New Year’s Resolutions can get tiring. A lot of people don’t even bother making a resolution (I’m included in that list of people).  And usually by the second week of January, resolutions have become false promises, half-hearted attempts at self improvement, and empty words. If you run a basic Google search for Resolutions 2012, you’ll find a ton of material, mostly talking about resolutions already lost and weight-oriented ideas. There’s even an app dedicated to success through habits – New Year’s Resolutions.

What about something different for a change? So, I ran a Google search for New Years’ Resolution 2012 for a good cause and came up with some other options.

• A New Year’s Resolution to Raise Awareness: How about the group of women climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro for National Human Trafficking Awareness Day as part of a campaign called, The Freedom Climb?
• Resolution Revolution: How about completing small tasks locally like helping an elderly neighbor with their garden or offering to prepare a weekly meal to a family in need nearby?  
• Volunteer or fundraise: Next Generation Nepal reconnects trafficked children with their parents in Nepal. Or do the same for an organization that promotes women’s empowerment to women in India like International Princess Project or Vidya.

The internet may be your best resource to help you find a resolution that means something to you. And if it means something to you, you’re more likely to stick to it! An easy way to start is to run a Google search for good causes, an issue you’re already interested in or volunteer opportunities. From there, you may develop ideas that lead to a worthy New Year’s Resolution.

How are you choosing to revamp your resolutions and create more meaningful intentions this year? Please share your thoughts with the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

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Bio: After receiving a B.A. in communications, and briefly working at a TV production studio, Andrea began volunteering abroad. This lead her to work in the non-profit world, where she was fortunate enough to learn about international education, women’s empowerment and social issues for the elderly, while traveling to over a dozen countries.  Since joining BurrellesLuce in 2011, Andrea is excited to share her thoughts and views on branding, social media, and communications with the growing Fresh Ideas audience, as well as her passion for cultural awareness, volunteerism, and sustainable efforts. Twitter: @AndreaCorbo; Facebook: BurrellesLuce; LinkedIn: BurrellesLuce 

December 2011

Links come from many different sources and in many different sizes. Whether industry resources, your company or client’s news release, or shortened URLs shared throughout your online communities – link building is a vital part of your marketing and PR efforts.

You don’t have to be a tech-whiz to make the most of SEO (search engine optimization) and increase the exposure and credibility of your company, brand or client via inbound and outbound links.

Learn 5 Tips to enhance your link building strategy and brand awareness in this month’s BurrellesLuce Newsletter.

Flickr Image: Jeffrey Beall

There are three ways consumers use the web: they search, browse and buy. Most organizations increase their site’s traffic by adding searching tools and enhancing SEO. While this helps people answer their initial question of “what,” it doesn’t necessarily go the extra step and encourage them to browse or buy.

However, if positioned correctly, encouragement to go beyond just the initial search can be helpful to the consumer… at least when it comes to expanding their knowledge and possibly influencing their buying decisions. Today’s consumers, want a site to tell them something they didn’t think to search for or think they might want/need. In the process, they may be persuaded to take some action and possibly lead to a conversion or sale based on the resources you provide beyond the original search.   

Search Mode- Provide the consumer with what they know they want
When a prospective customer is searching a site they almost always have an overall notion of what they want, but perhaps not all the details or at least a vague idea of the need they want to fulfill. This is where websites that utilize the search toolbox plug-in (usually located at the top of a webpage) come into action. The client wants to be able to search their product and be given substantial results.

For instance, when I simply type in the search box “scarves” at ShopBop—a luxury clothing retail website and BurrellesLuce client—I get an overwhelming list of over 200 results. The search function on the site even makes my quest easier by providing suggestions of related searches much the way Google or Bing might.

Browse Mode- Provide detailed information
With a list generated, a prospective buyer shifts into browse mode. What’s important here is how much information is provided—the customer wants to know more about their prospective purchase in the most organized fashion possible, no pun intended. Generated reviews from other customers should be at complete view coupled with suggestions. This will help the consumer differentiate one product’s value from another. It is also most helpful to provide organizational tools for the client to be able to sift through all the search results.

Shopbop does a great job at this. First, I can see “More from Scarves /Wraps” and also descriptions about the designer and the item itself. I have the capability to see how other customers rated each scarf. I also have the option of organizing my products in “Wish Lists” and “My Likes/Hearts” giving me time to consider my purchases without fully committing myself to placing the product in “My Cart.” I can sort the scarves with drop-down options by designer, size, color, and price. These categorizations are an aid to a consumer who might be inundated with an overwhelming amount of data.

Buyer Mode- Be your customer’s personal researcher
Now that the customer has browsed all the data, they have finally chosen the best product for them. While they may be done researching, that doesn’t mean the work of the service provider should end there. In fact, it is now your job to take on a new role: personal researcher. As Tara Gessinger, states in this Online PR Media blog post on Online Public Relations: Building Personal Relationships with Customers in the Digital Age, you need to keep the online conversation with your clients going through email as you would in real life. For instance, provide future recommendations based on previous purchases to the client. After I browse ShopBop or make a purchase, I receive an e-mail weeks later suggesting clothing that I might like based on my past shopping experiences.

Sites using this type of search and browse capability are designed to work for people who research and take a period of time before making a committed decision. In today’s market, researched buyers are becoming the norm and the buying cycle is changing. The impulsive spendthrift is a dying species. Marketers need to be a step ahead of the curve. Web marketing should not be about gimmicks to get attention from a prospective buyer – today’s savvy consumers will see through this. Instead it is about understanding the keywords that buyers are using and then positioning campaigns to engage buyers to webpages full with the content they want (or never knew they wanted). 

How are you using search capabilities on your website to influence visitor action? What are some of your favorite search features provided by your favorite sites?

