Product Reviews With a Transparent, Social Media Twist

 

About six weeks ago I received an email from Klout asking me if I was interested in receiving some free make up products from a big name brand. I was confused to say the least. I couldn't understand how they got my name and contact information until I remembered. I had voluntarily signed up on the Klout web site.

I remember seeing people post their tweets from the Klout web site. These tweets included a "Klout" score or rather showed what their ranking is when it comes to influence among their tweeps. While I was signing up to see what my influence was, Klout had another purpose. Klout's clients are companies or businesses who want to get their products or services in the hands of influential people online. There are a number of factors they review such as true reach, amplification, engagement and more. At my low Klout score of 41 out of a 100, I'm still a little stumped why they approached me but they did.

After I read through the first email from Klout, I decided to experiment and agreed to reviewing the CoverGirl products. After all, I do love my makeup! I also thought it would be interesting to see how Klout implements the process of soliciting reviews and subsequent policies requiring disclosures. I was pleasantly surprised.

Each email clearly stated that there were no expectations. I could simply enjoy the product and not say another word. Or, if I did talk about it I should include this link: http://cmp.ly/2 The tone of the emails was engaging, personal and lighthearted. I was definitely intrigued.

And of course I wrote a full review of the make up on my personal blog, you can read it here.

What do you think of their approach to product and service reviews? Does it make you uncomfortable? Do you think it's OK to do as long as people abide by full disclosure? Will the social media sphere accept or reject this approach? I look forward to your opinions.

In the meantime, I'll keep using my CoverGirl lip gloss and eye shadow. I'm a woman, I can't help it!

Social Media Listening

 

I had a recent experience via social media that is a must-share. Last week online, I was searching for the next pair of red shoes. Finding red shoes can sometimes be a little bit of a challenge for me. The heel height cannot be too high or too low. They need to be a size 10 (big flippers yes I know). And, finding the right shade of red is imperative.

Of course one of my online shoe shopping behaviors is to peruse what's available at Zappos. I did find a pair that fit all of my criteria. I was in love. This dazzling pair of shoes included straps and gems -- a winning combination. So I tweeted about it, "Please tell me these shoes qualify as red shoes." And included a link to the shoes but did not identify @zappos in the post. 

As tweeps comments came flying back at me via twitter, I quickly made my purchase. The time of this order was after 9 p.m. Wednesday night. In addition, the online @zappos customer service person that night also engaged in conversation with me. I'm assuming they are doing broad searches on Twitter for anyone talking about shoes and stumbled upon my tweet. 

Then the @zappos customer service representative also pointed out to me that the name of the shoes is "Lisa." Yes, it was a match made in shoe heaven. 

But, that's not where the story ends. The next day I got home from work around 3 p.m. Guess what was waiting for me on the kitchen counter. My precious, dazzling shoes. Zappos went above and beyond from beginning to end of my purchase. Think about how well run their processes have to be to be able to deliver those shoes by the next day. 24 hours had not even passed. I'm not even sure it was 15 hours. 

The lesson here? Make sure you are listening on social media as much as you are participating in the conversation. And ... make sure you have the capabilities and processes set up on the back end to wow your customers.

Does the story end there? Absolutely not. Because now I have written this blog post and I'm going to share this experience online. Social media can really be the gift that keeps on giving. Kudos Zappos. You rocked my red shoes world.

Google Alert: Bing falls short on content and public relations

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of weeks ago I tweeted that I was only going to use Bing as my search engine tool of choice for the next five days. As a result of my experiment, this blogpost will be short.

I did my best to break my Google habit but, wow, is that hard. Every gadget I own is set up to naturally access Google. Funny enough, I found myself Googling Bing to get to their homepage. 

Available Wisconsin news was also very limited. Only news generated out of Milwaukee or the Journal-Sentinel came up in searches. I know for a fact we generate quite a bit more news from around the state so I was surpised at the lackluster search results.

Many in my social media circles had plenty of opinions as I set forth in my non-scientific experiment. The majority sang high praises for the map offerings. Which I admit are pretty cool. But, my life requires a bit more than beautiful maps. I need content at my fingertips--quick! 

Another interesting thing that I became aware of during my five-day odyssey? Bing has no credibility. Because I don't hear anything about it since it launched, there's no social media chatter ... nothing. Which equates to little if any credibility and that lead me to doubting my search results. And then wanting to double check my searches with a comparison of Google's results.

Google searches are a great reminder that content is truly king when it comes to the Internet. Forget the imagery, bring on the content.

My observations are also a good lesson for any company: Don't forget the power of generating continuous buzz --especially when you are launching a new service or product. But you better have the product or service to back up the buzz.

 

 

5 tips for successful live event tweeting

Guest Blog Post By: Shane Arman

I consider myself a multi-tasker, but I can also be easily distracted. These realizations became clear after I attended the PR+SM Summit April 8 at Marquette University.

 

Having brought my laptop, I tweeted throughout the event and in the process learned how exciting participation in that dialogue can be. From my observations and conversations, here are my tips for successful live event tweeting:

 

1. Make your tweets relevant and understandable: Frame your tweets so that followers who aren’t at the event can still understand and benefit from your updates. This goes back to knowing your audience.

 

2. Diversify the type of updates: Don’t simply repeat everything a speaker is saying, word-for-word or constantly retweet. Instead, move the conversation forward by rephrasing what the speaker says or adding a fresh viewpoint. Remember that you want to spark a two-way dialogue, and unique viewpoints get people talking.

