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June 5, 2017 by Fred

My Favorite Twitter Chats

It’s no secret that Twitter can be seen in a few veins from a complete waste of time to a pulse of the world to a highly effective marketing tool. It all depends on your perspective and more importantly your goals for using the platform and social media channel. I will admit when I first started using Twitter back in October 2007 I gravitated to the idea of this short message bullhorn that allowed me to just share small messages to a big audience that wasn’t Facebook. I treated it differently too. Looking back, I’m not sure I really understood the best use of Twitter. That probably also explains when I took a multi-year hiatus from it. Turns out that was a mistake and now I’m playing catch up.

Catch up? Yes. See, when used effectively, Twitter in combination with other tools like Instagram, Facebook, and Linkedin, and your own site/blog you can build a great personal brand. Now I’m playing catch up. I would also chalk that up to not having focus. I thought Twitter wasn’t worth my time. That’s because I was going about using Twitter the wrong way. Jumping back in the game earlier this year, I discovered the power of Twitter chats.

What’s a Twitter Chat?

For those not acquainted with what a Twitter Chat is. According to Ann Smartly on Social Media Examiner:

A Twitter chat is a public Twitter conversation around one unique hashtag. This hashtag allows you to follow the discussion and participate in it. Twitter chats are usually recurring and on specific topics to regularly connect people with these interests.

Twitter chats are great to converse, learn, contribute to a shared topic whether at a regular time or just on a common hashtag. I’ve connected with a ton of great people on some Twitter chats over the course of the last few months. I’ve been cited many of times in write-ups from the chats hosted by organizations such as Adobe as well. So what are some of my favorite Twitter chats? Here’s my list.

When are Twitter Chats?

There is practically a Twitter chat for any topic and happen pretty much every day of the week. Some are less frequent, but you can find plenty that occurs weekly. Need a list? Check out the list of Twitter chats at Tweetreports.com.

My Favorite Twitter Chats

Updated: September 2017

So what are some of my favorite Twitter chats? Here’s my list:

#BlogChat

Hosted by @MackCollier and @Blogchatnews on Sunday nights from 9-10pm EST. #BlogChat covers blogging topics for personal and professional use. What I like about Mack’s format is that sometimes he brings in great guests and other nights it is Open Mic night which lets anyone and everyone give advice and ask questions.

#AdobeChat

Hosted by @AdobeExpCloud and @Adobe this is my favorite chats of the week. I’ve been an Adobe Experience Cloud fan ever since I implemented part of it at a previous organization of mine as well as my current organization. #AdobeChat is on Wednesdays from 4-5pm EST and covers a variety of topics around customer experience. While it is hosted by @Adobe, it is not an Adobe fanboy/fangirl club. The topics are wide and far and while Adobe is referenced at times, it is not the premise or focus. You don’t have to be an Adobe user to gain a lot of insights and knowledge on this chat.

#TwitterSmarter

Hosted by @madalynsklar on Thursday afternoons from 1-2pm EST. Madalyn is one of the queen’s of Twitter and when it comes to running a Twitter Chat, she’s your best “go-to” source on how to do it effectively. Each week Madalyn has a guest that covers a variety fo topics on how to use Twitter more effectively. She has a great podcast that is associated with the chat as well. This one goes by fast as there are a lot of participants, so hold on…it’s a wild ride.

#CustServ

Hosted by @MarshaCollier on Tuesday nights from 9-10pm EST. #Custserv is the original Customer Service chat, on Twitter since 2009. Weekly discussion on the Customer Experience for professionals and enthusiasts. Always insightful and a great rotating set of topics and guests. The hashtag gets a lot of other traction during the week, but for that hour, it is all about the Twitter chat.

#CXChat

Hosted by @annettefranz ‏ and @SueDuris on Wednesday’s from 2-3pm EST. #CXChat covers topics around customer experience every week with a guest. But Sue and Annette have ties to the Customer Experience Professionals Association (@CXPA_Assoc). This is a relatively new chat, but so far have had great topics and great participation. Looking forward to more of these every week.

These are my favorite right now. There are plenty more that I could participate in if I had the time. I’ll update this list as I get more involved with others. Check these out, you won’t be disappointed.

March 14, 2017 by Fred

The Future of Marketing Isn’t the Next Shiny Object

The iPhone and iPad. Facebook. Twitter. SnapChat. Artificial Intelligence. Machine Learning. Chatbots. What all of these devices, sites and technologies have in common is that they were all dubbed “the next big thing.” They were going to revolutionize how we communicate, engage, interact, learn, personalize, etc. And to be frank, they have all done that and more. Each with their own successes in their own ways. For marketers, we continue to get a plethora of tools in our tool belt to connect with existing and potential customers. It seems like every year we start to hear about “the next big thing” that is going to give marketers an edge, revenue to go higher, and champagne to be popped. The reality is that the future of marketing isn’t the next shiny object or technology.

Technology is a Tool, Not a Means to an End

Marketing has advanced more in the last 5 years than the last 50. It’s a simple statement, but true. What used to be the yellow pages and 3 main television networks has become the Internet, mobile phones, streaming TV (yeah, cable is dead) and digital signage. Technology advancements have given marketers the ability to understand, connect, and communicate with customers in more ways than ever before.

