I'm Now More Addicted to Craigslist

So I have an obsession. It's called Craigslist. I can spend hours for searching for deals on things I never really needed. However, I've recently been very conflicted between my Craigslist apps and browser applications- is it too much to ask to view previews?

Today, I found the answer: Craigslist Helper. (Alright, I agree, the name is about as boring as the typical Craigslist site but it gets better.)

Users can efficiently preview and zoom through their browser, greatly increasing the efficiency for addicted deal-seekers like myself.

Still needing your social networking fix to be impressed? Check out Keepio, a selling site that emphasizes a community to "sell, share, or swap" with a network of your own friends.

And, hey, there's always a garage sale!

Social Media's Surge: Is It Really Smart?

I referenced an awesome article I found naming the top ten "dum" social things people do. Jay Deragon put together some convincing opinions but the overwhelming comment that stuck with me:

It is becoming apparent that everybody is selling something while nobody is learning anything.

There is such a whirlwind around social networking right now, including a booming job market for those who can successfully deliver a winning strategy.

 Indeed currently shows upwards of 2000% growth for social media jobs. In reality, is our focus to truly engage customers or just get a certain number of "Likes"?

Minor Panic Attack

Sorry for the delay. I am currently trying to refrain from throwing my computer out of the window.

In the past several days, I have run into issues uploading pictures/content. Whatever, no big deal, right?

Well last week I expressed my excitement over my new Facebook Page. And since then I've gotten absolutely no where. So much so that I actually created a new admin account, just to see if I could trick it into doing something. No such luck.

On the upside, I was able to create a pretty snazzy Welcome page for all to see. Still trying to figure out if a bug is preventing it from becoming my landing page though. Got the FB App Networked Blogs, but was unable to add any blogs to it.

How about Liking some other Pages? At this point, I'm just sad signing in and seeing all of these blank areas on the screen. And then, just like Ashton punking Justin, I see this:

I'm posting this before I lose my internet connection and my screen shots are lost. Breath in, breath out...

Facebook v. Twitter: Social Sharing is Caring 'Likes' Both

Houston- We have a Facebook page.

Yes, that's correct, I've joined approximately 61% of Fortune Global 100 companies. You're probably thinking, "So what?" Consider though that 77% of these companies have Twitter accounts and only 36% have corporate blogs. 

While Twitter may carry the most business users, there is no denying the impact of a successful Facebook page. A simple Facebook "Like" can serve as an ambassador to spread your company's message. A recent study by Eventbrite estimates the average "Like" to bring  in $1.34 versus the $.80 the average tweet drove in ticket sales. The question is why. What do you feel makes the Facebook News Feed different from the Twitter Timeline?

Quality over Quantity: Twitter for Customer Service

Although a slightly older article (2 years! madness!), I was still impressed when I read comments made by a Jet Blue manager, Morgan Johnston, regarding their social media philosophy. The important points:

• be driven by its followers
• grow naturally with the Twitter audience
• encouraging new users who may not understand how Twitter works makes JetBlue hesitant to promote the account to passengers.

In short- I couldn't agree more. It goes back to my recent thoughts on the Comcast Twitter strategy, which argued that customer expectations may create a gap and be disadvantageous. It is not enough to simply participate in the social media area. Due to the natural growth of the Twitter audience, a failure to adequately meet customer expectations is just a detrimental as having poor customer service over the phone. In fact, because of the viral nature of social media, brands must start placing emphasis on the quality of customer service provided and not just how to incorporate its use.

Comcast Does Care. Why Isn't It Enough?

During a recent assignment in a marketing course, I reflected on the frequent reference to Comcast's exemplary use of Twitter as a customer service medium. After monitoring tweets for a short period of time, I couldn't help but question the effectiveness of the current Comcast social media strategy. (You can find my entire commentary on the issue here.) I was somewhat surprised to find a response to my critique from @ComcastBill:

Interesting post. I saw a few things I wanted to comment on that I read in both of your students feedback.  
 
I completely agree on providing better customer service from the first phone call and all the way through the install and far beyond the customers’ expectations. We do have employees who monitor Social Media as a whole not just twitter, as myself being one of them. I do run the @comcastcares handle as well as the @comcastbill and I was shocked about hearing we were not personal as we get applauded for the great efforts of being real “humanizing the brand”. There was also another comment about not having enough handles to monitor the Twitter stream. I can honestly say we respond to just about everyone and try to help with all issues. Our team is built of 8 members from all around the company. We have some from business services to engineers and even our CDV guru. The reason the team is built this way is to provide a fast resolution time. I know that was another comment one made.  
 
Anyway, it’s good to hear teachers are including SM in their lesson plans. If you would like to chat further my email is William_Gerth@comcast.com

Even in the response, I get a pretty good feeling of the personal and human nature of @ComcastBill. I also think it's important to clarify that the major flaws I noticed during my observations were created by customers. During the initial phase of the @ComcastCares rollout on Twitter, I would argue that this was a brilliant move- considering your clients, going to where they are to provide service, all while creating a more personal connection. However, [for the record, I did monitor for a few hours before writing this post as well and witnessed the same thing] when I search #Comcast on Twitter right now and scroll through all of tweets displayed for the last nine hours, they are 95% negative. 

That doesn't mean @ComcastCares isn't working. Doesn't mean @ComcastCares isn't resolving a mass amount of customer issues. Or that 90% of the 95% negative wasn't absolutely ridiculous ("why did you turn my cable off after only being 1 month late?", "damn you for my internet going down for the past 5 minutes", etc.) 

What I am saying- as a casual observer, I'm not longer impressed by simply your presence on Twitter. Because it's now rather common, I'm now much more prone to judge the quality. And, IMHO, it appears as though customers are still demanding more.