As Bud demonstrated so well in our story, engagement can’t be mandated. We must create an open, collaborative environment where most everyone feels free to think creatively, where they know their contributions will be valued in every conversation. In our global economy, this has never been more important. Even when we can’t engage in a meeting, across the lunchroom, in the hallway, or even in the same state or country, we must be emotionally available, nearly 24/7. We must communicate eff ectively. We must ask the tough questions and listen to the answers.
This is where social media performance is a change catalyst. In the Social Age:
▶ Suggestion boxes have been replaced with r eal time digital communication. Two way communication.
▶ Annual surveys need to die the death they deserve; always available feedback loops are accessories in the justifi able homicide.
▶ Performance reviews (dinosaurs that they are) are finding it hard to remain relevant; deliberate, real time recognition of achievement has taken their place.
▶ Th e happy hours (your authors would like to think, anyway) still exist, but the scripted portion (and those nasty sheet cakes) are gone, never to be seen again (and when the C levels join the party, they should need no introduction to the staff , because they’ve been communicating across all channels throughout the week).
In the Social Age, social networks have become our ears, eyes, and mouth in that order.
We monitor Twitter for tweets about our brand, products, team members, and customers. We watch LinkedIn Groups for the thoughts of industry infl uencers (those subject matter experts, bloggers, journalists, and speakers who are both well connected and respected) and brand ambassadors (of both our products and those of our competition). We browse Pinterest to measure interest in a particular topic or trend. We blog and comment on other blogs, even our competition’s to display expertise and for continuous self learning.
We observe Facebook groups and Google+ communities to measure the pulse of every stakeholder involved with our organization’s eff ort to reach our potential. And we diligently observe Yelp, Glassdoor, and other niche review sites for real time observations from our customers, employees, candidates, and shareholders. We set up Google Alerts or install Mention (a terrific tool for filtering, organizing, and prioritizing mentions by keywords) so anytime our brand, our product, or major team members are discussed by name, we know.
Using social media monitoring tools such as Radarly, Engagor , or industry stalwart Radian6, or free tools such as HootSuite and Twitter owned TweetDeck, we listen in a way that has never before been possible. We watch for input from myriad sources the volume of input available is now so high that an Industrial Age CEO could never have imagined it possible. And we respond, in an authentic, accountable manner faster and more eff ectively, in less time than it used to take us to assemble our legal and PR teams, let alone to formulate a message controlled response.
CAN SOCIAL HELP YOU OUT ZAPPOS ZAPPOS?
Let us introduce you to an eight person company that beat the pants off Nike, New Balance, Adidas/Reebok, and even online retailer Zappos some of the largest, most iconic companies out there. It all started simply enough. Ted, impulse buyer par excellence that he is, woke up and decided he needed new running shoes, stat! So he called one of his most revered companies, the online retailer Zappos, to get some advice and place an order.
We have admired Zappos for years. Th e CEO, Tony Hsieh (pronounced “shay”), intentionally created a quirky, customer obsessed culture after selling his fi rst company, where he had come to feel like a stranger. Hsieh sold the entire operation and set out to start fresh. He wanted to build a company he’d actually like to work for even after it had become big. His solution: an intentionally relentless focus on culture. As you read, please try to keep in mind that Zappos is a remarkable company, which we’ll explain in more detail later in this book. (We’re certain the company was having an off day when this story took place. We’re also absolutely certain that, in the Social Age, too many bad days can ruin your company yes, even Zappos.) As we were saying, Ted woke up with running on his mind. So he called Zappos at fi ve o’clock in the morning Las Vegas time, which is where Zappos is headquartered. His only expectation, given the reputation of Zappos and despite the early hour, was quick counsel from a human knowledgeable in all things footwear.
Within just a few moments, it was clear that Ted’s expectation would not be met. Th e clerk at the other end of the line was not exactly well informed on product and was far less trained and much less focused on fi nding Ted a solution to his unfortunate shoe issues. Frustrated, Ted said a polite good bye and ended the call without placing an order.
But Ted Coiné, the author of Spoil ’em Rotten!: Five Star Customer Delight in Action, didn’t let it go. Knowing Zappos is famous not just for its extraordinary service but also for the active presence its employees maintain on Twitter, he decided to throw them a meatball a pitch so slow and right down the middle of the plate that even the newest Zapponian could easily hit a home run. He sent a tweet to @Zappos, asking for someone to call him. No answer. Nothing.
Disappointing but also intriguing!
Had Ted found a chink in the armor of the mighty Zappos? Ted decided to turn this should be easy sale into a mini research project one that went on for a couple of hours that morning. Ted tweeted again, asking the Zappos social media team to have a sales associate call him, informing them that he wanted to buy a pair of shoes. No one called.
