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Features Google+ beats Facebook at (part 2)

Spiro Pappadopoulos

This is the second installment of a series of posts I am writing on the features that Google+ does better than Facebook. While I have heard from some listing things that Facebook does better, I would simply say, I am not writing about that. Google+ is a start up network that has the clear advantage of being created by some of the worlds best programmers, a vast financial resource, and the second mover advantage. The second mover is by nature behind, but also has the ability to dissect what the first mover has done and find ways to incorporate design and strategic elements to improve on the existing first mover example.

Google+ beats Facebook at Openness in Development

Google+ is impressive in its feature set already, as I noted in Part 1 with their superior handling of photos, but Google has stressed in their statements that this is a ‘field trial’ not an alpha release, not a beta release, but a field trial. They have made tweaks and changes, and when they have stumbled, they have acknowledged it and fixed it. One of the most impressive features is the easy to use feedback tab on the lower right corner of every google+ page. When you click on it, you can easily report a problem as you encounter it with this pop up form:

Google Plus
This easy to use form helps them get better fast.

As you can see you actually highlight the problem on your screen, and describe it to them. I have used it and seen the issue resolved within 24 hours. That bodes well for the future of google+. The fact that they make it so easy to report the issue means more will be reported, which means less people will encounter them, and things will work better.

Google+ has its big guns out there talking to Users

You might not know Vic Gundotra but he is a senior vice president at google, a software engineer, who is in charge of much of what google+ is. He is out there every day using the very very cool video chat tool in google+ to “hangout” with users and get feedback about features they want or want to work better. When a team has their superstar that invested good things happen. Think Tom Brady showing up first to practice, and locking the door on his way out.

Vic Gundotra
This is Openness in Development, with Users coming first

Google is going to Integrate Google+ with other Products, Carefully.

Gmail, Youtube, Google Search, Google Docs, Picasa, Blogger, Google Talk, Android, Google Calendar, Google Maps, Google Translate… heard of those? Yeah well Google has a stable of horses already running at the front of their races. They will integrate them into Google+ and they have shown that they have learned from the issues they faced with the failed Google Buzz launch.

Take for instance the openness and true desire to hear from users as to how the integration of Gmail should go, shown by Mark Striebeck the Engineer in charge of Gmail’s front end:

gmail frontend engineer
This is Organization wide commitment to Success.

 Google+, the Path to Success

While I feel like I amy hav elost some readers with this topic, having used the service consistently for a week and a half since launch, this needs to be written now. I have read articles from people who are trying to decide if Google+ is going to succeed or not. To me they are morons just looking to get something written. Google threw the gauntlet down to their employees last year, social was priority #1, and it shows in the out and out dedication I have shown you a glimpse of above. Remember a few things:

  1. Google has many of the most talented people in software today.
  2. Google has most of the industry leading online services under their roof.
  3. Google has the financial strength to do what it wants (not pre-ipo, not a garage start-up)
  4. Google has motivated the best programmers in the game to get social by tie-ing all bonuses to the success in social.
  5. Google has the bases covered: Android to Search to Youtube to Gmail – you already are heavily involved in Google+ whether you know it or not.
Id your business in a position to guess that google+ will fail, or do you want to be among the first to establish a presence there and avoid playing catch up next year? If you want help making that happen, let me know, that is what I do.
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Join the conversation with me on Google+ or on Twitter, links to both are on the top right. Thanks for reading!
I am Spirocks on Twitter.

Filed Under: Google+ Tagged With: Facebook, google plus, Google+, social media

The Spoke Social Dashboard

Spiro Pappadopoulos

Social Media is racing in ten directions at once, and you are trying to run a business. Are you going to log into each of your accounts as often as you should to share, listen, and monitor them? Likely not. That is why we have developed the Spoke Social Dashboard here at GuestFeed. It allows us to monitor every social network, including multiple Facebook Profiles and pages, multiple Twitter accounts, post to Flickr, Foursquare, Linkedin, Post blog posts all from one page and login. Take a look:

Features:

– The ability to post scheduled messages to your networks at any interval you choose. Hourly/daily/weekly etc. Allowing you to plan out in advance and let it run on auto-pilot. We find it valuable in conjunction with our live daily posting and content creation.

– Spoke features: One login for everything. Multiple Facebook pages, Facebook profiles, twitter accounts, Flickr, Linkedin, Delicious, All 8 Blog platforms, etc

– Centralized  Sending, Monitoring, and Reporting – the name Spoke refers to a wheel where your business is the hub and each spoke is a part of your Internet presence. Spoke social was designed to bring it all back to the middle in one place.

– Industry leading monitoring: Including Brand and Keyword monitoring, even Yelp review monitoring. A central stream of all the comments and posts your customers make on all your social networks. No need to go around checking each one, or risk missing a customer reaching out.

