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NSA Leaks: The Big Data Two Step for Businesses This post originally appeared on LinkedIn as part of their influencer program on June 10, 2013.  To see the original post click here. I expect we will be seeing a lot of dancing over the next few...

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Coming to an Agency Near You! This post originally appeared on LinkedIn as part of their influencer program on September 23, 2013.  To see the original post click here. I am often pondering what is next in the world in which we...

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Customer Service Week: Here's Your Call Center This post originally appeared on LinkedIn as part of their influencer program on October 7, 2013.  To see the original post click here. As we begin Customer Service Week I want to thank all those...

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Defining the Customer Experience Role This post originally appeared on LinkedIn as part of their influencer program on October 2, 2013.  To see the original post click here. Customer experience is a term growing in popularity within businesses...

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Apple's #Fail When Dealing with @MarthaStewart This post originally appeared on LinkedIn as part of their influencer program on September 30, 2013.  To see the original post click here. It feels like it was the Tweet heard around the world: "I...

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Are Companies Ready for Trust Agents?

Posted on : 17-08-2009 | By : Frank Eliason | In : Brands, Marketing, Social Media

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Well, ready or not, here they come!  This topic has been on my mind for ages.  With Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s book out and Chris mentioning on his blog, I thought today was the right day to do it.

While at a marketing conference as a guest on a panel regarding Customer Service through Social Media, I started thinking about trust agents.  We heard introductions from each person.  The last panelist was a marketing professional from a very well known online bank.  He seemed like a really good guy.  During his introduction he mentioned how it was all about the brand, and the discussion must center around the brand.  I have heard this so often, typically from marketing people that desire to control the message in social media.  The message is really a conversation.  I tend not to speak with a logo, but rather the person.  The reason why certain people and brands are successful in social media is because they recognize that fact.  Even brands like @Starbucks and @Jetblue let the personality and the person behind the tweets shine through.  We’re all learning about the brand through the people.

Here are six secrets to being a trust agent:

  1. Are you making your own game? (Are you following or writing the new path?)
  2. Are you one of us? In the trenches and engaged in conversation in Social Media for your brand.
  3. Do you understand the Archimedes Effect?  Do you understand how to take what youre doing in one instance and extend it out into something bigger or better elsewhere?
  4. Are you Agent Zero to several networks?
  5. Do you relate well to others?
  6. Are you ready to build armies? Working solo is easy. Do you share what you know to promote larger interactions?

Displaying some or all of these characteristics in social media suggests that you may be a Trust Agent.  This is not necessarily a role or title assigned by a company.  Nor can a company control the message of this person.  This is someone leading the way in this new medium call Social Media.  These are not the numerous self proclaimed experts, but truly the ones that are leading the way in thoughts and actions.

Chris has referred to me as a Trust Agent, but I can never even come close to some of those that lead the way.  I am not sure I will ever live up to the reputations of:

  • Robert Scoble formerly from Microsoft, now with Fast Company
  • Lionel Menchaca at Dell
  • Pam Finnie at HP
  • Matt Cutts at Google
  • Kathy Sierra

This brings me back to the point of the post, we are still at an age where various “brand” professionals are doing what they can to control the conversation and the message.  They are missing the point, but I am not sure why since it has been out there for a long time.  Right now I am reading Brian Solis’ latest book, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.  When I look back at some of Brian’s earlier work he was predicting this loss of control, and the need for companies to enter the conversation from a very different perspective.  Beyond all the expert opinion, the Trust Agent may not always build up their reputation with the permission of the company they work for.  In fact many are in this space now having conversations.  They are becoming the leaders in this new version of marketing.

It is time for companies to step back, realize the conversation is happening, encourage employees to be a part of it, and provide tools to make sure the employees are successful.  This is the right social media plan that every business should have.

Who are some Trust Agents that you know?

