Planning your vacation

Planning your vacation could result easier, funnier and cheaper in the era of social media where vast amount of precious information is only one click away. Nowadays companies like Expedia and Lonely Planet have up-to-date Facebook pages which provide relevant information for those wanting to plan their vacations. From best deals, special offers, information about a certain location and other useful advices social media has an answer. If you are more familiar with Twitter you should not worry because many of the companies that could help you book a vacation are present there. Some examples are: Expedia, Travelocity, Edreams, and many more.

The main advantage of using social media when planning a vacation is that you can receive instant feedback plus sincere recommendations and opinions of people who travelled before. Social media is like having a travel assistant helping you with all you may need, so do not deny yourself the pleasure of enjoying the benefits of it.

Hotels and accommodation

One of the main things that provide people with a good travel experience is the hotel or accommodation. Just by typing ”hotel” in the search box of Facebook you will get more than 500 pages of results with hotels that have a fan page on this social network. Probably, search would me more accurate if the name of the city you plan on visiting is added to the search terms. The main advantage is that by using this method you have a way to get instant feedback from other people that have visited the place. If services were poor or quality was under expectations considering the price paid, some unsatisfied customer has already posted something on the provider’s wall.

Let’s take the example of Hilton hotels which have a strong Facebook presence. Their page includes a series of elements in order to portrait the whole range of services offered by Hilton and all the facilities that their clients benefit from. The company has also integrated Twitter into their social media marketing mix and they use it to respond and communicate with clients.

Airlines and transportation means

Another key factor to guarantee the success of a vacation is represented by the transportation means chosen by the traveller. Depending on the destination, people may chose to fly, take the train, a ship, or even go by car, motorcycle, bicycle. Let´s have a look at the airline carriers in social media!

If you are wondering how social media influences the decision to choose a company over another the answer is pretty easy. Almost every carrier has a Twitter account or a Facebook page where people can share their travel experiences. Airlines have used social media even in crisis situations and we have detailed this subject in a previous article related to the volcano ash crisis. Airlines have also launched social media contests in their pursue of further engaging with consumers. For example if you live in Spain, Vueling launched an application that allows Facebook users to share their thoughts about Vueling. Based on the votes their status receives, users raise their chances of winning a free ticket for themselves and other 3 friends. Another carrier that has integrated Facebook and Twitter sharing is Lufthansa. With the help of this website people can share their location and flights with their friends and people around the globe.

Dinner and food

Depending on the type of tourist and eater you are, visiting a new country or destination could become a delight for your tastes. Difficulty arises when you arrive at your destination and the eternal question pops up: Where are we eating today? As any tourist you would like to pamper your tastes with the best meal possible; how to choose the best restaurant in a new town?

Travel guides can be left aside and social media can step in to solve the problem of where is the best dinner in town. Thanks to the new location based application, Foursquare you have access to the tips of thousand of users regarding where to eat. Let’s assume you are in a popular central area of a city, and you see many restaurants but you are not sure which one to choose; by opening Foursquare and clicking the tips sections you are going to receive suggestions from people who have visited the place before. If you are lucky you might even enjoy the benefits of a special offer depending on the city you are in.

Give feedback from your trip

Of course the success of a vacation depends on many more elements but nowadays problems that social media can not solve are getting less. Do not doubt to ask your friends for suggestions, or give feedback to the place you have visited. The real advantage and benefit of social media is that is a free channel. It is free in all senses. You do not have to pay for it, and communication is not restricted by anyone. So share your experiences with your friends and help social media do its magic for other people like you.

Finally, we would appreciate hearing how social media made your vacation planning easier so feel free to share your experiences with us! As we are going in a vacation also, the frequency of our blog posts is going to be lower, but we are still going to be active on Twitter. Follow us to keep in touch!

We wish you a sunny summer!

As we are specialized in social media, we wanted to see how famous companies across the world have boosted women’s passion for lingerie by using social networks. In the article below, we are going to present how exactly the lingerie industry has decided to use social media as a way to engage deeper with their target audience across the world.

Victoria’s Secret PINK

Victoria’s Secret is an international and famous lingerie brand, and their entrance into social media was welcomed with high enthusiasm by fans who now count almost 3,500, 000 on the official page of the brand on Facebook, plus another 2,500,000 on Victoria’s Secret PINK page.