This scratches the surface of what Spoke Social was built to do, but these are the highlights for most businesses. Their are several services out there that do some of these things, a few that do most of them. The most unique is the scheduling, and the ability to repeat messages at precise intervals. What truly sets this apart is the fact that we are available by phone at all times (mostly me). I am a business owner in Massachusetts (GuestFeed, Evenfall, Glory) and I understand what it is like to run a small business. This was developed for me to use to do my marketing and marketing for others at GuestFeed, and I loved it and decided to brand it to resell to other do-it yourselfers.

There are packages starting at $15/month and depending on how many messages you plan on sending I can help you choose the least expensive one that gets your goals accomplished. Like I said I will be available through it all to help you set up and get going, you can reach me at 617.379.3015 if you want to chat about it.

Some important info to have ready: How many posts (in total) do you think you will be making through Spoke Social to all your social networks? That will determine which package you would need.

Anyway I am happy that you were interested, and hope to hear from you.

You can find me on twitter @spirocks as well.

 

I am Spirocks on Twitter.

Filed Under: Tools Tagged With: social dashboard, social media, social monitoring

Guest Post: My Service is My Product…

Spiro Pappadopoulos

Social Media is amazing it allows us to find people and things we would not have otherwise. Daniel Calderon came into my sphere of awareness in this way. He is a passionate hospitality professional with deep roots in social media. I admire his friend making ability and consistent presence in my online world. Recently I asked him to write a guest blog post for spirocks.com and he obliged me with the following. Enjoy.

Hospitality: My Service is my Product – is Social Media Right for me?

There are tons of blogs, articles, and case studies exploring how large and small companies are successfully using the newly hip “Social Technologies” to engage with customers and acquire new ones.  The hospitality industry has always struggled to keep up with technology.  With that in mind, Hospitality businesses that provide a service as a product are skeptical whether they should leap into their own social adventure.

My social journey started with Xanga, Hi5, and Myspace.  Later came WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare, and Gowalla.  Using all these different platforms gave me a sound understanding of social networking.  In November 2010, I decided to start helping other hospitality professionals understand the dynamics of the social world.  After speaking with Chris Tripoli, the president of A’La Carte Foodservice Consulting Group(link http://www.alacarteconsultinggroup.com), I became their social media manager.  This position allows me to connect A’La Carte with restaurateurs who seek professional assistance in “Creating Winning Concepts, Operating More Profitably, and Growing Successfully.”  In February of 2011, I became the social media manager for Hospitality Pro Search(link http://www.hprosearch.com), an executive search firm recruiting management, culinary, accounting and corporate positions exclusively for the hospitality industry.

In the personal arena, I manage two twitter accounts: @TheFoodieTeam and @DanielnCalderon.  These enable me to meet and learn of many great companies, organizations, and individuals who are doing a fantastic job in their social networking efforts.  I would like to expose a few examples in hopes of sparking new ideas on how you can customize an approach for your social media campaign.

Let’s start with @Noahs_Kitchen, a non-profit organization whose goal is to provide the less fortunate with nourishment, nutritional education and other assistance as needed.  This organization uses Facebook and Twitter in combination to post all the volunteering event dates, times, and locations.  Check them out on www.facebook.com/noahskitchen and you will see how they utilize Facebook to help them achieve their goals and gain support.  For instance, last year they helped “Team Houston” win the Ford Fiesta Movement.  How did they help? Simply by creating a buzz with their ninja-like social media skills and enlisting the Houston community as advocates for the campaign.

They’re not a company, and you may be skeptical how their experience relates to you; but if you think about it, because they are not a “profit” driven entity, they face an even greater challenge in gaining support and followers… or so you might think!  Now, feeding the homeless is not an easy task.  How did they manage to bring people together? How did they get them to volunteer and create a hype?  Easy, Noah’s Kitchen started with those closest to them: Their friends, personal contacts, colleagues, and family.  It’s exactly the same in the social media world.  Once you’ve created the accounts and filled the bio information completely, tell everyone you know.  If you’re a company, add the links to your social accounts on all collateral business materials.  May they be invoices, envelopes, business cards, and especially your e-mail signature.  It is simple to do and you will be surprised how fast the word spreads.

 

My second example is @alexthedriver.  Alex Feigelson is a taxi driver in Houston, Texas.  He is a gentleman with an awesome personality – who adds a special touch to all the rides he provides and messages he shares.  A taxi driver using Social Media is definitely not the norm.  But it works, and as strange as it sounds, Alex manages to meet people through Twitter which he then converts to loyal customers.  How he does it is simple.  He keeps the dialogue going and when he meets someone for the first time, he shares his contact information.  From then on, they have the option of contacting him through his Twitter account or mobile phone.  Very neat and again keeping it simple works!

