Dealing With Unhappy Customers Successfully

Amplify’d from www.smbceo.com

For a new small business owner who is seeking to grow his or her business, brand reputation is an important consideration to keep in mind, which is why any negative press about the business can be detrimental to its success. All it takes is one unhappy client or associate, the lightning-fast pace of the internet, and a negative blog post to derail even the best laid plans.

If you follow publishing at all, you might have seen this example in the fall of Cooks Source Magazine, whose editor plagiarized a freelance author’s work, and then refused to apologize. What followed was a barrage of negative press, which led to the magazine’s advertisers pulling their support, thus ending the magazine’s life.

So, as a small business owner, part of your job is to figure out how to deal with unhappy customers in a way that will both protect your brand from losing its good reputation and make the customer happy again so that he or she will actually spread word of your brand, thus helping it grow.

Listen To The Complaint

Your first step when dealing with an unhappy customer is to listen to the problem so that you can begin formulating a solution. This means that you have to let the customer speak, however he or she chooses to speak. You have to have some thick skin sometimes to get past this first step, but, believe me, it will be worth it if you can protect your brand and help the customer. Eventually, the customer will calm down and let you know what the problem is.

Give Your Initial Response

Next, you should respond immediately to the customer, even if you do not have an immediate solution. Part of the customer’s frustration no doubt comes from feeling helpless in this situation. If you can show him or her that you do care and that you are listening to the complaint, then you can make the disgruntled customer at least satisfied knowing that his or her complaint has been heard.

However, don’t make any promises that you cannot keep; instead, promise to follow up and get back to the customer as soon as possible, even if this means that you cannot change anything in the end, it’s worth showing that you are easily accessible. Read more at www.smbceo.com

 

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Google to Improve Filter on Search Results

Amplify’d from lifehacker.com

Kevin Purdy — Last week, Google asked its (Chrome-wielding) users to filter out search spam themselves. Now the search giant is taking the same steps, knocking down "low-value" sites and, unofficially, taking aim at content farms.

Matt Cutts and Amit Singhal write for Google's official blot about what the latest algorithm change does:

This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites-sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites-sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.

So you can take it from the inverse of that "high-quality site" description, as Search Engine Land does, that sites serving only to quickly put up posts related to high-ranking search terms won't be doing quite so well. And Google is pleased at the correlation between their DIY Chrome blocker and what shook loose from this search change: Read more at lifehacker.com

 

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Synchronize With Google Docs & Microsoft Office is Now Official

Amplify’d from mashable.com

Google just made it easier for people to collaborate with each other using Microsoft Office by officially launching Google Cloud Connect Thursday.

The service, which has been in beta since November, is now available to all and uses Google’s vast cloud to store and synchronize any Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Excel document.

If you have Microsoft Office, using Google Cloud Connect is as easy as downloading a plug-in, installing it and then seeing a toolbar at the top of your Office application.

After your authorization, Cloud Connect saves a copy of your document online and lets you share it with anyone you choose via an e-mail address. The recipients clicks on the shared link and the file opens in Google Docs. At that point, they can download the document and work on it in Microsoft Word. When they make changes, the edits show up on the original document, too.

Documents can be edited in either Google Docs or Microsoft Office, and whoever is collaborating with you does not need to own Microsoft Office to edit those documents and synchronize the files with each other. It would seem that Google is using this free and convenient plug-in as a lure for those who might be tempted to use Google Docs instead of Microsoft Office. Read more at mashable.com

 

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Content-Heavy Website Design Tips & Techniques

For a strategic and thorough design.

Amplify’d from www.onextrapixel.com

The majority of websites on the web today have very minimal content, while focusing on the main message of that content. This is why many web designers are probably more used to designing for little to a medium amount of content. Yet, there are many websites out there with large amounts of content - news sites, certain blogs, online shops, communities, and more. When a website will require heavy content, and a large amount of content on one page, then special planning is required.

Get All of the Content Up Front

For a website that will require a lot of content, the design will have to be specifically designed around that content. It will need to be a part of the design phase. In other web designs, filler content is sufficient while the client is getting content put together, and this is because many content areas in a design can be flexible in text length. However, with a content-heavy design, with so many content pieces on a page, it can be incredibly helpful to know how long blurbs, introductions, or other pieces of static content are. Also, if there are variables pieces of content, it would be helpful to know the average size of those pieces.

