Measuring Customer Satisfaction

So the question is simple, “Are You Measuring Customer Satisfaction?” You must ask yourself this question now. Finding out what customers want to tell you may be as simple as asking them. There is a natural tendency to want to know as much as possible about what your customers think and feel about your product.

It is no secret that companies want to hold on to their customers. After all, repeat customers are a key part of success in the business world. The general belief is that it costs companies much more money to get new clients than it does to simple keep existing customers. This is why measuring customer satisfaction is so vitally important.

If customers shop at your online store or retail store and end up unhappy, then the odds are good that they won’t be returning. You have not only lost their business, but you have to suffer the potential fallout from others that they complain to about their experience at your store. These are some of the problems that result from the lack of measuring customer satisfaction.

The bottom line is that you want your customers to be happy, and the importance of measuring customer satisfaction cannot be discounted. There are a wide variety of ways in which you can assess how pleased or displeased your clients may be.

If you run a business in which your employees interact with customers one on one, of course you can simply ask them in person. For example, restaurants frequently ask customers, “How was everything tonight?”

However, with many other types of business, including online stores, it can be trickier to find a way of measuring customer satisfaction. The good news is that there are new methods available that perfectly suit ecommerce. For example, there are now customer feedback questionnaires and satisfaction survey software that is easily integrated onto your website.

If you are running a business and not measuring customer satisfaction, you may be losing valuable profits each year. It is time to reassess and start finding a way to gauge the happiness of your clients. As a result, you can often make much needed changes to your company that result in a better functioning business.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Are You Measuring Customer Satisfaction?

The growing topic on Twitter and the Blogosphere is how Online Marketers are becoming very bitter with the increase competition in Social Media Marketing.  You may have witnessed statements like “Everyone is a Social Media Expert” or “I hate how everyone thinks they are a Social Media Marketer”

Put Away The Social Media Hatorade

There seems to be a lot of animosity going on lately but the Top Social Media Strategists in the Web 2.0 world doesn’t seem to care to be affected by this battle.

The truth of the matter is this and its quite simple really.

“Social Media Marketing is the new standard and instead of fighting it, we must embrace it or be left behind”

Embracing Change

Remember back then in the DOT.COM boom where supposedly have a Dot.com business will make you MILLIONS & MILLIONS of money for everyone!!!  Well of course we found out the hard way just because we got online does not mean it’s instant cash.  Keep in mind everyone back then was gunning for a dot.com business, it was a race more or less.  Back then, entrepreneurs were hating on the competition and wanted to be the first to win the race.  However, the race and dot.com business bubbled and simmered down and now everyone is online.

The same concept applies to this day, who cares if everyone is using Social Media Marketing tactics.  Guess what, this is starting to become the normal practice and eventually everyone will use Social Media Marketing tactics in their business.

This is Business 101 folks, instead of being paranoid and bitter about competition.  Embrace competition and find ways to improve yourself and focus on how to be successful rather than pouting and complaining because your Mother is right, “It won’t do you any good”.

So what can we do while the Marketing Revolution shifts and starts conforming the entire world to this new change?  Instead of whining about the competition lets focus on these aspects, shall we:

• Start building your online presence in full affect to get a head start from your competition who hasn’t signed up on board with Social Media Marketing yet.  We are at an advantage while most people are afraid to embrace this new change, why not start building a great gap in your head start before your competition wises up and hops on the bandwagon.

• For your current competition who use Social Media Marketing now, constantly learn and read new things on how to improve your current marketing methods,  You can never learn too much.  Also, learn from the best even if it’s your direct competitor.  Just like Microsoft and the great painters in the world, they steal great ideas, upgrades it, and make it their own.  Sometimes to be successful you have to mirror the best but make it your own.

So let’s all put away the Social Media Hatorade and re-focus our efforts on how to be successful instead of focusing on things we can’t change.  Social Media Marketing is here to stay and we can either embrace it or be left behind.  Whats your decision?

