But I struggled with the headline, which read: Ease of Making Connections.

Ease? It’s not necessarily easy. In fact, there are days it feels like real work. Don’t get me wrong, I love the people and opportunities I’ve found through Twitter, Facebook and other social media, as the article so nicely states. I have no issue with the content or the reporter. In fact, I would say Sandra Guy is about as professional as they come – including me in drafts and otherwise offering courtesies other journalists don’t. But that headline made me think: Did I make it sound too easy!?

This is the ongoing myth of social media: It’s easy and free. It’s neither. Your time is valuable, and if you’re not being strategic then it’s time to pack it up. You are wasting time.

Here are some ideas on strategic ways to use social media:

• Go forth with a purpose. The ones who claim that social media “doesn’t work” are the people who click on every link describing videos of dogs talking or Scarlett Johanson’s latest photos. Be disciplined. Don’t click!
• Don’t suffer fools. There are fools, fanatics and freaks all over these here interwebz. Believe me, they will comment, tweet back and demand your attention. You could waste a day in “dialogue” with them. Or you could just get your work done.
• Good online citizens repay kindness with more kindness. It’s nice when someone acknowledges, retweets or shares your content. Thank them, and spend a little time to see if you can help them in their endeavors, too.
• Your content may need boundaries.  I rarely mention politics because that’s not why I’m here. I don’t comment just to make someone feel bad. And I enjoy a good laugh, but not at the expense of others. Bullies are already getting too much attention. Let’s not add to that online.
• If you have a topic you want to lead, then lead it. Those folks who go to the effort of setting up LinkedIn groups, online forums and Facebook pages WANT you to participate. You can’t be a thought leader if you never want to share your thoughts!

Photo Credit: HA! Designs – Artbyheather

 

Connie is the Communications Manager for Social Media (hope I got that right) for General Motors. And here’s what I know about Connie:

1. She’s a hard worker. She cares about doing a job well. She doesn’t mess around trying to get recognition or rewards…they come to her because of the effort she puts into her career.

2. Connie defines “community manager” simply by creating community around the brands she represents anywhere she goes. The first, second, and third time I met Connie, she described her work as “awesome” and I knew she meant it. You can’t help but love that enthusiasm. It is absolutely contagious. She is also ALWAYS Connie. There is no “work Connie” and “real Connie.” They are one in the same, as it should be.

3. Her brand is one that I had dismissed. Not anymore. Connie is so sure of her brands that she wants you to experience them – not just hear about them. In fact, Connie rarely tries to preach away any misconceptions or outdated perceptions. She simply asks you to try the cars.

4. Connie is about believing. She believes. She wants you to believe. And here’s the kicker – she GETS you to believe. I admit it – I wasn’t really considering Chevy as a brand for our next car. But NOW I AM. And it’s all because of Connie. She not only spoke to me in the way she believes, but she got me to try the car. Not once, but twice. Both times – I concluded on my own that these are great cars. I wouldn’t have even test driven one otherwise. I hadn’t considered GM since driving a Chevy Astro Minivan while testing for my license in the late 80′s. And you can imagine how thrilled I was about driving a blue minivan as a 16-year old.

5. There is no “I scratch your back, you give me a good recommendation on Yelp.” Connie lets the product to stand on its own. She doesn’t ask for anything.

My experience with Connie is not unusual. Anyone who interacts with her will reiterate the same things. Plus, Connie is creative and not afraid of experimenting with community and social media. Chevy has sponsored social media road trips, given away cars for a year to deserving people, and more. Connie rewards her community with real rewards and they love Connie for it; myself included.

Full disclosure: Connie has arranged for me to drive a Chevy for a week with a full tank of gas not once but twice. The first was a Chevy Cruze and the second was a Chevy Sonic, which I just drove a few weeks ago. Honestly, I don’t know if either will work for my family (due to size), but both made me want to at least test drive cars by Chevy. I was totally impressed with the car I drove and the nice little considerations, like child locks you control with a button! I would not have said that a year ago. Thanks to answering some trivia questions, Connie also sent me to Glee Live so I could Gleek out. But she has never asked me to do anything except give the brand a chance. I wasn’t expecting to really enjoy the Chevy cars I drove or to love Connie. But I do. So there.

Photo Credit: BenSpark via Creative Commons license

 

There’s definitely an evolution happening. A year ago I would still get the question “What is Twitter?” Now, the savvy audience members asked about goals, metrics, and time management.

Here’s a quick summary of some of the highlights:

Making time for all the social media messaging and measurement was a big theme. We discussed the pros and cons of scheduling tweets. Most of us agree there is a time and place for it, but you need to maintain control over what messages you send out.

Tools make things easier. We discussed many tools, and I’m sure I didn’t catch all of them. Hootsuite, Summify, lists, searches and LinkedIn groups were all mentioned as tools to help with social media management.

Protect your real life. Social media is part of your life, not your whole life. Create boundaries and understand that most people won’t mind if you don’t tweet or update your status for a few hours, a day, or even a few days!

