Headline from CNN

Bad things can happen to any business or brand. You do your best to avoid it; you hire the right people, make the right products, make the right decisions. Sometimes, though, things still don’t go as planned and something, someone screws-up. It’s often what happens next that can make, break or save a brand’s reputation. One well-known, household brand had a bad thing happen last night. Luckily for the rest of us, we are able to take a step back and view what happened from a safe distance and learn from their experience.

This blog post isn’t about what happened. It’s about the thing that happened next – after the first thing had happened. Confused? Hang in there; allow me to explain. This is important because there are critical lessons here for all of us using social media for business.

What happened first

As is the norm these days during large events, people were sharing their thoughts and observations during the Presidential Debate which took place in Denver, Colorado last night. Among the millions of debate-related tweets on Twitter, there was a completely insensitive and inappropriate tweet about President Obama’s grandmother. Many people were especially surprised and offended to see that the tweet had come from a well known brand, KitchenAid.  The backlash against KitchenAid from people discussing and complaining about the tweet was immediate and loud. Within minutes, the blunder had become visible to many online and was already the subject of numerous news articles. While brands want to gain visibility in front of new audiences, this is not the way they’d like for it to happen.

For those of us who are heavy social media users, it was easy to see how this probably happened. I assumed that someone with access to the KitchenAid Twitter account, someone on their social media team, had intended to post the tweet from their own personal account, but accidentally posted it to the KitchenAid account instead. There is no way around it; this his is an enormous mistake. It turns out that my assumption was correct. Within minutes of the now-infamous tweet from the KitchenAid account, it was deleted and reappeared on an individual’s personal Twitter account. Was this the person responsible for publishing the tweet from the KitchenAid  account? I don’t know with certainty and, for purposes of this post, it really doesn’t matter.

No matter how long the tweet had been live on the Kitchen Aid account prior to being removed, the damage had been done. Instantly, there were numerous complaints, some even going so far as to suggest customers boycott the company.

That’s what happened first.

What happened next

Things move very quickly in the world of social media. Brand missteps are shared at viral speeds, meaning that with each passing moment, the number of people who are joining the conversation about the misstep increases exponentially. The huge mistake that many brands make at this moment is waiting. They are unsure of what to say and who should say it. They haven’t taken the time to set up a crisis communications plan, so they aren’t even sure who has the authority to speak on the brand’s behalf in response to the outrage. All too frequently, the decision is to wait to set up a meeting – a meeting at which all of these decisions and next steps will be spelled out in detail. Meanwhile, people continue to complain and the volume of unhappy voices grows louder in the absence of any response from the company.

It is here that KitchenAid, specifically Cynthia Soledad, gave us a lesson in how to address a rapidly spinning out-of-control problem. Cynthia is the Senior Director of KitchenAid Brand and Marketing Services. Don’t get me wrong, they did screw-up – and in spectacular fashion. Still, once that screw-up had already taken place, what they, what Cynthia did, was right on the money. As the tweets appear in reverse chronological order in the image below, meaning that the most recent ones appear first, let’s start at the bottom of the image and work our way up to examine what she did.

1. An immediate apology. There is no attempt to explain or excuse what happened. An apology straight away. Additionally, the #nbcpolitics hashtag is included, as it was in the original offending tweet, to make sure that the apology is visible to the same audience.

2. Pull back the curtain and be human. Often, on big brand social media accounts, the team goes to great lengths to speak with the voice of the brand. Cynthia made just the right move to step out into the open and identify herself.

3. Targeted apology. Another apology, but this one used the President’s Twitter username, to personalize the apology as the offending tweet was personal.

4. What happened. This is all we need to know. Frankly, I’d say that the fact that we’re told that this person won’t be tweeting for them any longer goes beyond the information we have a right or need to know. There were comments from people demanding to know if the individual was fired. Not only should this not be our concern, it is none of our business as it is an internal matter for the company to deal with as they see fit.

5. Be accountable and accept responsibility – period. I have no knowledge of the specifics of this particular situation, but I can only imagine that Cynthia, her coworkers, her boss and members of the social media team were and will be having some frank and unpleasant conversations. There will be plenty of time to second-guess the decisions that led up to this moment, but  a good leader steps up to take responsibility without qualification.