A Twitter Warning…

Posted on : 03-08-2009 | By : Frank Eliason | In : In the News, Social Media, Technology

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In today’s Wall Street Journal there are 2 interesting articles about Twitter. The first is one that really emphasizes what I have said for a long time, Twitter is the early warning system and it is important for companies to watch what is being said. The article features friends Scott Monty from Ford and Bonin Bough from Pepsi. It also features Southwest’s Linda Rutherford and Coke’s Adam Brown. I have a lot of respect for what Linda has done at Southwest. I am not as familiar with Adam’s work, but I will keep a look out. If you have the opportunity check it out the article “For Companies, a Tweet in Time Can Avert a PR Mess.

The second article is what is driving me to write this post.  It does not feature anyone I know, but it emphasizes the information available via Twitter.  Twitter has changed the world and made it much more flat.  News and information is flying faster than ever before.  The article, titled “For Traders, Twitter is One More Trading Tool” (requires online subscription), emphasizes the story of a trader that found information via Twitter.  The first paragraph states:

“When Thomas Grisafi read a “tweet” the afternoon of July 22 complaining that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had “goofed again,” the president and chief executive of Indiana Grain Co. wondered what prompted the message.”

This prompted Mr. Grisafi to research what the tweet was about and to trade based on the findings.  My fear is this will drive many to start searching Twitter to make riches.  Remember investing is a long term commitment and short term riches are highly unlikely and involve a lot of risk.  Mr. Grisafi obviously knew who this person was, and had trust in the tweets.  He also did a lot of research off of Twitter before committing money.  This is a key aspect to this story and the reason I am writing this.  Twitter search will not lead to quick riches, and research still must be done.  Unfortunately Twitter has many spammers, similar to the junk mail that you find in your inbox each day.  If you are not buying securities based on spam email, be just as cautious about buying them based on a tweet or perceived information.  I am not saying Twitter is not a useful tool, but like anything else be careful of how your react based on the information.  Even if the person may be a trusted source, such as a known CEO, most will be very careful of what they say.  It is also possible that a twitter account can be hacked or just completely false.  Think of the Exxon Twitter example.

This is just a simple Twitter warning, please go about your day!

Customers are Talking About Blank

Posted on : 29-07-2009 | By : Frank Eliason | In : Brands, Social Media

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I saw this video and had to share it. What is the right blank for you?

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

Posted on : 24-07-2009 | By : Frank Eliason | In : Personal, Social Media

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I have tried to write this post numerous times and continue to get lost for words.  I will apologize ahead of time but I have been wanting to write this for a long time, but post it today.  With all the attempts to start it, I am just getting to the third sentence at 12:02 on Friday, 7/24.  Those that know me, they know July is an emotional time for me.  In fact I even snapped at one of my favorite leaders at work (I should call her today and have her read this).   Twitter has been a wild ride for me, and, for the most part, it has been an amazingly positive experience.  I can not believe all the friends I have made and all the people that have written about our work.  But that is such a small part of the overall story.  I am hoping this will show everyone the true power of social media and Twitter.

So as everyone knows I work for Comcast, a company that has been very good to me.  Since I started on Twitter there are many people who have started to understand the company a little better and may have an improved feeling toward the brand.  I want to take everyone back a little bit to last year.  I started on Twitter back in April, 2008.  With all the discussion of my help, I was working day and night.  I did not have others on Twitter until September or October.  Needless to say it was tough, but on July 26, 2008 I realized what all this hard work was all about.