Victoria’s Secret was an early adopter of social media, so the actions and campaigns the company develops using these tools are proof that the company has had time to figure the field out. The elements featured on the Victoria’s Secret PINK page also demonstrate the fact that the company benefits from a strategic direction regarding their social media activity, as well as the fact that many marketing aspects were incorporated into it. We could state that these were the main elements that drove the success of the company on these channels, and of course, the powerful and solid brand image and positioning of the company.

On their Facebook page, Victoria’s Secret promotes different aspects of their activity.  To promote their PINK line the company has founded another page. The Victoria’s Secret PINK page contains a special tab with their special offers, wallpapers and quizzes mentioning the brand, an icon for their Twitter account and other mobile services, plus photos of their latest collections and from their newest events. With Facebook the company has the chance to offer its audience everything that may appeal to them. Judging by the number of fans and reactions the brand is generating, we can not but assume that the company is doing a great job.

For answering and responding to questions, Victoria’s Secret uses Twitter. The company may have adopted this solution because their Facebook page is flooded with comments and also some “unrelated” links and comments. By using Twitter, they have the opportunity to address questions in a more structured and organized way.

Needless to say, that Victoria’s Secret can be considered an example of how Facebook can be used to interact with users. As we have stated before, the company benefits from a powerful brand image, but the actions it applied have boosted the success on social networks. This company has proved that it is exactly as it claims: a fun and open brand.

Intimissimi

Intimissimi is an Italian brand owned by the Calzedonia Group, and is recognized for their comfortable fabrics and the high quality of their products. The brand uses the franchise business model in order to expand. Regarding social media, we have found the official page of the company on Facebook which counts with more than 40,000 fans. Although, the company’s page wasn’t founded until the 20^th of April of this year, the fans didn’t take long to appear.

By analyzing the page, we have reached the conclusion that the company is still in a stage in which is trying to figure out social media. Responses to comments are posted in three languages (Italian, English and Spanish), although the majority of the fans are Italian customers. The content the company is sharing is limited and mainly displayed in Italian. The language preference could be due to the fact that the brand is more powerful and known in Italy, which is also their most penetrated mark.

What we have considered interesting in their approach is the fact that the company has installed a “Critics” tab, proving that it welcomes comments even if they are negative, and that it is willing to respond to any complaint a client might have.

Intimissimi still needs to establish a path and a direction for their social media strategy, but initial momentum is more than optimistic.

Etam France

Etam is a French lingerie brand which sells products made of high quality fabrics and designs with a romantic touch. Regarding their social media activity, the brand has established Facebook as a primary channel for communication. Etam sums up more than 10,000 people on their official Facebook page, and develops different actions for these audience in order to bond with it.

For their summer collection the brand is developing a campaign in which fans are invited to create their summer look. Etam has unveiled an application which allows users to create a summer look with Etam’s pieces, share their outfit with friends, gather the highest number of votes and impressions and win a prize offered by the brand. In terms of awareness, this application assures Etam that a high number of people will be exposed to their message since every time a person publishes it on the wall the message is passed along all their friends.

On the Facebook page the company also promotes their special discounts and offers. Etam’s activity on social media is in its initial stage, although the company is making many significant efforts to bond with their audience on social media.

Triumph Portugal

Triumph is a German lingerie company with stores around the world and with almost 8,000 people who follow its activity on Facebook. On this page the brand communicates with its fans in both Spanish and Portuguese, even though the page is titled Triumph Portugal. Across Facebook the brand spreads its message regarding special offers and programs with campaigns such as the Triumph Inspirational Award. The company engages with users by responding to comments and also promotes its latest collections by posting special photo albums.

Trimph is also a company known for its extremely well built website which provides visitors with extensive information about the brand. We consider it is only a matter of time and strategy until the company will incorporate the same level of perfection into its social media activity.

La Perla

La Perla is an international Italian brand with a wide distribution channel which assures the availability of the products in many countries of the world. The company is positioned as a top class lingerie producer and two years ago they were acquired by an American company, which helped the brand in its further growth on the American market.

On Facebook we have found a page that might belong to the company, although we are not sure. The page has more than 11,000 fans, but no interaction in behalf of the brand is present. This might be a sign of the fact that the page is founded by a fan or that the company doesn’t consider social media as a proper means to communicate with their fans.