***

Bio: Before joining the Burrellesluce team in 2011, Kelly interned at CondeNast’s Glamour magazine as an editorial intern to the senior style writer and was an editor of her college newspaper. She received a B.A. in Behavioral Science and Business, Society and Culture from Drew University with honors. After graduation, she worked as a sales associate at Nordstrom and took a month off to travel abroad throughout Europe. In Kelly’s free time, she enjoys traveling, fashion, reading, bringing awareness to Breast Cancer, running 5Ks, baking and social media. Twitter:@miss_mulholland Facebook: BurrellesLuce; LinkedIn: Kelly Mulholland

Facebook has described it’s new timeline as a way to “tell your life story.” If you have any presence on social media sites, you’ve surely been hearing the hype from friends and online articles alike.

Users will now be able to display their likes, photos, apps, and more from the beginning to the end in timeline format rather than a traditional profile. This leaves many users wondering if the site will display things from the start of their account or if they’ll be asked to fill in the blanks from earlier moments in life. Of course there are other questions:

• Will there still be a newsfeed?
• Will there still be status updates?
• How does this new type of profile influence the way we connect with friends and fans?

The company itself seems pretty confident in the new layout and timeline. They’ve even released a promotional video in anticipation of its launch.

With the countless changes to Facebook in the past, the most recent being the addition of a ticker of real-time updates from connections, I can’t recall a video for any of those new features.

With all this hype over timelines, I’m left wondering, what is the damage verses the gain when changing a social media site? Each time Facebook makes even a small layout change, users post angry statuses complaining about what they don’t like. When Facebook first added the newsfeed back in 2006 it seemed that everyone was outraged. Now, users are comfortable with the newsfeed (despite the latest updates that change the way posts are displayed in a feed) and expect to see it. So, do users just want to keep things the same for the sake of comfort? Or are these new projected changes really a negative thing?

With the new timeline, some current users fear threats to privacy, dislike the open display of too much information, and dread adjusting to the differences. Yet, others seem excited to relive moments with friends and embrace a new approach to display their info. I can guess that once the timeline is launched to all users, people will reject the change at first and then eventually learn to love it.

But for now, we will have to wait and see as Facebook Timeline Has One Week Time-Out and has delayed beta testing in order to sort out issues over possible trademark infringement.

***

After receiving a B.A. in communications, and briefly working at a TV production studio, Andrea began volunteering abroad. This lead her to work in the non-profit world, where she was fortunate enough to learn about international education, women’s empowerment and social issues for the elderly, while traveling to over a dozen countries.  Since joining BurrellesLuce in 2011, Andrea is excited to share her thoughts and views on branding, social media, and communications with the growing Fresh Ideas audience, as well as her passion for cultural awareness, volunteerism, and sustainable efforts. Twitter: @AndreaCorbo; Facebook: BurrellesLuce; LinkedIn: BurrellesLuce

While evaluating Google+ last weekend, I couldn’t help but notice a lot of questions regarding how to engage in this new environment in the ways that we are familiar with on Facebook or Twitter. While that is understandable, perhaps, we can get to even better answers, not to mention engagement, if we stop focusing on how to replicate the way we currently do things and start asking about how to address a need not currently being filled with existing social media networks. In other words, let’s use this new platform to break out of our comfort zones and reconsider our social needs.

Building a list or circle is not a need; organizing and managing our communications in a more efficient and effective manner is. What are our real social needs?  For example, I don’t think the question is whether the “Plus 1” feature in Google+ is equal to a “like” in Facebook. Perhaps it is more about, “How do I indicate that I am nodding ‘yes’ in agreement as I read your post or acknowledge that I have seen and read your post without actually having to comment?” And if I “Plus 1” a post does that mean I am endorsing you and how does that effect SEO? And maybe that leads to a greater need to convey additional emotions in a single-click and move beyond conventional algorithms.

A shift in mindset can be a challenge, when working with The Media and engaging in social media. Consider how media pitching has evolved over the years. When I began working in the public relations industry, we used books, or directories, to look up reporters. In time, technology enabled us to use a database to quickly research reporters in a variety of ways and easily build media lists. Recognizing that The Media has changed, that bloggers don’t conform to beats, journalists are constantly moving, and that content can be accessed faster than ever before, BurrellesLuce offers clients ContactsPlus. This media outreach service moves beyond mere list building (seeing a theme here?) and gives PR and communications professionals the ability to match up their story with The Media, so that they can quickly assess those journalists,  bloggers, freelance writers, and syndicated columnists who are currently writing about similar stories and topics.

The need has not changed. PR professionals are still looking for ways to share their stories with the public, to educate the public and build important relationships. Innovation comes from listening to the underlying needs. Innovation requires discerning the question asked, from the actual problem or opportunity. Google is doing a lot to learn from users, from an easy feedback button to a veritable army of employees participating; including the cofounders, vice presidents, senior vice presidents, community managers, product managers, engineering directors, software engineers, designers, program managers and more. It has been great fun to explore the new possibilities together and it will be interesting to watch how Google is able to collaborate with users to build solutions.

Have you had a chance to try out Google+? Do you think they are ready to truly innovate? And are we ready to shift our mindset and embrace these social changes?

Photo Source: CNN.com

Valerie Simon

It’s been an exciting week for social media enthusiasts. More than 50,000 viewers tuned in yesterday to hear Facebook’s proclamation that “launching season” has commenced. Predictions of Skype integration were correct. It will now be easy to make video calls within Facebook and improvements in live group chat functionality will offer another means of instant communication. As Zuckerberg spoke, reactions and insights simultaneously surged through the backchannel on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and other social media networks.

While the Facebook announcement finished, over at the White House, President Obama was making the most of the new levels of accessibility and speed of information as he kicked off the first Presidential Twitter Town Hall, simultaneously webcast at the White House. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey moderated the tweets sent in through #AskObama and commentary and reactions were likewise instantaneously shared.

Meanwhile, both users and employees continued to invent and define, in real time, the Google+ experience. Like Facebook, Google+ offers a feedback button, a fast and simple process for sharing bugs as well as feature requests. As Valeria Maltoni said in a recent post,” Many Googlers active in the new network — and I’m sure many more behind them — who are responding to people and trouble shooting features and potential bugs in real time.”