6. Outreach. Cynthia then took specific steps to contact media outlets which had written about the blunder and the resulting anger. By contacting them directly and publicly on Twitter, other reporters and bloggers took note of her willingness to make herself available for interviews.

The result…so far

KitchenAid’s authentic response within minutes of the original tweet seems to have changed the story significantly. There is no way to undo what had been done, but changing headlines on news stories from “KitchenAid Insults Obama” to “KitchenAid Apologizes for Insulting Obama” is huge.  Equally important is the fact that sentiment of commenters online shifted significantly from a roar of complaints to many thanking Cynthia for her openness and quick apology.

It is not all hearts and roses for KitchenAid. This stain on their reputation won’t disappear right away, but had the response not been as quick or as authentic, KItchenAid would have been dealing with a public relations problem of a much larger magnitude.

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We were excited when we first friended you on Facebook. It’ll be a fun way to stay in touch, we thought. It’ll be a great way to get to know you better, we thought.  That was then before we got to know the Facebook version of the person we thought we knew and now we’re reconsidering our Facebook friendship, wondering if it’s time to cut our losses and move on.

We all have our own style and preferences for how we use Facebook, and this is as it should be. There is no one right way to use social media, but there may be one (or more) right ways that are the best fit for each of us. Ever since I wrote about the reasons I unfollow people on Twitter, I’ve been asked to share a similar list of deal-breakers which might lead me to unfriend someone on Facebook. These aren’t rules that everyone must follow, these are just my own preferences. Breaking up a Facebook friendship can be a bigger deal than unfollowing someone on Twitter. Even I’ve been known to get my feelings hurt when I thought a Facebook friendship was in jeopardy. That said, in no particular order, here are just a few ways to move our relationship from friends to ex-friends:

1. Drama, drama, drama. You complain about your job, your friends, your family. You argue with people on their Facebook updates. Your relationship status is Single>In a relationship>It’s complicated>Engaged>In an open relationship>In a civil union, all within a period of two weeks. Slow down, take a deep breath. My goodness, it must take a lot of energy to be you. It’s exhausting, even from a distance.
2. Tweets. I don’t want to see all of your Twitter updates on Facebook. To me, the pace, context, and conversation are very different on Twitter than on Facebook. Eons ago, I did this for a brief spell. No one said a word, but when I stopped, many of my friends rejoiced aloud. People hate seeing Tweets on LinkedIn, the same goes for Facebook. Just because there is an app for that doesn’t mean you should use it. Consider your audience first, convenience second.
3. App requests. You send me requests to play games and to be added to your birthday calendar. When I don’t accept, you send them again. When I block that particular app to prevent a recurrence, you ask that I add a different app. Each app I add is granted access to my Facebook account, so I’m pretty particular about which ones I add. Some of your friends may accept the requests. The rest of your friends see them as spam.
4. Group messages. Oh, how I hate these. You have a favor you want to ask a bunch of your friends. No worries, Facebook has an easy way for you to message 47 of your closest friends to tell everyone what you need all at once. The problem with this is that every single time one of the other 46 recipients replies, it notifies me that I’ve got a new message. Similar to #2, just because there is a way to do this doesn’t mean you should. This is totally annoying, except when used with a small number of friends who all know each other well and who actually want to have a conversation this way. Think about what works for your friends. Don’t click the button that makes life easier for you.
5. Event invitations. Really? Were you really hoping that I’d fly 3,000 miles to join you for drinks for your cousin’s birthday next week? Did you think there was even the slightest possibility that I might consider doing this? Of course not. Yes, I realize that scanning through all of your friends to invite only those who might be interested based on the type of event and those who are geographically compatible takes some time. Got thousands of friends and this task is untenable? Oh well, figure it out. Why spam 75% of your friends with an invitation that makes no sense than take the time to find the 25% who might want to attend?
6. Troll my list of friends. Unless you happen to know one of them or have synergy grown through commenting interaction, don’t assume it is a good idea to send friend requests to everyone connected to me. Several of my friends have asked, “Hey, who’s this guy Joe? He sent me a friend request.” What’s even worse, you also sent friend requests to my kid and her friends. They found it creepy and, frankly, so do I.
7. Unintentional spammer. I know you didn’t mean to do it, but you did it over and over and over. Every time you were fooled into clicking on a malicious link, it spams all of your friends. We explained how to avoid it in the future the first time. The second time, we talked you through have to fix things and prevent it from happening again. It’s now happened four more times. That’s enough for me.
8. You’re naked. You’re at the beach, the gym, in lingerie or wrapped in a towel as you emerge from the shower. Is it just me, or does there seem to be a correlation between how little clothing someone wears and how frequently they post photos of themselves? You know you look good, we know you look good. Now, go put some clothes on.

