Archive for category social media
Social Media Counter
Posted by Volker in social media on October 19, 2009
complex life
Posted by Volker in personal, social media on August 20, 2009
Now I hope you will enjoy this post. I want to talk about complex life. We have less time, more information and more things going on – all the time. This makes life very complex in my view.
For years I have been one of those people that needed a Blackberry, a mobile device, needed to extend their followers on Linkedin, Twitter, Xing, Facebook and make sure that all contact details I had from people were up to date. I was always on top of things. But then, life got even more complex.
I noticed 3 years ago that I cannot just add every person I met in my life into a database that already had over 1,000 people on it. Every time I synchronised my phone it took almost an hour, and some people never made it to my list of “friends”. Even 5 years ago when I bought my last laptop, I thought I needed to evaluate every single option of the laptop and every feature to make sure I always have the most up to date equipment. Someone I know just admitted to research weeks (!) what kind of new TV to buy.
Over the years, not only thanks to my wife, I have realised it is not always important to actually have the best and knowing everything. I suppose with Google being available all the time (thanks to my Blackberry that is), you can look things up all the time. Actually LinkedIn and Twitter make things easier in a ways as you have your friends contact details on there and if not, you can send them a DM in order to find out. Or you just update your Twitter or Blog and everyone knows what you are up to. It makes it easier not to phone or talk to people.
I suppose Facebook is the same. You upload your pictures, you update your status that you are at home watching after the baby, get a comment or two and your “social life” is done. And, up to a few months ago, I absolutely loved it. Easy, isn’t it. Blackberry, on the road, updating Facebook, Twitter, coming home, day and job done. You can even poke your wife whilst being on the train and she is at home. Or just throw a sheep at her!
Actually I realised when changing phone contracts how little I use my phone. I haven’t called up my friend in Aberdeen for a while, although we exchanged numerous emails and read each other’s blog. We haven’t been down to Winchester to visit our friends and always found good excuses not to meet up. However, I would really like to but have I not seen their holiday pictures already on Facebook, and their new flat and….
I think social media is great. I live for it, I work for it and I enjoy it. However, and that is where I am a bit struggeling at the moment (hope that is not too honest), how many of those Facebooks we need? How much more time do we need to spend online to update our status and talk to our neighbours? Why not pop over for a cup of tea and have a chat?
Really, because it is easier. But it is actually less social. Instead of trying to keep up to date with 500 followers on Twitter, I decided to reduce the amount of people I follow. I am sorry but I rather start keeping up with less people and do it properly than with more and not really at all. And, if you are part of the ones I un-followed, please accept my apologies and feel free to add me on Facebook instead.
Or, add me on LinkedIn. I think I need to reduce my involvement online just a bit and concentrate more on other projects. My Buddhism and Management project has been neglected, I have to spend more time with the family and want to read more books. 
I will use the commute, as I have done in the past, to wrap up work at night and answer emails that I didn’t manage to get to during the day – personal as well as work ones. And, in the morning, I will read a book on the train. But, when I am home at night and the weekends, do I really need to constantly update my Twitterfeed, talk about that I “cut my grass” on Twitter? I don’t believe so anymore. Of course that might change 
And, of course, I am still a big advocate of Social Media, and there are more things to it than the above networks. Watch this space and let me know what you think about the complexity of life?
Vodafone got things right!
Posted by Volker in customer service, social media on August 5, 2009
Now, not only was I asked to tell everyone, but I am more than happy to do so!
Vodafone called me late tonight and gave me the offer I wanted. The person I was in contact originally was out of office. Now my question is WHY?
But first, let me say that Thomas Rushton and his Webteam (Thanks Lee) kept their promise and put things right after I tweeted and blogged about it.
It still does not go into my head that
- A company makes it so difficult to change between contracts and that I could have created more work by canceling my (consumer) contract and then becoming a new (business) customer again.
- That I need to push on social media, e.g. Twitter, Blogging, Linkedin to get attention.
And, I don’t believe that the social media influence itself has caused them to think about it. At least I don’t hope it did, but that somewhere along the line the “customer (e.g. me) was king”.
I tried to think of an analogy (maybe not the best but it is almost 10 pm): My teddy bear from years ago: I love him, I nurture him, I want to keep him but he keeps disappearing, gets uncool, looses his fur and although I am certain that I should get rid of him, I am almost in “love” with him – hence I don’t abandon him. But one day, he starts talking to me and says “Volker, I have to leave you.” Would you not be devastated?