Despite my early skepticism, as I continue to explore the Google+ platform, I am increasingly impressed by opportunities for efficiency and perhaps the evolution of a more effective social media experience; evolution at a speed that appears far superior to anything I have seen thus far.

“The driving narrative for the next five years or so is not going to be about wiring up the world,” said Zuckerberg, regarding generally technology and social media. “It’s about what kind of cool stuff you’re going to be able to build … now that you have this wiring in place, this social infrastructure.”

What fascinates me, however, is not the “cool stuff” or even the social infrastructure. Beyond any of the specific features and functionality unveiled this week, I have been struck by what is, perhaps, a significant step in the evolution of communications and ultimately relationships. Live information being received, digested, synthesized and shared instantaneously, is both concerning and exhilarating. The ability to save time by integrating tools, whether it is Facebook and Skype, or Google services is necessary. The opportunity to make communications more personal and more frequent will have an impact on relationships. The possibilities of what we as both individuals and brands can do with these tools is only limited by the imagination.  And to me, that is the truly “awesome” message this week.

How do you see brands taking advantage of the new opportunities to communicate? What do you think the biggest challenges will be in the coming months? Please leave a comment and share your views with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

Can Google+ succeed where Google Buzz and Google Wave have failed? While it is probably too early to make predictions, I’ll go out on a limb and share my opinion… unless they unveil something groundbreaking, this latest attempt at social networking by Google will likewise falter.

Social networking is not really about the tools. It’s about the people. In order to succeed, the tools must be designed to innovate how people connect and relate. In order to persuade people to invest the time in a network, tools must offer something new and valuable… a unique selling proposition. Otherwise, why should users invest their time with a new tool when their relationships and communications are already being served by established networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter?

While the initial invite process – one that Google+ has since been shut down because of “insane demand” – makes the network seem promising enough, I have not found anything truly unique in Google+. Yes, it’s cool to drag and drop people into circles, but I am already extremely organized with my Facebook and Twitter lists. Why reinvent the wheel (list, or circle)? Especially if it means walking away from the networks I have already invested time building? Time is limited.

My friend Arik Hanson (who I initially met on Twitter and am now communicating with on Facebook, LinkedIn, Skype and more traditional platforms like the phone and even, gasp, in person), noted that the integration with current tools is the biggest advantage. I’m not convinced that integration is enough.

Opportunities for new networks must be based upon new concepts of how to bring people together in unique ways for distinct purposes. LinkedIn has established itself in the professional arena. Facebook has positioned itself in the more general/ all purpose area. For startups (and yes, I think Google counts as a start up in this area, albeit a start up with tremendous experience and resources), these mammoth social networks are hard to compete with. Because the ultimate reason people use these networks is not the service itself, but the other users.

Let’s get creative Google and utilize your greatest advantage… search. Why not create niche networks that allow people to connect with those searching for similar information. So if I am looking for “Berkeley Heights, NJ” I can (selectively, of course) choose to connect with others who have done the same search in the past 30 days. There’s your circle.

Have you had a chance to try Google+?  Please leave a comment and share your thoughts with BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers.

Valerie Simon

Tomorrow, David Ring, EVP, business development, Universal Music Group; Gerard M. Stegmaier, attorney, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati; and Howard Hogan, partner, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, will be holding a discussion at South by SouthWest. The question on everyone’s mind: Is the coexistence of data customization and privacy possible?

Custom data, created thanks to the availability of personal information online, creates opportunity for marketers and has the potential to offer users a better experience. Gathering data about users and even their online behaviors – as noted in this post from my BurrellesLuce colleague, Crystal deGoede,– results in increased knowledge about our customers and the potential to serve them better. But re-targeting also has the potential to be “creepy.” Increasing consumer privacy concerns are pushing legislators and the FTC to introduce new legislation that will offer web users more control of their personal data and empower the FTC to enforce voluntary privacy standards developed with Internet companies.

The fear of invasion of privacy is not new. Back in 2009, a White House Memoranda noted:

Potential benefits of web measurement and customization technologies are clear. With the help of such technologies, agencies will be able to allow users to customize their settings, avoid filling out duplicative information, and navigate websites more quickly and in a way that serves their interests and needs. These technologies will also allow agencies to see what is useful to the public and respond accordingly. Services to customers and users can be significantly improved as a result.

At the same time, OMB is acutely aware of, and sensitive to, the unique privacy questions raised by government uses of such technologies. Any such uses must not compromise or invade personal privacy. It is important to provide clear, firm, and unambiguous protection against any uses that would compromise or invade personal privacy.” (White House Memoranda: Guidance for Online Use of Web Measurement and Customization Technologies, June 2010.)

While the government certainly must have a unique sensitivity to privacy concerns, data customization practices in the corporate world are also subject to scrutiny.  

It is clear that transparency, and easy to understand disclosures regarding how personal data is being used online and in social media are essential. In fact, Facebook continues to sit in the spotlight because of privacy concerns and user-control issues. While Facebook’s privacy policy seems to be a step in the right direction, “until Facebook tells its 600 million members what it tells its major advertisers and marketing partners – on how to configure its system to generate data and other desired ad responses – it is failing to protect user privacy,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “We intend to push the FTC and Congress to force Facebook to come clean about its data privacy practices.”

With clear and simple language, I believe that a transparent and mutually beneficial relationship between marketers and users can exist. As a consumer, relevant messages and targeted advertising can be helpful and are certainly more welcome than advertisements for products and services that have no relevance to me and may even be offensive. My frequent postings about my children and the Jets, no doubt resulted in the advertisements for children’s Jets gear that populate my Facebook page, but as you can see from the accompanying picture, it was certainly of interest to me!