That’s my list. Did I hit on your pet peeve or would you add something to the list? Let me know in the comments below what would lead you to unfriend someone.

Image courtesy of Oli Dunkley

Even though I often communicate through social channels, such as Facebook, Twitter or chat messages, my mailbox remains a sacred place where the most important conversations take place. This is the reason many people are careful about with whom they share their email address. Allowing unwanted noise into the mailbox makes it more cluttered and harder to find the important email, plus it’s so darn irritating when someone abuses your time and attention by sending something you don’t want.

Do you know an email sinner? Might you be committing some of these sins yourself? Here are a few email sins. Take a peek and see if any sound familiar.

1. Name Sin: You sent the email to Jeanette, yet the email begins, “Dear Richard” or, just as bad, “Dear {first name}.”  Either way, it’s obvious that you are sending the email to many people, but trying to make it appear personal. It didn’t work.
2. Subject Line Sin: The subject line is vague and does not make the intent of the email clear. “Saw this and thought of you” = bad. “Need your help at a sales meeting Wednesday” = better.
3. Bait and Switch Sin: The subject line and beginning of the email seem to make it seem that you are interested in the recipient, but it quickly becomes clear that this is a marketing message. You tried to sneak into the backdoor of someone’s mailbox by pretending to be a friend when you should have knocked on the front door and announced that this was a sales call.
4. CC and BCC Sin: You don’t know when to use cc: and bcc: on an email, so you end up ticking off everyone in the process. Don’t copy anyone on an email who does not want that email. Ask yourself: Am I including them because they want to know about this or because I want them to know about this? If it is the latter, stop right there. And, if you must copy others on the email who don’t know each other (or have other connection, such as working for the same company), don’t expose their email addresses by including them in the cc: field. In this case, be considerate enough to protect their email addresses by adding them as a bcc:.
5. Viral Forwarding Sin: Just because your Uncle Henry thought it was a funny story or an opportunity for everyone to win a free iPad or a warning that drinking milk on Saturdays will cause children to grow an extra arm, you do not need to forward that email to every last person you know. You don’t need to forward it to anyone, for that matter. Whether you know it or not, you likely have friends sending these email directly to the trash. They may not even bother to open them anymore. And, for the love of god, before you forward another email, do yourself and your friends a big favor and check to be sure the information is accurate. I can’t even count the number of times a friend has passed on something, only to be embarrassed later when they learned it was a hoax.
6. Email Signature Sin: Your email signature is longer than your email. It includes 37 links to various sites, along with your favorite philosophical quote, today’s astrological horoscope and a lovely photo you took of the kids at the lake last summer. It’s all just too much. You’re awesome, we get it. You’re talented, thoughtful, lucky and love your family. Just make it easy for us to read the damn email and how to contact you <full stop>.
7. Have a Point and Get to It Sin: Your email started with 3 paragraphs about the weather and your last vacation before the sales pitch (or request for a favor or offer to help on a project) in paragraph #4. If someone read the first 3 paragraphs, they probably don’t want to buy your stuff. If they did want to buy it, they stopped reading after the 1st paragraph and never made it to the pitch.
8. Newsletter Sin: Just because someone once handed you a business card does not make it OK for you to add them to your newsletter email list. And, before you reply by explaining that there is an easy way to unsubscribe and opt-out if they aren’t interested, understand that this reasoning is extremely inconsiderate, presumptuous and likely ineffective. People who do not want to be on your email list may unsubscribe, but they also may mark it as spam (not a good thing for you). The ability to opt-out is not the same thing as opt-in. Unless someone has done business with you or has otherwise requested to be added to your email list, don’t send them your junk. Seriously, don’t.
9. ALL CAPS Sin: DO I REALLY NEED TO EXPLAIN THIS ONE?
10. IM Speak Sin: Like OMG, you know what I mean? ROFL LMFAO LOL Unless you are sending email to a 14 year-old (or someone who knows you extremely well and/or you use these terms ironically), stop it. 🙂