Not sure if it makes sense that I “love” a brand like Vodafone (and other brands). I told the guys that I am more than happy to outline a social media strategy for them. I never wanted to leave Vodafone but they seemed to wanted to get rid of me. Maybe they will tell me why no one took ownership of my case and sorted things out for good? Would that not have been better and easier for all of us?
Anyway, Ian Shepherd wanted to make me an advocate, and I am. Of course subject to the free blackberry arriving this Friday Very excited.
I wrote to the Webteam, after sorting it, that I will blog positive about it. I also believe that it is essential for any brand to monitor the social media space and engage with the twitter community or with the bloggers. As an example when I mentioned O2 or Orange earlier, they should have engaged with me and offer me a contract, shouldn’t have they? I was saying I would go and join them instead. And Vodafone should get their voice out there too, engaging with me or others.
Just around 5 pm this afternoon, monitoring Twitter, I found Vodafone being mentioned almost once every minute. It is so essential for brands to monitor and engage. Engage with your customers where they are. Social Media. Offline. Mobile.
Ok, ok – before i go on and speak more about strategy, I should mention the post about “Don’t litter Twitter” by the guys from Jam. I think we should all have “freedom of speech” and should be allowed to say what we want.
If our followers drop/un-follow or if people don’t want to listen what we have to say – then that is ok. I don’t follow everyone back either. However, with brands it is different. They need to listen and get a more “personal” profile on the social media space in order to meet their customers on the same level.
Vodafone has sorted things this time, in future and I am confident they will engage with customers more in the future and think about their social media strategy. Happy to help you if you like!
Thanks again for sorting things out and getting things right. Whilst obviously being subjective, I think that was an objective way of putting things
Happy to keep everyone posted of the progress!
Can Vodafone win me back last minute?
Posted by Volker in customer service, social media on August 5, 2009
I am sitting here and just do NOT understand.
You must by now got the message of what I think of Vodafone. I hate Vodafone’s customer service. I direct messaged with the director of customer service on Twitter until he unfollowed me, and emailed with his team and finally got moved to a business account. That was, after I had to sign another direct debit mandate and form, because the online form we discussed several times on the phone had suddenly disappeared.
Now, I am officially a business customer and can upgrade my account. However, the upgrade means I need to pay for a new phone rather than getting one for free. To get the latter, I need to cancel my contract, change to a pay as you talk contract, and then come back to Vodafone as a new business customer. Could that be the solution.
I tried. I really think I tried it all. Writing on Twitter, being friendly in emails, asking for nothing else but being transferred to be a Vodafone business customer for a better deal and a free phone, and then, when I thought everything is sorted, I get stabbed in the back. I have to pay for the handset, a whopping £280.
So I wrote them another email, asking to sort things out by close of play today but they didn’t. 4 hours seemed enough to react to a customer enquiry, one that is ongoing for several weeks.
Now, all I can do is wait or cancel. The problem is that I don’t really want to change providers but Vodafone does not leave me a choice. I have to leave a brand I like, a company I care about but their customer service is just so bad.
Go on Twitter and search for Vodafone and you find out how many people talk bad about them. Shame!
I guess it is GOODBYE Vodafone – and the iPhone at last? Or Orange? I keep you posted.
Vodafone has bad customer service
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, customer service, social media on July 31, 2009
Yes, I am very much pissed off. I cannot say it in any other way but the first things I did this Friday after I got home is to sit down now, and write this post. And, I feel better once I have done it. I still cannot believe it…empty promises!
Ian Shepherd, Director Customer Service Vodafone, wanted to make me an advocate of the brand, “Understand. We are better than your experience has shown, and will fix the issues you’ve blogged. I’m determined we will earn your loyalty!” – that was a message on the 16th of July after I complained through Twitter and on my blog, see here about my rant about Vodafone’s bad customer service.
Thomas Rushton even commented, saying “customer feedback is important to us“. They seem to have the social media channels, but I am thinking, do they know how to use them? I am here to help, if you need any advice?
Anyhow, to cut a long story short. On the 11th of July I filled in a form online to transfer from a customer account to a business account. Just after my last complaint, I got confirmed that:
- It takes 30 days from the date I filled in the transfer form, to be transferred to a business account.
- I will have a choice of phones and get the same deal as any other NEW business customer.
Hurray I thought. But I was too early to celebrate. I was told that after 2 weeks I would get an email confirming that things go ahead. So earlier this week, I wrote the following email to the customer service team, the director complaint office:
“30th of July:
… Regarding the transfer, if I understood correctly, I would be contacted after 2 weeks that things are going as planned.
Since I put the transfer request in on the 11th of July, I would assume that that things go as planned and someone will contact me next week? Or was there anything I needed to do after 2 weeks? It is a long waiting.