It was not about PR or marketing, as some believed.  For me it was about helping people that needed assistance, but even I was proven wrong.  Late July is a unique time for me.  My soon to be 3 year old daughter, Lily, was born on July 25.  Last year we had a variety of different things going on, so the only day we could have a party was July 26.  I still can not believe that we had a party on the day, but we would have felt guilty if she did not have a party, which we did think about.  This is because our other daughter, Gia, passed away on July 26, 2004.  In many ways the party turned out to be a good thing, because we were so busy and focused on creating a good day for Lily that it made it much easier on us.  I will never forget the day for so many reasons, from the running around in the morning picking up cakes, balloons, beer, soda at all different places (having it all piled in the Prius must have been a funny thing to see) to the waiting when everyone arrives late after rushing to have it all prepared.  Anyway, the day went well and we were hanging with some neighbors after everyone left.  I swore I would not even look at Twitter that day.  We were sitting in the family room drinking and talking.  My Mac sits on the counter, and I was sitting on the bar stool, so I could not help myself.  I started glancing through my search and I started to notice some interesting tweets.  People responded to others that tweeted me.  Some told Twitter users to let me have my day, others offered suggestions to help, while others simply offered to help.  All I can say is I was touched, and to be honest amazed to see it.  This is when I realized what Twitter is really about.

I hear experts on social media talk about ways to market or how to build up your reputation, these types of thoughts are all wrong.  This is not about going out and posting all kind of links or driving people to other sites.  Twitter is about community and relationships, pure and simple!

I will probably not be around much this weekend, but now I have a team out there who are eager to help.  In fact they have asked me to turn it off this weekend (they even threatened to turn off my internet access).  I do want to take the time to thank them, but also the community of Twitter who over the past 15 months have been so good to me.  Thank you!

Social Media is Powered by Service

Posted on : 23-07-2009 | By : Frank Eliason | In : Customer Service, Social Media

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Forrester’s Dr. Natalie Petouhoff has a great post over at Forrester called Who Should Lead the Customer Social Media Interaction?.  This is a question I have thought about often.  All of us contemplate our future and what we want to be when we grow up.  I am the same way.  I always wondered which direction I should follow, social media or Customer Service.  As everyone knows my passion is Customer Service but social media brings a whole new realm into my career path decisions.  So I want to thank Natalie for helping shed some light on this for me.

I agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Natalie that Customer Service should lead the Customer social media interaction, but this does not mean I think that Customer Service should lead all interactions in social media.   Judging by some tweets, I think some took it that way.  It is my opinion that PR has a specific role regarding corporate messaging and policy, which may be on a corporate blog or on blogs throughout the internet.  Similar to discussions they may have with the press.  I do not run the corporate blog at Comcast, that is done by a great person, Scott McNulty.  He is part of the communications team.  Marketing has their own role in social media, specifically tying together marketing messaging through other channels to the ones used on the web.  They should also create unique messages for the web that relate to the spaces in which implemented.

But after all that, the social web is really about a conversations and relationships.  The best place for these conversations with Customers are the people that do it best, Customer Service.  They know how to help people in need and they also are trained in listening.  So in this world where companies are looking for leadership in the social media world, try first looking in the area that has been helping Customers for a long time.  They will know what to do.

The challenge is Customer Service departments everywhere are stretched thin and do not have the resources or the will to take on additional tasks.  This is something I think companies need to work on, because as we know the social web will hold companies accountable for poor service.  It is now time to really look upon good service as the right marketing for a company.  It can do so much more than ads.

It is funny, but as I was writing this, Pete Blackshaw sent me a link to an article he wrote for Ad Age about Zappos.  The article, titled “Is Customer Service a Media Channel? Ask Zappos,” fits so well into this post.  It is a look at the cult like following of Zappos, and specifically Tony Hsieh.  The reason for this is their slightly (okay a lot more than slightly) wacky culture, but more importantly their belief in the Customer experience.  That is what it is all about.

I do not expect companies to change overnight to create a culture like Zappos, although it would really be cool if they did.  I also do not expect Customer Service departments to gain the budgets they need to create these great experiences or build out new contact channels as the social web.  But I do have an easy way they can start.  Customer Service departments everywhere should consider removing some of the “web sense” blocks on social media websites.  Teach your employees how to use them.  Encourage them to assist Customers if they come across someone in need.  Provide the agents tools that allow them to forward social media links to other areas when they are unable to assist.  This could be a simple email address.  What will be fascinating is the employees will love it, they will help Customer (that is what service people like to do), and it will help start the social media efforts.  Zappos is the perfect example of that.  They teach and encourage all their employees to participate.  Look at the near billion dollar brand they created just by being powered by service.