Also, many clients who don't offer the content up front will forget about certain pieces of content that they'll eventually say they need on the front page, or another content-heavy page that will have little adjustment flexibility. In a content-heavy design, things are tightly fitted, organized, and placed properly based on hierarchy and available space. A web design with less content on the page would allow for more room to "squeeze in" an additional piece of content, unlike a content-heavy design.

In the above example, article titles and blurbs are planned appropriately according to the design, and require specific restrictions in content length that are planned ahead. The organization present in the web design would not have been possible with the variation and amount of content without content samples to plan around. If a new piece of content or section would need to be placed on this front page, it would take considerable planning, and wouldn't be a piece of content that could just be dropped in.

Use a Grid

It's nice to break the grid every once in awhile, or allow variation within a grid system. This is what can make web design fun and interesting. With content-heavy web design, though, there's not a lot of room for variety. With possibly a few minor exceptions to your creativity, for content-heavy design, use a grid, and keep to it. Organize margins and padding in detail within the design process, and plan ahead of time for the size of each content area.

Above is a use of the popular 960.gs grid system, but there are many more options, or you can create your own grid on the spot. For content heavy design, it is also often necessary to plan the grid vertically as well, while most pre-made grid systems focus on horizontal alignment only. As changes in text length occur, that means there is a change vertically. Take a look at each boxed section that will hold a piece of content with a grid: based on its width and the content that will go inside, what will be the vertical length required? Does the content need to be cut off at a certain point, or the grid altered?

In our same web design, note above how the length in content was planned according to the grid available. Even with varying content lengths, certain pieces will need to share the same length, only to be continued through a link. In these cases, be sure to communicate with the client (or plan yourself if a personal project) how much content within a blurb should be shown on the page in question. Too short and not enough content may be shown to make the blurb effective, while at the same time, too tall and it could break the design. Read more at www.onextrapixel.com

 

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Step by Step Guide to Set up a Facebook Custom iFrame on Facebook

Amplify’d from blog.hubspot.com

Facebook recently announced that they would be discontinuing their support of the Static FBML app in favor of iframes.

From a marketing perceptive this is actually some great news as FBML was pretty restrictive on what was and wasn't allowed within Facebook.

I decided to investigate how much of pain is involved in setting up a custom tab on Facebook using an iframe. As it turns out, it's actually not to difficult.

Set Up Your iFrame Page on Your Own Server

For this to work you will need a webpage on your server that you will be iframing into your new custom tab. That means you must have the HTML living outside of Facebook on your own server. Try and make this content 540px wide. Anything wider will not show up well in your custom tab.

Head to http://facebook.com/developers

Allow the developer application if you have not already done so.

Click on Set Up New App

See more at blog.hubspot.com

 

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Twitter Suspending UberTwitter and Twidroyd for Policy and Trademark Violations

Amplify’d from techcrunch.com

Well this is interesting. According to this post, Twitter has suspended UberTwitter and Twidroyd for violating its policies.

The action is even more fascinating considering that UberMedia, which operates UberTwitter and Twidroyd, is building an army of third-party Twitter clients, including Tweetdeck, that compete directly with Twitter’s web and mobile clients.

Here’s the response we received from Carolyn Penner, Twitter’s spokeswoman:

We ask all developers in Twitter ecosystem to abide by a simple set of rules that are in the interests of our users, as well as the health and vitality of the platform as a whole.

We often take actions to enforce these rules; in fact, on an average day we turn off more than one hundred services that violate our API rules of the road. This keeps the ecosystem fair for everyone.

Today we suspended several applications, including UberTwitter, twidroyd and UberCurrent, which have violated Twitter policies and trademarks in a variety of ways. These violations include, but aren’t limited to, a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing the content of users’ Tweets in order to make money.

We’ve had conversations with UberMedia, the developer of these applications, about policy violations since April 2010, when they first launched under the name TweetUp – a term commonly used by Twitter users and a trademark violation. We continue to be in contact with UberMedia and hope that they will bring the suspended applications into compliance with our policies soon. Read more at techcrunch.com

 

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eBay Ink Blogger RBH: The Man, The Myth, The Magic

Today if you take a look at the eBay Ink Blog you will see the following story that I amplified below....