Thanks for confirming.”
The response I got was:
“I’ve spoken to a manager in the Transfer of Ownership team today and they asked me to send you the form to fill in again and then to send it to xyz.abc@vodafone.com who is the manager of the Transfer team, and also copy in this email address.
Once XYZ has received this, we will push the process through for you to take place with you as soon as possible.”
Wait a second, what was I missing? They said that they have all information and don’t need anything from me, for things to take place. They even confirmed receiving my form I filled in online, on the 11th of July:
“Dear Mr Volker Ballueder
This is to confirm that you have accepted the terms and conditions, to transfer your mobile from this account. The unique reference number for this request is 1234, please quote this at all times when referring to the transfer. If the transfer is accepted by Vodafone mobile number 07812345678, along with any others entered on the form will be transferred from 1234/5 to Mr Volker Ballueder.
A notification of this request has been sent to the email address xyz@123.co.uk.
The next stage of the transfer is that will receive an email, to notify them that the transfer has been requested. They will then enter the details of the account that they would like the transferred number/s
to be added to. Once this request has been submitted you will be notified, and once the request has been approved by Vodafone you will notified of the date of transfer.”
Now, looking at all that I don’t understand where I would have gone wrong. If I am missing anything, then I am more than happy to apologise to Vodafone and the customer complaint team.
a) I confirmed, complained, called, emailed and got told that Vodafone has all data and I don’t need to submit anything more to them.
b) The customer service director said that he wants things to be right.
c) I politely check on the progress to make sure that I didn’t miss an email – which happens. Just checking, as I really don’t want to wait longer than 30 days.
d) I get a request to fill in the same form in a pdf version, fax or scan it, that I filled in online and got confirmation for.
A couple of questions:
a) Did Vodafone take me serious in the first place and looked properly into the files I submitted? Did they listen to me when I called and talked to them?
b) If so, why did that “faux-pas” happen?
I believe that I was just put down as another case, no one cross referenced what I was saying, e.g. that I had problems with the date of birth on the online form, or that I am happy to not send more information because they confirmed they had everything from me.
After I tweeted excessively this afternoon, I got a call that they look into my case and from receiving my forms it takes 30 days for the transfer to take place.
I told them, quite frankly, that they really seem to want to piss me off – at least that is my impression. And, they seem to not care. And, I told them that I was told that it takes 30 days from filling in the form, e.g. 11th of July, to get transferred.
You can be sure that if I don’t have the deal I want, then I am going to go somewhere else. Just hope I can cancel my contract, the consumer one, which runs out the end of August. The only reason why I haven’t canceled yet is that Vodafone still has the best reception in the Scottish Highlands and my friends and my family are with Vodafone. If it happens that I change, this will surely have a ripple effect with my friends.
What was I offered: £25 for a 24 months plan, 500 minutes, 250 text, unlimited calls to UK landlines, unlimited email, 500 MB data, free phone…..and they had an offer that got me the first 3 months free of charge. The latter is not even the issue but would be nice to get an extra or special for all the hassle I had.
Ian Shepherd says he stays on the team to get it fixed. Thank you for your involvement, but I really question a company that need involvement from the top to sort out a simple transfer. Where are the good old days when the customer was king?
All I wanted is a smooth transfer. The alternative had been to cancel my contract to the end of August, transfer it to a “pay as you go” and then go to a shop and get a great deal. Why haven’t I done it? Because I thought I could trust a company like Vodafone.
Will they ever get my trust back? Will I ever be an advocate for a such a big brand?
Not to worry, I keep you posted. Follow me on twitter too!
An update was promised on Monday between 12 and 4 pm.
Have a good weekend.
Michael Jackson
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, social media on June 26, 2009
The Guardian put this video on its website and I thought I want to share this.
It shows the popularity of keywords/tags and how the “Michael” and “Jackson” and “arrest” (part of cardiac arrest) was getting popular on the social media site Twitter. However, I found out about Michael Jackson’s death through a breaking news email rather than Twitter.
The future of search
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, SEM, social media on June 22, 2009
In an interview the other day I was asked about the future of search. Biased working on multilingual search at the moment, I decided to opt for the answer of “instant translated search results”, e.g. you type in a search term in English and they offer you results in different languages that are instantly translated. Saw this instant translation tool at Google Wave and was very impressed.
But what has happened lately in the search world? We are all familiar with Universal Search or Blended Search where the search engines blend results from blogs, pictures, news etc. Good example are politicians, e.g. Barack Obama. I spoke about that at SES Hamburg in 2008.
