The Bridge community has more than 2,400 members and  hundreds of private groups to help answer any questions a prospective student may have about MSOE. There is also an application form that is directly integrated into MSOE’s admission system that provides a step-by-step progress tracker, giving students specific tasks to help them navigate through the admissions process. High School students can use their Facebook credentials to log into the Bridge and ask questions, contribute to conversations, and chat with fellow members for instant feedback. The MSOE Bridge is an innovative approach to the college application process, and 7Summits is grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with MSOE on this project.

Here’s a snippet from the article:

The college admissions process is a painful experience for many hopeful students, filled with strict guidelines and often unhelpful officials. But the Milwaukee School of Engineering may have developed the solution. Their Bridge program is an original approach to the process of applying to college. Following the model of social media, the program serves as a way for applicants to create a profile and connect with admissions counselors, other applicants, and students to share advice and information. In the past, this function has been served by third-party websites; but the benefit of MSOE’s program is the school can maintain the accuracy of the information on a medium (the internet) where inaccuracy abounds.

Read the full article.

Check out Press from the release of the community.

For example, a recent article - 5 Easy Ways to Get Sued for Social Media or Blogging - showcases multiple ways you could get yourself in trouble online without even knowing it. He highlights a lawyer friend of his who admits,

“I’d love to be the lawyer who sets a precedent on things like this – breaking new ground to defend the rights of Internet users, or protect a business that has been targeted unfairly and maliciously. Both are worth fighting for.

“But what I tell my clients is to ask themselves seriously if they want to be the person who pays for it. If they do, I’m ready. But most just want to avoid trouble. So settling, removing the offending content, and avoiding the causes for the trouble in the first place by learning (and following) the rules is usually the best idea.”

In a time when communicating becomes easier and faster every day, should society be punished because our legislative system has only grown slower and more complex? The inability of legislation to move at society’s breakneck pace can be scary, and it may lead to legal issues that could be avoided if social media regulations were up to date. As most of us simply jump on the bandwagon, moving onto the newest and coolest social media platform, some people inevitably have to become the “example.” Is there hope for legislation to ever incorporate social media to the extent that their processes are expedited? Unfortunately, the answers is “Probably not.” So instead education and awareness seems the more plausible answer, but how? How do you get users to take a time out and learn how their behaviors are putting them at risk?

Companies tend to have more awareness of social media hazards than the average consumer. Social Media often scares entire industries away from participating. For example,  the financial services industry is typically a laggard in their use of social media because the regulations make using social often not worth the effort.  FINRA laws are complex and for the most part they shoehorn current forms of communication into old rules, making them very hard to follow.

Simple behaviors from members of the industry such as a “like” or a “re-tweet” signal endorsement of that party for that content. Click a “like” button on unapproved content and you and your employer could be in huge trouble.

Then there’s the undefined value of social media. People often talk about the ROI of social media and the fact that it is hard to measure? Despite the complexity for some companies to measure an ROI, others are literally suing for the value. One such “example” is a recent story of a California man being sued by his former employer for nearly $340,000 for his Twitter followers which he took with him when he left the company.  The company claims those followers were obtained because of his position at the company, and that each one has a monetary value, all totaling $340,000. Does your employer have rights to your Twitter followers? Your blog posts? Your Facebook friends? I bet most of us have never thought about it before.

The government themselves has even broke their own unclear social media laws - Watchdog Group is suing the US government, claiming they did not properly disclose their social media surveillance tactics. When a request was made for the information per the  Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) several agencies failed to report how they collected data, what the data was used for, and who had access to said data. While many of us have no doubt made jokes about social media and big brother, how many of us have thought about checking on the governments practices and calling them out on their missteps?

And while people continue to be “made example of” and major outdated laws go unchanged, many seemingly frivolous laws are swiftly brought to fruition. For example, in Missouri a law was recently passed making it illegal for a teacher to friend a student on Facebook. While it makes sense that we make the relationship rules easy and just say it not allowed, is this the most important use of social media laws to get into place? What about children with poor home lives who develop special relationships with their teachers? Is it wrong for them to get support via social media? What about teachers being able to better police their students by getting more insight into their private lives? Being able to bust students for drinking or drug use. The situation is again an unclear one, and I would certainly argue that their are more important issues to tackle.

