Memphis PREP is an incredible program aimed at helping promising young Memphians. I was honored to be a part of it.

All of this has happened in the past 60 days. Which means that along with packing in a boatload of stress, strategy, worry and big decisions into a very short period of time, we also have had the pleasure (and major displeasure) of even more customer service experiences during this time.

Customer experience is a big deal to me. Partially because I feel that even basic customer service levels aren’t met by many businesses today. And partially because I worked in consumer behavior research for years, helping corporations of all sizes understand and improve their products and services.

I’m a person who believes in recognizing both great and not-so-great service. I tip – and tip well – for polite, attentive, timely service. I’m active on review sites like Yelp. I will give personal referrals to friends, family and managers of those who have helped or worked with me. I will also gladly share my positive and negative experiences with a product or business both online and off.

In the past 60 days, we’ve had only a couple outstanding customer experiences, including AMRO Music and Apex Home Builders. We’ve had many basic, “meh” experiences, like calling up a utility and successfully ending our service with minimal aggravation. We’ve had a couple instances where a very helpful and well-meaning employee made an honest mistake that negatively affected us in a big way. And there were a couple of laughable times where we could tell employees had been “schooled” on embarrassingly-desperate tactics aimed at stopping a customer from ending their service.

We’ve unfortunately had a couple of very bad experiences, too. For starters, our short-term rental company did not have our rental ready for our contracted move-in date, did not respond in a timely manner (nor as promised in their literature and voicemail message) when we called in a panic, emailed us instead of called (even after we asked them to call us directly) and never followed up the morning after move-in when we called about our broken deadbolt.

Our worst experience by far, though, was the unprofessional, unethical behavior by the buyers’ agent in the sale of our home.

While I’ve never understood businesses who don’t seem to place any importance on fulfilling their customers most basic expectations, I feel like the widespread use of social media, online review sites and blogging means that the days of lousy service and low-quality products will have to come to an end. Sure, I don’t think that purely because there are these tools out there that all businesses will magically shape up and get their acts together. But it’s becoming exponentially more difficult to repeatedly deliver sub-par goods and services, and maintain a profitable business long term.

With traditional advertising, the concept of continually building brand awareness so the next time someone needs a new sofa they think of your business, is “worth” the cost. And the concept of buying ad space based on estimated drive-bys and circulation rates is also acceptable.

But when it comes to social media, these same concepts don’t seem to apply.

As social media marketers, there’s a lot we CAN do to connect our online marketing efforts with leads and sales. But even then, all the hard data and deep analytics still only paint part of the picture. Especially if a business does not have an online store.

So then if you move on to fan and follower growth, and social media engagement levels, that should be a good gauge as to your effectiveness to drive leads and sales, right? Because if people are liking or retweeting and commenting like crazy, they must love your latest sale or promotion?

Surprisingly, we’ve found little correlation between social media engagement levels on product- or service-based updates and a spike in interest or sales (*special social media contests excluded). In fact, most of our brand-focused updates receive little to no online engagement.

So then how do we know that social media is working?

Because store managers and employees report back that after reading our social media updates about their amazing deal on a kids’ art easel or an in-store holiday event, they experienced a surge of shoppers or attendees specifically asking about those promoted things.

You need to have a staff that is in-tune with your social media efforts for this type of direct correlation to be noticed. But the best way to approach social media is to integrate it with the rest of your marketing efforts as it is.

Ultimately, the best way to have a full view on what and how effective your social media efforts are towards your bottom line is three-fold: your website analytics, your growth and activity levels of your social media accounts and your register receipts.

Who have thought a good ol’ fashioned cash drawer could be the missing link to measuring your online marketing efforts?

So if you’re going to start a business and employ all these online marketing tools just mentioned, you’ll begin to see results of all these efforts almost immediately, right?

Wrong.

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If you build it, they will come…eventually.

But only after a considerable period of time, and where a consistent effort is being put forth.

Numbers aren’t everything, but a social media base of 75 Twitter followers and 42 Facebook fans isn’t going to help you much. Same goes for your first dozen or so blog posts. Your website can be the latest and greatest in web development, but the simple fact is that even the internet takes time.

Plus, relationships take time. Networking, too.

You need to build up your social media base before you can hope others will share your blog posts and click through to read them. You need to spend dedicated time on your SEO (and allow adequate time for indexing) before you will be found via Google searches. You need to have some clients or customers you’ve helped before you will start to receive business referrals.