If you are logged in with your “Google Account” your personal preferences will be taken into consideration, and dependent where on the globe you are and which index you access, you get different results. The one above is for UK only. So is personal search, the search results tailored to your preferences, the future? If so, the Internet would become a creation around your preferences rather than you changing the Internet around you. Or it gives you enough possibilities to personalise your web too and only the search results and of course the advertisement will be tailored to your life. The Digital Britain report touches on behavioural targeting and suggest it will be playing a big role in the future of online advertising.
What about Bing, did MSN’s new search engine changed anything? Google published a video pointing out that they are a “decision engine” too.
Google, according to Mashable, gets a bit scared and takes Bing quite serious. Search Engine Land comments on the “threat” too.
You remember the launch of Cuil last year. They didn’t take any market share off Google. However, if you think about it, then Bing might not want to take market share of Google (as yet) but position itself with a more relevant search engine than the msn.live to overtake Yahoo! and then take on Google in the long run. The relevancy is important and the way results are shown. Again, if that is combined with personalised search, Bing could become a winner and take on Google – but I suggest we don’t really see any shift towards Bing for another year or so. But, with launching Bing, Microsoft did go back to the battle field and the more competition there is for search engines, the better it is for our industry.
Anyhow, see Bing’s advertisement here and keep an eye out on whether they will take on Google or not.
Wolfram Alpha didn’t make the news as much and it is a search engine focusing on results and facts. If you search for “Barack Obama” you get his life facts. If you click on “search the web” you end up at Google. So this reminds me more of a Wikipedia search. However, clearly an interesting step in the world of search and how we might change our way of using search engines in the future.
What is left to look at if we need to decide on the future of search? Maybe Twitter. I wrote about it a lot already, so the instant search which twitter offers and now shows up in Google results too, is definitely something to watch. Local search and search depending on your position, e.g. mobile GPS location, could be very interesting as well. Data protection might be against it, but definitely an area you want to keep an eye on.
Leaves us with semantic search? The user types in a few words and the search engine interprets what it means. Maybe the future will combine this with some personalised information again too? ClickZ had an interesting example in their article about a NY Sandwich: “Tell any New Yorker you had a sandwich made with rye bread, corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing but can’t remember what it’s called. He’ll tell you it’s a Reuben. But just throwing a few ingredients into a search engine may not get you such a quick or even correct response.” That means you might find recipes or anything you cannot remember the name off by putting in the “ingredients” or words you know about the “thing” you are looking for and out comes the answer. Very interesting and the Semantic Technology Conference is definitely a place to go over the next few years.
By the way, I found a great deli bar in NY whilst searching for the above 
So, how do we best summarise the future of search?
The semantic search still seems to be in its infancy. However, the personalised search combined with localised search could be a winner, data protection allowing of course. And if Bing will take on Google or if we will find more vertical search engines rather than blended search results in Google and Bing shall be seen. If Yahoo! stands a chance and if Yahoo! and Bing can take on Google shall be seen also. My suggestion is that we won’t see much of a shift towards alternatives away from Google for a while, however we should not anticipate that search engines like Bing will take on Google in the long run, combining some or all of the technologies above. However, Google won’t sit still either, so the future is wide open.
And, instant translation, will get the world closer together – if it is relevant to the results shall be seen
BT (British Telecom) – customer service
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, customer service, SEM, social media on June 19, 2009
I keep getting into the habit of writing about customer service. Particularly in relationship with Twitter.
Also, I have a love-hate relationship with BT (British Telecom). About 2 1/2 years ago when we moved into a new flat they drove me nuts. It took me a week to convince their help desk that they don’t need to do a line check every time I call and that there is a problem with the exchange. They eventually agreed to send out an engineer and fixed the problem after 10 days. I got so mad at them that I wrote a letter to the CEO which resulted in the head of customer service apologizing about the incident, and me getting 3 months free broadband as a compensation.
Now, why am I still with BT? Two reasons. One is that my wife likes to keep the land line number. Secondly, it is convenient to have them as they have a good connection, e.g. I hardly ever in the last 5 years had problems connecting to the internet. I believe 2 times in 5 years. That is a very good track record.
After the incident 2 1/2 years ago I decided not to sign for another 12 months in case I want to swap to Virgin for their quicker glass fibre optic broadband. But then I did sign another 12 months just recently because I thought I never going to change to another provider and they offered me some savings I fell for the old sales trick!