So how aware are you of your social media behaviors and current legislation? More importantly what are you going to do to protect yourself?

Dave’s Dilema:

N-Control invented an add-on for video game console controllers know as the Avenger that was originally designed to help a disabled gamer play video games, but it was also marketed as a tool to enhance the performance of “hardcore gamers.” When word of the product spread across the internet, demand for the Avenger controller skyrocketed. It was initially released exclusively for XBox 360 controllers, but in late 2011 N-Control let customers pre-order a Playstation 3 version.

This is where the aforementioned Dave comes into the picture. Dave ordered two of the Avenger controllers on November 3, 2011. N-Control’s site advertised a shipping date of “Early December,” but on December 16 Dave had not heard any news of an official release date.  He emailed Paul Christoforo (president of Ocean Marketing) to find out when the controller would be shipped. Paul responded promptly that it would be shipped on December 17th.  It was a simple exchange, and the problem was solved, right?

Unfortunately for everyone involved, the Avenger controllers did not ship on the 17th.  As a result, Dave and his fellow consumers were unable to have their controllers shipped in time for Christmas. To make matters worse, N-Gage began offering a $10 pre-order rebate to those who ordered the Avenger after December 26th, but the rebate did not apply to those who had ordered before that date.

At this point, Dave contacted Ocean Marketing again to find out if he could get the rebate to apply to his order by cancelling his initial order and re-ordering the Avenger. Ocean Marketing responded with the following statement:

Feel free to cancel we need the units we’re back ordered 11,000 units so your 2 will be gone fast. Maybe I’ll put them on eBay for 150.00 myself. Have a good day Dan.

Dave  is understandably angry by this response, and for his next email he copied Mike Krahulik (co-creator of pennyarcade.com and the founder of PAX East, one of the largest gaming conventions in the United States) along with various other gaming news sites.  Instead of trying to defuse the situation and apologizing to Dave, Paul responded by calling Dave a child, laughing at his complaints, and dropping the names of numerous gaming conventions that Paul planned on attending (including Pax East).

Paul’s mention of PAX East led Mike from Pennyarcade.com to join in the conversation. Mike was so offended by Paul’s response that he guaranteed Paul would not have a booth at PAX . Paul shrugged off the banning by saying he had his eyes on “bigger and better shows.” Mike then informed Paul that he would be posting the entire email conversation online. “Great! Love PR” Paul responded.

In twenty-four hours, Paul would find out that he did not love the PR.

(If you are interested in reading the entire email conversation, it can be found at penny-arcade.com. Fair word of warning: the emails do contain offensive language)

Ocean Marketing’s Scale Tips

The next day Mike posted the entire exchange between Dave, Paul, and himself on Penny Arcade. The story went viral in a matter of hours with the help of Reddit, Twitter, and Facebook. The story was so popular that the traffic eventually crashed Mike’s site.

(To see more numbers on how the story went viral in real-time, click here.)

Paul’s Twitter account, @oceanmarketting (with two T’s),  was bombarded with hostile messages and multiple threats were made against him via email. The backlash was so intense that Paul changed his Twitter handle to @oceanstratagy (this is not a typo; it was the actual Twitter handle).  The e-hostility followed Paul to his new Twitter name, and he eventually changed it again to @OceanDeepSea, and he recently shed the Ocean Marketing brand altogether – Paul can now be followed at @PaulChristoforo.

Paul and Ocean Marketing were not the only ones to feel the wrath of the internet. N-Control’s Avenger controller was flooded with negative reviews on Amazon claiming that the customer service was abysmal. Those negative reviews will certainly deter consumers who may not have hear about the Ocean Marketing fiasco from buying the Avenger controller.

Two days after the email conversation between Dave and Paul made its way to the internet, N-Control did some damage control and fired Paul Christoforo. On January 6th, N-Control donated $10,000 to the Child’s Play charity in an attempt to further restore their brand’s image.