When Kristin and I founded Eli | Rose, we both had been in the online and social spaces for a couple years. We had already learned the social media & blogging ropes, and had successfully created networks of relationships. Undoubtedly, our previous histories meant we weren’t starting from scratch even though we were building a new brand. And even with that I will say that our business, client base, brand’s social media presence and blogging archives back then looked nothing like they do today.

The parallels to the offline world ring true in this case as well. While the internet and social media make communication between 2 people much, much faster, building a business still works the offline, old school way.

At what point did you start seeing your online efforts begin to pay off for your business?

*Photo credit Adam Pieniazek

The good news is: there is no trick to be learned.

This is a question I hear a lot, but the fact is you already know how to talk to your customers on social media because you should chat with them online in the same way and about the same things as you would if they walked into your store. For example, if a woman walked in with her baby, chances are you’d compliment the baby’s cuteness or clothing, or ask how old the baby is. If a man was standing at the counter checking out, and commented about heading to a movie that night, you’d likely ask what movie he was going to see.

The parallel between the online and offline business worlds continues with business blogging and marketing materials. You can easily compile a list of content ideas for your business blog because you are very familiar with the questions your customers frequently ask you. Also, you already know how to promote your online properties because your website and social media profiles are pieces of your contact information, and you already know the places where you’ve put your mailing address, phone number and email.

Let’s take this one step further.

Your online properties – meaning, your website and social media profiles – are the internet equivalent of your physical store location. You would never be OK having burnt-out bulbs in your sign, having an unkempt front entrance, setting up your store in a way that was confusing to navigate nor allow the phone to ring endlessly without answering it. You would never do any of these things because you know it would give your customers a very poor impression of your business.

The online equivalent of these examples would be having dormant social media profiles, not responding to @mentions or comments left, having social profiles missing imagery and bios, and a website that frustrates visitors to the point to clicking away.

Chances are very good that every online question or challenge you may face has an offline parallel. Knowing this should help many small business owners feel more at ease about growing their businesses online.

Just remember that when in doubt, think, “What would I do ‘in real life’?“, and you’ll know how to proceed.

*Photo credit SEOPlanter

I had one hour for my presentation plus questions. The presentation focused on some overall social media best practices, along with reasons to use and tips for maximizing 4 specific platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+.

The Twitter Snob

I’ve previously written about how not following back on Twitter can hurt your business. Unless you are Justin Bieber, you aren’t doing your business any favors (nor are you capitalizing on the awesome of social media) if you only follow back a tiny fraction of users who follow you.

There’s a similar occurrence that I see with personal users, but one that typically involves a deliberate gaming strategy. You often encounter this when a Twitter user with an extremely low Following number (in comparison to their Followers number) reaches out to you and a bunch of other users by following your handles. Many of those accounts will then follow the Twitter Snob back within a few days’ time. A week or so will pass by, and the Twitter Snob unfollows those same accounts, ultimately expanding the giant spread in their Following vs Followers numbers.

The goal of the Twitter Snob is to create the illusion of importance and “celebrity” by doing this.

The Hot Mess

It can be hard to tell if these users are Twitter newbies, trying to play the numbers game (and failing miserably) or just plain don’t get the gist of Twitter. When Following vs Followers numbers are just as skewed – but in the opposite direction of the Twitter Snob – it doesn’t bode well for receiving follow backs from legitimate Twitter users.

If you are following 3+ times as many users as who follow you back, you need to slow your following roll. Instead, spend time engaging with those you already follow, and perhaps even consider unfollowing some accounts that aren’t relevant to you and what you tweet about.

The “All About the Numbers” Folks

Attaining a whole bunch of Twitter followers is pretty easy. In fact, Twitter is the easiest of all social platforms to increase your numbers quickly (So much so, that Twitter imposes a limit on how many accounts you can follow in 1 day).

People who are all about the numbers have 1 of 2 Twitter Following/Follower ratios. Some All About Numbers users have a higher Followers count than Following, with both numbers in the 5 digits. The reason why the average Twitter user does not follow anyone with these kinds of Following/Followers numbers is because at those incredibly-high numbers, those people are typically focused on amassing an incredible number of followers, and personal, one-to-one connections are nearly impossible.

If an All About the Numbers user’s Following to Follower ratio tips in the other direction – say, Following: 45,000; Followers: 42,000 – it’s clear that user is focused purely on actively following a bunch of users – any users – in hopes they will receive follow backs (to continue to increase their numbers). This group of users tends to incorrectly assume that higher numbers = more importance and relevant influence. And again, the likelihood of one-to-one connections is slim.