Here is what's up! Way back in the last decade, I created a video that made it pretty crystal clear that eBay was the FIRST social marketing platform (http://goo.gl/rZnpm).



Having done this analysis of social media and the marriage of eBay, you can see why today eBay "should" rank #1 But alas, they languished in a paltry 43rd last year. How did a case of the un-tapped potential power of eBay and Social Media become known to the leadership at the head of this corporation? I give you three letters R B H



We have had the opportunity to watch Richard Brewer-Hay (RBH) take a strategy of complacency at eBay and HYPER-DRIVE it to a #1 ranking through his leadership and determination. RBH was listening in to the heartbeat of the people on social sites like Twitter, Facebook and Blogs and tapped into that community as a MEMBER!



He did not come to "lord" over the conversation. He did not attempt to control what was said with his blogging. He simply joined in, made himself part of the community and in-turn used the feedback to further the understanding C-level management on the importance of the social medium.



RBH was socially cool back BEFORE Twitter or Facebook were the media darlings they are today in 2011. This my friends is a lesson to learn, how a company like eBay has leap-frogged such power houses like Google, Amazon and Apple to be ranked #1



No RBH did not and could not make this #1 ranking alone, BUT I do remember when he DID do "social media" ALONE for the entire eBay organization. Back in those days of 2008 & 2009, my buddy was all alone. Cheers to the dude, u gotta love it. Dude, that is MAGIC!

Amplify’d from ebayinkblog.com

eBay Ranked #1 in Social Media Reputation by Yomego

eBay has taken the number one spot in a new ranking of the the top social media brands, carried out by Yomego. A number of factors were involved in tabulating the list but from what I can tell it was primarily based on overall reach and satisfaction in determining where companies landed in the Top 50. Here is their full breakdown of our company’s efforts: eBay eBay tops our social media league table, galloping up from their 2010 Interbrand ranking of 43. The company may appear a surprising winner, but eBay introduced community forums in the late 90s and can rightfully be regarded as one of the pioneers of social interaction. The company takes social media seriously, and has a full time corporate blogger, Richard Brewer-Hay, who has served as its social media voice for over three years. eBay has also embraced social media for internal communications, with an intranet featuring blogs, forums and discussion boards. Each employee reportedly has their own landing page which can be customised. eBay was also among the first to start a social media corporate disclosure program, with earnings, for instance, published via Twitter. It has also been quick to integrate with the major platforms. Its new social commerce tool, eBay Group Gifts, uses Facebook’s Open Graph to allow users to split the cost of a gift, with each paying their share through PayPal. With over 400k fans on their largest Facebook page, the app has a massive potential audience and could become a future case study in delivering social media ROI. eBay’s success is also amplified by highlighting the success of others – its users. The ‘eBay Ink Social Media Sellers programme’ showcases eBay sellers who have harnessed social media platforms to greatest effect to boost their sales. Satisfaction around the eBay brand is remarkably high, driven buy the natural instinct of telling others when you’ve grabbed a bargain. But strict procedures and new technologies are used to quell worries around fraud and disputes to keep advocacy high, drowning out the odd moan. The brand has established a level of trust that means the community largely polices itself, making it easier to focus resources in the right areas. I’ve always taken lists and rankings with a grain of salt. Too subjective. One person’s favorite, or “Number 1″ is easily another person’s reject. And to try and qualify/quantify something as intangible as reputation or reach or social success always seems a bit too scientific or sterile for something that is essentially based on organic human emotion and connection. But the answer to the question “how do we measure success?” is quite often the key to getting programs off the ground in certain organizations. I’m sure folks could poke holes in the fact that eBay is ranked #1 overall. But that would be missing the point. The great news coming out of this report isn’t that eBay is listed at the top, it’s that the programs we’ve initiated so far are seen in a public, positive light. eBay is in the business of connecting buyers and sellers and this will go a long way in progressing future programs here internally that are targeted at key services such as customer service and social business. For that, I am extremely grateful. Cheers, RBH Read more at ebayinkblog.com

 

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