Numbers don’t matter that much.  Yes, we talked about followers and Klout, but mostly we talked about real influence. We discussed how important it is to just keep discussing what’s important to you, to engage with people in genuine ways and to keep working.

All of us are perpetual students. We are learning new tools each day, we are experimenting, we are reading.

It was truly an honor to be on the panel and hear my fellow board members share their wisdom.

If you have notes or feedback from the session, of course I’d welcome a comment here!

 Photo credit: multisanti via Creative Commons license

 

Review and reflections from all angles

Much has been written. This collection from Urban Omnibus is comprehensive and full of angles missed elsewhere.

“In a culture where fear and anger are primary motivating factors for action, an understanding of love is one of the best tools we have to fight against terrorism and injustice.“

Patirck Groneman simply states the idea that reflecting on love is worth more than the worst evil and loudest critics in this piece on the Huffington Post. It’s an idea that’s still important, still needed and still underestimated.

Reflection is needed on a daily basis, and too often I’m guilty of letting it go. I don’t make time for it and this whole weekend has made me think I should.

How do you reflect?

Photo credit Into the Wild via Creative Commons

 

But how should you do it? I’ve offered some ideas about questions to ask, what to do with feedback and more. Most executives and business owners say the same thing, however:

“I don’t have the time.”

I get it. Time is precious and none of us seem to have enough of it. How about a few “set it and forget it” ideas? Ok, you can’t really forget, but you can consider it a start.

1. Set the right alerts.

Use Google alerts and Yahoo to find out what’s top of mind for your customers. If you are a B2B organization, set up alerts for your customers, their clients, and key employees. Competitors are another good category to track.

If you serve consumers, then track what’s important to them, not just your product name.

2. Search where your customers are.

Google Blog Search is a great resource for finding out where and how your customers are discussing topics important to them. So many blogs out there, and yet very rarely do brands or business owners actually participate in the conversations happening. Many times we turn to peers online for advice or ideas about specific products. Make sure you are paying attention!

3. Use Twitter as a direct line.

Setting up key search terms on Twitter can really help you hear what your customers are discussing. But here’s the secret: Don’t just search for your brand names. Search for WHY customers would use a product like yours.

4. Respond to complaints and suggestions from your customers with “Tell me more.”

When customers take the time to tell you directly, it’s important to listen up. Asking for more information will get to the root of the problem – not just what broke the proverbial straw on that camel’s back. “Tell me more” invites dialogue and thought.

See? It’s not that hard. But it’s not easy, either. It does take time, but if you commit to your end of the conversation, you’ll get more than enough from the other side.

Photo Credit: Melvin Gaal via Creative Commons license

 

I consider myself the Customer Experience Investigator(sm). I’m thinking of creating a “CXI” badge to flash when I arrive at the scene of the crime.

I’m not sure if I can do this in one post, but here goes. A day in the life of me as a customer experience investigator.

Someone cue the music and I’ll be slowly removing my aviators for the opening credits…

There really is no typical day.

Most of my clients have ongoing relationships with me, so I know exactly what the expectations are on a weekly basis. I challenge myself to have at least one deliverable per week for each client. I’m able to do this with some help from contractors and assistants, but I understand clients hire me for me, so I am still very involved with the main parts of the products.

Here are a few of the things I’ve done recently my clients, depending on what we’re working on or what their concerns are:

Taking a walk in the customer’s shoes is usually a part of my day. This is done in a variety of ways, most of which I can do virtually. I have a proprietary heuristic analysis I use to review web sites from the customer perspective, complete with scoring and colorful charts. This type of evaluation is highly detailed, so I try to reserve appropriate brain power for it. Sometimes taking a walk in their shoes is about mapping out the customer journey. I do this with a variety of research tidbits, employee interviews, documentation exploration, and actually walking through the process.

Competitive analysis is playing a bigger role in what I do. This means I examine the experience from the customer’s perspective, point out where competitors are gaining or lacking, and usually get inspired by something “missing” from everyone. This leads to innovation and better experiences for my clients’ customers. Much of this is focused on the online experience, so I have a features gap analysis I use as well as just qualitative observation.

For lack of a better name, I become a high-level mystery shopper for my clients. This means conducting actual transactions, going through the corporate sales process, reviewing customer communications, ending a customer relationship – all as if I’m a real customer. While I’m a focus group of one, I bring with me about 15 years of doing this. It’s never disappointing what we learn from these types of experiences. My clients have improved many processes by being open enough to receive feedback this way. The process on paper is never quite what’s happening in real life.

Social media is part of the experience. More and more, we’re focusing on ways to review how social media is used and how we can use it better to serve customers. I do a lot of social media audits and work with the internal departments who are focused on this aspect of the experience. This is another fascinating way to learn every day about what’s working and what isn’t!

Training and speaking is something I enjoy doing but don’t do as much of any more. I’m just not up for too much travel since I’ve got 2 munchkins at home who need me here IRL. Occasionally, though, a specific need arises and I help my clients create training programs or speak with their group. The most popular topics are employee engagement, social media and communication.