 
These are just a few of the email sins which cause me to overlook or send an email to the virtual trash. What email sins do you see being committed day after day? Please share them in the comments to make the world of email a better place for us all. LOL 🙂

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 Image courtesy of iamqui

A few days ago, I had a chance to have lunch with a dear friend. Lola is successful and intelligent, as well as both technology and business savvy.  Naturally, given my work, the conversation turned to the topic of social media. Lola doesn’t use Facebook. She never has and has absolutely no interest in starting now. Though she has never used Facebook, she has extremely strong opinions about many aspects of the widely popular social networking site, ranging from privacy to rampant oversharing to the implicit meaning of the Like button.

Judging from a distance

I left our lunch wondering…How could someone so bright know that she was opposed to one of the most popular activities in the world without even trying it out herself? Wasn’t she curious in the least bit? Hadn’t she read articles about business-related successes on Facebook, along with the articles about oversharing and privacy risks? If we were talking about something difficult or dangerous (say, cliff diving), I’d understand, but Facebook?

Using social media is not straight forward. Everyone’s experience – what they hope it will be and what it actually turns out to be – is different. One’s experience has everything to do with whom we connect online. It has to do with strategy, style, preferences, and an understanding of the networking platform.

Social media is easily misunderstood. It’s misunderstood when it’s perceived as content, rather than a channel through which content is shared. It is misunderstood when it is seen as a tool which defines one’s experience, rather than a tool which can be used to tailor one’s experience. Would we refuse to use the telephone if we didn’t like the way other people were using it?

Here’s where the brussels sprout come in

Social media is like brussels sprouts. Well, kinda like brussels sprouts. It’s the brussels sprouts of the internet. Brussels sprouts have been described as ugly, smelly and bitter, yet they are rich in disease fighting nutrients. Most people I know despise brussels sprouts; would only consider eating them if no other food was available within a 400 mile radius. Many of these same people have never eaten a brussels sprout or haven’t had one since they were a child. Like social media, brussels sprouts are/can be very good for us, yet both are frequently dismissed based solely on what we’ve “heard” about them.

I’ve put together a handy scientific* chart illustrating this point.

“No, thank you” helpings

When I was young and didn’t want to try a new food, I was told I had to take a No, thank you helping.  A No, thank you helping was a small sampling of whatever I was trying to avoid. It was a taste, just enough for me to decide if I truly did not like the food based on my own first-hand experience, rather than decide based on its purple-ish color or the fact that my sister cried when she tasted it.

Is it possible to take a No, thank you helping of Facebook (or other social media channels)? I propose that it is and that it is simple to do so. One need only to set up an account, connect with interesting people or organizations and periodically read what is being shared. If something seems interesting, it is easy to add a comment and contribute to the conversation. While this small taste will not be the same experience as when one is fully engaged, it is possible to skim the surface and get a sense of how others are using social media. At a minimum, it may facilitate a more informed decision.

On a personal level, I take No, thank you helpings on a regular basis when it comes to something new or something I haven’t tried in a long time. I’ve  hated brussels sprouts for as long as I can remember. A few weeks ago, on a whim, I decided to give them another try, another No, thank you helping. While I don’t expect them to become my favorite food anytime soon, I was surprised to find how much I liked them. All it took was the right recipe and an open mind, and a willingness to give them another try.

*Scientific means that it makes sense in my head

Image courtesy of Ed Yourdon

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Beware the hidden dangers of social media.

Social media is all the rage. All the cool kids are using it; at least, that’s what the cool kids on the internet are telling us. The number of businesses on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube is mind-boggling, but the real question is how many of them are using the tools wisely?

If you own a business, work for or with businesses, I’m sure you’ve heard from nearly everyone you know that you must be using social media. The pressure to jump into the game immediately, plus the perception that social media success is both free and easy, have led many businesses to make very visible mistakes online. A poorly constructed and executed social plan often leads to results more problematic than had the business done nothing at all.