Yet, technology will still advance and we are going to see a crazy future of augmented reality, virtual reality, bio-technology, 3D printing and more that is going to allow us to create amazing experiences. Personal experiences. Utilitarian experiences. It will be here faster than we think. And in some ways, it already is. It will be exciting and also really scary.

Reminding Ourselves of the Basics

Which leads me to one of my points about the marketings future. I still argue that we get caught up in the tech and forget about the fundamentals. Where marketing used to be about push, blast and bombard people with advertising and messaging, today we have to be smarter. We have to build relationships. We have to be ready to engage when the customer and prospect wants to engage with us. Everyone says it, but it is worth repeating. We are not in control anymore.

So we have to be smarter. Smarter about:

the data we collect and how we use it
the profiles and personas we build
the relationships we need to establish, build, and nurture
the messages we send and the content we create

We need to constantly remind ourselves that without a solid foundation of trust a consumer or customer will go somewhere else. If we don’t deliver messaging that is rooted in empathy, personalized with informed data, and not “creepy” to overstate what you know, it will not resonate. If we don’t deliver value in the time and place of need, they will get it from someone else.

Building Great Experiences

We need to use technology, data, and the power of messaging, empathy, and value to drive the next generation of marketing. It’s not ads. It’s not apps. It’s not video. It will be a brand who can put together a value proposition that communicates and demonstratesthat they understand their customer through the use of technology. It will be multi-channel, omni-channel, and in realtime. It will be non-invasive. It will be not one singular shiny object, but the right mix based on how individuals want to connect with that brand. It will combine digital and physical experiences that are in sync. We are closer than we think. Companies like Marriott and MGM Resorts, where experience is fundamental to their business.

There Will Be Another Shiny Object

Undoubtedly, there will be another shiny object. It will be the next version of Google Glass which is sexier built into glasses. Or a super-powered contact that gives us Heads Up Display in an always on mode. We will find the next technology that will distract us and every marketer will want to find the way to monetize it. And we will. We will find a way. We always do. We need to experiment. Fail fast. Find what works and blend it into our strategies. We just need to remember that we should be adding it to our tool belt, not using it independently because it is “the next big thing.” The future of marketing will be rooted in the basics: Trust, Relationships, Empathy, and Value. Not technology for the sake of technology.

February 5, 2017 by Fred

The Foundation of any Relationship Starts with Trust

It starts with your first encounter and within the first few seconds you begin to assess whether you can trust one another. If a level of trust can’t be established early on in a relationship, the relationship falls apart. Or maybe it never gets started. This is true with brands to consumers, people to people, and organizations to employees.

As a marketer today in our digitally connected world, trust has taken on new meaning. The ways I can collect, obtain, or purchase information about an individual and use that information to build a profile is pretty staggering. Take that further and that’s how marketers are determining what messages you see, how you are communicated to, and how we personalize content. It is pretty astonishing and only getting more powerful every day as technologies are connecting together, and as organizations get more savvy. As Uncle Ben from Spider-Man said to Peter Parker, with great power comes great responsibility.

It is with that responsibility where I think some marketers, and organizations, have started to fall down. We’ve had trust issues with keeping data secure. Take any day of the week and you will see some report about a security breach and data about customers is stolen. Hello Yahoo!, Centene, and even the Dept of Homeland Security. We’ve had trust issues with just the blatant marketing messaging in email such as “we noticed you haven’t completed XXX process.” While one might construe as a “convenience” message, we can do better with context. There is even the ridiculous retargeting happening. I’d even go as far as the creepiest when I am viewing something on the web and now I’m seeing ads in my apps on my phone. As a marketer, I know exactly how this happens. For the everyday consumer…it can be frightening. I can’t tell you how many times when I’m in social settings and someone will ask me how some of this works because it freaks them out.

Let’s Go Back to the Basics & Stop Being Creepy

Permission Marketing by Seth Godin So what are we to do. Well, first I think we all need a reminder in permission based marketing. Almost two decades old, in my opinion, every marketer needs to read, or re-read Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers. It all starts with trust and what permission do we have to communicate, act, and engage with customers. So going back to my opening statements, in today’s digitally connected world, you are seconds away from a great (or horrible) first impression and when a consumer feels like a brand, marketer, or organization is messing with their data to go into “creepy” mode, they can delete an app, never visit a site again, and give you a bad review instantly online. Digital customers are now the most fickle customers and they are not afraid to switch.

We Marketers Need to Be Better

Now, there are challenges for us marketers as well. We have pressures to convert prospects to leads to customers. And fast. That timeline varies depending on the industry you are in. However, for many of us, we live quarter to quarter with Wall Street driving expectations. However, relationships aren’t built on a specific timeline. Some take longer than others. If you push the relationship too fast, trust becomes a center point of contention. So as marketers, we have to be smart, understand our customers, and nurture our relationships wisely. With the power of machine learning and artificial intelligence, we can be more savvy about how we do this. So there is promise. Certainly there are brands who are doing this well. There are a whole bunch who aren’t though. So let’s go back to the basics. Remember that the customer is in control and we need to build the trust, the permission to talk and engage with them. Not the other way around. If it’s been a while, pick up a copy and re-read it. It won’t take you long. Otherwise, you might end up misusing the power that you have and lose that customer forever.