The Average Joes

Most users fall into this group. The ratio of Following to Followers can go either way, but all in all, is much closer than the ratios seen with the Twitter Snob and the Hot Mess. If you’re an Average Joe who follows a lot of celebrities, athletes or news sources, for example, you will most likely not be followed back by those accounts. So, an Average Joe might follow 700 people and have 615 followers, and that’s OK.

Conversely, an Average Joe who’s been active on Twitter for a while will very likely have a noticeably lower Following number than Followers. Why? Because as time goes by, a veteran Twitter user can spot spam accounts, bots, Hot Messes, Snobs and All About Numbers Folks from a mile away, and knows to steer clear.

Each person’s goals and intended use of Twitter is different. So how you plan to use Twitter can be very different than how I do, and that’s fine. Also, there are no absolutes with any “first impression”. For example, I know a few Twitter users with a tremendous amount of Followers and Following, who really do respond and interact with everyone.

But just like in the offline world, first impressions can mean everything. It’s important to consider the psychology involved because the numbers displayed on your Twitter profile will undoubtedly be part of what a person uses to formulate that first impression.

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Post-writing but pre-publishing of this post, I came upon this fantastic blog post by Jessica Lee at BruceClay.com. In short, Jessica had a pretty significant Twitter epiphany regarding her Following habits, the lack of real conversation she was experiencing, and how much she had grown to dislike Twitter. I loved reading about how she worked through that epiphany and her reasoning for moving forward in the way that she did.

*Photo credit Sepblog

I found the opportunity unique in that it was the first time I spoke to a group about social media without discussing social media engagement techniques. The auditors present needed to learn about the “Whats” of popular social platforms, along with best practices for big business and issues relating to reputation management.

My slides are below.

It’s the type of goals you choose to set that typically demonstrates if you have a short term or long term approach to social media for your business. Focusing solely on attaining a massive number of Facebook Fan Page LIKEs is not a mindset of someone with a long term view.

The Problem with Facebook LIKEs

LIKEs, like any other statistic, are just a number. They are a count of people who have chosen to receive updates from your page for one reason or another. Anyone can run contests and pay for Facebook ads or promoted posts to quickly increase their number of LIKEs, but it’s the frequency of ad use and the focus on the content for the page that separates those with a short term view from those with a long term one.

Over at Eli | Rose, we’ll receive inquiries from time to time from companies wanting to turn their number of LIKEs from hundreds into tens of thousands. We even had a business talk to us about white labeling our social media management services under them who questioned what there was to do with a fan page if you don’t run a bunch of ads.

Part of running a business is recognizing that not all opportunities are good opportunities. A potential client who is interested in attaining a bunch of LIKEs without discussing content and engagement strategies to grow their fan page, or a firm wanting you to work for them who doesn’t understand that social media isn’t about a steady stream of ads…those aren’t projects that will have a positive outcome for you or them.

The story of the tortoise and the hare is a perfect one for social media. You can and will turn your page from hundreds of LIKEs into thousands, and then tens of thousands, but that kind of growth will take time. Focusing on creating solid, relevant content instead of skyrocketing fan counts is how to slowly and steadily win the race.

The fact of the matter is that people are talking about you on social media whether or not you have a presence there, so you’re better off being active and present, and directly addressing the frustrations of any unhappy customers.

Another major mindset shift is how social media fits into the overall marketing mix. More times than not, the businesses I speak with seem to view social media as an “add-on” to their traditional marketing and advertising efforts, and (frequently) an optional one at that.

Social media may be the new kid on the marketing block, but it’s a proven force in business and among consumers, and quickly becoming an expected piece of your business’ contact information.

Social media already incorporates all the standard promotional opportunities that exist with traditional media plus has many benefits that traditional marketing methods can’t touch. For example, you can modify or halt an existing campaign with a simple click of the mouse. Social media can help you out in terms of Google search. Social media can (and should) be used as a method to service your customers. And social media provides you a channel to engage your customers about not only your business but about the things they care about, too.

Integrating social media with the rest of your marketing efforts is a necessary (and inevitable) task at this point. The sooner you harness the power that is social media on behalf of your business, the sooner you’ll realize the benefits it brings to your marketing efforts, customer satisfaction, and overall brand image.