Conclusion

Regarding social media activity for lingerie companies, Victoria’s Secret has raised the bar really high, so it is going to be really hard to live up to the standards set by it. Other retailers have also identified the potential in social media, so we foresee that major campaigns are going to be developed.

The lingerie market is different from any other because consumers behave differently regarding this specific product. In the majority of the cases, consumers are not rational, although they appreciate the functional benefits of the product. How companies are going to innovate and engage with their audiences on social media is still something we have yet to see. Women are more likely to engage with a brand on social media, as has been shown by recent studies, so this could become a further incentive for companies to jump in the social media train. Regarding social media, the difference between the American and the European brand is important, but we are confident that companies from the Old Continent will find room to innovate in this dynamic field.

Facebook steps up and addresses privacy issues

We talked in the previous Friday article about the rising concerns regarding privacy issues with which the company was confronted. This week, Facebook gathered another round of media attention by stating they are preparing a new set of privacy settings that will make this feature easier to understand for the average user.

All week, changes were revealed, and statements from Mark Zuckerberg and his team were quoted in order to better explain the measures taken and to further support Facebook’s vision of an open web. More information about what the new set of privacy settings means can be found here and(or) here.

The most interesting aspect of this action is Facebook’s decision of actually stepping up and openly discussing privacy. The company has introduced changes regarding this aspect before but never was user reaction so powerful. Facebook has gained the fame of a controversial company but until now critics weren’t so relevant in determining the company’s measures to improve the situation.

The launch of the Open Graph provoked a remarkable impression on both social media influencers and users. Not knowing exactly what information is available and who has access to it started vehement reactions to the extent of which an international Quit Facebook Day was founded. MySpace announcement of introducing easier privacy settings added more wood to the fire. We are anxious to see how users will react to the new set of changes and whether privacy concerns are going to be tamed or not.

Yahoo acquiring the Asian foursquare

We have mentioned before how Yahoo tried to acquire the trending social network, Foursquare. The negotiations did not come to an end, and Foursquare is still a company that belongs to its founder. Still, this week, Yahoo confirmed it has stepped into the location game, at least on the Asian market. Yahoo bought Koprol, an Indonesian version of Foursquare. This is an important strategic action in behalf of the company, who might win the Asian market if their actions are applied as planned. As we foresee it this is a subject that we are going to discuss in future editions. The potential of this idea, as we see it, is huge so it is going to be interesting to monitor how exactly Yahoo is going to grow and develop it.

Don’t forget to share your opinions with us in the comments section below.

It has been a while since social media is on everyone’s lips. The spectacular growth and penetration rates social networks like Facebook, Twitter or even beginners like Foursquare have achieved to transform social media into the favourite subject of every tech savvy person.

But was it social media?

Definitions vary depending on the person who is being asked. Words may be switched or different but everyone agrees that social media is an open space, an environment where people ask questions, express opinions, and share thoughts and content. Although,  we are aware that not everyone realizes that every time a status is updated an opinion is being expressed or information is being shared.

This brought us to the question of why is everyone so scared and concerned about privacy settings. As we have stated in previous articles, Facebook’s privacy settings and the direction the social media giant is giving to social media, has been a subject of many polemic discussions all around the world. Specialists are scared that due to Facebook´s activity, we might be entering an era of “over sharing”. Time magazine has released its cover story about Facebook privacy setting, highlighting again the way in which the social network is connecting users.

From our point of view, Facebook is applying a model that they have studied a lot before deciding to use it, and that the structure of it was established to satisfy people’s needs. Facebook users may not be aware of where their information is going, but they do want to read their friends information. The Open Web is a place created by people, and if it’s not Facebook that will connect them, then another network will do that. In the era of sharing, people need information, and advertisers do too. We have the tendency to believe that people won’t stop using social media just because of privacy settings. People need social media and the information it provides them with. What may be a good action for Facebook is to release a form that easily explains privacy setting to average users including the advantages and weaknesses of it. Users also need to focus more on what exactly they want to communicate via their social networks, and be conscious about the effects of their actions.

MySpace tries to bring back good old times

Meanwhile, what used to be the world’s biggest social network, MySpace, tries to take advantage of all the negative press Facebook is receiving, and proposed a series of easy to understand privacy settings to attract more users. Although, the announcement was made this week, no actual improvement has been released, so MySpace should move fast if it wants to regain the lost audience.