But what about other data that is being collected by deceptive methods? “Researchers at Carnegie-Mellon published a study concluding that many websites thwart users’ privacy settings by providing erroneous information to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer,” explains this Media Post article. Amazon.com is the latest company “allegedly circumventing the privacy settings of Internet Explorer users.”

What do you think? Is the coexistence of data customization and privacy possible? If the FTC is able to pass legislation to protect users privacy, how might this impact your public relations and marketing efforts?

Flickr Image: Fluid Forms

In my last post, I talked about 2D barcodes being used in the print media to connect the readers’ to additional content and offer a more interactive experience. I also mentioned that there’s a myriad of uses in the communications field – not just advertising but marketing and public relations as well.

Remember, however, even though QR codes are catching on here in the US, that doesn’t mean everyone knows what they are or how to use them. If you plan to launch an initiative using QR codes, be sure that you educate your audience with detailed instructions on what to do.  Also, wherever the QR code leads must offer value – exclusive information, how-to videos, giveaways, discounts, entertainment –something to grab their attention and encourage interaction. It is often easier to have the QR code point to a website that can be updated and refreshed with new content, rather than a static page, as once a QR code is created most cannot be modified.

Here are some ways to utilize QR codes in marketing, event planning and PR:

• Print on your business cards leading to client testimonial page or background bio.
• Include on conference attendee badges to make exchanging contact information a snap.
• Non-profits could link to volunteer and donation pages.
• Use it to link consumers (or reporters) to how-to videos or detailed instructions.
• Have a QR code screen-printed onto t-shirts, linking to details, to raise awareness about a charity cause or some other event.
• Use at a tradeshow to allow attendees to quickly scan your contact info.
• Grassroots campaigns could link to a podcast of their guiding principles with a call to action.
• Put next to retail displays linking to product reviews.
• PR efforts for a large event could utilize a QR Code with a link to a map of the event’s venues.
• Sponsoring an event? Use a QR code on signage and other pieces linking to a special thank-you page and a sign-up form for such things as newsletters.
• In public awareness materials, it might link to an assessment survey or support resources.

In media relations, you could even embed in your press release directing the journalist to your online press kit or photo gallery and fact sheets. That should be just enough to get your creativity flowing. What can you add? How are you incorporating QR codes into the marketing mix? How has it benefited your communication efforts? What have been some of the challenges?

Flickr Image: The American Library Association (ALA)

Barcodes have been used in the retail, logistics, inventory/warehousing and governmental environments since the 1970’s. There are numerous types of 2D barcodes, but for this post, I’ll be referring primarily to Quick Response (QR) codes – which didn’t come into existence until 1994. QR codes have been popular in Japan for quite some time and even have been used in some European countries but have struggled to gain acceptance here in North America.

About a year ago, my BurrellesLuce colleague, Lauren Shapiro, wrote about the world being a giant barcode and how this might affect the public relations and marketing realm. In September 2010, I attended a PRSA professional development day (hosted by SWMO PRSA) where Ben Smith, Social: IRL agency, talked about PR and media uses for QR codes – that’s when it started to “click” for me. Then, a few months ago, another colleague, Denise Giacin, wrote about a book by a New York Times reporter and his perceptions of the changing media landscape – each chapter beginning with a QR code. 

So, if this is not new, why am I just now writing about this? Because it seems to me that it’s no longer just speculation by the thought leaders, but it’s actually catching on. (I’m a wait and see kinda gal, after all Missouri is the “Show Me State.”) With the popularity of smart phones, QR codes are now more practical than in the past and are probably destined to become even more so in the future. Google Places began using QR codes, issuing window decals, in December 2009 as a quick way to see reviews and coupons for local businesses. There’s a myriad of uses in the communications field and I’ll talk more about that in my next post. 

A number of print media outlets are now using barcodes to connect the reader’s print and online experiences. Mobile barcodes offer publishers an easy way to bridge the gap between traditional print mediums and digital media. The barcodes allow them to offer a more personalized and interactive experience – like linking from an advertisement to a coupon or recipe. But it’s going beyond advertising now.

The Washington Post recently began including QR codes to offer “digital jumps” to additional content. Lucky Magazine uses QR codes to link to hair and makeup instructional videos. South Florida Sun Sentinel uses QR codes to link to digital content. USA Today announced last week that they are making a commitment to use at least one Microsoft Tag (a proprietary 2D barcode) in each daily section that will provide mobile access to photos, videos and other online content.  Even some college papers, Cal State Fullerton for one, have begun using these barcodes in the print edition.

The naysayers are convinced of the demise of print media; however, new technologies like QR codes offer the ability to make their content more interrelated. It provides readers with a more interactive and productive experience. 

Is this just what print media needs or is this a stop-gap measure on the downhill slide? I look forward to you sharing your thoughts with our readers.

The challenges are formidable and immediate. More importantly, however, I see tremendous opportunity.

Let me start by saying that content is not free. But let me also quickly emphasize that content must not be perceived as expensive either. It has to compete with free or at least the perception that content is free.

Information is, ultimately, created by people with mortgages to pay – even corporate titans have a roof expense; some are just larger than others.

People, individually and as part of an enterprise, want more and more of this information, and they want it in real-time. The information-consumer is not really concerned with the technology. They just want what they want, when they want it, where they want it, and how they want it. Most users of content are not going to go beyond their usual routines to get info. They are not really concerned with platforms or formats. They are all about convenience; their convenience. In general, they are impatient, conditioned as they are by the 30-second sound bite, the 140-character tweet, and of most importance, the compilation of “hextracts” (headline/extract) and associated links as search or news results, which, by the way, will continue to defy monetization. Oh, and they want this all for free.

I am convinced that, even in the digital world, there is still and there will continue to be a place for full publication and page formats. This falls mostly within the areas of individual use and first use. These formats have an advertising and/or subscription component to provide some support for the creators’ mortgage payment, as long as the payments have been modified.

