Social Media Marketing

Why Airlines Have Suffered From Such Bad Publicity Lately

May 1, 2017 by Kenny Leave a Comment

This article is NOT to debate the merits of what took place on each airline. As information continues to surface, it changes how everyone perceives each situation.

Here are two reasons airlines suffer from such bad publicity lately:

1 – Customer Service and Perceptions

ACSI or American Consumer Satisfaction Index ranked the airline industry as having the worst customer service in 2011. It’s been near the bottom ever since.

When videos of a passenger being pulled from a United Airlines flight and a mouthy United Airlines employee taunting a male passenger came out, they quickly went viral. They were dramatic, which plays a big role. Perceptions also play a role.

It’s easy for consumers to believe an airline employee did something wrong because the perception of the airline industry and customer service is already negative. Using Google search, you can type a fragment sentence and see perceptions of just about any industry. Before I finish typing the word employees, Google’s technology guesses what I am going to type based on what others have typed into Google.

Compare the airline employee question to a Chick-fil-A example.

I fly often, speaking at conventions and spend consulting days with clients all over the country. I’ve never been dragged off a flight nor have I threatened a flight attendant. But I have experienced many snippy, miserable flight attendants and other airline employees. It is already easy to believe that an airline employee was rude. Not necessarily because it was American Airlines – because of the industry as a whole.

In my book, Marketing Battleground I referenced the United Breaks Guitars video series. The videos are funny, but that’s not the only reason they are such a hit. The perception already exists that airlines are NOT careful with your luggage.

2 – Everyone is a Journalist

Cell phones now have better videography than huge, over-the-shoulder $10,000 cameras from years ago. Video footage adds drama to a story. Hearing that a flight attendant was rude to a passenger is one thing, but seeing an employee actually taunt an angry passenger is more impactful. Video footage also has the ability to go viral faster on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and other social media.

Always act as though you are being recorded, because that might be exactly what is happening.

Final Thoughts

Learn from mistakes. American Airlines took immediate action by suspending the employee in question and did NOT blame the passenger.

Mistakes will happen. How you deal with those mistakes matters too.

Does the Online Customer Have Higher Value

December 9, 2011 by Kenny Leave a Comment

Is a customer that comes from online lead generation worth more to your business?

In a previous article I mentioned the possibility that the customer that comes from online marketing may have higher value to your business.

The customer that walks through the door, hears about you through a friend, or sees a print ad, can all have the same value. They can personally have more immediate value if their purchase is larger than the online lead turned customer. However, the value they bring over time may differ simply because of the referrals they send.

Let us take it to the extreme to illustrate a point.

There is a possibility that the customer that walks in the door does not have an internet connection at home. There is a possibility that they have internet but not a Facebook account. If they do not have a Facebook account then they do not have any Facebook friends.

There is no chance that the customer without a Facebook account can go on Facebook and “Share”, “Suggest”, “Like”, or tell all their friends how great your product or service is.

The customer that was originally a lead from Facebook definitely has a Facebook account. They may have 5 friends on Facebook or they may have 5,000. The possiblity exists and is much more likely than the person that does not even have a Facebook account.

Now imagine having 1,000 customers that ALL came from print ads or 1,000 customers that all came from Facebook ads or other Social Media. Which group is more likely to have a reach of 1 Million friends?

The way in which you get your marketing in front of a new customer may dictate their customer value to you.

Word of mouth has always been important to business and it is more important now as some customers may BLAB about your business to 5,000 people using their cell phone even before they leave your place of business.

Take This Action or Risk Going Backwards

June 11, 2011 by Kenny Leave a Comment

If everyone else is moving forward and you are not, is that not the same as them standing still and you moving backwards?

Paralysis of Analysis is defined in Wikipedia as:

Over-analyzing (or over-thinking) a situation, so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome…A person might be seeking the optimal or “perfect” solution upfront, and fear making any decision which could lead to erroneous results, when on the way to a better solution.

I often hear these excuses from business owners paralyzed when it comes to Social Media and Online Marketing.

I don’t know what to do.
I don’t have the time.
I don’t want to make a mistake.

So your answer is to do nothing?

A deer in the headlights freezes…and then it gets run over.

Take action and things start to happen. The path will become more clear as long as your moving forward. You also pickup ideas and learn things along the way. As you move forward, even if you make a mistake, you are still better off than standing still.

Create a Facebook page
Start a YouTube channel
Open a Twitter account

You don’t have to go through them all immediately. You don’t have to write 100 tweets or Facebook updates or get 10 videos ready. Just open an account and start a profile.

When you take action you may find the vault inside of your head open up and it is full of creative ideas.

Pretend you are a customer looking for a solution that your company offers. What would you do? What would you hope to find? What do you actually find when you go to Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube?

Which of your competitors seems to be doing it right?

Hire a consulting company to do research for you. Let them come to you with a detailed explanation of networks you should focus on. Research is the biggest and first step to determine the path you should take.

Warning—> If you jump in without doing any research at all, you may not make a mistake that costs you millions…but you may have to start over. As an example, one of my clients created a personal profile on Facebook and used it as a business page. That is against the rules of Facebook and it can get you kicked off. Do some research or hire someone then…TAKE ACTION.