What I noticed lately, particularly reading about BT’s throttling broadband speed. Of course they speak about doubling the speed and introducing glass fibre optic technology too. Anyhow, because we have such a slow speed, e.g. we signed up for up to 8 mb/s, and only receive around 3 mb/s, I complained to them and tweeted about it and said that I am not happy with the slow speed but surprised, due to previous experience, about their speedy response. After my complain via email I had a technician on the phone within 2 hours! And he unfortunately admitted that if it is slower than 2.5 mb/s I should call them. However, that is not the reason I signed up for 8 mb/s but I know there is no way to argue about it. Maybe Virgin after all?
Above the replies from Twitter. BT started following me, commenting and offering more help and support. I find that very good and very essential. Actually, this is what the post is about.
Any good brand nowadays needs to adopt to search/social media to follow up what is said about their brand online. With BT for instance, you need to monitor “BT” on Twitter. Go to the search function and search for BT, you will quickly see how much work they have to do and how many people write about “BT” not meaning the company.
Just thought this is a great case study on how well BT is doing, or brands in general, in adopting social media and monitoring as well as engaging with clients. It is more and more essential for brands to engage with clients where they are.
Twitter results in Google
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, SEM, social media on June 16, 2009
Wow, I am impressed. Maybe I missed an announcement over the last few days but Google now includes Twitter search results in their search – at least for their Google Alerts.
Twitter’s future and customer service
Posted by Volker in cb consulting, customer service, social media on June 15, 2009
I am a little behind my reading this week. On the i-media newsletter I found an interesting article from Brendan Nelson about “Where next for Twitter?”
Reason me picking up on this one is that Nelson pointed out a few very interesting things about Twitter.
The idea of brands to embrace Twitter is not new. He uses the example of First Capital Connect to alert travelers of any train problems. My hosting provider uses the same method to alert me when the server is down. I know of a company, or many by now, that embrace social media to engage with their clients. Example is a broadband provider where the Managing Director got a keyword alert on a Sunday morning for his brand name that someone was unhappy with his service. He engaged with the customer and sorted things out for him Monday morning, resulting in the person twittering about the great customer service and engagement with the client! This is just one example of many.
In the old days people recalled products, sent letters and tried to reach people through offline advertising. Nowadays people use 140 characters, instant online SMS, to engage with other people. They recommend services and point other users to positive experience with brands – but also to negative experience with brands. People use “Search”, e.g. Google, Yahoo! and Bing, to FIND recommendations, products and services. And, the more positive news they read about your product the better.
Last week on Twitter, I engaged in a conversation about a mobile phone network. Others tweeted about their bad experience being on hold to their broadband provider, eventually hung up and used a different provider.
What do brands have to do? Engage with your clients via social media. That is the key. Monitor your brand name online and be sure you are found for anything related to your products and services, your brands etc. The bigger the corporation and the more brand names you have, the more important is it to monitor all of them. You can automate that but ideally have someone dedicated to engage with anything that is said about any of your brands…at any one time.
Whilst Google for instance takes a few days to index some pages, Twitter is there instantly. It is real time. If someone opens a “can of coke” and has a bad experience, she might tweet about it whilst waiting for the bus. She turns her “downtime” into “bad reputation for the coke producer”. You want to engage with her and use her next downtime to tweet about the positive response she got from you. Make your client/customers happy! Make them being noticed and feel good. If they do, they will tell their friends about it. And don’t forget, this is REAL TIME. And that makes twitter so powerful. And of course, the more followers you or the person has, the more brand awareness (positive as well as negative) you get! Viral marketing!
Why is Twitter so closely related to search marketing? Firstly, I believe that Twitter is offering instant search. That means people will use Twitter more and more to find most relevant and most up to date information. And, it is reputation management, as people talk about things on Twitter.
Secondly, as a brand, or any brand really, you want to know what your customer says, thinks and would like to see. If someone has an idea of how to improve your chocolate bar, your computer or your software – you want to know. Therefore it becomes more and more important to find those information and turn them into value within your organisation. Dell for instance created a forum for customer support that gained them great ideas which in return relates to millions of pounds in savings for product development.
Taking the two things to mind, you want to be found for what your customers associate you with. If you produce a chocolate bar you don’t want to be found for “chocolate bar” only. If you clients talk about you having “the coolest tasting chocolate bar on the planet”, you want to be found for that keyword and drive that message out through online and digital marketing use. By driving these keywords out there, people will use those keywords and you will be found for them – that is if you optimise for them. Look at Orange’s “I am” campaign.
Now, I can conclude, that customer service in real time is very important and that Twitter is a very valuable source, amongst blogs, forums and other social media sites, e.g. Facebook, Hi5, and Orkut, for you to engage with your clients. Get your communication right and embrace social media and your clients where they are. Embrace their opinion in real time!
Follow me on Twitter, @ballueder
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