Post from: Social Media Vision

Put Away The Social Media Hatorade

Lil Wayne has a saying about why he believes he is the “Greatest Rapper Alive”

“I don’t think I’m better than anybody personally. I don’t think I’m better than anybody spiritually. I don’t think I’m better than anybody in any way or form or fashion. But as far as this rap thing, I think I am better than everybody. I’m a competitor and I hope everybody feels the same way about their craft.“

Love him or hate him there is one thing about Lil Wayne that makes a good point and that is believing you are the best in your craft will make you the best in your craft especially in competition.

Regardless of Lil Wayne saying this and self-proclaiming it, most people in the music industry will tell you that they agree with the saying. 

You know sometimes a little confidence can exuberate you to another level, just look at Mohammad Ali who repeatedly called himself the best fighter there is and it shows.

So as a business professional we have a saying as “Dress for Success” that means dress the part, act like a million bucks and be a million bucks.  Well hand-in-hand should go the saying “Be the best” Believe you are the best in your craft and become the best.

Although I may not particularly like Lil Wayne, his saying does capture my attention and I believe its a good one to go off by.

Post from: Social Media Vision

How Business Professionals Can Learn from LiL Wayne

Social Media can be time consuming

There’s an old saying that goes “Too much of a good thing can be bad for you”.  This is basically addiction.

Addiction can lead to loss of work, sleep and losing track of time.   If you are an employer, chances are that you do no wish for your employees to be engrossed in avenues other than their job when they are at work.

Let’s face the facts, Social Media can be very time consuming if you are not too careful.  Social Networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are breeding zones for social engagement and interaction. It’s quick, easy and fun. This can be very easy to get caught up in.

Many users also put a lot of time and effort in creating  a very power Social Marketing presence in their business plan.

For Self-employed individuals this many not be an issue because you have a much more flexible schedule than the corporate day job users but this can also hamper with your personal life and other high priority activities like family time that is being stripped away from.

Curiosity kills the cat

In the Web 2.0 world users sometimes have a serious condition called the “Vain User”.

The “VAIN USER” likes to constantly have reassurance and monitor themselves at all time. 

• They check to see if any one has commented on their blog or social networks.

This feeling of the need to monitor themselves can disrupt their work time and being productive.  I understand the curiosity if any one has commented on one of your remarks you made on Twitter or Facebook but do it efficiently.  Just like with any other addiction you have to make sure your habit or hobby doesn’t consume you to a point where you are losing sleep, job production and other high priorities in your life.

Below I have found some great Tools, Apps & Tips to help you use your Social Media Time more wisely.

—————————-

Tools to help use Social Media effiencently

Twitter Mail [http://twittermail.com/] – Twittermail is a highly popular sight that help reduces the “Visiting Twitters Site” addiction.  Twittermail lets you e-mail your Tweets on any e-mail account and also has the ability to receive e-mail updates on any replies you receive on Twitter.

I actually do use Twittermail quite a bit when I am work because it prevents me from seeing other users on Twitter updates which can lead me into responding to them or just getting grossly involved in viewing Tweets that can make time fly and ultimately hurt your work performance.  The added e-mail update from Twittermail also helps with your Twitter Vain status of constantly needing to know if someone has replied to you yet.  Check it out.

Brightkit / HootSuite [http://hootsuite.com/] – Brighkit was the previous name of HootSuite which not to be mistaken of Brightkite.  HootSuite is also another Twitter Favorite who even Guy Kawasaki even uses.  HootSuite is a website most notably known for the multiple account and future Tweet website.

I use Brightkit when I may not have time to Tweet lets say tomorrow and want to still get my Tweets out.  I can schedule future Tweets by picking a Date and Time and also my Tweet message.  This can become very handy when you have a busy schedule and can’t focus on Tweeting.  Finally the Multiple Account feature is great to also manage more than one Twitter account.  For example I have a business and personal account.  

Digsby [http://www.digsby.com/] – Digsby is a great Software Application for your computer that helps organize all your Instant Messages, E-mails and Social Networks in one.  Digsby has a great concept but in the beginning they did had some flaws with memory leaks and errors but the new version of Digsby is excellent and I am sure with the future version they will only improve.  If you haven’t checked out my detailed review about this App yet, check it out here.

