The 27 varieties of tweet used by retailers
I had a conversation the other day with a retailer who was interested in social media, but who didn’t know what to make of Twitter. It went a little bit like this:
She: “Isn’t it just another way of pushing out offers?”
Me: “Yes.”
She: "What else can we tweet about?"
Me: "You'd be surprised..."
So by way of a more detailed answer I thought I'd compile a list of the different types of tweet posted by retailers. There is a lot more to Twitter than simply firing out offers. Retailers use Twitter in lots of different ways, rather than simply tweeting about product promotions and hoping for the best.
I’ll outline the various types of tweet in this article, but first, a word to the wise…
Q&A: Marc Schiller, CEO of ElectricArtists
Marc Schiller is CEO of ElectricArtists, a groundbreaking digital agency in New York with a client roster that has included such major and broad-ranging clients as American Express, Starwood Hotels, A&E Networks, The History Channel, USA Network, Microsoft, Netflix, and The Los Angeles Lakers.
The company has created some of the most innovative and original work in the social media arena, from the first marketing presence in Second Lift back in 2006 to the much more recent Trackingtwitter, a site that tracks (and rates) major brands and products on Twitter.
Marc spends a great deal of his time considering how social media influences marketing, and how marketing can leverage social media. He'll share some of that thinking with the attendees of our Peer Summit in New York on October 8.
Being the impatient types, we asked Marc if we couldn't have a sneak peek now as to what he'll be sharing with the audience next month. Happiily, he obliged.
What can DSGi do about its employees' Facebook group?
As reported at the end of last week, staff from DSGi group, which runs Dixons and PC World, have set up a Facebook group which includes several posts slagging off customers.
The DSGi employees' Facebook group, which has 3,000 members, is marked as unofficial, but it will still cause plenty of embarrassment to the company, and won't go down too well with any customers whoh happen to read it.
Gone fishing: Seven tips for providing customer service support via Twitter
I've never done a list before, but here's my seven tips from using Twitter to provide customer service and online help and support. What are yours?
Love your customer service staff, love your customers
There's an old adage about it costing five times as much to acquire a new customer as to retain a new one. So why – in these difficult times - aren't more businesses focused on reducing customer churn, and improving customer service levels, to generate more repeat business?
This is fundamentally a cultural problem for many companies. There needs to be a shift in the mindset of larger organisations, in order to keep both staff and customers satisfied. I'm not sure that the balance is right, and I'm hoping that the next decade will be all about retention and satisfaction, so here I'm going to lobby for love. I want you to give more love to your customer services staff, for they are at the forefront of your push towards boosting customer satisfaction...
Etailers still need to improve customer service: survey
Online retailers still need to work on customer services, with slow responses to customer queries among the areas which need improvement.
The latest e-Customer Service Index survey by eDigitalResearch and IMRG, which asked 10,000 respondents, scored 76.7% overall, compared with 79.6% in November 2008. Providing online help and the speed of response to customer enquiries were the main issues.
When did advertising become more important than published content?
An incident happened last week — I tweeted a caustic expletive directed at DoubleClick knowing that only my tribe would read the invective. What realization occurred that would have me throw political correctness out the window? It was the moment when I realized DoubleClick behaved as if their advertising was more important, perhaps more desirable, than the actual published content that I had clicked to experience. Or, maybe the ad platform/producer just isn’t aware of how their technology rubs up against other technologies...
Retailers need to focus on online customer service
When confronted with poor standards of customer service online, 94% of respondents to a survey said they would seek out a competitor or stop using the company's website altogether.
The survey, commissioned by nGeneraCIM, highlights the importance of meeting the needs of customers online, with 91% of UK web users saying thet customer service is important when buying online.
Tomorrow's news companies: small, lean and venture capitalist
Future news organisations, the ones that make it out of the recession, will look much different than pre-recession times. They'll be smaller and leaner. But if they're smart, they'll also have a big role in VC for companies developing products that could help them gain a competitive advantage.
P&O comes top of travel website usability study
Cross-channel ferry operator P&O is one of the most usable travel websites in the UK, according to a study of 18 leading sites, while the wooden spoon goes to Eurotunnel.
The eDigital Research Travel Benchmark report (registration required) surveyed mystery shoppers to provide ratings for first impressions, search, the booking process, and customer service.
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Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
