the most used.

But what about the messages I'm sharing in all my communities? Or the messages I'm seeing that are being shared?

Recently, I've had a lot of other people (especially those new to the Social Media world) comment to me about how they really don't understand and/or how they dislike certain posts they get. Examples given to me are how even the smallest things in a person's life gets shared: "Heading to get something to drink", "Well, off to bed", "Going to grab some groceries, BRB", etc.

Social Media is about having conversations, pure and simple.

Whether that conversation is a piece of wisdom, a great idea, a web-link reference post, a comment about history, news item, current personal event like a vacation/reunion, a blog, customer service & support, promotional item, asking a question, "how to", or simply "Hang on, I've got to go the restroom"...it's all a conversation. And just like in the real world where we interact face-to-face with people every day, there are sometimes things all of us would probably rather not have heard.

For me, I try to share items via my social media communities that I find personally interesting but at the same time I try to consider those I'm sharing with. Some of the posts I share are what I believe to be news worthy, some are what I consider humor, some are sad, some are reflective, some are targeted to a specific group within my community (for example my recent high school reunion), etc. I find most of my posts deal with personal branding, growing your leadership, growing your busines, or (hopefully) something inspirational. But I have, I will admit, shared some stuff that maybe made some of my community question their connection with me.

One that comes to mind was a twitter event of a hunt I went on earlier in the year. I tweet'd from the arrival in the stand all the way to the completion of the hunt. (But that hunt lead me to blog a message I thought important.) I've even tweet'd airplane flights from start-to-finish before (sorry everyone!!!). In the end I think we all grow into our "communication style" and people see that, it just takes a bit. I remember when I first started talking all I knew was "gah, gah, bah baddy blah boo" and stuff like that; but eventually I made it to the big time and put real words together to form real sentences and then on to tell real stories!!

So as I end, I have a few questions I was wondering if you'd answer for me:

What social media sites do you use the most?
What do you find to be the most interesting topics you see posted?
If you could pick only one social media site to use, which one would it be and why?
Does your work use social media to communicate and interact with your customers?
[Click "comment" below to answer.]

THANKS SO MUCH! And let me know if you think I'm yelling...

Until next time, remember “Your Success Is My Business.” ™

[Note: photo from http://bobbycarroll.net/]


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Blogs...which ones?

As part of this “blogging” universe, I’m sometimes asked about which blogs I read so I thought I’d share the list here:

* Big Business Blogging Corporate Blogging
* Buildify Corporate Blogging
* Chris Brogan One of the best sites about Social Media
* Fred Reichheld’s Blog Net Promoter (customer experience) topics
* Giant Perspectives Leadership
* Great Leadership Leadership
* Hello, my name is Blog Scott Ginsberg’s thoughts about personal branding
* Hope for the Hopeless My fried Clint Singleton’s blog
* Jaffe Juice Joseph Jaffe’s world of marketing
* Jeanne Bliss’ Blog Customer Experience
* John Maxwell Leadership
* Leading Smart Keeping me focused leadership from God’s perspective
* Living Life Forward My friend Ralph Yoder’s blog
* Living Loved My friend Elizabeth Bennett’s blog
* Made to Stick Creative thinking
* Michael Hyatt Marketing & Social Media
* Never Eat Alone Networking
* Paradigm Shift Social Media
* Perceived Randomness My friend Jarrod Wester’s blog
* Personal Branding Blog Personal branding
* Power of Who Personal branding
* Power Shift A great Social Media blog
* Rise to the Top For Entrepreneurs
* Service with a Smile My friend Daniel Bennett’s blog
* SmartBlog on Social Media Another of my favorites on Social Media
* 3Connect My friend Kevin Yoder’s blog

Fortunately for me, not all of these folks posts new blogs everyday so it’s actually not that difficult to manage. I also use Google Reader to subscribe to each so that helps me keep track with what’s new.

And as you can see, my focus is on leadership, the customer experience and social media.

What blogs do you follow and why? Let me know by commenting (below link). THANKS!

Until next time, remember “Your Success Is My Business.” ™

http://joeypeacock.com/

[Note: photo from http://www.ibspro.net/]