Foursquare still growing steady

News of buying and recent entries in the location based space have not stopped the amazing growth of Foursquare, and as it was announced today, the social network is expanding to dimensions that are hard to believe even by their enthusiastic founder, Dennis Crowley. The positive attitude of Dennis Crowley is contagious but whether Foursquare is going to be able to face the competition has yet to be seen. We have discussed more about this in an article here.

These were the news that drew our attention from this week’s happenings. What do you think about Facebook’s privacy settings? Should Facebook revise them or this is the direction that the web is heading to?

Later edit: Facebook has taken measures about its privacy settings. Mark Zuckerberg’s statement can be read here.

Companies like L’Oreal have proved that beauty is not only women´s priviledge, reinforcing announcements that their lines for men have seen spectacular growth rates in last years, especially in China. It is clear that beauty industry has reached a global level and exposure, and while products may be customized for different geographical areas, beauty companies are present all over the world.

Social media is a tool that helps companies target a more global market or test other ones for future penetration, so it was obvious that beauty companies would not wait long before engaging in social media. Another reason why companies in the beauty field should step in to social media is represented by the fact that their target audience is most likely to ask for advices or suggestions of what products to use. Clients have problems identifying the product that best fits their needs, and social media represents a channel where they usually ask for advice.

In the following, we would like to present some of the most important beauty companies that have managed to integrate social media into their marketing mix.

The Body Shop – Conversation engagement

The Body Shop is a company founded by the late Anita Roddick, a human rights activist.  She wanted to prove to the world that beauty doesn’t necessarily mean animal testing or the usage of any kind of animal products, therefore The Body Shop is positioned as a brand that only sells natural products. The company is widely known for their body care lines, based on natural ingredients, but they provide customers with a wide offer of products designed to address a broad range of beauty problems. Regarding social media, The Body Shop uses Facebook as a method to communicate with their customers, and actually engage in conversation with them by answering every inquiry that is made.

We were positively surprised by the fact that the US page contains a tab that links to all the other local pages in the countries the brand is present. That reveals the fact that Body Shop is aware of its target audience and willing to communicate customized news for every territory they are present in.  The brand also has an active Twitter account for the US market.

L’Oreal Paris – Beauty advisor

L’Oreal is the French beauty giant, known for its slogan “because you’re worth it” and for its glamorous movie stars and models that represent the brand in global marketing campaigns.  Thanks to Michelle, we found the official account of the brand on Twitter.  The official Facebook page in the United States of the brand can be found here. L’Oreal also has an official page for the branch offices in Mexico, Canada and Italy.

L’Oreal is a company that has managed to adjust its social media strategy according to the company’s positioning. The Facebook page features news about different products of the brand, media appearances and events, as well as beauty polls. They’ve also integrated a beauty advisor who is in charge of offering solutions for different beauty problems. What the company has managed to offer users via Facebook is the L’Oreal experience but translated into the social media environment.

The company has proved it cares about its consumers, and has taken the necessary step to engage with consumers on a channel that is more appealing to them.

Avon – CSR and charity programs

Avon is a company with an important and relevant international presence on the global beauty market. Regarding social media, the company has made initial steps by setting its official Facebook page. Via this channel Avon has managed to maintain its corporate image but in the same time adjust its communication for this particular social network. Avon is a company that develops a series of CSR, charity and social problems campaigns. On their Facebook page they’ve managed to gather a community of loyal customers of the brand, willing to support the brand in its fight to eliminate these problems. Avon is a company that cares about females’ problems, and that can be easily seen by observing the communication the company has adopted on social media.

They reunited with consumers on a user friendly platform, spreading their message, and building the corporate image of a company that cares about the world it’s living in. We weren’t able to track any official account on Twitter but this might be due to the fact that the company is still considering whether it should engage on this channel.

Conclusion

Major players in the beauty industry have realized the importance of their presence on social media. Although, none of the brands mentioned above has revolutionized social media like Starbucks did, we can’t have anything but respect for brands that try to understand this new field, and develop methods of engaging with consumers.

There’s a saying that ¨beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder¨, and how companies decide to present their “beauties” on social media has become a matter of shape, not one of existence. Beauty companies definitely must have a presence on social media, but the way they decide to establish one depends on a whole process described by us in previous articles.