Strategy Sessions are other IRL events I enjoy but can’t do too much. My favorite ones are the totally free-for-all, get-everyone-thinking-big innovation sessions. That’s where real customer experience magic happens.

Part of what I love about how I’ve framed this business is that I am totally a third-party investigator. Once we identify what needs to be done for the online experience, or sales process, or retention strategy, I am not trying to sell the next step. I help continue to examine things from the customer’s perspective so we can continue to improve proactively.

I’ll be honest – it takes enlightened leadership to be ready to pay for this. It may seem easier to have the web firm do the initial analysis, but they can’t bring the outside-in perspective. It’s easy to fool yourself into thinking your employees give you the information you need, but they can’t. And while we like to think we are always keeping one eye on the competition, it’s typically buried in the day-to-day of running a business. I’m grateful every day for the clients I have who get this and understand that evaluation, investigation and honesty are what build strong experiences.

Then, of course, there’s my business.

I wish I could say I have this all figured out into a science, but I don’t. But I still have to worry about finances, marketing, blogging, guest blogging, learning, managing projects and people, and planning the growth of 360Connext. Somwhere, somehow, I try to find time for these things in my week.

So, there you go. The not-so-typical day of a Customer Experience Investigator.  I’m thinking I need a trench coat and a walkie-talkie to complete the look. What? Too much?

 Photo Credits: AngryJulieMonday, catfordCelt and 1936matt

 

Why Social Media Matters: Real Connections

Steve Woodruff, aka The Connection Agent, as well as a former victim of my stalking, leads us through the 12 Most Significant Ways to Build a Deep Network. This post takes into account not only the WHAT of social media, but the WHY. Relationships are the wonderful lasting reward of investing in your network.

Follow the Best on Google+

Peggy Fitzpatrick creates a guide for the rest of us with her 12 Most Desirable People to Follow on Google+. She includes gems like Angel Oakley, Mack Collier and Sam Fiorella. If you don’t know these folks, you should. Peg lays out why we should care. Use it well.

Don’t Forget The Bloggers

The prolific and always insightful Ted Rubin makes a case with his 12 Most Significant Reasons I Love Bloggers and You Should Too post. The best part of this post is reminding us that social media is a bunch of platforms. Blogging is passion, dedication and education. Bloggers care so we can learn from them.

There is SO MUCH content over at 12 Most. Hope you’ll go check it out for yourselves!

What do you recommend to stay on top of the trends in social media? What blogs do you want us to discover?

Photo credit Into the Wild via Creative Commons

 

It’s a refrain I hear and live every day. Executives tell me: There is usually so much we COULD do with customer experience. We want to provide more, better, faster…but in order to do that for our customers we have to change entire legacy systems, hire totally new teams, and shift budget dollars from one place to another. This leads to paralysis. We can’t move the mountain so we are stuck staring at it, not realizing the mountain is made up of boulders big and small, and even a few pebbles which could bring the altitude down a notch.

If you can find an hour, you can do the following to help improve your customer experience:

1. Stop by your call center and listen in.

I once made it a point to listen to just 10 incoming service calls for a client. Out of those 10 calls, 3 customers were searching for the same solution. The calls were handled very well, but according to the service rep statistics, they’re simply marked “resolved.” Listening to 10 calls allowed me to see a pattern otherwise not recognized by metrics. It was a simple fix – move things around so the customers could find things easier.

2. Grab a cup of coffee with a front-line employee.

Ask pointed questions about specific incidents. When was the last time a customer left still upset about something? What was the best way you helped a customer? What do you think about the compensation strategy here? Once the gates are open, be prepared to listen. There are gems there about ways to delight your employees and customers. Take notes!

3. Turn the weekly metrics report into definable action steps.

Many of my clients are proficient at data-ese. They speak the language of data as if it were their mother tongue. Meetings are scheduled, discussions are had, and reports are delivered every month, week or day. Yet so much of this information is reviewed as a gauge and nothing more. Look at the data with a critical eye and decide: what can we do this week to improve this? Then create real action around it. A recent example: A client was diligently tracking customer discussions via social media. By the time the reports came in, it was almost too late to reply. Now, there is a real-time strategy to respond to customers online.

Yes, customer experience is a big topic. But taking action doesn’t have to be so big. You have your supplies. It’s time to start climbing the mountain one step at a time.

 Photo credit casey.marshall via Creative Commons

 

Why? Because your customers are SCREAMING and telling their friends, Facebook compatriots, blog readers and other audiences how horrible you are. And yet they’re not telling you.

Or they are telling you, but since you’re choosing not to listen, they are taking matters into their own hands.

They are posting things like this:

And this: 

And this:

And how about this:  

What to do about this? Some ideas:

• Make sure you’re actually listening. Anyone can do a quick search and find loads of haters. The important thing is to find out if they’re complaining about things you can actually address. (Hint – you can!)
• Empower your employees and customers to speak up when the moment is right. Don’t let someone walk away with a constructive complaint in their head and nowhere to put it.
• Respond! How hard would it be? Yes, it means sometimes admitting you’re wrong, but that’s what we want to hear if you really are wrong.

Photo Credit: The University of Salford via Creative Commons License