 

3. Avoid update overload: For your sake and your audiences’ don’t update every 30 seconds. Finding a balance can be difficult but if you stop actively listening to the speaker you should take a break. A few times throughout the PR+SM Summit, I found myself not listening and just browsing Twitter streams. I had to stop and remember why I came to the event in the first place.

 

4. Use correct formats: Include conference designated hashtags and try to find the speakers on Twitter and mention them in your updates. Speakers will appreciate the comments and it shows you made the extra effort to include them in the conversation.

 

5. Take time to decompress: After the event, spend time reviewing the hashtag stream and follow fellow attendees to start conversations and build relationships. Conferences often feature subject-matter experts as speakers, so take advantage of your first-hand insight by blogging or tweeting about their presentation.

 

With these tips on the table, it’s critically important to understand that you’re speaking to the audience and you are the audience. I had a chance to speak with Vice President of Communications at IBM Timothy Blair (keynote speaker at PR+SM Summit) about his thoughts on the backchannel, the live twitter conversation happening during his keynote.

 

Timothy seemed to have mixed feelings about the constant activity and he said it was sort of odd to look out and see many heads buried in their phones or laptops. He caught himself looking back at the conversation a few times, but said he lost his train of thought when he did. In any case, I’m sure he went back and looked at the Twitter conversations later.

What are your thoughts on monitoring the backchannel at conferences? Any tips for live event tweeting that I didn’t mention?

Shane Arman (armans84@uwosh.edu) is a senior at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh majoring in public relations and graduating in May. He maintains his own career development blog, on the PR path (http://ontheprpath.blogspot.com) and can be found on Twitter @ShaneArman.

The Role of Social Media in Disaster Communications

Tommy and I give some thought to how social media can play a role in communicating with loved ones when disaster strikes. Sitting at Red Shoes PR chatting it up we decided everyone needs to think beyond phones for communication needs.

Red Shoes Speaks No. 22 Social Media Role in Disaster Communications from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

 My experience with the iPad = iheaven

I thought I would wait a couple of weeks after the release of the iPad to actually get my own. I knew i wanted it (bad) but I thought it made sense to read more review before actually taking the leap myself. Well, I just couldn't contain my excitement. On April 3, 2010 I was one of the people standing in line at the Appleton BestBuy to purchase the iPad the minute they opened. Part of the excitement about buying a revolutionary product like this is the standing outside of the big box retailer waiting and hoping to be one of the first luckily people to get your hands on such an amazing device. So what's all the hype about? And why is the iPad so amazing?

 I firmly believe the iPad will change the way we work and communicate. I wrote this entire blog entry sitting on a plane using the on screen keyboard, which despite some negative reviews is pretty easy to use. I can feel that typing will get easier to use as my fingers get used to the keyboard. So back to what makes this product so remarkable...

1) Travel: I fundamentally believe this will revolutionize technology and the obstacles around traveling. I can see traveling with just my iPad and my Blackberry in the future rather than my cell phone and my MacBook Pro which is quite large and heavy. The iPad can't quite slip into your back pocket like the iPhone but that's also a large part of its beauty, it's not as small as the iPhone and feels more like a personal computer rather a phone. 

2) There's an app for that: apps are the future and the iPad will have many apps as more people embrace this new technology. There are apps for almost anything you could want. There are business apps that help you work harder and stay connected. There are personal apps that allow you to play games and download your favorite media. There are also apps that enable learning and can help children with homework or learning a new language.

3) Connectivity: as more and more people rely on social media to keep them connected, the iPad will offer a level of connectivity that mobile devices just cannot at this point. There are platforms for Twitter and Facebook with many more to come.

4) Gaming: From some of the first reviews I have seen, the iPad will give all other gaming devices a run for their money. Who wouldn't choose one, light-weight device that allows you to surf the Web, update your social networks, download ebooks/media and download apps? 

 There are many more reasons on why this new device will revolutionize technology and the biggest one in my opinion is that it will change how people work and allow them to easily work/stay connected anywhere. What are your thoughts on the iPad? What does the future of technology look like?       

SlideShare Presentation: Social Media for Communicators

The UW-Oshkosh PRSSA chapter invited Jess Dennis and Karen Buckoski in to speak about social media and the impact it is having on the public relation industry. Here is the presentation that was given.

Red Shoes Speak No. 18 FourSquare & Geo Location Tools

Red Shoes Speaks No. 18 FourSquare & Geo Location Tools from Jessica Dennis on Vimeo.

Quick and Dirty How-To Guide on Twitter

#SXSW with @JessDennis and @lisaredshoespr

Day two of the conference down in Austin, Texas. I have to admit my love affair with Texas continues and in particular, Austin. It's been an intense two days of learning but we wanted to get down a few thoughts on some social media highlights to share. Here's a list to ponder:

 1) Put some flexibility back into that rigid social media plan. It's all about experimenting and seeing what your customers respond to.

2) Watch out desk top computers ... you are on your way out. Mobile technology is coming up right behind you and poised to take over.

3)  Keep an eye on that Backchannel... What's that you say? That's the conversation taking place online while you are up there speaking. Do you respond? Do you acknowledge the backchannel conversation? Presenters need to monitor and respond in real time.

4) It's no longer acceptable to say you don't know the regulations of social media. It's come a long way baby and it's time to read up on FTC regulations.

5)  Privacy is not dead. People care about it more than ever. Privacy is about having control over information so make sure you offer opt-in/opt out. And don't mess with people's perceptions of privacy.