GM Leading the Way?

Posted on : 12-07-2009 | By : Frank Eliason | In : Brands, Business, Social Media

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On Saturday I was reading the Wall Street Journal and in section B there was an article titled “GM Takes New Direction.”  As we all know GM exited bankruptcy protection on Friday.  It marked a new beginning for the company.  What caught my eye in the article was the 2nd paragraph which stated:

“The new company will put a premium on speed, accountability, and risk taking, and root out the layers of management that had hobbled decision making, he [Frederick “Fritz” Henderson, CEO of GM] said at a news conference.”

Wow, I wonder why they have not done this years ago?  In this time of social networks, and instant communication, speed is the name of the game.  For those on Twitter news is not measured in hours, but more like minutes or even seconds.  But how does this apply to big business?

Well businesses have been changing, even if it is not realized at the top.  With a new generation at the lowest levels, they are not like prior generations.  They want a direct say in the business.  They want to control their own destiny, and one of the ways they will do that is providing their ideas and insights.  It is imperative for organizations to include them in the discussion.  They will tell you everything, whether you want to hear it or not.  I would guess that their actions will force a flattening of the corporate structure, and hopefully the elimination of the typical corporate bureaucracy.

Customers too are now demanding speed and support.  They are tired of not have a personal connection with companies.  As part of this same article Mr. Henderson discussed having his team meet with dealer and consumers around the country.  Wow what a shocking concept.  Yet it took a lot of money, bankruptcy and almost going out of business to think that way.  Hopefully other companies realize this sooner.

The name of the management game is changing.  During my first interview for a management role I was asked what the most important thing for a manager was.  I responded listening.  Needless to say it was the incorrect answer based on the feedback from the interview, but I stand by it.  In the new world order, listening will be the most important attribute of leaders.  You will now have to listen to Customers and employees in a new manner.  Then you will have to further engage them to learn more and to find out if you completely understood.

Social media tools are a great way to consider doing that.  I wonder if GM has built social media tools internally for allowing all levels of the company to communicate with each other?  As we have seen with the uprisings in Iran, social media tools make the world a smaller place.  If used properly internally they can even make a place as large as GM, much smaller.  They can also be used as a means of communicating and listening to Customers.  I do want to emphasize that it is 1 part of what should be an overall plan to listen and engage with all Customers.

I wish GM well as they strive to reinvent themselves, I just hope other companies do not have to go through such drastic steps to realize what needs to be done in this new world.

The Google “Sucks” Index

Posted on : 08-07-2009 | By : Frank Eliason | In : Brands, Social Media

Tags: ,

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Back in February 2008 Business Week had a story by Jeff Jarvis called “Love the Customers Who Hate You.”  I loved the overall theme of the article.  At the time I just started in my position as the manager of digital care.  I saw the great potential to turn detractors into evangelist, but more importantly I recognized that we can learn a lot from these Customers and make the feedback actionable.  This article was the first to enlighten me that my new role was truly the convergence of PR, marketing and Customer Service.

The article also inspired me to do a quick graph of what I call the Google “Sucks” index.  I simply did a search of google for many companies and added the word sucks.  The first thing I noticed was a slight different in the numbers, specific to Wal-mart.  That was because I added together variations of company names, like Wal-Mart and Walmart.  Besides the slight difference, it was a fascinating way to look at where we stood as a business.