The 30-second formats are now clearly the largest format in use for the delivery of content to the user. The users receiving information in this “bite” format represent both individual and enterprise, initial use and reuse and generally do not provide support from advertising – except when the consumer occasionally follows the link to the article. These 30-second formats are all about the article format standing alone. Focus on monetizing the article will provide the big win/win for the consumer and the provider. Did I mention this is my view we are talking about here?

So, pretty simple right? Just come up with a way to charge for the use of the article when somebody reads the whole article instead of the hextract. Do this regardless of whether that somebody is the first reader of the article or the recipient of it being passed along in an email. Make the charge a passive transaction and at a price the consumer considers fair (I can hear Clay Shirky from here on that statement).The technology to do just this is actually, for the most part, already in existence.

Then why hasn’t it been done?

In my next post, I will provide my own take on this.

In the past 30 days I’ve been on the phone with a cable company, a cell phone company, a bank, a law firm, two kinds of insurance companies, plus a pet store. The only time I was actually patched in directly to a live person was the later – the pet store – although they weren’t particularly helpful and I should really be adopting from a shelter anyway.

In any case, I submit that few things are more annoying than punching through a handful of phone prompts, listening to hold music, then stumbling through more prompts before realizing what you need isn’t one of the touch tone options and that you’ll have to wait for a human anyway.

Facepalm.

Please allow me to introduce you to Gethuman.com. This is a directory of companies, phone numbers and reviews, compiled by for and of the people, which offers not only a guide on how to bypass phone prompts, but details the best way to get the most out of any listed companies customer service department.

From their site, “The GetHuman™ movement has been created from the voices of millions of consumers who want to be treated with dignity when they contact a company for customer support.”

The GetHuman site was created by Paul English (also the co-founder of Kayak.com, a site that lets you search flights, hotels and cheap travel deals all in one place) in the mid 2000’s and has grown through the hard work and diligence of their team as well as the support and input from readers like you.

Using the recommendations on the site, I rarely get stuck punching through phone prompts anymore. I’ve also gathered a healthy respect for those companies that patch you straight through to a human representative. I hope that as time passes, consumer feedback and experience leads to a friendly sea-change in the service industry.

Robot vs. Human?

Human > Robot.

In my personal life, I’ve been living the smartphone debate for quite awhile. I was a tried and true Palm user, but BurrellesLuce has a Blackberry server, so I made the switch. My husband loved his iPhone, but hated that he could not get service anytime we were in a crowd of more than 20 people; he recently switched to Blackberry. My sister recently switched to a Droid and loves her ability to access a lot of information easily. According to TechCrunch, the best of the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was the Motorola Atrix smartphone.

Recently, my BurrellesLuce colleague Crystal deGoede blogged, You Are What You Use…What Does your Tech-Gadget Say About You?, which tries to categorize smartphone users based on survey results from the 2010 Gadget Census Report by Retrevo. Additionally, our Johna Burke listed her favorite Droid Apps in her post, Apps I LOVE for the DROID. BurrellesLuce even posted a newsletter on Using Mobile Apps to Connect with Your Audiences.

As mobile marketing and PR grows more in popularity, we’re also seeing more articles like Ragan’s 7 things you need to know about mobile communications. One of my favorite posts on the subject came from Mashable, who gave us 15+ Worthwhile Ways to Kill Some Time on Your Mobile. It reminds us we don’t need to play a game or read funny tweets to occupy the time waiting for the train or plane.

Are you going to make a smartphone switch in the near future? If so, what influences your decision? How does your smartphone help you be more productive? And what are some of the ways you’ll be looking to leverage mobile communications in your public relations initiatives this year?

by Lauren Shapiro*

In the past few years, nearly everything has found its way to the Internet, from ordering your groceries online to ordering a pizza. What we have learned, though, is that the Internet takes out a key component that online shoppers often need – personalized assistance… or at least the option of it. In fact, many online retailers have left their consumers high and dry when they need help navigating their website or have questions about their products. Other brands have gotten creative, however, combining the ease and convenience of online shopping with the option of real-time customer service when needed.

One of the main draws to Zappos.com is the accessibility to a real walking and talking person! While on the Zappos site, you can easily call the 24/7 customer service phone number or opt for live help which will connect you via online chat with a customer service representative. Zappos.com is a prime example of client service gone right. According to venturebeat.com, Zappos grossed over one billion dollars in 2009 and, as cited by cmswire.com, they earned themselves the number 15 spot on Fortune’s 2010 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Their attention to customer service combined with a quality product and strong culture have made Zappos an example for other organizations to follow in 2011.

Zappos isn’t shy about sharing their secrets to success either. Zapposinsights.com provides a unique opportunity to visit the Zappos “family” (as the employees are called), schedule time to tour their facility in Las Vegas and learn about and request your own Zappos Culture Book that outlines Zappos culture, core values, and tips for your own organization.

Zappos puts a strong emphasis on the culture in which their employees thrive. The happiness of the employee then translates to the customer – making for an overall positive experience. Just ask Donavon Roberson, Zappos culture evangelist, or Matt Wong, Zappos audio/video jedi, who make up a portion of the Zappos Insights team.

As we continue to worry about the down trodden economy, the unemployment rate and the many other lackluster things going on – why not take a nod from Zappos.com and put our focus on being creative, thinking outside the box, being positive and being strongly attentive to customer service and internal culture?

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*Bio: Soon after graduating from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, in 2006 with a B.A. in communication and a B.S. in business/marketing, I joined the BurrellesLuce client services team. In 2008, I completed my master’s degree in corporate and organizational communications and now serve as Director of Client Services. I am passionate about researching and understanding the role of email in shaping relationships from a client relation/service standpoint as well as how miscommunication occurs within email, which was the topic of my thesis. Through my posts on Fresh Ideas, I hope to educate and stimulate thoughtful discussions about corporate communications and client relations, further my own knowledge on this subject area, as well as continue to hone my skills as a communicator. Twitter: @_LaurenShapiro_ LinkedIn: laurenrshapiro Facebook: BurrellesLuce

The End of ‘Social Media’
Paul Gillin, a long-time tech-journalist, asks that we stop talking about “social media” in 2011. He explains, “It’s not that social media is no longer important. On the contrary, there’s almost no media today that isn’t social.”