The Aftermath

So, what can be learned from Paul Christoforo’s misadventures in customer relations?

• The fury of one customer can quickly spread to hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of hours. If Paul had responded to Dave in a civil manner or had been able to resolve the Avenger issue, the whole situation may have even resulted in good press for everyone involved.

• Businesses need to have complete confidence in those they choose to represent their brand.  Even though N-Control was not directly responsible for the actions of Paul Christoforo, their brand image still suffered a black eye.

• Most importantly, the internet is a double-edged sword. It can be a powerful tool that companies can use to form a stronger bond with their consumers, but if they are not careful those same consumers can turn on them in an instant and tear companies to shambles. Dave toppled Paul and N-Control’s scale, and it may take quite some time for them to re-balance it.

If Mr. Christoforo would have read the “About Us” section of his own website, this entire situation could have been avoided:

Integrity and honesty are at the core of our business values. We expect our leaders and people to maintain high ethical standards in everything they do, both in their work for Ocean Marketing and in their personal lives.

Business would be wise to learn a lesson from Paul’s mistakes, because a single customer can now directly impact the perceived image of an entire product with something as small as an email. A single grain of rice can tip the scale.

The process of developing a successful brand and reputation monitoring program begins with the specific goals of the organization and the ways in which they plan to use this information.  A monitoring program is as much about tracking your brand as it is about competitive intelligence, market trends, and strategic advantages.  We see a brand’s reputation as the integration of an open social presence (Facebook, Twitter, etc. both managed and created by users), traditional brand and company websites, and public and private communities. With that cohesive brand presence in mind, you must take all of these aspects into consideration when building a monitoring or reputation management program.  This methodology means various tools, measurement capabilities, and processes must be in place for all aspects of a brand’s reputation.

If businesses want to get the most use out of their social listening tools, they need to monitor more than just their own brand. By expanding their monitoring to topics related to their brand, companies can develop a greater understanding of their products and the consumers that use them. Businesses would then be able to tailor their marketing strategy and even branch out into previously unnoticed consumer segments.

Companies must take a holistic approach to online monitoring and crisis management.  The most successful programs monitor all aspects of a brand’s online presence and utilize multiple integrated mediums to combat crises that may arise.  Beyond monitoring, a company must realize the importance of workflow for taking action, advocate for systems and policies to be in place to take insights garnered from the social web to be imported into the organization where they can be collectively brought to the attention of the appropriate employee or team who can then create specific plans of action. Community elements and the right tools make these workflows possible.  Via communities, specific mentions and emerging trends can be brought to the attention of the correct stakeholders to then collaborate around the issues and escalate the proper forms of response. These methods allow for catching crises early when they are easier to solve and have reached the least amount of users.

In the right hands, social listening tools can be as practical as a Swiss Army Knife. Businesses who effectively use social listening can gain an advantage over their competitors, develop a better understanding of their consumers, and minimize damages from any crises that may arise.

Help your company devise scalable social business strategies

Many companies struggle with the planning, ownership and execution of social business programs. More often than not, marketing and communication teams play a leadership role in driving social media initiatives, adoption of best practices and program execution within their organization. However, a recent 1to1 Media article, “Putting Customer Service in Charge of Social” pointed out the deficiencies in limiting your social media and customer experience efforts to any one area of the business. As you look at developing and evolving your social business strategy in 2012, here are some grounding concepts that will help you focus, engage others and prioritize what you need to do.

 Moving Forward: Business Case Development and Planning

Companies often focus on how to use social media in their business by asking questions like: How do we create a fan page on Facebook? Do we need to be on Twitter, LinkedIn or Foursquare? How do we get viewers for our YouTube videos? Should we develop a customer support community? These are the wrong questions and focus. When looking at developing a sustainable social business model, start by prioritizing which aspects of social media are relevant to your business based your organization’s strategic objectives. When developing an approach to social business, the right questions include:

• How can we increase customer satisfaction and retention?
• Will this help us provide a consistent customer support experience at a reduced cost?
• How can we better align innovation with market demand?
• How do we increase sales and market share?
• Can we organize our employees and internal knowledge more effectively?