Ping.Fm & Friend Feed [http://ping.fm/ & http://friendfeed.com/] – Ping.fm and Friendfeed ultimately helps you update all your Social Networks all at once, thus helping you reduce time in logging in different sites.

Ping.fm is a stright forward and bottom line updater for all your Social Networks focused on getting your information out to everywhere.

Friendfeed is just like Ping.fm but also focuses on what your friends are doing and discovering.

I highly suggest checking out both as they are both valuable time savers.

Mobile Text – Texting should be the lifeblood of time savers which is by far the easiest to do and can be less cumbersome if done correctly.  Updating your social networks via Text gives you the flexibility of not being engrossed with other content out there if you text on the fly.  Texting can lead to addiction still if you use Web Enabled phones like the Iphone where even though you are still texting your updates you can see your friend’s Twitter updates too just like you would normally do on a home computer, so be careful.

Tips to help use Social Media effiencently

Twitter Break – Web Strategist Jeremiah Owyang has been the biggest advocate of preaching to all about taking a Twitter Break.  Twitter is a great Micro Blog service that helps connect networking, communication and business but just like any other social network platform out there if used too much can be an unhealthy habit of addiction.

Jeremiah in his blog post here shows that sometimes you must put the “Twitter” down and step away from it all and evaluate your priorities from an outside perspective without Twitter involved.  Taking a break does not mean you will stop using Social Media entirely, it just gives you time to re-evaluate your schedule and habit and make minor tweaks if necessary.  This comes highly recommended.

Schedule – Just like with any activity you want to try to incorporate into your life you might want to develop a strict schedule you can base your hobby/habit into.  I know some Twitter users won’t Tweet during work and only Tweet at night from 5-6pm.  Others have been known to only Tweet on the Weekends and others only check their Facebook profiles on Mondays, whatever your preference may be just make sure to stick with your scheduled plan.  The moment you start getting sloppy and taking over your normal schedule is the moment you take the Twitter Break step and re-evaluate.

Priortize – Now to put all the pieces together you have to come up with a game-plan in finding out your highest priorities and working your Social Media time around this, you don’t want to make Social Media your utmost priority when it really isn’t. For instance most users say that “Family comes first” and that’s great you should have time devoted to your family activities and never make Social Media take away from your family time.  Others may be work and that’s fine too never get too involved in Social Media where it prevents you from making your living and paying your bills, if you can’t pay your bills then how can you use Social Media if you can’t get on the net?

In conclusion whether you need to take a Twitter Break, Re-Schedule or Re-Prioritize, do what you got to do in order to have a healthy Social Media habit.  Social Media is great and should not treated like a bad thing but as with anything that consumes you too much or overpowers you, it can be an unhealthy habit.  Use your time wisely and Have fun!!

Post from: Social Media Vision

Being Productive In Social Media and Using Time Wisely

“Surrounding Yourself With Successful People” should be a familiar saying in the business world of successful entrepreneurs.  This goal is built up surrounding yourself with positive energy, wisdom and influences.  You learn from the best who are successful and you mimic or reflect that success when you position yourself in with them.

Whether you are trying to learn about Social Media, running your own business and just want to expand your network; Here are 7 strategies to help get you started.

1.)  Meetups

Meetup is the world’s largest network of local groups. Meetup makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities.

Meetups are a great way to find “LOCAL” successful people in your area.  This is a great change of pace of always being in celebrity awe online, now you can meet the true local successful people in your area through Meetups.

Many Twitter users are incorporating Tweetups in which its a meetup for Twitter users.

2.)  Join Groups/Associations

This may sound like common sense but people tend to join the wrong groups or don’t even join in the first place.

Join groups that provide value in your niche and show highly updated activities within the groups.  If your looking to connect with other Social Media experts, you would want to find groups with active members and are committed in helping other members.

By joining effective groups, you are gaining exposure and wisdom with other successful people in your group.  This will allow you to see what the experts are up to and what top new stories are being published right on your social network.

If you don’t know where to begin, start with the top with the most active members.