How many businesses have we all seen have their efforts undermined because they failed to recognize the signs that they weren’t prepared? The good news is that we can all learn from their mistakes, a few of which have led to…

Signs Your Business Should Not Be Using Social Media (Yet)

1. You Like It Because You Think It’s Free

Your primary reason for wanting to use social media is that you think it’s the “modern” way to send your promotional messages out to large numbers of people all at once with very little cost and effort. Perhaps, you’ve sent out promotional postcards (a.k.a. junk mail) in the past and are now looking for a more cost effective way to reach more people. If this is your primary activity online, you are not a marketer. You are a spammer.

2. You’re Obsessed with ROI

You are under the impression that you must know the precise ROI (Return on Investment) of your social media efforts before you begin. Using digital platforms successfully to build community, relationships, and trust is an iterative process. It is, and should be, a strategic approach beginning with thoughtful first steps, followed by measuring the results and adjusting things where appropriate.

Anyone who tells you that if you do X [/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][some social media task], you will achieve Y [specific number of Facebook fans, % increase in sales, etc.] is blowing smoke in your direction. Did you calculate the ROI of the telephone or the company car before you invested in them? Did you know up front how to connect those investments to the bottom line? Of course not, but you knew they were important to the business and you have continually evaluated your use of them to maximize their value. Understanding exactly what you want to measure and how to measure it takes time. Don’t expect to have this completely nailed down before you even begin.

3. Meet Your New Chief of Social Media: The Neighbor’s Kid

The kid spends all day on Facebook anyway, so it makes sense to let him handle all of the social media for your business, right? Plus, you don’t need to pay him. He’s happy to put in a couple of hours a week just to have access to your swimming pool in the summer. If this is the direction you’re heading, or a similar plan to assign the task to a student who will work for peanuts <ahem, intern>, I encourage you to do some research and consider finding someone who is qualified to guide your efforts. Spoiler alert: Being able to tweet or post photos to Facebook from a smartphone doesn’t count as a qualification. 

4. Set Up Your Social Accounts, Watch the Money Roll In

You’ve heard the stories; a bookstore (or was it a coffee shop, no wait, it was a computer company, or was it a magazine, it’s so hard to remember) set up a Facebook Page and six weeks later had 2.5 million Facebook fans and increased sales by 420%.

Stories are just that – stories, not reality. Here’s the truth about social media: It’s not magic; it takes work. It is not a “set it and forget it” proposition. Like most things in life, success comes with focus, competence, passion, a unique vision and, yes, work. In fact, simply setting up pages and then letting them go stale without any activity can do more harm to your brand than had you never set them up in the first place.

5. Your Business Sucks

Incorporating social media tools into an overall business strategy definitely offers important opportunities which wouldn’t have been possible any other way. That said, investing in social media will not save you if your product or service, uhm, sucks. If your customers or your employees aren’t happy, adopting social media will not save your sinking ship. Social media provides a larger platform to be who we are and amplifies the voices of those talking about you. If whatever you’re selling doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, it might be best to focus your efforts on fixing that problem first and tackle social media once the business sucks a little less.

If these signs describe your view of social media, take heart, you aren’t the only one. Too many are under the impression that going online is a sure-fire way to boost business with little to no effort. If you take the time to really understand the benefits, risks and best practices (or partner with someone else who understands this), you could well be on your way to building the kind of online presence that suits your business best. It won’t happen overnight, but it can happen.

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Image courtesy of upyernoz 

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Seemingly stealth group members. You know they’re there, but you can’t find them.

Today’s post is written specifically for those responsible for managing a Group on Facebook. Facebook Groups don’t get as much buzz as Facebook Profiles (soon to be known as Timelines) and Facebook Pages. Still, there are many wonderful uses for Groups. I belong to many, including some business, community or family related.

Serving as an Admin of a Facebook Group can be incredibly easy or a huge time commitment, depending on the size of the group and how closely the group’s content is moderated. There are many considerations in managing a group, but today’s post will focus on just one. More specifically, it will focus on when reasonable efforts to carry out that one task don’t work as they should, resulting in frustration for group members and Admins.