4 Netsquared Social Good Trends for 2010
Geoff Livingston compiles some of the reflections presented to TechSoup/NetSquared regarding the trends for 2010. Among them: “mobile as a legitimate grassroots platform” and emerging tools for “visualizing data.”

2010 Trends on Twitter
Twitter recently released its year in review, announcing the top trending topics across of a variety of categories. “Gulf Oil Spill,” “FIFA World Cup,” and the movie Inception were the three overall top trends.

Facebook Reveals Top Status Trends of 2010
Adding to the list of status trends, Facebook also announced its most popular terms for 2010. The most popular status trend for 2010 was HMU (“hit me up,” as in to call or text me), followed by “World Cup” and “Movies”

2011: The Year Social Media Comes of Age
Social Media Today, contributor Chris Symes offers three takeaways from a recent presentation by Jeremiah Owyang, Altimeter, on “the career path of the social media strategist.” One of the key tips for 2011: “Know your ROI.”

2011 Trends in Social Media
Don’t Drink the Kool-aid blog gives some perspective on what 2011 will hold for PR and social media. Two trends to consider are that “companies will opt for agencies that specialize in social media” and “companies will turn to agencies for help with blogs as part of social media management.”

2011 Digital Trends – Shifts in US Online Population Demographics
Alina Popescu, Everything PR, highlights some online population trends as forecasted by eMarketer. She notes that, “Recent research from the Association of National Advertisers shows marketers are already capitalizing on the digital trends, with more than half of US marketers stating they will increase multicultural spending on both traditional and newer media.”

The Illusion of Predicting the Future, and How to Manipulate the Public Perception in 2011
While some of these predictions and year-end reviews can help public relations and communications practitioners plan for the year ahead, Mihaela Lica Butler, also a contributor on Everything PR, cautions the industry about “piling crap and calling it research” and reveals “how to manipulate the public perception in 2011.”

What did you think were the top trends of 2010? Can you share your ideas and predictions for 2011 with the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers?

A “battle of attrition” aims to inflict losses on an enemy that are less sustainable compared to one’s own losses.

According to this New York Times, Netflix recently made a bold move by launching a new “streaming only” service, offering unlimited streaming movies and TV shows for a mere $7.99 a month. Also, in addition to Netflix paying the Post Office a whopping $500 million dollars a year in postage to mail out their signature red envelopes filled with disks, they will now pay studios another hefty sum for rights to their movies by recently completing a combined deal with Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate for one billion dollars. This does not include deals Netflix made earlier in the year with other major studios, such as Sony, Warner Brothers, Universal and 20^th Century Fox.

So why are cable providers like Time Warner Cable and Comcast getting hot under the collar? Let’s take a closer look:

Netflix currently pays Starz, a pay TV channel, about 15 cents a month for each subscriber (which allows their customers to watch streaming movies from Sony and Disney), pennies compared to the $4 to $5 a month that cable and satellite owners pay for access to Starz, according to Rich Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG Research.

These types of deals, which allow consumers to access a larger catalogue of movies and bypass their local cable provider by accessing them online, couldn’t come at a worse time for companies like Time Warner Cable and Comcast. Cable providers already reported a net loss of 119,000 customers in the third quarter of 2010, the largest decline in 30 years.

A “battle of envelopment” involves an attack on one or both flanks.

Comcast is fighting back on two fronts by slapping Level 3 Communications, a provider of internet backbone services, which handles Netflix content, with “additional traffic fees.” Incidentally, Comcast, who’s acquisition of NBC is imminent, already competes directly with Netflix through their new acquisition of Hulu (Comcast owns 32 percent stake in Hulu). The rate hike could easily be seen as a way for Comcast to milk their competition, however, they can make the argument that Netflix’s massive volume is overtaxing their system and therefore should pay more. A recent study by Sandvine, a broadband equipment maker, showed that Netflix’s 16 million customers accounted for more than 20 percent of all Internet download traffic in North America during peak evening hours)

A “battle of encounter” is a meeting engagement where the opposing sides collide in the field without either having prepared their attack or defense.

If all of this wasn’t enough to make cable executives nervous, Netflix followed up their unlimited streaming offer by announcing a deal with newly formed film studio, FilmDistrict. As highlighted in this New York Observer article, the part of this deal that could prove to be a game changer is that it doesn’t include the standard “pay TV window” wherein new releases go to the cable industry first, then premier on Netlifx a few months later. 

According to The New York Post, Netflix is also in talks with studios about gaining access to “current episodes” of primetime TV shows and is willing to pay between $70,000 and $100,000 per episode. This is a first since Netflix has always offered only TV shows from past seasons.

Through all of this, media companies have been in constant negotiations with all of the “content distributors” – cable providers (Time Warner Cable and Comcast) and online providers (Netflix) – with behemoths like Google, Sony and Apple waiting in the wings as all three plan to compete in the game of online streaming distribution. Google, however, has already met heavy resistance from the networks. ABC, CBS, and NBC who all said they would not allow Google TV to stream full episodes of their shows. This should make for some interesting future negotiations between the two sides. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the networks suddenly changed their mind if Google TV’s relatively new service begins to take off.

A “battle of annihilation” is one in which the defeated party is destroyed in the field.

So what about the consumer, the eyeballs everyone’s vying for in all of this? I for one couldn’t be happier with all of the choices I suddenly have to watch movies or TV shows. The Internet is once again threatening the “middleman,” or, as I like to think of it, just another case of the Internet once again replacing one of the “brokers” of the world. We’ve seen it happen to some extent with real estate, stock trading … and now entertainment.  For 30 years cable providers have been the “brokers” for entertainment, bringing media and consumers together. It appears, for the moment at least, another “broker” is in jeopardy of once again being replaced by the Internet.