Well today we had a luncheon at work to award my team for all their hard work and success in creating the right experience for our Customers.  I am so proud of the work they have done.  This caused a little reminiscing  about what has happened over the past year and a half.  One thing led to another and we starting talking about the Google “Sucks” index.  I never thought I would use a word like sucks around executives as much as I have today.  Anyway, I decided after all the conversation to take a quick look at the index again.  I went and did a search for the different companies and added sucks to the end.  I then looked at the right side of Google and jotted down the number that came up.  I sent the graph around to those that were part of the conversation.  I included a similar caption to the original version with a link to the Jeff Jarvis article.  Everyone loved it, but the next question was can we compare the numbers to the report from February 2008 report I did.  So I went digging and actually found the original report.  So then I did the mathematics to determine the percentage change.  As I was putting together I had to try to remember the original searches to ensure apples to apples comparison of the numbers.

So what were the results?  Since that is work data, I will not publicly share all the information.  I will say only 1 company moved less (and tonight I realized why, it was not apples to apples comparison, the February 2008 version did not have cable in the search where today’s version did).  I would always expect the number to go up since you really can’t ungoogle something.  Ours went up less than 5% while all the others went up 15% to 472%.  Is this a measurement of my team’s success?  Company improvements?  I really do not know but it is a really easy and fun way to measure the movement of the needle.

And they say this space is difficult to measure!

You Heard it Before from Me But This is in Video Form

Posted on : 30-06-2009 | By : Frank Eliason | In : Brands, Comcast, Customer Service, Social Media

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The Story of ComcastCares

Posted on : 29-06-2009 | By : Frank Eliason | In : Business, Comcast, Customer Service, Social Media

Tags: , ,

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After seeing the USA Today story on Friday, I was shocked to be referenced as “something of a legend.”  I see everything I have done as really being Customer Service 101.

I started with Comcast in September, 2007 as a manager of Customer Service in Philadelphia.  On my fourth day with the company we were asked to locate a blogger and reach out to them to assist with a problem.  We called and assisted the Customer.  From that day forward, on occasion, we would reach out to bloggers when we had time.  Each and every time we did that the reaction was overwhelmingly positive.  In December I was asked why we did not write on blogs.  I did not realize we could (my background was in financial services and we were not allowed to write on the web regarding work).  This provided us the opportunity to reach out to many bloggers that were typically anonymous.  Reaction remained overwhelmingly positive.  In February, I became the manager of Digital Care (I later became Director of Digital Care), a new role to look at ways we can meet Customer where they already are.  At that time we started to review ways we can assist Customers in this digital world.  We outlined our goals, which were to listen to our Customer and help when we can.  It is very simplistic, but that remains the same goals we work from today.  Early on we learned from others regarding the space (my only experience in social media was a website for our daughter, and, later, our family website ).  We learned quickly that each space is its own community, and you have to treat it as such.  Forums, for example, are peers helping peers, and you do not want to take away from that.  Based on this, we typically private message within forums.  We were introduced to Twitter by a VP of our southwest region, Scott Westerman.  Like other spaces we watched for a long time, reaching out on occasion via phone.  At one point we reached out to Michael Arrington.  In fact it is a day that stands out for me.  I was procrastinating putting in ceiling fans and I was reviewing emails instead.  I was also reviewing RSS feeds that I had set up, including the one for Twitter.  I noticed Michael’s post, and I called him on the phone.  The next day he posted “Comcast, Twitter and the Chicken, Trust me I have a Point.  The neat part about that post was the first few comments were they reached out to you because you are Michael Arrington.  That was simply not true, we reached out because I saw it.  But other people started posting and telling Michael, “They reached out to me, and I am nobody.  That to me is what it is all about, helping anyone in need.

