Archive for category social media
4^2 – Foursquare
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, social media on August 17, 2011
I have been joining Foursquare a few times in my career in digital. I joined it, quit it, joined it and quit it again. I didn’t want anyone to know where I was, particularly if I left home.
However, not too long ago, I finally joined for good. Joining for good meant for me to be part of the Foursquare community. I tried to get as many mayorships as possible in as little time as possible.
In my 64 days I checked into over 400 venues. I managed to gain 11 badges and 9 mayorships. Most of them are my regular train stations and of course home and work. So I am not sure how successful I am.
In the UK you find that only a few shops offer promotions, so the reason to join Foursquare is more about “see and being seen” and showing off where you are. This could be “dining at the Ritz” for instance or “checking in at the Charlotte Street Hotel”. I haven’t found use of meeting people using it yet, and I haven’t used any promotions yet.
So as a conclusion after using it for as short as 2 months, I think it is a nice game. Something that is fun to do, and potentially has an attraction particularly if you are in an environment and within a community where people use it a lot.
As a friend suggested, in the US this has a more relevant use as almost every shop is using it for promotions and hence it is more useful and commercially viable.
So until I either live in the US or Foursquare offers more promotions, e.g. pairing up with Groupon, I think I might be a little less active than I was.
Location Based Services (LBS) is still on the raise, and having the option to not share a check in, makes it a lot more attractive and safe too. However, I just cannot see the full benefit yet.
Long Live/Life Social Media
Posted by Volker in personal, social media on August 3, 2011
Will social media make us live forever?
Another fascinating TED Talk.
Google+
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, social media on July 18, 2011
It has been a few weeks since I joined Google+ or Google Plus. Do I like it?
Yes and No. I am a big advocate of Google and Google Clouds. I have used their Picasa web album for many years, and the document suite for quite a few years too. I had a Google profile, know how log on to it and find out which YouTube videos I watched 3 years ago at 2 am on a Saturday night, and generally speaking my life is manifested in gmail and Google Calendar.
Now, when I got the invite to Google+, and I still have invites if you like one, I logged on with my Google credentials. My profile picture was there, my Google profile became my “about me” page and all I needed to do is filling circles.
Personally, I like the idea of Google’s circles. Instead of compiling lists of different visibility on Facebook, I just drag and drop my friends into these friendly shapes. It makes is easier.
Things I haven’t figured out yet is why some people add me that I don’t know. Is that like following someone on Twitter? I follow people like Matt Cutts but would he put me into a circle? Probably not. So it combines my circle of friends with my followers on Twitter. A “one size fits all solution”?
Then I haven’t figured out yet how to sync it with Twitter to make my life easier. However, having Google+ on your Android helps you upload any picture from your mobile directly to Picasa. Invisible to everyone, and a good backup solution.
Overall it combines a lot of useful things. It gives me a platform for my Google online account. Now the only thing that is missing is the collaboration and instant messaging that Google Wave promised, but maybe that feature will come back on top of Google Talk and some VOIP service.
I wouldn’t be suprised. Then again, I haven’t really tried the “hangout” yet, so I am still exploring.
Google+ has hit it off with users….
Posted by Volker in social media on July 5, 2011
Google+ has hit it off with users the world over who wanted to get the latest slice of technology on hands. There is a delirious response to the search giant’s newest social networking service, which is hyped by many to deal a death blow…
The international business times published an article on Google+ with some quotes, including mine 
You can read the full article here.
Socially public
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, social media on June 21, 2011
Now this post was triggered by Claire at the iMedia summit in Brighton. Her, and also John, were speaking about connections made through social media.
It is difficult to think where I best start, and what I really want to say. I was supposed to launch the social media unit of an agency back in 2009. It never happened but it gives me a certain authority to speak about social media. I also managed to get a corporate account up to 1,000 followers within 3 weeks. However, of course I never ran a social media campaign, or did I?
I have my blog. My blog links to Facebook and to Twitter. Twitter links to Linkedin, and my Linkedin profile of course has a link to my blog. Anyone searching for my name will find me, and find out what I do and where I am. The latter thanks to Foursquare which I recently joined (for good).
Now what is my reach? Just short of 1,200 followers on Twitter, over 2,000 connections on Linkedin, and about 160 friends on Facebook. With the latter I am very selective as I am happy to speak very openly about my feelings there which I wouldn’t do on any of the other sites. That is where I draw a fine line between personal and public social life.
But can there be a personal social life? I start to disbelieve that to be honest. I share my life, and I don’t mind. I am happy for John Smith to know that I just checked in at Victoria Station on my way home or that I am at work. He can read my blog and find out how much I love my kids and wife. And I am happy to share my feelings, what I believe is special and what I have done all week. Not many people are interested, but more so my clients enjoy reading my blog. A client said the other day “you are on my Google reader”: I thought that was a compliment.