So what are your thoughts? Who do you think will win the on-going battle? Are you happy with the choices you have to access entertainment content? Please share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

From a marketing perspective, this is either the craziest or the smartest tactic I’ve seen in a long time. Go Daddy isn’t known for taking the safe approach (think Super Bowl Ads) so its recent initiative shouldn’t surprise me. Still, I find their risk taking extraordinary. During a time when businesses are looking for ways to scale back or otherwise avert risks – Go Daddy takes their virtual model to “brick and mortar.” I guess if patrons will line up at Charlotte Douglas International Airport for manicures and pedicures then small business travelers will feasibly benefit from this new Go Daddy kiosk. Think about it: during the social media frenzy a web-based service focuses on face-to-face targeting and interaction.

Finding myself intrigued by this recent endeavor, I reached to Go Daddy and, via its public relations department, received insights from Miguel Lopez, vice president- customer care at Go Daddy. I ask, “Why the airport?” Lopez explained that: “Go Daddy helps individuals and small businesses build an online presence quickly and affordably. Why not show them how easy it is? Sky Harbor International is one of the busiest airports in the United States and our location intersects a tremendous amount of traffic. It’s a great location to meet locals and visitors alike, and give them an opportunity to learn about all the things they can do online with Go Daddy.”

When asked about successes or failures of the experiment, thus far, Lopez added: “We’ve found that many of our customers are interested in a guided tour of our website, GoDaddy.com. Others are curious about what it’s like to work for a company like Go Daddy and it’s fun to watch their facial reactions when they hear about how employees are treated like VIPs, attending lavish holiday parties and getting to go on monthly ‘Employee Appreciation’ outings.”

While this latest effort is solely driven by walk-up traffic and Go Daddy hopes to service small business travelers and to possibly recruit new employees (Go Daddy currently has more than 100 job openings), it will be an interesting to watch this endeavor unfold. Personally, I plan to keep an eye out on the kiosk traffic when I visit the airport (which is fairly often these days) in hopes of resolving my unanswered question: “Does Go Daddy have this much confidence in how efficient their process and service are that a business person could register their desired domain in mere minutes – and still catch a flight – or is it simply targeting the low-hanging fruit of stranded travelers who desperately want to be productive while in transit?”

Are there any services you would like to see available at the airport, train station or bus depot that would make you a more productive professional in transit? As I travel for BurrellesLuce, the one service I would like to see is a kiosk selling Dell chargers (unless Dell decides to finally go universal) or at least a Dell-charging station for the times when my charger doesn’t make my trip with me.

We all live on planet earth and most of us own or use some sort of tech-gadget(s) that allows us to communicate and interact with each other and the world. It’s hard to believe we survived all those centuries without computers, cell phones, Internet, and social media. I can’t remember what I used to do “back in the day” when something comical happened and I wanted to share it with my friends…maybe we paged each other! 

Most of us are very familiar with the advertising and marketing campaigns used by HTC (Android), iPhone, Mac, PC, iPad, and BlackBerry. They are designed to connect with “you” on a personal level:

• HTC’s “You” campaign – “You don’t need to get a phone, you need a phone that gets you.”
• iPhone Facetime – woman tells her husband she is pregnant.
• Microsoft – “Get to everything you love faster.”
• BlackBerry – “Don’t just like, love what you do with Blackberry.” 

Do these campaigns actually affect our perception of what’s best when it comes to purchasing a gadget(s) or do we subconsciously choose based on other factors (e.g., trends, capabilities, ease of use, etc.)?

Retrevo, a consumer electronics review and shopping site, conducted an online survey of 7,500 Retrevo users across all genders, age demographics, and locations between March and July of this year. The Gadget Census Report shows that owners of iPhones, Androids, and BlackBerry’s exhibit different behaviors and characteristics based on which gadget(s) they use.  So I know what I am, but what are you?

If you’re like me, you probably own a Droid. You probably also do not have a landline in your home.  According to Retrevo, 31 percent of Droid owners do not have landlines, compared to iPhone (23 percent) and BlackBerry (23 percent) users. Retrevo did note that one reason for this is because Android owners tend to have more reliable coverage.

Is it true that once you go Mac you never go back? I would say so! If you have a Mac in your household, you are three times more likely to purchase an iPhone and six times more likely to purchase an iPad, according to the survey. 

iPhone Characteristics.
According to the census results, iPhone users act and think differently than Droid and BlackBerry users. They are also usually younger (especially when it comes to BlackBerry users) and have a tendency to adopt technology earlier, like watching TV online. On a surprising twist, iPhone users are not as “Genius Bar” as they might think they are. They are 23 percent more likely to rent a movie from Blockbuster (are they still around?) than their Droid peers, and 22 percent more likely than Droid owners to not know what brand of television they own.

Android Characteristics.
Retrevo reports that Droid users are more tech-savvy, usually owning techier gadgets than their iPhone and BlackBerry friends. They are less likely to own a GPS though. (But if your phone was running Google map software, there would be no need for a Garmin lying around taking up space.) The downfall to being so techy and brilliant, 25 percent of Android owners are more likely to not read books and 20 percent more likely to not care about recycling old gadgets.

BlackBerry Characteristics.
2002 called and they want their BlackBerry back… According to the Gadget census, BlackBerry owners/users are old fashion. In fact, a recent article in Trader Daily discussed BlackBerry losing its “stimulant addiction” for Wall Street, who is considered the early adopters of BlackBerry’s: “FierceFinance pointed out this week that some of the major banks, whose employees traditionally dared to touch no cell-phone bearing anything other than a BlackBerry emblem, are beginning to move towards the fancy new options.” When it comes to keeping up with other forms of tech-gadgets, Retrevo found that BlackBerry users are more likely to have a CRT (tube) as their primary television and listen and get their music from terrestrial radio. However, they are 15 percent more likely to recycle old gadgets than Android users.

