Jeff Nolan - Venture Chronicles » Social Media http://jeffnolan.com/wp Jeff Nolan's take on investment, innovation, entrepreneurship and the technology industry Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:14:09 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Hitching Your Boat to Customer Advocacy http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2012/02/03/hitching-your-boat-to-customer-advocacy/ http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2012/02/03/hitching-your-boat-to-customer-advocacy/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:47:55 +0000 Jeff http://jeffnolan.com/wp/?p=4308 I recently wrote about how McDonald’s and RIM had flamed out with their #hashtag campaigns on Twitter. Not pretty. However, I admit that I am somewhat conflicted about this because I completely subscribe to the notion that customer advocacy will drive successful companies to sustainable competitive leadership. Gone are the days when a company could [...]]]>

I recently wrote about how McDonald’s and RIM had flamed out with their #hashtag campaigns on Twitter. Not pretty.

However, I admit that I am somewhat conflicted about this because I completely subscribe to the notion that customer advocacy will drive successful companies to sustainable competitive leadership. Gone are the days when a company could rely on IT investments for productivity enhancements and supply chain management for lower cost of goods; those things are still necessary but they are also commoditized, your competitors can make the same backoffice investments and the effect will be nullification of any advantage you previously enjoyed.

Institutions of all stripes are at a crossroads when it comes to how they take advantage of the goodwill that is extended to them by customers who are happy with them. The old way would be for the company to productize customer testimonial and package it up through traditional channels… the problem is that this is like going to a zoo that features puppets and animatronics instead of actual animals. Customer testimonials don’t work because they are not believable, customers have figured out the game and aren’t playing along.

Esurance is doing something that is really worth watching, they have built an advertising campaign that comes down to a simple message, “go to our Facebook fan page and see for yourself”. They let it all roll out in, apparently, an unmoderated format and the effect is that the negative comments actually amplify the positive comments.

I like this a lot, no pun intended.

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]]> http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2012/02/03/hitching-your-boat-to-customer-advocacy/feed/ 0 Put Down the #Hashtag Campaign http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2012/01/31/put-down-the-hashtag-campaign/ http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2012/01/31/put-down-the-hashtag-campaign/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:42:11 +0000 Jeff http://jeffnolan.com/wp/?p=4302 McDonald’s recently had to endure the ignominy of a Twitter hashtag campaign that was hijacked for the purpose of highlighting what people don’t like about the Golden Arches. The #McDStories campaign blew up and even after McDonald’s tried to shut it down the hashtag lived on for days. Today we have RIM, the company that [...]]]>

McDonald’s recently had to endure the ignominy of a Twitter hashtag campaign that was hijacked for the purpose of highlighting what people don’t like about the Golden Arches. The #McDStories campaign blew up and even after McDonald’s tried to shut it down the hashtag lived on for days.

Today we have RIM, the company that can do no right… #BeBold is proving to be yet another lesson in why your company should not try to co-opt Twitter in an organized fashion unless you are absolutely certain that people love your brand.

RIM has denied that this is an ad campaign in a blog post that features a string of less than encouraging comments… which will be my next blog post, titled “turn off commenting if people don’t love your brand and you don’t care”.

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]]> http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2012/01/31/put-down-the-hashtag-campaign/feed/ 2 Link Post (weekly) http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2012/01/28/link-post-weekly-24/ http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2012/01/28/link-post-weekly-24/#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:40:11 +0000 Jeff http://jeffnolan.com/wp/?p=4297 Beware: Alternative Certification Is Coming – Innovations – The Chronicle of Higher Education tags: blog education Ten Things You’re Not Allowed to Say at Davos – Umair Haque – Harvard Business Review tags: blog davos Facebook’s Sandberg Gently Warns Europe About Privacy Rules – NYTimes.com “Concerned about privacy? Maybe you should be concerned about the [...]]]>