Meanwhile, Ted expanded his reach. He fi rst tweeted to Nike, the brand he already owned, and Reebok, a brand he also admired, then went directly to the running Twitter account for New Balance, another brand he liked, and the customer service handle for Zappos: Let’s see who calls me fi rst to sell me some running shoes (if anyone). Th e race is on! @newbalance @NBRunning @Zappos_Service cc @zappos Again, nothing. Eventually, Zappos did reach out to Ted on Twitter. For some reason, however, the company refused to call him, even after he sent a private tweet (known as a DM, or “direct message”) with his phone number. Instead, the Twitter empowered Zapponian provided Ted with the same customer service and product order phone number he had already dialed several hours earlier, when he spoke to that less than helpful clerk. Ted wasn’t even off ered the direct extension of a knowledgeable veteran employee who would be happy to assist.
Meanwhile, in the Social Age . . .
In what has become standard practice on social media, another company a smaller, hungrier company than the one from the land of Zapponia, a company that generates sales by closely monitoring social media channels was hard at work. It knew that many of its potential customers buy shoes online. It knew that many of them loved Zappos. And it knew that many who loved running would order Nikes online from Zappos.
@tedcoine We’d love to sell you some shoes! Check out our Men’s at topoathletic.com . . . and give us a call (617) 431–3800 It turns out this socially enabled, shoe selling start up specifi cally, an intern at the start up was using a low cost monitoring tool called Sprout Social. On the Sprout dashboard (which can be closely watched from any desktop, laptop, iPad/ tablet, or smartphone), that intern was most likely monitoring a combination of keywords. In this case, perhaps those keywords included “shoes,” “running,” and “purchase.” Th e intern might have even been monitoring “sell me some running shoes” or maybe even “Hey, @Zappos . . . call me!”
Th is intern was Alex Stoyle, who followed the basic rules of social media monitoring and selling:
▶ Rule No. 1: Actively listen.
▶ Rule No. 2: Respond quickly.
▶ Rule No. 3: Meet customers where they are now.
Alex saw Ted’s tweets (he listened). He reached out to Ted (he responded quickly). He asked Ted, via DM, for his phone number (he met the customer where he was then).
Alex called Ted. Alex made the sale.
Alex’s employer, Topo Athletics, had just opened a few months before. Its founder, Tony Post, had been CEO at Vibram, makers of those weird looking fi ve toed shoes you see everywhere. Topos are only slightly less weird, with the big toe separated from all the others. Ted was reluctant to try something weird, so Alex walked him through the technology and the benefi ts. When the well of Alex’s product knowledge ran dry, he put a coworker, whose specialty was product design, on the line with Ted to answer more questions. Satisfi ed with the science behind the shoes, and now really rooting for the little guy, Ted placed his
order.
This is where social media performance is a change catalyst. In the Social Age:
▶ Suggestion boxes have been replaced with r eal time digital communication. Two way communication.
▶ Annual surveys need to die the death they deserve; always available feedback loops are accessories in the justifi able homicide.
▶ Performance reviews (dinosaurs that they are) are finding it hard to remain relevant; deliberate, real time recognition of achievement has taken their place.
▶ Th e happy hours (your authors would like to think, anyway) still exist, but the scripted portion (and those nasty sheet cakes) are gone, never to be seen again (and when the C levels join the party, they should need no introduction to the staff , because they’ve been communicating across all channels throughout the week).
In the Social Age, social networks have become our ears, eyes, and mouth in that order.
We monitor Twitter for tweets about our brand, products, team members, and customers. We watch LinkedIn Groups for the thoughts of industry infl uencers (those subject matter experts, bloggers, journalists, and speakers who are both well connected and respected) and brand ambassadors (of both our products and those of our competition). We browse Pinterest to measure interest in a particular topic or trend. We blog and comment on other blogs, even our competition’s to display expertise and for continuous self learning.
We observe Facebook groups and Google+ communities to measure the pulse of every stakeholder involved with our organization’s eff ort to reach our potential. And we diligently observe Yelp, Glassdoor, and other niche review sites for real time observations from our customers, employees, candidates, and shareholders. We set up Google Alerts or install Mention (a terrific tool for filtering, organizing, and prioritizing mentions by keywords) so anytime our brand, our product, or major team members are discussed by name, we know.
Using social media monitoring tools such as Radarly, Engagor , or industry stalwart Radian6, or free tools such as HootSuite and Twitter owned TweetDeck, we listen in a way that has never before been possible. We watch for input from myriad sources the volume of input available is now so high that an Industrial Age CEO could never have imagined it possible. And we respond, in an authentic, accountable manner faster and more eff ectively, in less time than it used to take us to assemble our legal and PR teams, let alone to formulate a message controlled response.
CAN SOCIAL HELP YOU OUT ZAPPOS ZAPPOS?