Anyway, that was the first day I actually tweeted.  My original intent behind ComcastCares, was this ID would be used by all members of my team as I learned how to engage in this space.  My original avatar was the Comcast logo and not my picture.  Well after Michael blogs about you, many follow.  Every post offered different types of feedback.  I read every one, and when possible, incorporated the feedback.  I realized the space was personal, and people wanted to interact with other individuals.  It was then I added my name and later my picture.  It is also why now each of my team members has their own ID.  They also decide background and avatar.  All of my tweets, 31,500 and 15,000 direct messages were done by me.  One of the more memorable blog posts discussed me using the word ‘perception and how it was not typically used.  At first I laughed, because I have always used that word, in writing and speaking to people.  What the post really was telling me to do was loosen up a bit.  So I did.  I also learned very quickly that when you are reaching out to someone, do not try to interfere in any way.  So instead of just providing an answer, we may open the conversation with “Can I help?  If they want assistance, they will respond.  I did learn to tweet about other things and loosen up a lot, but you still need to be careful.  I remember during the first Presidential debate I was following much of the discussion via Twitter search.  I really wanted to get involved in the conversation, but I know politics and religion can be difficult when you represent a company.  During that debate Jim Lehrer tried to control both candidates.  Not thinking it was political, I tweeted “Jim Lehrer for President.  I did not realize that some people view him leaning one way or the other, but responses I received made that clear.  So much for being too personal!  The fact is we are writing the book each day as we learn more and more through every social space.  I always enjoy learning and I love when I have the opportunity to learn even more.

One of the best learnings in this space was not so much the interaction, but the valuable feedback and the speed of information.  I now have so many people watching Twitter search, because it usually provides information even before calls come in.  We are then able to react to it and provide Customers the best information.

So that is enough of this after school special!

Facebook Shifting Power to the Consumer?

Posted on : 28-06-2009 | By : Frank Eliason | In : Brands, Business, Customer Service, Social Media

Tags: ,

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We have been watching the groundswell of Customers in social media, but a current beta for Facebook will completely change the game.  According to Facebook’s statistics there are over 200 million users, with many rumors topping that number well above 300 million.   Compare this to the rumors regarding the size of Twitter which is about 30 million or more.   We have all watched recent enhancements to Facebook that have more Twitterfied the experience.  Now they are adding the capability to share status with everyone, and potentially this information will be searchable.  But what does this all mean, and why are they doing it?

Rumors last fall were that Facebook was making a bid to buy Twitter, but talks never really took off.  Whether the rumor was true or not, there is no doubt that Facebook saw value in what Twitter has to offer.  We have seen many examples where news has taken off via Twitter.  Most recently the uprisings in Iran were broadcast live via Twitter directly from Iran.  This way of communicating is really making the world a smaller place.  We also watched recently has news of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett passing away.  Even fake news has the ability to spread like wildfire, such as the incorrect rumor of Jeff Goldblum dying.  Every piece of news over the past year or so really started via Twitter.  I am sure the same as true in Facebook, but because there was no central resource of this data, no one would know unless you were friends with those talking.  The top 10 Twitter search was a true game changer.

For those that want to get the most out of Twitter, search makes it really easy.  By entering a few key words you can quickly locate new friends that are talking about things of interest.  Facebook has search but it is limited to thing like people’s bio, groups or specific pages.  Not easy to connect with someone that may be talking about a unique musical interest or something like that.  So to me Facebook was always about existing friends.  Twitter has always been about meeting new friends.

So how is this shifting the power to the Consumer?  Today most people online have a megaphone, but the reach may be just within their reach of friends.  It is easier to spread your thoughts on any businesses that you deal with, but it is limited within Facebook.  By changing the status to be available for everyone, this will now provide a megaphone to speak to 100’s of millions of people at any given time.  How will a company respond?  It is time to think about that now.   Advertising on Facebook has not always had the best reach, especially since people tend not to click on the ads.  Ones that have been successful are typically very unique and very hit or miss.  One of my favorites was the Burger King Whopper giveaway.  But now business will have to find a way to harness the power of the Consumer voice, respond to it and create the right experience.  Of course all of this starts with creating the right experience for products and serviced offered to the Customer (and non-Customers for that matter), otherwise this potential groundswell can be much larger than anything we have seen before.  Also people will talk about a product or service, even if not seeking help through ordinary channels.  This will make it where companies will be forced into the conversation.  The one thing we know is in this Google world, information, right or wrong will always be available through Google.

Ready or not, here comes your Customer!