Facebook will launch its location feature

The social media giant has announced at the end of last week that it’s launching a feature that will allow Facebook mobile users to check-in to different places. The news initially posted by AdAge, was later confirmed by Facebook. AdAge also announced that McDonalds will be the first companyto test Facebook’s location feature in an application that allows users to check-in into their restaurants. What will this mean for the other players in the geo localization industry was discussed by us in an article here.

Diaspora – New Facebook

The level of attention the newly founded Facebook “wannabe” has benefited from has been impressive. The peak was reached after they managed to gather $100.000 in funding in just a few days. The project started and developed by 4 NYU students is just one of the many that were launched in recent months. We’re actually curious to see how all of these blooming projects are going to evolve, and if they will become a threat for the market leader, Facebook. The social media market is one that hasn’t reached maturity yet, so once people will become savvier and expectations rise regarding social media, we think it’s possible that users will opt to switch from mass market tools to more refined ones and private groups.

Formspring.me

Another topic we discussed in the office this week is the future of a social network named Formspring.me, and if it could be applied to businesses across the globe. For those of you who don’t know what Formspring.me is, or haven’t heard of it, here is a quick and short description.

Of course, a question could be raised about why use another service when you can do the exact same thing on Twitter or Facebook? These two also have the advantage that you are asking an audience that you are familiar with. The difference on Formspring.me is that you can ask and receive questions anonymously.

Taking advantage of the anonymous cover, teenagers in the US have transformed the social network in some sort of “Gossip Girl” type of website, and started posting nasty comments and embarrassing questions on each other walls. By doing a quick search on Twitter or on Facebook for the term(formspring), the quality of the questions asked and the age of the users can be easily observed.

While we were commenting on the theme, we wondered whether companies could use this platform as a way of communicating with their audiences. We assumed this for companies that work with target audiences such as the users of the social network.  Would it be a good idea for a company to expose itself to the questions of an anonymous user?

We have our opinions about the discussed themes, but we want to hear others too, so what do you think?

For companies, the benefits of knowing exactly where their potential customers are located are enormous. While in Twitter’s case, it had to grow organically, it is very likely that in the case of social networks, like Foursquare or Gowalla, companies will help them to out. The advantages they could achieve using location based social networks are far too important to let the opportunity slip away.

Since their appearance, location based social networks have been in the spotlight of all the social media scene and the hopes of the industry have been fed by the incredible growth and adoption rate this networks have accomplished in a short time. Although everyone praised the success of Foursquare or Gowalla, questions were raised about when the giant of social media, Facebook, will step into this  location game?

With the discovery of some code, and the confirmation that came afterwards from Facebook’s representatives, the answer for that question was finally offered to an anxious audience awaiting a move from the biggest social network.

What will happen next?

The Facebook announcement gave space to all kind of speculations regarding the future of location based social networks, and how the other players on the market will react, and even, if they will survive.

It’s far too early to have a clear opinion about what will happen because the Facebook product hasn’t even rolled out yet. However, some scenarios can be discussed, read on below:

Facebook will take over the whole market

Facebook has more than 100 million people using Facebook mobile. This translates into more than 100 million people who will be offered the possibility of using this feature. That is more than 100 times Foursquare’s audience. We can assume that from those 100 million more than 1 million will decide to become core users of the new feature, so this leads towards Facebook becoming the main player in a short time. There are users who might convert to Facebook’s feature just because they could benefit from a social network that allows them to enjoy a rich user experience, rather than login in to two different services. Mobile users of Facebook are focusing a lot on speed and appreciate the benefits of using an all-in-one application. Considering this scenario it is obvious that Foursquare and Gowalla don’t stand much of chance against Facebook.

The new location feature will raise another round of concerns regarding privacy issues

Facebook is already struggling with all the privacy issues raised by the Open Graph and the fact that a wide range of information about Facebook’s users is available to the whole internet by default. Although, Facebook mobile users are usually more aware and conscious of Facebook’s privacy settings, introducing the location feature might just bring another series of complaints from those protecting users’ privacy rights.

When people sign in for Foursquare they are aware of what using the service might mean in terms of privacy, or at least the majority of them. Foursquare is a new social network in which the users that have signed in so far are people actually interested in the service or avid followers of all the trends in social media. Signing in to Foursquare implies an action from the users. So the initial incentive comes from the user. The user decides who his friends are, and the service doesn’t reveal any information about the place a user has checked-in, by default.