Let us introduce you to an eight person company that beat the pants off Nike, New Balance, Adidas/Reebok, and even online retailer Zappos some of the largest, most iconic companies out there. It all started simply enough. Ted, impulse buyer par excellence that he is, woke up and decided he needed new running shoes, stat! So he called one of his most revered companies, the online retailer Zappos, to get some advice and place an order.
We have admired Zappos for years. Th e CEO, Tony Hsieh (pronounced “shay”), intentionally created a quirky, customer obsessed culture after selling his fi rst company, where he had come to feel like a stranger. Hsieh sold the entire operation and set out to start fresh. He wanted to build a company he’d actually like to work for even after it had become big. His solution: an intentionally relentless focus on culture. As you read, please try to keep in mind that Zappos is a remarkable company, which we’ll explain in more detail later in this book. (We’re certain the company was having an off day when this story took place. We’re also absolutely certain that, in the Social Age, too many bad days can ruin your company yes, even Zappos.) As we were saying, Ted woke up with running on his mind. So he called Zappos at fi ve o’clock in the morning Las Vegas time, which is where Zappos is headquartered. His only expectation, given the reputation of Zappos and despite the early hour, was quick counsel from a human knowledgeable in all things footwear.
Within just a few moments, it was clear that Ted’s expectation would not be met. Th e clerk at the other end of the line was not exactly well informed on product and was far less trained and much less focused on fi nding Ted a solution to his unfortunate shoe issues. Frustrated, Ted said a polite good bye and ended the call without placing an order.
But Ted Coiné, the author of Spoil ’em Rotten!: Five Star Customer Delight in Action, didn’t let it go. Knowing Zappos is famous not just for its extraordinary service but also for the active presence its employees maintain on Twitter, he decided to throw them a meatball a pitch so slow and right down the middle of the plate that even the newest Zapponian could easily hit a home run. He sent a tweet to @Zappos, asking for someone to call him. No answer. Nothing.
Disappointing but also intriguing!
Had Ted found a chink in the armor of the mighty Zappos? Ted decided to turn this should be easy sale into a mini research project one that went on for a couple of hours that morning. Ted tweeted again, asking the Zappos social media team to have a sales associate call him, informing them that he wanted to buy a pair of shoes. No one called.
Meanwhile, Ted expanded his reach. He fi rst tweeted to Nike, the brand he already owned, and Reebok, a brand he also admired, then went directly to the running Twitter account for New Balance, another brand he liked, and the customer service handle for Zappos: Let’s see who calls me fi rst to sell me some running shoes (if anyone). Th e race is on! @newbalance @NBRunning @Zappos_Service cc @zappos Again, nothing. Eventually, Zappos did reach out to Ted on Twitter. For some reason, however, the company refused to call him, even after he sent a private tweet (known as a DM, or “direct message”) with his phone number. Instead, the Twitter empowered Zapponian provided Ted with the same customer service and product order phone number he had already dialed several hours earlier, when he spoke to that less than helpful clerk. Ted wasn’t even off ered the direct extension of a knowledgeable veteran employee who would be happy to assist.
Meanwhile, in the Social Age . . .
In what has become standard practice on social media, another company a smaller, hungrier company than the one from the land of Zapponia, a company that generates sales by closely monitoring social media channels was hard at work. It knew that many of its potential customers buy shoes online. It knew that many of them loved Zappos. And it knew that many who loved running would order Nikes online from Zappos.
@tedcoine We’d love to sell you some shoes! Check out our Men’s at topoathletic.com . . . and give us a call (617) 431–3800 It turns out this socially enabled, shoe selling start up specifi cally, an intern at the start up was using a low cost monitoring tool called Sprout Social. On the Sprout dashboard (which can be closely watched from any desktop, laptop, iPad/ tablet, or smartphone), that intern was most likely monitoring a combination of keywords. In this case, perhaps those keywords included “shoes,” “running,” and “purchase.” Th e intern might have even been monitoring “sell me some running shoes” or maybe even “Hey, @Zappos . . . call me!”
Th is intern was Alex Stoyle, who followed the basic rules of social media monitoring and selling:
▶ Rule No. 1: Actively listen.
▶ Rule No. 2: Respond quickly.
▶ Rule No. 3: Meet customers where they are now.
Alex saw Ted’s tweets (he listened). He reached out to Ted (he responded quickly). He asked Ted, via DM, for his phone number (he met the customer where he was then).
Alex called Ted. Alex made the sale.
Alex’s employer, Topo Athletics, had just opened a few months before. Its founder, Tony Post, had been CEO at Vibram, makers of those weird looking fi ve toed shoes you see everywhere. Topos are only slightly less weird, with the big toe separated from all the others. Ted was reluctant to try something weird, so Alex walked him through the technology and the benefi ts. When the well of Alex’s product knowledge ran dry, he put a coworker, whose specialty was product design, on the line with Ted to answer more questions. Satisfi ed with the science behind the shoes, and now really rooting for the little guy, Ted placed his
order.