So based on the results from Retrevo, do you have the characteristics of the gadget(s) you own?  If you own an iPhone are you upset to find out you are not as unique as you might think? Androiders, is it true that you do not read books? And last but not least, BlackBerry users, are you really old school?  What factors played into you choosing your gadget(s)? Do the “you” campaigns play a factor into your decisions? I look forward to reading your thoughts along with the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers.

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*Bio: After graduating from East Carolina University with a Marketing degree in 2005, Crystal DeGoede moved to New Jersey. In her four years as a member of the BurrellesLuce marketing team and through her interaction with peers and clients she has learned what is important or what it takes to develop a career when you are just starting out. She is passionate about continuing to learn about the industry in which we serve and about her career path. By engaging readers on Fresh Ideas Crystal hopes to further develop her social media skills and inspire other “millennials” who are just out of college and/or working in the field of marketing and public relations. Twitter: @cldegoede LinkedIn: Crystal DeGoede Facebook: BurrellesLuce

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a PRSA-NY book signing at Baruch College/CUNY for Nick Bilton’s new book I Live In The Future & Here’s How It Works. New York Times reporter and Bits blog technology writer, Nick Bilton presented his book and offered his perspective of the changes in the world’s media landscape. Bilton stressed the need and importance for people to adapt to these changes (no more “this is too advanced for me” excuses).

One of the changes Bilton points out is the shift in people paying for experiences, not content. Without giving too much away, he talks about when he actually cancelled his home delivery of the New York Times. This was shocking for me to hear at first. But when I read about why he chose to cancel, I completely understood. Staying true to his beliefs, Bilton’s book provides the reader with a unique experience by having a QR (Quick Read) code – a type of bar code – at the beginning of each chapter. 

 I downloaded ScanLife (one of many applications available for reading QR codes) onto my Droid X and was able to scan the QR code. The code prompted my phone to open its browser for additional content on nickbilton.com related to the chapter I was reading. There were videos, links, and even a comments section. I was very impressed and certainly felt like these additions enhanced my experience of reading the book.

Another important topic, in I Live In The Future & Here’s How It Works, is the idea of “anchoring communities” and pertains to how we organize all of the information we receive through the web. Who we are friends with on Facebook and who we follow on Twitter, for example, help make up this community as a way to filter what information we pay attention to. I think it is imperative for organizations to realize people are receiving their information quickly and from many different channels.

Bilton’s book is straightforward and honest. He writes, “I’m not going to wake up one day and say, ‘Hey, the Web isn’t for me, I’m going to start buying CDs, print books, and newspapers again.’ I’m among the era of new consumers and contributors, and we’re looking for new forms of content and storytelling.”

If you are struggling to get a grasp on these concepts, I strongly suggest you pick up I Live In The Future & Here’s How It Works. Other topics in Bilton’s book discuss the correlation between video games and the performance of surgeons, how our brains adapt to change, the concept of “1, 2, 10”, and technologies in the not-so-distant future.  

If you’ve read Bilton’s book, what are some of the points you found most relevant to the communications industry? How will you be applying his concepts to your next PR or marketing initiative? Please share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

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*Bio: Prior to joining the BurrellesLuce Client Service team in 2008, Denise worked in the marketing industry for three years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Connecticut, where she gained experience interning in PR and working for student organizations. By engaging readers on the Fresh Ideas blog Denise hopes to further her understanding of client needs. In her spare time, she is passionate about Team in Training (The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s charity sports training program) and baking cupcakes. Her claim to fame: red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. LinkedIn: dgiacin Twitter: @denise10283 Facebook: BurrellesLuce 

Image Source: The Age.com.au

Over the last 10 years the music business has resembled the “boy” in lyrics from any of the countless number of songs written over the years about “boy meets girl,” “boy loses girl,” and/or ”boys falls back in love with girl.” The music industry has been in a tailspin since 1999 (coincidentally the same year Napster was spawned). The advent of peer-to-peer services caused massive music piracy and, with free music just a click away, proved to be the direct blow that would send CD sales plummeting and ultimately crippling a once very profitable industry.

However, the music business seems to have bottomed out and actually managed to grow over the last two years (the entire British music business grew 5 percent from 2008 -2009). One way it has managed this is by returning to its roots – live performances. When I attended my first concert, (Ozzie Osborne –  What was I thinking?), I had no idea at the time Mr. Osborne, for the most part, was touring as a way to market his new album. Although I would like to think the bands I saw back in the day were there because they truly enjoyed playing live (I’m sure some did), the concert was more of a live commercial to promote their new albums and get people to buy them.

These days’ bands are touring again to cash in on booming ticket sales (with top acts commanding over 100 dollars) and are laughing all the way to the bank as they play in front of sold out crowds. “Many of the acts selling out stadiums are old,” says Rob Hallet, the president of international touring at AEG Live. The top three American touring acts last year were U2 (average age: 49), Bruce Springsteen (61) and a double bill of Billy Joel (61) and Elton John (63). All have contributed to a surge in ticket prices – tripling from $1.5 billion in 1999 to $4.6 billion in 2009.  It’s not that more people are going to live performances, but rather paying more per ticket. According to Pollstar, a research firm that tracks the market, the average ticket price should be $35.30 today if they increased in line with inflation. Instead the average price of a ticket costs a whopping $62.57.

Bands not only are relying on live performances. They also are looking to alternative revenue streams to help mitigate the drop in CD sales, such as merchandising, sponsorships, online streaming and emerging markets. One area that is booming is publishing. Music’s best customer is television “Watch any evening’s worth of TV and count how many times you hear music in the background,” says Jeremy Lascellas, chief executive of Chrysalis.

If the music business could figure out a way to share a synergistic relationship with the Internet, other forms of media and entertainment can surely learn from their long strange trip. Although the music industry is relying less on CD sales and more on alternative revenue streams – one thing is certain: people continue to pay a premium for quality content regardless of whether it’s coming from a 3-D movie screen ($20 average price per ticket in New York) or Mick Jagger’s 67 year old vocal pipes.