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]]> http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2012/01/28/link-post-weekly-24/feed/ 0 Link Post (weekly) http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2012/01/23/link-post-weekly-23/ http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2012/01/23/link-post-weekly-23/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:00:20 +0000 Jeff http://jeffnolan.com/wp/?p=4286 » Consumers are social, Customers are personal ProjectVRM the gist… stop treating customers like demographic groups. Customers are people first, their behaviors map not to trends but unique traits that exist at the intersection of values and needs. tags: blog The Secret To Pinterest’s Astounding Success: A Brilliant Sign-Up Process You Should Copy tags: blog [...]]]>

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]]> http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2012/01/23/link-post-weekly-23/feed/ 0 Link Post (weekly) http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/12/17/link-post-weekly-22/ http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/12/17/link-post-weekly-22/#comments Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:39:07 +0000 Jeff http://jeffnolan.com/wp/?p=4255 “Wages Must Fall!”: What All Good Keynesians Should Say, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty The gloating is easy to understand.  After all, nominal wage rigidity is the driving assumption of the Keynesian model.  Unemployment is just a labor surplus; since wages are the price of labor, the fundamental cause of [...]]]>

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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]]> http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/12/17/link-post-weekly-22/feed/ 0 Link Post (weekly) http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/12/10/link-post-weekly-21/ http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/12/10/link-post-weekly-21/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:39:46 +0000 Jeff http://jeffnolan.com/wp/?p=4240 Classic.Ars: Understanding Moore’s Law A must read so that when someone declares that Moore’s Law is the reason why… you will be able to refute the point. tags: blog Moore’s Law Study: Nearly 80 percent of college students can’t figure out QR codes I’m kind of tired of these codes showing up in places that [...]]]>

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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]]> http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/12/10/link-post-weekly-21/feed/ 0 Link Post (weekly) http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/12/03/link-post-weekly-20/ http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/12/03/link-post-weekly-20/#comments Sun, 04 Dec 2011 00:40:11 +0000 Jeff http://jeffnolan.com/wp/?p=4219 The Dwindling Power of a College Degree – NYTimes.com tags: blog Finally! Flickr Alternative 500px Launches Its Lightroom Plugin | TechCrunch tags: blog lightroom plugin HubSpot’s Best Practices for Managing SaaS Inside Sales | For Entrepreneurs This is a really thoughtful post that goes to a level of detail not easily found. tags: blog best [...]]]>

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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]]> http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/12/03/link-post-weekly-20/feed/ 0 Link Post (weekly) http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/11/19/link-post-weekly-19/ http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/11/19/link-post-weekly-19/#comments Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:39:54 +0000 Jeff http://jeffnolan.com/wp/?p=4215 One Per Cent: Occupy vs Tea Party: what their Twitter networks reveal The notion of comparing one to the other in isolation of other factors seems suspect however I am interested in this if for no other reason than the analytical approach that it reveals, which sheds a light on how social network analytics can [...]]]>

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]]> http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/11/19/link-post-weekly-19/feed/ 0 Link Post (weekly) http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/11/12/link-post-weekly-18/ http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/11/12/link-post-weekly-18/#comments Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:40:21 +0000 Jeff http://jeffnolan.com/wp/?p=4201 Salesforce.com Do.com Taps Gmail to Tackle Microsoft tags: blog do.com salesforce gmail microsoft Dwolla online payments that sidestep credit cards altogether tags: blog GUYS READ | Books funny tags: blog Engagement is the Journey, Loyalty is the Destination | Loyalty360.org tags: blog engagement loyalty Big Data Infographic and Gartner 2012 Top 10 Strategic Tech Trends [...]]]>

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]]> http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/11/12/link-post-weekly-18/feed/ 0 Link Post (weekly) http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/11/05/link-post-weekly-17/ http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2011/11/05/link-post-weekly-17/#comments Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:39:39 +0000 Jeff http://jeffnolan.com/wp/?p=4192 The Investigators: How to Get a Human Being – Action News 5 – Memphis, Tennessee Nice shout out to Get Satisfaction but the other company to check out is FastCustomer. I met with these guys a few months ago and just love the concept as much as how they have delivered on it. tags: blog [...]]]>

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