I Don’t Have Time For Social Media

June 9, 2011 by Kenny Leave a Comment

In a previous article, I talked about Social Media overwhelm. Business owners often suffer from this and all of their Social Media gets diluted because they are unable to keep up with all the accounts or they do nothing at all.

Both situations you will often hear the business owner say,

“I don’t have time for Social Media.”

It is true it takes more of a time committment than running a television ad, a yellow pages ad, or a newspaper ad. However, it works and that is just the way it is.

Would you ever say,

“I don’t have time for customer service”

When it needs done and it is crucial to success you find a way to get it done.

One possible solution is to hire someone to do all of your Social Media for you.

Another option is to participate in your Social Media. If this is the option you choose here are some hints to find the time.

Social Media Content Creation Hint #1

Take an entire day and:

Write down rants and stories
Take pictures of happy customers, products, employees
Record short video clips-tips that could be valuable to your customers

You do not have to create content for your Social Media every day. Even if you add content via updates and tweets every day, you do not have to actually create the content each day. If you follow the bullet points above that may give you 20 Facebook updates, 60 tweets, and 5 videos.

That can last for 45 days.

Social Media Content Creation Hint #2

Uploading an update, tweet, or video only takes 60 seconds or so…it is the content creation that takes the time.

For ongoing content creation you may be pressed for time. Buy yourself a digital audio recorder and keep it on you at all times. Treat it like your wallet or purse. Anytime you have a random thought or idea, record it. Most people talk ten times faster than they type.

Plus, you can record an entire Facebook update at one stoplight.

Once you have collected a few audios, get them transcribed. Using this method alone will give you enough content for Twitter and Facebook.

Social Media Content Creation Hint #3

Using methods above and adding video content will have your competitors thinking you have found an 8th day of the week.

The recording of the video itself will take the most time but much like painting, the preparation and cleanup can take longer.

Record videos all in one day. Fix yourself up however you need to and record them all in a row. Keep a change of clothes handy so it appears that you recorded the videos on different days. Stand or sit in a few different positions at different locations so it changes up the background.

Hire someone else to do the minor editing then upload the videos one at a time.

Social Media Content Creation Hint #4

Repurpose your content.

After you have recorded a video, have it transcribed and turn it into 1 blog post, or a 3 part Facebook update, or 12 Tweets.

Please comment below and tell us which of these Social Media strategies are you already using? What are you going to use?

Social Media Dazed and Confused

June 6, 2011 by Kenny Leave a Comment

Social Media overwhelm may be costing you money.

There are two primary reasons:

You are overwhelmed and your spending money, time, and other resources. You are dedicating those resources to your Social Media as you try to manage a Facebook page , a Facebook personal profile, a YouTube channel, a Twitter account, LinkedIn, a blog, and more…
You are so overwhelmed with Social Media that you are doing nothing. You don’t have any accounts or if you do, those accounts and profiles are useless because you don’t do anything with them because you feel so overwhelmed.

If you are suffering from #1(too many accounts-not enough resources)…all accounts get diluted and it is tough to get results from any of them.

If you’re suffering from #2 (paralysis of analysis) you could be missing out on new customers and the potential for strengthening relationships with existing customers.

When one of your competitors is using Social Media to build strong relationships with their costumers they may be luring some of your customer base away.

We are at that point that customers are expecting more than just a sale. They want relationship and interaction. If you are not interacting with your customers where they already are(Facebook, blogs, etc.) and your competitors are, how long do you think it will be until your customers are going elsewhere?

The networks in social media are massive. Each person on Facebook has an average of 140 friends so 10 people have a reach of 1400 on the first level. Take that 1400 and multiply that by 140 and you have 196,000. You can see how big the networks get and it is feasibe that many of your customers are connected to your competitors customers. That is good news if you are using Social Media to your advantage and bad news if you are not.

It is important to determine why you are suffering from Social Media overwhelm? Is it because you are listening to everything that comes across your desk or in your email inbox?

Go to Amazon and type in “Social Media” and you will get 153,053 results.

Everyone has their opinion and everyone says “Open this account. Open that account. Open this account.”

The truth is you need to find someone that can give you good advice and tell you the Social Media you can focus on…what works for you and your industry based on the resources that you have. You do not have to have an account and a profile on every single one of the social media platforms that are out there. Here are some tips:

Most businesses should have a Facebook Fan Page- There are over 600 Million people on Facebook
A blog is totally in your control and should be installed as a page of your website. Connect with customers on your terms.
A YouTube channel is good for hosting videos and driving traffic back to your website or blog.
Twitter is good for continuous connecting and short, valuable messages.
LinkedIn is good if your goal is to sell B2B.

If you don’t have unlimited time or money to dedicate to all of them, then you should pick the ones that are going to work for you and your industry based on the resources you have. As you get comfortable and understand where your market is, expand.

Then you have 3 options:

Hire someone in-house to do your Social Media.
Hire someone outside to do all of your Social Media.
Hire someone from the outside to help you with your Social Media.

I believe most businesses should choose option 3. You may think as a marketing agency, we would want to do all of your Social Media because that should pay the most.

The truth is, I believe you should participate in your Social Media because nobody knows your customers better than you do. You may not have the time to do it all yourself but if you bring in an outside consultant and allow other team members to participate…you may be wildy successful.