• Facebook Social Media Top Groups

Social Media Measurement

Social Media Marketing Mastermind

PRISM – The Secret Social Media Alliance

• LinkedIn Social Media Top Groups

Pro Marketers – For Marketing Professionals

Social Media Marketing

Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo

3.) Friend/Fan

Follow the top experts in your niche on the top social media sites out there.  It’s ok if they don’t follow you back or even engage conversations with you personally.  The point is to add these experts into your arsenal.   This is like a blogroll where people can view which powerhouse experts are associated with you providing you with more authority.

Go ahead and friend the experts on Digg, Myspace, Facebook & LinkedIN and Follow on Twitter.  It doesn’t matter if they friend or follow back, the point is that you added them to your knowledge rack and branded yourself with a power presence in your niche or field.

Who would you think has more authority as a Lawyer on Social Media, a user who has just personal friends and family or a user who has the top 50 Lawyers in the US along with personal and family friends?

Perception is key.

4.)  Subscribe to RSS Feeds

If you don’t know what a RSS feed is yet, I suggest you do so.  A RSS feed will replace your over abundance favorite websites and e-mail subscriptions.

Start subscribing to as many top expert’s sites and blogs out there in your niche.  The beautiful thing about RSS readers is that you can add many sites/blogs without sacrificing organization and value.

Get your dose of your updated daily wisdom in your niche with beautiful top stories of experts in your area. Below are sites to help get your started in searching for experts and successful people in your field to follow

http://alltop.com/ – Has great categories to help you find the top expert bloggers in that area.

http://popurls.com/ - Another great Buzz Aggregator

http://blogsearch.google.com/ – Google only uploads links in the blog search that have great value and authority.  An excellent place to find niches within the first 10 results.

Find a top successful blogger in your niche find out who’s on his blogroll and follow those people.

5.)  Build a comment community

Commenting on other blogs in your niche is not only a good way to build SEO backlinks and Google pagerank but is also a vital role in networking with your niche blogger community.

When you focus on your niche, for example Social Media and you just comment on the top Social Media blogs, you are gaining exposure, authority and building a great presence for new associates and friends that will come out of commenting on blogs.

This can go hand in hand with your RSS reader where you would have all your all star RSS feeds in your niche and just remember to comment as much as you can to start building that presence and surrounding yourself in successful environments.

6.)  Chat

Utilize the Chat tools like Instant Messenger, Ustream and Hashtag chats to find and follow some amazing people in your niches.

The most common rule in Social Media is to always have your contact information displayed so you can engage and connect effectively. Displaying your IM screen names on Social Sites can help you connect with some successful players in your field.

A good tip in how to become a Power User on Twitter is to actively engage the top Digg users via instant messenger.  IMs are fast and easy access to get advice and start building a great relationship with the top experts.

Another great method is to find Ustreams and like Vidcasts that are going on within your niche.  A great way to start is finding when the next big vidcast will begin on Social Networks like Facebook, Myspace or Twitter.

Vidcasts are great because not only you can really kick it up a notch in the engagement level but once again show your presence in building a stronger community with the top experts in your field.

Finally #Hashtag chats are found on Twitter.  These chats are formed on Twitter and are engaged on Twitter.  Once you determine which #hashtag chat to join, go to the Twitter search page http://search.twitter.com/ and start tracking the #hashtag in the timeline.  These are becoming more and more popular because anyone can join the fun at anytime.

7.)  Conferences/Shows, Seminars & Barcamps

This is no secret, the most active, enthusiastic and successful people in their niche follow shows, seminar and Barcamps to gain more knowledge and networking exposure.  The weakest links will not devote their time to join these events and this is a great avenue to find your successful associations.

Barcamps are community content driven workshops.   These organizations are largely formed on the web and exposed mainly in Social Media.  This is the underground hype you may not find out on the streets but only in web 2.0.

You don’t have to leave your house to join these events you can join Web conference calls as well.  Web conferences are excellent resources for events on the fly and ease of accessibility.

Focus

The secret of success is focusing on goals and visions of success.  Surround yourself with successful people to help influence and inspire you on this path of success.

