So what are you going to be for Halloween? Maybe it is Harry Potter, Mickey Mouse, M&Ms or maybe a vampire?  Today is a day we love to put on our mask and be something a little different.  But does the internet allow us to place our mask on more often?

I would love to say I never thought about it, but with all the anonymity on the internet, I have.  Many people on the web choose to have a different personality to show online.  What is the personality you like to show?  Do you have multiple online personalities?  It came up during conversations at the Forrester Consumer Forum.  It was more being discussed on the marketing side, but I have to say it really made me think.  What I really did not realize is how many of us actually do show a different side.  This really confuses companies in understanding the actions of their Customer because they may need to market a different persona than they have all the data about.

I never thought I showed anything different, but the more I thought about it over the past few days I have to admit I may have a mask.  I am a service oriented person, and I always have been.  There is no difference there.  I like to think I am in general a nice person.  No difference there.  But in person I am a bit more introverted and a little shy at times!

So what is your mask?  Do you even notice it?  Do you have a difference in the way you would write a review on Amazon, talk on Twitter or how you write your blog?

Happy Halloween!

In the past week I had the pleasure to attend 2 great seminars:  Marketing Profs’ Digital Media Mixer and the Forrester Consumer Forum.  Social media seemed to be the big discussion point for everyone in attendance at these forums.  The big questions was how can we make money in this space.  That is what happens when you are with many people from the marketing side of the business.  Even for a simple service person like myself, I was thrilled to see the excitement.

To me the term Social Media is confusing, I think it is more the socialization of the internet.  In the past we communicated more 1 on 1 via tools like email or instant messenger.  There were some social options such as chat rooms or email distribution groups.  But today we are now talking to more people, not as segregated as was the past with these other methods.  Sometimes it is simple as posting comments about a product at Amazon.  It can also be starting a blog or posting on someone else’s blog or tools such as Twitter, identi.ca, Plurk, LinkedIn, Facebook, Myspace, etc.  The list goes on and on.  But now there is a lot of discussion.

What this means to marketers is control is shifting.  It is more difficult to get a message out there.  So now companies are trying to figure out how they can participate.  This will be a topic I will be discussing in future posts.

Now how did I get involved in this Social Media?  It was not through Comcast (although they were the connection at the time), but back in 2000 our daughter Gia was born 10 weeks premature.  What happens is people want updates, but we were busy enough and did not want to talk to everyone.  We started our own website.  Then 3 years later when Gia was diagnosed with cancer, we used the website again.  We provided regular updates that are still available.  After her passing we let the old website remain intact at the following URL  http://www.sitedreamer.com/gia.  After our other children were born we created a new website http://www.eliasonfamily.info

As I have conversations regarding these social interactions, you will notice that I am a firm believer that people are trying to communicate their thoughts on a variety of topics.  They are trying to be heard, it is just a question who will listen.

The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series!  What a great a day for Philadelphia.  Many of you do not realize how important this is to all of us in Philadelphia.  You may have heard that we are a little passionate about our sports teams.  Yes we have thrown snowballs at Santa and batteries at JD Drew.  I remember the cheering when Cowboys star Michael Irvin was injured.  All true, and many other stories that you may not have heard of.  But Philly fans are really just passionate for their team.  It is this passion that drives us.  If you did not notice, that passion also helped the Phillies go undefeated during the playoffs at home.

This is the first major sports championship in this City since 1983 when the Sixers won the NBA championship (the Soul won the Arena Bowl this year too).  We have been in desperate need to have a parade to celebrate our beloved teams.   As I think about this, and the news of the fans in the streets is playing in the background, this is all about passion.  I have a passion for Philly sports.  I also have a passion for Customer Service.  Unlike many people, I believe service by many companies has been improving over the past couple of years.  That is because companies have drifted away from bad measurements such as sales and handle time and went to concentrating on first contact resolution and Customer satisfaction.  I think that is a good start.

But what we really need is a few Philly sports fans, or at least individuals that have a similar passion for Customers.  When people are doing what they are passionate about they have more fun at work and have much better results.  Wouldn’t you love your job if it was something you were passionate about?  How many sports fans would love the opportunity to work for their favorite team?

Does this mean the wrong people are hired for Customer Service?  Maybe, but not in my opinion.  I think the trouble is managers have coached toward numbers.  Gen y’ers, which make up a number of Customer Service positions, do not care about the numbers.  They may not even care about the Customer or the company.  I will talk about Gen y’ers at times because I think they can be the greatest employees.  In many cases they have a passion, it is just trying to show them how they can direct that toward Customers.  They just want to know why it is important to them.  That is not hard to show.  Once companies do more of that, we will see service improve to new levels.  Passion is good in many things in life!

Now back to the Phillies.  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!  This is so exciting to have a World Champion in Philly.  I think they partially won because of the fans, and maybe because of Comcast (hehehehe).  For those that have not heard, the Curse of Billy Penn is now broken.  In 1983 the first skyscraper was built higher than a statue of William Penn on top of city hall.  Rumor has it there was a gentlemen’s agreement to never build higher than William Penn.  Well no major Philly team has won a championship since.  This is how the curse became known.  Well when the Comcast Center was built to be the highest building in Philadelphia, a small statue of William Penn was placed at the top!

That is my first ever blog post!  Have a great day.