Considering Facebook’s previous actions, it could be easily assumed that the users who will decide to use the service offered by Facebook are going to be sharing their location with all their friends on Facebook. In their attempt of funding an open web, the social network has previously shared by default other information about its users, so it would come as no surprise if the feed from those using the places tab would be redirected to Facebook feed and shared with all the users. In this case privacy issues could be raised, because what Facebook would be doing would be the exact opposite of Foursquare’s strategy. Instead of attracting users to sign in by their own will, Facebook will become “a door-to-door” vendor persuading users to use the service and make it popular among other users.

If everyone took into account these considerations we could assume that users might feel reluctant to use the new feature, and this would result in a scenario where smaller players have time to develop, while Facebook will struggle to attract users.

Foursquare and Gowalla will be niche tools, while Facebook will dominate the mass market

Part of the success that Foursquare and Gowalla benefited from was due to their efficient mechanism of determining how users sign in and use the service. Foursquare’s badges and points system gave users an incipient incentive to continue to sign in. With the help of social media marketing these companies popularity grew. What fashion-freak wouldn’t want the Marc Jacobs badge?

What mechanism Facebook will invest to attract users has yet to be seen, but another scenario we could elaborate would be the one where Facebook’s “Places” tab will become the mass market tool, while Foursquare and Gowalla will keep their faithful users that still engage with the mechanism provided by the two.

We are curios to find out how do you see this issue? Will we have one winner or many winners in the location feature battle?

Comcast is not present in the Spanish market, but this company is one of the most relevant examples of how Twitter can be used as a tool to improve customer service. As most of the companies that develop their activity in the same field, Comcast had a big problem in correctly responding to all the complaints and enquiries from their customers. Although they benefit from a powerful call centre, Comcast started to gain the reputation of a company with low customer service and an increasing number of angry and unsatisfied customers.

This situation was bound to have consequences on business activity until one man, Frank Eliason, had the idea of transforming Twitter into a customer support channel. Frank, who is now Senior Director of National Customer Service Operation, thought that it would be a good idea to introduce Twitter as a tool of their customer support service.

With a great attitude and prompt answers, Frank manages to solve problems for customers that were not solved through the call centre. While researching for this article, we found on the web several success stories related to the excellent customer service various people have received from Frank. Some of them can be found here or here.

Why was Twitter good for Comcast?

Twitter was a complementary tool for Comcast in their customer service mix. As Frank Eliason stated in an interview, they were overwhelmed with the amount of enquires their call centre was receiving, so Twitter was instantly a solution they considered.

Twitter has significantly improved the customer service provided by Comcast, and the social network brought them that and much more. Twitter gave Comcast the chance to bond with their customers. Instead of discussing with a machine that simply moves you from one operator to another, Comcast offered their customers the opportunity to speak with a real person that will solve in real time their real problems. Comcast has the the merit of knowing how to use Twitter in order to transform a weakness into strength and reduce the effect of poor client service.

What should companies consider before deciding to use Twitter for customer service?

Although Twitter has a simple functionality, experience has proven that it can be used for various purposes. If a company decides to use Twitter as a customer service tool, there are some things that should be considered before acting.

1. Monitoring tools

Every company that decides they could improve customer experience via Twitter must benefit from a monitoring tool in order to follow the mentions of the brand. The market offers plenty of paid or free options; the most important monitoring feature for a brand is represented by the keywords they consider relevant. The name of the brand is the most relevant one, but sometimes when they complain, people have the tendency of inventing “ihatebrand” hashtags or simply use an alternate version of the name of the brand. These are important considerations a brand should make to monitor efficiently the appearance of the brand on Twitter

2. Specialized personal

Considering and offering customers the possibility of using Twitter as a customer service tool should be considered calmly by the company. Time has shown that companies that rush usually fail because the person in charge of managing the account is not specialized in offering solutions or simply doesn’t know where to find them.

Clients appeal to Twitter for customer service because it’s a real-time conversation tool. They expect to receive answers in real time also. If the team that is in charge of managing the account is not familiar with new technologies, the process of the business or isn’t trained in customer service and clients relations, than the result won’t match expectations.