Post from: Social Media Vision

7 Ways To Surround Yourself With Successful People In Social Media

Guest Blogger Tina Merritt

Tina is a good friend of mine who is a Real Estate Agent & Internet Marketing Trainer for Long & Foster Realtors, Founder of Wolkia a consulting company for Real Estate Agents embracing Technology, Activerain Blogger, Awesome Mother & a Virginia Tech Hokies fan.

I was honored to have her guest blog on my post with this re-blog below on Social Network Friendships.  Enjoy!

It seems every site nowadays gives you the opportunity to follow “friends”.

So, what type of “friends” are there?  Let’s take a look….

1. True friends.  People you personally know.  People you talk to at least once per month.  The people who probably know way too much about you.  The people who you would have to pay to be silent if you ever decided to run for public office.

2.  Business Associates.  Colleagues you do business with on a regular basis.  Maybe you work in the same office.  Maybe they have done your loans/home inspections/closings for the past 5 years.  People who know you personally, but probably don’t REALLY know you.

3.  Clients.  Past, present, future.  You handled a business transaction for them 3 years ago, haven’t talked to them since – but that doesn’t mean they don’t like you.

4.  Former classmates.  Gary the Geek, Popular Priscilla, Doug the Druggie, Wanda the Weirdo….you know what I mean.  The old boyfriend who is now married with 3 kids or your best friend from 7th grade.

5.  Social Networking friends.  This gets tricky.  People you have never met face to face but have watched on YouTube, read their blogs, subscribed to their feed, etc.  People you feel like you know – though you have never personally met.

6.  Acquaintances.  People you have heard of, or they have heard of you – though you really do not know much about them.

7.  Circle of Sphere.  People who know people you know.  You may or may not ever get to actually know them.

8.  Strangers.  The friend request you get that you accept and the person is some guy who builds skateboards out of his garage in Brazil.  You have absolutely nothing in common….and probably never will.

When deciding who to “friend”, keep this in mind…..what is the purpose of the site you are on and who are you trying to connect with?  Very often, your “friends” will take a look at the others you have “befriended”.  Be careful here….if you are using Facebook for business, do you want Boobalicious Brenda or Boozing Bernie to show up in your friend feed? Also, periodically check out your “friends” – you may be surprised what their new profile picture looks like and how it can reflect back on you.

Tina in Virginia

Post from: Social Media Vision

Boobalicious Brenda – Who Are Your 8 Types Of Online Friends ?

Twitter and Facebook Turf Wars 

For about 3 weeks Facebook and Twitter danced around ideas of a possible merge or buyout.  All those were soon reported dead and finished by All Things Digital in their article.

Facebook was offering 500 million dollars only in shares which Twitter thought was inflated and a misrepresentation of Twitter’s full potential.

So why the Hype?

Well according to All Things Digital “some sources at Facebook said Zuckerberg was becoming frustrated by the buzz Twitter was getting–a market that should have been dominated by Facebook”

When a company shows Buzz and Interest from consumers of course the major companies are going to show interest.  Nobody really likes someone stepping into their turf especially when the challenger is such an enigma to the online world that is picking up popularity fast.

Twitter is Revenue Less

Twitter relies mainly on Investors and start up funders and has no ads on the service yet.  Although Twitter does speak of future revenue techniques nothing is confirmed so far.

So what happens if the Twitter is offered to Facebook?  According to Facebook executives, Facebook might have to deal with huge text/sms fees–up to $75 million annually.

Facebook Alternative

Already the open Facebooks Applications out there has already developed a Twitter application here.

This application feeds off your Twitter updates and updates your Facebook status on every Tweet.  This application is not the official implementation of Twitter but is a good alternative so far to feed your hybrid combination urge so far.

When you think about it Facebook’s main goal is to really take over Twitter’s turf and audience and therefore clinching a victory over Myspace.  Myspace is a tough opponent to beat with already an established user base and the famous Myspace Music audience, it only makes sense that Facebook go after Twitter’s user base.

Twitter wants to wait

The main reason why Twitter didn’t sell is because quite simply they just want to wait and they don’t know if they want to sell now or even ever, there are too many challenges ahead.