When a group member interacts inappropriately in the group, it is often up to the Group Admin to remove them from the group. What constitutes inappropriate conduct certainly varies from group to group, but may include anything from spamming the group to posting hateful messages. Removing and banning that person from the group should be an easy task, with should being the operative word. It should be only be a matter of finding that person on the list of group members and removing them with a click of the mouse. The problem is that, for some reason, finding the name you’re looking for on the list of members is very often impossible.

If you aren’t able to find their name, it is impossible to remove and ban them from the group. Or, is it? The good news is that there is at least one workaround. It takes a bit of time and you’ll need Google Chrome to make this trick work. If someone is really taking advantage of the group and annoying members with their posts, it just might be worth your time to watch this video to learn how to do this yourself. (If you’re an experienced Group Admin and very comfortable jumping right to the nitty gritty details without much of the context, you might want skip ahead and start watching at around 7:00.)

 You may also view the How to Find and Ban Members in Facebook Groups video on YouTube.

Are you a Facebook Group Admin? Have any tips which you think would help others?

 Image courtesy of elycefeliz.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

In the video, I highlight a number of key points:

• • • What is that Ticker on the right side of the page and why am I seeing information from people who aren’t my Facebook friends?
    • How do I mute certain types of updates?
    • If I’m seeing content from people who aren’t my friends, does that mean that people I don’t know are seeing what I post?
    • How do I customize my privacy settings so only the right people see my information?

The video is a recording of a live webinar from last week. If you’d like to be among the first to know about upcoming events, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter by clicking here.

I’ve already heard from many people that they now understand how to did into their privacy settings and how to tweak their newsfeed after watching this session. Which tip was most useful to you? Please reply below to let me know.

The good new is that you’re not alone. I’ve been inundated with questions like, “How do I…?” and “Where do I find…?” The even better news is that you’re now invited to join me online to uncover answers to your questions.

Can’t Beat the Price

By popular demand (well, demand is a strong word, it’s more like popular request), I’m offering a complimentary webinar on Tuesday, October 18. What does complimentary mean? Does it mean that you’ll be expected to offer me compliments? Well, no, though compliments are always welcome! It means that cost of this session is on me – it’s free to attend.

What We’ll Cover

If you’re a Facebook user, you’ve probably noticed a lot of changes, especially on the homepage where you see updates from your Facebook friends. What you may not have noticed are the significant updates in how you manage your privacy, along with other new features and changes. Facebook is a wonderful tool for connecting with family and friends, as well as your favorite brands and businesses. In order to get the most out of your time on Facebook and to use it safely, it is critical that you understand how it works and how you can customize your settings in a way that is comfortable for you.

We’ll touch on a number of important updates:

• What is that Ticker on the right side of the page and why am I seeing information from people who aren’t my Facebook friends?
• How do I mute certain types of updates?
• If I’m seeing content from people who aren’t my friends, does that mean that people I don’t know are seeing what I post?
• What is the new Timeline and is it replacing my Profile?
• How do I customize my privacy setting so only the right people see my information?
• And, more………

I hope you’ll join me in this live session on Tuesday, October 18. We’ll be covering some of the key Facebook changes and I’ll be sharing important tips you’ll want to use to manage your own account.

Reserve Your Spot Now

There are a limited number of seats, so be sure to register now by clicking here and save your spot. The session will be recorded, so if you aren’t able to join us live, go ahead and register anyway. This way, I’ll be able to let you know when the recording is available.

This session will cover changes you need to know about as an individual Facebook user. There is so much to talk about, we won’t be covering business use and Facebook pages. Even with that caveat, it’ll be fast-paced and cover a lot of territory.

What Questions Would You Like Me to Cover?

Will you be there? Let me know in the comments section below and tell me what questions you’re hoping to have answered.

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Image courtesy of purplemattfish

I spend way too much time online, most of it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn. While you may not spend the hours online as I do, admit it, you are online a lot. My question to you is a simple one:

How well do you really know your virtual connections?

We love our time in this fast-paced world of sharing personal updates, news, opinions and general silly banter, but do we allow the keyboard and screen to depersonalize the experience and create a false sense of intimacy? It feels like we know these people, but do we? (Spoiler alert: The answer is No.)