3. An integration of Twitter in the customer support mix

Depending on the size of a company it is important to realize that Twitter can’t be the only customer support tool. Twitter has proven its efficiency in various cases, but in very few cases Twitter can remain the only customer service channel. Twitter should be used as a supporting tool for an already developed system, and as a way to respond to a segment that is more familiar with social media technologies.  Offering Twitter as a customer support channel will appeal more to core social media users that to non-users (if they still exist!).

4. Capacity of admitting mistakes

Twitter has many benefits, but without offering a full image and access to your company, users might feel betrayed. Companies that decide to use Twitter should be willing to let consumers enter their company, as well as admitting when something was done badly. With the integration of Twitter in the customer service mix, companies should be conscious that all the information will be public, and this feature comes with strings attached. This means that once customers have access to information related to your company, any attempt of trying to hide something badly done will be punished. Twitter has many advantages, but without transparency things could take an ugly turn.

5. Crisis planning

Twitter is usually a friendly network, but sometimes the power of people is greater than imagined, and a crisis might erupt. This is why it’s important for companies to prepare a disaster plan before deciding to include Twitter as a customer support channel. Experience has proved that with planning, the consequences of a bad action on Twitter can harm a brand more than imagined. You can find more on disaster planning on this article written by our CEO, Markku Nummila.

6. Measure tools

As any other activity, Twitter as a customer service tool isn’t going to be efficient without proper measurement tools. Social media doesn’t follow the traditional measurement patterns, but it can be measured by using other indicators. If a company decides to use Twitter as a customer support channel, there are a series of key indicators it should monitor to evaluate the efficiency of using Twitter. Such indicators might be: number of complaints solved, total amount of mentions of the brand, tone of voice of tweets, customer response, percent of reduction of complaints, and other key indicators adjusted to the profile of each company.

Why integrate Twitter in your customer service mix?

Integrating Twitter in the customer service mix can bring great benefits to a business. We’re going to highlight some below:

1. Establishing a personal relation between the brand and customers

Twitter has the advantage that it’s an environment where rules aren’t so strict and boundaries are more permissive. There are some common sense rules that apply when using Twitter, but on this channel companies have the chance to establish a more informal code, and communicate with their customers on a more personal basis. By using Twitter, companies have access to more information about a user/customer. This way the person with whom the company is communicating becomes more than a serial number. Twitter offers companies the possibility of exploring more about their audience, and, therefore, to establish a closer bond with them.

2. Low cost

Low cost doesn’t mean any cost at all, but Twitter is definitely a less expensive method to assure customer service. Depending on the size and workload, costs can range from small to high amounts. A small company with a medium work load will have to invest only in training a professional or hiring one, and use free tools available on the web for the rest of activities.

An important business with a high workload will need one or maybe more dedicated persons, and a range of specialized tools in order to monitor efficiently traffic and the activity.

3. Rapid implantation

Once a plan and a strategy are developed, the implementation is an easy and rapid process. Depending on the company, implementation can last a day or more than a month. It all depends on the amount of work the system will support, and the strategic importance it has for a business.

4. Measurable results

One of the main advantages that Twitter offers is that it’s measurable. The activity on a Twitter account can be easily counted, and divided into different areas of a business depending on the indicators used. On Twitter, companies can monitor different indicators like the ones mentioned in measure tools paragraph.

Conclusion

Twitter has proved to be a key of success in the case of Comcast, and this is just one the example of the many available in the short history of social media. As stated along the article, Twitter as a customer service tool should be a decision taken with high degree of seriousness by the company. Using Twitter can be a rewarding experience, but without proper planning and strategy, things can go wrong in a matter of seconds. As all the things in the world, no reward comes without responsibility attached, but in the case of Twitter, reward is usually far more significant than the responsibility involved.

As we stated in this article about Twitter and airlines, this social network can be the key to success in certain situations. However, traditional customer service remains an important indicator for a company. The ideal situation is, in our opinion, the one in which companies consider carefully and strategically the decision of using Twitter as a customer service tool, and integrate it correctly into the whole strategy of the company.

It is generally accepted that the fashion industry invented the word “trend”, and so, fashion couldn’t be expected to miss the latest trend: social media.

High class brands have approached social media with scepticism, but they finally got involved. Burberry launched the Artofthetrench campaign along with the famous blogger Scott Schuman a.k.a. the Sartorialist.  The late, Alexander McQueen decided to broadcast an online show, and shook up the whole fashion industry. Ever since, many questions were raised about the role of fashion journalists, and what attending a show in the era of social media and bloggers actually means. Brands like Marc Jacobs even try to stay ahead of the curve and use social networks like Foursquare to promote their shops.