Will we see this battle rise once again where Facebook feels threatened? Or will we see another competitor like Myspace jump on the Twitter bandwagon?  It will be very interesting to see.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Twitter and Facebook Turf Wars

Myspace and Facebook and Twitter Oh My!

We live in the day in age of “Whats the next hottest thing to hit the web” its surprising that almost 2 decades ago there was no such phrase.

With the unstable economy we now face and the tough times we run into, we are inclined to find ways to help increase our marketing and boost our exposure in business.

From Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Social Media, Social Marketing, Social Networking, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Blogging,Podcasts, Video Marketing, Wikis,Forums,Classifieds, Single Site Websites….Ok you get the idea.

The whole concept of keeping up is a work in itself and not to mention can cause dizziness and nausea

So the Golden Question is … ” What works” and “Which one should I do?”
Expensive Marketing

The boot camp of marketing and branding in the real world was no small picnic before the age of computers.

A rough game plan is outlined below:

• Marketing consisted of big bucks to Newspaper Ads, Radio Ads, TV Ads, Magazine Ads, you name it, there was no cheap way of advertising to what was “perceived” as the must advertise avenues. This costs Money and tons of it to get your return of investment.

• You wanted exposure, you hit the streets, talking to everyone and anyone, getting your name out there,because lets face it there was no such thing as a worldwide connection resource built on data and Ips at your disposal at the time, guess what this costs Money too. Gas, Air travel, flyers, signs etc….

• You wanted to join a networking group, wanted to sponsor a local team, wanted to have your ideas/thoughts exposed on print media….Great!!, it costs Money

Take a look at the bolded words above, they all cost “Money”

The Answer to “What Works?”

To answer the question, “What Works?” the answer is…..”EVERYTHING”

Yes, many of the online presence websites out there is “Free” and what is the old saying “Exposure is Exposure and nothing beats free exposure”

We are so privileged that most consumers are hooked up online now, that getting your name out there in the cyberworld is gold.

Think about it, so what if you signed up to a million sites and have created a profile or that you advertised millions of ads on craigslist.

What have you lost? Time maybe but what have you gained from getting your name out there to those million websites?

FREE Exposure, you can’t beat that.

Which one should I do?

Everyone out there usually has 2 responses to the many of sites/services out there.  Success and No luck.

Think about it, has every real world marketing worked for you 100% of the time as well? Has every colleague you known all had the same success stories from every marketing out there?

You betcha bottom dollar that every marketing has different results for everyone.

So here’s my concept, what does it hurt, to throw as much about yourself out there in the online world and see’s what sticks, What could it hurt?

The Verdict

So the moral of the story ladies and gentleman, don’t worry about what works and deciding which one to take a test drive in.

Dive right in to this wonderful free world of online presence, you will only be helping your exposure more regardless if you spend time on it or not, you signed up, you posted your profile and now your presence is added more to your portfolio.

Last but not least, Have fun, Find a niche site you like, there are many addictive tweeters out there, myspace fans, Facebook heads…go find your own selfish pleasure in these sites and make it your own.

Post from: Social Media Vision

Which Social Media Marketing Works Best?

In the real world we may be Shy, Insecure and Nervous when meeting people for the first time or people we barely know.  Now granted some people are born with the ability of the Social Butterfly, but the rest of us are normal and have uneasy emotions about connecting with people in real life.

The telephone is a step up in coming out of our shell and comfort zone.  With the telephone all we have to rely on is our voice but still people are very terrified in talking on the phone.

Social Media breaks all barriers and has proven to be the most effective way to connect with someone without worrying about your insecurity and other emotions that may have prevent you from engaging someone new.

Through Facebook: You get a chance to connect with old classmates and everyone in your company.  It’s as easy as requesting to be a friend through association of going to the same school or same workplace.  

You shouldn’t be afraid if someone rejects your request because most of the time the other party will accept the request because of the common association you have with them.

If your business model is to find creative ways to break through your client base, my suggestion would be to dive into Social Media from the start and go break those conversation barriers!

What do you think?

Post from: Social Media Vision

Social Media Marketing breaks barriers in conversations