Going back to the service industry in general, what should a service-related business share?  Focusing on core competency and the essence of each business is a good start.  Think about what you’re good at, with emphasis on your strengths and those of your company.  On Facebook: in addition to your personal profile, make a business page (free and easy) and use it to promote the projects you’re working on, but also to share news and stories related to your services/products.  If you decide to use Twitter: once you create an account, share your own thoughts, share a little of your inspirations, and maybe a quote or joke every now and then.  On LinkedIn: I strongly suggest setting up a profile, joining relevant groups or starting a group of your own, and participating in discussions.  Don’t feel obliged to use all of the social platforms out there, but do keep in mind that if they’re free, all they require is a little of your time to set up.  And even if you don’t plan on using them all right now, set up the accounts for the sake of saving your companies’ name on each network.  Now, a very important part, all of these profiles should include a link to a main website or blog.  Keeping the feel consistent throughout all profiles, you need to have a main “hub” where all these social platforms direct traffic.

In Social Media, the most important part is “Content.” With that in mind, I must mention @AFlirtYourself.  Check out their Twitter bio: “@AFlirtYourself is all about flirting and making new friends in the real world with real people. Not selling anything.”  While many consultants and articles offer advice on what to share, when to share it, adding links, catchy lines, etc… @AFlirtYourself is a master at creating content that others like to spread.  In a little over a year, they managed to attract over 24,000 followers with less than 6,000 messages.  The best of it all is that they don’t use links, pictures, videos, or any other media except great messages.  Impressive eh?  Yep, sometimes that’s all it takes, being thoughtful on your messages can get you a long way.  And don’t worry too much about media content!  Be genuine and acknowledge everyone.  You never know who may lead to a business deal!

 

I am Spirocks on Twitter.

Filed Under: Food and Drink Tagged With: daniel calderon, hospitality, product is service, service is my product, social media

Do You Stand Out from the Noise of Social Media?

Spiro Pappadopoulos

Crafting your social media campaigns to stand out, like this orange I saw on the beach, is critical to success. There is simply to much being thrown at people to do what the guy nest to you is doing and expect results. Here are some tips…

What not to do:

1)   Repeat the same message three times a day, all week long.

2)   Use text only messages all the time.

3)   Only distribute information about what you are selling.

4)   Become a robot without traces of personality.

What you should be doing:

1)   Have fun and express your enthusiasm for what you have going on.

2)   Share the current moment with pictures and video, and remember to respond in the moment too.

3)   Cultivate your following with shared information about the market you are in.  It doesn’t only have to be about you.

4)   Share your success and your failures; it makes you come across as humble and human.

Remember that the people your messages reach are interested mostly for entertainment and to learn something, this is not a TV commercial interrupting their entertainment. You are not programming them, you are sharing with them interesting tidbits of information, and giving them reasons it may be of use to them to visit you.

It is ok to remind people what you are doing, and repeat topics for new followers and friends, but it is important that those messages are not the main course just the specks in the vanilla ice cream.

These are the types of things that I do with my company GuestFeed when we market restaurants, and work on their web presence. If you have any questions please ask, I love to interact. You can find me on Twitter @Spirocks

I am Spirocks on Twitter.

Filed Under: Just Think Tagged With: humble and human, restaurant marketing, robot, share the moment, social media, Stand out

Example: Real Time Social Media Customer Relations

Spiro Pappadopoulos

Recently I wrote a post about how your customers view social media as real time, and today I had a experience that serves as a good example to share: (name and face blacked out for obvious reasons)

Here you can see a customer and Facebook friend of Evenfall Restaurant, sent a Facebook message complaining about the name of one of the cocktails that Evenfall sells. You can see that at 1:19pm the customer was bothered enough to send an email about it, and by 1:35pm had a response from Evenfall. That is real time customer service, it wasn’t a day or longer, it was minutes.

Evenfall was able to reach out in the following way:

Now this customer may be so turned off by the name that she will never return, which is not at all what the restaurant wants, nor any of us at GuestFeed, but she did receive an immediate response. That response was not defensive, harsh, or untruthful. It provided an explanation and a link to more information. What the customer decides to do now is up to her, but the restaurant was able to demonstrate that it cares what she thinks without a shadow of doubt.

So social media gives you this opportunity, what you do with it is up to you. At GuestFeed we strive to take advantage of every one of these opportunities and drive the message home; The restaurant is listening, we care, we want every interaction with us to be pleasant, human, honest, and beneficial. We believe that the vast majority of people respond to that type of communication in a positive way.

If we hear back from that customer I will share that as well.

***UPDATE***

We did indeed hear back from the customer, and you can see the results of the real time communication here:

What do you think, have you had success with this? I am here to converse, or hit me up on twitter @Spirocks

I am Spirocks on Twitter.

Filed Under: Facebook, Food and Drink, Google+, Twitter Tagged With: caring, customer relations, immediate response, listening, Real time, social media

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