While there will be always be an ongoing debate about which metrics (number of followers, fans, clicks) are most important when calculating social media ROI (return on investment), I wonder if there is a downside to being a metric-holic. In our quest to connect with more people, stay abreast of new online tools, drive traffic to our websites or defend an opinion, it is all too easy to lose our way. Has become increasingly difficult to remember that there are real people on the other end of our online posts? These real people have real feelings, real families, real problems and real lives. They are not simply numbers.

With most of the essence of communication being non-verbal and only a small percentage about the actual words, we lose the context and nuance of the words when all we get is words. Without body language, facial expression, or tone of voice, misunderstandings are all too frequent. It’s just too hard to understand how my message resonates with you or what you meant when you posted that last update. The result is that, for many, the default behavior is to focus on what I have to say and not on how it might impact you. It’s easier to focus on something I know than on something I have no way of knowing. Still, isn’t it worth a try?

These questions have been rattling around in my mind for the last couple of months, but yesterday’s terribly tragic suicide of well-respected social media expert, Trey Pennington, brought them to the forefront. I only knew Trey virtually, but the pain of those who knew him well is palpable. He had been suffering from depression, something which not all of his friends knew. This, too, begs the question – How well do we know each other and are we a different version of ourselves online and off?

This led me to wonder if it is realistically possible to strengthen our connections, making them more meaningful and authentic. Obviously, there are no easy answers, but we can only start at the beginning by making some commitments to our virtual friends. With that in mind, here are three metrics no social analytics tool will measure when calculating ROI, but which I suggest are pretty damn important. (Yes, I used a curse word. I’m pretty sure we’ll all survive.) It’s time for us to stop taking these connections so lightly and focus more intentionally on each other.

Respect

Is it my imagination or are people more willing to publicly harass and insult others than ever before? I see bloggers calling out other bloggers for unsavory practices. I see people with strong political views arguing the finer points of the problems with the U.S. economy. I see people bullying others for no apparent reason (even boasting about how much fun it is). Healthy disagreements can be both interesting and productive, as long as we remember to respect the person, disagree with their perspective. When these exchanges degrade to the point that they include name-calling, bullying and labeling others, that’s where it crosses the line for me.

Sure, we think we’re right and therefore permitted to make sure everyone knows it. Tell me – who doesn’t think they’re right? What about being smarter, savvier or more right than the other person compels us to overlook the impact our words may be having on someone else?

Consider:

• When you disagree, do you consider whether it’s possible that you’ve misinterpreted the message or intent?
• Do you contact the person privately to see more information?
• If you feel they’ve made a mistake and there is a lesson to be learned, do you share their content publicly without having hidden their identity?
• Is it worth your time to be mindful of respecting others online?

Listening

When we’re online, are we listening? Not the sentiment analysis kind of listening, but the real kind of listening? When we notice that someone has been uncharacteristically silent or frustrated, do we let it pass or do we take it upon ourselves to get in touch directly to see if we might be able to help? Yeah, I know it might be awkward and chances are good that someone else will probably notice, right? And, it’s not like they were asking for someone to notice them – or were they?

Consider:

• Is it possible that you may get a different response to a public “Are you ok?” than a private message?
• Are you able to set aside your own agenda and be open to offering support free from judgement?
• Are you really too busy to listen?
• Are you willing to be that someone else who takes the time to say, “I hear you?”
• Is it worth your time to be a more active listener online?

Hugs

I love hugs. They are a precious, brief moment in time when two people connect, literally or figuratively. Hugs can mean, “I support and care about you,” “I’m sorry,” or “I’m ridiculously happy to see you.” Hugs can mean different things to different people and come in many forms – a comforting embrace, coffee with a friend or a phone call from a loved one. The best thing about them is that they’re shared on a one-to-one basis. In the social media world, we’re always looking for ways to scale communication on a one-to-many basis. For those of you with huge networks of friends, you’re out of luck because hugs don’t scale. And that’s exactly why they are so special.

I’m pretty sure there must be a government-sponsored study around somewhere which validates the health benefits of hugs, but I’ll go out on a limb and just declare that they’re good for us. Whether given or received, you can’t be on the wrong end of a well-intended hug.