In our industry, digital and online marketing, we are not client and seller, we are friends with the same passion. Most of us anyway. It is about opportunities, creating value and not being one in a million. We share our lives without being shy about what we think. This industry is open, we share!
However, there is a small percentage of my life I prefer not to share. If my wife is ill, when my dog dies or when I look for a new job. No one’s business really. How bad would it be for me to share on Twitter that I need a new job before my employer finds out. Or for me to tell the world that a close friend died whilst I just have to keep up morale in a client pitch.
This is, luckily I suppose, the minority of my experiences. Besides I am happy in my job, I don’t have too many “problems” that I don’t want to share.
Hence for me the answer to the question whether you might want to have different profiles for a “work twitter” or a “personal twitter” is NO. You are one personality, you are one person. You are who you are, and of course, even Google has a profile of me.
So for me being engaged in social media, writing a blog and being active in and for our industry, I am happy to share. Twitter is me, my blog is about me, and Facebook is my private little online space reserved for closest friends.
I love it. A mini celebrity, somehow. Don’t you think? 
Ocado @ocadouk
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, customer service, personal, social media on June 18, 2011
I was sold to Ocado. The ex investment bankers that gave up their job to improve the world. Right….
It says on their website:
“We believe that you should be able to enjoy first-class service without having to pay more for your shopping.
[...] the same outstanding quality, range of choice and service you’d expect in your favourite supermarket.
We bend over backwards to make our service extra-special, and you’ll quickly spot lots of thoughtful touches, like colour-coded delivery bags, text message delivery reminders and drivers that bring your shopping right to your kitchen table.”
Now we started shopping with Ocado about 8 weeks ago. Once I complained about the freshness but I believe I was wrong. Happens. One of our first deliveries was late but the driver called saying he will be there shortly. I was impressed. From the first moment I dealt with Ocado, things seem to be right. I got an i-calendar invite, so my delivery slot was added straight to my calendar.
About 2 weeks ago we didn’t get all the ordered articles. I tried phoning their hotline but no one answered. I tried a different number and it was dead. My subsequent email explaining we didn’t get two items and I would like to have a call was ignored. Not the items, e.g. I got a refund, but that I wanted to speak to someone.
Now, being a great social media geek, I thought I go on Twitter – no response. Not even when I re-tweeted other people that were unhappy.
One off, things happen. Or do they?
Last night our delivery was due between 8 and 9 pm. No call, no text message, no email. So at 9:15 I called the customer service. The line dropped 3 times until I got through. A lovely chap said very apologetic “the driver should have called you”. The driver then said “sorry, someone should have told you”.
Now that doesn’t help. You arrange diner and baby duties around your delivery time. It is Friday night and you don’t want to wait up for your shopping.
They could clearly track the van from the customer service line but they couldn’t let customers know they are running an hour late? Why not sending everyone a text message every twenty minutes once the delivery slot has passed to make people aware. Nothing like waiting for your groceries, particularly if you had diner guests (which I luckily didn’t).
I was hoping for an apology, or a follow up this morning. But nothing. I went on Twitter instead:
You can do your own search on Twitter for “ocadouk”. Or just “ocado” if you like. For a company that “bends backwards” and excels in customer service, there is no reply, word or statement on Twitter. Only mention is the bike ride some members do this weekend…
My wish is that from now on I get what I pay for: a company that let’s you know if they are running late and have all the groceries you ask for.
We are all human, we all make mistakes. But if I go out to the public with a bold statement that I deliver best customer service, and then I don’t, that is bad. Ignoring customer comments, probably just adds to it.
DM me if you like. I am not having much capacity at the moment, but maybe I should run a workshop on social media and customer service with you guys
Looking forward to a comment or call. Whichever you like!
See you next week, hopefully in time with all the food
Inbound Marketing for SMEs
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, SEM, social media on November 27, 2009
I wrote a lot about inbound marketingg before. Mainly for start ups and SMEs in London.
Most of the stuff is applied from the gurus in the field: the guys from Hubspot!
As part of my consulting offer, I offer advice for SMEs on how to effectively use social media, search marketing and “inbound marketing” as a tool to succeed in their business ventures. A strategy I am using at work too. Whilst I won’t take this mainstream and will always look into being full time employed with my main job.
Here is the latest slideshare presentation on inbound marketing I put together:
Have a great weekend.
Volker
Local Social Summit London
Posted by Volker in SEM, social media on November 4, 2009
Hello,
Yesterday I spent all day at the Local Social Summit 2009 in London. What a fantastic event with good input and many new thoughts.