The largest fashion retail chains also took a stand in what regards social media, and in function of their social media strategy they got involved to a greater or lesser degree. Zara, Mango and H&M have a fan page on Facebook, and even though Zara and H&M have a greater number of fans, Mango has a pretty solid and loyal community of fans also. Mango also launched the QueMePongo By Mango website and the new Keep The Beat Blog. H&M is also experimenting with their Twitter channel that can be followed here.

How Zara fashion could use location based social networks?

Zara doesn’t do advertising. They’ve developed their business model without doing advertising, and practically proved to the world that sales and awareness are possible without investing millions of dollars in high-cost models and adverts. They assure their sales by having a great product concept and tempting their clients into visiting their shops very often. Zara is also present in basically every city of the world, so visiting a Zara shop is an easy thing to do no matter where you are. This is how Zara manages to get their clients in an average 17 times a year into their shops.

Taking into account that the number of visits is a key indicator for the fashion brand, Zara could encourage their clients to check-in, with Foursquare, in their shops. By offering wireless access or even a customized piece of clothing for each mayor of a Zara shop, an efficient tool to easily measure the number of visits could be developed, while reducing costs over the long term.

How could H&M use Foursquare?

H&M releases collections with a high frequency, and by analyzing their Facebook fan page it can be easily observed that fans are complaining about the fact that their pieces are hard to find or disappear very quickly from the shops. Most users also have problems in finding their size, especially if we are talking about really small sizes, and H&M could offer their clients a solution to this problem via Foursquare.

It could invite their clients to check in via Foursquare once a new collection is available. If every person would follow H&M on Foursquare it would be easy to know in which stores their favourite items are, so none would run the risk of finding out that their favourite piece has disappeared until they went to buy it.

How could Mango use Foursquare?

Across the world, and in Spain, Mango aims for a more exclusive positioning than H&M and Zara. They do this by practising a higher price than Zara or H&M, and collaborating with famous Hollywood stars and designers. Even though the price positioning isn’t to be compared to a luxury brand, along the years they’ve had collaborations with famous designers that assured them a spot into the premium low-cost fashion segment.

With Foursquare, Mango could develop a program to nurture their customers, and reward the most faithful ones with customize badges or other special prizes.

Conclusion

Of course, these are only possible solutions that we came across with while researching for this article. Possibilities are far wider, and we think that companies, like the ones mentioned here are going to develop innovative campaigns really soon. We are anxious to see whether the core players of the fashion industry will set the trends once again.

As we stated, last week was all about Facebook, and the impressions of their announcements continued to draw comments from different fields this week also. The main concerns revolve around two issues: privacy settings and the Open Graph.

Privacy issues

Journalists and bloggers have expressed their opinions about Facebook’s Instant Personalization, but the problem went beyond that when a group of Senators sent Mark Zuckerberg a letter asking him to better address this feature, concerned about what this could mean for users.

Although it’s hard to judge right now what the negative effects could be of the new information, shared with the implementation of the instant personalization, we do believe that Facebook could care more about explaining to average users what this system means for them. Core users of Facebook, and people involved in the social media field, already know how to disable the feature, and what this means regarding privacy issues, but we are not sure that the average user understands this issue very well or what these changes mean, or that they were even made.

Open Graph

Is a “Like” system going to replace Google’s search? We’ve read positive and negative opinions, but the consensus seems to that Facebook is heading in the direction of the answer “yes”. We are not sure whether the web will be about Facebook in the future, but it certainly won’t be so much focused on Google. We’ve read a pretty interesting argument about why Google’s search won’t be an option for users in the future. Time may be an issue, users want answers and solutions, not to spend time searching for them.

Foursquare

Foursquare, one of the hottest trends regarding social networks also got a few highlights this week. Arnold Schwarzenegger featured Fourquare on his official page, while VH1 made a partnership also with the social network and they were featured on TV. Jimmy Choo also launched a contest using Foursquare giving a whole new meaning to the term “shoehunting”.

Celebrities and other important names were the engine that drove Twitter to the success it sees now, and we are anxious to see if it will set the same path for Foursquare.

What do you think about the news you read this week? Did they make you reconsider your opinions about the future of the web?