If you are the internal champion for your social business initiatives, ensure that you have a solid social media strategy and business case developed that addresses these types of questions before engaging stakeholders within your organization. Do not get stumped when someone plays the social media ROI card. This standard push back to anything social media related is getting old, however you need to be prepared to answer the question with a thoughtful response and data. The first step to answering how you intend to prove ROI is to look at your company’s existing business needs and the associated measures. Then work to map these back to your proposed social media programs. With that being done, you can correlate how your efforts will contribute to moving the needle. For instance, let’s say your proposed project is focused on creating a dedicated customer support community similar to Apple’s, here is a quick mapping of the business needs and how they can be supported through social media:

Continue Reading.

Last November, Facebook wunderkind Mark Zuckerberg paid a visit to Harvard for the first time since dropping out of sight in 2004. In his address to students, the social media guru proclaimed that Facebook “is just getting started.” Remarkably, social networking has, in the past five years, forever changed the higher learning landscape. It will profoundly shape the higher ed marketplace in the next decade. Today, it’s estimated that more than 800 million people around the world depend on Facebook.

Gone are the days when colleges and universities relied solely on glossy viewbooks filled with smiling faces, fall foliage, and ivy-covered bell towers to ramp up admissions and conversion yield. Today’s students get information about colleges by “chatting” with enrolled students about their most engaging learning and living experiences, exploring virtual 3-D campus tours, and watching student-produced videos. Administrators are now exploring new ways to engage prospective students and keep them coming back for more by using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, foursquare, iTunesU, and other social networking pathways.

View the full article.

Burberry definitely gets it! It is impressive to see the leadership team fully engaged and committed to this critical evolution of their business.  I will end this blog post with another video by their Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey welcoming fans to Google Plus.

There tends to be two extreme approaches to the holidays: the Martha Stewart and the Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character from Jingle all the Way).  The Martha Stewarts of the world already purchased all of their gifts months in advance, wrapped them, and have them perfectly organized for efficient distribution.  Their only worries now revolve around whether or not their handmade holiday centerpiece matches their intricately folded napkins.  The Stewarts are ready, willing, and prepared to take on the holiday season.

On the complete other end of the holiday spectrum lies the Howard Langstons.  Much like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in the family Christmas comedy Jingle All the Way, these people have waited until the last possible minute to cross everything off of their gift list.  They are the ones waiting outside in the freezing cold for a chance to beat out their fellow procrastinating counterparts to snag the last “hot” toy of the season.  While they may not be able to get everything that’s on their list, they usually find a way to make do with their last-minute rush to the store.

Regardless of whether someone is a Stewart, a Langston, or somewhere in between, there is a good chance their holiday shopping list was influenced by social commerce.  The way consumers shop for products has evolved, and companies need to adapt and change with these innovations.

Here are the top reasons why a company should take advantage of social commerce:

• According to a recent E-Commerce Spending Report, Facebook and Twitter users spend 1.5 times more online than the average internet user.  The number of consumers who use Social Networking sites is staggering – over 800 million people have a Facebook account.

• Twitter is another influential tool in social commerce.  It has been reported that 23% of Twitter users follow businesses to find special deals, promotions and sales.  Some businesses such as Sears and Best Buy have tailored their Social Media presence to the consumers’ wants by creating Twitter accounts that focus solely on promoting sales and deals.  Target has taken their Twitter  presence one step further by creating an account for their fictional “highly caffeinated Martha Stewart-esque” persona, The Christmas Champ.  If companies can engage and take advantage of the ever-expanding online presence of consumers it will give them a distinct advantage over their competitors.

• Before the smartphone revolution consumers had to search for coupons, competitor’s prices, and similar items before they ever stepped foot into the wild world of retail stores; now smartphones allow consumers to access all of this information with one simple search.  One in three shoppers use their cell phone inside a store to find everything from coupons and ratings to competitive pricing and product information.  Some shoppers even use their phone to purchase from another retailer. Businesses are starting to embrace mobile research and some provide QR codes for their consumers to scan and learn more information.  Even Langstons can turn into quite the shopping force if they are armed with a smartphone.