One of the mayor discussions around local social was how you can integrate local and social in real time. Real time because everyone is speaking about Twitter and its real time search at the moment. However, we concluded that most SMEs don’t necessarily tap into the potential of social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook. Mobile Marketing would have been a good solution for local businesses as I mentioned in my business idea posts a few weeks ago.
However, the problem I see is the attempt of integrating three factors into one for local search:
a) Local Search – this is important and there are a few very good portals that allow for local advertisers to be found and promote their services online. I believe a figure that was mentioned is around £5bn advertisement budget amongst all SMEs. Hence definitely a huge untapped potential. Google could encourage the use of Adwords but so far little local shops have tried to integrate paid search.
b) Social Media – the use of Twitter, Facebook, blogs or forums for local businesses is not as common, and most business owners do not think digital yet in order to promote their services. Hence it is a slow process to get your local butcher to tweet about the latest fresh sausages that are made or having a fan page on Facebook. But it will come. I see the use of Mobile Marketing much stronger, to advertise for instance the latest offers directly to the consumer whilst s/he is in town. How good would it be to get a short message or a tweet to your phone saying “offers at pub end of High Street, 2 for 1″?
c) Real Time – trying to integrate real time into local search is complicated and comes back to the factors of availability and whether it makes sense. Whilst it might be available due to Twitter and other social sites, I don’t really see a need in putting real time search on the high street. The only network I would like to tap into in real time are my friends who I am connected to via my Facebook or Tweets anyway. Or I can install a location based service on my phone that tells me where my friends currently are. But do I really need a real time search locally? I don’t think so.
So wrapping up, I think the focus for local companies should be around local search, being found in the directories, search engines and also to make noise on local business portals and in various digital channels, foremost mobile and then maybe a local Facebook site. But the key really is to engage with the locals when they are out and about. That is where local mobile search is coming in.
My two cents Let me know what you think!
Multilingual Search Marketing
Posted by Volker in SEM, social media on November 2, 2009
As most of you know I have a background in multilingual or international search marketing with speaking engagements at mayor conferences, e.g. SMX, SES and Internetworld. However, since changing jobs I noticed that multilingual search doesn’t seem to be much of a rocket science as most countries in the Western World are dominated by Google and its algorithm, and the Eastern World has a few search engines you need to watch out for, e.g. Yandex in Russia, Baidu in China, and Naver in Korea.
However, the key to make international search marketing successful is the use of native speakers for the tasks of SEO and PPC, such as keyword research, link building, campaign set up, landing page optimisation etc. Of course it is debatable whether doing that in-house or with satellite office is more successful, but that is a question of business models and objectives and should not be discussed.
Being bi-lingual one of my interests is how to deal with cultural differences and language differences. Teaching my son German whilst speaking to my wife in English is a challenge on its own. Even Eric Schmidt from Google said that in five years time the majority of the web will be “non English”, the web will be dominated by Chinese-language and social media content. That just shows the significance of international and multilingual search marketing.
One of the new developments are the International Domain Names. This does not refer to names in Western characters we are used to but the revelation is that you find domain names in Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, and dozens of other non-Latin languages.
The BBC had an opinion on the multilingual side of the web too, particularly with the Internet having its 40th anniversary. They say that the international domain structure has been worked on since the mid 90s.
What implications would that have for us in the UK or us in search? I believe this will not make a huge difference, however the run for the keyword rich domains in other languages and characters will start now. People will apply the knowledge to different languages, as they have in the past, with more freedom to integrate their language in the URL structure, domain names etc. I believe it is a huge step forward, giving the web an international presence as it should have.
Not only will the web be more complex in five years, taking in consideration the growth it is going through at the moment, but with the adoption to languages, and that includes the instant translation on Google Wave, or translation of websites, we will get closer to our human neighbours in the East, West, North and South. So the Internet becomes a connection tool, and with being a connection tool, one big social network…..
The world wide web is your oyster, or something like that.
LocaFollow
Posted by Volker in social media on October 22, 2009
A new Twitter application caught my eye: LocaFollow.
Not only does it recognise my loacation as London, it also allows me to search for people near by. Now, I automatically get suggestions of the most followed people in London. That is nice.
But, I can also search for different cities, e.g. New York, Munich etc, depending on what I am interested in. Additionally, I can choose a profession, e.g. CEO, Marketeer and so on. Even found a taxi driver from Beckenham, you never know if I know him, lol.
Definitely a nice little tool to look at. I found some people in digital marketing in London that don’t really have much to say but come up on top of my search. The results don’t seem to be filtered well, e.g. the engine seems to crawl the description of the person and then displays the results in a not clear structured order. At least not obvious to me.
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