Consider:

• Is there someone you know who could use a hug?
• Should we wait until we sense that something is wrong to let someone know we’re thinking of them?
• Why isn’t now the right time?
• Are there times when being willing to ask for a hug is as important as giving one?
• Is it worth your time to share a hug with someone you care about?

Before you begin, you must find your way to the right page in your Google+ Profile. If you previously had set up a Google Profile, it has now become your Google+ Profile. See the red arrows above to direct you to the correct page.

1. Get Started: Click on the ‘Edit Profile’ button to begin. You will then see that it is easy to click on any section you wish to edit.
2. Profile Photo: Select a photo to upload. You may want to review 8 Tips for Selecting the Right Profile Photo to help with your selection.
3. Name and Headline: Be sure your name is correct. This must be your own name, not the name of a business. Make sure to include a headline. It can be a mix of serious and fun, but use the space wisely.
4. Text Sections: The Introduction is important. What is the story you’d like to tell about yourself? As you write your introduction, you may want to include keywords which would enable you to be found most easily. While it remains to be seen how searchable Google+ profiles will be, we do know that Google will be giving some visibility to public content on Google+.  I’d say that the Bragging Rights section is optional, but I’d suggest that professionals complete all or most of the other sections.
5. Employment: This tiny section is extremely powerful, though its power isn’t obvious at first glance. The information you add here will provide a window into what you’re all about to anyone who wants to make a quick decision about whether or not they’d like to connect with you or view your profile to learn more about you. Here’s how it works… If you see, for example, an insightful or witty comment I added to one of your friend’s posts and you wanted to find out more about me, you would hover your cursor (see red arrow in image below) over my name. By hovering here, you will see my hovercard (see inset box in image below). From this hovercard, you can instantly follow my public posts by adding me to your circles. All too often, I find that people have left this field blank. When their name appears in a discussion or I see that they’ve added me to their circles, I wonder, “Who the heck is this person?” and peek at their hovercard to find out. If I find no information on their hovercard, it is much less likely that I will circle them back. Make sure you put something meaningful in this section; not just your employer or name of your business, but also something about what you do there. If you are seeking employment, this would be a great place to highlight your skills or accomplishments.
6. Links: Any good online reputation or digital footprint is seamlessly connected. Make it easy for me to see where else I can find you online. Add links to your social accounts, blog, website, presentations, publications, videos, photos – anything you feel helps tell your story online.
7. Search Visibility: Now this is key. Do you want your Google+ Profile to show up in search engine results? For me, the answer is 1,000,000% yes because I know what a huge branding and visibility opportunity it is. If you are worried that this will mean that everything you share on Google+ will also be publicly viewable, don’t. You have complete control over each individual post and can easily share each item publicly, privately, or somewhere in-between. (More on sharing in an upcoming blog post. Be sure to subscribe at the end of this post if you don’t want to miss it.) 
8. Formatting Text: In each text section, you have the ability to add links and format the text as best suits your needs. It isn’t mandatory that you do this and it is certainly something you can always revisit at another time, if you’d prefer.
9. Private vs. Public: Google has learned a lot about users’s desire for complete control over who can see their content and they’ve gone a long way toward allowing you to manage your profile privacy at a granular level. For each section, you will be able to determine who will be able to see your information. For example, if you added your telephone number in the appropriate section, but didn’t want everyone to be able to see it, you would select the Custom option and then might make it visible to only your Family and Best Friends circles. 
10. Done!: Bravo, you’ve finished! Just click Done Editing and admire your work. See something you’d like to change? No problem, just click the Edit Profile button again and tweak away. You always have the ability to jump back in and make adjustments.

If you haven’t yet joined Google+, you can sign up here and to find out why your Google+ profile is an important branding opportunity, whether or not you’re using Google+, you’ll want to read this. 

I’d love to see your Google+ Profile. Post the link in the comments below and I’ll add you to my Almost Savvy circle. I would be delighted if you added me to one of your circles to see what I’m sharing on Google+. Also, please share your tips you’ve come across about creating Google+ Profiles.

Thanks to S Sriram for capturing the screenshot of my hovercard for me.

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