• Social commerce is also heavily influenced by consumer reviews.   59% of online shoppers claim that user-generated product reviews had a significant impact on their buying behavior.  User reviews can be used as a way for businesses to communicate with real consumers, gather instant feedback on their products, and find ways to make their goods more appealing to new potential customers.

• Not all customer reviews are glowing promotions, but fortunately for most companies positive reviews are six times more likely to impact a consumer than a negative review.  Does that mean that companies should avoid negative reviews?  Absolutely not!  JLab Audio uses brand ambassadors to respond to negative customer reviews on Amazon as a way to direct them to their official customer service department.  This tactic is a great way to repair a negative relationship at a relatively low cost for the company.

While the Martha Stewarts of the world sit next to a fire sipping eggnog and the Robert Langstons fight through hoards of procrastinators for the last Turbo Man action figure, social commerce’s impact on consumer buying behavior continues to increase.  Businesses could benefit greatly from interacting with the full range of holiday shoppers.  Social commerce is a low-cost, high-reward method that allows businesses to gain the loyalty of online shoppers.

As the workforce grows younger and brings their preferred ways of communicating into the way they work, organizations must take notice and accommodate those working styles.  The chart above showcases this shift in the email behaviors of the different age groups. Atos is certainly a first mover in the mature social business space and we are excited to track their progress as well as the progress of other companies who will now begin to feel more pressure to figure out what exactly a social business entails and how they can enable one for themselves.

On the flip side I do receive lot of push email notifications from my social networks, both personal and professional, that I do read and click on often. These range from personal friend requests on Facebook to status updates on LinkedIn or content notifications from professional communities.

What’s the Difference?

As I step back and look at what motivates me to click the emails from social networks over the ones generated through a broadcast email marketing program there are two key differences; Relationships and Context. Generally push emails generated on social networks are much more targeted around the things I care about, ranging from:

• The People I care about
• The Topic’s I’m interested in,
• The Discussion’s I’m a part of
• The Content I’ve subscribed to
• The Contributions I’ve made

Growing Relationships, not Email Databases

I’m sure the scenario I’m describing above is no different to what you experience every day in your own professional and personal lives. As marketers that own existing loyalty programs we need to think about how we extend them to provide more value with more relevant content and connections with our customers rather than spamming them with content they don’t care about.

Re-inventing your Loyalty programs with Community

I recently published an article titled “Members Are Customers, Too” about how some associations are re-inventing their membership model by building owned member communities. A lot of the points I made in this article are applicable to loyalty programs. A more effective way of engaging your customers and email subscribers is to convert an email record in a database to a dynamic member profile and invite them to join a community. Take all of your companies’ great content, products, ideas and relationships and move it to a community construct that focuses on engaging your customers and prospects vs. broadcasting to them with spray and pray campaigns. Once in a community you are better able to learn about your members, what content is interesting to them, who are the kinds of people they like to connect with, and how engaged are they with your brand. This intelligence is easier to gather inside of a community where you own the analytics and easier to take advantage of when you control the complete experience. Now you can utilize relationships and context to better engage your fans which will inevitably translate into higher loyalty.

Some great examples of this are:

• Element 14 – Customer Community:
  Premiere Farnell is engaging its suppliers and customers by hosting conversations including t those discussing testing of their products. Additionally they’ve integrated eCommerce into the Community (and vice versa) to drive sales.
• http://www.element14.com/
• Harley Davidson – HOG Community: Harley Davidson is inviting its HOG owners into a dedicated community that hosts local chapters, discussions about their bikes, events and general interests:
• http://members.hog.com

Whether a community is right for your brand or not, the next time you go to push out that email blast remember to utilize relationships and context to truly engage readers. Focus on the People your readers care about, the Topic’s they are interested in, realize the Discussion’s they are a part of, the Content they’ve subscribed to, and the Contributions they’ve made to ensure you are utilizing your loyalty program to gain the greatest engagement and interest.